my engine removal thread.

[cupra20v.t]

I bought the car with a 2nd gear crunch in August 2008, it drove fine bar no 2nd gear at high revs. my plan come winter time was to remove the box and send it away for a refurb.

On reading posts on here I decided that I would remove the engine aswel as the gearbox in order to tart it up, check its relativley oil tight and nothing major is wrong or a miss as I could see a small amount of oil on one side of the engine from underneath.

I started about one month ago and have been slowly pulling things apart over the odd week night here and there and one day over the weekend. Finally 2 weeks ago the heart of the cerb was pulled out and engine dismantling began.





I will post pics up of my progress as time goes on, i have more photos but only had time to upload a few last night. all comments welcome(not that theres much to see at the moment) we need more DIY cerb threads and DIY fixes threads

[G20RG B]

Hey great work, It looks like youv'e done this kinda thing before It's a bit dounting for spanner numpties like me!!
Keep the pictures coming and it might just give me the confidence to try it one day....

Oh and did you only have blue rope around the engine when you lifted it out it kinda looks like that from the pictures, I wouldn't have thought it was strong enough, but hey what do I know!!.

[cupra20v.t]

To be honest I had other rope but there is such a lack of mounting points on the ajp I was struggling for where to pass the rope.

that rope was entwined around the inlet manifols and a/c compresor along with the alternator and at the begining i had a jack to give a 2nd hand in jacking up the from the gear box end.

I was panicing while it was in mid air saying to my friend that if the weight of the engine cracked the inlet manifolds then he would be up sts creek as I told him not to run the rope the way he did, but it worked in all fairness. it wont be going in this way though, i will leave the inlet manifolds off and drop it in with some thicker rope.

I have removed engines before, but nothing of this size,and bonnet length. the engine hoist was extened to maximum and i was still about a foot short of being central over the engine. biggest engine ive pulled out was a 325 e30 sport engine which came out a lot easier than this!

[JensenA]

Great work. Your a braver man than me Cupra
Keep updating it. I like good DIY threads like this, we need more.

[350Matt]

While you've got the lump out I'd replace the fuel lines with new or better still some solid stainless lines.

Also gives the opportunity to touch up the chassis rails.

I'd reccommend Bernie for the gearbox rebuild

http://www.gearboxman.co.uk/

[cupra20v.t]

yes i think its going to go with him.

just have to get my arse in gear and phone a courrier to come and collect it.

[350Matt]

Another tip worth passing on is profiling the shift mechanisim inside the lid.

I found when I rebuilt the box on mine the selection pin on the shaft had started to round corners off on the gates cast into the forks.

I added a small (2-3mm) chamfer to the lead in on all the gates and the shift was greatly improved for speed and slickness of change.

[Tanguero]

Any chance of a photo of your flywheel while you have the bellhousing off?

Cheers!

[R8nan]

Hi Cupra, good luck with the engine out and your refurb work. I have been doing some bits and bobs to mine over the past 3 months and shes coming together nicely, another 2-3 weeks should see her done.

Tanguero said:

Any chance of a photo of your flywheel while you have the bellhousing off?

Cheers!

Tanguero, heres a pic of my flywheel before I changed it to the lightweight one, hope this helps.

[itiejim]

R8nan - I've got an early block with the dipstick at the rear like yours. On mine there's a tab halfway up the dipstick tube which looks like it should secure the tube against something - on mine it's not attached to anything and the whole thing moves about a bit. There's nothing obvious to bolt it to, can you say where it should go?

[cupra20v.t]

if tanguero cant help with the tab i will have a look for you when i go and work on the car on sunday.i have the dipstick at the rear of the block.

solid stainless fuel lines... i want them as thats one of my worries. it would break my heart to see my cerb go up in smoke. where can i get some of those? and how do they track through the car?

[R8nan]

itiejim said:

R8nan - I've got an early block with the dipstick at the rear like yours. On mine there's a tab halfway up the dipstick tube which looks like it should secure the tube against something - on mine it's not attached to anything and the whole thing moves about a bit. There's nothing obvious to bolt it to, can you say where it should go?

The tab secures under the end bolt that holds the inlet manifolds in place, hope this helps

Ronan

[itiejim]

Cheers, I'm going to go and see if I can put it in place properly now!

[Tanguero]

R8nan said:

Hi Cupra, good luck with the engine out and your refurb work. I have been doing some bits and bobs to mine over the past 3 months and shes coming together nicely, another 2-3 weeks should see her done.

Tanguero said:

Any chance of a photo of your flywheel while you have the bellhousing off?

Cheers!

Tanguero, heres a pic of my flywheel before I changed it to the lightweight one, hope this helps.

Excelent - thanks very much!!
Reason I asked is that I took a couple of pics of my flywheel when I took the clutch off and only just noticed the 'missing' bolt. There is a huge puddle under the car at the moment from the snow and I didn't much fancy crawling through it to reassure myself that it is actualy a dowel rather than something damaged!

Yours is the same as mine so I am reassured!

[longbow]

R8nan, what difference did the lightened flywheel make? Was it noticeable?

[R8nan]

longbow said:

R8nan, what difference did the lightened flywheel make? Was it noticeable?

Hi Longbow, I cant tell you what difference it has made yet because I haven't fitted my engine back into the car yet, but I am told it should make a slight BHP increase and improved throttle response. If you look closely at my old one it did need replaced as there had been a lot of heat on the surface plate. I'll let you know how it goes once I fit the engine back in.

[cupra20v.t]

is the lightened fly wheel a bought item or did you lathe your old one.

i can get my one lathed but i dont want to risk anything.

anyone machined theirs before and what sort of weight did they take off?

[R8nan]

cupra20v.t said:

is the lightened fly wheel a bought item or did you lathe your old one.

i can get my one lathed but i dont want to risk anything.

anyone machined theirs before and what sort of weight did they take off?

I fitted a new raceproved one, I didn't realise you could get them lathed

[350Matt]

cupra20v.t said:

if tanguero cant help with the tab i will have a look for you when i go and work on the car on sunday.i have the dipstick at the rear of the block.

solid stainless fuel lines... i want them as thats one of my worries. it would break my heart to see my cerb go up in smoke. where can i get some of those? and how do they track through the car?

Hi any engineering supplies or hose place should be able to sell you the line, bear in mind you'll have to bend it to suit and secure it in place at least 8mm bore preferably 10mm. then use a short length of silicon rubber hose at each end . Or if your feeling flash swagelock sell a range of compression fittings to adapt solid lines to flexible goodridge stuff.

[cupra20v.t]

right I got the timing cover off at long last, i needed a hub puller to remove the pulley sleeve off the crank. i can see the wood ruff key but the darn sleeve was not held on with a grub screw or loctite so i havent a clue how it was so difficult to pull off.

anyway as i slipped the timing cover off i had a garage floor full of spacers, bearings and one cog.

the cog has gone back on the engine with the shaft and spacer ring. but i have 2 other spacers that im dubious about.

one fits sung on the centre cogs above crank but there is one slighly larger diametre one which i cant place.

has someone got a diagram of the inside of the timing cover or could tell me where and how the spacers are supposed to go?

thanks in advance