Hey guys,
I got a bunch of stuff to update you all on, my dad and I were in need of something to do this weekend so we did a lot of testing and started diving into the GN to see what condition the motor was in... here is what we did and found:
** I will post a bunch of pictures after this of the car and various pictures of some of the components.**
1. I pulled the plugs and took the plug wires off, they are old and in need of replacing.
The Sparkplugs didn't look to bad, they had a little oil on them but it didn't seem to be anything to major.
I will post a picture of them below.
2. While I was in there I went ahead and pulled the valve cover pans, the passenger side proved to be a little bit of fun but I got it. They were in pretty rough condition, the chrome was chipping off of them badly. I went ahead and gave them a good coat of black paint after scrubbing them down, they look pretty decent, good enough for me at least.
3. I removed the plenum as well, I think it could benefit from a good coat of black paint but it didn't look to bad, the inside was relatively clean compared to some of the others I have seen in videos. None the less I scraped it down and cleaned it out.
4. While we had the plugs out we went ahead and did a compression test on the cylinders, all of them but one were showing 150psi the other one was showing 125psi. We were thinking a burnt valve could be the cause.
5. We did an air test as well, we put compressed air into the cylinder and we could hear a good bit of air going into the intake like the valves were not seating properly. All of the cylinders had this occur but the 2 on the very front of the motor. I would expect some air to escape into the oil pan but it was clearly going into the intake, a sound change was easily observed by opening the throttle body up.
I could take a screw driver and push down on the valve springs pretty easily, they seem to be very very weak.
6. I also tested the fuel pressure at idle before tearing part of the motor down: it was at 30psi. ( Would this be average or below? )
- With that being said I believe a new set of valve springs is in order:
I was thinking about getting the "Comp Cams 980-12's". I have heard good things about them and I wanted to get your guys opinion on that before ordering them. They are not to expensive and I figured they would be a good worth while upgrade.
Also do you guys know where I could find a super cheap shaft valve spring removal tool?
We are leaning towards pulling off the heads for valve work, if we do that we won't need the tool, we have one that will work with the heads off.
** The Scanmaster and knock gauge should be arriving today or tom so hopefully I can get that installed this weekend.
Since I would already be ordering new gaskets and springs I figured this would be a good time to pick up a few other things:
- Power Plate for the intake ( Is this needed or worth it? )
- Possibly fuel Injectors, they are old and are just the stock injectors. ( Any recommendations on these? )
- Transmission Filter and Pan Gasket
- Plenum and valve cover pan gaskets
- Fuel pressure gauge to mount in the car.
- Possibly Fuel pump, (any recommendations here?)
- Spark Plugs and plug wires ( any recommendations on these?)
- New Heads? ( You guys feel they are needed? Maybe the GN1 Performance Heads? )
Does anyone have any other recommended parts they would go ahead and pick up with the motor down this far?
Thanks,
Cam