Hello folks
So I bought my first Isuzu a few days ago althought I'm usually a VW guy. It was a rebuild project for my wife and is a 96 wizard with a 4JG2 that is in really good shape except it apparently had a blown head gasket and cracked rad. So I've embarked on stripping it down and found that there are some more dubious problems at play here.
Here's the good: Cam belt and water pump done 30K ago. 4 new tires, body is in excellent shape, no rust, interior is tidy, ran rough but ran when I bought it, wife loves it.
Here's the bad: Rad is cracked but I got a second hand one today and apparently the head gasket is gone, little bubbles in the old rad. Last person maintained it well except put water in the cooling system so I need to flush all the brown rust and crap out.
Here's what I did and discovered. Degreased and cleaned the whole engine bay. Took off the head and the block and pistons look really good. The head looks decent too except for some small cracks between the valves but I've seen this before on VW diesels and it was no biggie. It has 4 bent push rods, seriously bent.
Here's what I wanted to know:
1- Bent pushrods mean the valves have hit the pistons, the pistons and valves look mint and when I filled the chambers up with water none leaked through so valves are likely good. I'm going to take off the cam belt cover and check the timing, it must be out right? I mean there is no other way the valves could have hit the pistons to bend the rods?
2- How do I check the lifters? Does it have them? Should I pull the cam out and inspect it to see if it's damaged? I doubt pushrods push straight on the cam. What is the chance that they are damaged?
3- I read you can't skim these heads, I know there are 3 different thickness head gaskets. I want to do it right and so would like to skim and pressure test the head. Should I? If I do should I use a thicker head gasket?
4- Here are my prices, head gasket 80$, head set 80$, shave 50$, pressure test 40$, push rods 50$ head bolts 50$. All up $400. Would It be cheaper to try and find a used 4JG2 long block? This engine has 230,000 km on it and only really had an exhaust leak at the header, turbo is nice and tight.
See pics, what do you guys reckon!?