its never been opened up....atleast i had never and the vehicle was purchased with low miles. Now its ~110 miles.

 

Makes sense. Longest breaker bar you can fit under there. Pull real hard using your legs as well. Don't clench your teeth while doing it. You'll break your teeth.

 

Update: good and bad news....

Good; was able to remove the crank bolt, released the cam sprockets....cleaned up the chain from the two small plastic debree. Then placed everything back in the order suggested, tightened the sprockets and crank while the tensioner tool in place....then released everything (crank pin and cam tool).

bad; after manually rotating the crank some slack reappeared in the chain....so I went back again and placed the locking tools on then re-timed it. Tried rotating the crank manually and felt major resistance .... after inspecting the valves while rotating the crank back and forth in the allowable slack area, I noticed two of valves on cylinder#1 (furthest from the cam sprockets) were stuck open.

Now I am not certain on how to approach it.... curious if I had bent the valves in the process or they are simply got stuck in position.

some pics to share...

 

Did you keep going after you felt resistance ?
If you did, shame shame. If those valves are actually stuck open. The valves are relatively cheap. Exhaust are around 24 bucks a piece I think and the intakes are cheaper.
We're the letters for the cams facing up on both ? Then you installed the tool and then the tensioner. Then torqued all bolts.
If they are stuck open, now you get to do the head unfortunately. Don't just throw the new valves in thinking your gonna be good. Get a valve job. New stuff is never perfect or hardly ever seals. I see it all the time in the shop.
I yi yi yi. Another tip. Head bolts. They are torque yield. Buy the arp head bolt kit.

 

No, I didn't pass the resistance point.... it very much felt like it was hitting something solid, so I stopped!
I rechecked the valves, and indeed the exhaust valves on cylinders 1 & 4 are stuck open, so unfortunately I will need to remove the head.

I agree with you on the head bolts... I have built a 4G63 in the past so I am aware of their importance.

May you link me to where I could order those valves, gasket...etc? DetroitTuned.com is local but I didn't see valves on their site.... the timing chain kit on their website is priced reasonable though.

Back to doing some more reading on head removal....urgh

Thanks again guys!

 

Head removal ain't bad. Intake. Fuel rails. Downpipe. Exhaust manifold with turbo attached. Vac pump. Hpfp. Thermostat housing. Jack under the engine. Serpentine belt off. Balancer off. Timing chain tensioner. Torx bit bolts for the timing chain guides. Loosen the heads bolts. Support the engine slightly. Ground strap on the engine mount. Engine mount top half. Two bolts for the radiator support by the strut. One bolt forward of those bolts. I think it's for the head light. Flex the support out of the way to get the top half of the engine mount out. Two bolts the battery cable that goes over end of the motor.(it's red and held by a black plastic casing). Nut that holds the wire to the alternator so the wire is loose and floppy. Bolts for the lower half of the mount and pull it out. Cam tool should already be on. Exhaust and intake bcamshaft gear bolts out. Timing chain guides. Camshafts. Pay seriously close attention to the camshaft journal caps. They MUST be in the same position and same direction. If not, IT WILL DESTROY THE CAM JOURNALS AND THE CAMS. AND I MEAN DESTROY. Trust me, made that mistake by accident too. Once cams are out, take head bolts out. Lift the head off. Head gasket off. I did all this by memory. There might be some small details I missed. But I think it's pretty accurate. I've done this EXACT job your doing now, start to turn the key and running in 7 days. Did my head at work. Valves were obtained through super tech. Spring kit as well if you want new springs. Valve seals prolly a smart idea. If your only installing the bad valves, just go to the dealer. Get the arp heads. Notice I said it a second time. Look at the cost of heads bolts versus arp. If you gotta do it again for better pistons, more bent valves, a port and polish job, whatever, you'll never those old style bolts again.
By the way, I do head work at a shop every day. Did 3 cooper heads already, and mine as well. 4 times.

 

ya you very much touched based on alot of lil details.... alot more than a typicall memory description..lol, thanks man!

so I started digging into it once again today, and man everything seems to be straightforward as far as what needs to get done, however, there is very little place for the tools or reach. so I gave up on the idea of removing the head for now, and went back to rotating the crank while observing the exhaust valve springs. I noticed they do move, however, not as much travel as the intake valves. So curious the valves had been bent or am I feeling resistance from a damaged portion of the chain..... thinking maybe some plastic debree is stuck in the chain.... (I should say I am hoping that is the case).

so now i am back on the passenger side trying to remove the whole timing chain with guides back up. The issue i am running into is how to release the passenger side engine mount so I could reach the guide bolt that seems to be behind it. I tried release the stamped sheet metal cross member or radiator support as it may be called, as well as moved the boost tube out of the way, and still couldn't get a clear shot at that 13mm nut. see pic below....

 

With work travels and school starting, I barely had time to turn any bolts in the past couple of weeks, thus, I have decided to put it out on the market if anyone is interested in a project car.
Thanks for all the help!

https://www.northamericanmotoring.co...ml#post4127230

 

+SPRINTCARS. Yes i kinda noticed you mentioned the ARP brand of headbolts for this R56 mini, is it safe to say i can re-torque them the 2nd or 3rd times NOT LIKE the compression fit headbolts that most of the repair manual were talking about?

I'm in the same problem as +09R56 and getting ready to remove the cylinder head and bringing it to a machine shop.