Club 80-90 Forums

I have a lovely smooth running replacement 1.6 diesel engine in my van. It is only doing 50mph absolutely flat out. I don't want to mess with it too much 'cos it is so smooth and quiet I just need it to be a little more lively. I have the original engine with the fuel pump and injectors etc. Is there a chance that I could get more power and response by using the pump and injectors from the old engine? This was replaced 'cos it blew a hose, possibly due to head gasket failure. (It is also a 1.6).
I don't want a fantastically high speed, just to get to 50 a little more quickly, and then maybe creep to 60-65ish!
Any sensible ideas/replies welcomed.

just a thought keith but..are you getting full throttle on it?..i know when i had it,it didnt smoke much so im assuming the rings are still good on it .get someone to floor the acc. (engine off) and see if the throttle lever goes all the way to the stop....if its not over revving when you are doing 50 and your on the floor then maybe the stop on the pump needs to be adjusted

That's what I thought (honest). But my son's mechanic - who is pretty young (No, not pretty and young) says that all seems OK. I reckon it needs an old b&st@rd like me to get to the back and check it, but they always tell me to sit in the front and keep my gob shut! I'll check that out tomorrow. Really, though, I can't believe it's a diesel. It's so smooth and quiet! Is it running on chip fat No way!!!
PM for you Weldore!

aye - that last bit of throttle travel makes all the difference on this engines

maybe check to see if it revs higher in the low gears compared to the high ones

It seems to rev very high if not in gear, high enough to give more power than I'm getting. When I am at max speed, if I dip the clutch it revs more (obviously) but not that much more. It feels almost like the revs, when getting higher as you're travelling on the road, put the brake on slightly. It isn't revving it's guts out. Almost like when I drove buses in my youth( ) and they had governors on!

I should maybe add that diesels are very new to me. I thought diesels were a choice. Like when you have to pick something and you'd say "Diesel do!"

im not really clued up on the fuel side of things mate..dunno how the pump works or anything about timing or fuel delivery or if an injector is faulty..i havnt learned about that stuff yet...i just learn as stuff breaks down...if it never packs up then i wont need to know how it works ..if you know what i mean..hopefully a qualified diesel mechanic on here can answer your question and give you solid guidelines to follow to find out the problem

Hope so Dave. thanks for all your help so far. Any more help from you and you'll become known as St David of the campers! A sort of St Christopher of 80-90!

SORTED. 'twas the throttle stop which needed backing off a bit! Now does 60(ish) but most importantly it get's there a lot quicker. Who's a happy bunny?
Also, possible overheating: Gauge goes to three quarters and stays there! I reckon that's it's normal position, engine seems cool enough. I'll keep a careful eye on it though!

My needle is on 3/4's too.

My temp guage generally stays on about 1/3. If I am in slow moving traffic or a long slow hill, the guage goes up to about 2/3 and then the fan cuts in for a while. The fan never seems to stay on for long. Having said that, the fan coming on is the trigger for me to turn the heating on, which always brings the guage down.
Not sure what I would do if I was in traffic with the heater on and the guage went up to 2/3.