View Full Version : worth doing the stem seals or not?
the engine has always smoked due to the stem seals need changing. but today went on a rr and it made 113.5 bhp and 120 lbs torque and they said it was running fine with no problems. so seeing as its running fine is it really worth doing ? oh its a standard x16xe by the way
if you are happy with the oil consumption and smoke then no..
they wont affect the power lol
well the oil dont bother me as it dont use to much and i couldnt care about the smoke as i dont see it :D So i guess thats my answer cheers :thumb:
small block xe's tend to smoke a little anyway, so i wouldnt bother, ballache of taking the head of, stripping it etc? forget that unless doing other work.
worth doing at some point and yes stem seals will be making the engine lose a little power. burning oil means theres less room for air/fuel and the fact there is oil in the combustion chambers it will reduce the octane rating of the fuel..
do small block xe's use a lot of oil?
My wife's 1.6 zafira seems to use about 500ml per 1000 miles.
I would consider this to be too much. My 40 year old mini uses less than that.
There are no oil leaks, and it doesn't seem to be down on power, so I don't think its a broken ring.
^^ vauxhall quote a figure of 1tlr per 1000 miles for there new cars lol ,
you wont loose any noticeable power with stem seals going. so if isnt bad, then i really wouldnt bother chaging it. they use oil anyway, nothing wrong with a bit of lube bwteen the valve/guide anywaylol
worth doing at some point and yes stem seals will be making the engine lose a little power. burning oil means theres less room for air/fuel and the fact there is oil in the combustion chambers it will reduce the octane rating of the fuel..
You will only really get oil being drawn into the chambers under high vacuum though, idle/overrun.
So when giving the engine a hammering you shouldn't really see any smoke so it wont really have much effect on the engine.
The stem seals are worn on my x16xe too, get blue smoke on startup, but thats it, never see any smoke when driving.
Bigs-Is the engine standard???
yea apart from a magnex system thats 2 1/4" or maybe 2 1/2" cant remember
You will only really get oil being drawn into the chambers under high vacuum though, idle/overrun.
thats wrong, you wil get smoke in high revs under load aswell.
have you run an engine with no stem seals before? i have so know what happens lol.
my old c16xe used to smoke its nuts off when hammered which was only stem seals
I dont get smoke under load.
Running an engine with no seals, and one with worn seals isnt exactly the same thing tho is it?? lol
Oil will be running down by the valve guides with no seals, whereas worn seals it seeps through. Hence why you leave it overnight and get smoke on 1st start in the morning when oil has been slowing seeping past the seal whilst the engines been sitting.
nothing bad is going to happen if stem seals are going. until it either smokes really bad and owner gets pissed off i wouldnt change them.
i ran a fairly 'ok' spec c16xe and had a little bit on start up, but the small blocks do use oil, and stem seals are common for going, so nothing to worry about really.
im not running stem seals in my xe, only going to puff a lilttle on start up, and thats it. and im running an all steel tb'd motor, QED never ran stem seals in their motors, just run a finer tolerance between guide/stem
chris gsi
16-11-08, 10:11 PM
my stem seals have been worn for the last 2/3 years on my nova with no problem thats why i have never done them but i will one day
I'd say leave it also, its not worth disturbing a headgasket for
My x16xel smokes when driven under low load conditions, light throttle in high gear. The exhaust stem seals were shot so I changed them, but there is so much play in the guides that it still smokes a bit. Was a pain in the arris changing them to have it still smoking although it is better.
Does it help to open up the breather more on the rocker cover, mines seriously baffled and must raise the case pressure?
where does your breather go too now?
My breather vents to atmosphere so I'm not restricting it, but on a standard setup it would be subjected to vacuum from the inlet manifold at the times I experience smoking. Would it help to remove the plate from inside the rocker cover to help it vent?
hmm so looks like everyone agree's and not to bother doing them untill i do really need to
thanks for all the replys
My breather vents to atmosphere so I'm not restricting it, but on a standard setup it would be subjected to vacuum from the inlet manifold at the times I experience smoking. Would it help to remove the plate from inside the rocker cover to help it vent?
removing the plate is fine, but you will then need some sort of seperator for oil/air... You could go all hardcore and fit a crankcase pump to suck out the vapour giving a small negative pressure in there to midly increase power etc lol
have a look on the sbd website. has a diagram for breather for the motors. one mod is to drill several holes in the plate and not actually remove it!
Hes referring to a x16xel btw Philip, not a 20xe :)
craig green
17-11-08, 04:51 PM
On the subject of breathers & catch tanks.
Anyone got a diagram or good pic of how to plumb it in on a C16XE. I've seen pics of Oli Dankers etc but am still unsure quite how to plumb it in. I don't want to do it wrongly.
i no hes on about a x16xel. i didnt say about cutting the plate. but you can get oil settling on that sort of baffle plate in the top of the rocker, which may 'possibly' cause it seem to breathe heavier. that y i mentioned drilling a free holes in it so the oil can return eaiser;)
craig - have a look on the SBD website in FAQ.
basics are. block all breather outlets from rocker cover, except the main one, then join breather pipe on the back of number3 and the main outlet from the rocker cover to a breather tank with a return into the sump
Does a small block 16v have a similar plate to a 20xe then? Ive never been ****d have a closer look in my x16xe rocker cover lol'
CG-Ive just got the main breather from the rocker cover going straight into a catch tank.
think it has:confused: ill look tonight, but sure it has some ort of platelol
Not sure, as the rocker cover breather inlet is right next to the breather outlet on the rocker cover....
Unlike on a xe where it has to travel around the rocker cover.
Ive never had breathing issues on my x16xe, even on track. Catch tank never fills up any more quickly than normal.
Mikey_J
17-11-08, 08:56 PM
went on a rr and it made 113.5 bhp and 120 lbs torque
Thats awesome for standard power considering there meant to be 106bhp lol. Im running a full exhaust system with 4 branch n sports cat, Dbilas stylee inlet and a panel filter and im seeing 122.8! On a corsa btw
well i have got a magnex system on it so that might help get abit more, think next stag is a 4 - 2 -1 and a inlet box or bodies probley have the box tbh and see what it makes then
Inlet box is an awesome mod for the cost involved.
i had powerbox, stock airbox, ported/polished head, lightened/balanced, helix clutch 80mm pistons and 4-1 ashley manifold and system and it would drill 106gti's. thats from a c16xe. wouldnt mind building another but not got a car suitable that it could go in!
A lightened fly, decent exhaust/manifold and inlet box makes the small block 16v come alive :cool:
not too sure on the exhaust manifold to be honest its a good design as standard. especialy when thinking of getting a 4-1 dont bother unless its a 4-2-1. my mate doesnt rate the protech 4-1 at all compared to a std manifold.
i would have thought it would be a different matter once set up/re-mapped properly. but if it were me i would either go for a good quality 4-2-1 with long primary's (about twice length of std) or get the protech 4-1 stainless and modify it myself into a close derivative of the sbd manifold.
like i've said before dan i wouldnt bother with the hassle of the TB's seeing as a mantzel copy can be had for as little as £120 delivered and they will make a huge difference to how the engine performs.
you've seen mine and smurfs old 16xe's both on std managment and mantzel style inlets and how they used to go.
http://i70.photobucket.com/albums/i95/ckallis500/My%20Car%20M174/corsaengine.jpg
http://i70.photobucket.com/albums/i95/ckallis500/Rolling%20Road/sm_rr_printout.jpg
this one(^^^) (CraigGreen now owns this1)
c16xe
had a mantzel inlet
schrick fast road cams
lightened pot type flywheel
enclosed filter
group A scorpion system (2.5" bore)
de-cat
10mm Quad core leads
De-meshed AFM
http://i70.photobucket.com/albums/i95/ckallis500/My%20Car%20M174/DSCF0816.jpg
http://i70.photobucket.com/albums/i95/ckallis500/Rolling%20Road/ck_rr_printout.jpg
this one was my old corsa (^^^)
c16xe
home made inlet (better in design than a manztel/dbilas)
piper bp270 fast road cams (256 degree)
flat flywheel (lighter than a lightened pot type)
std cat
enclosed filter
2.1/4" exhaust system (1box)
De-meshed afm
smurf had my de-cat so i had a cat fitted. and mine used to smoke its nuts off lol. sometimes it didnt smoke which was strange. but generaly it never smoked low in the revs only as it hit about 3k it used to be a little smoke machine, and it didnt smoke on start up (well maybe 1 out of 20 starts it smoked)
like i said before about not running stem seals. we done a top end rebuild on my mates d15 honda engine along with a cam and pulley (v-tec (mini-me) conversion) the stem seals did not seat properly when i changed them and this used to smoke just like my corsa. not much at all on idle/low revs, but smoked more the more u rev'd or hammered it, and again pretty much nothing on start up
when removing the rocker cover you could clearly see 7 of the exhaust valve stem seals had lifted and werent doing anything
tbh after i fitted the 4-1 manifold/system coming back from work, after sitting at a set of lights to just off slip road on to by pass i went from 120(ish mph) on the stock system down to 105/110mph on the 4-1. was so was
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