Sad

[EastbourneChris]

Originally Posted by DWM

Anyway I'm still nowhere with it. Haven't ordered any bits or started to sort myself out properly, so the original plan to make some progress this weekend seems to be slipping a bit. Never mind. Might yet get somewhere.

Might be better to get the head off before deciding what to order anyway, see the extent of the damage and plan your strategy from that. Rooting for you mate, I think you will come out of the other side of this with a new found interest in pulling things to pieces. Who knows, you may be answering someone else's questions sometime soon. Kudos for giving it a go!

[DWM]

I never thought I'd get very far very fast, but this is ridiculous!

There's just no space to work!! You need to be a stick-man and a contortionist at once just to get your spanner on to the auxiliary belt tensioner pulley. And then you need the strength of an ox to make anything move! It's just about impossible! Grrrrrr LOL.

PS it's OK - I don't need advice... just venting...

[stephend]

Now you appreciate the full loveliness of working on the 740s...

Did the aux belt tensioner on the Mondeo I used to have. That was bad enough!

[DWM]

Right then:

I've (finally) got the aux belt off....! Pathetic, yes, but by my standards that is already a huge leap.

Now: before I go much further, there is something that is preying on my mind because I can't quite get it clear in my own mind, no matter how much I read.

Thinking about the loss of timing that chomerly suffered - see post 67 and Clan's reply in post 68 of this thread:

http://www.volvoforums.org.uk/showthread.php?t=185008

How do I avoid it? I mean, given that the camshafts have to come off for me to replace the valve, is there going to be any way of putting it back together just by carefully marking the positions of the camshaft and crankshaft pulleys? Or am I bound to need a special tool?

I may have misunderstood, but it looks to me as if chomerly's problem arose because he took the pulleys off the camshafts, and so lost the exact alignment of the cams when putting it back together - in a way that (?) he might not have done if the pulleys had stayed on the camshafts. If that's right, next question is: Do the pulleys have to come off the camshafts or can I in principle complete the job without removing them?

[DWM]

A few pics to prove that I haven't been totally idle.

Still got plenty to do regarding fuel rail and manifolds before I have to decide what I'm doing about the timing issue...

This was a complete bastard and represents my proudest achievement of the day:



Timing belt outer cover. I have to admire the comic genius of the person who decided to put the bolt that secures the cover precisely where it is impossible to get at - and then for good measure buried it in a recess in the plastic, just for fun.



Finally exposed these. This was quite exciting. Had brief delusions of being a mechanic.





Started taking stuff off the top. What a relief to be able to see and reach things again. I feel a bit more committed to the project. Probably because I've now got to a point where I would have to start rebuilding things in order to make the car move again.

[volvoid]

Head off ! Well done ! The biggest hurdle is getting started on a job like this, it isnt the easiset way to learn bout amending a car, but there wont be much that scares you by the time youve finished.

Take the head to a specialist to have valve(s) replaced, they dont charge all that much and have the tools etc to do the job. They may well advise regrinding the valve seats, get them to do it, its a machine shop job. Its worth having them clean, crack- and pressure-test the head, if its scrap you'll find out.

OR diy, get tools youll never use again, 8 pots to put the bits in, kitchen table in the warm and lots of time. You'll never grind the valves by hand on a "modern" engine so dont bother.

Buy a pukka head gasket set from the specialist (you get loads in the set, other gaskets youll need and a few you wont. If the engine has stretch bolts replace them with new, if only for peace of mind, I dont think you'll want to do this again in February. Brr.

When putting back together its much easier to have a second person help you lower the head on, make sure it goes on square and doesnt nick the gasket. Follow the instructions to the letter when doing up the main bolts. People often use chalk or paint/tippex to mark the bolts as they do them.

While the head is off you have far better access to the rest of the engine, change things like waterpump, cambelt (and rollers, tensioners). Flush the coolant out and drain.
Finally change oil and coolant for new. Car should run like new.

Dont expect to get it done in an afternoon. A trained mechanic would take about a day to do all this, you/'ll take lots longer as you work out how to etc.

good luck

[volvoid]

You can improve access to the belt end of the engine on most cars by jacking up front of car, leave it on axle stands not a jack, remove front wheel and then the plastic wheelarch liner. Has the advantage of raising the work height so you arent bending your back so much as you faff. Will make it easier to get to those awkward bolts + pulleys. As you've found its not neccessary, but you may choose to do it

[DWM]

Originally Posted by volvoid

You can improve access to the belt end of the engine on most cars by jacking up front of car, leave it on axle stands not a jack, remove front wheel and then the plastic wheelarch liner. Has the advantage of raising the work height so you arent bending your back so much as you faff. Will make it easier to get to those awkward bolts + pulleys. As you've found its not neccessary, but you may choose to do it

No... it was necessary all right... I did this; and it was still the closest thing to impossible that I've ever done... LOL.

The Blackwell's Companion to the Philosophy of Language played a role when I couldn't get quite the leverage I needed otherwise... I knew that book would come in handy at some point... it has been quite a few years' wait.

[stephend]

Originally Posted by DWM

The Blackwell's Companion to the Philosophy of Language played a role when I couldn't get quite the leverage I needed otherwise... I knew that book would come in handy at some point... it has been quite a few years' wait.

Presumably also handy for looking up suitably philosophical language (e.g. "****ing **** this ****ing **** of a ****ing **** Volvo!").

[Dog_Book]

im not to far away to lend a hand one weekend when you put it back together, assuming nothing else breaks on me Vectra (alternator died now lol) Well that would be the lst of common faults that have faulted lol