Daewoo Lanos Head Rebuild

BosnianLanos · Post by **BosnianLanos** » Thu Mar 15, 2007 11:39 pm

Well, I pulled the head off of my green Lanos last Saturday. The problem was the head gasket like I predicted. The cylinders look A-OK, no scratching, burning, scoring, or anything out of the ordinary. Well, I bought a full head gasket set off of ebay, gaskets, seals, etc. I'm waiting for a valve spring compressor to come in the mail so I can take the valves out, but for the most part, I'm doing a full head rebuild. Before I'm done, all the oil gunk will be pressure washed out of the head, intake manifold, and exhaust manifold, the valve seals, cam seals, and all top end gaskets will be changed. I'm looking forward to having my car run like new again.

Now, here's the problem. When piston number 1 is at TDC (Top Dead Center), what should the orientation of the valves be, should the cam gears be at the alignment marks, how should it be set up?

All I'd like to know is what the head and piston orientation should be at the time of assembly, I don't want a broken head. Thanks!

MMamdouh · Post by **MMamdouh** » Fri Mar 16, 2007 11:54 pm

forget about TDC and valve orentation... your benchmarks are the notch on the crank gear and cam gears.

OK most probably when the crank gear is alighned the cyl. no1 will be at TDC but i got no idea whatsoever where should the valves be but who cares?? just alighn the notchs on the cam gears and you will be fine... it is like a standard issue timing belt replacment.

MMamdouh

BosnianLanos · Post by **BosnianLanos** » Sat Mar 17, 2007 5:10 pm

So if the cam notch marks are aligned, it makes no difference what the positions of the cylinders are? Sounds kinda weird, like the valves would open in a funky order.

Can anyone that has done a head rebuild be sure? Thanks!

BosnianLanos · Post by **BosnianLanos** » Sat Mar 17, 2007 5:11 pm

OK, nvm, I understand now. There must be a notch on the crank pully that I didn't see that lines up. And with this lined up and the cams lined up, I should be ok. Thanks!

Spider · Post by **Spider** » Wed Mar 21, 2007 12:16 am

BosnianLanos wrote:OK, nvm, I understand now. There must be a notch on the crank pully that I didn't see that lines up. And with this lined up and the cams lined up, I should be ok. Thanks!

After you remove the crankshaft pulley ? You will see an arrowhead "pointer" stamped on the crankshaft gear.
Line it up with the 'notch' in the bottom of the rear timing-belt cover.
Thats the the way you want it when you line up your cam gears.
For perfect timing? All line-ups must be perfect .

P.S. The factory service manual shows all this in detail.

BosnianLanos · Post by **BosnianLanos** » Sat Mar 31, 2007 8:42 pm

Here's an update. I managed to figure something out with the valve spring compressor that I had and was able to remove and replace all the valves.

The good:

All valve seals replaced.
-This should help with oil consumption and get some power back. The old two-piece ones were brittle and cracking to bits.

One valve replaced.
-The very first intake valve was bent I figure this happened when the car hyrdolocked. The combustion chamber and piston were completely clean (no burn residue), so I assume that I wasn't getting complete combustion.

Cam gaskets replaced.
-Old leaky brittle ones are gone, fresh gastkets in.

All Fastener Tightened to Specifications.
-End of annoying engine chatter.

Head pressure washed.
-I pressure washed everything with some light degreaser and a 3000 PSI washer to remove all oil sludge and varnish. The head was freakishly clean for a 9 year old car with 204000 miles. A testament to frequent oil changes and quality oil.

Full head reinstalled.
-Everything was put back on the engine and torqued down to spec. Everything is back together minus the alignment of the timing belt.

The bad:

Fuel line broke.
-The head shifted and snapped the line.

Ignition wire broke.
-The actual plug broke upon removal.

Front engine mount found to be completely broken.
-Well, what can you do?

In essence, the whole head repair process, including parts, tools, towing, registration, etc. should come out to about $500. Most of that money is in the new tools that I bought that I will reuse.

I'll keep you guys posted. Wish me luck!

daewoomofo · Post by **daewoomofo** » Sun Apr 01, 2007 12:37 am

nice, you should have done some p&p in my opinion, but its not my car, glad things went (for the most part) ok

BosnianLanos · Post by **BosnianLanos** » Mon Apr 02, 2007 12:32 am

Nah, no need for P&P, this is gonna be my beater car and I'll focus the modifications on my Red Lanos. That one is due for a timing belt change soon, so I'll rip the head off then. This one I just want to run. Who knows, if it ends up running well, I may just sell it.

New problem though. Everything is back on, all thats left to do is the timing belt. Got stuck there. Didn't know I had to loosen the water pump to give the belt enough slack to go on. Oh well, I'll try again tomorrow.

Spider · Post by **Spider** » Tue Apr 03, 2007 2:59 am

BosnianLanos wrote:Nah, no need for P&P, this is gonna be my beater car and I'll focus the modifications on my Red Lanos. That one is due for a timing belt change soon, so I'll rip the head off then. This one I just want to run. Who knows, if it ends up running well, I may just sell it.

New problem though. Everything is back on, all thats left to do is the timing belt. Got stuck there. Didn't know I had to loosen the water pump to give the belt enough slack to go on. Oh well, I'll try again tomorrow.

How many mile you got on the old water pump ?
I ask because if it goes out ? you could be back where you started.

BosnianLanos · Post by **BosnianLanos** » Tue Apr 03, 2007 9:41 pm

3500 Miles. I certianly hope that Daewoo quality isn't that horrid.

daewoomofo · Post by **daewoomofo** » Tue Apr 03, 2007 9:44 pm

not with 200,000 miles on it, i say thats pretty damn good