[theitguy4196]

hey all,

I recently bought a G16A with a jimny intake manifold (specifically for the manifold). The story goes, old mate had a jimny g13 and wanted an upgrade, so he bought a baleno and got a mechanic to rebuild the engine and convert the jimny over the the 1.6 from the baleno. (which is weird because its a coil pack baleno head but a g16A block??? weird) The story goes that it was a full rebuild and swap into the jimny, after 1000kms it was a milkshake with a leaking head gasket, after which he decided to wreck the jimny and i bought the motor.

So...

I pulled the head, under which was a MLS gasket (with no obvious fail points). Some of the head bolts seemed to be torqued a lot less than others (yes i de-torqued them in the correct order and amount).... My plan was to fix the head gasket issue on this engine, leave the intake on it and swap into my sierra (which has a baleno coil pack G16b in it). That way i would fix various oil leaks by using a rebuild engine with new seals ect......

So questions are:

1. I have heard the G16b block is alot stronger than the G16a? is is worth me forfeiting this G16a and rebuild my G16b (which is in my zook), or do a H gasket and go with the rebuild G16A engine...?

2. why would the head bolts not all be the same torque? are the bolts reusable? is there the possibility that they needed to be re-torqued and thats why the gasket leaked?

3. (i know this is broad but...) Should i just slap a gasket into it (i have got one here) and chuck it into my car? or take the head in to get checked? (i already have a pretty good engine in the sierra albeit a few oil leaks, which would be my main motivation for the swap, other than having a fresh rebuild engine which i cannot affort! )

please help my! i have no idea what to do!

[MrRocky]

Have head skimmed/decked so its level and slap back on. Re-use head bolts is fine, i like to overtorque them (eg if says 45nm id go to 65nm) make sure you tighten them in the correct sequence and go over them a few times, dont go to max torque straight up.
Retorque them after a few drives.

[fordem]

MrRocky wrote:

Have head skimmed/decked so its level and slap back on

Perhaps start by first checking both head AND block with a straight edge & feeler gauge, and if necessary skim/deck???

[MrRocky]

Decking block is a bit more involved than a head skim and new gasket. Judging from the op's initial questions i would hasten a guess to say beyond his capabilities

[fordem]

Point was to check before having any work done...

[theitguy4196]

Hey guys,

Thanks for your replies.

I have checked both the block and head surfaces with rule and feeler, the block is almost perfect within (1ish thou), the head however seems to be 3-4 thou in places (which i believe is within tolerances (4 thou).....

i was wondering if it was something to do with the install of the MLS gasket (maybe improper install), because of the loose and irregular head bolts.....
What is a ball park for the head skim? I have been told anywhere between below 100$ to just over 1000$ and then not to worry about it and get a replacement head... Spending a lot of money kinda defeats the purpose of the exercise haha

regarding the block, was i right in hearing that the G16B block is stronger than the G16A? Or is it not worth worrying about?

Thanks again fellas!

[MrRocky]

The head shop i use charges between $50-100 to skim a sierra head. The money you invest in rebuild/fix would depend on how long you intend on keeping the car.