About a month ago, the day after my girlfriend and I went different ways, My Contour got terminally Ill on the side of the 401. It was right after the shell station east bound from Kitchener.
The alternator went.
Upon closer inspection, once i got it home, oil was leaking from around the bottom of the head, onto the alternator, making it fail prematurely.
Not bad.
A month prior to this, the engine was running hot. And It was using a bit of coolant.
I took it to a rad shop in town, and the guy said I have a leaky headgasket, and the leak occurs at higher rpms. Exhaust was leaking into the coolant, and making it boil off.
So I bought a 94 Cavalier off my brother, and started doing the head gaskets.
I'll let the pictures do most of the talking.
Right after I got the cams removed.
Check out that Carbon!
More Carbon.
The rest are as of today.
Heads removed! HUZZAH TO THE SHOP KEEP!
Notice, Oil injectors are here now.
Left Bank, with Head Gasket on still
Right Bank, with Head Gasket on still
Right Bank, with Head Gasket on still
This last one is the worse. It shows how long it has sat and collected dust. It makes me cry.
Thus far, I've concluded, that Chevy makes a horrible Cavalier. It's 12 years old, and it has tons of stupid problems, which I would not expect a contour to have.
Also, Our engine bays are tight. Wow. I've gotten used to it, but every day at work, someone asks about my scratches on my hands, and ask "Do You have a cat?" .. Well I do, but, this is from my sharpass engine.
It'll be worth it in the end. I went retarded today, and tightened 2 exhaust manifold studs, which then ripped the threads out of the head. I'm taking the heads, with valves, and springs to a Cylinder head shop around here, to have a valve job, port and polish, and head checked out. That should fix this.
I'm planning on replacing the timing chain tensioners, pvc valve, and anything .. disposible like that. Any suggestions on anything else? What about the oil Separator on top of the block? is there a filter in there?
lost my car, and got rid of a good girl in the span of two days. .. At least I still have the good job.
. Good luck on rebuilding your motor and getting your car back on the road 
.
but not to much. Show some pics when it will be ready. good luck