10/05/2014 This is the bit where I take the engine apart and find out all the things that are wrong with it. Not sure what I’ll find but I’m guessing it will need around £500 of parts and engineering work to make it good.

One of the first things I noticed is that the cylinder heat has been completely “cooked”. It has been overheated so badly that the oil has baked onto it in a hard black coating. A bit like a BBQ that is overdue for a clean, except this is more problematic. The head is likely to have warped or twisted and this will have to rectified by an engineering company.

The cylinders are very worn out. When this happens, the pistons cannot seal – power is lost, starting becomes difficult, fuel economy suffers.

Suzuki say that the cylinders are allowed to wear by 0.05mm (that’s about half the thickness of a human hair), above this the engine is worn out and engineering work is needed.

This one was worn by 0.21mm or over four times the basket case limit. How on earth it ran as well as it did, I do not know…

I’ve noticed that there is a problem with one of the water holes at the back of the cylinder block. It has rotted or crumbled away and is now too close to the cylinder. This is what has made the head gasket fail.

Repairs will be needed before the engine can be put back together or the cylinder head will fail again. Maybe this is what had caused problems for the previous owners?

Plan B is to dismantle the spare engine and use the cylinder block off that. It’s likely to be in better condition and won’t need the repairs to the crumbled block shown above.

17/05/2014 Took the spare engine apart but it is in dreadful condition as you can see on the right.

The middle two cylinders have had water in them and are covered in flaky rust. I’ve had it for 2 years in the garage so it must have taken on water before I collected it. I see also that it has been rebored before and cannot be rebored any further. It’s scrap only I’m afraid, what a shame.

The cylinder head from the spare engine has not been cooked and appears to be in better condition.

With a little bit of clean up it could do the job nicely.
The crankshaft has been removed and some wear is present, enough to condemn it. In this situation, it’s normal practice to regrind the crankshaft bearings to a slightly smaller size, then fit new bearings that are a match for the smaller size.

However, I’ve found a brand new crank at a supplier on the South coast for £50 so have saved a bit of money over the cost of a regrind (typically £90).

That’s about it on the dismantling side. Click the link below for Repair to see how the fixing up was carried out.

 

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