Full Version: Leaky heads ??
I dropped my1.8L engine recently to try to take care of a bad oil leak I've had recently. In the process of removing things off the engine to find the leak, I discovered a black deposit at the seam of the head and each cylinder. Is this deposit something I should worry about? I'm not really planning on keeping this engine long term, but I'd like to know if its on the brink of disaster or whether this is okay.
Other side..
Hey Tony,
Why haven't I seen your car before? It's nice looking.
I lived in Redondo for 4 years in King Harbor. I moved
to Indy last May.
Post some more pics of your car.
Why haven't I seen your car before? It's nice looking.
I lived in Redondo for 4 years in King Harbor. I moved
to Indy last May.
Post some more pics of your car.
My first reaction would be yank them and freshen them up.
But if you are going to change the motor soon I might fix the oil leak, clean it up and stick it back in.
Does it pass a compression/leakdown test?
Take a large screwdriver and pry against the spring retainer (don't wreak anything) it should have almost no side to side movement. You have to deciede how long before your new engine is ready (be real) and do you want to chance it.
BTW I'm in the same boat and I do have my fingers and toes crossed. I don't want to spend much because I'm going bigger. If I was keeping the engine I would do it now.
But if you are going to change the motor soon I might fix the oil leak, clean it up and stick it back in.
Does it pass a compression/leakdown test?
Take a large screwdriver and pry against the spring retainer (don't wreak anything) it should have almost no side to side movement. You have to deciede how long before your new engine is ready (be real) and do you want to chance it.
BTW I'm in the same boat and I do have my fingers and toes crossed. I don't want to spend much because I'm going bigger. If I was keeping the engine I would do it now.
I think it's common with stock engines that have the head gaskets still in use. They should be tossed. I have the same motor, same problem. The cylinder needs to be lapped to the head for a tight seal. How bout some more details on your car? :cursor:
I haven't done a compression/leakdown test yet, but I plan on doing that soon. Its probably the only real way to assess if the leak is really bad.
I just moved to Redondo Beach in September after having been up in Santa Barbara for two years, going to school. Before that I was in San Diego... I got the car when I was in Santa Barbara, so that's probably why you never saw it around here
THe car is actually a 73 chassis, and the previous owner transplanted the engine from a 75 into it. UNfortunately the chassis has a fair amount of rust in some undesirable spots, so I don't really want to keep it forever. I'm in the process of paying off a lot of student loans and paying for my wife's college now, so it will be a few months or a year before I can invest in a new 914. Until then I want to keep this one going. Its been my daily driver and has been really a great car.
Anyway, more about the car...
73 chassis, with chrome bumpers, driving lights, front and rear sway bars, 140lb springs in the back, KYB gas adjustable shocks in back, EMPI 8 spoke wheels (silver, not chrome), BMW 320i brake conversion (I did this about a year ago), 19mm master cylinder, Optima battery, replaced and cleaned up starter (no more hot start problems), new stereo with a small sub that I built which fits between the seats, new carpet, etc.
I'll post some more pics here in a moment...
-Tony
I just moved to Redondo Beach in September after having been up in Santa Barbara for two years, going to school. Before that I was in San Diego... I got the car when I was in Santa Barbara, so that's probably why you never saw it around here
THe car is actually a 73 chassis, and the previous owner transplanted the engine from a 75 into it. UNfortunately the chassis has a fair amount of rust in some undesirable spots, so I don't really want to keep it forever. I'm in the process of paying off a lot of student loans and paying for my wife's college now, so it will be a few months or a year before I can invest in a new 914. Until then I want to keep this one going. Its been my daily driver and has been really a great car.
Anyway, more about the car...
73 chassis, with chrome bumpers, driving lights, front and rear sway bars, 140lb springs in the back, KYB gas adjustable shocks in back, EMPI 8 spoke wheels (silver, not chrome), BMW 320i brake conversion (I did this about a year ago), 19mm master cylinder, Optima battery, replaced and cleaned up starter (no more hot start problems), new stereo with a small sub that I built which fits between the seats, new carpet, etc.
I'll post some more pics here in a moment...
-Tony
From the Pelican Parts web site... at Dunkels...
Oh another silly thing I forgot to mention about the car... I'm an electrical engineer and of course this means that anything that can be made more electronic, will be made more so....
The turn signals have been replaced by large arrays of LEDs. Each Front turn signal has I think 100 amber LEDs and the rears have 50 or so red LEDs each. I had to build a special flasher circuit, since they draw far less current than light bulbs. So this flasher circuit allows me to vary the rate of flashing from very slow ( once per second) to strobe light speeds, and since they are LEDs, they actually respond that fast I do however leave them at a normal rate unless I'm showing it off to friends. One friend called it the Party Porsche Its silly, but hey, what can I say, I'm a geek.
-Tony
The turn signals have been replaced by large arrays of LEDs. Each Front turn signal has I think 100 amber LEDs and the rears have 50 or so red LEDs each. I had to build a special flasher circuit, since they draw far less current than light bulbs. So this flasher circuit allows me to vary the rate of flashing from very slow ( once per second) to strobe light speeds, and since they are LEDs, they actually respond that fast
I do however leave them at a normal rate unless I'm showing it off to friends. One friend called it the Party Porsche Its silly, but hey, what can I say, I'm a geek.-Tony
QUOTE(TonyAKAVW @ Feb 27 2003, 11:57 AM)
Oh another silly thing I forgot to mention about the car... I'm an electrical engineer and of course this means that anything that can be made more electronic, will be made more so....
The turn signals have been replaced by large arrays of LEDs. Each Front turn signal has I think 100 amber LEDs and the rears have 50 or so red LEDs each. I had to build a special flasher circuit, since they draw far less current than light bulbs. So this flasher circuit allows me to vary the rate of flashing from very slow ( once per second) to strobe light speeds, and since they are LEDs, they actually respond that fast I do however leave them at a normal rate unless I'm showing it off to friends. One friend called it the Party Porsche Its silly, but hey, what can I say, I'm a geek.
-Tony
The turn signals have been replaced by large arrays of LEDs. Each Front turn signal has I think 100 amber LEDs and the rears have 50 or so red LEDs each. I had to build a special flasher circuit, since they draw far less current than light bulbs. So this flasher circuit allows me to vary the rate of flashing from very slow ( once per second) to strobe light speeds, and since they are LEDs, they actually respond that fast
I do however leave them at a normal rate unless I'm showing it off to friends. One friend called it the Party Porsche Its silly, but hey, what can I say, I'm a geek.-Tony
That reminds me... The other day I was driving home behind a fire engine. Every time he hit the brakes the tail lights would do a quick strobe flash two or three times before lighting up steady. flash,flash,steady-on. It was very very attention-getting without being in-your-face. I'm sure it would be illegal on a non-emergency vehicle, but I still want those on my 914. When he hit the brakes you knew it. I've been nearly rear-ended too many times - something like this seems like a good safety feature. Just thought I'd mention it. (hmmm..... Array of superbright LED's, a 555 timer chip...)
-Ben
A 555 is exactly what I used to generatre the pulses. The problem is that the way the car is wired up is that you are shorting the supply to +12v and the ground is always connected. This means that you have to use either a pnp transistor or a P-channel FET. It turns out that the processes for making these is not very good and there are very few P-channel FETs that can handle reasonable amounts of current. SO the best way to go is to re-wire the signals, and use an N-channel FET to do the switching.
THe BMW 745 uses a PWM circuit to power the LEDs in its taillights. If you scan your eyes quickly past the LEDs you will notice that they flicker on and off very quickly. This is the best way to go, as you can pump more power through the LEDsmaking them brighter. Its a bit more complex, but not too bad.
If you really want bright LEDs you have to invest in LEDs made by Lumileds. They are much much brighter than the brightest superbrights you can find, but they are many dollars each. They have 5 watt LEDs now that are the brightest LEDs made.
THe BMW 745 uses a PWM circuit to power the LEDs in its taillights. If you scan your eyes quickly past the LEDs you will notice that they flicker on and off very quickly. This is the best way to go, as you can pump more power through the LEDsmaking them brighter. Its a bit more complex, but not too bad.
If you really want bright LEDs you have to invest in LEDs made by Lumileds. They are much much brighter than the brightest superbrights you can find, but they are many dollars each. They have 5 watt LEDs now that are the brightest LEDs made.
Tony, I'm sorry I missed you at the swap. I did take those pics of your car, though.
I think that these lights and such would go along with Bowlsby's FI harnesses and Mueller's bearings as "home-brew stuff you can sell for a microscopic profit". It would be nice to see something more interesting for the brake lights/turn signals than stock...
Have you given any thought to making a run of them?
--DD
I think that these lights and such would go along with Bowlsby's FI harnesses and Mueller's bearings as "home-brew stuff you can sell for a microscopic profit". It would be nice to see something more interesting for the brake lights/turn signals than stock...
Have you given any thought to making a run of them?
--DD
The thought crossed my mind. There are a few things I'd have to do before I'd be willing to sell them though... First is that I need to really engineer them properly instead of just solder a bunch of things together. The LEDs are sensitive to voltage much moreso than incandescent bulbs, meaning that for something I'd be wiling to sell I'd have to put in a DC-DC converter in each one to boost the voltage, and I'd also want to make them plug and play things. Mine had to be glued in and holes had to be drilled, etc. Also, I'd need to have circuit boards fabricated. Drilling 300 tiny holes per board is not my idea of fun 
Really though, the problem that I forsee is that these are probably not legal to use. The pattern of the light that comes out probably doesn't meet the laws. So I guess it depends on the demand for them. If people are willing to use them then fine. I've never been pulled over for them and I doubt anyone would be, but there's always that chance.
It would be a lot of fun to make and sell these things, and maybe see them on someone else's car.
-Tony
Really though, the problem that I forsee is that these are probably not legal to use. The pattern of the light that comes out probably doesn't meet the laws. So I guess it depends on the demand for them. If people are willing to use them then fine. I've never been pulled over for them and I doubt anyone would be, but there's always that chance. It would be a lot of fun to make and sell these things, and maybe see them on someone else's car.
-Tony
Hey Toni,
Nice car! mine is in process of looking that good....Still needs a chrome front bumper (as you can see) and it needs its slitre alloys polished....They are looking tired!
LEDs are a cool way to go....very bright and use almost no power (what a concept!)could you make something that has a bulb socket in one end and a "structure" that holds 50 LEDs and pot it with rtv silicone? genuine plug and play...oh, needs dc to dc converters right? even better would be to make them sequential in the indicated direction like on the mercury cougar i think.....just some ideas..
once again, nice car!
(cough, jealous, cough, cough)
Nice car! mine is in process of looking that good....Still needs a chrome front bumper (as you can see) and it needs its slitre alloys polished....They are looking tired!
LEDs are a cool way to go....very bright and use almost no power (what a concept!)could you make something that has a bulb socket in one end and a "structure" that holds 50 LEDs and pot it with rtv silicone? genuine plug and play...oh, needs dc to dc converters right? even better would be to make them sequential in the indicated direction like on the mercury cougar i think.....just some ideas..
once again, nice car!
(cough, jealous, cough, cough)
Well, to be honest, you wouldn't be jealous if you saw the paint job. its one of those "500 yards and 50 miles per hour" types... But that is soon to be fixed so that its more like "5 yards at 5 miles per hour" 
Having the socket plug and potting it was basicaly the way I was going to go, but with the large mass that a big array of LEDs presents, it might be difficult for the socket to support it and keep it aimed. Another option is to have the board tethered to a socket plug with a few inches of wire, and then you just glue the array into the correct position with RTV (removable for the most part)
-Tony
Having the socket plug and potting it was basicaly the way I was going to go, but with the large mass that a big array of LEDs presents, it might be difficult for the socket to support it and keep it aimed. Another option is to have the board tethered to a socket plug with a few inches of wire, and then you just glue the array into the correct position with RTV (removable for the most part)
-Tony
Here is a site I found a while back with lots of ideas for retrofitting leds, arrays or leds, etc. Mostly applicable to converting flashlights, but good info and ideas none the less.
http://thelightsite.cruxial.com/mods/mods_index.htm
-Ben
http://thelightsite.cruxial.com/mods/mods_index.htm
-Ben
what is you made a custom fit LED array that conforms to edges of "bucket" and plugs into the socket via a bulb bottom.....make a template with a rubber seal like thing on the edges to conform to every car's uniqueness.....make a do it yourself kiy....like an abs panel with 50 holes in it and the basic plug in stuff...like soldering dc to dc converters and a potz switxh for flash rate right?...coulb be fun! just ask me if ya need any helop in doing anything....
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