I Want To Recondition Engine(1.9)

[Guest Ben81]

Hello,

i have a 205 1.9 (j reg) with 125k on the clock.I was looking for some advice about reconditioning the engine,i am hoping to spend no more than £1000.

 

The car is in excellent condition,it goes really well but after 125k miles it must of lost quite a bit of its power.Any advice appreiated.

[Rob_the_Sparky 9]

TBH unless you are going to keep your car long term I wouldn't do it (I have had mine done my by the way).

 

Will you stick with an 8v long term or will you at some point go to a 16v engine. If you have shelled out on a re-built 8v then it is a bit of a bummer if you then want to fit a 16v as you won't get the cash back on the re-build if you sell the engine later.

 

Most 8v 1.9 make about 120bhp if they are original but I don't know if this is because Pug were a bit hopeful with the book figures or whether they have just lost power through wear and tear.

 

Power can be lost (and regained) more easily through tuning, mostly on the ignition timing side and through using decent fuel, this is free if you are handy with a spanner...

 

I'd think hard before shelling out a grand on a rebuild.

 

Rob

 

P.S. Another engine in original condition can be had for about £100

[Banjo 1]

Take the sump off, take a big end cap off and a main bearing cap, see what sort of nic the bearings and crank are in, then do a compression test. If all these are good and the engines not smoking or ratling then theres no real need for a rebuild just a service and tune up. If you'd like more power and the bottom end is ok then maybe try the xu10 head with a nice cam, try a search on xu10 heads.

Ben

[sorr 0]

Having made what I believe to be a stupid mistake and rebuilt my 8v engine I would not recommend it to anyone. 8v are so cheap to buy that I would just let yours run till it goes bang then stick in 2nd hand unit. This can easily be done in a weekend.

 

If you really want to recondition an engine buy a 16v and recondition that then get it installed.

 

Sorry for being negative but I really wish I had gone down the 16v route and if you make me an offer on my engine that was rebuilt 3.5K miles ago I may go 16v soon!

[Bonzai 2]

agree with above. sooner or later you will most likely get bored of 8v power, and no matter how much you throw at it, itll always be overshadowed by the 16 valve unit. pick up an Mi and you might be able to stretch to a full rebuild for 1k with plenty of scope for bigger power gains in the future

[Banjo 1]

Depends if you like torque or not.

[Anthony 1,003]

Depends if you like torque or not.

I'd rephrase that slightly - it depends *how* you like your torque.

 

The Mi16 ultimately has quite alot more (133lbft vs 119lbft) but subjectively the 8v feels more torquey low down, even if I'm not sure it actually is.

[pug_ham 244 3 Cars]

The Mi16 ultimately has quite alot more (133lbft vs 119lbft) but subjectively the 8v feels more torquey low down, even if I'm not sure it actually is.

I think KrisK has posted graphs before & the torque curve is almost an exact match between the 8v & 16v up to about 4000rpm when the 16v's carries on skywards where the 8v heads along the horison.

 

Graham.

[Guest yaztromo]

My engine had done 127k when I got it and it had lost a fair amount of power. A few days later a big end bearing went and I was forced to have the engine reconditioned.

 

While the engine was out I had the head ported and polished. I also had the crank balanced and the fly wheel lightened. All in all this cost £850

 

Downside:

You will find yourself having to replace a lot of parts when swapping an engine. Everything in there will be worn and disturbing stuff often makes it break. Be prepared to replace many pipes and seals. I also had a few sheared bolts as well.

 

Upside

Tremendous boost in power. I was really amazed at how much of a difference it made. My wheels would hardly spin in 1st gear but now it just burns out all over the place.

[Rob_the_Sparky 9]

Agreed, I'm now significantly up on power but whether that is to do with the re-build or whether it is down to the head work/lighter fly is another thing. Just saying that fitting a 16v will give you much more power and have much more potential to generate yet more power.

 

For me I'm a bit of a purist so stuck with the 8v but not always sure it was the right thing to do but now it is done I will stick with it...

 

Rob