Big ends for '86 B200E

Post by **wjp01908** » 13 Feb 2005 09:09 pm

No Problems Pete - I quite enjoyed myself today.

I just hope that Andy got home OK. I followed him down to the Thame roundabout and it all looked a bit overloaded from behind. The speed bumps through the village were especially nerve racking.

Will

Post by **petefarrell360** » 13 Feb 2005 09:28 pm

Hmm, sounds a little worrying! I hope he got home safely too! It was pretty heavy as we all know. Let us know when you read this post Andy! Glad you brought the hatchback and not the saloon, as at least we could get the weight over the axle, whereas there probably wouldn't have been enough height, and it would have been sat on the overhang of the boot, not directly over the axle! Loading would have been even more interesting.

It was an interesting day, thanks for the ride in your CVT aswell Will. Very impressed, nice red one on the Fleabay at the moment.

Thanks then Guys, out own mini meet was officially attended by 9 300's!

Pete

Post by **pettaw** » 13 Feb 2005 09:37 pm

I see you managed to get my best side then

The car felt very heavy, but I took it very easy, and I got home about an hour ago. I think there must have still been some travel in the rear suspension because I didn't feel any clunking over the speed humps.

The feeling has still to come back to my fingers though! It was COLD, but at least it wasn't raining.

Thanks for all the help guys and I'll keep you posted when I get it running.

Post by **petefarrell360** » 13 Feb 2005 09:58 pm

Glad you got home safely. It was very heavy, but the rear suspension still seemed pretty good!

We were lucky with the weather, I did think it was going to snow harder and rain at one point! It was very cold though when the sun went in.

Well, good luck, I think you've got a very sound, low mileage engine there that should do well in your car. Please do keep us posted, pics too please!

Pete

Post by **redline** » 14 Feb 2005 12:13 pm

love the home made wheel ramps LOL and is it just me or do's our Will look just a little bit psycho , especially in the picture with the hammer in his hand, I was just going to turn up out of the blue and help out ( being as I am one of the few members in the area that know the secret location of Petes place ) but as I said to Pete last night .I have been laid up with the flu all weekend and didnt think the guys would appreciate me spreading it around . glad it all went well and I am sure Petes mum is now getting very excited about seeing the back of one of the cars

Post by **petefarrell360** » 14 Feb 2005 01:25 pm

That would've been an even better figure for the current mini meet record! That would've made 10 Volvo 300's, or are we cheating!?

Shame you couldn't make it Mick, hope you feel better soon mate. Will's adjuster or hammer was needed a few times, he kindly brought his very useful tool kit as well.

Mick, you'd think my Mum would be happy that we're making the effort to make some space, all I get is, "well there's still more to get rid of!"

The wheel ramps were one of the many homemade improvisations of the day, did you see the stepped route into Andy's 340? From the trolley, onto the box, onto a large thick plank, to slide it down into the boot!?! The proper wheel ramps are down my workshop at the moment, and I don't think the jack would've got it high enough to get them under in one go, and I don't think pushing it up would be much fun! Oh, and my ramps don't fit under the front valance, not that that matters much on the scrap one!

Pete

Post by **wjp01908** » 14 Feb 2005 03:11 pm

Hey Mick - you think I look psychotic with a ball pein hammer, you should see me with an angle grinder!

Will

Post by **redline** » 14 Feb 2005 05:14 pm

god Will , i'm not well and your giving me nightmare material !!!!

Post by **pettaw** » 23 Mar 2005 07:28 pm

Well, over the last four days, we've been slowly swapping the engine over. Even with some past experience getting Pete's engine out, it still took a lot of needless effort. Made a mental note to remove the A/C compressor and the exhaust downpipe completely first....

I've just got Pete's engine running today. It started immediately on the first turn of the key. -I had flushed the fuel rail and turned over the engine without plugs to get oil pressure- but still, pretty impressive.

The alternator warning light took about 5 minutes to go out, but once it did, we measured the voltages and its producing a good strong charge. The engine also runs smoothly and no traces of blue or black smoke.

However, the waterpump bearing is extremely noisy. I don't really want to go to the trouble of re-draining the coolant and swapping it over, but I hope it will last a couple of months. Whats the betting everyone? Anybody ever had a noisy bearing and how long did it last? I know my Dad's car had a knocking front wheel bearing for about 3 months before we got round to changing it and the rear wheel bearing on my car rumbled for about a year before I changed that.

Post by **petefarrell360** » 23 Mar 2005 08:20 pm

Hi Andy,

I've been meaning to ask you how you had been getting on! You beat me to it. I'm really pleased that the engine is as we remembered it, I hope it helps you out. My Dad had remembered correctly saying the waterpump bearing was noisy, but personally I don't know how long it would last, something to keep an eye on then.

Well hopefully we'll see you at the meet then? I'd love to see that engine in its new body! All the best mate.

Pete

Post by **wjp01908** » 24 Mar 2005 07:36 am

Great news Andy!

I would swap the water pump - it may seem a PITA now, but as sure as eggs is eggs it will choose a more inconvenient time to give up the ghost.

I do remember Pete`s dad saying it was noisy and we`ve no idea how long it`s been dodgy.

Will

Post by **pettaw** » 27 Mar 2005 05:53 pm

so, we swapped the water pump over. Drained the system, fan off, belts off, timing belt cover off so you can get at the bolts. spent ages scraping the old gasket off that some ##### had glued on. All fitted, belts on, fan on, filled up and started up. Thought everything was fine, and then we see coolant dripping out from seal between pump and engine block.

Many bad words, and by this time, was late yesterday afternoon, so left a bucket underneath the car and went back to it this morning, armed with a tube of Red Gasket if needs be.

Disassembled everything again, but this time radiator out as well, so that I could see what I was doing, and noticed a big piece of gasket still stuck to the engine. More bad words and more scraping. Reassembled again and no more leaks, didn't need the Red gasket in the end and didn't want to use it anyway.

Moral of the story is, prepare your joints properly, and be careful with that scraper. Oh and please don't glue your gaskets on because when you come to take them off again its a ####ing business.

Andy

Post by **petefarrell360** » 27 Mar 2005 05:57 pm

Ouch! A lof of effort then, but at least you have the knowledge that everything should be ok now. Gluing the gaskets! Not sensible like you say. BTW email is awaiting you!

Pete

Post by **pettaw** » 27 Mar 2005 06:42 pm

thanks, replied. I've started to strip the other engine down. Very quick when you can get at all the bolts! More later.

Post by **pettaw** » 28 Mar 2005 06:52 pm

Well, it looks like someone else has had a go at my engine before me, well stripped the head off anyway, possibly to do a low compression conversion to run on 95 unleaded using two head gaskets, because thats what I found on the block.

Its a shame it doesn't look like they used genuine gaskets though, because some of the holes didn't match up and also it looks like the muppet people drilled holes in the gasket to get the cooling water flow. Unfortunately I reckon that has resulted in some corrosion which almost exactly match these extra holes. Picture coming up if I've done it correctly.

I don't know whether this head is repairable or not.

Also, I've stripped down the bottom end, and the diagnosis was definitely correct, the pistons have all got large score marks down the side. The bores seem to be okay though, not too worn, although, according to my dial gauge, they're slightly out of round, so really I need an engineering firm to hone/bore/whatever and also to advise on the head situation.

Anyway, that's all for the moment.