Omega Owners Forum

Chat Area => General Discussion Area => Topic started by: JamesV6CDX on 17 July 2007, 19:54:40

Title: Veccy cylinder head rebuild complete!!
Post by: JamesV6CDX on 17 July 2007, 19:54:40
Yesterday and Sunday evenings, I finished off rebuilding the Veccy cylinder head.

16 x brand new valves lapped and fitted (inlet and exhaust)
16 x new valve stem seals
16 x Follwers fully primed
Camshafts fitted
Everything clean as a whistle.

I did the overnight paraffin test (before fitting cams!), and it didn't seem to loose any. Implying the valve seatings are good.

I'm really pleased I had a go at this myself, and feel I've learned an awful lot. It will be some sense of achievement if this car runs...!

I've also fitted the inlet manifold, and the LPG injectors are back on.  

Tomorrow my intention is to put the head back on the car, and rebuild it all back up and get it running.

Hopefully by this time tomorrow, I'll have a veccy running on 4 cylinders instead of 3 ;D

Fingers crossed!!

Title: Re: Veccy cylinder head rebuild complete!!
Post by: Markie on 17 July 2007, 19:56:02
finers crossed indeed - impressive timescale  :y - and if all is well, are you keeping it?
Title: Re: Veccy cylinder head rebuild complete!!
Post by: Dazzler on 17 July 2007, 19:56:58
Well done James, you sure are a quick/keen worker. Best of luck :y
Title: Re: Veccy cylinder head rebuild complete!!
Post by: JamesV6CDX on 17 July 2007, 20:01:55
At the moment, I'm in 2 x minds about keeping it. The chances are, I most probably will, especially with such cheap running costs on LPG. And it should be reliable after all that work. And I genuinely like driving it.

Also, I think I've fixed the no3 injector problem. I found a wire, with a part of it being in a VERY poor state, in the cable tray.. it will be soldered and heatshrinked...
Title: Re: Veccy cylinder head rebuild complete!!
Post by: razzo on 17 July 2007, 21:50:50
Nice one James well done mate :y :y
Title: Re: Veccy cylinder head rebuild complete!!
Post by: Golfbuddy on 17 July 2007, 21:54:27
Out of interest, how many hours has this taken so far. I mean removing engine, dismantling rebuilding and eventual refitting in vehicle. Would be interesting to compare this to what a garage would charge and how long they would take although I appreciate that they wouldn't take the care that you have to get it spot on.
Title: Re: Veccy cylinder head rebuild complete!!
Post by: Baron Von Spongebob on 17 July 2007, 22:31:00
Well done James.. :y [smiley=beer.gif]
Title: Re: Veccy cylinder head rebuild complete!!
Post by: JamesV6CDX on 17 July 2007, 22:51:20
I didn't remove the engine - just the cylinder head.

It took a leasurely afternoon to remove the head carefully, labelling LPG stuff as I went.

It took a leasurely evening to remove all the old valves, completely strip the head and get the head squeaky clean.

Then, in terms of re-building the head, it took me just under 12 mins per valve, which includes valve lapping, stem seal fitting, and then fitting the spring/seats/collets. So times that by 16 = 3.2 hours to rebuild the head in total.

Then I estimate a leisurely day to get the head, timing belt, manifolds etc etc refitted.


Title: Re: Veccy cylinder head rebuild complete!!
Post by: CaptainZok on 17 July 2007, 22:54:16
Well done James your a star. :y
Title: Re: Veccy cylinder head rebuild complete!!
Post by: Baron Von Spongebob on 17 July 2007, 22:54:57
Dont forget the 5 hours for tea and choccy biscuit breaks and the bacon buttie breaks.. ;D ;D ;D
Title: Re: Veccy cylinder head rebuild complete!!
Post by: JamesV6CDX on 17 July 2007, 22:56:15
Quote
Well done James your a star. :y

I was worried about doing it - the general perception of jobs like this, seems to be that it's difficult and specialist work.

Reality is, if you are methodical, patient, and take your time and invest in the right tools, it can be done by anyone.
Title: Re: Veccy cylinder head rebuild complete!!
Post by: Markie on 17 July 2007, 22:59:01
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Quote
Well done James your a star. :y

I was worried about doing it - the general perception of jobs like this, seems to be that it's difficult and specialist work.

Reality is, if you are methodical, patient, and take your time and invest in the right tools, it can be done by anyone.

and yours was probably a wee bit more time consuming with the lpg kit too  :y
Title: Re: Veccy cylinder head rebuild complete!!
Post by: JamesV6CDX on 17 July 2007, 23:04:24
Quote
Quote
Quote
Well done James your a star. :y

I was worried about doing it - the general perception of jobs like this, seems to be that it's difficult and specialist work.

Reality is, if you are methodical, patient, and take your time and invest in the right tools, it can be done by anyone.

and yours was probably a wee bit more time consuming with the lpg kit too  :y

Not as much as you'd think...

4 x LPG hoses to remove from injectors
2 x LPG ECU connectors
4 x Injector connectors
Couple of extra coolant hoses and Vacc pipes.
1 x LPG injector had to be removed to seperate inlet manifold from cylinder head.

Must be honest though, an X20XE Omega is much easier to work on than the Veccy. Access is crap to some things.. the crank pulley was a b@stard to remove..
Title: Re: Veccy cylinder head rebuild complete!!
Post by: JamesV6CDX on 17 July 2007, 23:10:01
May I add - the whole engine mounting has to come off on the drivers side, just to change the Aux belt!!
Title: Re: Veccy cylinder head rebuild complete!!
Post by: CaptainZok on 17 July 2007, 23:13:30
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May I add - the whole engine mounting has to come off on the drivers side, just to change the Aux belt!!
Scrap it and get an Omega. ;D ;D
Title: Re: Veccy cylinder head rebuild complete!!
Post by: Martin_1962 on 17 July 2007, 23:15:49
Head rebuilding is quite satisfying
Title: Re: Veccy cylinder head rebuild complete!!
Post by: JamesV6CDX on 17 July 2007, 23:16:37
Quote
Quote
May I add - the whole engine mounting has to come off on the drivers side, just to change the Aux belt!!
Scrap it and get an Omega. ;D ;D

Thankfully, Aux belt looks brand new. So I can work around it, to fit the cambelt kit ;D

I did one of these on a friends Veccy last week, it wasn't fun..
Title: Re: Veccy cylinder head rebuild complete!!
Post by: Marks DTM Calib on 18 July 2007, 08:29:54
Pictures.....or are you at the mercy of the crap camera again?
Title: Re: Veccy cylinder head rebuild complete!!
Post by: JamesV6CDX on 18 July 2007, 08:40:17
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Pictures.....or are you at the mercy of the crap camera again?

I think the camera on my new phone may be better than that camera...

Head's going back on today, so I'll try and take a few.... :)
Title: Re: Veccy cylinder head rebuild complete!!
Post by: Taxi_Driver on 18 July 2007, 18:34:58
Quote
May I add - the whole engine mounting has to come off on the drivers side, just to change the Aux belt!!

Didnt i mention that  ;D

Well done James..... :y
Title: Re: Veccy cylinder head rebuild complete!!
Post by: Taxi_Driver on 18 July 2007, 18:45:16
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Quote
Quote
May I add - the whole engine mounting has to come off on the drivers side, just to change the Aux belt!!
Scrap it and get an Omega. ;D ;D

Thankfully, Aux belt looks brand new. So I can work around it, to fit the cambelt kit ;D

I did one of these on a friends Veccy last week, it wasn't fun..

Yes i did have it changed a few months back....i remember now, the old belt snapped, so went got a new one and thought this carnt be hard to change.....then i couldnt figure out how you got the new one on.....so ended up in my local garage to let them do it  ;D

Are you changing the whole cambelt kit then? I might be tempted just to change the belt.....as that kit was fitted at 200k.....then change the whole kit at 240k  :y
Title: Re: Veccy cylinder head rebuild complete!!
Post by: Markie on 18 July 2007, 20:17:28
Quote
Quote
Quote
Quote
Well done James your a star. :y

I was worried about doing it - the general perception of jobs like this, seems to be that it's difficult and specialist work.

Reality is, if you are methodical, patient, and take your time and invest in the right tools, it can be done by anyone.

and yours was probably a wee bit more time consuming with the lpg kit too  :y

Not as much as you'd think...

4 x LPG hoses to remove from injectors
2 x LPG ECU connectors
4 x Injector connectors
Couple of extra coolant hoses and Vacc pipes.
1 x LPG injector had to be removed to seperate inlet manifold from cylinder head.

Must be honest though, an X20XE Omega is much easier to work on than the Veccy. Access is crap to some things.. the crank pulley was a b@stard to remove..

tell me about it - you wanna try an oil cooler thermostat change along with getting to the crank pulley / removing timing cover and radiator on the v6 version....