Hi folks,
Thought id share my little project. (below is a weeks worth of posts merged into one if the time scale reads funny)
Have to hand the works car back in next week, so it was time to buy a daily drive for the family again. We're all insured on it. As such, the plan is to end up with a 95% standard coupe turbo, with a 2.75" exhaust and 11 or 12 PSi of boost. I have a list of over 100 things that need rectifying, but most of them are very minor issues. The plan is to do it all properly, and with good quality parts, but also whilst keeping to a strict budget. Ive had a few people give me alot of spares for a very fair price so thanks to BradHarris, ttrw and cableguy to name but a few.
Car is a 98 late registered car, charcoal grey with AC and full cream leather, 58,000 miles and full history. Engine, suspension and general running gear is very very good, with a full head rebuild and klinger not long ago. The car did sit for 2 yrs and as such the body is in need of some tlc. It has been in the hands of someone not entirely in the know, and as such there are a few little issues. But nothing a little spanner time cant put right.
First thing was to give the dirty leather a bit of a spruce:
I then removed the baileys dumpvalve, and set up the OEM valve again with a new diaphram from Forge (thanks).
I then noticed the oil light coming on, this was diagnosed with the help of RT as an oil pressure switch.
So replaced that..
Excellent, problem solved.
Next is to replace the usual issue, blown exhaust manifold gasket. Now this is a very common issue with these cars, and also a big factor in why they often dont boost properly. If you arent getting full boost by 2,500 RPM or lower(if using an aftermarket boost controller), you have an issue, and this is probably it.
This job can be frustrating, so i hired som help:
Who seemed somewhat purturbed at mummy parking her Skoda so close to his Tomcat:
Removed boost hoses, IC, upper coolant rail.
When removing the mid level rail, i used caution, as i noticed upon buying the car, that it had a hugely long bolt in there, that wasnt securing anything, and i wondered if some numpty had screwed it into the rail.
They had:
Which left a nice big hole. Damn it, more parts to source......
Ahhhh...gorgeous, even if i do say so myself.
Removed manifold, alternator and turbo , inspected the threads :
and duff gasket:
Thats it for today, will reassemble tomorrow night. Oh and whilst your in the area, its alays a good idea to remedy the other common problem on T16s, a lose actuator rod, mine wasnt loose, but as is so common, it had slackened of a touch, so i reset the correct preload, and the loctited it:
Oh, this was the bay the day i got back:
I gave it a brief clean but after ive rectified the issues in the bay, ill sort it out properly.
Only mods to the car are :
Baileys dump valve kit
K&N cone kit
Mongoose cat back
Mongoose silenced decat
Bleedvalve that had been plumbed in wrong and as such the car has been boosting at 6psi since at least 2002, yet managed 155hp@wheels, 186 @fly at 6.1psi on the dyno chart ive seen. So hopefully its one of the good ones.
Tim boost gauge.
of these, the Mongoose will stay. The K&N and baileys and bleedvalve will go and the Tim is being replaced with a Garrett gauge.
Oh, in the reciepts is a full seteel caged gearbox build, and a full head rebuild.
Some faults found last week -
Misfire above 8psi
Rumble from drivetrain, turned out to be N/S inner CV
The previous owner has welded the sumpbung in place (thanks bud ;) )
Took out the stereo he claimed not to be able to remove, and found a bunch of slashed wires
All 4 speakers have no internals (great)
God i love how easy these are to work on, all done :
Uprated gasket used, high tensile studs, new oem nuts, Silverstorm ai stainless middle coolant rail (will fit others when the next group buy is done).
The last standard heatshield in the country. (i know you can buy ally ones on ebay but trust me, they dont work anywhere near as well! )
Only slight annoyance is that as i keep seeing with T16s, the dipstick wont eat in the block enough. My neighbours has the same issue, and his is 100% stock. Just means until i find a solution, i have to make sure i remember this when checking the oil. I might see if one of the silverstorm ones that were 'too long' fits, and gives a correct il level reading.
Had a mis but after replacing the rotor and dizzy (thanks RT) its gone now. I must say, until the cv started knocking (i love rovers) it went exceptionally well for such limited mods.
OK, so the knocking turned out to be a sheared type A diff. Nice.
Spent all of yesterday with the help of a good friend Andy pulling it apart.I then got hold of ttrw to see if he still had his box for sale and if he was around. He was, so big thanks to Rob for helping us out.
Box spec - Late spec uprated K7 with type B diff, also pulled apart by Rob and steelcaged.
We noticed when box was off that the rear crank seal was leaking, which rob also happened to have for sale.
So the box has now been fitted along with thecrank seal and tidyingup a few bodges along the way such as the front engine mount that wasnt bolted to the front cross member
Anyway - I really hope nothing else big goes wrong as i cant remember the last time i was this skint :(
Anyway, picked up a new sump last night,and bought a sump gasket the other day, turbo drain gasket and oil filter. For fitment today, sump (as everything is) is missing a few bolts so these will be replaced too)
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Not sure id quite say that, but im trying.And dying.
So the cars come home after a new sump (that you can drain oil out of) and new gasket.
Its now ******* oil out at an alarming rate.
Mark
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Hoping that its going to turn out ok, a friend of mine who owed me some money just paid me back so some of that will go towards keeping it on the road.
Some pictures from the recent work:
Unfortunately there arent too many of putting it all back together due to daylight running out.
And some goodies from Rob to aid tidying it up:
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So where are we now, one week on ?
Well, it now has two new MTX 8" speakers in the back, a JVC stereo, some Vibe front speakers, and its all been rewired properly with oe plugs and heatshrink.
The engine has been serviced and runs like a dream. With a new genuine filter, and some nice 5/50 oil.
We have a new rotor arm and dizzy that cured the misfire entirely.
New R-S[ec bal and spring boost controller with SFS vacuum hose.
The stock dumpvalve has been reattached and the baileys removed, stock valve was given a new spring and diaphram, a new o ring and ne gasket and works like a treat, sounds awesome too.
The manifold gasket has been replaced, with all new studs and bolts and gaskets
It has a rebuilt late spec K7 turbo box, with a type B diff and steel caged bearings all round, a new rear crank seal, new sump gasket and 220 sump and pick up.
New polished stainless coolant pipes and nice fresh coolant.
PAS fluid was drained and refilled with rovers own, pump is nice and quiet now.
a new inner CV on the N/S .
It was overfilled by the garage and we're hoping thats why its pouring all out. Updates to come.
