First start and run in 20v 7A after rebuild

[Colin Aitchison]

Part One
Over the winter I have rebuilt a 20v 7A engine that was to replace the 20v 7A engine in my Audi coupe GT B2, engine back in and running then ready for a short drive, jumped in and started the car, dipped the clutch and selected reverse gear and CRUNCH!!!, the car refused to go in to any gear when running but I could get all 6 gears with the engine switched off, after much faffing about with clutch master and slave cylinders and replacing the flexi hose to the slave cylinder, with no success, I decided to remove the gear box to look at the clutch, release bearing and release bearing fork but all was well, after some lengthy pondering time spent looking at the rear of the engine my thoughts turned to the pilot bearing that I fitted in the rear of the crank shaft, as I still use the original B2 gearbox and flywheel I need to fit a pilot bearing in the rear of the crankshaft, the input shaft to the gear box is 18mm so after searching around the garage I found that the locking pin from my engine lift was 18mm, so inserted it in to the pilot bearing and quite shockingly found that I could only turn the pin anti clockwise, I was stumped and dumbfounded how the pilot/needle bearing could only turn one way unless it was damaged or faulty, then my thoughts went to how the hell do you get that out, anyway next day I was going to the AGM of the local hill climb club and put the question of removing the pilot bearing to some of the older members (the guys with the MG's, Morgans and other older British cars) because they would have some ingenues device or method of removing the pilot bearing, what do you know I was right for a change, pack the pilot bearing with grease with no air pockets then take you 18mm pin and hammer it in to the grease packed bearing and out it popped after a few good taps, points to the old guys for that one, new bearing fitted and gear box back on, car on the ground and running and can get all 6 gears, result, moral to this story is if you have problems after working on a car don't go taking bits off the car that have been working for many years look at the new parts to see if they are causing a problem.
Part Two.
So, now for the test drive, 11miles round trip all is well, back in garage looking for any fluid leaks, no leaks, so of to garage for fuel and a little run, did not get 1mile for the house, if the water temp gauge went any higher the needle would vanish behind the dash, quick stop, up with bonnet expecting to vanish in a cloud of steam as you see other cars at the side of the road but no the engine did not feel hot or smell hot, had a look at the oil temp and oil pressure and both were normal, wiggled the wires to the temp water sender on the engine to see if one of the wires was earthing out to the block but no the gauge on the dash was still showing very very very hot, unplugged the sender wire and gauge on the dash dropped to cold instantly, method of elimination the sender is faulty or the engine is really hot, hmmmmm, can this water temp sender be faulty after swapping engines? Now back in the garage after letting the car cool for a bit before I drove it back just in case, after letting the car cool for a further hour I started the engine and the water temp gauge went to above where I would expect the radiator cooling fan to come on instantly but the engine was cold or cold-ish if you like, now for the big hunt round the garage for a 5 cylinder 10v KV engine water temp sender, I use the 10v temp sender with adapter to fit in the 20v 7A engine, found one in an old head fitted it and all is well, result.
Moral to part two, Ignore moral to part one, old car will bite you in the ass some how.

[sinbin5t]

Originally Posted by Colin Aitchison

Moral to part two, Ignore moral to part one, old car will bite you in the ass some how.

I couldn't help but laugh at the above statement as it was very funny after reading the whole post

Glad you got everything sorted Colin, well done !

[Colin Aitchison]

Well, 1100 miles on the rebuilt engine now, oil and filter changed and it sound better than it ever did with a rising power level from 3000 Rpm, not pushed the engine rev's past 5500 rpm yet but that will come in time on the hill climb, I do have two small oil leaks but they are just weeps not drips, replaced the rusty old pan hard bar at the rear with a nice second hand one from Audi bits for £30 delivered, I do have a chipped 4 plug ECU waiting to be fitted but that will be done when the car is on the rolling road and I have supper unleaded in the tank, need to work on bigger brakes for the front, the 256mm vented discs are ok for normal driving but I just feel the car will need more braking power when pushing it.

[4v6]

The old grease in the hole method, Ive used that myself a couple of times and provided the pin youre inserting is tight itll work most every time.

Good to see youve got it all up and running and working nice, roll on the good weather I say!

[Jake Blight]

Great post, been there done that kinda stuff in my time. Utmost respect to you. Lol...

[Colin Aitchison]

Update on rebuilt engine, Started car in garage was starting to reverse out and looked down at dash to find the oil pressure light was still on and oil pressure gauge was at 0 bar, after swapping the oil pressure gauge sender and oil pressure switch in the engine block it became quite clear that the oil pressure problem was in the engine, then removed oil filter, and replaced it with a 3/4 filled new oil filter, still oil pressure light was on but when I removed the new oil filter there was no more oil in the filter that I had put in it, so, sub frame off, sump off, bumper off, front panel removed, crank pulley off and timing belt all to get to the oil pump, lift pipe in the sump was ok with no holes in it, so back to the oil pump, the pump was new when fitted 1200 miles ago and looks like its stuffed, and is over 2 years since I got it from GSF car parts, will need to fit a second had pump and see how it runs.

[sinbin5t]

Keep at it Colin, you will get there.

[Duffy3074]

This is a similar story to my KV which I rebuilt, I had a difficult timing getting it to prime when cold and on first start.
I took the pickup pipe off, put some assembly grease into the pump, rebuilt it and off it went without issue

[Colin Aitchison]

Over the pasted 20 odd years I have rebuilt many 5 cylinder engines and this is the first time I have fitted a new oil pump (BGA), in the past the pump was stripped and the oil pump back plate was lapped in to remove any marks, on first start up I did pack the pump with vaseline and oil pressure was not a problem, idle at 2.5 bar (hot) and 1700rpm over 5 bar, any way will fit the original pump and see what happens, I will be having a look at the big end bearings and main bearings before I stick the sump back on.

[farmer phil]

Sorry if I am a bit thick ,but is this the engine I sold you ( worksop 18 months ago?)