Club 80-90 Forums

hi, you may have read some of my other posts aboiut my recent problems with my t25, as such i am now going to drop the engine out and was going to re fit it with new gaskets,seals, piston rings ect.....

just wondering, is it worth spliting the crankcase or is this a BIG job?

also has anyone bought the following rebuild/gasket kit off e bay before? does it come with new piston rings ect?
http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll? ... K:MEWAX:IT

is there anything else i should change/replace whilst i am doing it?

as of now i am thinking to change.......

piston rings
push rod seals
carb - inlet manifold gasket/block thingy
any other gaskets that are removed in process replaced.

also going to replace the carbs with a new (second hand) set, i know its not ideal and refurbed/new ones are better but that is not something i can afford at the moment.

also can anyone recommend any good books on rebuilding a 2.0 ltr a/c CU engine and tuning it afterwards? the only engines i have worked on before are golf engines and only ever top end stuff, never touched bottom end.

many thanks for the help in my many recent posts, it is all appreciated very much
jon

By the time you get to pistons its not that big a leap to split the case, plus you get all the fun of discovering the inner workings of the flat four - simple set up really. First thing is to price the bits - that may put you off. If you need new big end bearings, crank may need a reground etc etc and it can mount up. If the bottom end is a bit worn out, giving the top end the bionic treatment may well take out the bottom end. Check for wear as you go. I rather enjoy rebuilds, very satisfying but 2.0 a/c could be an expensive project.

i have just done mine think it stands me around £500-£600 but i had new cam and lifters as well
(and a good discount at gsf)

I need mine rebuilding so I spoke to Steff at Manchester Aircooled today - 0161 877 5558 - and he quoted me around the £700+vat mark for a full rebuild. Including fitting. What you want may be different to what I spoke to him about, but he is the man with the knowledge so may be worth giving him a ring. My quote was for a full rebuild though, so I'm saving up my pennies as we speak. And trying to sell the wife!

if you do split the case then REMEMBER TO LINE UP THE DOWELS ON THE MAIN BEARINGS - this is a classic error we all make the crank/bearings wont seat if they are not located on the dowel properly and are easily missed. Once you bolt the case halves back together it pinches the bearing and lock up the engine, separating the cases and reseating should sort it out but it has been known to deform the main bearings so the engine is tight even when the bearings are located on the dowels properly - if this happens you have 2 choices; re strip completely and replace the main bearings or run the engine as is and let the shells bed back in (fuel consumption will be through the roof and you could risk metal in the oil galleries if the pinch is really really bad)

One other thing to remember is to line up the dots on the crack and cam shafts - when I bought my van the last owner had them out by a tooth and it caused some really odd running!

oh and lastly clean thoroughly and re-silicone the camshaft metal blanking plate back in as this can be an oil leak source - if it leaks the only option is to split the cases and clean/reseal (or bodge it to buggery it tons of silicone)