I just picked up this engine this week to swap into my ek hatch. I thought i would go ahead and replace all the seals and gaskets along with the water pump before i put it in. after i removed the head this is what i found. Would anyone know why there is such a build up of carbon or my valves and pistons..........could the rings be gone? if anyone could shed some light on this and tell me why it is so bad i would very much appreciate it. thanks

 

gross. Well you have the head off do a stock rebuild. strip down the block and head, label everything. Get the block honed, decked, hot tanked and bead blasted. Get the head resurfaced, hot tanked and bead blasted. Put all your crap back in using your new seals, new rings, new timing belt/ waterpump/ tensioner. New oil pump.

The machine shop can clean the carbon off those pistons, then your good.