FAO Pete M and/or RichardK

Good engines. Buy on condition. Make sure the rocker gasket isn't leaking and the timing chain isn't rattling ;)

I know where there's another engine (5,000 mile, recon'd, with a new Scorpio gearbox) for £700 or so...

Richard (do the tranny units have balancer shafts?).

Aye. That's one point that was potentially worrying me that I forgot to mention - is the chain tensioner driven by oil pressure, meaning that neglected oil changes could mean premature death? But otherwise, the chain is a big plus point :D

Cool. I'm probably only going to buy it as a stop gap until I get the new contract hire van sorted, so if I could tempt you with a nice quick-ish van at a good price (i.e. what it owes me - I'll give it a service and new set of rubber) then you know where to find me (about 6 hours' drive, that's where :-))

I'm guessing they're exactly the same engine, as they appear to have the same amount of power. Can't imagine they'd have de-modified them.

Indeed, it doesn't wear out as quickly as the old Sierra twink ;)

If it has the balancers, it's an engine designed by Cosworth. So you have a Transit Cosworth :)

Richard

Cool - mate of mine bought a Sierra DOHC from Wales, and by just before Bristol the chain had given up the ghost. Unfortunately I didn't find out about this until about Swindon, as I was in front, blissfully zooming along on cruise, with a phone that had turned itself off!

I know. That's part of the attraction :-D

Are there any clues on the outside of the engine that mean I'll be able to tell if it's the one with balancer shafts? Or from the engine number?

In news:JPU2f.26$ snipped-for-privacy@newsfe3-gui.ntli.net, AstraVanMan decided to enlighten our sheltered souls with a rant as follows

Yeah, do it.

What I meant to ask you in particular, having worked in the hire business, was is there any chance that the 60k service *is* the only one it's had, or is it *much* more likely that the hire company will have just serviced it in-house, and just got the major 60k service done at a main dealer?

Transit Cosworth here I come, just need to locate the money....

In news:D203f.14$ snipped-for-privacy@newsfe2-gui.ntli.net, AstraVanMan decided to enlighten our sheltered souls with a rant as follows

Um, could be either, to be honest. Stuff like brakes and the like will have been done, but other than the cambelt service they tend to just ignore them.

Heh..

Would they even neglect something so simple as an oil+filter change now and again?

As far as I know, the only issues - not particularly regular ones - are:

1) the wiring tends to cook between the overhead cams due to the spark plug cover. Easy fix - replace the wiring every so often. 2) there are sometimes cracked heads. I don't think this is a reputation thing as much as the few failures that happen are because of this. Easily spotted, you get mayonnaise. Not easily fixed, obviously.

Other than that they're relatively powerful, heavy, reliable, and cheap. I'd have thought a bit small in capacity (no v8?) for a van but it's all relative.

The servicing issue: essentially irrelevant. Many engines get black sludged and sure, this is an issue for the 100,000 plus another 50,000 with the same oil. If the plugs aren't changed, it stops working until they are. There's no cam belt that needs changing. A new engine shouldn't be needing oil and filter changes very often - old engines are the ones that actually do. I'll bet the MAF is dirty as hell and when you spritz it, it will rejuvenate the engine.

60k wouldn't really matter, if the plugs went wrong at 45k, would they still be there? Not high mileage enough to form fatal sludge. Maybe in the sixties...

It'll do. It's only for multidrop anyway - might want a bit of revving compared to a similar powerful modern TD, but it'll do. I reckon I'll get around 18-20mpg out of it, which should be equivalent to a good 40-45mpg on diesel, so that'll do me.

Might have a go if I can be bothered, but it seems to go pretty well!

Aye, and having had a quick re-read of that thread about those 2 LPG Vectras where someone serviced one but not the other, and at 120k they were still both running fine, it doesn't overly worry me. Especially as LPG contaminates the oil less.

Anyway, I bought it. Some absolutely stunningly good haggling on my part :-))

Never heard of it; have done on the manifolds on the 24v Cosworth.

Plastic inlet manifolds crack when monkeys replace the thermostat.

Richard

Ford were using the same wiring.

Mind you, mine are ok still, a little brittle but that's not a problem until they are failing to insulate. Trivial enough repair, just replace the wires. Replacing the loom seems like overkill to me.

More details here

This is heads, although having looked again, it might be exhaust manifolds that crack. Either way, not happened here. I think the engine is a sound one, in general.