Well I just left the chevy dealer with a check that covered all my parts and consumables. I bought a head repair kit from a vendor on Ebay that lives in Devon, United Kingdom. It includes all new intake valves(6), all new exhaust valves(6),all new valve guides(12),new head bolts and a gasket set. The kit shipped to my door was $497.90. I also bought Mobil 1 synthetic oil, Bosch oil filter, Peak antifreeze, and my first quart of Marvel mystery oil to go in the gas and the oil too. Chevy paid for all of it which I'm sure wasn't even a drop in the bucket for them, but it was a big deal to me. I was given free reign to buy the parts I needed and I bought the stuff that was recomended for the car. If anyone needs the name of the ebay vendor for your own head project just PM me and I'll be happy to forward the information to you. This vendor is planning to expand their offerings of Smart parts, particullarly engine stuff that is hard to get here in the states unless you pay full retail at a dealer. So I'll keep everyone posted. Chevy agreed to pay for all the parts and I provide the labor and will pay for the machine work myself. They also paid the $374 bill from Smart car of Easton, so at least I got a $374 set of Denso spark plugs. I wonder if they will last longer than the $26 each ones we can buy around here? If I do the engine work then I'm sure that it is done right. Chevy offered me the full price for the Smart car back, and I know it's crazy to everyone probably, but I really like that little car. I've worked on it for 3 months already and spent over a thousand dollars to customize it just the way I want it. I intend to keep it for a long time. There are car people that take a rusted up 57 chevy and put $100,000 in it to restore it even though it may not be worth that much when they are done. Maybe value wise it may only be worth $60,000, but having somethng you enjoy and really want outweighs dollars and cents sometimes. I could have taken the money and ran with it and bought me another Smart, but who's to say it wouldn't have exhaust valve problems too at some point? At least I know what I have now and can properly keep it serviced and it should last a long time. Why die rich by being overly frugal and sacrificing and when you're gone someone else enjoys your money and possessions? I'll get off my soapbox now..... There just isn't alot of stuff online about dropping the engine and servicing the head, so with ALLDATA and my digital camera I will endeavor to provide that info here.I'm gonna start on it right after thanksgiving, so I'm bound to have a question or two along the way. I've been combing the posts here hours at a time for info from people that have done it. "Offsprings" pics from his motor pull were priceless and very helpful. I have done alot of cylinder head work, just not on a smart. there's a first time for everything and it's time to learn. From what I've read so far the only thing that scares me about the project is getting the timing chain in correctly, as that seems to be a problem and conflicting instructions from sources (alldata,service manuals). I will document the chain and cam assembly to death before I remove them. I have 3 questions before I start out:
1.Does the head gasket require any type of sealer? I'm old school and used to use the Fel Pro gaskets that were blue coated and required no sealer. And I did head work on an old plymouth GTX I used to have and I had to buy a spray copper gasket sealer to use on those steel shim type (thin) head gaskets(victor gaskets from Napa).
2.The other thing that worries me is getting all the air out of the cooling system. I know that I'm supposed to take a hose loose at the driver side of the head and fill the system with coolant until the air is all out.Maybe even drive it up a steep bank and run it a few minutes just ot be on the safe side as was suggested on other posts?
3.And lastly I read on here that all the hose clamps are "crimp type" and need to be replaced by screw type clamps when they are removed.So I figure this is a good time to replace them. Does anyone know how many there are total between the radiator and heater core hoses, and also what size are the hoses? From pictures they look to be small like 1/2" hose or maybe 5/8"?
If it goes well I may get it done before my hip surgery, but if the car fights me back I may not get it all done before surgery, but at any rate I will get it done and at some point get the info on here. I've done several Smart projects and made videos of them, but windows movie maker and my older laptop won't allowme to edit it into full videos. I had planned to post several Smart car things on you tube and post the links here, but the computer wn't let me get it done. A little bird told me that Santa may be bringing me a new powerful laptop for christmas, and if he does I'll get all that edited and posted. So I may just stick with pictures on this project and that way I'll be sure to get them posted.... Sorry didn't meanto write a book !