600quid. Fit and see if you can fubar it before the warranty runs out. Or flog yours as a core unit and buy that 2 litre you want im guessing first option is cheapest. You could be putting a recon back in in a few days and you wint have to tale your flywheel off!
Not sure I'd vcall it fun! If I was doing it undercover on a bench it may be more enjoyable, but I'm doing it in the garden on the floor! Setting fire to it WS fun though !
Very true . not terminal by any means and will probably run for yonks If the budget allows , barrels and a couple of heads . Option 2 is just helicoil the plug , sort out the valve seat , check the other valves are seating properly and pop it all back together . It`ll probably be better than a cheapo recon and if it does go bang in the future you can always go down the recon route ...
I like the sound of option 2. As said if you go for a cheap recon you have no guarantee it is any better than your own fixed engine. You could splash out on new heads though if you have the money. Nice thread. great pics.
I would take the barrels off. You've come this far and they just pull off. You can check the rings aren't broken then and peer inside the engine. Keep them in order and put back in the same place.
We've decided against Subaru for now. Just can't justify the cost right now and would rather use the cash to sort the ruysty roof corner etc. @3901mick I am tempted by the elite recon route, for £600 quid its a fast easy fix. Other tlb ERS seem to be happy with them. If the barrels off is easy enough I'll have a look, can't hurt. What would I be looking for inside? (I won't know what I'm looking at ) I'm still concerned about the endfloat though,....is it worth fixing up the heads etc knowing the crankshaft is trying its hardest to escape?
A broken piston ring to account for lost compression and oil use. If you sorted the heads, reassembled and still had smokey start up and lost compression you'd kick yourself. A piston ring compression tool was about a fiver last time I looked.
Clean your heads up and post some pics. My old Vege heads were worse than that, and it still ran. Get a helicoil kit to repair the stripped thread - easy. As Zed said, take the cylinders off with some gentle 90º bomping and change the piston rings. You'll need a ring compressor to get them back on, but it's no hassle. If you're very keen, and the heads haven't got any other horrors lurking, take the valves out, fit new exhaust valves and lap them in. If you're very, very keen, change the big end bearing shells. You've got some endfloat, but again the engine may run for many miles (my Vege II has more, and still ran reliably). The crank will only move when you stomp on the clutch. The engine may blow up, but will probably run for thousands of miles, and it'll cost you ten bob to refurbish.
You meant big end shells I think. One thing at a time, don't frighten him off. But yes, big end shells are £15 ish a set and an hour to fit, be mad not to. Mr Wombat, the reason to do this is your new compression will quickly finish them off if they have any wear.
Even cheaper than a ring compressor is a 100mm hose clamp. That way you can get the Pistons attached to the con rods without having to steady a barrel as well.
is it possible to get a micrometer in there to measure up? or is there another way of checking the size? Are they stamped?
They should be stamped on the back, from memory. You're just changing like for like in the hope - probably correctly - that they'll be better than the old ones.
Well now ive even less of a clue what you lot are on about ! And yes you're starting to scare me off I shall keep cleaning and poking and setting fire to stuff, and take barrels off.
Honestly, it's easy. And you'll have a reasonable engine that'll likely last. If you're removing the barrels, clean the the sh1te from their bases, get your best rubber mallet and gently bump them from side to side. That'll break the seal at the base. Don't hit the fins at an angle, or they will, 100% certain, snap off.
