Actually, I was a bit overwhelmed. Then I followed
Ray's advice on removing the head, which I did. To give
me more working space I completely removed everything
around (intake manifold etc). At that point, I saw the
culprit: a damaged piston. I contacted a few people
to find a replacement piston and right now I'm waiting
on these people, hopefully yielding one piston in the
end (you know who you are :P ).
Initially, I tought there was also head damage, but I
just checked it pretty good, and there doesn't seem
to be any. What had fooled me was the "folded" lip
of the piston. Pour oil, it goes down straight right there.
I tought it had been caused by an exhaust valve hitting
the piston, but now I think it just blew, from a previous
stress that had blew the head another time. Not that
surprising as the wastegate was in real bad shape.
The block is in very good shape, the other pistons
look real nice, so do the cylinder walls (including in
the one where the piston was damaged).
So now, I have all the given in the equation, no real
unknown. Beside the piston, while I'm there should
I do anything else? (actually a shop not too far is
going to tow the car, change the piston and bring
back the car, I dont have anything to lift and support
the engine).
I will have the head ported while I'm waiting for the
car. Anything else obvious that I should do?
The Saab APC is also on the to do list.
Now, I got to track down a piston, and all the
gaskets.
Ciao,
Francois Dion (francois@hyperreal.org)