Right if my car dosn't sell i want to go on a learning mission i dont believe my engine needs a rebuild but it cant do any harm (unless i stick it back togeather all wrong) and i wouldnt mind giving the block a good clean and a paint i'm getting jealose of all the tidy engine bays on here..

So has anyone got any tips advice of how they went about doing there first rebuild

what parts would i be looking at replacing or is it just a case of giving everything a good clean?

Right if my car dosn't sell i want to go on a learning mission i dont believe my engine needs a rebuild but it cant do any harm (unless i stick it back togeather all wrong) and i wouldnt mind giving the block a good clean and a paint i'm getting jealose of all the tidy engine bays on here..

So has anyone got any tips advice of how they went about doing there first rebuild

what parts would i be looking at replacing or is it just a case of giving everything a good clean?

What engine is it mate ?

All seals, gaskets, bearings, valves, valve guides, new rings (after a hone of course), new head bolts, new big end bolts, water pump and tensioner. That should do it and set you back about £500 with work

Best advice is to get a haynes manual or some thing along those lines.

Tbh there's no point in changing parts that don't need changing, if your engine is good then why not just pull it out and do a dam good service? Oil Change, timing belt kit, water pump ect. If you really want to get your hands dirty then go as far as head gasket, cam seals and valve stem seals. These are all easy enough to do if you follow a decent guide and will break you in to working on engines nicely, when you put it all together replace filters,oil,coolant ect.

I see no point in going further into and engine unless your need to, its a lot of cost replacing already good parts. You can clean and paint the block when you have the head off to do the HG if you are wanting to tidy it all up a bit

if i were you i'd just do a head rebuild, because taking on a full engine is a real mission and if it's your first try you'll probably get lost and lose hope and scrap it all lol.

i've just given an engine a head rebuild and i dont think all the bits will equate to much more than £100. one of the biggest learning curves is changing the stem oil seals, tis fun too. most boring part is lapping.

its 1.6 aee i got a haynes manual so it not like i'm going in totally blind, i'll take your advice though didnt want it to cost me too much though

I dont think you'll get lost and lose hope of taking on a full rebuild at all. And it's not that difficult. Hardest part is keeping everything clean: one speck of grit on those shells an wave goodbye to that engine.

However, cost is the main issue. As said, it cost mr a small fortune but now I have a (hopefully) reliable engine and a much greater working knowledge of the engine. If your doing it for a new engine, don't bother. However, if your wanting to do it for educational purposes, then I'd recomend it. I'v had great fun doing mine. And it looks well lush now (see build thread).

How did you do a full head rebuild for £100? Surely you didn't change the valves for that price

well i'll start off with the head and see how things go. Dont think i got the money for a full re-build by the sound of it.

going to see the car today, might try and get it out today so i have no excusses.

I'm guessing i'd have to realine my gears when i get it refitted as well

cheers for the usful comments!!

Re-align gears? What for? Bear in mind if you have the valves changed they will need lapping in

Changing good valves is a pointless exercise imo, just give them a good lapping so they seat well and bobs your uncle.

Do agree the lapping is boring as fuck tho, when I started on them my first time I was loving it (like woop look at me doing engine work! lol), after about 4 I was getting bores as fuck by it and just wanted to get it over with. I had 16 to do tho so it properly seemed to drag out.

why not buy a car with blown head gasket or something to learn on, no point messing with a good car

No space for another car, and replacing a headgasket would cost alot less then buying a car.

while the engines out i might try and get hold of a mk3 gt cam, and fit a new cambelt would i need a different cambelt though?

I've got to agree with McLOVIN, there is no PRACTICAL reason to strip a good engine, but I well remember my Dad saying "You just strip things down to see if they are working right". He wasn't far off the mark, I couldn't wait to pull everything apart, I suppose the reason was that I just wanted to prove to myself that I could do it!

If you do go ahead with this, I would agree with all of the advice already given, but would also advise that you take pictures (or make sketches) of items before you strip them, mark things like bearing caps before you remove them so that you put them all back the correct way round. ( speaking of bearing caps, when you come to remove the camshaft bearings, slacken them off about half a turn at a time until the spring pressure is off). If you are good at woodwork, make yourself a tray with 16 compartments in it for the valves, springs etc, this will last you a lifetime, and is much better than messing about with bits of cardboard ( I know that you only have 8valves now, but what holds much holds little, and who knows what you may need in future.) Keep everything in order as you remove it (lots of storage boxes are a big help.)

Above all, take your time, if you rush things, you will probably regret it!

In general, replace items that need replacing, there is little point in building it up and regretting 'money-saving' short cuts later.

Hope that it goes well for you and that you learn by doing this work.

Regards.

^^legend i'll keep all this in mind

cheers