XE Bottom End / Piston Question

[ST-eater]

Hi all, recently my nova started smoking, so thinking it was the stem seals, i had the head off, rebuilt and refitted... Not checking the piston rings... Head back on and the smoke seemed to be worse, something mathew kelly from stars in your eyes would be proud of.

Anyhow, the engine came back out, and i had the block sent off to a engineering firm, who say that 2 bores are beyond repair, and i will need to have it bored out and oversized pistons fitted at the sum of £350....

So im looking around for a cheaper option.....

Is the bottem end the same as the eco tec or c20ne? and if so, will all the headbolts line up, and will the pistons need exchanging for mine... or am i better off selling it all and starting again? I wouldnt mind so much but ive already thrown £300 at this engine in parts recently.

(if it makes any difference its the early XE with dizzy)

[General Baxter]

im sure people use 8v blocks on LETS

[Iain]

I dunno how much engine work usually costs, but £350 for new oversize pistons fitted doesn't sound that bad to me. At least you'll know it's a good bottom end after that?

[AlexW]

I dunno how much engine work usually costs, but £350 for new oversize pistons fitted doesn't sound that bad to me. At least you'll know it's a good bottom end after that?

That is cheap!

Get it done, your have a better engine in the long run.

[ST-eater]

But thats just to have it bored and pistons fitted, then they seem to think that looking at the condition of the bores, that the bearings might be naffed too, so will end up costing way too much

[Nova_Tek]

Just buying oversized pistons could cost that much. How much would it cost to get the lot done?

[General Baxter]

if there fitting new pistons, your going to have new shells fitted anyway lol

[mowgli]

XE's are now an old engine, they stopped doing them in about 1994, so 16-22 years of being ragged around is actually pretty good going...

[tom reid]

You could have a new bottom end, bored with Autosprint pistons with deeper cutout's, balanced, lightened flywheel, arp's etc, for slightly over 800 quid.

[Will F]

XE's are now an old engine, they stopped doing them in about 1994, so 16-22 years of being ragged around is actually pretty good going...

True, but they are strong ol' lumps!

The bottom ends are good for 240k plus (well mine is in the van), as long as you treat them to regular services...

if it were me, I would just buy another complete engine and keep your rebuilt head as a spare.