Today, I pulled the head and the intake and manifold. After reading a few walkthrough threads on various forums, this wasn't too bad.
The only pain in the ass is that the stock intake manifold is a massive clusterfuck.
Also, there were a few brackets and clips in places that I didn't know about going in, so once the head was free, it wasn't really free haha.
Ended up unbolting my turbo elbow from downpipe so I could rotate the exhaust mani off of the studs once the head was lifted a bit.....did NOT want to disconnect the turbo or any of the water/oil lines....that is a MASSIVE pain in the ass in my opinion.
Pics:
Setting motor to TDC and getting cam gears and timing chain aligned properly:
Rigged this up with a ziptie to keep upward tension on timing chain the WHOLE TIME....tightened ziptie as I pulled the chain off of the cam gears:
Both the IN and EX cams had some green looking stuff near the 3rd cylinder....not sure if it's paint or what, but the texture looked a little different than the other spots....
"Green"
Not green
In the bay lifting the head while my buddy disconnected one of the various pain in the ass brackets at the back of the head...
Head pulled....great success (for now, until I fuck something up reassembling haha)!
If anyone can comment on why part of the cam looks green, that would be sweet and make me feel better.