Mi16 Engine Refresh / Rebuild - What's Needed?

[Dave_McC 0]

I've just bought an Mi16 engine which came out of a 1988 BX. The car was originally owned by a garage for the first 15 months, and the 2nd owner then kept it until about 6 months ago when the whole car was bought (not by me) and the engine and all ancilliaries (and including the whole car wiring loom) was stripped out and stored indoors. There is no service history. Engine has done circa 120k miles. It seems to turn over freely enough with a spanner on the crank pulley bolt.

 

I started stripping it down yesterday - manifolds off, all ancilliaries removed, and removed the cam cover. The cam area is very clean - no sludge or mayo or anything, and the cam lobes and followers look in good condition. No obvious signs of wear or pitting. The outside of the block is pretty dirty as expected, and so is the inside of the cambelt cover.

 

I've found a few missing gaskets (one inlet manifold gasket missing and bolts loose - I'm assuming the inlet manifold was removed to ease removal of engine from car - also water housing gasket on flywheel end of block - not sure why this would have been removed.

 

Having got this far, I've got a few questions:

 

1) Given the mileage, and the fact that I don't want to have to pull it all back out of the car as soon as I've fitted it, what should I be looking to replace? I assume as a minimum water pump, oil pump plus chain, cambelt plus both tensioner pulleys. Is it likely at this age / mileage that the valve stem seals and/or valve guides will be worn - ie is it worthwhile completely stripping the head.

 

2) What is availability of parts like for the Mi? Thinking rebuild parts like gasket sets, liner seals etc.

 

3) One of the cam cover bolts has sheared off in the head. I assume I'm going to have to take head to a machine shop to get this drilled out? Can these bolts still be bought (one other was also missing).

 

4) There's a large threaded hole on the front side of the block which appears to be an oil gallery. Does this have a use when installed in a 205 or will it need blocking off?

 

I'm sure I'm going to have 101 more questions as this progresses, so please be patient with me! I'll post more specific queries in separate posts.

 

Thanks

 

Dave

[DrSarty 90 1 Cars]

1) What should I be looking to replace? I assume as a minimum water pump YES, oil pump plus chain DON'T BOTHER, cambelt plus both tensioner pulleys IF PULLIES TURN WITHOUT NOISE NO. Is it likely at this age / mileage that the valve stem seals and/or valve guides will be worn - ie is it worthwhile completely stripping the head? ABSOLUTELY - YES TO STEM SEALS, GUIDES SHOULD BE OK, CHECK SPRINGS OK & REFURB HYRAULIC TAPPETS (VERY EASY - PM ME IF U NEED TO KNOW HOW)

 

2) What is availability of parts like for the Mi? Thinking rebuild parts like gasket sets, liner seals etc. FREELY AVAILABLE - A GASKET/HEAD KIT WOULD BE GOOD INCL HEAD BOLTS, INLET, HEAD & EXHAUST GASKETS ETC

 

3) One of the cam cover bolts has sheared off in the head. I assume I'm going to have to take head to a machine shop to get this drilled out? Can these bolts still be bought (one other was also missing). EITHER NEW OR OFF FORUM MEMBER - GET DRILLED OUT: I THINK QEP (FORUM SPONSOR) ARE NEAR YOU - MIGHT BE A WORTHWHILE INTRODUCTION

 

4) There's a large threaded hole on the front side of the block which appears to be an oil gallery. Does this have a use when installed in a 205 or will it need blocking off? NEEDS CLARIFICATION - BUT COULD BE PRESSURE SENSOR OR EVEN FOR OIL FILTER - NEED PICCY

 

No probs - hope this helps. My first Mi conversion was from a 1990 BX16v into a 1.6. Did it all myself with advice from others.

 

You're in safe hands on this brilliant forum dude.

 

DrS

Edited May 28, 2007 by DrSarty

[Dave_McC 0]

DrS

 

Thanks for the answers. I'll PM you re refurbing hydraulic tappets.

 

Is there not a risk of the oil pump being shagged at that mileage. I know it's quite an expensive part, but lack of oil pressure would ruin a rebuilt engine.

 

Are the cambelt tensioners expensive? If not I'll probably replace along with belt for peace of mind.

 

QEP are just down the road from me - less than half an hour away - and I used them to skim a Rover K series head on an engine I built 18 months ago.

 

The threaded hole is above the oil filter and just to the right of the front engine mount - probably about 15mm diameter at a guess. Unfortunately can't get a photo as my digi camera took a swim on holiday last week .

 

Dave

[DrSarty 90 1 Cars]

PM to follow ref refurb of cam followers. With your e-mail address I can even send 2 QT vids provided to me by PeterT (another very trust worthy forum member). There is also a very good article here on the subject. Read it carefully to get it right as noisy tappets are annoying. Get them sorted at this stage; they only take half a day.

 

Of course bad oil pressure would ruin any engine. But in general these chain driven pumps are very reliable items. If YOU want to spend some cash on a new one for peace of mind then fill your boots. If you buy a used one then how will that have changed your situation? 120k is nothing for an oil pump. I wouldn't and didn't bother.

 

Why replace the cam belt tensioners if they don't need it. About £40 new I think, but if the internal bearings make no noise then why bother?

 

The threaded hole as you explain it strikes me as one of two things. Either the oil pressure switch (the one which makes the warning light come on and is linked to the test 'stop' light on the dash) which is the left most as you look at the block from the front of the car, or (less likely) the oil pressure sender, which is further right and has diaphragm thingy screwed in about 1 & 1/2 inches diameter which tells the pressure guage what to do. FYI on BX engines they had an oil level sender which lit up a bar in the oil pressure guage for 20secs or so on starting. IIRC the sender for this is on the rear of the block. That's all (without a picture) I can think it might be.

 

QEP are a very safe bet from what I hear. Lucky man being so close.

 

Rich

Edited May 28, 2007 by DrSarty

[Super Josh 4]

Only thing that I would add to Richie's good list, is to DEFINATLEY change Cambelt, tensioners and water pump. If one of these goes it's bye, bye engine time

The big end bearings will need replacing too, so get someone to check the crank condition( QEP?) and condition of the liners for wear too.

As you say, do it properly once and it should be serviceable for a decent amount of time then.

 

 

 

 

Josh

[Super Josh 4]

Yep, as Richie says. Oil level sender is in the rear of the block, similar area to where an 8V dipstick tube would be. Get a picture up of the hole and we'll be able to advise on which sensor is missing.

 

 

 

Josh

[DrSarty 90 1 Cars]

Hi SJ,

 

Yep, I didn't mention the cambelt because that was kinda obvious.

 

Aaaaahh....BH Monday forum time

 

Rich ............................................wait for it....................

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Edited May 28, 2007 by DrSarty

[Miles 331 1 Cars]

Have a seach as there's many a post about the engine re-builds on these,

But without a doubt get the crank checked (Big ends and mains) and the block as some distort and make the main's run out of line

 

The water housing are fairly easy to find, But it's odd why this has been removed, when you find one I'd have the rear metal pipe cut off and welded up as it's not needed in the 205

[Dave_McC 0]

Cheers all. The hole in the block must be for the stop switch - the oil pressure sender is fitted just to the right of the hole.

 

I have a garage full of water pipes, breather hoses and wiring loom at the moment - I'm going to try to start unravelling the spaghetti wiring loom one evening this week if I get a chance to work out what I don't need - which will be most of it!

 

Miles - what is the metal pipe from the water housing used for on the Mi installation? Are there any guides on the web showing stuff like breather hose and water pipe connections (ideally for both standard 205 gti and Mi engine setup? I also found a reference to an online build manual somewhere within this forum but the link was not working - is there an online manual for the Mi?

 

Many thanks again

 

Dave