Jim Bravo

Nothing new to report at the moment. I'm planning on dropping the head off at a machine shop in Nashville soon for them to go through and decide what needs repair/replacement. I had to take a little time away from it to get some work done to make money to pay for all of this

I'm considering sending my injectors off for cleaning during this downtime as well. My issue doesn't seem to be injector related though; I've unplugged each while running with no change in the ticking.

I did send off an oil sample to Blackstone, just to see if there is anything else crazy going on in this engine.

Jim Bravo

Just another update. The head was dropped off at the machine shop on Monday, and the oil analysis was received yesterday.

I didn't ask the machine shop to diagnose my noise. I let them know why I pulled the head, and asked them to look for (and fix) any issues. My local s2000 Facebook group recommend this place to me, and the guy said he does a lot of s2000 heads. I feel pretty confident in their ability to fix any issues properly.
They called Tuesday and said the exhaust valves guides were worn/loose/out of spec in some way, and needed to be replaced. They didn't say that cleaning up the exhaust valve and seat pitting would be a problem though.
They also said the area next to the 45 degree on the intake valves is "sharp, likes it's been pounding against the seat" (they called this area something else, I can't remember now). They said most of them don't have enough material to machine, and the valves would need to be replaced. I brought them the spare head I bought to inspect and clean up, so they said they may be able to get a complete set of good intake valves between the two. I should have the head back by the end of this week/beginning of next.

The oil analysis doesn't mean a whole lot to me, other than they didn't clearly say I've got major issues. I searched around a little and saw that high aluminum and iron would usually be from pistons/rings/sleeves. My sleeves seem to be in decent shape.




TL;DR

• Exhaust Valves guides need replacing
• Intake Valves need replacing
• I don't know if the oil analysis is good/bad/neither.

joelzeller

Low mileage injectors installed last night (with brand new seals all around). There is MAYBE a slight decrease in volume of the ticking, but not sure if it just a placebo effect... Ticking is still there though, and still starts about 30 seconds after a cold start. Frequency still sounds like it matches injector pulse.
On a positive note, the new injectors seem to have solved my low idle dip and shudder on clutch in at low speeds/engine revs. I also have yet to hear the puffing/slight misfire on warm idle either! Feels more responsive than before! Yay!

Still chasing that ticking noise....

Jim, please report back when you get a chance to throw the refreshed head back on! Maybe ask for some photos from your shop as well.
For what its worth, I had a blackstone analysis done for my S2000 as well: @1.5k miles on the oil, I had "5" AL and "3" FE. I plan to get another one done after this season (with more miles on the oil).

joelzeller

Hey Jim, any update on this? Did you get a chance to throw the refreshed head on the car? I'm going to be adjusting my valves again when I repaint my valve cover. Hopefully I get lucky and set them perfectly and the noise goes away!

Jim Bravo

I thought I'd posted this yesterday, but it didn't seem to stick..

No update. I actually just picked up the head from the machine shop yesterday. It took a lot longer than I had hoped, but the place had great reviews from other local s2000 owners, and the cost was very reasonable.

I started prepping for reassembly last night, I'll probably get the head reassembled today. I might have the car running again by the weekend if everything goes well.

joelzeller

Wow, looks pretty! Looking forward to hearing if the noise is still there.

If you don't mind, can you give me a list of everything done and ballpark estimate on total cost? Just in case I have to go this route

Jim Bravo

I paid a little over $300 for the head work. They replaced the exhaust valve guides, cleaned the head(however they do), cut all of the valves and seats to fix whatever issue they found there, and resurfaced it.

I saved a few bucks by reassembling myself, but I'm thinking it may have been worth it to get the head back reassembled and ready to install. I plan to record and upload the reassembly and reinstall to Youtube to maybe help someone else out in the future.

I'll keep the thread updated.

joelzeller

Nice! That would be a very useful video (especially if it solves this ticking noise!). Thanks for keeping this thread active with your updates. Crossing my fingers!

clio

Did you intentionally resurface the head? I thought it leads to timing chain problems.

Jim Bravo

It’s back together now. I still need to bleed the cooling system, then take it for a test drive. Initial start up was how it usually sounds.

I recorded most of the reassembly, but the battery died while I was reinstalling the intake manifold. I was having a heck of a time with it anyway, so I decided to continue without recording. I’ll upload what I’ve got later on.

I asked the shop to check it for straightness and clean up the surface. Very little material was removed from the surface, just enough to freshen it up for the new gasket.
From what I’ve read, anything more than a light resurface or two and you’ll want to consider a thicker head gasket to compensate.