1.9 8v Smokey And Slow

[number2301 1 1 Cars]

I noticed a few months ago that my car was smoking quite badly, black smoke, most noticeable when the engine is warm and you're sat at traffic lights. I guessed it was the stem seals so just carried on running it until the winter when I should be able to take it off the road.

 

However, I went to York Raceway RWYB on Monday and seem to have exacerbated things a bit. It now smokes pretty much constantly and I couldn't get any better than a 16.5 on the quarter mile.

 

As a result of this I'm considering my options -

 

1. Top end rebuild and set up

2. 16v / turbo conversion

 

Now with option 1 I'm guessing at a cost of around £300 but much aside from the smoking it didn't run very well beforehand and over fueled terribly. So I'm unsure what that would leave me needing to pay out.

 

Option 2 I'm unsure of the costs, especially as I wouldn't be doing it myself. So I'd be grateful if anyone could give me an idea of the cost. As far as I can tell I'd be looking at £500-800 for the engine, plus fitting, service items and sundries. So £1200 all in?

 

So what I'm asking is, on admittedly scant information, what would each of the options cost? Would option 1 most likely leave me with a good strong engine or would I still have work to do?

 

There is a secret option 3 which I'm trying to avoid, spend £300 on a runabout and fix my 205 over the coming year. I just feel like if I go down that route I'll get depressed driving round in a shed every day, and keeping it running will take all my money so I never get my 205 going again.

 

Comments and suggestions gratefully received. Any recommendations for local engine builders would be handy as well. I was thinking of Team Geen Racing but I know they're really motorsport prep so may not want to take this on.

[24seven 104]

option 1 could be a red herring, as it could be down to the piston rings. That said, burning oil usually produces a bluey smoke, rather than black which suggests overfuelling. Do a compression test and see what the results say, you'll seen know if you've got duff piston rings.

 

as for option 2, it depends which engine you want. £500 SHOULD get you a good Mi16/S16 with everything you need to fit it into a 205 (though my recent experience suggests otherwise) and £600 for a good '6 engine. The real sting is the labour if you get someone else to do it. I've no idea what others charge, but Ecosse will do an Mi16 transplant for £1840, S16 for £2185 and '6 for £2415, which I think includes parts as well. There are a few members on here who are established conversion builders (I believe Miles is one of them), so I'd ask them about it first.

[pug_ham 245 3 Cars]

You need to find what is actually wrong rather than just assuming its the valve stem oil seals.

 

As Guy says, black smoke isn't normally oil but over fuelling which you admit its already been doing so it might be as simple as a replacement AFM or CTS to get the fuelling right & clear the black smoke.

 

A good engine rebuild would be your cheapest route, swapping to 16v involves more than you imagine over just the wiring, exhaust manifolds etc to get it to fit properly.

 

Graham.

[number2301 1 1 Cars]

Ok thanks for that, I did a compression test a few months ago which gave an even reading across all 4 cylinders at around the normal range (I can't remember the specific reading).

 

It is also using quite a lot of oil. Something like a litre per 100-200 miles.

 

So I guess the first step would be a compression test to rule out the piston rings, then swap over the afm and cts? Where abouts is the cts? I've got a spare afm in the garage but couldn't vouch for its condition.

 

Graham, do you know of any local engine builders? Unfortunately the well known forum ones are down south.

 

Any comments on what the lack of power suggests? Or is that not even worth thinking about until I've sorted out the other issues?

[pug_ham 245 3 Cars]

Graham, do you know of any local engine builders? Unfortunately the well known forum ones are down south.

 

Any comments on what the lack of power suggests? Or is that not even worth thinking about until I've sorted out the other issues?

Speak to Spike (Mike Geen) who you might've met on your Harewood Day, he has an engine builder that does the hillclimb engnes for the Team Geen cars near Harrogate.

 

If its burning oil like you say then thats the first thing to fix & then look at your power problems but fixing one could well fix the other.

 

Graham.