Pictorial Progress of the Saturn. Project Plastic Pimp!

[Adam95GT]

As some of you rember the saturn i bought for $1250 had some wacky idle problem... I did a tune up and upon pulling the plugs i found 2 black and 2 white . I did a compression test to find two dead cyls. I thought head gasket and was told by a shop it was $1100 to fix. I figured it wasnt worth it and it was time to see what i had learned from working on the stang and probe doing small things over the last 2 years.

1999 Saturn Sc2 3 door sport Coupe!
109k on the clock.
5 speed
KBB value: $3995

Problem:



After finding no compression i decided to pull the car in to my garage and pull the head.

After pulling the head i was puzzled.

The head gasket looked fine...

So did the block....

I flipped over the head and found...

2 burnt exhaust valves... I looked around for a used head but then id figured i might as well just get some new valves put in... $510 later i now have a fully rebuilt top end with all new valve seals and guides. The guy at the machiene shop said more then 2 valves were on their way out... so replaced most of them.

I Picked up a new head gasket and new head bolts and went to work putting the head back on.

When installing the camshafts 1 bolt would not torque past 100in/lbs... it broke in the block....


i was able to get it out now im waiting for 2 bolts to come in at the saturn dealer...



But so far i guess Ive done alot with what little i know. My grandfather has been helping as well... neither of us have a clue

i wonder y the vales burnt... the guy at the machiene shop said its a common problem on saturn dohc engines... he also said that it looked like the engine had head work done b4 he found that all the intake side looked beand new...

 

[94-302-vert]

What is up with the white on the exhaust valves???

Looks like they did some nice work though...

 

[blckstng96]

haha,sweet garage,looks like mine. thats a badass tool cart too

 

[fastgtfairlane]

those are somewhat neat little cars. i like the garage too. its even better when there is a little breeze blowing by too. the only thing to really be concerned and double checking is the cam timing. im not sure if its an interference engine or not but definatly take your time on that part.

 

[Blackened302]

wow man, nice work!

 

[WHITE94COBRA]

Hey Adam where did the two missing pieces go? I realize they burnt but metal does not burn to nothing. Please tell me you found the pieces, I would hate to see you go through all this work only to have a piece of metal destroy your motor.
So you had a lean condition caused by what? exhaust leak maybe? maybe a crappy valve job from before? look into it a little more.

 

[WhiteStallionGT]

That thing is badass!!!

haha monkey picture made me LOL

 

[Adam95GT]

yea i checked the block there was nothing on top of the pistons and i drained the oil as well. they probally burnt up and went out the exhaust valves... i checked around just to be sure.

 

[Adam95GT]

those are somewhat neat little cars. i like the garage too. its even better when there is a little breeze blowing by too. the only thing to really be concerned and double checking is the cam timing. im not sure if its an interference engine or not but definatly take your time on that part.

the chain has black links so you really cant mess up... one link goes at the bottom of the crank the other 2 go to the timing marks on the cam


While i was working My grandfater kept working on the car. The intake mani is back on the car as well as the throttle body and exhaust is all reconnected. All that is really left is the one last cam bolt then to throw the chain and timing cover on it....

 

[Adam95GT]

When i pulled the spark plugs i found plat 4's i think that might have caused the valves to burn.... i know some cars have problems with them. Im gonna keep my eye on the plugs pull one every day or so just to make sure...

 

[WHITE94COBRA]

Did the machine shop clean the passages in the head, seriously man I'm trying to save you time and money. Find those pieces! they may be in the cats, if thats the case they can screw up the cats, a hot piece of metal can bond to another, the that gets hot and melts....... and so on and so forth, I lost my cats on my bassani pipe from this crap.

yea i checked the block there was nothing on top of the pistons and i drained the oil as well. they probally burnt up and went out the exhaust valves... i checked around just to be sure.

 

[Adam95GT]

There is a precat in the actuall header it would be there it probally has fallen out... there is no way to check that precat without sawing off the header primarys. The head was hot tanked and fully cleaned so i know its not in there

 

[blksn955.o]

Nice job, your in for like what 2k or so...with a manual it should be a nice DD for another 100k. Looks really clean too.

Best way to learn...dont fear things, get some information/advise, and jump in taking your time.

 

[mustang6tee8]

It's interesting how much of the styrofoam pattern is left when the heads are cast.... I wonder what effects it has on perfomance and flow ratings

 

[Adam95GT]

It's interesting how much of the styrofoam pattern is left when the heads are cast.... I wonder what effects it has on perfomance and flow ratings

i thought that as welll the whole head is like this... Performance i could care less about... LOL 124hp woooo

 

[SQUEEZE&STROKE]

Looks like they use little pieces of aluminum and press and heat them together then mill...cheaper and easier...it IS a saturn...