FTO AUSTRALIA

Hi All,

When I first bought my FTO (which was only a couple of months ago) I took it in for a service and was told that my heads are warped. Now I was also told not to drive the car, but as it is my only mode of transport I had to. I have actually taken the car for a few decent 200kms + drives and it still works perfect. I was told that they were warped due to the fact that the previous owner had let the car overheat before and that it is going to cost me $3500 to fix it. But if it is the case and someone has let it overheat.. would the car still be driving almost perfectly (almost as in my gears are a bit rough, but I don't know if that has anything to do with the engine)? I just don't understand what the mechanic is on about and if there is a problem there I was going to just buy a half cut or new engine. Is it hard to convert a GR model to a GPX or GPvR at all?

Cheers.

If your engine is warped, theres no way you can drive it, I warped few engines in my years (all turbos), & once you warped it, the car just die.

You are correct that if your car is warped, you'll be better off with a half cut, as rebuilding the engine is going to cost you a lot more, plus i never heard a mechanic would waste their time to rebuild a stardard warped engine.

I say you should take it to another mechanic & see what they say, or get a engine presure test done either by them or NRMA, RACV, RACQ...etc. In this way, you be sure to know if you engine have a problem.

You can convert a GPX or GPvR engine into a GR. Is pretty much bolt on, is just GPX/GPvR have a larger rotors/brakes. BTW GPX & GPvR have the same engine.

If its just the heads that are warped, you should be able to get away with a fix... depending on how warped they are I spose. For minor warpage they just pull the heads off & throw them under the mill to skim the suface back to flat. You're in trouble if they are so warped that the chambers need to be CCed after the decking.

But definitely get each chamber pressure tested - and check your water & oil... if it looks like porridge, you got problems

tell you what
swaping an engine costs about 3-4k in a fto (having done it it cost me 4k and i got the timing belt and cam seals done too!) i can tell you this will be much better money spent then 3.5k rebuilding heads
meanwhile if hte cars ideling well i seriusly doubt you have head issues
if you do your valve train will be totaly wrecked in which case you would experance ruff idling and lots of nasty noise at high rpm

get a dif mech to check it, a recommended one from the club to be sure