1.2 nova cambelt snapped

[azura]

I lent my nova to someone to do a 600mile round trip :cry:

I had a phone call from him last night telling me he had broke down (300 miles from home lol ) and the RAC had checked the car and that the cambelt has snapped :cry:

Apparently, the RAC guy said these engines have some kind of saftey mechanism (sp?) that prevents the valves from bending on cambelt failure. Is this true ??

Hopefully it`s just a belt replacment that it needs.

[Riggy]

yes the carb engines iirc have , its just that the valves dont hit the pistons if the belt goes so you should be ok with just a belt :thumb:

[novalovingned]

yeah the cam locks up and provents the the valves bending, iirc all 8v vauxhall engines are the same

[Welsh Dan]

yeah the cam locks up and provents the the valves bending, iirc all 8v vauxhall engines are the same

The cam stops when there's no belt driving it.... they're "valve safe" because there's enough of a gap between the valves and the pistons that they wont meet on an unskimmed head/block.

[ANDYRACER]

Only 1.2 8v nova engines are valve safe, not all 8v engines. :thumb:

[ashjones]

ive a 1.2 bend a vavle wen a belt snappad so you will just have to see you could be lucky

[azura]

Well, I have fitted the belt & alls not good :(

I have checked the cam allignments & re timmied the engine. Now the car feels like its running half power, seems to tick over ok.

If the bottom crank was 180 Degrees out wil the engine still run ? Could that be the problem ?

I will check for commpression tommorow.

[Adam]

Check its no1 on the compression stroke when the cam mark is aligned.
It depends a lot on the speed the engine was doing when the belt went, near idle and you'll probably be fine.

Sounds like you've got damaged valve(s) tho.

[Asa-James]

i'd say damaged valves. the 1.2 8v is an interferance, the 1.3 onwards arnet iirc

[lee coley]

there only safe on 'idle'

[Philsutton]

it will have bent valves, i have bent nearly all on a 1.2 before. They are all interferance engines as far as i know. Never know one not to bend valves to date.

[diablo007]

Only 1.2 8v nova engines are valve safe, not all 8v engines. :thumb: MY 1.3SR IS THE SO IT AINT JUST THE 1.2 AND THE EARLY 1.2 WONT BENT VALVES IF THE BELT SNAPS

[burgo]

ive got two spare 1.2 engines if you need anything ;)

[big gra]

take this oppartunity to upgrade to a 1.3 or 1.4 sr, its well worth it!

[azura]

thanks for the replies guys, I`m pretty sure now I have set up the cambelt / timing correctly, so it must be bent valves :(

I Have just started to take the head off to have a look

I believe the car was doing approx 60mph at the time of the belt failure.

Burgo, I`ll see what the damage is and may get back to you :)

[valverguy]

at 60 mph id say theres not alot of a chance you dont have bent valves :(

[azura]

Ok, I have the head off now & tbh I cant see any phsical damage to the valves or pistons. The valves look like they are seated properly & have no obvious marks that I guess would happen if there was piston contact.

I can`t check to see if the shafts are bent while they are in & I do know if I can be bothered to take each one out to check.

Not sure what to do now, as the car needs a clutch too soon, so may just source another engine & be done with it. Obviously something is wrong but I cant spot it :(

what do you guys think ?

[SRI crazy]

turn the head so the valves are pointing up an pour petrol on them an see if the petrol goes away or satys, when youm took the head of did you finad an broken rockers, they usually break before valves bend lol