Tales from beyond the grave AKA Dan & Emma's Black Xantia, pug 206HDi, Daniel's 206 Verve 1.4i, GTi180 plus XUD9TE 206!!

[ekjdm14]

Illness has precluded any further progress on the ZX PD Whatever iteration this is of the Wuhan Cough, can well and truly bugger off!

In the meantime things get curiouser & curiouser in the strange life of us, my theory about car problems having "seasons" continues to ring true with this being apparently "engine season". Fortunately not in a bad way for us this time, we've not had another bottom end let go! Emma's uncle texted her out of the blue last night "Would Dan be interested in a 2012 Mini Countryman SD, it's free but the engine is knackered"...

Not wishing to look a gift horse in the mouth so to speak, I don't know if it's a 1.6 or a 2.0, whether it runs/knocks or not at all but we're currently getting transport quotes for that so looks like we may have a "different" project coming up soon too! Gotta love the timing though, we've just had a little telling off from the landlord about having 6 cars at home & only just got rid of the Galaxy shell... Ah well, at least this Mini ought not to be such an "eyesore" as our old Frenchies lol

Edit-: small update, Emma's uncle just text her back as she asked a few details for the shipping quote. It runs but blue smokes and knocks...

Not getting hopes up but maybe, just maybe, it only wants a turbo

[CitroJim]

Absolutely Dan, never look a gift horse in the mouse... It could be an interesting little project...

Maybe transplant an XUD into it?

[ekjdm14]

Gift horse arrived Monday & confirmed she's lame on #3...

Currently have the sump off (not a horrible job in all honesty) and although most of the bearings show a little wear & some contamination it's nothing I'd have baulked at for 150k. The main issue is that #3 rod bearing has failed, spun a little (wiping a neat plug of material into the oil gallery) & then stuck back to the rod again. Having cleaned up the cap, and the rod as much as possible with it still hanging off a piston, I've rolled the bearings from #2 into place and the fit still feels good so the rod appears to have survived. The crank journal is a little bit rougher, not surprising as it's been running with no lubrication for who knows how long, but it has cleaned up with the old sandpaper & shoelace trick to a reasonable feel & hopefully no high spots just slight grooves so I've gone ahead and ordered a set of standard big end shells as they were only 35 quid.

When they arrive I'll get the plastigauge on it in a few different orientations if possible & see what the clearances are like, and if it's well out then I can get a single .010 under pair of shells & perhaps mix one of those with a std one to get things closer to what's needed.

Strange failure though, #3 is second in line from the oil pump & there's no real damage to any other bearings. Only thing I have to go on is in the service book there's a handwritten entry from 10k ago/last year stating "engine rebuild, new piston/rings & timing chain"... Note the word piston, singular, and also the lack of any history of injectors being replaced.

My thinking is, it damaged a piston due to a faulty injector & was repaired but either the injector was left be OR perhaps it'd already started to damage the bearing & it was missed. Bolts weren't loose either, felt about the same torque to break loose as the others.

That's another thing maybe of note, the rod bolts are supposedly 1 time use TTY type yet all of the ones I've measured were "new" length. Will have to do some more looking at them, but at £20 per rod set I'm hoping they survive!

[CitroJim]

Indeed, an odd failure Dan. I'd be inclined to check the oilway in the crank is completely clear and not causing oil starvation to that bearing...

[ekjdm14]

Yes, first thing I checked (after scraping the bearing material that was blocking the oilway!) and it is in fact clear.

I am inclined to believe #3 was the one with the original piston failure, so will have to at least check the injectors if not find a set for it if she lives again.

Bearings have already arrived which was a pleasant surprise given they're from the bay of evil. Just have to wait on green plastigage now which should be here Wednesday, had to go to Amazon US for that, seems not many folk in the UK use the stuff now. Definitely not as accurate as a micrometer and bore clock but very much cheaper!

[CitroJim]

Ahh, good old plastigage It's been around for ever... Surprised it's hard to find in the UK now...