Well. I don't want to do this car, but something tells me I should.
Today was interesting. Basically, my driving course was cancelled at the last minute, so I found myself with a day spare, a car beckoning, a load of tools and sunshine. It meant OMEGA TIME!
So, the big project? Go or no-go???
Well, what I do know is that is a very sick pup indeed. Engine misfiring and knocking. Interior like a shed, exterior like something from robot wars.
First job, remove plenum, inlet manifold and both rocker covers to reseal them. Really dreadful leak. Next, swap DIS pack for a known good one, change leads for a known good set and then check cambelt, tensioners and water pump.
So. Off with that little lot. First sign of things to come was the throttles. Absolutely the worst sludge I have seen on any car in 30 years of fixing them. Plenum was crudded up, breathers quite unbelieveable. How the hell this thing runs I'll never know.
Anyway, carry on down. off with both rockers. Both had been bodged with some blue sealant. Cams looked good, no obvious wear or damage. Oil cooler looked ok. Carried on.
Off with bagpipes, air injection, pulleys, aux tensioner and cam cover. Belt looked good, but not new. Tensioner was set wrong and cams 1&2 were way off timing. Idlers looked ok. Water pump looked old, but no play or noise. PAS pump seemed free and working fine.
Reset timing correctly and torqued everything correctly. Reset tensioner. Built all back up again.
Replaced both rocker covers with known good covers and used the original gaskets from the MV6. I wasn't trying to service this engine, just stop the leaks and get it working right. Sealed covers correctly and torqued down.
Replaced DIS pack and all leads.
Cleaned breather system, which took hours. Cleaned throttles, plenum and multiram.
Rebuilt everything back up and reassembled.
Started engine, now running on all 6. But still knocking like a hammer. Passenger manifold leaking badly and pressure in sump, released through removing dipstick or filler cap. Not good news.
Ran for about 10 minutes during which time burned off some oil spillages. Started running a bit rougher. Kept an eye on temperature, which was normal. No water leaks and no more visible oil leaks. No smoke from exhaust.
Knocking is a mystery as I haven't dug deep enough. I suspect it could be small ends or hydraulic tappets. However, this is a big job and taking into account the mileage the car has done, the whole project seemed a dead end.
I gave the car its first wash in its life by the look of things. It did look nicer by a long way. I decided to call it a day and put it on Ebay. However, as the evening wore on and I saw the amount of interest the car was getting I had a rethink.
So, the plan is to put a replacement engine in after all. I may do the gerabox as well as it has probably done the whole mileage without a change, and it would be an easy add on to the engine change.
Then, anything else it needs MoT wise, before getting it MoT's and on the road. Final stage would be the bodywork and bringing the whole car upto scratch.
This is a big project though and won't be done overnight. I haven't done a full engine change for years. It si no big deal really. Strip as much off the old one before removing makes it easier. I would gain a lot of spares as well, and have an engine I can use for £120. (80k).
It would be a good project to take on. I'm not sure if I want to still, so will think about it for a while. But it would be a good car once done. Undrstand the full scale of this one guys. The car has been abused as a minicab for years and has nearly 1/4 MILLION miles on the clock.
This would be a great one to turn around, and would not cost that much to do. If I budget this like this I will be close:
Engine £120
Gearbox £40
Cambelt kit £80
Water pump £22
Wishbones £45
Drop links £15
Steering idler £30
Odds and ends £50
MoT £40
tax £95
On the road repair costs: £537
Car would be worth about £1750 done with a recon engine and box, so a worthwhile job I suppose.
just not sure if I really want to do this.
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Topic: Project 13 update (Read 1289 times)