newbie engine build help!

[boysie]

Right, i was going to have my engine rebuilt but have now decided to have a bash myself, im no grease monkey, but am a engineer, so have half a clue, honest! i wont be using car over winter anyway, and i suppose its best way to learn too!

So i planning a complete nut and bolt strip of engine and this is were questions come.
Is it really just a case of following haynes step by step though all of chapter 1? i have read it a few times but get the feeling its probably as easy as they make it sound

what MUST be swapped on rebuild? gaskets i know but what about bearings n stuff?

Im also wondering about doing a compession test on engine before i strip it, but what will it really tell me? if you poor compression surley it could be gasket, warped head or knakked piston rings, is there any way to tell whats wrong ( before stripping)

heads, how much better is a polished ported over a standard? and should i be looking at getting it reskimmed even if i have decent compression on it now?

sure theres more to be asked but just looking for a good starting point, and what i need to be getting ordered before i start

BTW, anybody go to MPH show in Birmingham? just wondering who's the Raider belongs to, cos that baby has inspired me with mine, be sat there next to it next year

hopefully

[Big Steve - Raider]

Now Now Boycieeeeee..... play it cool son.... play it cool!!

Good to read that you're going to have a bash at re-building your engine yourself!! I'm an engineer of Plastics of all things but I managed to do mine ok with the help of some of my mates through some of the bits I was un-sure of.

I can't recommend working on your own car highly enough becasue you'll learn every nut & bolt of the engine & see with your own eyes things that may give you trouble in the future and you can choose to repair/replace what you want to when you can.

Yes you can follow the Haynes manual for almost all of the main stuff, I did, they're good little books!! Once you take the first few steps you'll soon figure it out!

As for replacing stuff it all depends on what the engine looks like internally when you take it apart and how much you take it apart. If you take it down to the bare block then you'll need to be fitting Big end bearings/shells Piston Rings etc as you would in any engine. You'll need to be measuring all the end-float etc that's detailed in the Haynes Manual to decide what you need to replace.

I would recommend that you make sure that you keep all the pushrods and cam followers individually tagged & labeled so they go back with each other

A compression test will tell you how your piston rings are holding up and if the head gasket is leaking but considering you'll be taking the engine apart & replacing the head gasket it's not really worth checking the compression before you strip it.

Polishing and porting heads will give you an improvement in BHP but these engine's respond better to turning the boost up rather than the old school tuning methods but anything you do will improve the way the engine runs. Different profile cams is certainly something you should be thinking about if you're going to do some headwork? Their's loads of people on here that can give a more in-depth discussion on that subject as i just kept mine standard.

You'll probably need to get the head skimmed as a matter of course when you take it off but make sure you measure it in-case it's been done before and you're down to the limit already??

Finally the Raider that was at the MPH/Classic Car show in Brum was mine . I'm glad it inspired you to get stuck into your car and hope it's proof enough that anything's achievable if you put your mind to it!! Their's quite a few of us going back to OE with our cars now which is great and we've finally shook off the Ali-G Chav culture now leaving the true enthusiasts!

[Hoolio]

Wow, mega post Steve and yes I think your right about shaking off the Chav image. By next year I think there's going to be a whole queue of mint restoration projects standing beside the Raider.

[Big Steve - Raider]

Wow, mega post Steve and yes I think your right about shaking off the Chav image. By next year I think there's going to be a whole queue of mint restoration projects standing beside the Raider.

Yeah you're dead right mate!! Just off the top of my head we've got:

Me (Raider)
Hoolio (Phase 2 White)
Mart (Phase 2 White)
Brigsy (Phase 2 Tungy)
gtmatt (Phase 2 White)
Wallace (Phase 2 Red)
JRP (Phase 2 White)
Jesus (Phase 1 Electric Blue) Chop Chop!
MarkH (Phase 2 Black)
Tarmac Trasher - Nick (Phase 2 Silver Cabriolet)
Tillax (Phase 2 Silver)
TOMS-GTT (Phase 2 Tungy)
Tones GTT (Phase 2 Tungy)
Trevhib's old Car (Phase 1 Silver)
StuTHC (Phase 1 Red) If he cleans it

We should start another thread to keep a track of peoples car's if someone from a Magazine needs an example??

[boysie]

Good work steve

Got a bo**ocking for security guards at MPH for hopping over rope to have a good nosey round your motor

biggest problem i think i have is when i strip it i wont have a fecking clue whats good and what knakked

so i reckon i will swap all bearings/shells anyway, but im not sure about swapping piston rings, is that a major/difficult job? are they prone to failing?

i guess i should get head skimmed then while its off really then, and is ported polished head really just for big bhp cars then, and is the gain worth the extra £200+?
i have a 285 cam to put in it when i rebuild it and a t25 turbo, but am not after massive power, i had about 140 - 150bhp on my last 5 and if i get near that i will be happy

so, what head gasket kit is recommended? seems to be a few uprated gaskets around, are they pretty much all the same?

Thanks for the help

[Big Steve - Raider]

So, what head gasket kit is recommended? seems to be a few uprated gaskets around, are they pretty much all the same?

The "Uprated" headgasket set from www.gsfcarparts.com is plenty good enough.

R11402

Everyone's now learnt that the standard-ish headhaskets are plenty good enough AS LONG as you've got your fuelling well sorted in relation to the amount of boost you're running. It was the poor fuelling and detonation that was messing up the HG's not that the HG's are crap.

Certainly don't go anywhere near those Copper Head Gaskets or anything like that! It's better to have a weak link in the engine that can let go if needs be rather than mullering your engine BIG STYLEE!!

[boysie]

ok thanks, i will get them ordered from there, just didnt want to order a "uprated" gasket to find it had been cut out of a cornflake box!

Yeah i know what you mean about the copper gasket, if summets gotta go.........

[Hoolio]

We should start another thread to keep a track of peoples car's if someone from a Magazine needs an example??[/QUOTE]

Of course we can source a car for you sir, what colour would you like? :-)

Boisy you should start a thread in the projects section, you'll get loads more tips and encouragment as you progress.

[JRP]

Standard is the new modded

[Wallace]

Having a go yourself??

Take lots of pictures

I'm also in the process of rebuild and refurbing (Big Steves Raider got my juices flowing too)

I've found that so far it's clearly obvious what does and doesn't need replacing, most things just need a good flush or clean - and just removing things bit by bit, labeling and marking whats what, the more info you put on each bit or part the better

I'm sure like me you'll find just reading through posts and researching things on-line increase your understanding and hopefully it'll all go well

[raj]

Yeah you're dead right mate!! Just off the top of my head we've got:

Me (Raider)
Hoolio (Phase 2 White)
Mart (Phase 2 White)
Brigsy (Phase 2 Tungy)
gtmatt (Phase 2 White)
Wallace (Phase 2 Red)
JRP (Phase 2 White)
Jesus (Phase 1 Electric Blue) Chop Chop!
MarkH (Phase 2 Black)
Tarmac Trasher - Nick (Phase 2 Silver Cabriolet)
Tillax (Phase 2 Silver)
TOMS-GTT (Phase 2 Tungy)
Tones GTT (Phase 2 Tungy)
Trevhib's old Car (Phase 1 Silver)
StuTHC (Phase 1 Red) If he cleans it

We should start another thread to keep a track of peoples car's if someone from a Magazine needs an example??

oooerrr are all the above folk restoring there cars to OE spec.?

[Brigsy]

Good luck with the new build, take plenty of pics when on with it

Will be some awesome o.e gtt's next year, we need to pick a nice location & get some pics with them together!

[boysie]

yep i will be taking plenty pics, and will post some along the way,

can the oe air box handle a bit of mild tuning? like i said in earlier post im thinking of a cam and t25 turbo running a pretty standard boost level in rebuild, and if the standard air filter will cope with it i would prefer to keep it

[Brigsy]

O.e airbox is actually a pretty good bit of kit, for moderate tuning its more than up to the job imo, its a fairly decent ram air system.

Get a performance element & your onto a winner, loads new on ebay for pennies

[hydrotec78]

Its nice to see some standard 5's around, but it is easy to get carried away, the plan for my Raider keeps changing every day !

[Mart]

Yeah you're dead right mate!! Just off the top of my head we've got:

Me (Raider)
Hoolio (Phase 2 White)
Mart (Phase 2 White)
Brigsy (Phase 2 Tungy)
gtmatt (Phase 2 White)
Wallace (Phase 2 Red)
JRP (Phase 2 White)
Jesus (Phase 1 Electric Blue) Chop Chop!
MarkH (Phase 2 Black)
Tarmac Trasher - Nick (Phase 2 Silver Cabriolet)
Tillax (Phase 2 Silver)
TOMS-GTT (Phase 2 Tungy)
Tones GTT (Phase 2 Tungy)
Trevhib's old Car (Phase 1 Silver)
StuTHC (Phase 1 Red) If he cleans it

Dare I say it again, but Renault had it right from the start

[tonesGTT]

oooerrr are all the above folk restoring there cars to OE spec.?

Not quite. Bought mine standard. However, my white one got the OE treatment! Crack on Boysie, good luck with it. It may add to your inspiration, it may not but there are some pics of my white one when i bought it and when id 'finished' it on my profile

[tonesGTT]

O.e airbox is actually a pretty good bit of kit, for moderate tuning its more than up to the job imo, its a fairly decent ram air system.

Get a performance element & your onto a winner, loads new on ebay for pennies

iirc there was a big thread about the OE box compared to 'performance kits' a few years ago. Sparked a tasty debate as i recall.

[boysie]

right i think i will have a get a standard airbox then

Getting a bit ahead of myself tho cos i havent even started stripping engine yet!

Another question first! the rebuild in all honesty will take me a few weeks at least due to work commitments, so i will only be doing it on weekends, is it ok to leave it all stripped down? or do i need to protect it from rusting up

Just a bit worried if i strip block down and coming back to it next weekend to find it covered in rust or something

big day tomorrow, drain down and start the big strip have to take it for one last blast first ( as long as it doesn't snow again)

Wish me luck!

[Big Steve - Raider]

Another question first! the rebuild in all honesty will take me a few weeks at least due to work commitments, so i will only be doing it on weekends, is it ok to leave it all stripped down? or do i need to protect it from rusting up

Yeah you'll be fine to leave your car stripped for a few weeks. If you're concerned you can always give everything a liberal spray with the old WD40 just for piece of mind

The best thing IS to take your time and do things step by step especially if you're looking to make it all nice & shiney & new again. You can get a load of bits re-powdercoated and Zinc & Colour Passivated

It's enjoyable doing it nice & slowly when you have time. I think everyone will agree that's a lot better than rushing round to get it finished prior to having to use it to get to work tomorrow morning!!

[boysie]

thanks steve

never thought of wd! ill do that, ended up sorting some heating out for garage this weekend anyway

was thinking of the power coating myself, there is a few places round here that do it, might call in when i actually get round to doing some work on it!