One thing I was a bit worried about was how warped the cylinder head was going to be and if it wasn’t going to be able to be saved. The machine shop told me it was about the max they would have decked the cylinder head while still being able to use it. They ended up taking off 11 thousands off the bottom. (High compression anyone?) I asked them if I needed a thicker head gasket and they said I should be okay. So I got the stock thickness head gasket and just went for it!






Before I pulled the cylinder head off I decided to test the block threads to determine if I needed to time sert the block as I read this was a very common issue for overheated engines. Turns out I needed to do this while I was in there so I ordered the time sert kit and time serted all the head bolt holes while I was in there.





Once I got everything cleaned up, I slapped the new head gasket on the engine and put the cylinder head back on hoping those time serts would hold up.







Once I got everything back together, I pressure tested the coolant system overnight and it held just fine. I was confident that there were no leaks and it was going to be ready to rock again. First fire up went alright and it seemed to run okay after all the residual oils burnt off. I did however notice some ticking noises (which are still happening to this day) that either sounded like lifter tick or some sort of bottom end knock. I was a bit concerned (and still am) but the car runs and drives great so it can’t be that bad. Here she was in all her glory after I revived her. At this point this had also been one of my larger automotive projects that I had taken on. I’m not a mechanic and I’ve learned about working on cars mostly all DIY over the years.

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2003 E53 X5, 3.0i (titan silver)
1993 Dodge w250 club cab (blue)
1992 Dodge w250 club cab (two tone red & white)