The part that scares me is messing with all the timing stuff when pulling the head.

 

well you have us as a resource, and you kind of have no choice right now lol.

but I sure as hell wouldn't pay 1200 for that. but i am a DIYer

 

k&n. well I did a boost leak test on it and bov definitely wont leak during that. I did find that the damn coupler on the turbo had a loose clamp again. what the heck is it with that thing. only way I can for sure test to see if its bov issue is get a charge pipe with no bov, which I sold lol I guess I can always buy another one, check it out, and then sell whatever one I don't want to use. and k&n intake.

 

Luckily my parents have lent me a car so time isn't of the essence so I probably will go about this myself, slowly and asking you guys lots of questions haha.

 

After setting up the cam iming double check everythiing is tight and crank the engine over with a wrench at least one rotation before starting to make sure cam timing is still bang on

 

I'd go with the LDK then you don't have to mess with the timing.

 

make sure everything is tight and lined up then double check the cam timing by rotating the engine with a wrench to make sure nothing moved and is still bang on before trying to start the engine

 

stupid internet didn't post then came through

 

Poor college kid though...

I'm thinking pistons, rods, and bearings then get it running. There's no reason that won't work without touching the head or timing at all, right? I know this isn't ideal but it minimizes the amount of stuff that can go wrong if I run into a problem with it all back together.

I'll clean the valves later this summer if I still have the car.

 

Yeah, as long as the head is fine it will work. which Im assuming that just piston rings are bad on Number 4. as long as you didn't do any other damage.

 

what shop?

 

There's no abnormal noise, ticks, scarching, etc at all so I doubt the head is damaged. It even felt fine when it was running.

 

English Racing.

 

They said $1,200 for that ? Call up Hockinson Auto works and see if he does stuff like that and see how much he'd charge.

 

LDK short block is 1500+250freight,you'll have to mess with timing. LDK longblock without turbo is 3600 +250freight but you have a brand new engine. You said the previous owner beat on it and at least toasted the rings on cylinder 4, the cylinder wall could be screwed also.

 

I'm going to pull the bad piston and see what I can find out. Anyone know how to check the cylinder walls for damage?

 

Yeah that's what I've been looking at but I don't know if I want to drop $5k more into my Cobalt. I might cut my losses. Hopefully it doesn't come to that.

 

well u were right, did another boost leak test, bov was leaking bad. so enough of this crap, I ordered a new upper ic pipe with no bov flange and im going back to the right way of doing things. stick with stock bpv. we shall see what happens then.

 

Is there room for the pistons and rods to slide out of the bottom of the motor without removing the crank?

 

If you drop another 4k on the engine you'll have another 100k+ miles out of it, so if you plan on keeping the cobalt for awhile you're not going to get dick for it with a blown engine

What bov were you running?

 

The zzp bov. I may try bov again some time but I'm gonna buy brand name one if I do. Right now I need to take this out of the equation so I can get my car running right. So I'm taking this potential issue out of the equation

 

That's a good point, but I'm sure the tranny won't last half that long.

 

I wouldnt think a new piston/ring pack would seat without honing the cyl walls, and to do that, the engine would have to be out of car and disassembled. The piston and rod would have to come out thru the top of the engine.

 

no, you have to push them out the top.

 

No. you'd have to remove trans and crank plus i don't know how you would compress the rings that way.