OK. My mistake. You're right, that is an odd design.

 

I need to choose between either a Victor Reinz ($210) or a Fel-Pro ($120) gasket set.

I'd obviously prefer the less expensive one, anyone have experience with either of these?

Edit: I also found a Beck/Arnley for $110

 

It's somewhat understandable that they did what was necessary to stuff an I-5 motor into such a small space, especially since its transverse-mounted. What's really odd to me is that there are actual shields in place to prevent anything from getting to the crank, and those didn't do anything.

 

I wrapping up the repair right now, its been quite a pain but there is light at the end of the tunnel. I had a lot of travel this summer so the project has seen it's share of delays.

To work on the cams, the best method I was able to find was to use a 8-inch clamp and a small pipe spacer. I cut out about a third of the pipe spacer's wall with a dremel, and used the opening to remove and install valve keepers once the spring was compressed.

I got a Fel-Pro head gasket set, part number HS26256PT. Stay away from this one, some of the gaskets are not right at all, and the head gasket had no openings for coolant on the intake side.

The assembly was accomplished without resorting to any of the special tools, although I did build a camshaft lock plate, but it wasn't very useful. One really annoying thing was that I forgot to reinstall the passenger-side engine mount plate before installing the timing belt, so I had to take all that apart and re-do the timing belt.

Right now all that's left is the harmonic balancer, engine mount, and the intake plenum. I'm about to go finish those and also do a compression test with an air compressor.

One very odd thing is that I haven't been able to crank it when trying to do compression tests. I had a trickle charger on the battery, so its full, but as soon as I turn the key and hear the starter click, all power in the car goes out, cluster, lights, everything. I have to disconnect/reconnect the battery to get power back and then it lets me pull the key. I'm thinking its some kind of ECU failsafe mode, so I'll search around for info on that but if anyone has a suggestion please let me know. The other possibility is that the battery just isn't good after the car sitting for so long, and an actual jump start would get it going.

 

Remember to squirt a little light oil in the spark plug hole to wet the rings for the compression check. My 2001 took a bit of cranking to get the compression up and get the fuel pressure up before she lit off.

 

Compression is all good, I think it wasn't cranking because I forgot to connect the MAF. Beyond that, the throttle wasn't connected either, so maybe it needs everything to check out before it proceeds.

The car started right up, so that was awesome. Idle is steady but there is a bit of a shake, so I'm thinking that maybe one of the cylinders isn't firing. The info screen also said "reduced engine performance."

I let it get fully warmed up at idle, revved gently a few times and that was all fine, but it wouldn't let me start anymore after that, all electricity is cut off like before and the info screen keeps giving the same message when I reset the battery. I'm thinking bad spark plug, bad coil, or even a bad fuel injector, I'll find out tomorrow.

 

My obdii reader isn't pulling any codes from the car, so that's not very helpful.

 

I found some info that I was asking about before, so here it is, TDC positions for all cylinders in order from 1-5, in degrees: 0, 144, 288, 432, 576.

 

Could the starting issue be the switch itself? My 2005 had an issue where all electronics worked normally as you turned the key except the starter would not engage. At first it was only intermittent but then occurred more and more often. Once I replaced the switch there was a night/day difference in the feel of the new/old switch.

 

I think its the pre-cat O2 sensor. I still can't get the code, but there are some general system messages on the OBDII reader and that's what it points to. I was able to start it and it ran super-rough and then died, so I think its MAF/O2/fuel-trim related.

 

Finally got a code out of it, P0607 "Control Module Performance"

 

I think this may have been solved by tightening the negative battery cable, I had it just slipped on before. I can crank it plenty now, just doesn't start so maybe the ECU got fried or there is no fuel pressure.

 

Finished fixing the car early last week. Had to keep the battery off for a few hours and that caused the ECU to reset so the motor worked after that.

Did coolant flush and oil change, then test drive. Wife has been driving it since then and its been good.