After a few opinions...
 

So, I have made a few posts on here after I purchased my 2000 1.8 Club SE. Absolutely love the car. Up to now has has given me very little trouble. Aside from track rod ends it has all been preventative maintenance.

The issue I am having? I recently noticed an oil leak coming from the front of the cylinder head, not drastic but notable. It is also starting to 'use' a little water, not a lot, maybe 500ml a month. It never overheats or has overheated, the needle never moves over half.

So the dilemma I found myself in is this; I would like to have a 'rebuilt' engine. I'm not talking a bare block, just new gaskets, stem seals etc. So my options I see are this.....

Do I buy another engine give it a make over with new gaskets and paint etc and swap them over.
Which begs the question is/will matching numbers be important? (I aren't planning on selling)

The other option is the price of engines floating about on eBay would it be easier to get a whole car for the engine and break it? (Not sure I am 100%
OK with breaking one, unless it was a true basketcase.)

Or do I remove the current engine and store the car while I rebuild it?

Answers on a postcard :shrug:

I'm not clear about how far you want to go ? I am assuming since you rule out the bare block approach you will not be touching the crank or pistons ?
In that case you don't need the engine out ; just remove the head and strip it down :}:shrug:
Replace all gaskets when you reassemble , new camshaft oil seals , new valve stem oil seals ,grind in the valves after checking the guides for play , do check the head face for flatness etc etc .
Or do you really want to go further ? ;)

As above, although to make sure I'd also replace the cam belt and water pump, as you don't want to spend all that time and effort just for it to go bang afterwards. :}

Plus once you've got the head off, you can check the bores for wear/ovality. If it is only losing that small amount, and runs fine, get the cylinders compression tested while the head is still on, which will give some indication of ring condition. What mileage has it done?These engines don't wear badly, and can achieve high mileages, the weak point is the original head gasket, refitted with the improved type, it should not be a problem again.

It's done 124,000. Ideally, I would like to change all the gaskets, cambelt, waterpump. With the head off I can check for cylinder wear etc.

The only really advantage with the engine out is I can put in a new clutch and clean up the engine bay.

To be honest the cylinder head is the only oil leak on the car there is nothing else and it had a cambelt and waterpump 2000 miles ago which is a bummer. Aside from a few interior niggles the rest of the car is fine and solid.

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Fair enough ! :}
Cheapest option will be to renovate your own , but you can get a lot of fun taking your time with a spare unit . If you do buy another , look for one with a verified lower mileage :}

There's not enough value in the car to do all that work.

Just refurb the head.-----:D

If you are going to replace the gaskets, then that may cure your water loss, which could well be from your inlet manifold gasket. Only really found with a check under it the inlet manifold when cold.
Good luck.

Surely there is as much value as I want to put into it if I aren't going to sell it. I knew whatever I put into it I won't get back.
Plus doing it is something I enjoy.


I will check the inlet manifold, thank you, always worth checking 😊

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Another option if you have space for it is buy a second 75 and drive it while you restore the first one. But be warned, if you do that, you may well end up keeping both.

I struggled with the idea of creating a decent stock of spare parts for maintenance purposes so if i ever had any breakdowns I’d always have the parts to hand, but found the cheapest solution was to keep a spare car instead. This comes in very handy when planning those bigger jobs like suspension work and so on. It is also very handy when you’ve stripped something down and cant remember how it needs to go back together.

I only intended my second car as a temporary thing, but enjoy driving it so much It has been temporary for 6 years now.