Steve - I reckon you now have a couple of options

1) Get a standard lump with known history and condition, back it all off to around 300bhp and enjoy the reliability

2) Get a lump with a known good bottom end and cylinder head, but dead pistons / bores. Get the block bored and add some forged pistons and then you'll be able to run bigger power with confidence

Personally, I'd go for option 1 - as I've often said, the difference between a 300bhp and 400bhp car on the road is minimal. In fact a well set up 300bhp Coupe will beat a bigger powered car in some conditions

besides, you'll always have the noisiest exhaust....

I'm a little tentative to offer you any lumps Steve, as even though I know one is good and the other potentially good, I know your luck/curse

One has 64k, was comp tested all between 152-159 and ran well and very strongly with no smoke before it came out. History of recent belt change in June 2010 and oil changes, but by no means complete history.

The other is on the LE, with 102k but a full forum owned service history. That one will be out and tested very soon.

PM me if JBT's hunt if fruitless?

Good luck with what ever you decide Steve.

Sad news Steve, although given the amount of smoke it was coughing out the back at Spa, I cant say im surprised - more surprised you made it home!

Think about future Coupe ownership/modding carefully, i seem to remember you once posting that you had spent £25k on this car, stop and think about that for a minute, for that money you could have this...

Mmmmmmmmm

Plenty of power, looks that make you bite the back of your hand etc etc.

Good luck anyway.

i know what you're saying shiny but i'd have had to shell out £25k in one go for that - and what if that engine failed?
the thing that money couldn't buy is the experiences and friends i've gained through this car and the forum. yeah it's a lot of money in a short space of time but everyone needs a hobby, right?

cheers Dan i'll bear it in mind

I think your hobbey is akin to being addicted to crack... but more damaging!

That said your right, money isnt everything and memory's last a life time unlike money. For what its worth mate I do hope things get better for you because this is a bloody joke. Ill stop wining about my gearbox now as compared to you its, well, nothing

You've come around to my way of thinking and hopefully means you'll still be keeping the car?

After spending 25K, there's no way you can get rid of it, ever!

i read through the whole 10 pages of threads, quite a few heartaches up and downs, admire your total dedication to the Coupe.

Better luck to you from this point of time!

the problem is the quote from JBT (who's been unbelievable by the way!) is somewhere between £1500 and £2500 of money I currently don't have. with a golf holiday the week after next, and a holiday with the kids at the end of july i have no prospect of getting any cash any time soon either.....we'll see, i really want this car, and i want it to work though

Steve,

Your persistence is incomparable

Your Coupe love is unbounded

Your luck has been

All the best mate in whatever you decide to do

Tim

proccy, can she not be tucked up to rest for a few months?

then when things are better in the purple home go back out to her and get her to work?

things can wait like this car, dont worry mate! you will get there in the end.

p.s Golfing holiday? so, thats an all MALE holiday, alone with other men, in a feild, playing with balls?

I NEW IT.
you

no you and mario are NOT invited

wee didnt want to be, god knows what would happen... you would be foaming at the mouth

Smoking from this one is certainly unique which has made me double check and triple check everything.
Comps are all fantastic and around 160 consistently per cylinder from hot and cold.
Leaking oil though can give false readings which was always the issue.
The plugs were all the same in colour other than cyl 3.

Disconnected all the breathers and monitored the displacement which wasnt excessive given it was using a litre of oil per 100 miles.

A test overnight,filling the bores with oil saw cyl no 3 lose the lot whilst the rest didnt lose a drop.
So theres an issue with the rings on pressurisation of the cylinders under positive pressure.

The oil consistency is also very dense in colour suggesting that the carbon and compression is being transfered to the oil in the crankcase under compression.
In short its not economically sound to throw money at an engine we know nothing about.

I agree with Nigels comment above.Start with a good engine that you know about as they will take the power in good form.

With the power your running the current engine has shown the weakest link on what is potentially a tired engine.

So its broken?

latest update on the saga involving this car is, i've now bought an engine from Hovedan which is originally from RichB's recently broken LE. Joe78 very kindly offered me a free engine from Zimpara's project car but, having seen some of his antics in his project thread and others, i decided against it unsuprisingly.

As of next wednesday my new engine will be at Barbz, the acknowledged wizard of engine engineering for some amendments to it which will hopefully give me some trouble-free power for a while to come! i am very excited about this, and although i wish i had enough money to have it forged etc this appears to be my best route. i was lucky enough to blag a ride off JBT after Barbz sorted his engine and it was very impressive performance indeed. and the gearbox lasted the full 10 minutes i was in there with him

in all of this there are thanks to be handed out; Hovedan has been brilliant to deal with and again JBT has stood by me and the car through thin and thin, he's been brilliant for me and indeed negotiated the work Barbz will undertake.

so, saturday i'm off to turkey for 2 weeks in blistering heat lying by the pool/sea/bar having a good time i hope - and whilst i'll miss the forum it'll be a nice change nt have mario/theresa texting me asking what's going on if i don't post for a couple of hours

all in all i therefore expect to be at the AGM with my beloved Plus, safer and more reliable than ever before - if that indeed happens, all the people there will get a beer off me in celebration ( i said 1 beer, T )

As I know Barbz and his work is TOP NOTCH (not called the magician for nothing ) I may come to the AGM as I know you will be there to dish out the free drink!!!

Ross

I have been following this, the ups and downs, so good luck proccy

The very best of luck with it Steve. You deserve a bloody medal mate.

I read this a few days ago and have only just woken from my coma

Are you going be able make MITCAR then Steve?

^+1

Hope this lump serves you long, hard and well Steve

thanks for all the good wishes guys, this is a great example of why i persevere with this damned car

@ porkypaul - no mate there is zero chance it'll be fitted in the car by then, and i only get back from turkey the evening before

No worries fella. Have a good holiday mate and I'm sure the car will be great again when you get it back.

Flippin ek

Good news though glad your keeping the car and glad you've managed to get it sorted with another engine.
I too can vouch for HoveDan and JBT top guys

Good news Proccy. Now enjoy the holidays, knowing some good guys back home are taking care of things for you!

Lol



Ah, I'm glad you clarified that one, as when you said for me to get ready to drink at the AGM, I thought you might have had a couple of hundred quid spare from the rebuild

the latest instalment in this long running saga............

bought an engine at a favourable price off Dan (hovedan) who very kindly delivered it to Barbz for no extra charge!! thanks Dan, that's a beer from me at the AGM for you....

picked the engine up from Barbz today. he explained everything to me in words i should understand - unfortunately i understood very little, but one thing i realised was that this guy knows so very much about engines, and the coop engine in particular that i now understand why he's so highly regarded as an engineer. he is also one of the nicest, smiliest blokes you could wish to meet, and the fact he's gone well beyond the call of duty for a stranger is amazing. i can't thank him enough.

delivered the engine to JBT about 8pm or so this evening and he expects to hand over the car to me thursday or friday....another bloke who has gone beyond the bounds of mechanic/customer relationship to make this car live again....we're fortunate to have so many good people/specialists on this forum and long may it last - but i'm pretty sure that between Barbz and JBT no-one has had better care or consideration than me

so thank you to both of you - even if the car fails again i can never forget the great favours and the lengths you've been to in rescuing this apparently cursed coupé

to you both

Gay....

But barbs and JBT are really good people.

ahhh, so you're now out of the closet eh?