Flash Red Rado

[Laser Mark 0]

Took a trip to the local engine specialists on Thursday, this is a guy who does regrinds for the local main dealers.

 

His reaction and words where, 'ahh, that's f***ed, I wouldn't touch it even if it was mine'

 

So now I'm looking for a VW specialist. But most of them seem to be bloody miles away. Essex and London, although I have found one in Stoke on Trent.

 

I'm still unsure as to what to do, so looking into all the options and comparing the costs and benefits.

[Laser Mark 0]

Collected a new engine for the rado yesterday.

Big thanks to James for the brew and mince pies.

I now have a project for the new year, and she should be up and running in a few months ready for the next show season!

[Laser Mark 0]

Its been a while with no news and then everything happens at once.

 

I originally intended on waiting until the new year before even looking for a replacement engine, and then maybe get one installed March time.

As it turned out, one came up which couldn't be turned down and here we are 2 weeks into the new year and its being swapped over.

 

I've been lucky enough to store the car in a relatives lock-up which isn't far from my mates Garage, so a fully charged battery and it was ready for a very short drive up on Friday night. To say it was rattling and banging would be an understatement.

 

Started this morning stripping the old engine out the car and removing all the ancillary parts.

 

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The plan is to get the new engine in and running and at a later date, strip the old one down and figure out what happened, and how much damage there is.

Well that happened sooner than expected when we removed the sump.

 

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Going to check the chains and tensioners on the new engine and make sure there ok, then transfer all the ancillary parts over to it. Will be putting the engine in the car next weekend as we only have a few hours tomorrow.

[Laser Mark 0]

So today was the second weekend working on the engine and getting it in.

 

My mate had built the engine up during the week when things got quiet at his garage, and was must waiting for me to drop of 2 seals for either end of the crack pipe.

 

First job this morning was to fit a bracket I made at work with some help from Dave16v. Despite it having the right part number the radiator panel I have didn't have the mounting bracket for the radiator. It didn't take long to fit, and looks perfect. A quick set fit of the rad and its spot on for placement.

 

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Because the engine had been built it didn't take long before it was in the car :D This is my mate Andrew, he's has been helping out and allowing me to use his garage at the weekend.

 

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We had got the rest of the front end back together and fired it up. We had some issues with the oil pressure light and audio signal going off when at high rev's so we removed the sensors from my old engine and swapped them over. It did the trick and everything is running ok.

I do have a squeaky power steering pump which is going to be looked into next week, seem to have a bit of an air lock that wouldn't shift.

 

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So this is how we left it tonight, a good days work all in all. Need to sort out the camber on the wheels as we had to undo the struts to get the drive shafts back in.

Also in the plus side...........................

 

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No bits left over !!!!!!!! :cheers:

[Redfox 10]

Good job!

 

Cheers,

Redfox.

[4eyes2wheels 0]

Busy day - excellent work!

[Macdaddy 10]

Nice to see its back !!!

[Dox 22]

What made the original oil pump pick up break up like that? Any signs of the sump being on a trolley jack?

[Laser Mark 0]

Macdaddy, It took a while but I got there in the end.

 

Dox, there was a dint in the oil sump when I brought the engine. But the car had been used and had shown no sign's of problems.

During the conversion we did think about swapping the sump over for a newer one, but timing was against us and in the end the sump I was after couldn't be seperated from the block. So we just left it.

 

Going to start stripping the old engine down and see what the damage is. A new oil pump is £168, but I may have found a source for few cheap parts.

The block is going for a re skim, may have it honed out depending on price, and the engine will be totally rebuilt with new seals and gaskets.

The plan is to spend lots of time and a fair wedge on money on this engine, I have ideas, just depends on funds.

[Nathan Harvey 10]

Looking good mate :)

[Laser Mark 0]

Power steering pump is now sorted, seems there was an air lock which wouldn't shift so it had to be bled from the pump.

On the down side though I think I've snapped the handle for the bonnet release, need to remove the fuse box tray and have a look.

Also the camber on the wheels is so far out so its a bitch to drive. That's getting sorted on Friday along with the headlight realignment.

So some slow progress this week.

[Laser Mark 0]

A small update.

 

As previously thought, I had snapped the little metal bracket which holds the bonnet cable. (was being a little ham fisted!)

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I removed the handle and took it to work and set about designing something to replace it, but was removable.

The below image is on the first off, I had a bit of a chat with Dave16v and it was decided that a grub screw was needed to secure it in place.

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So, I ended up with this. The part does fit quite tightly over the handle bracket, the grub screw prevents it moving around. It was also made a little thicker so the M5 grub screw would finish flush when installed.

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I got the handle installed last weekend and it works a charm, it's a bit of a nightmare getting the wire back through the sleeving but cutting the wire at a bit of an angle helped.

 

The car is now all running :cheers: and I was able to get it home over the weekend.

Now its back I've a few little job's to do. Firstly, fit the half clear rears which I purchased months ago. I made a start, but it was bloody cold and I couldn't feel the end of my fingers to hold the nuts!

 

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Really impressed with how these look, just need to wait for it to stop raining and possibly warm up a bit.

 

Next to fit is the BMC CDA which has come via eBay, currently making a collar at work for it as not quite the right fitting for the rado. Will get some photo's of that up soon.

And then finally I have an uprated wiring loom for the head lights to fit.

 

Soon be time for insurance too :scratch: