Love to see this car in real
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Hopefully when the engine is back in 
Last week I took the gearbox off. Everything is looking rather shit. The axle has quite some play in all directions. The clutch has a lot of meat but the fins are super worn out. Also lots of rust on the pressure plate. But the flywheel isn’t the worst, yay.
Anyways, I didn’t have long bolts to fit the engine into the stand. I was just planning to use the bolts from the transmission but they were way too short lol.
Props to @Aaron for bringing cool bolts. The engine is now in the stand.
Let the real work begin I suppose?
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In the meantime I put a quick coat on the subframe as it had quite some rust. I cleaned the engine bay and it’s pretty nice.
I started working dismantling the engine and ran into multiple occasions of liquid gasket inside the oil and coolant channels.
Inside looks pretty clean so far…
I didn’t see a single crack around the seating of the wastegate, and there’s minimal play on the axle.
So, that’s the front of the engine empty. I’ll move on to the intake manifold and the injector rail. And then it should be time to take off the head and get it skimmed.
I’m kind of baffled by the state of everything, it’s a mixed bag. Somehow the engine and turbo look quite healthy. Yet everything around it looks greasy and abused even though nothing is actually leaking. I can’t put my finger on it as everything on the engine almost seems untouched since the factory.
I’m mostly working on the Astra, as she’s getting ready for a nice Nürburgring trip at the end of this month. Hopefully I can get the head skimmed before I leave though.
Garage dinner date 
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The intake manifold is off. I was looking for how to get the tension of the chain and started to remove the chain cover.
I came to the realisation that the oil pickup is bolted to it from the inside… So I had to remove the oil sump first.
Oh well, here’s a look into the engine so far.
So now it’s just cams out and crack the head bolts.
I’m learning as I go
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After a brief fight with the chain sprocket, I got the cams off just fine.
So, head bolts out and I pulled the head.
If anyone can spot some anomalies, tell me c:
From what I could see cylinder 3 was getting coolant from the channel on the intake side.
Next up, clean everything and get the head resurfaced and cleaned as well.
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@Aaron came by and we removed the pistons and crank.
Honestly everything is in good shape. And I got persuaded to get new piston rings…
Gave the block a good clean as well. I’ll probably get it professionally cleaned now that it’s nakey.
So, that’s the whole engine apart. Time for some actual machining and getting parts ordered.
I’m excited to put everything back together.
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I’ve never seen such small engine internals! 
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It’s not about the size mate
That’s not what she said 
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