Engine re-build...the joy!

by **spryboy1974** » Wed Jan 03, 2007 6:55 pm

No the car ran fine before i did the heads.
When i put it all back together i used the marks on the chain and the engine wouldn't rev past 2000rpm.
So i re-did the timing as i described and now all is well and has been for the last 3 months or so.

Do you think i may have it wrong still??

by **David Gentleman** » Wed Jan 03, 2007 8:14 pm

Yes, that could explain it..

If you have it a tooth out, its common for it to feel out of breath above 4k and feel less torquey...

Does the car feel the same NOW as it did before the heads were off?

by **spryboy1974** » Wed Jan 03, 2007 8:21 pm

Yes it does feel the same. It will rev quite freely around to 5500 - 6000rpm.

I must get it on the rollers to check the boost though,but also want to get the charge cooler on first!

I think the dump valve is seeping slightly so may be looking for a new one of those soon.
I was looking at buying your stainless intake system and moving the dumpvalve but i don't like the idea of having a valve blowing off to atmosphere - the noise will drive me round the twist!!!

by **Stunned Monkey** » Wed Jan 03, 2007 9:18 pm

clee wrote::lol: I wasn't confused reading the manual but I am now

Oh for god's sake you lot........

It's a piece of "wee wee" to time up a PRV using the manual. You can dowload it of this website and just follow it and use your brain....

You have three marks on each chain. both chains are identical. All you need to worry about is that the mark(s) on the chain correspond to the mark on the crank and the mark on the cam, as specificed in the book. It doesn't have to be PRECISELY 11 oclock, 5 oclock or 33 minutes and 43 seconds past the hour (which is tea time).

The manual is just a way of making it easy for you. The chains are marked up for you if you buy them from Renault. if not, you can mark them up yourself using tippex and copy the old ones. Follow the book. It really isn't that difficult, and it's only telling you that "if you line things up roughly like this you'll find that you can fit the chain and all the marks will line up." I usually find that I end up rotating the crank very slightly one way or the other in order to pop the cam sprocket on because the cam never wants to stay put *exactly* where you want it (unless you undo all the tappets)

What you have to remember is that once you've done the first bank, the second bank is only 90 or 60 degrees "behind" it and once you've done that one, and rotated the engine, the position of the marks will be totally out of cockerel because the chain is designed to "meet" a different tooth for every link on every rotation so it only repeats its pattern every 100 revolutions or something.

HINT: There's a "check" you can do which is not specifed in the manual. Both chains are fitted with the double mark at the cam and the single mark at the crank. After fitting both chains, rotate the engine and watch as both single marks run up to the cam sprockets and MEET THE MARK THERE. If they don't, you've messed up. If they do, you KNOW you've got it right.

I've done this loads of times. I've cocked up once, and knew about it instantly (how I worked out the check above). It's not like a cam belt where one tooth is a relatively small jump, usually only one one set of valves and evenly across the whole engine. no, the chain setup we have results in one bank being massively out of whack and the thing runs like a bag of nails afterwards. Expect Misfires, flames, and the engine tying to jump out of the engine bay. You don't get valve clash though, luckily!

by **clee** » Wed Jan 03, 2007 9:36 pm

But you're odd and we're not :lol:

by **Stunned Monkey** » Wed Jan 03, 2007 9:44 pm

clee wrote:But you're odd and we're not

Oh yeah..... *slinks back under rock*

by **peterg** » Sun Jan 14, 2007 6:10 pm

It now fires up and runs! Mike from my local garage came and set the timing using the marks on the chains and then checked the settings. The fact that it fired first time (despite the ignition timing being hugely retarded......whole unfortunate story to that one...linked to the cam timing being out!!)) gives the impression its right.
The injector relay (next to the ECU) was faulty hence why the injectors werent firing, I also had a huge drop in voltage from battery to ECU all of which are now fixed.
I'm only waiting for my neighbour to weld my new single exit straight through exhaust and fit the lambda plug (so that I can use the adaptive fuelling facility) and then I will take it for a brief spin up the road.....I just hope it holds its coolant and doesnt self destruct!