The volvo is gone.

The Volvo went to the scrap yard today. I didn't bother taking any bits off to fleabay. I got £112 so it only cost me £140.46 for a recon engine, pump and turbo, if you include the change I found in the car!

Recon engine

I called the company who re-manufactured the engine today and they confirmed it was a completely re-manufactured engine with reground crank and cam, new pistons and rings, reworked valve and a new pump etc etc. Nice to know it wasn't a half arse job but a complete one. Basically as good as having a brand new engine in 2002. Since then the car it came from has been off the road for a year and a half so having talked to the previous owner I would guestimate the mileage to be an absolute maximum of 50,000 if not more like 30,000.
He used it to drive 8 miles to work and back, so even 365 a year would only be 5840 and for 6 years is 35,000.

Glow plug relay

Ever since driving the van home from installing the new engine the glow plug light has stayed on. I thought this would be another bad earth problem but couldn't find it. I put in a new glow plug relay today and problem solved. Shame all fixes aren't this easy.

Ventilation

Whilst the battery was out due to my split charge relay draining it I found a bit hole in the metalwork. Good news that it was just the rely causing my electrical problem but not such good news in the rust department. I've cut out the entire area to stop it spreading and tomorrow I'll weld in new, Shame as I though the van was rot free.

IT'S IN, AND IT ACTUALLY WORKS

So after 3 days and about 35 hours work the engine is in.
I found a serial number from the engine reconditioning company on the block so I can find out a bit more about it, but as far as I know it was installed in 2002. Even the pump and turbo look new.
It runs beautifully and starts first time with no smoke. The other engine must have been completely buggered because this new one is fast, really fast, well for an LT anyway. A friend of mine has a Transit connect and can't keep up!!! Makes it all worth while.
The glow plug light came on and wouldn't go out on the way home but seems to be coincidence as I replaced the glow plug relay with a spare and all is well.
Before I installed the engine I swapped over all the new parts form the other one as they were spanking new so it has new; cambelt, clutch, serviced injectors, glow plugs, thermostat, water pump, fuel filter, oil filter, aux belt, leak off pipes and fuel pipes.
I also had to swap the fly wheel as the donor was an automatic along with the front pulley/ vibration dampener and spigot bearing.The engine in the Volvo.




Claire helping to disconnect everything.





Ditto.




Finally it's out!



The smurf engine comes out a bit easier.





Almost ready to go in...




Core plug added to rear of engine where Volvo only water pipe was removed.




Test fit of gearbox to make sure clutch is aligned to save misery under the van later. Everything is ready to go in.



The finish product;





At last.


I do seem to have a little bit of vibration, but I think it's to do with the ghetto engine mount.
Also the thermostat seems to be a bit shitty as the engine won't warm up at idle, only when you drive, I'm guessing it's staying open a touch, still, a cheap fix.

Time for a new engine

So, we're almost ready for the engine swap. Not with the spare, but with this;
I seem to be the owner of yet another vehicle!
I couldn't face putting in the spare engine as compression was a bit low on a couple of cylinders and the last thing I wanted to do was end up changing it again.
I bought this whole car for £255 on ebay and it's got 128,000 miles on it but an engine that was reconditioned in 2002.
I'm picking it up on Saturday and starting the swap on Sunday. I'm taking Monday off work and hopefully it should all be finished by mid week. The rest of the car will be ebayed as spares and the shell scrapped to cover the cost of the engine.
Wish me luck

Camperjam

So, we made it to camperjam, excellent weekend in Weston Park near Telford. Good music and we got a nice little porch like awning for £35. The van's not so hot though. It used almost 5l of oil over the 300 mile trip, eeek.
I secured the yard next to mine to work on the van. This time I'm going to do the swap! I've a compression tester on it's way and I'm getting an engine crane. I'm going to test the spare engine I have and if it's any good I'll put it in. If not I'll take out the one that's in there and open it up for a DIY recon. Rings, bearing shells etc. I've had a look at the spare and the oil looks good. I took off the rocker cover and everything looks good there too. Only slight worry is the ends of 2 glow plugs were missing. If I'm lucky they burnt off due to bad injectors or if I'm unlucky they snapped and are in the combustion camber. If they are in the combustion chamber they need getting out, time to get a borescope.
Almost forgot, it made it to the New Forest last weekend and the New Forest Ponies gave their approval.