had enough of hassle with redtop's.

[*Dave*]

hey dudes, having spent endless amounts of time and money on engines iv given up,

1st being my redtop that i fully rebuilt,replacing everything cost me loads which then had the oil pump fail and f*cked everything but it didnt seize just loads of smoke and bottom end knocking.

2nd being my other redtop that i finished putting in 2day which i bought last weekend, that has now thrown all of its oil out from the oil pump seal on the crank (behind the bottom pulley).
dont want to keep the 2.0 in there as its just inpractical and too tempremental.

i wish i left the 1.6 lump in there now because it was so reliable and went well.but unfortunatley i sold it !! doh!

any ideas what engine to go for next? another 1.6 8v?

just want reliability but more than 110bhp.

:thumb: :thumb:

[Pistol Pete]

Fit a new oil pump?

[Ernie]

never had any probs realy with any of my red tops.
Also my latest gets bounced of the 7.700 limiter all the time so aint no show car.

[Paul]

i have only ever had trouble with 1!

[Benn]

Just change the crank shaft seal.

[John]

Sounds like you're having teething troubles, there's ALWAYS loads of niggles to sort after an engine swap. My xe crank seal fooked, the day before pvs, had it sorted in a couple of hours which included going to fetch a new seal.

[*Dave*]

why did it pop? any reason for it to because when i bought it , it had just had a new 1 fitted about 10 miles before i got it. now its gone again.

[Pistol Pete]

Poor fitment procedure?

[Ernie]

not fitted right maybe (that wasnt as a dig mate)

[Dod]

If you want a reliable car buy a new one. If you dont want hassle from your car, buy a new one. If you want all of the above, buy a Nova.


Vauxhall Nova, buying one means you can bitch like a woman. :)

[John]

why did it pop? any reason for it to because when i bought it , it had just had a new 1 fitted about 10 miles before i got it. now its gone again.

Poor fitment? Have you checked the crank washer for wear? I've seen a new one fitted, only for it still to pee out cos the washer had worn a large v groove in it.

[blue_peg_16v]

stick with it mate change the seal will be worth it, the only problems ive ever had with an xe were caused by over reving the engine, broke 2 valve caps when a shaft broke at the pod cos i dint have a rev limiter as running the carbs and then had a rod go but that engine was in 2 of my cars for a total of 7 years and it had alot of track and drag abuse if looked after they are totaly reliable

[Mike]

Saying this, Ive worked on few XE'd rally cars of various marques were the same seal was forever pishing out every few weeks lol

[*Dave*]

well ill pull it apart AGAIN then ill tell you guys the story tomorrow.

[Ernie]

good lad chin up.

[Jack]

any ideas what engine to go for next?
X30 :D

[AlexW]

1.6 16V (C16XE) :D

Although i hope you have more luck than i am. Small block FTW

[Sloth]

dave if ya wasnt so funking far away id pop and give ya a hand

[Rich]

my mate had the gearbox out his astra turbo 3 times because of a rear main oil seal leaking constantly!

Some problems seem like they will never end but keep at it and you will sort it. Its rare to do an engine swap and not have problems

[mikey14sr]

Usually if a new seal starts leaking again that quickly it either hasn't been put in right or a part it comes into contact with something that is badly worn.

Pull the seal and check where it sits for any marks, chances are someone's ripped it out with a screwdriver before and scratched the crank or something.

[white2lSR]

HOw easy is the seal to change?

[Nobby]

gutted mate i spent 2 months fitting a xe into a cav that should of took a day at the most, it ended up dropping ( i think) the rings on no4 cylinder so i fooked around for 2 months and ended up fitting the old 1800 engine grrr!!!

[Steve]

Gutted for you mate, really hope you get it sorted but if you don't then all i'll say is 8v ftw. I've always stuck with them, reason being is they don't go wrong, 1.6 on carbs would be cool