[bladeracer]

I'm rebuilding this engine. I just have to swap the new pistons onto the rods to get the bottom end back together.
Problem is, how do I press the wrist pins out?
Is there a factory tool perhaps?
There are no flat surfaces on the piston bosses, inside or outside. Started applying a little pressure in the press and it started moving around. Going to be real easy to bend the rod I think.
Anybody replaced pistons before in these engines?

 

[bladeracer]

I finally managed to find a mechanic yesterday that actually understood what I was asking about
He explained that I don't need a press, just heat the rod until the pin drops out. Not something I've done before so he's going to swap the pistons over for me this arvo.

I've been surprised at the lack of engine building info on this forum. I understand that membership is mostly UK, but does nobody rebuild their own engines over there?

Is it worth my doing a thread about the build?

It's costing me about three-times the cost of buying a secondhand engine, but I'll know I have a new engine afterwards, and that makes it worth it for me.

 

[corsaz22se]

Not many would rebuild an engine on one of these Corsa's the cost of parts would be 3-4x what the car is worth in UK, it's been that way for many years now.
A set of new pistons is near on the price of a decent stock Corsa C now.
If engine is that worn out it's just not worth repairing for us in UK. Even to replace rings, bearings and top end refurb is un economical.
Bigger GM engines get overhauled but the gudgeon pins are held in with snap rings on those so the fall out once snap ring is out.
Also as the Corsa C is so old there are not that many owned by people who could do this level of work them selves now.
Even the Corsa E would be a right off for a garage to overhaul the engine at £50+/hour labour

 

[bladeracer]

Not many would rebuild an engine on one of these Corsa's the cost of parts would be 3-4x what the car is worth in UK, it's been that way for many years now.
A set of new pistons is near on the price of a decent stock Corsa C now.
If engine is that worn out it's just not worth repairing for us in UK. Even to replace rings, bearings and top end refurb is un economical.
Bigger GM engines get overhauled but the gudgeon pins are held in with snap rings on those so the fall out once snap ring is out.
Also as the Corsa C is so old there are not that many owned by people who could do this level of work them selves now.
Even the Corsa E would be a right off for a garage to overhaul the engine at £50+/hour labour

Thanks for that.
This rebuild is probably costing me about what the car ('05 Holden Combo) would be worth to sell (without the engine problems, as is it'd probably just go to a wrecker for a couple hundred bucks), but we're not interested in selling it. I think we paid about A$2000 for it, plus about A$1500 in repairs to licence it (what you would consider MoT I think). But we've probably already had our $3500 worth of good service out of it already, it's our farm vehicle, carting feed and fencing and such stuff, and giving 14kpl on the road as well (our Landcruiser diesel 4x4 ute gives us 7kpl on a good day). So for what we could buy another secondhand one for, I'm rebuilding this one, we'll have the same vehicle but with a new engine. I can buy secondhand engines for around A$1100.

It's not worn out at 310,000kms, but the rear main seal was leaking into the bell housing and the valve cover was packed full off "coffee foam" indicating a coolant leak, although the compression test was fine. I don't know if it actually blew the head gasket between a coolant and oil gallery but it may have done.

No measureable wear on the rod or main bearings, or the cylinder bores. I measured the bores across the crank and with the crank, 10mm down from the top and 70mm down. All sixteen measurements are 73.385mm to 73.406mm. The ridges are 73.355mm indicating .030mm to .051mm of wear from new. Spec is 73.385mm to 73.415mm. Pistons have some wear through the coating (measuring 72.898mm), and the rings were pretty gummed up. Crank journals are fine. Oil pump is fine. Haven't been able to find specs on the cams but they show some wear and I may replace them. Is there a good set of aftermarket cams available that I should look at?

I didn't price up pistons alone, but a rebuild kit of pistons, wrist pins, rings, head bolts, rod and main bearings, and complete gaskets and seals was A$1250. Timing chain, tensioner, guides, water pump, and fuel pump was another A$375. Rod bolts and main bolts are A$102. That's including about $100 worth of postage.

I dropped the rods off to the mechanic so he can pull the pistons, then I'll clean the rods and take them back to him to install the new pistons. Should have the bottom end finished then so I can get stuck into the head this weekend.

I figured I might as well post a thread here that might help others but if nobody builds them it seems a wasted effort. I particularly love building engines so I don't much worry about the costs of doing it. I did buy a new L34 "crate engine" from Holden about 15 years ago for my stepdaughter, about A$4000 from memory.

 

[corsaz22se]

Sadly there is not much after market parts that are really any good for these engines. Most I have come across are only good for 40k miles at best.
A good replacement low mileage engine will only set you back £100-200 tops in the UK.
Corsa C's sell for £2-400, the cats can sell for as much as the rest of the car! Tigra B's are very common to be broke for parts and at very low mileage only sell for around £300-500 due to the expense of repairing water leaks and faulty roofs.
There is only a few owners in UK who would tackle an engine rebuild these days, if they did most would get a Haynes manual for tips on "how to" as they are like me "old farts" with nothing better to do 🙄 😂
I have used FIA cams in the past as they are cheap but the profile isn't as good as the OEM cam. The German built engines are prone to high wear on the valve train and often have lost the tips of cam lobes by 40-60k miles even with average servicing. If I charged for the work it would right the car off but as it was family it's done for free. Cams. followers, lifters, chain, water pump, full service and fluids cam in close to £500 in parts. same as car is worth. They don't have much resale value in UK now. To expensive to insure as a first car now so it's mainly cheap second car run abouts or to be modified with bigger engines.

 

[bladeracer]

I love the G13B Suzuki engine, the Z14XEP is ten-years newer but I still think the G13B is the better design
Why they used a cast-iron block for this I can't imagine.

Is there a way to tell if I have a German-built engine? The cam lobes are not that bad at all, I've seen far worse, and at far less than the 190,000 miles this one has done. Because of the front cover design, trying to replace the cams later on would be a major pain - is it possible to retract the tensioner without removing the front engine cover?

Picked up my rods with the new pistons installed this arvo. Now that the bottom end is together I can start looking at the head.

Only insurance I would have on any vehicle is Third Party, Fire and Theft cover.

I did consider swapping a different engine into the Landcruiser, but didn't occur to me to try with this, which engines are popular swaps in the Corsa C?

Sadly there is not much after market parts that are really any good for these engines. Most I have come across are only good for 40k miles at best.
A good replacement low mileage engine will only set you back £100-200 tops in the UK.
Corsa C's sell for £2-400, the cats can sell for as much as the rest of the car! Tigra B's are very common to be broke for parts and at very low mileage only sell for around £300-500 due to the expense of repairing water leaks and faulty roofs.
There is only a few owners in UK who would tackle an engine rebuild these days, if they did most would get a Haynes manual for tips on "how to" as they are like me "old farts" with nothing better to do 🙄 😂
I have used FIA cams in the past as they are cheap but the profile isn't as good as the OEM cam. The German built engines are prone to high wear on the valve train and often have lost the tips of cam lobes by 40-60k miles even with average servicing. If I charged for the work it would right the car off but as it was family it's done for free. Cams. followers, lifters, chain, water pump, full service and fluids cam in close to £500 in parts. same as car is worth. They don't have much resale value in UK now. To expensive to insure as a first car now so it's mainly cheap second car run abouts or to be modified with bigger engines.

 

[corsaz22se]

Why would you only replace the chain tensioner? More common for the chain to be stretched than a tensioner to have failed. Always replace chain as a set, new tensioner, guides, chain and sprockets. But yes you do need to take the front cover off to replace the tensioner, then strip all the chain out to replace the timing case gasket. GM kits are usually around £100 in the UK.

A lot of people fit the Z20LET or Saab B204 turbo engines. Some even go to the hassle of swapping the Z18XE into smaller engined Corsa's over buying a 1.8 Corsa.There has been a few 1.9 CDTI engines fitted now as well and a few Z22SE engines. I had 2 with the Z22SE one that's supercharged.
Insurance can be over £2000 for a first time driver in UK on a 1 or 1.2 Corsa C even just 3rd party cover. The Corsa D is cheaper to insure for some reason?
Good to see your getting on with the rebuild.

 

[bladeracer]

I wouldn't want to replace the tensioner, I would want to retract it to replace the cams. I'm already putting new camchain/tensioner/guides in, but if I wanted to replace the cams later on, I would need to take the tension off the chain - can the tensioner be retracted without removing the front cover (which also requires dropping the sump). I would normally replace the chain by cutting the old one, connecting the new one to the end of it, pulling it through the engine, then reconnecting the new chain together with a chain link, very quick and easy.

Very interesting about the engines, but I don't think any of those are available here at all, I'd likely have to import the engine from Europe and then have all sorts of trouble trying to relicence the vehicle. Do you have to pass inspections when swapping a different type of engine in over there?

I asked the engine builder if there are any problems these engines are known for that I should be looking out for. He's never even heard of these engines, and never seen conrods like these. These are very uncommon here. I definitely wouldn't consider diesel and have never understood how the UK ended up with so many diesel vehicles, horrible stuff it is - I'm using diesel to clean engine parts, then feed it to the Landcruiser

We don't have compulsory insurance here, Third Party Injury is included in our registration fees to protect people injured by vehicles, anything else is taken out voluntarily (unless you borrowed money for the vehicle which would likely require comprehensive cover to protect the lender's asset).

Why would you only replace the chain tensioner? More common for the chain to be stretched than a tensioner to have failed. Always replace chain as a set, new tensioner, guides, chain and sprockets. But yes you do need to take the front cover off to replace the tensioner, then strip all the chain out to replace the timing case gasket. GM kits are usually around £100 in the UK.

A lot of people fit the Z20LET or Saab B204 turbo engines. Some even go to the hassle of swapping the Z18XE into smaller engined Corsa's over buying a 1.8 Corsa.There has been a few 1.9 CDTI engines fitted now as well and a few Z22SE engines. I had 2 with the Z22SE one that's supercharged.
Insurance can be over £2000 for a first time driver in UK on a 1 or 1.2 Corsa C even just 3rd party cover. The Corsa D is cheaper to insure for some reason?
Good to see your getting on with the rebuild.

 

[corsaz22se]

Miss understood you about the chain, yes you can release the tensioner, there is a plug under inlet cam on the timing cover, behind is the tensioner. Push guide back and pin the tensioner closed.
You can also cable tie the chain to the sprocket and hold the sprocket up with a couple of round pins to swap the cams over.
Diesel used to be cheaper than petrol here and with most diesels doing double the mpgs over petrol it was seen as a saving. Plus there is the huge amount of torque they produce for a small engine.
You do have the z20let and z22se engines in Aus, and there are a couple of z20let Corsa c's over there.
If you don't change the chassis of the car then swapping engines is simple, just mot and proof the bigger engine is fitted to change tax class on paper work. Any change to the chassis fabrication require a change of construction in use certificate and a much more intensive inspection. Some people have fitted the V6 engines to, x25xe, x30xe you have these as well. The Astra G has the z20let and z22se engine.

 

[bladeracer]

Thanks for that, I might leave the cam decision until later on then and just concentrate on getting the car back on the road for now.

I've never seen diesels get good fuel economy. I owned an '81 Hilux 2.2L diesel. I swapped it out for a Holden 253 (4.2L) V8 petrol engine instead. The V8 gave me exactly the same fuel economy as the diesel - seven kilometers per litre. But the torque meant I could drive around all day in fourth gear, even hill starts

I'd like to swap a petrol engine into the Landcruiser to get better fuel economy, as well as more power for carting hay and towing cattle. The Landcruiser can give us 7kpl on premium diesel on the road, but when we mix in some farm work as well it's closer to 6kpl. The Combo van gives us 14kpl around town on 98RON, we haven't taken it far enough to see what it's like on the highways yet.

I'm sure there are some examples of those engines over here somewhere, but finding one would be a mission I think, and probably expensive. Swapping in engines that weigh more or make more power requires engineering inspections here and can get very expensive, unless it's an engine that was originally optioned for the vehicle in Australia.

Miss understood you about the chain, yes you can release the tensioner, there is a plug under inlet cam on the timing cover, behind is the tensioner. Push guide back and pin the tensioner closed.
You can also cable tie the chain to the sprocket and hold the sprocket up with a couple of round pins to swap the cams over.
Diesel used to be cheaper than petrol here and with most diesels doing double the mpgs over petrol it was seen as a saving. Plus there is the huge amount of torque they produce for a small engine.
You do have the z20let and z22se engines in Aus, and there are a couple of z20let Corsa c's over there.
If you don't change the chassis of the car then swapping engines is simple, just mot and proof the bigger engine is fitted to change tax class on paper work. Any change to the chassis fabrication require a change of construction in use certificate and a much more intensive inspection. Some people have fitted the V6 engines to, x25xe, x30xe you have these as well. The Astra G has the z20let and z22se engine.

 

[corsaz22se]

That's pretty good fuel economy for a petrol combo to be fair.
Most uk cars will be lucky to get that. My 1.2 corsa does slightly more as a daily driver short trips stop starts.
The 1.3cdti would get half as much again.

 

[bladeracer]

Our '94 Suzuki Swift gets 14kpl so I was expecting the newer one to do better than that
We only run 98RON though in all our petrol engines. I found in motorcycles 98RON gave me about 10% more range over 91RON out of the tank, which can be important with smaller motorcycle fuel tanks on long trips.

That's pretty good fuel economy for a petrol combo to be fair.
Most uk cars will be lucky to get that. My 1.2 corsa does slightly more as a daily driver short trips stop starts.
The 1.3cdti would get half as much again.