Billman250

If you saw hairline cracks on the exhaust side, you can bet the bank the intake side is destroyed.

Something does not add up here. I personally discredit this entire thread without a picture. Do you know if the ap1 cylinder head was retained when they put the 2.2L in?

tootrue23

Hello all and thank you for your comments.

I decided to go ahead with the retainers replacements along with a valve adjustment. While it didn't cost me much, it DID give me a peace of mind that shit wasn't going to blow up upon turning on the engine. Post-replacement, I noticed that the ticking noise that I was referring to wasn't evident anymore. In fact, I can say that it's completely gone. While this could've been due to the valve adjustment (correct me if I'm wrong on that one), I'm confident that something was up with the retainers.

I'm confident that it wasn't the TCT noise, as I listened and compared my sound to a few videos posted on YouTube. I have no video recording of such said ticking noise, not even an audio recording so evidence is scarce on that topic. What I do have though, is a picture that my mechanic snapped (low quality and blurry photo) and some photos that I snapped of the retainers after they were off the car:












While these pictures indicate very early signs of cracking, it didn't crack from the usual place that most people post (raised from the middle). It seems like I caught it early enough before any further damage was done. AGAIN, I have NO idea of the history of this engine, but I personally never over-reved the car. I can't speak the same for the previous owner(s) though.

SpitfireS

Thanks for the photo's.

Do you still have the old retainers?
Do you have a vice?
What if you deform them to see if the crack is an actual crack and not a forging / production burr or something.
Looking at the top / bottom view of your second-to-last / last photo you "suggest" the crack runs from top to bottom: IOW all the way through the retainer and that's a LOT of metal to crack.
Trying to deform them would show if it is an actual crack (metal being separated)
Time to investigate, very interesting if you would do this.
Yes, doing so may show you replaced them for..... well.... to just be sure

tootrue23

I'll look into it further at a later date. The retainers weren't insanely expensive ($4.22 each) to warrant an immediate investigation on my end.

The hairline cracks can be felt by running my fingers through it. Honestly, it's a bit difficult to depict by just pictures alone.

I potentially could've got away with not replacing them for another year. Hell, probably the next 3 years. Or I could've been on this forum looking for a new engine tomorrow because some freak accident happened with valves dropping (worst case scenario). The peace of mind that it brought me warrants the replacement alone (especially since I do track the car).

Thanks for the interest!

SpitfireS

If you show that the retainers were cracked in the way that you claim they are, it would be (AFAIK) the first time that is posted - hopefully with pictures - on s2ki.