Novice BXer on a HUGE mission . . .

[joolie]

The story so far. . . got a TZD estate for £400 almost 1.5 year ago, been running well since with very little maintainance, an oil change here and there a change of filters, brakepads, coolant and the like.

Been running on veg oil in the summers up to 90% no problems, started to notice a slight loss of power, which i put down to the vegoil.

I thought it'd be time for a timing belt change, LHM change and a good clean up. . . to cut it short, I screwed it up, not reading up on exactly how the engine worked before, I got the timing wrong, split the camshaft and smashed the camshaft bearing holders. . . Its been a vertical learning curve since. . . I got the head off now, found lots of bits of corrosion and unlubricated bolts, when I got the head off I found PLENTY of caked soot all over the place, pretty hard formed, the valves HAD hit the pistons, but there is hardly a scratch (they just knocked the soot off) apart from one (piston which has a SLIGHT indentation. I havent dismantled the head yet so I dont know about damage to it.

so 3 things:


1 I would if possible like to sort out this head, so what do I look out for in the way of damage, IS it possible to fit new bearing guides? could the damage be almost unnoticable without precision measuring tools?

2 whats the best way to clean up the engine, can I just scrape it of with a knife and clean it with oil or do I need to be a bit more careful with the whole thing? what products should I avoid?

3 wheels are still locked, slipped it in 4th gear handbrake off, and the pistons and wheel dont move, and clunking sound by the flywheel, whats happening there? how can I sort that out?

All this is with the engine still in the car, I dont have the space or equipment to pull it out. . .

J

(and another thing, I'm in Sweden, so a second hand complete TZD head is gong to be pretty rare.)

[DavidRutherford]

... split the camshaft and smashed the camshaft bearing holders. . . Its been a vertical learning curve since. . . I got the head off now, found lots of bits of corrosion and unlubricated bolts, when I got the head off I found PLENTY of caked soot all over the place, pretty hard formed, the valves HAD hit the pistons, but there is hardly a scratch (they just knocked the soot off) apart from one (piston which has a SLIGHT indentation. I havent dismantled the head yet so I dont know about damage to it.

1 I would if possible like to sort out this head, so what do I look out for in the way of damage, IS it possible to fit new bearing guides? could the damage be almost unnoticable without precision measuring tools?

That sounds serious. The camshaft bearing caps are machined with the head, and hence are unique to each individual head. If you do find that the head is saveable, it will need to be line bored with new bearing caps. You may also need a camshaft with oversize bearing journals.

I think also you'll find that some of the valve stems have "mushroomed" IE have been hit hard, and are now slightly shorter and slighty fatter than they were before. You'll need to check every single valve for straightness, and play in it's guide. You also need to be absolutely sure that the valve head isn't bent, and so the valve will seal properly.

on top of that, the head face will need skimming. Refitting an alloy head without skimming it is destined for failure.

I would start looking out for a good complete head. It may even be viable for someone in the UK to have one shipped to you if they are that rare in Sweden.

wheels are still locked, slipped it in 4th gear handbrake off, and the pistons and wheel dont move, and clunking sound by the flywheel, whats happening there? how can I sort that out

sounds like the flywheel locking tool is still in place. If not, then something has got jammed in the starter ring gear. Have the starter off and see what you can see.

[Kitch]

Agreed with David, you'd be mad not to source another head. They're in plentiful supply.

Try Euro Car Parts for a new one. I used to work there and we once sold a complete head recently for £190 to a garage. They're reduced to clear. This was a 1.9 mind, don't know stock on the 1.8 as I've left now.

With regards to the bottom end, again I'm a bit stumped. It would have to take a hefty blow to break that.

[joolie]

thanks for advice, Ill start looking for a new head, the locking pin isnt in the flywheel, because thats how I messed the whole thing up in the first place, Ill get the starter motor off, and take a look around.

Is all the soot/residue a normal byproduct of the engine running?

. . .the first oil change I did, went black straight away (last year) the recent oil change is still transparent, the filter was real heavy (I suspect with soot?), does that indicate anything about the condition of the engine in the first place?

[Stewart (oily!)]

I have used cam bearing caps from another engine successfully in the past, new ones are available but they need to be reamed out and so are effectively useless, you will need to check for bent valves and if the damage was done with any force check the bearing cap studs too, they can come from a scrapper as well, I have seen engines like that where the valves have made marks in the carbon on top of the pistons but otherwise are useable, there may be light at the end of the tunnel.
Stewart