Took the head in this morning. The estimated work including a $78 head gasket kit is $443, not including $15 per valve that needs replaced. Apparently he said because this head uses shims on the valves, there is a lot of labor involved in getting them all re-adjusted. Cant remember the specifics but he's charging $160 labor for that, whereas some cylinder heads on other cars dont require that. Estimate attached.

FYI a low mileage used engine cost me $305.

Cost me $325 for a long block with 69k and I didn't pull it.

Wow, maybe I should have waited. Theres a local pick your part place nearby that sells cylinder heads for $40 if you take it off yourself.

i got it all back together, and it runs awesome! Thanks everyone for the help. One question though - about the timing belt not staying in the middle of the camshaft pulley... when i put the timing belt on and turned the crankshaft 2 rotations (making sure it was timed right still), the belt where it goes around the camshaft pulley slid to the back of the pulley and the edge of the belt is hanging off maybe 1mm or so. I gradually pushed and pushed the belt back to the center of the pulley with my hands. I rotated the crankshaft again and the same thing happened, so it will just not stay centered. I looked down and the idler, tensioner, and crankshaft pulley, and they all look ok - as in the belt was centered fairly well on those. Should I be concerned? Is there a chance i didnt put something on right? I dont think it is going to come off, as either the tensioner or idler (cant remember which) has a lip on the back that it looks like it cant go past. But still i want to be sure. I've spent a LOT of work in the last 1.5 weeks for it to go bad at this point. Thanks everyone!

When it's assembled that shouldn't be an issue.

The only thing I can think of is a little metal plate that goes IIRC behind the crank pulley, that would space the belt out another ~1/2mm or so when assembled. Does the belt walk off the sprocket when the engine is running or just when turned by hand?



Good job so far, by the way.

I did put that metal plate back on, but that was a good thought! Well, I'm assuming it would walk to the edge of the sprocket when the engine is running, since it did it twice when turning by hand, but I dont know for 100% sure, since the second time it happened when turning by hand I left it there. Are you thinking there would be a difference when turning by hand vs the engine turning it?



So far I've driven 300 miles on it, so far so good. So cross my fingers I guess.

There is a lip on the back of the sprocket and the plate between the pulley and sprocket keeps the timing belt in place, at least on the 1.6l.

Have you checked it again recently?



Sometimes when doing a timing belt, the crank sprocket will slide out on the crankshaft a little, until you bolt the pulley onto it.



So if you were spinning the motor over by hand without the crank pulley bolted on holding the sprocket in place it might "walk out" a little bit.



Pop the upper timing cover off and see where it's riding now that it's back together