Help wanted - Engine rebuild!

[christhemann]

Hi all,

Really desperate for some help from someone in the area with this if possible, I was told to try putting a help wanted ad, you never know.

Basically i've got a 1.8 1989 Scala, the original EX 1.8 carb engine having mistakenly had shotblast material from rocker cover destroy 2 oil pumps!
The engine is sat in my garage now as I gave up after the second oil pump with low oil pressure problems.
My original threads for some history:
http://www.sciroccoregisterforum.co.uk/ ... f=9&t=7810
http://www.sciroccoregisterforum.co.uk/ ... f=9&t=8021

I replaced the engine with a 1.8 GU engine from MK2 Golf which was a gamble, from ebay. Was told it had 60,000 miles and from a running car 2 weeks ago, it even had MOT and history with it.
Got the engine fitted after swapping clutch and ancillaries from old engine (thoroughly cleaned first), and found after running it for a couple of days that oil pressure problems started to appear!
-Dropped sump and main bearing caps to find serious damage to bearings and what looks like totally useless bottom end.
-Oil pump on this one still looks ok, I measured tolerances first before fitting it and primed the pump.
http://www.sciroccoregisterforum.co.uk/ ... f=9&t=9225

So i'm left with 2 engines, both requiring a rebuild. One needing a complete strip down and flush out to ensure not shot blast left in it, and the other with damaged crank. Both engines had good compression test results on all cylinders so I assume the top ends are fine (195psi on all).
See my latest thread on damage to GU engine:
http://www.sciroccoregisterforum.co.uk/ ... f=9&t=9455

To be honest I don't have the money to shell out for full rebuild at a garage, and not really the expertise for a full rebuild so looking for someone who maybe does to get in touch and let me know their price. I'd probably need some more tools and parts to the job too, but mainly need someone to take a look at the engines first before any more stupid decisions take place.

Thanks a lot.
Chris

[duncancallum]

We have to be missing something here.

3 engines-your worse than me!

Have you transfered any of the parts across from one to another?

Have you pulled them apart to look at them then put them back togtheer before fitting them?

What oil are you using?

How quickly does the rumbling come on before you stop and pull them apart?

And do you thrash them from cold?

If you where local I would gladly have a look with you.

[bensspares]

Its been a rough ride with this car !!.

Although no help, if you were down the road from me i would help you with this.

My best and cheapest advice would be to wait till someone on here is breaking a carb model and purchase yet another engine, a complete second hand unit will cost less than £100.rebuilds cost lots in comparison.

[Jay4424]

well, id love to help but im not nr you.

I'd suggest bring them up here and id give it/them a full over haul in my workshop (if i had the time)... but dont know if thatd help much, and id end up spending money on new compolents... more than youd want to!

..you could just try replacign the big end bearings and seeing if that fixed it... while your there check the tolerances of the bearings from the crank to the casign and the cam to the holders


a bearign set (for the big ends only) is £30


sorry i cant be more help, Jay.


...just read your other posts, seems youve already done these bits!

dont know what to suggest beside, never letting the grit from a shotblasted thingy get nr an engine! (sorry is that abit too much?!?)


you seem to have agood understanding as it is on engines and takign things to bits so my knowlage is now useless to you, good luck, hope you get it sorted. ...i do however have a 1.8 inj. engine at home, it came out as it lost all compression and i had a spare 16v/v waiting to go into an engine... so it did! the 1.8 inj engine is your if you want it, dont know what went wrong with it, (never bothered to look!). give us a bell (sunday night or later in the week) to disguss.. i can tell you what ive taken off it when if in front of me! ..i suspect the crank to be ok though

[christhemann]

Cheers all, and thanks Jay.

I got a look at my original engine earlier, took off the same 3 main bearing caps and the crank looks so far in much better condition that the other engine.
No scoring, but just some very light wear on the bearings, crank still nice and shiny. If the big end bearings and the other 2 end main ones are still good, then hopefully I've at least got a good crankshaft between them...
Now where to go next, hmm.

[Nate]

if you can find another engine from somewhere (surely someone on here must be breaking on and will let you have an engine for cheapness) then i can come over and give you a hand chucking it in the hole and getting it running if you can bung us a few quid for fuel. i'm only just down in ciren

[fonzooorooo]

Like Nate suggests - it's likely to be easier/cheaper to pop another engine in from someone on here. Then if you want to, have a play with the ones you've got and rebuild one out of them. (at your leisure - without the non-working car playing on your mind!) I'd think it'd be well worth getting the one you plan to rebuild to an engine firm and getting it in their bath of cleaning stuff before you start, so you know any traces of contaminant have been removed.

[christhemann]

Cheers Nate, the offer's really helpful.

Will have a go at stripping mine original one down first and see about costs to rebuild it.

But also keep an eye out for a decent 1.8 EX engine going, although this time i'd be hesitant to buy one without hearing it running, checking oil pressure and also even inspecting the bearings!

[christhemann]

Finally got round to totally stripping the old engine (EX) that had the shotblast material in rocker cover.

I found some pitting in the camshaft caps and bearing journals, doesn't look too good but the camshaft looks fine with no scoring.

Took the crankshaft out and that looks really good, much better than the knackered replacement engine.
Only thing is the pistons seem to have been scored slightly. Not sure how serious this is, the rings look fine and there is not visible damage to the cylinder walls, they feel totally smooth.

It looks like i'm going to take the cylinder head off the replacement engine, and hopefully pair that up with the bottom end which first needs totally cleaning professionally and then getting rebuilt with bearings! I've never been this far into an engine before, pretty scary stuff.

I might need a new set of pistons then, but not sure.

[christhemann]

A bit of an update to the old engine rebuild!

Took the bits to a machine shop.
In the end the case from my original EX (shotblasted one) was scrap as suspected and the pistons were also too scored.
Decided to use everything from the replacement engine apart from the crankshaft which was scored as it suffered main bearing failure!
So thankfully the crankshaft was good on my original engine. So far they are doing:
-Cleaning block, head, reseating valves and skimming as necessary, fixing some stripped threads, and providing gasket set
I now need to order all the other parts and things I need, cost is adding up!

Theres a few things i'm not sure on, do the conrod bolts have to be replaced as the ones on mine look to be pressed in? Obviously I can replace the nuts no problem but not sure about bolts. Also do you replace main bearing cap bolts?
When refitting the engine (eventually) do people normally leave the head off and torque it up in the car afterwards, or fit loosely?

Sure i'll have a fair few other questions...