Zed Shed Side project

[Lee]

So between projects we fancied getting our hands really dirty! and it just so happened my mate offered me his wife's car that just shredded its cambelt and chewed a few valves. Also another good way of injecting cash into the zed shed tooling budget.

So here she is: Audi A2 1.4 petrol. 90,000 on the clock. (sport)

Pretty tidy car, all straight and fully working (bar the engine)

First things first was moving a non running motor 50 miles safely.

This beautiful bit of kit is rated to 3.5 tons. Its a fixed A frame attachment that requires no second driver it clamps onto the wishbones. The car on tow just freewheels and steers as per the car in front. (P.S open for the Zed community to use)

So first on the list was to get the head off and see the damage. It was clear from the off by the state of the belt what we might see.

The first line of thought was to inspect the internals. 1) see how many valves were bent 2) see if there was any damage to the pistons.

So just over 2 hours in we had the head off. Interesting setup as the cams are the rocker cover in one. Which once removed show the tops of the valves. Then you can remove the head.

We did a simple leak test on the piston heads with some fluid and found none lost any. But we did see a score in one cylinder but once you look closely its clear it had been present for some time.

Now you can see the state of the valves 8 out of 16 have met the pistons (for those not to mech savvy the valves should sit flat/flush)

So this is the aftermath of an afternoons work

We have decided to replace the head instead of replacing the valves, This is because of the cost vs time. We also have an unknown on the condition of the head, it could be cracked or the valve guides could need replacing which we can't do in the shed.

Updates to follow soon

Thanks go out to @pgunter @Oldguysrule It was a team effort again.

 

[Antm72]

A nice little car these.. great work nice to have a project, good work guys

 

[GazHyde]

Nice write up Lee. Annoyed that I couldn't hang around and see this get started, but the chance of a shiny Zed came first

 

[Dino D]

Love these cars, cost of body panels/repairs and reliability issues put me off as town car so we had Jazz instead which is just as clever inside, maybe even more so as you can move the front seats from the rear and flip up the rear bench.
Still modern looking and feeling today, brilliant packaging. The A1 is just dull next to this.

 

[FRANKIE]

So between projects we fancied getting our hands really dirty! and it just so happened my mate offered me his wife's car that just shredded its cambelt and chewed a few valves. Also another good way of injecting cash into the zed shed tooling budget.

So here she is: Audi A2 1.4 petrol. 90,000 on the clock. (sport)
View attachment 33339
Pretty tidy car, all straight and fully working (bar the engine)

First things first was moving a non running motor 50 miles safely.
View attachment 33340
View attachment 33341
This beautiful bit of kit is rated to 3.5 tons. Its a fixed A frame attachment that requires no second driver it clamps onto the wishbones. The car on tow just freewheels and steers as per the car in front. (P.S open for the Zed community to use)

So first on the list was to get the head off and see the damage. It was clear from the off by the state of the belt what we might see.
View attachment 33342
View attachment 33343

The first line of thought was to inspect the internals. 1) see how many valves were bent 2) see if there was any damage to the pistons.

So just over 2 hours in we had the head off. Interesting setup as the cams are the rocker cover in one. Which once removed show the tops of the valves. Then you can remove the head.
View attachment 33344

We did a simple leak test on the piston heads with some fluid and found none lost any. But we did see a score in one cylinder but once you look closely its clear it had been present for some time.
View attachment 33347

Now you can see the state of the valves 8 out of 16 have met the pistons (for those not to mech savvy the valves should sit flat/flush)
View attachment 33348

So this is the aftermath of an afternoons work
View attachment 33351

We have decided to replace the head instead of replacing the valves, This is because of the cost vs time. We also have an unknown on the condition of the head, it could be cracked or the valve guides could need replacing which we can't do in the shed.

Updates to follow soon

Thanks go out to @pgunter @Oldguysrule It was a team effort again.

Had a Honda break a timing belt once. I think I might have told this on the forum before. They have 'crash' or interference engines so I pulled the head first off. Didn't see any valves bent...??? Brought it to the machine shop and was told to check the tops of the pistons for tiny nicks where the valves might have made contact and didn't see any. Called the dealership to make sure it was an interference engine. They said yes it was but they just put on a new timing belt and see if it runs good before they start to remove the head. You think they would have told me that the FIRST time I called them to make sure it was an interference engine? Frankie

 

[Low Rider]

Having traveled in Lee's A2 these are nice car's

 

[pgunter]

All good fun and the Zed Shed bus as it has become known is a great little car. @GazHyde seems to like it.. lol.

 

[oldcarman]

Love the look of that tow bar! Much nicer and better built than most of the crap I've been used to over the years! JIM

 

[Lee]

So little update. With the diagnosis done we went ahead and collected all the replacement parts.
1) A secondhand head with with cams.
2) new head gasket with new bolts
3) give it a service.

planning to rebuild saturday.

Lee

 

[spurs fan in a coupe]

So little update. With the diagnosis done we went ahead and collected all the replacement parts.
1) A secondhand head with with cams.
2) new head gasket with new bolts
3) give it a service.

View attachment 33537

View attachment 33538

planning to rebuild saturday.

Lee

Have you been picking up dirty parts in your coupe because 'someone' has your daily?

SCANDALOUS!

 

[GazHyde]

Shhhhhh....

Seriously though, I reckon we should have some (old) Top Gear style Audi A2 racing...

 

[spurs fan in a coupe]

Shhhhhh....

Seriously though, I reckon we should have some (old) Top Gear style Audi A2 racing...

I'll take that challenge in my track (hopefully) Z3 at Lydden on 25th June

 

[hard top]

I'll take that challenge in my track (hopefully) Z3 at Lydden on 25th June

Hey Spurs, you going to strip it out or drive it as is?

 

[spurs fan in a coupe]

Hey Spurs, you going to strip it out ore drive it as is?

As is. Plus roll hoops and yellow stuff pads. Extra weight!

 

[hard top]

As is.

Have you seen @Stormy_be's car?

 

[Lee]

Haha! yeah @spurs fan in a coupe the shed bus is on loan

 

[Sean d]

I had a 16v 2.0 Calibra many years ago, I was doing 90 on the M62 and it just died, eventually got it to a mates garage, he gave me the news that the timing belt had gone and the engine might be wrecked, he took a punt and just replaced the belt, nothing was damaged and it ran like dream for another 30000 before I sold it.

 

[oldcarman]

Sometimes depends if it's an interference or non interference engine where the valves don't clear the head to make contact with the pistons. JIM

 

[FRANKIE]

I had a 16v 2.0 Calibra many years ago, I was doing 90 on the M62 and it just died, eventually got it to a mates garage, he gave me the news that the timing belt had gone and the engine might be wrecked, he took a punt and just replaced the belt, nothing was damaged and it ran like dream for another 30000 before I sold it.

I could have kicked myself for not doing that with a car I had. Took the head off............no damage. Could have just put another timing belt on and driven away instead of all the work. Oh well................. Frankie

 

[JAJ278]

I could have kicked myself for not doing that with a car I had. Took the head off............no damage. Could have just put another timing belt on and driven away instead of all the work. Oh well................. Frankie

Doesn't work so well when you send a valve pushrod through the block of the A series engine you and your dad just spent £600 on restoring. "i told you so" from dad is remembered a long, long time.