Timex and friends

[saintjamesy89]

Mike/Mat, my TXD came with a new rear box for an estate. Not sure if it was for turbo or n/a, or if it makes a difference! I'd swap it for a cambelt/waterpump/tensioner changing lesson on the GT The end that attaches to the centre pipe is like just like a rolled out lip, i'll get a picture if your interested Mike.

[citsncycles]

Is this the one you mean on eBay?
http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Exhaust-Rear-" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false; ... 0792685413

I wondered whether it was just a generic photo they had for a BX exhaust...certainly I'll be needing one for the white one so had my eye on this. I'll buy your TD box off you if you want too?

Yep - when you look at the listing details the diesel engine type quoted is the TD, which has the fitting pictured. the N/A one has a conventional push in type joint - I hadn't spotted that my spare box was different until Tim pointed it out to me the other day.

[citsncycles]

Did you follow the official diversion then? I just followed some locals and according to Google Nav it was just 2 miles longer!

Yep - I'd got as far as the M42 before realising I had my route sheets with me but not my map, and although I could have pulled up the maps on the phone, it kills the battery and I didn't have my leads with me either.

It was an interesting diversion, starting with a tour of the local business parks, followed a trip to Rockingham before taking me through the splendor of Rutland (which gave me the opportunity to play some Rutles tracks in their proper environment), before dumping me on the main road to Liecester. It was especially entertaining when you reached a roundabout where the choices were left or right and the diversion sign said straight on, which was only matched by the diversion ends sign in the middle of nowhere!

[citsncycles]

Mike/Mat, my TXD came with a new rear box for an estate. Not sure if it was for turbo or n/a, or if it makes a difference! I'd swap it for a cambelt/waterpump/tensioner changing lesson on the GT

The difference is in the joint - if it's just a straight end to the pipe, then it's for an N/A diesel, if it has a bell end (oo er!) then it's a turbo one.

If it matches mine then I'm sure we can sort something out with some work on the GT, although I've not dome that particular engine myself before!

[saintjamesy89]

It's a bell end... Could you chop the few inches of the offending end off, or would this upset mounts etc?

[citsncycles]

I could possibly, but I have one here that I can use if that's the case. I suspect it may be the wrong diameter though.

[saintjamesy89]

Ah well, no worries! Worth a shot. Would you be interested in showing me how to do the cambelt anyway, for suitable time/go juice remunerations?

[Tim Leech]

The turbo and non turbo exhausts are a different bore. Rear boxes aren't that hard to find and the same for 1.6 and 1.9 car petrol.

[citsncycles]

Tom - no worries, I'll give you a hand with the cam belt if we can find a day we're both off for.

Tim - thanks for the info. Looks like I'll have to double check that ebay listing as it quotes petrol plus td applications!

[Tim Leech]

The pipe shouldn't have any kind of flange at the end where it enters the middle box as it pushes in and the c clamp closes the middle box around it making a seal

[citsncycles]

I've got a bit behind here with recent events, partly because of recent events and partly because I've not got round to sticking pics on Photobucket. Some of you will have read about some of this elsewhere but here goes:

The Tuesday before the bank holiday I was returning home from an evening working on the GS when the temp light came on. I stopped and topped up the coolant and all seemed fine.
Then on the Thursday when I set off to get stuff sorted for my trip to Citromobile it did I again, only ths time I had to open the bleed screws and put about 2lt of water in. This lasted 40 miles before doing it again, only this time I could see water being forced past the filler cap. This time it took 4lt of water, then another 2lt at the motor factors about a mile down the road where I'd stopped to order gaskets. It's a similar distance home from there, and the light came on again as I parked him up.

Pulling the head revealed a gasket without obvious problems, but a head with cracks between every pair of valves, bad cracks on all the swirl pots and some serious pitting around the valves for cylinder 2.

Luckily, I had the cylinder head and parts from Andy (Mothman), so the head went off to A&M (Strous) Ltd, a local cylinder head reconditioner I've used before, who skimmed 7 thou off the mating face and pronounced it a good head, with only some minor cracking on a couple of swirl pots that were within limits. Discussing the head from the engine, he said it was likely the swirl pot for the pitted cylinder had cracked badly enough to reach the water jacket.

Reassembly didn't go to plan though. When trying to fit the engine's cam and bearing caps it would lock up before the caps were tightened down. Trip 2 to A&M resulted in the diagnoses of a bent Camshaft, so a replacement was obtained from the Westons. This fitted, but loosely, as the bent cam had opened out the bearing caps, and none had come with the head from Andy. Inquiries revealed that the caps are matched to the heads, and aren't available separately. A&M came to the rescue again, as they keep all the caps from the scrap heads they get, and luckily the XUD is a common engine. He had the head and cam for a week and went though his stock of caps in quiet periods until he found a set that fitted properly, all for £30!

With the head back I took the opportunity to grind in the valves. Ideally I should have had new guides fitted and a new set of valves, but as finances are currently tight I ended up using the old valves, plus 1 exhaust valve from the other head because one was too badly damaged to grind in properly.

With the valves fitted, I used the shims from both heads to try to set the valve clearances, with 50%success, which considering this is being assembled from parts of at least 4 engines I think is pretty good.

Currently the plan is to bolt the head back on tomorrow, and hopefully have Timex back up and running by Wednesday. As the last couple of weeks have been involved on this instead of the GS, it's increasingly likely that Timex will be smoking its way round the Challenge this year.

[citsncycles]

Today's progress - finished shimming the valves, fitted the exhaust manifold, then fitted the head to the engine, followed by the camshaft. After looking at various manuals I decided to torque the head down to the specs given in the Xantia manual, as the only change in components I could see were the head bolts, as I'm using new bolts listed for the Berlingo. Time will tell if this was the right decision.

[Dollywobbler]

Good stuff! Top tinkering. Hope it all works out...

[Mothman]

Cant wait to see if my head does the job Mike!!

Then, with the other bits, she will look like a MK 1 under the bonnet.

Pics please but only after she is running!!

Good luck.

Andy

[Mothman]

Just a thought bud, did you have to fit a thicker head gasket after having so much skimmed from the head?
If not, will that cause problems?

Andy