N_Jay

Simple Green is good stuff for anything you can flush with water afterwards.

Gsrob

Thanks for all the suggestions guys... I've been using a combination of brake cleaner, carb cleaner, some less corrosive orange degreaser and a bit of good old engine degreaser in some places. After being couch-ridden for the last couple of days due to a sinus infection, I finally felt good enough to get out there and keep going.

I'll post some pictures below for those who are interested, but I basically continued cleaning, finished up the starter connections, cleaned and reinstalled the alternator, pulled the valve covers, cleaned a bunch more in there, pulled all the gaskets, replaced the old tensioner gaskets, half moon seals, and rear cam seals + plugs. I was about to pull the cam sprockets to get at the front ones this evening but the damn puller I have is the flimsiest piece of junk. I'll have to get a better one after work tomorrow. I've gotta say I've learned a whole bunch so far and have been enjoying the process. I also pulled off the old crankshaft bolt, replaced the crank seal, torqued and stretched the new bolt and removed a bunch of timing tensioner stuff as well as other pulleys that had to come off...

Plans for tomorrow after I get off work: Get the sprockets off, take off bracket that holds cam seals in place, replace cam seals on front of engine, clean oil channels in the bracket, replace and seal valve cover gaskets, replace spark plugs, clean inner/upper timing covers, remove water pump and thermostat and clean housings and hopefully put everything back together.

I was really hoping to have everything put together today but I guess it will still be a couple days since I'll only be able to do work in the evening. Lastly, I've got a coolant expansion tank on order from Amazon since mine has stress fractures that look like they are going to start leaking at any time.





Alternator cleaned and reinstalled after electrical connections were done for both that and the starter.





All of the new parts assembled and ready to go with the exception of the new crank bolt that was not in the picture.





Timing tensioner assemblies removed, crank pulley removed and getting ready to replace the seal at that point in the picture.





Some of the old junk off the car. Don't hate the honda-bond... Still the best sealant out there period (in my humble opinion). The half moon gaskets that came off the car were crumbling and looked like quarter moon gaskets. No wonder there was so much sludge and oil on everything...

Grapeking

Gsrob - not to pile on/add to the list, but so long as you have it wide open are you replacing the water pump? I didn't see it mentioned on your list.

Looking nice and shiny, by the way! Good work!

Gsrob

Yep, I've got a hepu water pump in the picture as well...

Quick question... On the driverside bank of cams (after pulling sprockets with the locking bar on and having no issue) I was going to replace the bolt in the exhaust camshaft with the cam position sensor that bolts to it. When tightening the 13mm bolt that connects the cam to the head and gripping the cam with all my strength on some vice grips, it slipped somehow and turned the cams over one rotation. Should I just leave it be until I reassemble with the pulleys then turn it back to where it was using the locking bar?

Will I have any problems by doing this? Moving on to valve cover gaskets for now. I figured things were going too smoothly.

jseklund

Man, you are doing all this while sick? You are a workhorse. This is a big job when you feel good. I think that you are really plugging away at this. Great work so far.

Gsrob

Thanks man... I really appreciate the PM. I was worried but feel much better now. On to the next problem... I installed one valve cover without issue but the other gasket is torn and was torn when I received it. Last time I received a damage part from FCP they next day aired it to me for free. Hopefully the same thing applies here because I am itching to keep going. Thanks for the kind words and I'll post a few updated photos below.





Cam sprockets off... Believe it or not, I was able to put a three jaw puller on the cam gears with the locking tool installed.





Cam seals installed after a cleanup of the valve cover.





Valve cover installed after the gasket install and retorque of all bolts related to the cam seals.





Torn valve cover gasket (#2) ... Incredibly frustrated that I needed to stop where I did.

Moncho

After looking through this entire thread I decided to login and post a quick comment. Excellent work and appreciate all the blow by play and pics! Nice to see such work be documented in detail instead of having a single paragraph stating the work is done (I'm one of them). Wish I was that ballsy in taking on such a project but fortunate for me my A6 is in decent shape. Great job so far, keep it up.

Cheers,
Moncho

Gsrob

Moncho,

I really appreciate the encouragement. It's definitely dragged on longer than I would've liked, but I am trying to take care of everything that might possibly go wrong before I button it back up. Cleaning everything has taken so long. I've literally gone through 12 cans brake cleaner, 1 can of carb cleaner, and a bottle of citrus degreaser. But it looks shiny now! I took last night off because I am waiting for the torn valve cover gasket to be replaced. FCP is sending one out to me today! Also just received my new coolant expansion tank so that alleviates any leakage concerns. I'll post some more info/pics after tonight.

johnkk

Did SloopJohn suggest replacing the voltage regulator on the alternator? It's one of his favorites from his Saab days. Brushes wear out in the regulator assembly and not expensive diy when in svc pos. Technically, you can solder in new brushes with braided leads, but not worth the trouble.
I didn't read the whole thread, so perhaps this was addressed along the way.

CRuby

Gsrob,
What year & mileage on your car? We somewhat recently got my son's 2.7 back together after going a couple steps beyond where you were (pulled engine for clutch, turbo rebuild, etc). Looks like your making good progress & paying attention to detail. Catching that torn VC gasket early saved you from having to reclean your engine again!
So here's a lesson learned. While your electric fans are out, put 12V to them to be sure they work. My son's car had ~170K miles & after we put it all back together, one of the fans worked intermitantly. With 12V applied directly it would work OK, but later, it wouldn't. Bottom line was the internal brushes were worn down to their stops, so minimal spring load on the motor brushes. Had to go back to service position (we've had lots of practice) & remove the fans. When I opened the fan housing up a pile of black carbon poured out. Looked like emptying a pencil sharpener w/o the wood shavings (assuming anyone knows what a pencil sharpener is now-a-days). I cut out the 4 old carbon brushes, soldered in new ones, oiled bearing, & they now run like new. So just a heads up to at least test your fans now by putting 12V to them, so you don't experience same issue. Good luck.