Kangoo Compact (aka Racevan3)

[Big Steve - Raider]

Love it when you can find an old boy like that with a lathe in his shed… dying breed now..

 

[Mark_L]

Small update.

In the process of building the new engine up im putting the parts in place to run 197/250 vvt and full sequential injection. To do this, i need a trigger wheel on the inlet cam for cam position, and the 172 inlet cam does not have one.

First port of call was to remove a cam trigger wheel from an old 197 inlet cam. Heated it up, did not really need to heat but it flew off with puller no dramas.
View attachment 210807


Tried to refit to a spare 172 inlet cam with bit of heat/knock into place. Did not go well as i realised i was never going to get it over a small ridge where the trigger needs to sit that the 197 cam does not have. I damaged the trigger wheel slightly in the process so binned that idea. It could have been welded on but not ideal. Lessons learned on this one!!

Next step was to fit a catcams trigger wheel. I had this in stock but got stuck fitting it, as it would not go over the ridge on the cam as described above and would need to be machined off so it can locate in the correct position (41mm from the end of the cam if anybody needs to know in the future).

Took the cam round to a retired machinist i know who has a lathe in his garage. He had the cam in, clocked and ridge machined off in ten mins, for the price of a drink.

This has allowed the trigger wheel to go fully home in the correct position. Its a nice tight fit, so just needs a small amount of studlock and nip up the grubscrew and its going nowhere. Im.going to set the orientation as close to oem position as poss but as im planning on using a standalone ecu, it wont matter too much can fine tune it via the software.
View attachment 210808
View attachment 210809

Should have all the relevant parts to finish off assembly now.

Thanks for reading!!

Definitely worth doing then if going stand-alone ecu. My engine is now going in the 5 so will be getting an Ecumaster. Will probably go the Garret route too, as I’ll make a manifold. Already have a Flange.

 

[Brigsy]

Updates.

Hydraulic lifters, rocker arms and cams fitted and liberal amounts of assembly lube applied.

Loctite 518 applied to cam cover.

Fitted and torqued to spec

Satisfying squish of 518.

Cam seals in, using new seal driver kit which made very easy work of fitting them in square to the right location.

New dephaser, exhaust pulley and cambelt fitted. Cams set and locked with relevant oem Renault tooling. Torqued to spec.


Horseshoe slips in lovely after a few revolutions of the crank.



Cambelt cover on, crank pulley torqued to spec.

 

[Brigsy]

Had some more parts aquablasted as they were looking a bit scruffy.

Before

After


Fitted (temporary as i need the cam cover spacers and nuts off the old engine)

Solid progress for a few hours work. Thanks for reading!!

 

[andybond]

Looks sound that. Cars are so much more fun working on clean parts!

 

[Brigsy]

Best part of the build when assembling clean components.

 

[DaveL485]

For a moment there I thought youd put Loctite on the cam carriers too, but its assembly lube thats the same colour as the loctite isnt it!

Vapour blasted ally give it a liberal coating of WD40, then rub it in with some rag, it'll stop it going off for much longer.

 

[Brigsy]

For a moment there I thought youd put Loctite on the cam carriers too, but its assembly lube thats the same colour as the loctite isnt it!

Vapour blasted ally give it a liberal coating of WD40, then rub it in with some rag, it'll stop it going off for much longer.

It is indeed assembly lube on the cam journals. Cant have enough on the high load parts on a new engine! Sticky horrible shit but keeps it right.

All vapour blasted parts are coated with ACF50 or XCP rust block, thats why it looks to have a wet look in the pics. Far superior to wd40 mate lasts a lot longer, downside is it picks up a little bit of muck but id prefer that over corrosion.

Ive coated the same vapour blasted parts on the trophy and no signs of corrosion 3 years later. Quick top up every 6 month or so, ive also coated all suspension components on the daily with XCP and it looks corrosion free. Again a trade off of a little bit of dirt but easily cleaned down.

 

[Aldo]

@Brigsy I was planning to use Dirko HT sealant for my cam cover, which is silicone based. But you've got me thinking about that 518. Is it better than the silicone based products?

 

[Brigsy]

@Brigsy I was planning to use Dirko HT sealant for my cam cover, which is silicone based. But you've got me thinking about that 518. Is it better than the silicone based products?

Dont use any silicone based sealants on the cam cover mate, its got to be anaerobic - 518 or equivalent.

Silicone will most likely end up where it shouldnt, curing and blocking cam journals or end up in the sump. Anaerobic on the other hand cures in the absence of air, so any that squishes out will stay soft or mix with the oil and not block any oil gallerys.

 

[Aldo]

Roger. Good job you mentioned it in your thread or I'd have silicone all over the shop

 

[Brigsy]

Small updates

Modified the 250 breather plate. The hole is very small inside so enlarged that.

I dont run any of the emissions s**t so same as old engine ive removed the stub that goes to the vac pipe, and drilled/tapped it 1/8npt and fitted a grubscrew.

Breather plate fitted. Coilpack studs also fitted to save any future issues.


Started stripping the old engine out and it started pissing down, but apart from driveshafts, engine mounts and exhaust its ready to lift tomorrow if all goes well.

Plastic 2ltr bottle catch tank still delivering the goods!

Thanks for reading!!

 

[galicognjen]

Nice build!

The nipple you chopped and blocked is not actually a emissions thing, it's a performance thing. That nipple connects to a vacuum check valve, it's there to keep a vacuum on the crankcase, to aid ring seal. That is all very theoretical tho...VERY theoretical. THat's why the hole is so small...

 

[Brigsy]

Nice build!

The nipple you chopped and blocked is not actually a emissions thing, it's a performance thing. That nipple connects to a vacuum check valve, it's there to keep a vacuum on the crankcase, to aid ring seal. That is all very theoretical tho...VERY theoretical. THat's why the hole is so small...

The nipple is indeed part of the PCV breather system and i do understand that it promotes some kind of scavenging. Downside is it recirculates oil vapour into the inlet tract off throttle/idle which is not good for performance.

I did initially run the mk2 r26 PCV setup with one way valve, and had to reseal the breather plate twice due to leaks/sealing. I took it off, blanked inlet and noticed no difference to air to fuel ratios so left it off. Plus side was the engine did not hang onto the throttle as much.

Only thing i actually noticed is that my catch tank had a little bit of condensation in it after removing, with no vacuum to recirculate the oil/condensation vapour, where it was almost dry with PCV in place. But again hardly anything went in the catch can, and the old forged engine was fairly tired.

Id probably keep it on a road car which is daily driven to keep the catch tank clear/reduce oil breather smell.

 

[Brigsy]

Updates

Engine is out and in bits in the garage.


Started transferring some bits to the new engine. Also flushed heater matrix out, the amount of rust and shite that came out of it was insane. Took several forward/backwards flushes to get the water running clear. I assume all the rusty sediment out of the old block had settled in there! Have also flushed rad and same story, and all hoses have been cleaned.

Also noticed that both lower balljoint rubber boots have perished and almost split. They were quality trw balljoints and less than 2 years old/5k miles so pissed off at that. Still mega stiff so will change the boots, as they are press fit and i fear the hole will be too baggy on next balljoint swap!

Also painted the boost hoses up in vht wrinkle black. Heatgunned it dry for max wrinkle then banged them in the oven for an hr at gasmark 1 to bake it on.




House stinks of paint now..mrs is not going apeshit yet so must have got away with it

Thanks for reading!!

 

[DaveL485]

Link me up to that wrinkle paint matey?

 

[Steve Swan]

When She says...
What's that smell.
you say....
what smell.
Then when She says...
That funny awful smell.
you say.....
I can't smell anything.
keep calm and keep denying, you'll be fine.

 

[Ian_R]

Quick Question, the Loctite 518 - Is that decent enough to seal up the breather cover plate in your experience? I'm starting to clean up my engine, and as typical the Breather plates weaping along with the Dephaser Solenoid Seal (Got a replacement for that)

 

[Mark_L]

Link me up to that wrinkle paint matey?

VHT crackle black is the best one I’ve used.
Got to do some door panels this week..

 

[andybond]

VHT crackle black

Used that on the lotus. Its fantastic.

VHT BLACK Wrinkle Finish Paint Aerosol 310ml Crackle Spray Crinkle Effect SP201 | eBay

VHT High Temperature Wrinkle Plus leaves a distinctive custom crinkle finish that you both see and feel. VHT Wrinkle Plus resists colour fading, grease, degreasers and severe weather conditions. Great for early M.G. dashboards, Ferrari and Lotus cam covers, electrical components, old radio...

www.ebay.co.uk