I looked at using the inspection hole on top of the box. When the box was designed in the '70s, the hole gave good access, nowadays with all the electronics and cables in that area it's difficult to even see the hole. The plastic cover also has a tendency to become fixed firm which is why I used the easy access from the bottom. There's a reasonable amount of material there, and you need to apply smooth increasing pressure with leverage, rather than jerking / yanking on the pulley bolt and using shock.

As I was away for the weekend I thought I would just wait until the tool arrived.

It sounded easy enough to do by using the inspection hole but as I just changed the clutch I didn't want to risk damaging anything.

Going to crack on with the job tonight.

Update some pics later.

Made some good progress tonight.

Firstly the Sealey tool is useless and doesn't fit on the crankshaft pulley as the two rods are way to wide to fit in the pulley holes!

I managed to get the pulley off using the inspection holes technique after removing some of the coolant piping from the right hand side of the head above the clutch bell housing.

I then removed the timing belt after marking it all up and then removed the rocker cover and this is what I found!

Notice the marks at the bottom right where the hydraulic lifters have hit the head casting.

Both camshafts seem to be ok and are moving freely and don't show any signs of damage at first glance.

Before I remove the head what damage do you think have from the picture? I may have just knocked a few of the hydraulic lifters off when I removed the rocker cover.

The hydraulic lifters jump out of place for fun - something you'll learn when it comes to trying to put the cam carrier back on. I'm not sure i can see any damage in the pictures, just the dislocated lifters which is what happened when i removed the cam carrier.

If you have already removed the 4 exhaust bolts at the downpipe flange you can remove the head without removing the exhaust manifold.

Here is another picture of the damage I mentioned. I will have a go at getting the head off tonight and then we can see the extent of the damage from the cambelt going.

If you are looking at the metal removal to the left of the oil galleries then, depending ow much history you have on the car, you should think about if

The damage happened when the belt shed it's teeth, or

It was already there

If it happened when the belt shredded, then I suspect that there will be damage to the rollers/tappets, so check those carefully.

It would seem to be difficult to force those out when the head is on, unless the valves are jammed open wide and therefore there is room for the rollers to move out of place. I'll defer to those who have more experience of these engines though.

Ok getting the head off tonight, so will update some pics later.

When I have the engine in pieces is there anything I can do to improve the performance?

I'm in a similar boat, but have been beaten back indoors by the bitter cold tonight.

Good luck with getting the head off.

General consensus from reading around seems to be that it is difficult getting more power out of the 6N2 Gti, they are just not suitable for further tuning.

I would start off by making sure all the valves are properly lapped in and sealing correctly. After that you are probably looking at smoothing and polishing the inlet /exhaust air tracts. Having had the car off the road for months, I would prefer to get the thing back together and running again, rather than tuning, but it's entirely your call. You can spend a lot of money with people that might not have the right experience on head modifications and not end up any better off.

You could replace all the valve springs, but I haven't seen much evidence of weak valve springs causing problems on the forums, so that might be a waste of time & money - again others with more experience can comment.

When I did my head off job I was more interested in getting the car running and solving the other issues with the car rather than spending time & money on a thorough head rebuild, so head was off and back on within a day.

Quick update, 8 bent valves! Looks like a new head for me. Anyone got one!?

I can't feel my fingers!!!

That doesn't look too bad, you might need to get new valve guides but other than sticking new exhaust valves in looks OK unless there is damage we can't see in the pictures ?

Think it's just cheaper to get a new head than replacing all 8 I think the valves are about £7 each at Ecp

036109611K exhaust valve

How hard is it to change the valve guides?

Tonights pictures are much better quality and I can now see where all 8 valves have clattered the pistons - a lot more than the kiss I suffered on mine.

I agree with Nige, that you should simply replace the exhaust valves, if the valve guides are in good condition. If they are worn /damaged then you have to do the equations for purchasing the the valve guides plus any labour / machining involved against the cost of a s/h head............ though you do at least know that apart from this your head is in good condition.

You should also make sure you carefully remove the high points on the pistons. If you don't they are likely to suffer from localised increase in temperature and potentially pinking.

Take the valves out and see what the guides are like

I believe the valve guides are a cold press out / press in job. Maybe warm head and frozen guides means they can be gently tapped in without a press. I haven't done it on a 6N2 so cannot speak from experience,

Inspect the guides for damage first, then you'll need one new valve and a dial gauge (or a good engineering feel) to check for wear in the guides

Here's how to check the guides Testing 16v Valve Guides.doc

Here's how to replace them Replacing 16V Valve Guides.doc

Cheers guys all this info has been great!!! Much appreciated!

Found a head for £50 if I take it off myself. My only worry is the engines crank was gone and that's why he's breaking it. Do you guys think there will be any damage to the valves? Cheers

No way of telling :( at the worst it might of been a failed valve that dropped into the cylinder, mashed it into the head and caused the engine to seize and that's caused the crank to fail, or it might just be the crank bearings have failed taking out the crank, if its the later the head should be OK but what ever happened I would clean out the oilways in the head incase there is any debris

Nice one Nige! For £50 it's worth a shot. Worse case scenario I will take it off the block and if it's rubbish I won't take it haha. How should I go about cleaning the oil ways? Just flush them through with oil?

Take the tappet blocks out and pour a solvent like paraffin down the tappet block holes and the oil ways on the camshaft, also the VVT actuator

Cool I work in the print industry and can get my hands on IPA isopropyl alcohol would that be ok.

Yes that'll be OK :)