finally got my zvh finished and ready for its first start up. i disconnected then fuel pump plug and turned it over to prime the engine with oil. then connected back up and turned the key..

it was sounding like a vw beetle pinking when i first started it up. but i took it as just a fresh engine needing to get the oil round and oil into the tappets etc. 5 minutes later its still sounding rough so i shut it down and had a look around.
checked the oil and it was whiter than white. it looked like milk. and i could see a little oil that had run down the front of the block.
it appears the gasket has let go in a big way?? or the heads warped itself or something?
i really dont know what to do or say. 8 months of hard labour with this thing and at the grand finaly of turning the key, it sh*ts on me from a great height as a thanks for all the work.
all i can do is take the head off and check it all out. but why this would happen with a new bottom end, new gasket, bolts etc.
the head was a skimmed one that i had on my old cvh block. so i could maybe understand that now being on a different bottom end it might cause the compression to be wrong and cause pinking. but to blow a head gasket so seriously and quickly leaves me unable to answer why?

any ideas would be great before i end up putting a spanner through the window and torching the fucking thing..

 

did you torque the headbolts up properly???

 

normally do get a few leaks with a new build mate, are you sure its coming from between the head and block? cheers mark.

 

dont you have to gob up some of the oil galleries with weld when doing zvh? did you do those right? also did you torque the head up right? if its that bad youll have to whip the head off. shouldnt take long though im guessing, still pretty similar to a cvh?

 

yeh theres a couple of oil holes you have to fill up when your dion a zvh.

 

yep all gallaries were blocked up with proper bungs nice and tight. head torqued up nice and tight too i remeber doing the last turn with a metal bar to asist. all i can hope is that maybe one of the gallaries was missed out. ive never seen oil so white before from a blown gasket so maybe it is that. the engines sounded like shit im guessing cuz the oil was so thin. who knows

 

Sounds very likeley what youre saying there, no matter what its ehad off anyway, things like this happen to most people, good luck mate

 

how many did you block ?i think there is 3 @15mm and 1@13mm that you need to block off

 

alrite ram ive done something similar with a zetec i used a windy gun and gunned the head bolts out one by one rushing the job when i put the head back on it was warped because i didnt remove the headbolts in the same order as the tightning sequence. it might be worth a check!

 

A ny news on the problem??????

 

right sorry for the delay im back at uni now and have no net at my house. i wont be going back to the car for another 2 weeks as its back in my parents garage, but before i left i whipped the head off

this was what i was greeted by under the rocker



head off, and the gasket is fine



gasket off, and you can see where oil has spread around the middle rear gallery



and as for the build up on 3 of the pistons after just 5 minutes of running as much as all this i pretty shitty im still happy that nothing appears to be damged. all pistons are fine and i turned the bottom end over by hand and all seems ok.
as you can see, the bungs have not popped out, so sadly thats not the cause of this.

the only cause i can think of is that i was abit naughty with the hoses since changing to zvh. there was nowhere for this water pipe to plug to on the bottom end now its a zetec one, so bunged it with abit of broom handle



and this is how ive connected up the other water pipes (poor moblie pic)



the only other thing thats changed since my old cvh setep is its now running beiges and a 195 chip. not sure if dodgy injectors would explain the shit on the piston tops?

so basicaly it seems i am confronted by two problems, why has so much water mixed with the oil? and why is there such build up on the pistons?

im hoping ive made a school boy error with this build and it can be saved without too much head ache, so any suggestions daft or clever would be appreciated

 

Blockin that hose with a brrom handle will not cause it to do that,my mate done an xr2 turbo and he blocked that same pipe up and all was fine,ide still say the head wasnt torqued down properly lookin at pics.

 

Or a wharped head???

 

yeh it looks like it would be that. but the head was skimmed not that long ago, and i check it with a metal ruler yesterday and all seemed straight. and the bolts were still very tight when i undid them

 

have you checked the block for any enevenness??? could also be a faulty head gasket as ive had a couple in the past even from ford .I would still go for headbolts lookin at the pics not torqued up properly.

 

whats at each end of that pipe?

 

Lookin at that pic looks like an oil breather pipe has been connected to a water pipe?????

 

it sure does

 

im gonna punch myself in the face if thats what it is

i didnt build the block so didnt know much about which port was for what. but because there were no feeds/outlets for the water pipes on the block except the actual water pump i assumed it was a water feed. but thinking about it now that might well be the feed for the right hand side rocker breather pipe.. cuz looking at it now it looks wrong doesnt it. lets just hope i havnt fucked the engine. on the plus side because i only wanted to check that it ran for a couple of minutes i only put a couple of jugs of water in and didnt fill the water right up to the header tank. so as white as the oil was, it still felt thick like oil.

 

that water pipe should be going up and connecting to the one blocked with the broom handle and the right hand breather pipe from the rocker should connect to that feed on the bottom end at least the cause is solved
would this expalin the shit on the pistons too?

 

DDDDOOOOHHHHHH!!!! That will teach you always check then check again before starting an engine up oh well at least you will learn by your mistakes hopefully

 

well at least it hasn't cost an arm and a leg like it could have done if the head was warped/block cracked. just a headset.

Is your sump not provided with an outlet for the breather? as that hole at the back of the block may well be under full oil pressure if it's the one I think it is. The breather on a zetec block is usually on the front but if fitting a turbo, needs to be blocked with a core plug or blanking plate and relocated normally to the sump, or mine is.

 

oh, and beiges and a 195 chip probably won't fuel enough for the larger capacity bottom end. You may need to run the beiges with the std chip then go up from there when fittin the 195. Or just fit management that can be set up accurately to your engines spec. A chip designed for a different engine will never run another one spot on. You could spend more time and money trying injectors designed for this, and chips for that, to get a mashup of stuff that wasnt designed to go together fuelling "near enough".

 

well at least its solved now lol

its only a 1.8zvh not a 2.0/2.1 so i would have thought beiges and 195 would have been alright? im gonna run this set up whilst i run the engine in as i wont be putting the engine under any stress so no worry of running lean or anything. then once its run in im gonna get it on the rollers and check the fueling and go from there cant really afford aftermarket management at this stage as this cars emptied my pockets more than enough already

oh and does anyone know the correct head bolt size i need for a 1.8zvh as im gonna need new ones now ive taken the head off. the cars back at my parents so i cant measure them for another week or so.

 

get an afr guage

 

You should be able to reuse your headbolts as they're not the normal CVH stretch type ones.

PS. let me know how your running in/setup goes as i've done the same conversion in my car. (EFI 1.8ZVH, OFAB, beiges, 195chip etc)

Glad it was only a wrong pipe connection too!

 

mate i could be wrong but im sure u have put them oil blanking plugs in the front and im sure there suposed to go in the back corect me if im wrong cos im building one at the mo and i have these blanking plugs to fit thanks tony

 

No mate your wrong its the front galleries that need blocking.

That new fitting on the back of the zvh needs to go up to your rocker cover

 

sexr3i
i got the gauge just need the sensor seen bosch ones on usa ebay for Ł40 should do the job

cabbykarl
not sure i want to take the risk as i dont know where the bolts were from so no way of finding out if theyre stretch or not?

NATH-RSZT
i know where it goes now mate wish i knew before i started it up tho

 

Ah right fair enough m8

Yup any unknown stuff should be renewed you're quite right

Hmmm gonna nosey on Ebay now for a HEGO sensor too methinks.

 

ram

Add me on MSN i am only in Cheam.

 

im on the comps at uni so cant right now but will add ya when im nxt on the lap top

thought u might be local as i saw you driving down epsom high street on sunday i was at the cash point with my mate. i gave ur pal in the passenger seat a nod of appreciation cuz he was in your car

 

bad luck mate but at least it wasnt a major problem... if the head bolts you need are the same ones burton power sell for the 2.0 zvh..(non-stretch)..then pm me your address as i have a brand new set here which i bought for a cvh...