Hi. This is my first post on Brickboard. I will be making many more posts over the next couple of weeks chronicling my refurbishment of a 1991 740 non-turbo automatic that I picked up fairly cheaply. The car is in nice shape, very little rust, with 206000 km's (128000 miles) on it.

Anyway, I wanted to replace/rebuild as much of it as I can, in the hopes that it will be a nice reliable car for the next, say, 3 years. I have already ordered some parts from FCP, vlvworld, and have an order pending with IPD. It hasn't been shipped yet because the crank counterhold tool is on backorder. I am contemplating deleting it in favour of trying the rope method or by maybe jamming the flexplate with something. I will look at that tonight.

Anyway, the reason for this post is I wanted to solicit some opinions on whether or not I should pull off the head and have it rebuilt, and of course, changing the gasket. Any opinions?

My mechanical aptitude could be classed as "novice mechanic" as I've successfully worked on other cars in the past. So far I have most of the engine bay disassembled. I'm at work right now, but will post a picture when I get home.

Am I risking too much by fiddling with a (seemingly) fine-working cylinder head?

More details to come.

BTW: I've studied most of the faq on the 700/900 cars already - it is excellent.