My XUD9TE timing belt snapped. Nothing to lose, so gonna have a go at replacing the head. Got a few questions.

[kenbw2]

Who says the XUD9 NA doesn't get much love? I've never had one myself - my two XUD9s have been turbo'd, but having the DW8 I assume it's similar. Yes it's not exactly got a lot of punch, but it does the job.

I had a bit of a go at it at the weekend. Started attempting to dismantle the 405 N/A engine and found I need more leverage for the head bolts, so I'm waiting on new tools for that. I took the inlet manifold off on the ex-405 engine, which was pretty straightforward with the engine out. God knows how I'm gonna do it on the Synergie engine in-place:



Maybe I'll have to get creative like you say.

[moizeau]

I'd rather have a N/A than a turbo, in XUD guise, it's not fast but you don't have to wait for the revs before it's usable, loved my bx19rd circa 1985, damned reliable as well.

[kenbw2]

I'd be interested to see how the DW8 compares to the N/A XUD9. I definitely notice the 806 has a sudden oomph when the turbo kicks in. My DW8 doesn't have that, but it has almost no power at any point

[van ordinaire]

I think your problem with the DW8 is the Dispatch is just too big for it, whereas my problem with the C15 is gearing, which means coming out of big roundabouts it always seems to be in the wrong gear & it struggles, unladen, on steep hills whereas it'll pull & pull, even start to gain speed on long climbs,as it demonstrated, once again, on that long haul out of Dover last night.

[kenbw2]

Oh yea, to my mind the DW8 is quite a stretch on the Dispatch. I was dismayed to hear they put them in the LDV Pilot!

Like, it's *good enough* but I do find it lacking on any vague uphill. But it's a simple engine, decent mpg, no computery stuff, runs on veg oil, is pretty popular for parts so I'm happy enough with it. Doesn't mean I don't miss my turbo though =/