Who's on the road (or could be), who is Not?

[MoRtYMer]

Well just a little update on mine... Headgasket is letting compression pass to the water circuit, so I'll be sending it to the mechanic to change it. Probably will change the piston rings, because its eating some oil, specially if I'm rough with it.

Is there anything I should change or check while the head is out?

I though about the valve tappets (?) but I think that all 16 aren't cheap...

[Timmo]

if you can, may as well get the Valve stem seals done whilst the heads off, does mean extra work but worth doing as you dont want to have them go hard a coupl eof months afetr youve had it all back together!

[Toddman]

Hi Mortymer
I suspect a lot of your oil usage will be down to stem seals rather than rings so when you get the head off I would suggest whipping the vakves out and then you can clean the head up properly as some of these haeds have terrible casting flash in the ports then when you rebuild grind the vakves in and fit new stem seals etc.

With the tappets out you can strip them down and clean them up properly to remove dirt and carbon build up which is the main cause of them tapping.

If you take the time to do all this you will have a top end that is sweet as a nut

Cheers
Luke

[MoRtYMer]

Well all the work is being done by my mechanic, unfortunatly I don't have space or tools to do the job (ok and skill lol).

I've checked out the progress today, the head is already all disassembled ready to be repared. And a big repair it will be...





Looks like there was only water running there for sometime, so there's a lot of damage. They will fill it with aluminium and them it will be ok.

The steam seals where like rock, so they will be changed and hopefully the oil comsumption will be over.

[docchevron1472]

Ooh, thats rather badly pitted aint it!

I imagine you are bracing yourself for a very hefty bill from the mechanic then!

[cossie]

Iain came over and washed his 16v today!!! no green crap on the white now

[Toddman]

Iain came over and washed his 16v today!!! no green crap on the white now

Drive it more often and faster Clive a rolling stone gathers mo moss LOL!

Ouch! Morty that's not so clever but at least you will see a big difference when the car is finished, the stem seals are key to keeping the oil consumption down as the valve guides are not the tightest fit ever.

Really make sure your mechanic strips down the hydraulic tappets before refitting though it will make all the difference tp yiur top end noise.

Cheers
Luke

[Dave]

Had the BX out of the garage today. Not been started since April
Started immediately. So much nicer than last year when I had the starting problem. Turned out to be a spark plug at fault. I had an old Equyem in the draw which I fitted when I discovered one cylinder was missing. At least it had it's fuel drained plus a new dizzy and fuel filter at the time. (I did like those Equyem's).

Did a few lifts with the suspension, up, down, up, down etc. Would love to have taken it out on the road, I am sure a good run would do it good Still have a few jobs to do including the rear abs sensor but the weather has been so bad. Today was perfect for jobs like that but I also had other things to do. At least it has been vacuumed, been treated with vinyl protectorant and seen the light of day

[BrianK]

Mine's on the road. By the way, insurance is cheaper if you go down the agreed value/limited mileage route. I pay £210pa with Adrian Flux fully comp, 5000 miles a year, agreed value £1700 thanks to Toddman very kindly confirming it. Top man.
I don't use it every day but nor do I keep it stationary off the road. I use my TZD for everyday use and the 16v when we're going to do a proper journey. The only trouble is you have to keep it taxed.But machinery has to be used. The TZD never has any problems and I bash it around in all conditions. The 16V seems to be going fine as well with its occasional long journeys. But because I kept my 4x4 off the road (in the open), it's plagued with all sorts of niggling probs, usually down to corrosion - in spite of being started up and shunted around once a week.
By the way, someone said there are fast 16v's and slow 16v's and mine is not a fast one. What could it be?
PS I'd put a pic of the 16v on the forum if I knew how. With emails it's just click on the paperclip sign.[/img]

[docchevron1472]

No two valvers are exactley the same mate, but the two row ECU equipped cars are marginally faster than the three row (with knock sensor) equipped cars, and both of thise are faster than the few cat equipped cars.

What cams you're running will have a big effect on where the power comes in and where all the torque is.
As of course will the overall condition of the engine and what petrol is used in it...

It aint an exact science!

[Toddman]

^^Yup! I will second that.
In fact there are many valvers that don't feel quick but are in reality just as quick as others.
Citroen messed around with the camshaft pulleys as it was felt the original combination of cam timing was too harsh which is why the early vakvers tend to feel fast and loose because the power comes in like a sledgehammer.

If had a valver which I thought wasn't performong I would treat it to a fuel filter and the usual oil and filter and air filter and plugs.
Dizzy cap,leads and rotor arm should be checked as these cars eat them! and a good clean up of the coil and ign amp is worth while.
Check all the air intake hoses are in good nick and securely in place especially the small hose running to the FPR (fule pressure reg) at the end of the fuel rail.

If you are still not happy then I would examine th eexhaust system making sure you have the correct downpipe and good quality boxes followed by the cam pulleys opting for a number 4 and 2 then make sure the cam timing is spot on.
Also worth making sure the throttle position switch is being hit when full throttle is applied as this gives the ecu a signal to go full bore so to speak.

The timing figures for the various pulleys are on the main site - http://www.bx16valve.co.uk/15.html

Cheers
Luke

[Timmo]

PS I'd put a pic of the 16v on the forum if I knew how. With emails it's just click on the paperclip sign.[/img]

sign up to photobucket if you dont allready have an account (http://photobucket.com) and upload the pictures you want to post, ideally in a normal screen format size, then when uploaded, copy the image information whihc is normally the last of the 4 boxes under the picture and poaste it into your reply and Bingo! up pops your picture!

[Anonymous]

Picking up on the Insurance thread, I used MoreThan ( On Line ) for several years and always paid less than £200 Fully Comp and that was on 10,000 miles per annum.
I say ' used ' in the past tense as as mine ( 90 on a G ) had an Engine Bay fire in April '08 which resulted in numerous bits being removed before waving it goodbye and my wifes Red One ( 92 on a J ) was sold in May '08 for £2275 (no, thats not a typo ).
Another avenue to consider would be Classic Car Insurance for which I use RH Specialist Insurance Division ( 01277-206912 ) for my 1986 BMW 628CSi which cost me this year just £108.15 for Fully Comp including Legal Expenses Cover.
Mind you, I am now 60, Clean Licence, and maximum NCD but hope my suggestions may prove helpfull, go on , live dangerously, give it a try.

[Mike P]

I'm starting to get itchy feet for another valve (again )

Still enjoying the power of 6 pot RWD Vauxhalls but you can't beat a Bx

Mike P.

[Toddman]

Nows the time to buy Mike - you should check out that silver P1 on ebay with 40k on it and 1 owner

Cheers
Luke