Damaged b20 cylinder wall

[DWeed144]

Hi All.
So I finally got round to taking the head off my engine after it went horribly wrong.
I've attached some rather poor photos.

From the look of it, 2nd cylinder in from the front has some very bad scoring to the cylinder wall, but just in one location. If lower the piston the wall looks fine everywhere else.

There seems to also be a huge amount of carbon build up on all three front pistons, but the back one seems very clean.

The head itself also has some serious carbon build up.

What do you think is wrong?
And what should I do about it?!

Thanks

[Volvorama]

First guess would be a broken piston ring. Did you get oil smoke/oil consumption and some loss of power + uneven tickover?

[DWeed144]

All of the above.
It also had a serious knock to it by the end of its final drive..

Should I be rebuilding it, or is it going to be cheaper/easier to buy a second hand engine?

I can't imagine getting the block reconditioned is going to be cheap..?

[Volvorama]

For a good used engine you need to either hear/see it running or have great trust in the seller. In your position I'd look for a reasonably priced used engine but assume that it does need some work. If the bores are ok I'd fit new piston rings and shell bearings plus new seals on the oil pump (check this for wear too). A modified rear crank seal would be a good idea, ie a casing that uses a rubber seal rather than the felt ring. This list covers all the stuff that needs to be done with the engine out and things like the camshaft can be done later if required.
I'm assuming that you don't want to spend huge amounts and that swapping engines is not something you want to do often!

[DWeed144]

I managed to track down a B18 motor in Edinburgh. It's been in storage since it was rebuilt apparently. He had it as a spare for his amazon. It was £300 delivered to me so I thought I would just take the risk. He was a very nice man who I'm pretty confident wasn't trying to mess me around.

So next up is get an overdrive gearbox and swap it all out.

I'll receive the engine tomorrow and be able to investigate how rebuilt it is, and whether it has the felt or rubber seals....

[DWeed144]

So I've taken receipt of my new engine. The previous owner had it stored in his garage for a number of years. He had kept it filled with oil and turned it over by hand every few weeks.
There is a bit of surface rust on the pushrods and the valvtrain, but it looks relatively healthy other than that.

He said that it was rebuilt in preparation for use on his car, but not tarted up on the outside, so hopefully it's in good internal condition.

Is there a way to see whether it has the felt crankcase seals from an external inspection?

All the oil dripping down it was due to me liberally pouring it over everything. I have to leave it for a few days and wanted to stop any more surface rust on the valve train...

[Volvo_133]

Remove the flywheel, You will see an aluminium casting shaped like a tunnel.
Built into this you should see a red coloured seal, not the old brown type.
I notice the Fram oil filter. Always fit genuine Volvo filters as they have a valve fitted to prevent oil draining back into sump when engine switched off.
Pattern filters do not have the valve, causing oil starvation on initial start up.
Dealers still stock these at less than £10.

[DWeed144]

Just a quick update.

I met another forum user, Dodger01, and purchased a C142b Shorrock Supercharger.

He was also able to supply me with new steel timing gears, a new clutch, and various other handy bits.

I now have my work cut out for me - a bit of a basic engine build -
1. replace the timing gears
2. machine the crankshaft cover plates to accept the neoprene seals
3. Design a new alternator mounting position on the right of the engine, by the steering box.
4. Redesign and cast a more solid supercharger supporting plate or live with the current one for now.

The difficult thing at the moment is trying to figure out how I will fit an alternator, and whether I need to find a smaller one to squeeze it in. Has anyone had any experience or success with this?

Another thing is that the supercharger intake is a standard two part manifold that has been cut to allow for a four branch exhaust manifold. I think I will just use the standard one, so I think ideally I would just get another connected manifold and re-tap the required holes. What manifold is it that has the single carb port facing upwards?

Any and all help and advice appreciated!







Trying to find space for alternator:

[Billy Smalls]

Bad ass!

[srs4164]

Don't know if this will be helpful, or, irrelevant, but this link will bring you to a thread in which someone works on adding a Judson supercharger to their B20, so maybe he had to deal with some of the same issues - http://forums.turbobricks.com/showthread.php?t=321395. This is the guy's website for his shop - http://theoldmotor.com/. Seems to be some impressive stuff.