Rebuilding a 1.8k VVC - Story

Rebuilding a 1.8k VVC - Story

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Discussion

hury

Original Poster:

36 posts

101 months

Sunday 18th October 2015
quotequote all
Hi,

i wanted to show some pictures and my progress here as im currently rebuilding a Rover 1.8k VVC from skratch.

It all started as i was able to get a cheap 145ps 1.8k with a little hole in it biggrin





Fortunately a friend of mine had a spare block he gave me, so i took the crankshaft and the head from the "hole" engine and discarded the rest.
As our regulations require me to have a EU3 emissions i need to upgrade the engine to the 160ps EU3 version. So the plan is to use new 160 Trophy pistons, steel rods, keep the VVC units, new exhaust camshaft (270), rework the inlets, new valve guides, REC valves (standard size), new liners, new followers, offset dovels, ZandF ECU, R500 manifold collector.

Opening the old engine










Edited by hury on Sunday 18th October 13:35

hury

Original Poster:

36 posts

101 months

Sunday 18th October 2015
quotequote all
The head condition was not very good, as someone has put too much sealant before...




The followers dont look good as well, i was planing to use new ones, so thats ok




Old valves and pistons removed




Edited by hury on Sunday 18th October 13:41

AdamIndy

1,661 posts

103 months

Sunday 18th October 2015
quotequote all
Always good to see an engine build. Keep us updated and plenty of pics please!

hury

Original Poster:

36 posts

101 months

Sunday 18th October 2015
quotequote all
It´s a first time for me - i have some remote help here, a friend of mine is a expert and he is controlling, what i do and if i do it right wink


hury

Original Poster:

36 posts

101 months

Sunday 18th October 2015
quotequote all
This is why sealant should be used with care on the upper cam ladder


Crankshaft removed from old block


Looks like a wrong gasket has been used for the inlet manifold

hury

Original Poster:

36 posts

101 months

Sunday 18th October 2015
quotequote all
Cam ladder bearings







I cleared them, then put 1200 sandpaper on a 17 nut and carefully smoothered






I was afraid to remove too much material, so the clearing was measured





All inlet bearings ~ 0.038mm, Exhaust ~0.076mm . Rover manual: 0.025 - 0.060 inlet, 0.060 - 0.07 exhaust (service limit 0.1mm). So that should be fine

DVandrews

1,315 posts

282 months

Sunday 18th October 2015
quotequote all
If you linish the tops of the followers they will be fine. The scuffing on the inlets is normal.

Dave

hury

Original Poster:

36 posts

101 months

Sunday 18th October 2015
quotequote all
Hi Dave,

thanks for the advice - how would you do that? Plain surface i guess and some sand paper? 1200?

Alex

hury

Original Poster:

36 posts

101 months

Monday 19th October 2015
quotequote all
DVandrews said:
If you linish the tops of the followers they will be fine. The scuffing on the inlets is normal.

Dave
Worked perfectly out P240 and a little bit WD40 on it:



hury

Original Poster:

36 posts

101 months

Tuesday 20th October 2015
quotequote all
Some nice work Dave has done for me - thanks a lot!!! smile
160 Trophy pistons with floating pins and steel rods

Rods has been weightened and matched.
Weights with pistons:
1-807.62
2-807.64
3-807.71
4-807.62





fergus

6,430 posts

274 months

Wednesday 21st October 2015
quotequote all
If you get someone like Steve Smith @ Vibration Free (there are other alternatives before the usual suspects chime in) to balance the entire bottom end (crank, clutch cover, flywheel and front pulley) as a single assembly, this can make the engine smooth like a turbine and will also create a lot less stress on the main bearings in terms of potential harmonic distortion. Money well spent in my opinion.

hury

Original Poster:

36 posts

101 months

Wednesday 21st October 2015
quotequote all
This has already been done at my local dealer. He has balanced crank, flywheel (some material has been removed before) and the front pulley.
He balanced the parts separately and then together.

He told me that the crank didnt require any balancing. Flywheel 2g, front pulley was the worst with 4g

Edited by hury on Wednesday 21st October 12:07

hury

Original Poster:

36 posts

101 months

Wednesday 21st October 2015
quotequote all
New valves just arrived beer



Modified flywheel

hury

Original Poster:

36 posts

101 months

Friday 23rd October 2015
quotequote all
New ECU arrived. Immobilizer has been removed.


hury

Original Poster:

36 posts

101 months

Friday 23rd October 2015
quotequote all
Wanted to put the block together today. So put in the new bearings, sealant, bottom ladder, screws like in the manual first 5nm, then went for 20nm and aimed to complete the 30nm to find out:



So unscrew everything again, remove sealant and put 10 helicols into the block....


hury

Original Poster:

36 posts

101 months

Saturday 24th October 2015
quotequote all
Crank is in the block again. Had to put 40nm, as with the helicoils the screws didnt even touch the block at 30nm. Will be inserting the new liners and pistons tomorrow



DVandrews

1,315 posts

282 months

Saturday 24th October 2015
quotequote all
Before you fit the liners it is worth smoothing the edge of the top internal chamfer, this will ease the fitting of the Pistons as the rings traverse the lip, you might also want to consider a small shallow groove near the top of the liners where they Siamese to ease coolant flow from side to side, if you look at the original liners you will see a continuous groove all the way round the top, you don't need to all the way round, just a small part of it where they Siamese, polish the groove to reduce stress risers.

Dave

Edited by DVandrews on Saturday 24th October 18:29

hury

Original Poster:

36 posts

101 months

Sunday 25th October 2015
quotequote all
Thanks Dave - didnt notice the groove at all in the original liner - i´ll cut that.
How come Westwood dont make it in the factory? Shouldnt be that complicated for them.

hury

Original Poster:

36 posts

101 months

Sunday 25th October 2015
quotequote all
Started adding the groove to the liners today, as proposed by Dave. Not fun at all wink




DVandrews

1,315 posts

282 months

Sunday 25th October 2015
quotequote all
You only need around 2CM of that groove and just make sure it aligns where the liners siamese.

Dave