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Jul 27, 2011 19:19:43 GMT
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Mine was a 1987 Volvo 740 Estate. Bent con-rod.
It was my dads car and I was about 16 years old.
I didn't manage to complete it. I left a relay disconnected and nobody at our end could work out why it wouldn't start. We sold it to a Volvo breaker who got it started outside the house and drove it away. ;D
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Jul 27, 2011 19:28:24 GMT
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Mini, 998 A-Series engine in 2003. Reason was a broken gearbox main bearing, distorted block & blown head gasket and slipping clutch. I had a supervisor at that time, though. Fixed all that, put on new gaskets, gave the bores a fresh hone and back in it went. That was the moment I realised "DIY is better!". And I have since then only ever once had any of my cars in a garage to pay someone for fixing them. Due to severe lack of time. And in 2006 it came out again to be replaced by a 1275cc engine. And this has been out and back in so many times I've lost count ;D ;D
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Jul 27, 2011 19:33:57 GMT
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my first was a few years a go I drove my imp to dover (60 miles) to see if it would make it to holland for a car show and basically on the way to dover the engine ran out of oil and I didnt bother to cheak any levels when I was down there and when I drove the 60 miles back in under an hour !! I fubard the engine and I am talking about big ends, mains, all bearing caps 2 out of 4 bores (where the rods hit them) the flywheel and the bellhousing (where the crank moved sooo much the flywheel hit it lol but incredably the car still drove quite well and felt the same as it usualy did power wise lol
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Last Edit: Jul 27, 2011 19:35:26 GMT by stuartrf
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Brian Damaged
West Midlands
Club Retro Rides Member
Posts: 9,555
Club RR Member Number: 33
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Jul 27, 2011 19:44:36 GMT
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Mine was the first car I had after passing my test in '83 ('67 Triumph 2000). Over-revved it racing a Merc 190 (yeah, I know.....I was 19) and knocked the bottom end out.
Back then we had a local specialist Triumph breakers nearby, bought a complete Mk2 2000 lump off him to run while we rebuilt the original....but blew that one up as well. Meanwhile I bought a complete but rusty 2500S from a local auction, pulled the lump out of that and dropped it into the '67. Which did about 2 months before dropping a valve. At which point I gave up and bought a Mk3 Cortina!
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MK2VR6
Posted a lot
Mk2 Golf GTi 90 Spec
Posts: 3,329
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Jul 27, 2011 19:51:28 GMT
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In 1994. I removed the engine from my 81 Renault 5. The main reason was because I had destroyed the car coming around a corner too fast, losing control and smashing it into the side of a parked truck. Engine was still sweet as a nut. Sold it for ÂŁ50 from what I remember. Funniest thing was it still didn't put me off the curse word handling of mk1 Renault 5's. I only went and bought an '84 special edition 'Le car' model, complete with Gordini alloys! Ran on fumes from what I remember...
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Jul 27, 2011 19:53:25 GMT
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Mk1 mr2. The engine died and it seemed as good a time as any to figure out how to do it.
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Jul 27, 2011 20:16:33 GMT
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200sx s13, bought it with knocking big ends, had the intention of repairing it, then bought a crashed skyline and things kids of snowballed and I ended up with this Only car I truly regret selling
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Last Edit: Jul 27, 2011 20:17:06 GMT by ruishy1
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Jul 27, 2011 20:25:00 GMT
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took the 850cc lump out of a reliant kitten on my own at the age of 14/15, my dad had let it overheat and blown the HG, plus an engine mount thread was stripped.
never got it running and it was left behind at a garage in North Wales when my parents separated and I moved south with my mum.
was several years later before I did another engine, which was a 1.9D Seat Ibiza when I was 23, my sister had rear ended an Audi and blown the Rad, so HG popped as above!
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bortaf
Posted a lot
Posts: 4,549
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Jul 27, 2011 20:27:44 GMT
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first one on me own was when i was 17, twas a RWD mazda 323, cos i blowd it up ;D First with help was when i was 15, converted a mates 2.3 cortina to a 2.8, he'd never sone anything so big before and i was studying mechanics at shcool so he asked for my help, we went on to do 6 or 7 cortinas together over the next few years before i did one on me own.
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R.I.P photobucket
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Jul 27, 2011 20:28:42 GMT
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Mk1 Escort for me. Helping a mate's brother build a kitcar in the mid 80s when I was about 15/16. Best one was a couple of years later when out in a mate's Ford Classic which ground to a very broekn halt at the side of one of the more expensive roads in St Albans. We walked to the garage he worked at, borrowed their old Escort van parts chaser, went back to Andy's to pick up his spare engine, some tools, a rope and a length of 4x2 and swapped the engine at the side of the road.
Happy days.
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Jul 27, 2011 20:36:35 GMT
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A subaru l-series estate,took it out to replace the clutch and was suprised at how easy it was lol ;D
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1984 Subaru GLF Hatch 1983 Skoda 120LE Super estelle 1977 Subaru DL Wagon 1978 Datsun 120Y Coupe 1995 Skoda favorit estate
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THE_Liam
Yorkshire and The Humber
If at first you don't succeed... HAMMERS.
Posts: 1,363
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Jul 27, 2011 20:41:27 GMT
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My first car, a 1.0 Fiat Uno. Blown HG, my dad said it would be easier with the engine out so I pulled it out, then ended up replacing it with a 1.1 Cinq Sporting engine and box
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Jul 27, 2011 20:46:11 GMT
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Quite a few bikes first, but the first car was an 82 Samba 954 (in 1990). Chucked a leg out of bed, oil everywhere. I replaced it with a 1124 engine and 'box, and the diff exploded in that one. Not a lucky car. Eventually destroyed by a runaway bin lorry. Thankfully, I wasn't in the car.
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Jul 27, 2011 21:22:46 GMT
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if I remember rightly mine was an alfa sud cloverleaf motor that I had at school used it as a school project. the project was just to get it running but we found the reason it didn't run was because it had a busted rod . due to not having any budget to buy anything for it we just decided to remove everything to do with that one cylinder and see if it would run with just the 3 .. it did and pretty well to
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Last Edit: Jul 27, 2011 21:23:23 GMT by Deleted
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dazcapri
North East
Enter your message here...
Posts: 1,058
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Jul 27, 2011 21:36:35 GMT
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helped my dad with a few as a kid but first one I did on my own was a mk1 escort changed the old slow 1100 for a 16 xflow out of modded mk1 cortina didn't fit the sump properly blew it up after a week, second engine change was fitting 13 xflow to replace blown 16. third was putting that 13 xflow into mk4 cortina 2dr after scrapping escort.
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Mk3 Capri LS
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spacekadett
Part of things
F*cking take that Hans Brrix!!
Posts: 830
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Jul 27, 2011 21:50:51 GMT
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998 Mk1 Metro. Thought the oil looked a bit thick when I changed it and I reckon the previous owner had put a couple of tins of that thick oil treatment in it The smoke was considerable with straight 20/50 in it Turned into a very long easter weekend as the engine I fitted (out of my old car that had run perfectly 2 weeks before) turned out to have siezed We tried everything to free it to no avail. So I blagged another one from my bro and chucked that in. And the clutch was siezed. Solid In the end my cousin drove it home (I'd been doing all this in my grandparents garage a few miles away) and I had to strip the clutch out in the front garden.
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Mechanic's rule #1... If the car works, anything left on the floor after you finished wasn't needed in the first place
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Jul 27, 2011 22:28:14 GMT
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First proper one was a 205 gti as I spun the bottom end shells and at the time it was cheaper to buy a 1.9 engine to replace my 1.6 than repair the engine.
I wish I hadn't started that build lol
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Some days you just need to take a grinder to an inanimate object, just to make your day a tiny bit better!!
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Seth
South East
MorrisOxford TriumphMirald HillmanMinx BorgwardIsabellaCombi
Posts: 15,538
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Jul 27, 2011 22:43:02 GMT
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Oil consumption on my first car, the A35 was not great. When it got up to about 250mpg I was buying a gallon of oil a week just for my commute to work. If I went to the drags at Avon Park or did any other longish journey I'd have to stop at some point to put some more in. So I bought a re-con 1098 from a Minor specialist and swapped the engines in a mates parents garage over a couple of days. I know there were some bits I had to change between engines (old one was a 948), front and rear plates perhaps? It went better then, and didn't use oil any more but I didn't know enough about the twin carbs I'd put on to determine why one of them wasn't working...
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Follow your dreams or you might as well be a vegetable.
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Jul 27, 2011 23:57:55 GMT
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1974 CZ 125 when I was 16. Why, because it had long since seized and needed rebuilt.
First car 1989 Skoda Estelle 120, when I was 19. Why, because the PO hadn't torqued the flywheel up and it kept seizing.
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Quite a surprising number of people on here saying "because I blew up the first one so I fitted a bigger one" Only on Retro Rides I think!
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