Possibly done a head gasket. Fix it or get another engine?

[Adam_NAclubman]

Speaking to Mike Coppola he said that when his BP did a gasket it was pretty much ruined, so he just replaced it.

Mine has boiled a coupe of times, first when the heater hose went, then twice since then when the thermostat died. Now its using a bit of water and feels quite sluggish.

I was planning on fitting my AVO kit soon, so am I possibly better off finding another BP, fitting the kit and doing the belts, water pump etc while its out of the car then fitting it? Is this potentially going to cost me less than getting my engine fixed? It also has the oil leak from below the CAS

[grump]

If you can afford to have your car off the road for a couple of months, ( I can't ) then I would suggest getting your engine rebuilt. It's better the devil you know than the devil you don't know

[SuperMazdaKart]

BPT swap?

http://fordlaser.com/viewtopic.php?t=71309

of course get the compression/leakdown test to be sure if you can

[Adam_NAclubman]

I thought it had been settled that swapping in a Familia motor was more trouble than its worth?

[SuperMazdaKart]

well, you'll have plenty of time to work on it

[Adam_NAclubman]

No I won't, I'm doing Masters this year

[SuperMazdaKart]

could always take the shortcut, refreshed MX5 head onto BPT block.

or just goto Chris Milton engine rebuilders.

[GP]

Head gasket isn't a big job or anything, That's what I would be doing

[madboy]

Well, if you've already boiled it 3 times? and you says its acting sluggish? and using water? common sense would say you've probably done some damage, more than likely not just to the gasket. cooking a motor is not a good thing as there are so many things that can be damaged, just replacing the head gasket may not be the easy fix(been there done that, didn't work, ended in a full rebuild).

If your planning to slap a snail on the side, I'm with grump, rebuild, build the motor to suit the snail. A fresh build is always prefered if your adding boost, saves having to rebuild after the snail is added because oil starts gushing out between the head and block because the old and tired gasket couldn't take it(not me!).

Good luck btw, there is boost in my future somewhere...its just along way off!

MB

[sabretooth]

I suspect I've done a headgasket through hoses bursting and subsequent overheating - thing is I've never let it run with the gauge on full hot.. *shrug*

I'm just going to remove the manifolds and remove the head, clean things up and put it back together again with a new gasket.

[randymx5]

I was planning on fitting my AVO kit soon, so am I possibly better off finding another BP, fitting the kit and doing the belts, water pump etc while its out of the car then fitting it? Is this potentially going to cost me less than getting my engine fixed? It also has the oil leak from below the CAS

This is what happened to me but ~10 or so years ago. I was lucky enough to source a new 1.8L engine from just Jap who at the time had brought a bunch of new random engines from O/S.

[madboy]

I suspect I've done a headgasket through hoses bursting and subsequent overheating - thing is I've never let it run with the gauge on full hot.. *shrug*

I'm just going to remove the manifolds and remove the head, clean things up and put it back together again with a new gasket.

it only takes seconds and the wrong temperature for rings to loose their temper, once they've gone soft they are simply no good any more.

I am sure they are checks to see how much blowby your getting, you don't need to be blowing smoke to have stuffed rings or valves

[greenMachine]

I suspect I've done a headgasket through hoses bursting and subsequent overheating - thing is I've never let it run with the gauge on full hot.. *shrug*

I'm just going to remove the manifolds and remove the head, clean things up and put it back together again with a new gasket.

it only takes seconds and the wrong temperature for rings to loose their temper, once they've gone soft they are simply no good any more.

I am sure they are checks to see how much blowby your getting, you don't need to be blowing smoke to have stuffed rings or valves

Nthing the rings issue - do a compression/leakdown, but I'd be pulling the pistons anyway and fitting new rings, unless you just want to throw it together and flog it off ...

[Adam_NAclubman]

I think what I'll be doing is chucking a new water pump, timing belt, plugs etc in the BP I bought the other day, put the kit on it, run lowish boost, tune it to be safe rather than max power and drive it. Over time I'll pull down my original engine and build it up then eventually chuck it back in.

Bought a HD organic Xtreme clutch today

[SuperMazdaKart]

Good choice that clutch. I had my Familia booked in to get one of those installed last week at All Brake & Clutch. Turns out it didn't need it since the problems ended up being with the clutch cylinder not the current clutch itself.