I pulled the plugs and sprayed some Deep Creep down the holes and cycled the engine a few times. Starter still works and it’s not seized or anything. After turning the steering wheel back and forth while making engine sounds with my mouth for a bit, I decided to go ahead and get some work done finally. Compression test was around 60psi across the board… Time to pull the head. Bottomed out my 12mm ratchet wrench like a total rookie, and after some blood and cursing, finally removed that shitass intake manifold and threw it into a fire ant hill where it belongs. Lots of gunk in all the water passages. Exhaust studs are… I’m not even gonna try that yet. Going to soak for a week with Deep Creep and then they will get the torch if they don’t play nice. We won’t be needing either manifold for this rebuild. Once I get the head off I can check the valves and rings and stuff. Since the Turbo is missing I’ll have to choose a replacement and build a new manifold to make it all fit where I want. Most likely going to build my own MPI manifold from scratch if the block is ok. Easier said than done, but I don’t really see any for sale that don’t look like Mad Max props. I’m ok with the mad scientist NASA look as long as the welds aren’t hammered dog shit. We will see. Out of time for today.
