Bent some valves during cam/rocker swap WTF.....

[MattEngels]

bought the car with a nasty knock coming from the head and this is what i found
http://i134.photobucket.com/albums/q96/wagovanman/20120616_202410.jpg
http://i134.photobucket.com/albums/q96/wagovanman/20120616_202402.jpg

So I bought another A3 head along with an entire motor just in case since I had no clue what it might have been.

I removed the timing chain tensioner cover and put a very very small allen wrench in the small hole to keep the tensioner in place. I then removed the cams while my buddy was holding the cam gears in place with tension so not to lose time. I replaced all the rockers, cam caps (tops and bottoms) and cams then tourqued it all to spec. Go to fire it up and no compression I blamed it on not doing a valve adjustment so I go ahead and adjust the valves which ive done tons of times before but never on a k-series. I go to start the car and still no compression thats when i notice the drivers side intake valve on each cylinder is not retracting when its not riding on a lobe so it looks like i bent only 1 valve in each cyliner somehow. I dont know WTF I did now im scared to swap the head with the other one i have just in case i do this again. Any idea or thoughts would be nice.

http://i134.photobucket.com/albums/q96/wagovanman/20120621_210414.jpg

[bchaney]

Maybe the timing was off to begin with or it somehow came out of time when you were swapping cams? Why not just reset timing so you know it's right?

[USAF EP3]

How much did all that set you back by? If you it wasn't much I'd just go to a local salvage yard and pick up a K24A1 or any other K24 longblock for under $1000. You don't need Kpro if you use all stock manifolds and exhaust with the K24A1/A4/A6/A8

[MattEngels]

I have another head and motor (k20a3 as well) I would swap in another motor but the class im running in auto x is very strict on performance mods so I gotta stick with the A3.

when i swapped the intake cam i noticed a lil pin in the end and it looks like it could have been in 4 different positions thats gunna be what i look at next. I guess im gunna order a head set and start the process of swapping over the other head.

[bchaney]

Download a copy of the service manual if that's not what you've been using to check/set your timing.