BX's Build diary
 

Well, time to make a start I guess.
House move done and dusted, garage very nearly sorted, welding course completed.

No chassis kit as of yet, but I hope to have that rectified in the next couple of months, in the mean time I decided to finally make a start on the engine thats been sat in the corner of the garage for the last year.

Apologies in advance for photo quality, they were taken on my mobile.

The lump that I'm going to be using is a Vauxhall X20XEV (2.0 16v) which was an evolution of the now aging C20XE (red top). Although less powerful than the C20, mainly due to all the emmissions stuff, it actually produces more torque in a more usable part of the rev range.

As fitted in my old show car shortly before being stripped.


At one point, this particular engine was producing 167bhp with a few bells and whistles fitted, however it has been sat for nearly 2 years so I doubt it is producing anywhere near even the factory standard figure (134bhp), so a full rebuild is on the cards. It may even receive a few upgrades in the process, cash flow allowing.

Received an engine stand from my dearly beloved as a christmas prezzie, which helps tremendously if you have a bad back like me, so at the weekend I removed the clutch and flywheel, hoisted the lump into the air and bolted it to the stand.








As you can see, it is absolutely filthy and covered in oily sludge from a sump gasket leak it developed shortly before removal from the car.

I have taken lots of photos, mainly so I can work out where to put everything when it goes back together, but I won't bore you with most of these....


Throttlebody, inlet manifold, fuel rail and cam cover off..


Water pipe from the back of the water pump..


Water pipe, dis pack, purge valve, temp sensor and EGR valve all off. The EGR valve will not be refitted and will instead be blanked off.

Cam belt, sprockets, crank pully and inlet cam bearing caps removed..


Closer, slightly less blurry look at the cams..


Exhaust cam bearing caps, water pump, cam belt tensioner and pulleys have also been removed, unfortunately though this as far as I got as there are a couple of rounded off bolts holding the rear cambelt cover on to the cylinder head which can't be removed until I obtain a stud extractor kit.
Need one for the exhaust and inlet manifold studs anyway, but thought I could put it off for a bit. I know they aren't silly money but it's January, and I'm skint! :)

Looks cool ! :) i love the vauxhall engines! be sure to check my build thread soon as i have my x25xe running on megasquirt now ! are you sticking with the original ecu ?


Michael

Looks like youve made a good start. Are you going to mate this to a Ford Type 9 box with a bellhousing adaptor or straight onto an Omega box ?

Straight on to the Omega box I think. There were plenty of X20 based Omegas so shouldn't be difficult to find one on the bay of thieves.
Other than that I'll be using Sierra running gear as I have a suspicion that the Omega struts are the wrong way round and the rear hubs would present other issues.

Going to try and keep the original ECU, still have the ignition barrel, keys and transponder. However, I did sell the full wiring loom which at the time I thought was great but now I wished I'd kept it!

I have a spare box kicking if you want it for a few spondoolies?

If you still have it by the time I'm in a position to buy it then I'll definitely take it off your hands. :)

Got some more done on the engine this weekend.
Although I don't have a stud extractor as of yet, I thought I would cheat and weld a nut on to each of the rounded bolts to allow me to get a socket on it.

Rounded bolt, moral of the story - don't trust a garage!


Nut welded on..


Success!! Bolt extracted..


Finally, cylinder head off to reveal a non OEM head gasket that by the looks of things was in the process of failing - again, don't trust a garage!

Going to pretty much replace most of the bits on the cylinder head, valves, followers, stem seals, etc. as this engine had done nearly 150,000 miles before removal


Crankshaft sprocket and rear cambelt cover removed..


Sump off along with Oil level sensor

Large amount of crap from where the Oil level sensor had been leaking, l need to get Kev on the case!! :)


Oil pick up pipe and it appears that this particular X20XEV has twin balancer shafts

Main casting removed allowing a better view of the balancer shafts.


As I'm not all that bothered about vibration, the balancer shafts and associated items will be removed and replaced with a baffle plate from an earlier XEV engine that didn't have them. I will need to drill and tap the oil feeds and then plug them with grub screws and locktite.

With a bit of luck the engine should rev a bit more freely without them, especially with the lightened flywheel I have. May see a bit of a power gain too as frictional losses will be reduced.

Thats it for now!

Loving the pics mate, hope you keep this up through the rest of the build ;)

Will do mate, it's the only way I'll be able to work out how to get it back together!! :)

Besides, everyone loves piccys.

Wife was out last night so I managed to blag a couple of hours in the mancave.

Started to remove the balancer shafts..


All bolts were loose yet I couldn't shift it. So I removed the baffle plates in case there was a couple of hidden bolts underneath.

There wasn't!


Decided to use bit of brute force and ignorance, something I have a bucket load of (ignorance, not brute force!), and out they came..

There is some weight in those balancer shafts, I estimate about 5 or 6kg. Be a nice saving by not putting them back in.
Either side of the bolt hole in the middle are 2 of the four oil feeds I will need to drill, tap, and seal with grub screws..


Main bearing 3 compared with main bearing 4. No. 3 has the oil feeds, 4 doesn't.


Piston No 1 removed..


You can see the extra ring gear in this one that runs the balancer shafts. Won't know if this can be removed until I get the crank out.

All four pistons removed..

Helpfully, identification marks are only present on the main bearings for cylinders 1 and 4..

Main bearing 1..


Main bearing 2..


Main bearing 3..


Main bearing 4..


Was just about to remove them and get the crank out when the wife came home. Will now have to wait until tomorrow.

Managed to get a bit more done on friday night as everyone go kicked ut of work early because of the snow!

Oil pump removed


Here is the Oil pump. I'm fairly certain I'm going to replace this rather than re-use it. Seems to make sense as they aren't silly money and I'd rather do it now than later.


All main bearing caps removed..


Crankshaft out..

Lower main bearings still in situe..


Block now completely stripped..


..and now right way up to allow remaining oil to drain


Ok, I now have a question!
What is the best thing to use to get all the crap and crud from the last 12 years off the block?
I have used Gunk in the past but it doesn't seem to shift it all that well. I'd also like to avoid getting it all over the man cave. :rolleyes:

I use a soluble degreasant stippled in with a stiff brush then washed off with a trigger spray gun filled with water then repeat the process in the hard to get to places until all is removed....beauty of this method you only need a few old newspapers on the floor to soak the run off up

After a week or so of not being able to get in to the garage, I started the attempted clean up of the engine yesterday.

As you can see, to begin with it is black and covered with 12years and 155000 miles worth of sludge..



Got hold of some soluble degreaser as recommended by the resident engine overhaul god (Kev). The stuff I got foams up which is good for getting in those hard to reach places. I also have some 'Gunk' which I have also used.



After an hour or so of scrubbing with a wire brush I was beginning to think the block came out of it's casting black, until finally, a glint of silver..

At this point I'm thinking that when all else fails, brute force and ignorance is the way forward so off I went to B&Q for a wire brush attachment for a drill.
The result, after half an hour..



Managed to find my engine number, wondered where it was!



As I left it before going for a shower and collapsing on the sofa..



Still plenty to get off in places I can't quite get to. Might have to resort to purchasing a Dremel.

Also, what is the best way of removing carbon deposits from a piston?
Soak in carb cleaner??
Mine are horrendous, this is Piston no. 1 and is actually the cleanest of the 4..



Any ideas?

Re the degreasant job.....patience is key just get the crud off first, on mine I used a dremmel and grindstones to the inaccessable bits.
carbonized piston crown......use a pen knife to get the worst off then used a detail sander with a fine grade paper to finish off back to aluminium.....best mask off the con rod up to gudgeon pin as you do not want debris/abrasive getting in there:eek: