Sand Metallic Driver Resto - Back from the dead.

Thought i'd post up a project thread of my car, its a 1983 driver chassis with a 1.8 16v engine with twin weber 45's. Its pretty much been rebuilt by the last owner all round, FK coilovers, g60 brake conversion with new servo, 4 into 1 manifold etc loads of stuff done.

But some of the previous work im quite dubious about, the breather hose is just hanging loose and some cables even hovering above the exhaust manifold, the ecu is just loose aswell to tumble about. Withing 30 miles of me owning it died on me, did all the normal checks and compression test and the two middle cylinders are down. Anyway after a few opinions we're all pretty sure its a valve or two so im pullin the head to see whats up.

Today i got cracking with the help of my cousin who is a mechanic, we were making progress until we got to the head bolts themselves. I have everything but spline sockets off i went to halfrauds to get a 7pc set they have:



Well what can i say, i returned them. The one i needed was fine for all bolts bar the top left bolt the third to be loosened. The socket is too wide and you cant get in to the bolt, i need a socket with more length or thinner profile like the smaller ones in the halfrauds set. I wasted the whole day going to halfrauds twice and screwfix direct! I'll order one of t'internet.

Some more pics:















I'll get some more pics up when  make progress this week, got a nice long weekend from this friday. Also theres a place 2 min walk from my mums house where the car lives that are an engine specialist, they'll skim my head for around ?20!

Let me know what ya think  8)

looks good, like the colour. could you use a different  socket  from a smaller socket set on the end of the splined bit ?

Love those seats - what are they from?

Its the width of the spline socket, because its not thinner llike the smaller ones in the set it doesent fit in the corner so i can get to the bolt. Ineed one like this:



The seats i dont know came with the car, wish i knew they are pretty sweet. "GT3 style" was all i was told but i do love em

Love the whole car-if u fancy a swop let us know!?! What wheels are they? You go to any meets? Jim-pull yer finger out and sort a derbyshire meet!

Give me a month or so and im on for meets deffo  8)

The wheels are zender 15 x 7 thats all i can find, i think they were used on high end alfa romeos in the past. Pretty rare though.

I've only ever found two other pics of them heres one:

Sweet 8)

Ok some progress finally after having to wait for my spline set to arrive. So i finally removed the head:



Was a little awkward to get of, forgot to remove one pipe connected by an allen bolt that proved a little testing to get of.

Cylinders look alright cant see any score marks anywhere but things are quite dirty, any experts in here tells me what you think (big images for detail):



And finally the under side of the head, lot of build up on the valves but i cant tell if they are bent yet i'll get a closer look tomorrow. I will admit im winging it as im no expert but its interesting and i like to learn:



I'm going for a rebuild of the head, car is in a small village but theres an engine reconditioners like 2 min walk from my mums house plus she knows the guy that owns it. I can get my head skimmed for around 20 quid. Before this last couple of weeks i've never even touched an engine so im quite proud of myself for learning so fast, i havent trashed anything yet!

Future plans money depending (sigh), remove the arch trim and see if its rusted or not. Tidy the engine bay, too much random stuff hanging around and things unsecured. Take it to a bodyshop and see what can be done about the scratches and small bit that need sorting.

But any advice you guys have is valued, i feel like a bit of a cowboy as this is all new to me. Found my paint code is LA1V which is "Sand Metallic" is this rare  :dontknow:

After asking around it appears my weber 45's were not mounted properly on the manifold, i'm starting to think maybe these things could have caused my problems in the first place:



I was told these were set up by a carb specialist, yeah right  :roll:

I'm not letting my naivety get me to down, its a good project for me and a good learning curve i suppose.

keep your chin up mate, it will me a mega car when its got all its little "issues" sorted.  I wish mine looked half as nice as yours!

Like the wheels!

mate you could have used the halfords ones.

i had the same problem but what you need to do is put the chrome bit of the socket so the it rests on the jaws of a vice, leaving the actual spline tip loose through the jaws of the vice. then get and M8 bolt and tap the actual spline bit (the darker grey metal) out a few mm.

This will then let you undo the head bolts with the halfords set.

hope this helps.

I thought i might but it didnt seem like i could, i had a quick go. I got a 32pc spline and torx set with normal and tapered sockets for ?8 from ebay in the end  8)

after photoshoppers help on clubgti i've gone for a chrome trimmed grille inspired by this pic:



So this is incoming:

Areet matey, awesome motor, my mate (rustys_mk1) has one the same colour!

You were askin a couple of engine questions there, as for the cylinder bores, if you are putting new rings in then i would get the bores honed, so the new rings can bed in, otherwise there's a chance they can pass oil into the combustion chamber!!

And the head, looks in good nick, the plugs look a little bit on the dark side, not too bad but that is caused by the mixture being too rich/choke sticking, which could have been caused by the ill fitting carbs or the 'set up' of the previous owner you were mentioning.

Oh aye, i would get your engine shop to get it all pressure washed (in the big washing machines they have), saves alot of time!

Anyways, good luck with the re-build, and i'm sorry if i'm telling you stuff you already know! Lol!

Good job you live near that engine builder eh??

Thanks dude, i think i might leave the bottom end as it seems to be fine. When i got the car i realised the revs were following on quite bad. Could running to rich have caused my problems? Was thinking of purchasing a carbtune device when i set it back up.

Moving out of my flat this weekend so will be a couple of weeks then i will totally dismantle the head and unravel the mistery….

Hum, could have done, what were the problems exactly?? Well, you won't have been getting the best spark from those plugs and the gap in the intake where the carbs are bolted too will probably not have helped either, lol!

I'd recommend doing the valve stem oil seals while the valves are out too!

But it should run like a dream if they are set up properly, you can buy a haynes for carbs to help you set them up, but there will probs be a good guide online somewhere.

 

Only a small update but from the debadged ugly grille to:



Much smarter, could do with some chrome polish though!

Just one question, i didnt get any screws and things with the grille. What should i use to secure the middle section. theres three large holes but definately not for screws?

Clips on the grill help secure it to the car.

I've scred the ends on but the centre piece is secured but only a temp measure, what kind of clips do i need?