When good Saab engines go bad! lol Head is off - not pretty!

[saab_o_naut]

[ Also posted at www.classicsaab.net ... ]

Ok well I finally have the cylinder head + intake and exhaust manifolds, and the turbo, removed from the engine in the 8V turbo car.

To keep the timing chain from de-registering with the camshaft drive gear I used cable ties to clamp the chain to the gear:


Big version

The head gasket did not have a leak between any of the coolant passages and the cylinder bores, but what it did show me is that the coolant passages are badly corroded in the cylinder head itself, and the coolant holes in the head gasket were very badly blocked with what I can only call 'rusty gunk'. Here are the pics:


Big version

Big version

Big version

Big version

Note that I did soak up the coolant that ended up in the two middle cylinders to reduce the chance of the bores getting rusty. I'll wipe a light coat of engine oil on them tomorrow as the engine will be dismantled for a week and bit until I receive an exhaust manifold repair kit (new studs, nuts, spacers, etc.) from a Saab parts seller (!) in the UK.

I removed the intake manifold a few days ago and it's gasket did show problems. Pics coming of that below showing possible leakage evidence:


Big version

Big version

The main coolant port from the water pump is quite corroded but should be ok once it's cleaned up to remove the build-up of dried out coolant chemicals.

I have not found any evidence of cracks in the head, so that's a Good Thing. The turbo has also been removed and it has two serious defects - the wastegate is totally stuffed. The vacuum actuator is fine, but the wastegate itself is frozen in position and will not move, not even with gentle hammer taps on it's actuating lever (where the arm from the actuator joins on). Also, the wastegate and exhaust elbow are VERY loose where the assembly formed by those two items join to the main turbine housing. One of the five studs isn't there (broken off), and the four remaining ones are all loose. It looks like someone used nylock nuts, and either they've not been tightened properly, or the studs have just stretched over time.

The actual turbine has no play at all, so I will get the parts I need to repair the turbo and keep it for a spare when the one I've got coming from the USA already arrives and gets installed into the car. Here's the turbo before I started work on dismantling the engine (the location of the exhaust leak is fairly obvious from the discolouration!):


Big version

I've noticed that the right side rear engine mount is dead too - the rubber part inside the outer metal 'bean' is broken. Should not be difficult to replace while I have the rear of the engine jacked up so that the rear engine bracket could be removed yesterday before I lifted the cylinder head out of the car.

The other thing I've seen is that one of the two engine oil cooler lines has a leak where it joins to the top of the oil filter mount. I don't have the means to fix that myself but the hoses look fairly standard items so maybe they can be replaced with something generic that's sourced from a normal auto parts shop. I might even go 'whole-hog' with those lines (and those for the auto trans cooler - it's an 'in-line' type) and have replacements made up with Aero-quip fittings and braided stainless steel hose. Anyone does that sort of thing with oil lines on c900 8V engines before?

Here's my 3 y/o son Quinn at the wheel:


Big version

Craig.

[saab_o_naut]

In the equivalent thread at my www.classicsaab.net site, I posted a couple of followups with more pics showing results of disassembly, and more problems. As mentioned in the thread about the exhaust manifolds, one of the bolts for the water pump broke off (just below the bolt head) and so far the tools and methods I have available haven't been able to remove the rest of the bolt from the water pump housing.

The engine work has pretty much stalled but I've since obtained another classic 900 which isn't a turbo, but it's my first 16V car and the main attraction was the engine/trans in good condition but also the body in excellent condition with no structural rust anywhere and only very minor surface corrosion in the usual places.

So at present I have five classic 900's. There was a really nice 1981 8V turbo on Ebay here recently but before I could arrange a proper inspection at a Saab service outlet, the buyer decided to accept someone else's offer to buy the car outside of Ebay and cancelled the listing. 8-) Mwah! I'd had one drive of the car but not a very good inspection.

I'm hopeful my 83 8V turbo rebuild is going to end up ok, though the more I take the engine apart the more I'm thinking that I could probably buy a complete rebuilt 8V engine and just replace the entire engine... ;-) Hindsight is always a wonderful tool. lol

Craig.