Bianca Ratlye

[C2K]

*dusts off the cobwebs*

So, what a few months it has been.Spent a lot of time sorting things out after moving house, had a very busy few months at work, had wedding stuff to plan etc...

Anyway, headgasket was confirmed as having gone by noticing a constant pressure in the cooling system for a period of days, and the fact that bubbles were ever present in the header tank during running. Fail, coolant pipe gets the last laugh.

So, I ummed and ahhed about whether I had the time and patience to whip the head off, given that the many issues with the car had begun to make me lose the love somewhat. Thought about buying an evo for a bit, but then subsequently decided to diy for the first time. I took the head off and took it to the engine builders behind work, who confirmed a 4 thou skim was necessary to clean up the head. They skimmed the head, cut all 16 valve seats, cut all the valves and pressure tested the head for an (accidental) price of £100. Nice.

Then I went on holiday to Brazil, met Jesus on a hilltop.

Then I did jack sh!t for a month, took the mrs home to Cape Town for xmas with the inlaws.

Then arrived 2015 so I got off my arse in January and started the rebuild. I'd never rebuilt a head before so did it slowly in the evenings after work. It was quite easy and just required being methodical tbh. Tonight, finally finished putting it all back together, and started it up for the first time. It's good to hear it after a few months in pieces on axle stands. It's not quite finished yet as the setup needs some fine tuning, but it's on the way - gives me some motivation anyway.