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[Marks DTM Calib]

Working on the divider now Martin

If fitting a 3.0 divider, and 3.0 cams - should I also put some 3.0 petrol injectors in (are they greater flow?)

IIRC the injectors are the same.

Kevin

Yep....certainly are on all the units I have seen

[Dazzler]

If i remember correctly, the injectors should be blue, which i had on my 2.5 and the 3.0 manifold i fitted for my LPG, which you must fit due to higher airflow volume.

[Elite Pete]

Hurry up with it James, i've got £600 for it here

[NaughtyNigel]

I'd love to know what that red dye-like substance is all around the drivers side head gasket  - K seal or simelar?

Hi James,
I think you'll find the red dye is from the anti freeze!

I changed the antifreeze earlier this year when I first had serious problems of leakage (as I wanted to prevent any corrosion).

I bought two 'identical' 5Lt Bottles of long life antifreeze from Halfords in Darlington. One was bright pink, and the other had very little colour. The bright one went into the Omega, and most of the other went into the Astra. Simple as that!

At first I had some leakage problems, with the new antifreeze running out from the back of the engine, and bright red staining around the head gaskets. The garage then added some professional grade Rad Weld (without asking), which cured the leak immediately, and changed the colour of the antifreeze to a muddy brown shade.

I hope that helps.

I think you are, Jimbob

I must just say - the cams, shells, and heads, are sqeuaky clean, it's been VERY well serviced despite a pump being used for oil changes...

I am still puzzled about that. The mechanic has never mentioned anything to me. I woner if they stripped a thread and didn't want to Helicoil it?

It has been run on Mobil 1 since the first oil change, and I always made sure she was fully warmed up before giving her any stick! I am pleased to hear it has kept the engine in good condition.

What sort of condion are the cylinder bores in?

Also, what are the vacuum tanks you refer to? Are these for the brakes?

Good luck with it!

NN
 
Edit: Thinking on, I do wonder whether the sump plug was welded the very last time the garage serviced the car, as they inexplicably lost interest in doing any further work on it.

NN

[JamesV6CDX]

Tonight's progress:

* Rig up lead lamps

* Jack and support the car - and tackle this rounded, horrible downpipe bolt, that's needed to remove the exhaust. Out with a shiny new set of "irwin" spiral flute sockets, an extension bar, and a nice hammer. Bash flute socket over nut, hard. Turn with breaker bar.... no go. Spray it (again) and use an even longer bar. CRACK! Got it 

Removed lambda wiring, cat to mid-section joints, and removed both cats.

Lower the car, and working in the engine bay again...

Remove  top manifold heatshield, and the 2-4-6 SAI pipe from manifold.

Remove the three earth's at the back of the head - and finally, the head bolts.

Up she comes.....

Now - the head needs to come off to renew all the manifold studs and gaskets, but I must say, the gasket looked as good as new. Obviously had good coolant servicing....


I then removed the rear coolant pipe, and basically the 1-3-5- head is now ready to unbolt and lift - but, it was chucking it down and I'd had enough.....


The 1-3-5 head will come off tomorrow night....

(I am on a course all weekend)

Then over the next few evenings, I will extract the manifold studs gently, without breaking any (!) - and start on the head rebuilts/refurbs, ready for a weekend of re-building next weekend  

[Ken T]

Are you planning to drill and fit nozzles for your LPG install ?. Would save time later.

Ken

[NaughtyNigel]

Tonight's progress:

* Rig up lead lamps

* Jack and support the car - and tackle this rounded, horrible downpipe bolt, that's needed to remove the exhaust. Out with a shiny new set of "irwin" spiral flute sockets, an extension bar, and a nice hammer. Bash flute socket over nut, hard. Turn with breaker bar.... no go. Spray it (again) and use an even longer bar. CRACK! Got it 

Removed lambda wiring, cat to mid-section joints, and removed both cats.

Lower the car, and working in the engine bay again...

Remove  top manifold heatshield, and the 2-4-6 SAI pipe from manifold.

Remove the three earth's at the back of the head - and finally, the head bolts.

Up she comes.....

Now - the head needs to come off to renew all the manifold studs and gaskets, but I must say, the gasket looked as good as new. Obviously had good coolant servicing....


I then removed the rear coolant pipe, and basically the 1-3-5- head is now ready to unbolt and lift - but, it was chucking it down and I'd had enough.....


The 1-3-5 head will come off tomorrow night....

(I am on a course all weekend)

Then over the next few evenings, I will extract the manifold studs gently, without breaking any (!) - and start on the head rebuilts/refurbs, ready for a weekend of re-building next weekend  

Hi James.

Can you see where the coolant was leaking from yet>

NN

[JamesV6CDX]

Tonight's progress:

* Rig up lead lamps

* Jack and support the car - and tackle this rounded, horrible downpipe bolt, that's needed to remove the exhaust. Out with a shiny new set of "irwin" spiral flute sockets, an extension bar, and a nice hammer. Bash flute socket over nut, hard. Turn with breaker bar.... no go. Spray it (again) and use an even longer bar. CRACK! Got it 

Removed lambda wiring, cat to mid-section joints, and removed both cats.

Lower the car, and working in the engine bay again...

Remove  top manifold heatshield, and the 2-4-6 SAI pipe from manifold.

Remove the three earth's at the back of the head - and finally, the head bolts.

Up she comes.....

Now - the head needs to come off to renew all the manifold studs and gaskets, but I must say, the gasket looked as good as new. Obviously had good coolant servicing....


I then removed the rear coolant pipe, and basically the 1-3-5- head is now ready to unbolt and lift - but, it was chucking it down and I'd had enough.....


The 1-3-5 head will come off tomorrow night....

(I am on a course all weekend)

Then over the next few evenings, I will extract the manifold studs gently, without breaking any (!) - and start on the head rebuilts/refurbs, ready for a weekend of re-building next weekend  

Hi James.

Can you see where the coolant was leaking from yet>

NN

Hi NN,

The head gaskets don't look like they leaked. Neither does the oil cooler, coolant bridge, or Stat.

There is some fine red covering on the rear of the offside head, I am beginning to wonder whether it was the rear coolant transfer pipe spraying a fine mist.

Whatever the leak was, I suspect it was absolutely minimal, and the signs we are seeing are a sign of a long term leak, rather than a short term major one.

As an observation, the exhaust manifold studs were all very rusty, and some of the nuts rusted away to the point a normal socket wouldn't fit.

Not a problem though - I got them all out whole  8-)

Should have said - I pulled the 1-3-5 head tonight, and finished the stripdown

I will be ordering a new DIS - the current one still works, but isn't in great shape visually. Basically the windscreen seal came loose at the bottom, and as such the scuttle is filling with water and dripping onto Dis.

So this will be sorted when it all goes back together

All in all - I'm pleased with progress 

[Entwood]

Soon be up for sale then James   (providing you don't miss any bits off when rebuilding !!!!!! )

[Sorry . tried hard to resist .... but failed abysmally !!! ]

 

 

[JamesV6CDX]

You make me sound like a cowboy.....


..... one mistake ... just one..... left out a pesky follower on my own car - and never live it down   

[tunnie]

You make me sound like a cowboy.....


..... one mistake ... just one..... left out a pesky follower on my own car - and never live it down   

Like the student jokes, they never go away!

[Martin_1962]

When are you going to do the porting?

[NaughtyNigel]

Hi James,

So the head gaskets weren't leaking after all?   :question

Coolant was definitely trickling down the bell housing before the garage added the Rad Weld.

I had suspected the seal around the oil cooler plate, but never got to check it out. There was also a very occasional misfire, which could be the DIS pack.

So much for the garage's diagnosis using a CO meter. 

Will you get the heads skimmed anyway?

NN

[JamesV6CDX]

Hiya Nigel

The head gaskets were practically good as new - and there is next to no corrosion - you have clearly maintained the coolant

Re the dis - no worries - it's practically a service item at 100k miles

I don't think the HGs were leaking at all. Although I don't regret taking them off - because it's the only way the manifolds would have really been sorted properly (they both needed doing) -

Plus, good excuse to fit the 3.0 cams, and larger exhaust manifolds

I won't skim the heads - it causes problems with the alignment of the inlet and coolant bridges - and we rarely see a warped V6 head (and I know the history of this one)...

Interestingly, the exhaust manifold gaskets that came off were composite material, and I could see some "elring" stamping that had embossed itself on the head face. I do recall elring made the gaskets for GM, but I always thought they were metal - unless this was introduced later.

I will be fitting multilayer metal gaskets, as they are much better

Interestingly, when these things leak coolant from the back, it usually drips onto the rearmost nearside manifold stud - which may explain why that particular one (and indeed, the downpipe nuts) were so rusty and corroded away....