[alfa] RE: 164 bent valves

[Brad Anesi <brad.anesi@xxxxxxxxx>]

Karl-  Sorry to hear the news.  Any idea what happened?  Tensioner failure?

It's been quite awhile now since I pulled the heads on the 164.  FWIW, I
mostly likely won't ever do it again - I'd just pull the whole engine now
that I own a hoist.  You seem to have the steps down for the way I did it
with the exception of un-bolting the half-shafts.  You might be able to get
the head out with them attached, but you'll really put some stress on the
joints, and you'll almost assuredly need more room when re-installing the
head.  

The other alternative to do most of what you've indicated and partially drop
the sub-frame.  I learned of this approach after I did it the hard way -
details of this should be floating around somewhere on the 'net.  I know
this is the way Dennis Black used to do it when he was still doing service
business.  I'm not sure, but maybe you don't have to un-bolt the half-shafts
if you go this route.

Let us know how things work out.

Brad      
--------------------------------
From: Karl Robrock <robrock@domain.elided>

well, I managed to bend my valves on my L. :(
Rear head. I think I bent both intake and exhaust. I started the engine
after replacing the head gasket on the front head. After debugging fuel
leaks, vacuum leaks, and a couple of swapped plug wires, I got it running
perfectly. I ran the car about 15 minutes, until it was warm. I then
put in the fender liner and wheel, and dropped the car back on the
ground. I went to start it and I can't really describe how loud it was.
Very strange. I shut it off and tried to restart it and heard the infamous
tapping. T-belt was loose. The rear cam ended up two teeth FORWARD, not
backward. Upon installing a new tensioner and realigning, I tried again,
and I was getting puffs of air coming back up the intake, making my
throttle boot bulge. Hope I did not damage to the AFM.
So,
I need to replace the rear head. A friend is donating me heads from his
old L engine. I wanted to ask for advice from someone who has done this
before. My understanding of the engine-in-place procudure is:

remove shifter linkage
remove diconnect upper motor mount, rear motor mount
loosen other two motor mounts
disconnect downpipes
remove alternator
jack up engine from oil pan to rotate engine forward
remove intake plenum, runners, etc.
remove oil pump cover and remove nut on oil pump shaft
remove rear header (perhaps not necessary?)
unbolt head
pry up somehow.

I am told I will need to bend the upper motor mount bracket out of the way
to make clearance for the head.
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