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[humbucker]

Buying car parts through necessity rather than choice can be a frustrating exercise, but almost every failed, tired or broken automotive component presents an opportunity to upgrade with a vastly improved replacement item (that’s what I’ve been telling myself, anyway!). A prime example of this train of thought comes in the form of my MV6’s nifty new windscreen.

I noticed a hairline crack stemming from a delaminating nearside bottom corner of the car’s factory glass while I was tidying its neighbouring engine bay. Spreading at an alarming rate, the damage was soon making its way up and across the body of the windscreen. As I had no choice but to source a suitable replacement, I softened the blow by getting hold of new glass complete with fittings for a variable speed windscreen wiper rain sensor kit. A kindly Vectra C donated its rain sensor, interior mirror, wiring and plastic housing to the cause, and I’m looking forward to seeing this novelty feature in action as soon as the car is up and running.

Talking of which, I’ve been sourcing plenty of new parts for the MV6’s Y32SE engine; both cylinder heads have been stripped, cleaned and rebuilt with new valve stem seals, and I enlisted the assistance of the guys at Injectortune when it came to refreshing the 3.2-litre lump’s Bosch fuel injectors.

Over time, dust particles and other contaminants can cause injectors to run below their full potential, and spray patterns can be vastly affected by loose matter floating around a car’s fuel system. Injectortune stripped, ultrasonically cleaned and rebuilt each of my injectors (complete with new filters and o-rings) before shipping them back to me with a ‘before and after’ report highlighting the improved static flow of each unit. Better still, a forward leak detected on injector number two has now been completely eradicated thanks to this excellent cleaning process, and I already know that smoother engine operation and quicker response is a given thanks to the exact same work carried out on the injectors of my V6-equipped Mk3 Cavalier CDX a few years ago. Nice!

Meanwhile, parts continue to pile up as I tinker: a new GM header tank, oil cooler kit, throttle body gaskets, oil filter screw plug, coolant temperature sensor, triple layer steel head gaskets and various performance filters and fluids are ready to roll, as are the car’s Falken-wrapped refurbished 18-inch staggered Irmscher Sport Stars. I’ve also been amassing a collection of interior upgrades (including a Signum Elite in-car refrigerator, a factory-option double DIN head unit with integrated satellite navigation and a full-colour information dash display) and I’m determined to fit a variety of trick Monaro VXR suspension parts to the car. I suppose I’d better crack on, eh?!

THANKS

Injectortune
http://www.injectortune.co.uk







Old filters and o-rings were returned with the refurbished injectors:



Yuk:



Old and new valve stem seals. Can you tell which is which?!  :p



Job done:

[humbucker]

Heads during the cleaning process:



Fitting the stem seals:



A small socket was used to push them into place:



Refurbished fuel injector spray nozzle(s):



Triple layer metal head gasket(s):



New genuine sealants:



New oil cooler kit:



And fitted:



New water pump and seal:



Cleaned coolant bridge bolts and new seals (right):



Courtenay Sport cool running thermostat in brand new genuine GM 'stat housing:



New genuine coolant pipe and sealing rings:



New head bolts:



Heads on:

[minifreek]

'Scooz me for being a bit fick here but ..... metal headgaskets....? Is there a reason as to why you are fitting these or is it that they are just 'better' than the other type...?

If theyre better than the other type and are a good upgrade..... any chance of a link as to where to purchase them from...?

BTW - why fit the cool running thermostat...? no need for fitting that in this country unless you are planning on taking it to warmer places regularly...?

All looking good BTW and I wish I had your contacts for parts....

[humbucker]

'Scooz me for being a bit fick here but ..... metal headgaskets....? Is there a reason as to why you are fitting these or is it that they are just 'better' than the other type...?

If theyre better than the other type and are a good upgrade..... any chance of a link as to where to purchase them from...?

BTW - why fit the cool running thermostat...? no need for fitting that in this country unless you are planning on taking it to warmer places regularly...?

All looking good BTW and I wish I had your contacts for parts....

Multi-layer steel head gaskets usually consist of two to five sheets of sandwiched spring or carbon steel. They are claimed to offer higher sealing potential than composite gaskets (which is why they are present on the majority of modern engines). For improved sealing of gasses and liquids, beads around the combustion chambers and oil/coolant passages increase the local sealing pressure (macro sealing), while full-surface or partial elastomer coatings provide additional sealing tightness (micro sealing).

[Steve B]

I find this thread better than watching porn 

May i ask how much its cost so far on this great project     

[minifreek]

Thanks for that, bit where do I get these from...?

[05omegav6]

3.2 left the factory with multi layer metal gaskets fitted, so hardly a new idea

[humbucker]

Thanks for that, bit where do I get these from...?

I bought mine from http://stores.ebay.co.uk/THE-GASKET-SHOP

[humbucker]

I find this thread better than watching porn  May i ask how much its cost so far on this great project 

Thanks for the positive feedback. And yes, you may. 

[P6UL K]

3.2 left the factory with multi layer metal gaskets fitted, so hardly a new idea

I was gonna say that 

[minifreek]

New idea or not, this may help with mine constantly needing HG's replaceing... cheap parts etc... go me out of a ruddy rut when I needed it to...

Will they fit a 2.5....?

[humbucker]

New idea or not, this may help with mine constantly needing HG's replaceing... cheap parts etc... go me out of a ruddy rut when I needed it to...

Will they fit a 2.5....?

I don't know the background to your problem, but you might want to check for imperfections on your block and cylinder head surfaces if you're getting through HGs at a rate of knots?
I might be wrong, but I think I'm right in saying that these particular gaskets won't be suitable for your engine due to bore size differences. Look for equivalent gaskets that are specifically for the 2.5-litre engine.

[minifreek]

Mine is using water again, which can only be the HG's need replaceing - again...

It doesn't overheat, but does use water...

I think next time I get around to replaceing them, I might get the heads skimmed...

Thanks for the input though fella

[humbucker]

With one of my donor engines becoming the MV6's new powerplant, I decided to start stripping the car's original Y32SE. It kindly donated its 'G' cams and enough perfectly functioning hydraulic lifters to ensure that I had exactly 24 fully operational parts laid out in front of me. Lucky, huh?!

Let’s get stripping!



OOF cambelt video proved useful as a point of reference:



Ugh! That is one horrid milky mess!



Never mind. We all know what we’re here for!



Both ‘G’ cams removed and cleaned:



These are the lifters that were taken out of the car’s new engine. As you can see, I have put the working examples in the tub on the left. Clearly, there were more bad than good:



This is what I was left with after raiding the car’s original engine – 24 good and 24 ‘sticky’ lifters. A close call! At one point, it looked as though I was gonna have to raid another of my spare Y32SEs!



Squeezing the old oil and milky mank out of each of the good lifters. This took an absolute age:



With each lifter finally free of any obvious/readily removable contaminants, the parts were left to soak in petrol in an effort to break down any remaining deposits. I’ll prime each lifter with fresh oil before installation. Pics to follow.

[Bojan]

Hi,

this is one fascinating thread, especially on the amount of effort put in this project.
I really like the 'while it's out, let's do all' approach to the engine replacement. Although it's demanding in parts and labour at first, it's a very comforting to know that you will not need to work in a tigh engine bay for a while. IMO, replacing all parts that usually can fail when the engine is out, is the best way to do it.

What did you use to paint the engine block? How many miles the replacement engine has? Is there any wear noticable on the bores?