1974 tii resurrection, stripped down the 1983 head

[JLENHAM]

In the long run it will probably make sense to source the proper e12 head for this car and piano top pistons.  In the meantime, since I pulled the head, it wouldn't cost much to strip it down to see if there are any glaring issues.  The leakdown was really poor in cylinders 2 and 4, something like 25% and 48% respectively so I am hoping that is the source of the bad running condition and was thinking I would be able to see a real defect.  Nothing obvious though.  Once the cam was out I filled the chambers with liquid and several valves leaked.  The valve seals were pretty brittle.  

 

Joy of joys, the super custom valve spring compressor that I built for Volvo heads works just fine here!

 

It won't cost too much to send this head out to the machine shop get it cleaned up and checked and then reassembled.  I am thinking that is the short path to getting the car running reliably.  In search of an e12 head but that can wait to go on the full rebuild/restoration.

 

Cam removal was not much fun... need to do better with the homemade rocker tools for the reassembly.  No damage done but it was touch and go.  My wife may now know more than she wants to know about pulling a cam out of a head.  Bless her heart!