Start My Mi Bottom End Rebuild

[GLPoomobile 958]

Possibly a little premature with the thread title, as there won't likely be any activity for a few weeks yet. But having done nothing with my 205 for so long that I can't even remember, I've come to the conclusion that it would be wise to get the engine back to good health first. There's a million other things I want to do before putting it back on the road, but my logic is that if I decide to sell it on before I'm finished with it, it's going to be a far less attractive proposition with a dodgy engine!

 

So, quick review (EDIT: maybe not so quick ) of the situation as it stands....

 

It's a standard 1.9 Mi16 that was rebuilt by DES Developments about a 18 months/2 years before I bought the car, at the same time they did the conversion. I'd need to dig out my file for more specific info, but I bought the car in early 2007 so I guess it was rebuilt about 2005. I've not done much mileage in it in 5 years, so I reckon the engine's had less than 10k on it since the rebuild.

 

However, Half way through my ownership it started to leak coolant through the head bolt above the oil temp sender, at quite an alarming rate. That was temporarily fixed using Radweld, controversially, but it did the job very well.

 

In the summer of 2010 I took it to Miles to get it sorted properly. I'd already been advised by someone else that it could be a corroded head, or even worse, corroded block.

 

The verdict came back from Miles - there was some corrosion to both head and block. The head had apparently been skimmed "quite a bit" in the past (I've no actual measurements) but needed to be done again. So it was stripped down, skimmed, pressure tested, rebuilt with new valve stem seals and (possibly) new lifters (or they may have been reconditioned - I'll need to check my records). The bad news was that although the block cleaned up OK, and there was no signs of any cracks etc, the front face was uneven. To rectify that would mean skimming the block deck, and the liners, which means full strip and rebuild.

 

I discussed this with Miles. Bottom line was, I just couldn't afford to get the bottom end done. I HAD to take a gamble. Miles was fairly confident that with the head skimmed that it would seal OK with a new gasket (which would obviously fitted as a matter of course). I mean, it had to be an improvement on how it was, right? There was of course a clear understanding that this was my choice, and that there was no guarantee it would work, so it was entirely my gamble.

 

Unfortunately it didn't pay off. It seemed OK at first, but under certain conditions, it would leak from the same spot again. I tried using K-Seal as everyone had been raving about it, but it didn't stop the leak. I don't know if K-Seal is just not as effective as Radweld in this instance or if means the leak is now somehow worse than before.

 

Still, in spite of this it still got me through a few long trips up and down the A1 between London and Edinburgh, but after we moved here in Aug 2010, I took it off the road, and it's been unused ever since...............

Edited April 7, 2012 by GLPoomobile

[GLPoomobile 958]

Yesterday I discussed this with Dr Sarty, and he has offered to help me with the rebuild. It's an offer I can't refuse as I've never done this before, but he's likely to be moving south again after June, so I need to get the ball rolling.

 

Step 1 is to rent a garage so that we have somewhere to work on the engine. I will of course need an engine stand, and some storage and worktop space. For the latter I will be looking to pick something up from Freecycle.

 

Step 2 will be to pull the engine out. That shouldn't be much of a challenge. I'll just need to hire an engine crane for the day. I'm not going to bother droping the engine out the bottom and dragging it clear. Personally, I'd rather pay £40 for the use of a crane. Then it'll be going in to the back of the Golden Jewmobile (my V70) and taken to the garage.

 

Hopefully I can get things progressing with the first 2 steps over the next couple of weeks, depending on availability of the garage. There's currently 3 available on Gumtree, so hopefully I can get somewhere with that.

 

There's a few decisions to be made:

Choice of machine shop to do the block work

Get the block decked?

Go for a Peter T Stage 1 inlet and chip?

Get anything lightened and balanced whilst I'm at it? Not strictly necessary, but after reading Kyepan's build thread I'm tempted.

 

Got a lot of research to do. Plenty to read on here so that will keep me busy, but I'm sure I'll have lots of questions to post here

Edited April 7, 2012 by GLPoomobile

[GLPoomobile 958]

I should also add - as it's bound to be suggested - that I have considered swapping to a GTI6 inlet manifold during this, but it won't be happening.

 

I definitely want to make the swap in the future, but it'll be combined with mappable management at the same time, so that's a distant plan. I don't fancy having a GTI6 inlet with an AFM. Personal choice.

[pp205 17]

I have the DFW mi lump that has been decked and running the Petert stage 1 cam. I've just had it timed on the rollers after putting it back together. It makes a very nice difference, especially putting your foot down in 4th! It's pinking a little but after a fairly in depth conversation with the guy who timed it we think it's a combination of the perceived height of the engine being less than we thought due to the head not having much room left for skimming and running Tesco momentum fuel (which is a whole other discussion!)

 

If you do deck the block I would say go for the Petert cam, you may need to get some verniers to enable the timing to be set very accurately.

 

Simon

[petert 554]

If there is no corrosion around the liner seats AND your liners are in good condition, then get the block and liners decked. This should start by grit blasting the block carefully around the liner seats to ensure there is no nasty surprises. It also give a reliable base for the liner to sit on when taking measurements. You need to find someone who has experience in liner decking. It's not for the faint hearted or inexperienced. It's quite difficult to get each liner protruding 0.003" on each side. If you take 0.4mm off you should end up around 10.8-11:1 Do I recall someone called Paul G? being used previously?