What is wrong with this head?

[california3rdgen]

Hi all, I am writing about a 89 Prelude with 4WS - (B205 engine with a PK2 head) that I recently bought quite cheap. I had thought I would just put a JDM engine in and be done with it (hence my other 2 posts about JDM engines) but I just took apart the head and am reconsidering. The guy who sold it to me, who I think is telling the truth, said the last thing he did was had the head resurfaced and put it back on. Upon driving it on his street at low speed immediately after putting it together it started bogging down after only a minute or two, then he heard a 'pop' and that was it. He couldn't get it running again, then lost interest and time in fixing it, so sold it to me. It's been sitting two years or so. He assumed the timing belt slipped and it took a valve or two with it. He said it ran very nice before and he only used a quart or so of oil between 3000 mile changes (140,000 miles on the car). Upon taking the valve cover off I found that one of the exhaust rockers had popped loose (!) (perhaps that was the 'pop?') and the intake cam was almost exactly 180 degrees off (!). The timing belt looks new and the belt seemed as tight as I would want it, but I suspect that the belt slipped 1/2 way around the cam wheel for some reason - perhaps when the rocker got jammed?? . I put the rocker back on and got the cam back in the correct position, then checked the compression: 90/90/90/10. Yikes. Then I took off the head and found what looks to be some lines between the 1-2 and 3-4 cylinders on the head gasket that might help explain the poor compression readings. The 'feel' of the cylinder walls is good - no feeling at all of any wear and no evidence of a valve mark on the top of a piston. Can't see the rings of course, but I'm assuming the bottom end is o.k. at this point, so I am focused on the head. So how does one 'read' a cylinder head? Can you tell if a valve is bent simply by looking at it? One of the intake cam lobes looks a bit chipped - perhaps the rocker bouncing around inside the valve cover?

I have some pictures at the site below - I will take it in to a head shop soon and have their opinion but wondered if people had ideas on what to do - rebuilt head? or just rebuild the head? If a rebuilt, is there a place to find a good one at a reasonable price? I found a rebuilt head, including camshafts, for $300 -is that reasonable? Thanks!

http://gallery.me.com/ken.fran#100384
Ken

[spiffyguido]

Doesn't look terrible, but not great either. I can't see any obvious damage, but you probably want to spend most of your time looking at the valve stems and cam rockers. If a rocker came loose, damage could have resulted. You'd be able to tell if any of the valves are bent. You can always rotate the valves manually to check if they all open correctly.

I'd proceed with caution, and if there is reason for concern, I'd just get a new head from a wrecker.

[california3rdgen]

Thanks much for the reply. I took the head into a very trusted machine shop and they said things generally looked o.k. There is a small chip on one cam lobe, presumably from the rocker banging around.., but it was not over a space where the rocker operates. Rockers otherwise looked good. They are going to check everything over, put in new valves as necessary and we'll go from there. I was looking more closely at the cylinder walls - they are very smooth, with no 'feelable' wear, but they have what appears to be a water stain on some of the sides (see pictures here: http://gallery.me.com/ken.fran#100384/I ... olor=black ). Again, it doesn't fee like anything - it is just visible. Any thoughts on what this would be? Thanks.

[spiffyguido]

Probably just a little bit of oxidation or staining. You can always just get them honed to clean it up. If you're going to put in new rings, you'll have to hone the cylinder walls anyway.