Pulled the head off it (With pics)
 

Well, heads plural, but you know..

I'd been getting symptoms of head gasket failure - the EJ257 was on 70k miles with a rebuild earlier in its life due to gasket failure at which point it got bearings, forged pistons, arp head studs, etc etc. Couple these symptoms with the slipping clutch from my other thread and it was time for the engine to come out.

https://cimg9.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.sco...cb092bac51.jpg
https://cimg6.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.sco...464707e02b.jpg




Pulled the inlet manifold off, bit of a bugger of a job. Don't do it. :lol1: This will go back on with TGV deletes to simplify things a bit and eek a few more horses out. I'm a fan of efficient tuning, I'd rather get more out what I've got where possible rather than adding boost.


https://cimg7.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.sco...3e7d20073e.jpg





Cams out to get the head studs removed - Put them back in once the studs were off to keep everything in place when removing the heads.


https://cimg9.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.sco...2f2a7ae976.jpg



Seemed to have missed my picture of the gasket for this side but it was all ok with no obvious signs of failure.

https://cimg1.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.sco...28d26b1de0.jpg



Turbo side, different story. Looks like the gasket has failed in two places at the bottom around the cylinders.

https://cimg4.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.sco...91818a4be5.jpg




Here you can see obvious blow-by on the cylinder head where the gasket has failed.

https://cimg3.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.sco...7fdbfeae0b.jpg




Gratuitous turbo shot for all the turbo fetishists out there.


https://cimg1.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.sco...d6ebc38ae4.jpg




At this point, feeling quite pleased i'd found the source of the problem, I started cleaning up the block and piston crowns only to find this.. :freak3: looks like a clean through crack that has been previously repaired?.. The crack appears to go all the way through into the cylinder, its not visually clear but im sure I can feel it when I run my finger across it. This is on the passenger side, NOT the turbo side that the gasket failed on. There was no obvious coolant leak from this.

https://cimg8.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.sco...9e6afcdff5.jpg



https://cimg0.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.sco...4331cc2650.jpg



So i guess the question is where do I go from here? Can that be repaired (again?) Does anyone have any experience of having this done? The engine was running just shy of 400/400 previously which I'd like to up a little.. Or do I look at sourcing another block / short engine? Anyone know of any failed projects being broken up with good spec motors?

Wow, good work mate....how long have you owned the car? How many miles have you done? Cheers

Common failure point even on the 2ltr.

I've owned it about 6 months and done roughly 6k in that time, its been great up until now. Sort of thought the hard work had been done with the engine previously being rebuilt but its done about 50k miles since the rebuild so I'm not too disheartened by this.

Yeah, very obviously a weak point on the semi block.

get a used block as if you repair it what says you would not get the same issue again , you have been unlucky but in same sentence the first crack i saw on a scooby was same place on a cs400 , i feel for good reliability and fuel as mines a daily drive then i keep the power down and 400 is too much for me any way, as i’m sure i would end up popping it 😁🤣

I had an identical issue on my 2.5 was only running 342 / 410 ft lb. Mine ended up hydrolocking on start up, but luckily no rods bent. It was fully built nearly 5 years ago.

I went for a new block in the end....same place mine went :

https://cimg3.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.sco...82e73efcc5.jpg
https://cimg1.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.sco...92cad81a95.jpg

Closed deck inserts if you rebuild mate

WHy not take off the inlet manifold ?

It was a joke fella - of course, it needs to be removed to remove the heads. I was just jesting as it was more effort than I expected it to be.

Haha no worries

Head gasket has gone on my classic and didnt know wether to strip it myself or not

Enginetuner will knock you up forged 2.1L stroker short block if you give them somewhere in the region of £2.5k & a set of cases (probably not your current ones :Whatever_).

https://www.scoobynet.com/trader-announcements-363/707719-enginetuner-2-1-stroker-engines.htmlhttps://www.scoobynet.com/trader-announcements-363/707719-enginetuner-2-1-stroker-engines.html

Comparison of a 2.1 vs 2.0 :luvlove:

https://cimg8.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.sco...bdd7ca3cbe.png

if you can find a closed deck ...that would be my starting point (built it well ...built it once :D ).

Alyn installs closed deck inserts for £500 IIRC.

Then go 2.1 stroker :luvlove: