Amazon Fire TV as Media Center

Fire TV and included remote

I know you have all been wondering where I have been and why I haven't posted something seemingly random and super geeky.  I've actually had some good projects since my last geeky post. In addition to the one covered here, I have built a pfSense router/firewall and a cryptocurrency mining rig, neither of which I have blogged about. Good news! Your wait is over. I'm going to tell you a little about my Fire TV experience.

My Home Screen

The Reasoning

I have been using the Raspberry Pi Model B (the original version with 256 MB of RAM) running RaspBMC as a media center for the last couple years and overall have been very happy. Because my kids don't have move DVD discs to watch movies we haven't had any problem with lost or damaged disks, which was really the point. Of course, the fact that is a cool, fun, geeky project did't hurt either. (You can read about my initial setup again here if you want.)  Other than the fact that I like tinkering with technology I do have a few reasons for the subject of this post, upgrading the pi in favor of an Amazon Fire TV.

Goodbye RaspBMC. Hello Amazon Fire TV

1. Unified content access - Using our previous RaspBMC based setup local media was streamed to the Pi via smb, Netflix online streaming through the Wii, and alternate video streams such as from lds.org required connecting the laptop to the TV. The Fire TV allows me to do all 3 with one device.

2. Local 1080p streaming - Whether I like it or not all content is shifting away from standard definition of 480 to high definition of 720 or 1080 with 4k on the horizon. We have been getting more HD content including Michelle getting me both Star Wars Trilogies for my birthday and the kids getting Frozen. Like all the other movies we get encoded them as mkv files and stored them on my computer. For the movies listed above I did 1080p as they were Blu-ray. Likely because I have 256 MB of RAM in my Pi, increasing RaspBMC requirements, and SMB overhead, I am unable to stream any 1080p content through the Pi, even over Ethernet, without repeated pauses and buffering throughout the movie. The Fire TV overcomes this problem. It made Brooklyn very unhappy to try to watch Frozen with hiccups every minute

3. Retro gaming using emulators - Due to the relatively anemic specs of the Raspberry Pi it can really only do one thing at a time. I know they have been used to build dedicated emulators but I would have to buy another to use as an emulator requiring yet one more device. To date I have used my laptop hooked to the TV for some retro-gaming through emulation and as per number 1 would like to consolidate that to a single device which is always connected to the TV.

4. Light internet browsing - Browsing the internet through RaspBMC just isn't realistic and again connecting a separate computer i.e. my laptop is one more device.

I could go into detail about why I chose the Fire TV, but I'll just give a quick summary. Obviously, it fulfills all the requirements above, but here's my thought process.

I am unaware of any inexpensive streaming boxes which fulfill the above requirements. (Roku, Ouya, Chromecast, and Apple TV all fall short in one area or another, but that is a whole separate discussion / blog post.) Because of those requirements I was thinking that an x86 based home theater PC would be the best solution., but was put off by cost, size, power use, and fan noise. Also because of the cost I was hoping to use Linux Mint rather than Windows 7 for the operating system. Unfortunately, both emulation and Netflix compatibility are more complicated with Linux than Windows. Recently I had been impressed with some of the Intel Celeron based NUC and BRIX products like this fanless Gigabyte, but was not convinced enough to allocate the funds.  Ultimately, the main reasons I went with the Fire TV was it fulfilled my requirements above and cost $99, which is less than an x86 HTPC. Plus, it has a more powerful CPU and GPU than the other set top boxes (see above). The best reason of all is the ability to side-load other android apps like XBMC, so it is super customizable.

The Setup

There are a ton of Fire TV resources on the web. I've listed several below. Here is a link for the XBMC Amazon Fire TV wiki which is a great place to start

1. Buy Fire TV from Amazon.com. Setup and connect to network as per package instructions. (I downloaded the Netflix and Pandora apps from Amazon at this point.)

On a network connected computer

2. Download XBMC version 13.1 for android 

3. Download and setup the ADB utility for your operating system (Windows, OS X) or install the Android SDK

(Follow the guide in XBMC wiki link above as you have to add a path for the ADB to your operating system)

On the Fire TV

4. Enable debugging on the FireTV (System - Developer Options - ADB Debugging: On)

5. Find out your Fire TV's local IP address (System - About - Network)
  I played on my router and gave my a static IP

On a network connected computer

6. From a command prompt (Windows) or terminal (OS X and Linux) do the following after navigating the the folder with the XBMC adk previously downloaded.

   adb kill-server

   adb start-server

   adb connect (insert Fire TV IP address)

(you should see that the connection was successful)

   adb install (insert XBMC apk file name)

(this may take a few minutes and will give you a message of success when complete)

Congratulations! XBMC is installed on your Amazon Fire TV

XBMC Customizations

1. Launch XBMC (Settings - Applications - Manage Installed Applications - XBMC - Launch)
Because XBMC is not an official Amazon app it will not appear on the home screen.

The home screen is great if you have a lot of Amazon content, a subscription to Amazon Prime, or buy a lot of online content. Because I don't meet any of those requirements I was planning to stay in XBMC except for Netflix and Pandora. I was excited to learn that I could launch android applications from inside XBMC by default. (Of course, the Advanced Launcher add-on could have facilitated that. download)

Home Screen of Aeon Nox Skin

Launching Apps from inside XBMC

Under the programs menu there is a section for Android applications. For me this only appears with the default Confluence skin not in Amber or Aeon Nox. I added Netfix, Pandora, and Firefox (see below) to my favorites so that I can launch them from inside XBMC. I tried Amber but so far I like Aeon Nox better. Because of the limited processing power of the Pi I'd only used Confluence on it.

Favorites Menu setup with links to Netflix, Pandora, and Firefox

I setup  my movie and TV show libraries as previously through the smb share and was very pleased how much faster the scaper (Universal Movie Scraper and TVDB respectively) updated the library. I actually used one of these for the setup after plugging the receiver into the USB port because it is way faster for typing than an on-screen keyboard.

I added the USTV VoD Addon from Bluecop, which finds the videos posted online from various TV channels and allows me to stream them through XBMC. The included link is for the XBMC Plus repository containing USTV VodD.

Video Add-ons Menu with USTV VoD highlighted

Configuring Alternate Keymap

While I did use the wireless keyboard/touchpad for some of the setup, I prefer a remote for everyday navigation. The default keymap works pretty well, but I was very frustrated by not being able to stop a movie. You can pause and then go back to the menu but not stop playback

Default keymap

Button	Global action	Fullscreen video action
3	Directional pad: Up Down Right Left	Directional pad: Up: Next chapter or go forward 10 minutes Down: Previous chapter or go back 10 minutes Right: +30 seconds Left: -30 seconds
4	Select	On-screen-display menu
6	Context menu	Playlist
8	Play/pause	Play/pause
9	Back	Back out of fullscreen video (does not stop playback)

Link to original image

I found the keymap below by following this link It is keymap 3 of the ones listed

Button	Global action	Home screen action	Fullscreen video action
3	Directional pad: Up Down Right Left	Directional pad: Up Down Right Left	Directional pad: Up: Next chapter or go forward 10 minutes Down: Previous chapter or go back 10 minutes Right: +30 seconds Left: -30 seconds
4	Select	Select	On-screen-display menu
6	Context menu	Show Favourites	Toggle subtitles on/off
7	Page Down	Page Down	Fast forward
8	Play/pause	Play/pause	Play/pause
9	Back	Back	Stop
10	Page Up	Page Up	Rewind

To install an alternate keymap you can reportedly use elmerohueso's "XBMC Tweaks for FTV" program addon, but I chose to just push the file using adb. 

First, of course, you have to create a file to push. Using a text editor such as Notepad or Notepad++ copy the keymap of your choice to a file and save it as keyboard.xml.

I did use the adb shell to confirm the location of the userdata folder and I believe I had to create a keymaps folder but I don't recall the folder creation for sure. Here's the shell commands I used to navigate to the userdata folder and create the keymaps folder

   adb connect (insert Fire TV's IP address)

   adb shell

(some sources say you have to confirm shell access on your Fire TV, but this should give you access)

Navigate to xbmc userdata/keymap directory

   cd /sdcard/Android/data/org.xbmc.xbmc/files/.xbmc/userdata/

   mkdir keymaps

   exit

(to ext the shell)

   adb push keyboard.xml /sdcard/Android/data/org.xbmc.xbmc/files/.xbmc/userdata

Adding other Android Apps

I used the same process to sideload Firefox after downloading it to my computer form the Google Play store and then Adobe Flash for Android. Flash can be easily downloaded directly to your computer for sideloading but you will have to use one of the links below to download apks from to your computer from the Google Play Store.

Alternate Fire TV Home screen / Launcher

I haven't tried it yet, mostly because I am happy launching everything from inside XBMC, but there is a 3rd party launcher app which displays all apps not just the amazon approved ones. A screenshot is below. I haven't tried it.

Link to download site

Emulation

I have not not setup this up yet.  I have read multiple places that this is working. The goal is to use advanced launcher to access ROMs over the network as 8 GB internal storage can't hold many games

Conclusion

The FireTV was a great investment. It runs better, more complex skins, than RaspBMC without difficulty and rapid menu navigation. It has no issues streaming 1080p as well as skipping, fast forwarding etc. during playback. I love the ability to play my local library and access Netflix, and stream from Pandora on a single device. We will see how emulation goes in the future.

Resources

XBMC Amazon Fire TV Wiki

XDA-developers Fire TV thread

Adobe Flash Archive

FiredTV alternate launcher

Fire TV News - good website for rooting and other hacks

Websites for downloading apks from Google Play directly to PC for sideloading

http://apps.evozi.com/apk-downloader/

http://download.freeapk.ru/en.php

What to do with my Raspberry Pi now?

1. Streaming video from Raspberry Pi camera over wifi accessible using any web browser - I have found while doing OB anesthesia that women strain and try to look through everything including me and my anesthesia machine to see their newborn while pediatrics is taking care of him or her under the warmer. Solution a camera that can serve as a wireless access point for streaming video of the baby for mom to watch on a smartphone or tablet. Maybe I can write a blog post about that.

2. MySQL server - I use XBMC on my Fire TV, desktop PC, and laptop PC. This makes it so I can sync my XBMC libraries. I could stop a video on one device and pickup right where I left off on another. This would also facilitate me not having to manually update the libraries on 3 different devices.

3. XMPP server - Skype is great for IM and video chat, but in light of expansive NSA surveillance, government requests for access to Microsoft's servers and data, I don't think a private chat server sounds like such a bad idea. Plan is to use Prosody and pair that with Jitsi clients on PC. I don't have a good iOS client yet.

New Desktop

In line with my previous posts about my head gasket project, I'm posting now about my most recent project. I'm building a new desktop computer.

Reasoning:
Finally, after 5 years we decided to replace our desktop computer. After selling our Blazer plus very generous Christmas gifts we had a little bit of money. We put together our last desktop in November of 2006 a few months after we got married. We had just the laptop I'd purchased for school which meant every night we would alternate computer use and consequently didn't get to spend much time together. (We were newly weds after all.) I'd come home to do homework and Michelle needed to prepare her lessons to teach school the next day. It solved the problem of alternating computer time and has been a great machine. We've only had one problem in the last 5 years and a couple upgrades. The original specifications are below.

Current Desktop (2006):
CPU: AMD Athlon 64 X2 Dual Core 4200+ with stock CPU cooler - $182
Motherboard: Gigabyte GA-M55SLI-S4 with AM2 socket - $83
Memory: BUFFALO Firestix 2GB (2 x 1GB) 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM DDR2 800 - $242
HDD: Seagate Barracuda 320GB 7200 RPM 16MB Cache SATA 3.0Gb/s 3.5" - $95
Graphics: MSI NX7600GS-T2D512EH GeForce 7600GS 512MB 128-bit GDDR2 - $133
Power: HEC 575W - $20
Case: PowerUp Mid-tower ATX - $20
Optical: DVD-RW - $20
Monitors: 2 x Acer AL1917WAbd Black 19" 5ms Widescreen LCD Monitor 300 cd/m2 700:1 - $380
OS: Windows XP Professional - $85
Additional: Internal USB card reader, cheapest mouse and keyboard available - ~$20

Total: $1280

I wasn't very careful about cable routing in this one so it looks much messier. This is after blowing the dust out and switching the 750 GB hard drive to the new computer.


Upgrades since 2006:
1. Added a wireless card because we didn't have wired internet in our basement apartment on Oliver Drive.
2. Upgraded from 2 GB to 4 GB of memory. I paid $240 for the first 2 GB. After the prices dropped, we added another 2 GB for only $40. Of course my 32-bit Windows can't use it all but it helped.
3. Added a 750 GB Western Digital hard drive as a storage drive ($65). The thousands of RAW files eventually filled up the original 320 GB drive.

Problems:
1. The original RAM went bad while we were in Utah over Christmas a few years ago. Although it had a lifetime warranty, I hadn't saved the original UPC.
2. The card reader died, which was replaced and the new one died within a few months. We now have an external Kingston reader.
3. The original mouse died a couple months ago.

As I recall the total cost with the monitors was around $1300 with $900 for the computer. It's slower now but still runs quite well considering its age.

I've been excited about building computers lately and have been able to help my dad with two. First, we replaced their desktop with a hackintosh in August as part of an agreement Trevor made with my Mom. The new machine was needed as the old one was new in 2001. Dad also built a Windows based computer for some friends in October. Looks like it is finally my turn to build one for myself. Even though the new Ivy Bridge processors are scheduled for release in April with promises of both CPU and GPU enhancement with lower power consumption, I found some great after Christmas rebates and decided to proceed. After all, in technology if you wait because there is a new product on the horizon, you'll never buy anything.

Here are the specs for the new one.

CPU - Intel Core i5-2500K Sandy Bridge - $205
CPU Cooler - COOLER MASTER Hyper 212 Plus - $20
Motherboard - Gigabyte GA-Z68X-UD3H-B3 revision 1.3 - $150
Memory - G.SKILL Ripjaws X Series 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1600 - $44
SSD - OCZ Agility 3 AGT3-25SAT3-60G 2.5" 60GB SATA III MLC - $90 ($20 rebate by mail)
HDD - Western Digital Caviar Black 750GB 7200 RPM SATA 3.0Gb/s 3.5" (from other computer, see upgrade 2 above) - $0
HDD - Seagate Barracuda 500GB 7200 RPM SATA 3.0Gb/s 3.5" (old backup drive) - $0
Optical - LITE-ON DVD Burner SATA - $20
Graphics: Intel HD 3000 (integrated in CPU)
Power: COOLER MASTER GX 450W ATX12V v2.31 80 PLUS BRONZE - $40 ($15 rebate by mail)
Case: Rosewill CHALLENGER-U3 Black Gaming ATX Mid Tower Computer Case - $60
OS: Windows 7 professional 64-bit and OS X Snow Leopard - $120 and $30 respectively
Monitors: Acer (from the previous computer)
Keyboard: Logitec MK 120 - $20
Mouse: GIGABYTE GM-M6880 Metal Black USB Wired Laser Gaming Mouse (replaced broken from previous computer)
Speakers: Logitech S-220 - $29

Total after mail in rebates: $793



The Plan and logic:
Graphics -
My biggest requirement for video is being able to support multiple displays and not being able to play video games. Since the integrated GPU in the Sandy Bridge processors has great ratings. I decided that it wasn't worth the additional money for a discrete GPU now. Instead, I spent a little more a processor and motherboard. Upgrading will always be a future possibility. Also the Intel HD 3000 graphics is supported by OS X (see below).

Operating systems -
I also decided I would like more experience with OS X but am unwilling to pay the prices apple demands for their machines. It is impractical for us to only have an OS X machine since all of our software is for Windows. Because I had an extra hard drive and Snow Leopard is inexpensive, I decided to have a dual boot option. I'll use the new SSD for Windows and 500 GB Seagate for OS X. The 750 GB Western Digital will still be used for file storage.

Monitors -
Replacing my monitors now is not financially feasible, and since both work flawlessly, it is unnecessary.

CPU Cooler -
I chose to upgrade to a higher performance CPU cooler, not because I want to overclock my processor, but just so it will run cooler. I justified the $20 by saying it would increase processor life and by purchasing it with a gift certificate. Also my dad had pretty high CPU temperatures with the second build, which I wanted to avoid.

Case -
I haven't found a better deal on a case than the Rosewill Challenger. It worked for both my Dad's builds. I ended up paying $10 more so I could have USB 3.0 front ports.

Overall, relative to what has been available at each time, I feel like the new machine is superior to my 2006 machine and costs less even without accounting for inflation.

These are a couple of pictures of the assembly. At this point I still needed to add the CPU, cooler, USB bracket, and 750 GB file storage drive.




This is after I installed the CPU and the Hyper 212+ heatsink and fan. They kind of ruin my clean case because I didn't take much to to arrange cables.



The Hyper 212+ is much larger than the stock cooler and as you can see it covers one of my RAM slots. If I need to upgrade in the future I'll either have to buy low profile RAM or move the fan to the other side of the heatsink. After install the BIOS showed a CPU temp of 28 C only 1 degree higher than system temp.



These are temps under no load while running Windows 7. The ambient temperature by the desk is higher than in the kitchen where I initially booted the computer to check the CPU temperature.



The final real panel view.



The new computer in its new home. My laptop likes when it is running Windows 7 because I can now share files and printers between both computers with minimal setup.



Windows only shows 7.51 GB of available RAM because I dedicated about 500 MB to the graphics in the BIOS. The system experience index is based on the lowest rating in any category, which for me is graphics @ 6.3. The max rating in each category is 7.9. My hard drive is 7.8, my memory is 7.8, and my processor is 7.5.



I worked out all the bugs yet, but I have the computer booting into OS X 10.6.8 aka Snow Leopard.

Head Gasket Job is Complete

It's finished and it's driven 10 miles. I finally took all the parts off my bench and put them back in the engine compartment, except, of course, for the parts which I replaced. I had a good time doing it and actually wouldn't mind doing it again, though I hope I don't have to with this car. Hopefully, when I do it again I'll be faster.

When the car didn't start on the first few cranks and I became disheartened, but luckily it started on the next try. Likely, it was circulating the oil, coolant, and building up the fuel pressure. I'd overtightened the throttle cable so it was idling really fast but that problem was easily resolved. Otherwise, there was a bit of steam/smoke for the first few minutes, but that seems to have been improved and I'm attributing it to burning off excess gasket sealant, lube, or fluids (oil and coolant) in the wrong place.

This is a picture of the driver's side head with the camshaft, camshaft cap, and rocker arms reinstalled. I was too lazy to move the battery and alternator cables to get a good picture.

This is a picture of the passenger side head after getting the camshaft, camshaft cap, and rocker arms installed (a much better picture than the driver's side.) I also adjusted all the valve clearances on both sides after getting the timing back together.

The front main oil seal around the crankshaft. It was a bit of a challenge to get it set back in place. I had to use a 1/4" extension to push on the seal and the head of a 1/2" ratchet as a hammer. The clean new water pump is also visible on the right of the image. I didn't remove the oil pump and replace the seal behind it so we'll just hope it lasts a while longer. Here's the timing belt with it's associated sprockets, idlers, tensioner, and the water pump. The idler sprocket (bottom just right of center) was the biggest pain to get on after everything else was lined up. I was concerned because if this had been off I would have had to take everything apart again and had a valve job done. I did turn the engine a couple times, while I was adjusting the valve clearances, to listen for valve interference. I figured that if I was off I would do less damage if one valve hit a head rather than all of them when trying to start the engine. I was glad I bought a Subaru timing belt because it sure made alignment easy.

Passenger side camshaft sprocket aligned with the mark on the belt and the left camshaft cap.

The driver's side camshaft sprocket. Although it doesn't appear to be aligned perfectly, a change in one tooth on the timing belt in either direction didn't improve the condition.

The crankshaft sprocket with the timing marks aligned.

In the end I replaced both head gaskets, all the head bolts, the exhaust and intake manifold gaskets, both camshaft oil seals, the valve cover gaskets and spark plug tube seals, the water pump, the front crank seal, the timing belt, the 3 timing idlers and tensioner, the upper and lower radiator hoses, both accessory drive belts, adjusted the valve clearance, changed the oil, and the coolant.

Total Cost = $1110
Tools ~ $300
Parts ~ $680
Head Machining ~ $130

Savings = $2700 (estimate) - $1110 = $1590

Finally, I need to thank Ric for being my on-call mechanic and helping me at all hours with questions that couldn't be answered by reading the Chilton guide or factory service manual.

Head Gasket Tools

I thought I'd make a list of the tools I needed to do my head gasket job with a comment or two included with each tool.

18" Klein strap wrench - $75 - Wouldn't have been able to remove or replace the crankshaft pulley or the camshaft sprockets without this tool. I did pay a little more buying locally than some of the online prices I've seen, but who knows what shipping would have been.

1/2" drive torque wrench - Gift - Turns out most of the fasteners are better suited to the 3/8" torque range than the 20-150 ft*lb range of this wrench. I was needed for the crankshaft pulley bolt at 130 foot*pounds.

3/8" drive torque wrench - $22 - The 5-80 ft*lb range of this range was better suited for most of the fasteners. It turns out that I could have used a lower rated wrench for some of the bolts which were rated to about 7 ft*lbs.

1/2" drive Craftsman socket set (ebay) - $32 - I felt more comfortable on the high torque fasteners like the head bolts, crankshaft pulley bolt than just using my 3/8 sockets with an adaptor. Plus, I needed a 22mm for the crankshaft pulley. I also had two half-inch drive ratchets, and two half-inch drive breaker bars.

K-tool seal remover set - $7 - (one shown - orange handle) Slipping the tip of one of these under a hose and the pulling with the other hand made difficult hose removal much easier

Digital Torque Adaptor - $50 - Peace of mind when using my inexpensive Harbor Freight torque wrenches since a torque wrench with a national lab calibration certificate starts at about $170. I really needed to get another torque wrench with a lower end, but this allowed me to get the low torques required by some of the bolts.

Shaft Type Seal Puller - $12 - I didn't need it for the camshaft seals because I took the camshaft caps off but it was great for the front main oil seal. It still left a small scratch on the crankshaft, but maybe I wasn't careful enough. Because of this tool driving the front crank seal back in was harder than getting it out.

Torque Angle Meter - $10 - Honestly, I could have stood to spend an extra couple buck for the Lisle one because this one was difficult to use in the tight space I had and not very confidence inspiring. However, it worked perfectly on the driver's side when I used the socket caps and 11/16" combination wrench.

1"x48" pipe for a breaker bar - $15 - Without this I wouldn't have been able to remove my crank pulley.

Craftsman Professional 11/16" combination wrench - $12 - Needed it to turn the 1/2" socket cap (below) as I only have a set of metric combination wrenches. The professional is longer and only $2 more than the normal version. Believe me I needed the extra length.

Craftsman Socket Cap Set - $11 - Again there's a space issue in screwing in head bolts using the socket and the torque angle meter. These saved my life. I didn't have them for installing the head on the passenger side and it was really frustrating trying to get the angles right on the bolts. The driver's side, which has less space went very smoothly with one of these on the gauge.

OEM offset feeler gauge set - $5 - (not pictured) free with my Autozone rewards $ I would have liked to have more blades in the smaller size but this should work for adjusting the valve clearance.

Great Neck Putty Knife - $3 - free with my Autozone rewards $. I used my file to keep a good edge on this and it was great for removing gasket material and even some small metal irregularities.

1/2" drive 25" breaker bar - $12 - I wish I'd had one of these for a long time. This made getting stuck fasteners loosened easy and even just made is easier to tun some tight ones. Plus, adding the 48" pipe to this made it possible to remove the crankshaft pulley. It was able to get the frost plug, about which I've read horror stories, out without a problem.

Actron Compression Tester Kit - $40 - (not pictured) - without a compression gague I wouldn't have found top dead center of cylinder 1. I would have bought the one that was $10 cheaper but they were out.

One Side Head On

I finally got the passenger side head on last night. Honestly, I was hoping to get both heads on but the bolt torquing process took me much longer than anticipated. Luckily, I was able to resolve the issues I've been having with the exhaust manifold.

As it turns out the header didn't have residual gasket it was pitted. I called the machine shop but they wanted $208 to manchine both sides. So talked to a few people and came up with an alternate procedure. First I polished the header with a steel brush to get off any old gasket and rust. I cleaned the resultant dust off with a rag and some brake cleaner. Then I filled the largest of the pits on the passenger exhaust using JB Weld, and scraped the area flat with a razor blade before it hardened. After letting that cure for 24 hours, I cleaned the headers with brake cleaner and spread a layer of copper coat gasket compound under the new exhaust gasket. The plan is to spread some of the compound on the top of the gasket to before bolting the manifold to the head.

Passenger side exhaust header. This is the one I polished and filled the defects with JB weld. The pitted areas are still obvious in the lower left area of the picture due to the color difference but now they're at least flat instead of actual pits.

Driver side header. This one isn't as shiny because it was in better condition from the beginning. (The lighting conditions are a little different too.) I didn't spend as much time polishing it and didn't need to use any JB weld to fill pits.

This is the driver side header after putting on the copper based exhaust sealant and the gasket. Hopefully that'll prevent any leaks. Plus, it looks pretty neat.

As I mentioned tightening the head bolts took me over an hour. Mostly it was due to the multi-step process for tightening the head bolts and the access issues associated with leaving the engine in the car. Tightening the bolts is a 7-8 step process for 6 bolts not including getting each 10" bolt in far enough to start torquing. This is the critical step in the process where proper torque matters. Thanks to this digital torque adaptor below, which I mentioned in a previous post, I felt confident that my wrenches were applying the proper torque to the bolts.
As you can see it is clamped in my bench vise. The torque wrench goes in the top and the torque being applied is displayed on the screen. You can set a target torque and the device provides both audio and visual warning when you are approaching that level of torque. I checked both my wrenches with this device each time I used them and I checked all 3 items at a given torque level. It looks like my inexpensive Harbor Freight torque wrenches (1/2" and 3/8" drive) and the device shown above are at least precise and likely accurate too.

Here's the head on one side of the engine. The assembly process has started.

Header Complications

I've spent at least 4 hours scraping old gasket off the headers and the components which attach to them. Most of that time (>90%) has been focused on the exhaust system. Unfortunately, I have learned from this experience that sharpened scrapers, sand paper, and chemical gasket remover are not sufficient to remove residual exhaust gaskets from headers. I'm going to have to apply different methods of removal to ensure I don't reassemble my engine only to find I have an exhaust leak. I've included a picture of each header below show my current progress.

This is the passenger side into which I've put most of the work. Despite my efforts several areas of residual gasket remain (red arrows). Although it may not be apparent in the photograph, rubbing a finger over those areas makes the imperfections very apparent. I'm most concerned with the lowest arrow in the picture as the area covered by the gasket is so much smaller.

The driver side, which I has not had as much scraping or been cleaned yet, looks worse but does not have as many imperfections.

Possible solutions:
1. Use a large flat sharpening stone to remove the excess material and flatten the surface completely.
2. Use a handheld grinder/polisher, such as a Dremel tool or angle grinder, to remove the excess material and polish the header.
3. Find a exhaust sealant to use in conjunction with the gaskets to fill the gaps created by the residual gasket that is safe for use upstream of the catalytic converter, which I just replaced.
4. Get a great suggestion from someone who knows what they're doing.

Head Gaskets Are Off

Here atre the head gaskets. I started about a week ago and I'm finally ready to take my heads to the machine shop.

Here's the heads, a pile gaskets above each (intake, exhaust, and head), and their bolts to the right.

The pistons on the passenger side after the heads were removed. For some reason there is more space on this side of the engine and the heads lifted off much easier.

The pistons on the driver's side. It looks like I got the pistons in the right position because they are all out of the way so the can't be hit by the valves. This side didn't have as much clearance and Michelle had to hold the air conditioning compressor out of the way to get the head out. I actually had to try a couple of times because as it turns out the transmission cooler lines are bolted to the bottom of the head on this side.

Here's my newly constructed workbench serving its intended purpose. The camshafts, camshaft caps, and rocker arm assemblies are carefully laid out on labeled towels for simple installation when the time comes. The rest of the parts are on the bottom shelf with the bolts in labeled plastic bags. Hopefully I'm organized enough to get it all back together quickly. I used to like to play with legos as a kid.

Here's a picture of the intake manifold after removing it.

Complications:
1. I read about the camshaft caps requiring a Torx wrench. Unfortunately, I didn't realize that half the bolts were T-40 and the other half 5 mm allen. As it turns out I got the passenger side cap off using a T-35 in place of the 5 mm without stripping any bolt heads. I don't plan to use that for reassembly.
2. I already mentioned about the transmission cooler lines being bolted to the underside of the head on the driver's side. That made life interesting.
3. When I removed the exhaust manifold there was one stud that unscrewed itself from the head rather than the nut coming off the stud. I'll probably end up replacing that stud and nut.

Head Gasket Part 1

I started my head gasket replacement project on Friday night. With a couple of hours Friday and a couple Saturday I've successfully got most the stuff out of the way. I'm now working on finding all the electrical connections so I can lift the intake manifold off. I'll post more details and pictures in part 2, but for now I'm just glad that I was able to get the crankshaft pulley off. Here's a couple of pictures.

This is the setup I used to get the crank pulley off. I used the strap wrench with a 19" handle to hold the pulley and the 2 foot breaker bar on the bolt plus 2 feet extra pipe for a cheater bar. To get the bolt off I had to stand in the engine compartment on the handle of the strap wrench while Michelle pulled on the 4 foot cheater bar.

Close up of the strap wrench and breaker bar on the crank pulley.

My four foot cheater pipe with the breaker bar inside. A yardstick is below for comparison.

Now the trick will be getting the bolt torqued down to the recommended ~130 foot pounds when I put it back together.

Workbench Update

Here's an updated picture of my workbench. Unfortunately, I forgot to pick up some wood for the top shelf. I guess I'll keep using the supports to hang rags. I've added the melamine to the top and added a red Wilton bench vise. I did get the opportunity to use it to overhaul the front hub on my mountain bike, but other than that no new projects.

When I attached the vise, I added a small piece of plywod underneath so the vise would be secured a little better. Interestingly, I learned that 7/16" bots are not available in grade 2, so I had to pay a little more for grade 5 bolts. You can also see how I used the machine bolts to construct the bench itself.

I also discovered this little neat gadget based on a tip I read in Popular Mechanics (Thanks, Scott, Leanne, and Addie!). I need to make sure that I torque my head bolts, rocker arm bolts, and cam caps properly. Rather than pay a couple hundred dollars for a wrench that comes with a certificate from a national lab. I bought this. You can either put a socket on one end and a ratchet in the other to use it as a torque wrench or put the torque wrench in it and clamp the other end in the vice to check the torque wrench. Obviously, this won't fit in the engine compartment attacted to a ratchet and socket, but it is an inexpensive way to check accuracy and precision of my inexpensive torque wrench. The head gasket should start this week. Wish me luck.