so... kind of upset with the people I bought this from. It had an oil leak and I gave them an extra amount of money to fix the leak. The shop (according to them ) said it was valve cover gasket and replaced it. I now know there is a head gasket leak and am in the process of tearing the engine down cause I can't afford to pay someone else. The reason I'm mad (to put it nicely) is that I just took the valve cover off and it's not a pretty sight. to me, it would be obvious that there was more to it than just a valve cover gasket leak. my question for the group is this... do I just go for the gasket swap or do I need to do more? These are the prelim picture and I haven't pulled the valve assembly off yet. not sure I can afford the money or time for a total upgrade on the valves and springs. was wondering if you think it looks worse than it is?

also... whoever worked on this in the past had no morals... here is the coil packs... just kind of hanging out. I didn't take any of these bolts off. also gives you an idea of how hard they are to get to when you try to replace them or the wires . this is with the upper intake off .

 

Doesn't look great, but not the worst I've seen.

Is that gooey stuff on the rocker arms coolant?

I'd pull the pan to see how the crankshaft and bearings look

Also, repair that wiring harness!

 

yeah... it's full of antifreeze... when I take the valve assembly off I'm gonna clean them first to see what the slider springs look like.. which was my main worry... just never seen anything like this before.... to me it's horrible but, the actual valve springs and such look pretty good from what I see. I get the harness carnage. I had actually bought some for another project and never used it so glad I kept it. also ( to me) it shows that these engines can actually take a hit and be running. I knew it had the leak but, I only live 5 minutes from work . parked it after it started missing. I got the coil packs and the wires for the plugs so I won't have to do that after the fact. the fact that some jack wagon left the coil packs hanging out really bothered me. now I have to research those bolts and find a match.
just a side note.... I saw some do the plug wires without taking the upper intake off. he built this crazy ladder thing. anyway. he said it took him 3 hours. I'm mechanically inclined but, have never taken apart this engine. pretty sure i can do the top intake and put it back in less than 3 hours which is why i think my coil packs are hanging from nothing.take the easy road and just do by the book.. it's there for a reason

 

The insides of mine were way more sludged up than that. Clean them thoroughly, and oil the rockers well before reassembly. There are some tiny oil galleries running through the head and in some places on the shafts that you'll want to run a wire through to make sure they're clear.
Those bolts are a standard metric size. I had to replace them on mine but I forget exactly what they are. I think the thread may be the same as the rocker cover bolts.

 

looks like oil changes weren't a total priority due to all that sludge, but its not the worst ive seen. rather than replacing the valves and springs i would just send the heads out and have them checked and cleaned, replacing the valve and springs will be money you dont have to spend if nothing is wrong with them originals.

 

Just wanna thank you guys for the quick responses. I feel a whole lot better moving forward. I'll try to keep updating on the progress and want to thank you for letting me join.It's been very informative for some other issues I was having too. You guys rock!