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The Disassembly of my SR20DET
Upon a detailed inspection of my SR20DET, I found that there were a few things I needed to do. Initially, I saw that the lower oil pan was dented and needed to be banged out. SR20's are extremely finicky about dented lower oil pans and they absolutely need to be taken care of. Additionally, when I removed the manifolds from the engine, I found some other things:
1) There were some leaky exhaust valve guide seals evidenced by wet oil seeping through them into the exhaust ports
2) Water had gotten into the intake ports as evidenced by a white, milky buildup on the intake valves (oil and water mixed). This was probably due to the fact that the fuel injectors were removed from the engine and the engine was most likely cleaned after the removal, leaving the intake ports open to water leaking in.
My original plans were not to tear this engine apart, but these discoveries posed some issues for me. I had to be sure that there was no imminent damage to components in the bottom end from the water intrusion (i.e. cylinder wall rust, rusted piston rings, excess water and/or sludge that would get blown into the turbo). I also did not want to ignore the leaky valve guide seals. Finally, I came to the decision of removing the cylinder head in order to take the utmost precaution and ensure some peace of mind. This change of plans also prompted the purchase of extra parts and the acquisition of machine work that I had not previously planned on having done.
First, here are some pics of the initial valve cover removal. I was pleased to see that all the components under the valve cover were extremely clean with very little visible wear. This is most likely due to the fact that synthetic oil was run through this engine as evidenced by the brown coloration.
Some shots after the cylinder head was removed. The combustion chambers looked very clean, all the valves appeared to be in great shape. Also, the bottom end components looked to be in fantastic condition. The tops of the pistons gave evidence that the engine did not experience any lean conditions or detonation issues. The spark plugs were also a testament to that as their condition revealed that normal combustion was what this engine saw during its life in the Bluebird.
Removal of the oil pans revealed the crank and rods. As expected, everything appeared to be in great condition. I removed one rod bearing cap to inspect the bearing for abnormal wear, but, there was none to be found. This engine was in superb condition internally.
I also removed the front cover and rear main seal carrier plate in order to take the opportunity not only to replace the front and rear main seals, but also to re-seal these metal components with fresh RTV.