[Car_Overhaul] One Thing Leads To Another..

[Kane 34]

Picked up the parts from the motor factors today and made a start at rebuilding the engine.

 

So far the liner protrusion has been checked and are now clamped in, pistons and rods fitted with new rings and I have began fitting the shells although I have it a snag. The big ends are fine although upon fitting the mains it seems that the pack I have contains 6 grooved bearings and 4 smooth. I had a look at the old bearings that came out the engine and there are 5 of each so it would seem that there has been a mistake in the packaging of the product, has anyone encountered this before??

 

I don't really want to go and buy a full new set of bearings for just one half but it seems I may have to unless anyone has spares lying around that I could possibly have? There is one bearing from the old set that looks scratch free but I assume it would be a bad idea to reuse it, what is your opinions?

 

Any advice would be great

 

Cheers

 

Kane

[Kane 34]

So after a bit more research I decided just to use the bearings I had.. checked all the clearances using plastigage today and all seemed ok which was a relief.

 

I spent most of today putting the rest of engine together and am almost finished, I never managed to get many photos as my phone died on me earlier today but I'll make sure that I get some next time I get out to the garage.

 

Here is how everything stands now:

• head is pretty much built, only problem is I don't seem to have any cam seals (flywheel end) so am going to have to order some tonight.
• bottom end is complete
• Sump, flywheel and clutch on

I'm a little p**sed off because I spent the best part of a week cleaning and painting the gearbox pictured above only to realise tonight that its a BE1 and the release bearing I got with the clutch kit fits a BE3. I was considering just buying another release bearing but it was a BE3 box that came out of the car originally so rather than having to swap all the bits and pieces round I am just going to clean up the old box and put that in.

 

Am I right in assuming that because its a BE3 box that the mi16 clutch will fit ok or is there variants of the BE3 box that might result in it not fitting? I'm going to have a quick look in the morning when there is a bit of light to double check but confirmation would be good if anyone can help.

 

Cheers

[rallyeash 155]

Good attention to detail! Looks really good

[Kane 34]

Thanks Ash.

 

Got out to have a look at the old gearbox today and it looks as though that it is the correct unit for the clutch kit I've got so am pleased with that. Haven't been able to do much else but have a clean out of the garage and I've also taken a little bit of time this morning to make a 'things to buy' list which unsurprisingly is bigger than I had thought it was going to be.

 

Probably not going to have any time over the next week or two to do much work due to uni deadlines but should be able to crack on after they are submitted. It could be quite interesting finishing the small areas under the car that need painted now that it is December.. Fingers crossed the snow doesn't start too early this year!

[Kane 34]

So its been a while since I have updated this, not had the time recently as I've been busy doing my masters at uni and the fact that the weather has been horrendous. I should really try and get myself a garage! Anyway I had a bit of time at the weekend when the weather was good and slowly started fitting bits and pieces back onto the car.

 

I had the front subframe partially fitted but when attempting to fit the 4 rear bolts a few of them wouldn't go in as the nuts had moved so out came the front seats and the carpet. I had to lift the carpet anyway as the passenger side gromit under the front seat had crumbled into nothingness so I'll need to weld a plate in there I think. Upon removing the carpet the extent of the moisture in there became more apparent as the stench of the sound deadening was awful!

 

Here's a couple of snaps from the day

 

 

Darn rust!!!!

 

 

I scraped back all the loose crap after taking that picture and a couple of holes formed. Moisture had also got under the good paint elsewhere which meant that it rubbed off just by running your finger over it. Next step is to apply some deox gel, cut out the crap and weld in a few repair patches.

 

Oh and I had forgotten about a couple of rusted items that I had left in a wheelie-bin in a solution of the deox-c rust treatment. For anyone that is needing loose items treated this stuff works a treat! As you can see from the exhaust manifold the lower half (which was in the water) has been completely cleaned up.

 

 

 

Anyway that's me for now, I hopefully should get back out to get the floor sorted out over the next couple of weeks and you never know the engine might actually be in the bay by summer!

[Kane 34]

Been a few weeks since I've updated on here but been relatively busy. Got the majority of items in the engine bay put back in, new front brake lines done haven't made a start to the rears yet though as I've still to buy a bias valve to replace my old crusty compensators.

 

Managed to finish building the engine and dropped that in which was a bit of a nightmare as I was doing it myself with a dodgy winch hung from the garage roof. Anyways here's a couple of photos of the process.

 

 

 

Stupid here forgot to replace the large alternator bolt prior to fitting the engine so had to remove the upper engine mount in place to fit it but that is all done now.

 

Also spent a little while chopping up the fan cowling and got covered in plastic burns while doing so. From looking at the guide on here it is almost ready to go I'll just need to offer it up next time I'm out at the car.

 

I've read recently that when building an engine proper engine assembly lube should be used as opposed to normal oil as it stays in place although I didn't know this prior to assembling my engine. As I used normal oil it will have likely drained away from bearing etc. so what would be the recommended method for the first start? Would the following be correct

 

-fill with oil as normal

-pour additional oil down bores

-crank engine without fuel pump wired in to prime the oil pump

-check compression on all cylinders then connect everything up and fire up?

 

Sorry if this is common knowledge, this is my first attempt at an engine conversion never mind a full rebuild.

 

I've also noticed one other issue when the engine was dropped in. Initially looking at the position of the exhaust manifold it looked like the angle would result in the downpipe being extremely close to the fire wall so I offered it up and there is no way it will fit with the heat shield there. Removed that and offered it up again, although it looks like it will fit there is probably only mm's of clearance from the firewall which I don't think is enough. Now when I bought the engine, and all ancillaries, I was told it came out of a converted 205 so I thought it would be a direct fit but I'm not so sure now. What would be the recommended clearance for the downpipe to the firewall itself? I haven't got a photo at the moment but will get one up asap.

 

Cheers

 

Kane

[Kane 34]

Just a quick update, managed to order up a few bits and pieces today to hopefully get the car up and running in the next week or two. Jobs on the list for when everything arrives:

• Replace lower engine mount bolt (temporary bolt in place currently)
• refit radiator, slam panel etc
• plumb in cooling system (any advice on this would be great, I have seen several different setups on here but unsure as to which is best. I have the mi16/205 bbm hose set so could someone please recommend me the appropriate setup?)
• possibly cut and re-angle downpipe to clear bulkhead
• strip apart the converted 205/mi16 loom I got with the engine and tidy it up as it was a right mess from what I can remember

Think that should keep me going for a little while. I've still to work on the remaining rusty patches in the floor section although will probably leave this until after the engine is in and running.

 

That's all for now.

 

Kane

[acox99 71 1 Cars]

Take the plugs out and crank over to get oil pressure before you first start.

[Kane 34]

Thanks Alastair I'll make sure and do that when I get round to it.

 

What oil would be recommended for the first few thousand miles of running in the engine? I'm sure I have read it somewhere before but it was several months ago so can't remember. Am I correct in saying I should use cheap mineral oil for the first 50 or so miles to bed in the rings then move onto semi-synth for the next 500-1000 and finally onto fully synth for normal use? Could anyone recommend a particular grade/brand as well?

[acox99 71 1 Cars]

Yep a cheapo mineral oil otherwise it won't bed in. Make sure for the first 500 miles you stick under 3k revs, but vary the loads and work the engine. After 500 miles oil and filter change and into a semi and start working the engine harder. Do 5000 miles and go into fully synth. As long as it's a descent quality branded 10w40 you should be fine. Try and stick with the same brand if oil from then on.

 

You will prob notice that as it frees up the idle will get faster and you will need to adjust it.

[Kane 34]

Excellent Thanks again Alastair. Unfortunately put my back out at work today so might not be able to get out to the car tomorrow as planned although I'll definitely get a photo put up of the exhaust manifold and see what you all think about clearance.

 

Cheers

[Kane 34]

Haven't had a chance to get out to the car as I've been busy with uni work but got a couple of hours in tonight on the wiring loom. I've done a lot of research over the past while and found a lot of useful information so hopefully everything will go to plan over the next couple of weeks.

 

This evening I began stripping the wires from the various connections on the loom making note of cable colour, length and where they go to/from. I'm going to cross reference what I find with the information from other peoples threads on here and hopefully be able to come up with something neat and tidy.

 

Here's a quick snapshot of what I have to sort out. Unfortunately I snapped the tool I was using to remove the pins from the connections so will have to go a try replace it at the weekend.

 

 

I plan on reusing all of the connectors with my new loom although will be replacing all the cable and pins. I still need to count these up before ordering but should hopefully get round to that next week.

[Edp 67 3 Cars]

Fantastic thread, great work!

[Kane 34]

Got a bit of work done on the car last week when the weather was fair. I thought I'd pop in the new driveshafts that I had lying in the garage now that the engine was in which did not go too well. I firstly started with the OS which was a doddle. Loosened off the hub nut, remove the wishbone and steering rack from the hub then pop in the driveshaft and reassemble, simple.

 

It was the NS where I ran into problems. Even with me hanging off the end of a steel tube over the socket I had the hub nut would not move! I tried heat, torque wrench, socket again but absolutely no movement whatsoever. I don't have a breaker bar so persisted until I ended up snapping the head on my old man's torque wrench, safe to say he was not best pleased and to be honest I was severely pissed off by this point! Can anyone recommend a torque wrench repair specialist in Scotland? It was a Nobar wrench so would rather try and get it repaired than replacing it as I'm sure it'll end up costing a good chunk of change.

 

In the end after a lot of cursing and a few cups of tea I got the cordless out and drilled a hole through the nut and using a big flat headed screw driver and mallet I gave it a good old whack and off it came, finally. Replaced the driveshaft but when putting everything back on I realised that the bolts that hold the brake disk in place weren't as they should have been, one was missing and the head of the other has been sheared off at some point. So popped into the dealer today and ordered a few replacements along with some other bits which should be here friday.

 

During that afternoon while taking a break from the driveshaft issue I had a look at removing the front bumper sliders which were in a fine state as you can see

 

 

 

 

Here's a photo of the replacement which will be going on, I'm just sourcing a second one (thanks to Farmer on here) so should hopefully have that soon.

 

 

Finished off uni for good now so should be able to spend more time on the car before I start my new job in a couple of months time. Off on holiday first though so should be back at it in a week or so.

[Kane 34]

Managed a couple of hours yesterday and this morning, got the radiator fitted with the fans and some hoses. As you can see it's coming together!

 

 

I'm trying to get my head around the plumbing at the moment and wondered if someone could give some advice. I've got the BBM 205/mi16 coolant hose set and have looked up on here for diagrams, which I've found, and they all point the top right expansion tank hose to the front of the thermostat housing. The problem being that the hose is too slim of the inlet of the housing.

 

Also I'm looking to run the mi16 oil cooler sandwich plate thing and wondered where these should be plumbed into? I've seen on one diagram that one side should be going to the front/left of the thermostat housing and the other side going to the right of the expansion tank. Problem with that is that the BBM hose running from the right hand side of the expansion tank isn't long enough nor is it the correct shape to try and make fit.

 

If anyone could pop up a photo or quick description of how you've done yours that would be great.

 

Thanks

 

Kane

[Kane 34]

Went out and spent an hour tonight trying to suss out my plumbing issues and managed to get everything sorted. I ended up removing the sandwich plate as I don't think it will be completely necessary having an oil cooler for this application.

 

Had to trim the hose going from the expansion bottle to the top of the radiator as I was having major issues trying to get it to fit in. After taking a bit off I managed to get it to fit with no apparent kinks so hopefully that'll be the end of that.

 

Next job is the issue with the exhaust downpipe. Although this has apparently come out of a 205 already I just can't see how the downpipe would have fit without bashing the bulkhead. Oh well that's the fun in it isn't it?

[Kane 34]

Set about getting the rest of the floor pan cleaned up today, there were a few spots of rust showing through in various places as you can see from the photo's below so got the grinder out and took off as much as I could. I then applied some Kurust and finally a top coat of Jotun.

 

 

 

 

 

The large gromit located under the passenger seat was completely rusted away when I removed it so I cut a circular replacement out of some sheet metal I had in the garage and gave it a coat of paint. Just need to bond it into place with some polyurethane sealant that I have left over from sealing the engine bay.

 

 

 

While waiting on the various bits to dry I thought I'd give the carpet a quick wash. It came up alright but there are still some areas that could do with touching up, maybe a complete dye would be a better solution. Is there any dyes out there that would be recommended for doing the carpets?

 

Before

 

 

After

 

 

Not long after finishing the carpet the rain came on so decided to find some things to do in the garage. I decided to have a crack at replicating the bumper slider bracket as both of mine are goosed, as shown, and I currently only have one new one. I think the finished item is quite a good match to the original although it is slightly thinner (1.2mm sheet). I'm waiting on a genuine one coming across from the continent so either way I should have one to use shortly. I forgot to take a picture but I'll get one put up to show the difference between mine and the original.

[Slo 283 1 Cars]

I dyed mine with dylon tulip red from wilkinsons, I bought 2 packs and 2 bags of the salt and its still nice and bright 8 months on.

 

http://forum.205gtidrivers.com/index.php?showtopic=152853

Edited June 1, 2014 by Slo

[Kane 34]

That's a pretty good result, I might try and give it a go. How much was the kit all in?

 

I think I'll need to go over it once more with some proper carpet shampoo as there are still a couple of black stains that wouldn't come out with the pressure washer. I also need to give the centre console a good clean as it's in a worse state than the carpet was. Looks as though someone was using it to clean their boots!

[Slo 283 1 Cars]

Use washing powder and a scrubbing brush on the carpet and dont hold the jetwasher too near to it or in the same place for too long or it can blow the fibres through the backing creating holes in the red. Dye is about a fiver a pack salt is 50p a pack so quite cheap. I mixed 1 pack of dye and a bag of salt into a mop bucket full of quite hot water and used it all on 1 half at a time. If you do this get some rubber gloves!

[Kane 34]

Excellent, thanks for the advice.

[Kane 34]

Spent a few hours out at the car today trying to solve the sieve-like nature of the 205. I've had water pooling in all the usual areas; boot floor, under rear seats and front passenger footwell. Firstly was to have a look at the rear hatch, I began removing the spoiler, lock barrel and rear screen trim/seal. The seal itself looks to have shrunk by a fair bit (approx. 1 inch) so I dropped it into a bucket of hot water, cleaned it up and the recess in the hatch so it was ready to replace with a generous amount of sealant.

 

I then moved on to the rear quarter seals, these too had both shrunk so needed stretching slightly. A little more sealant and that should hopefully keep the rain at bay.

 

Onto the roof, replaced the fibre sunroof handle seals, thanks to Goliath for the freebies, checked the two front sunroof drain holes and are all clear but am unsure of the rears. Is there supposed to be a drain that goes from the sunroof down through the c-pillars and out at the bottom somewhere? When I was pouring water down I think some drained away but some just flowed back to the rear of the roof and down the side of the rear hatch.

 

The last area which kept letting in water was the passenger side at the bulkhead. After a little investigation I noticed that some water was getting down the heater air intake as the scuttle panel isn't currently on properly so with that temporarily covered I set about cleaning and putting down some sound deadening. For this I used flashband which is basically foil sheet with bitumen adhesive. I'd seen previously that it has been tried and tested and it worked out fairly cost effective. I used a 15m roll which came to about £20 IIRC. Here's the finished product.

 

 

 

I offered up the downpipe as well when I had a minute and it will definitely need modification. As you can see when the bolt holes are aligned the pipe itself is extremely close to the firewall and also does not line up with the exhaust tunnel under the car.

 

Bolt holes lined up

 

 

Sitting off in the tunnel

 

 

I then moved the exhaust so it sat straight in the tunnel and the clearance from the firewall here was not too bad, but could probably do with a little more.

 

 

 

It looks as though I'll have to cut the end flange off the downpipe and rotate slightly before welding back on. From first glance I also have an issue with the downpipe fowling on the main gear linkage rod, is there any tips on how to modify the downpipe to clear this also or is it just a case of cut, line up, tack and adjust if needed?

 

Thanks

 

Kane

[SkyQuake 70 1 Cars]

Hi Kane,

 

I found that all of the fabric dyes were unsuitable to for the carpet, as it's nylon, and nothing I found adheres nicely. What I ended up with was a red alcohol based ink, which has worked marvellously. Totally waterproof and doesn't flake or come off as powder. See my project thread for pictures.

 

Cheers,

 

Mike

[Kane 34]

Sounds good Mike I'll have a look into it and compare to the stuff recommended by Slo. Just out of interest do you have a link to the ink you used? Also how did you find the colour match to the original?

[SkyQuake 70 1 Cars]

The stuff I used is called Pinflair Alcohol Ink. It's fairly standard stuff, available from arts shops like this one. You'll need 4-5 25ml bottles to do the carpet, door cards & centre console. I thought the colour match was pretty good, but then again I only had a 20 year old faded carpet to work from. The photos on my resto thread are pretty good before and after indicators.