owned my saph for just over 4 years now. was a bloody lovely car to start with, low owners, lowish mileage (65k), had only covered 2k in the previous 6 years i believe been really well looked after. i bought it with every intention of it being my daily driver and couldn't see why ppl were so scared to use them.........well that lasted all of about 8 weeks, a few too many moments on my way to and from work, too many hours spent at work worrying if it was ok in the car park and getting sick of washing the immaculate paintwork every other day as it was painfull to see it shit up meant i ended up doing exactly what i'd promised myself i wouldn't and bought another daily driver and stuck this in the garage for weekend use only.

it was well enough spec'd when i got it for saying it was my 1st taste of rear wheel drive, running around the 300bhp mark with the usual bits, group a head gasket, greens, rs500 cooler, filter, exhaust, 3 bar etc etc.

summer 2007 i got the hunger for a little more power though so bought a t35 for it, fitted that, sent it off for a remap, had a group a coil fitted and she came back pulling very nicely with 337bhp so i was happy and left well alone after that.

now the problem became apparent in november last year, wanted to move the car out of my garage so i could get the engine i'd just got in for my kit car and get on with stripping that for a refresh. pulled the cossie back and was greated with a big puddle of coolant and some oil on the floor started looking into it and found the head gasket to have failed. gutted!

so thats really where this all begins now.

pulled the engine out on monday night after a lot of debating which route to go and have now started stripping it, going for a full refresh with some mild mods thrown in while i'm at it although final spec still undecided i'm a big believer in do it once and do it right.

will update this as i go and hopefully if i get stuck someone can point me the right way

couple of pictures.

this is pretty much how i got the car



how the engine looked


and where we are with it now







thanks for looking and sorry about the long intro, future updates will be much shorter

 

had a wander outside this afternoon just to get some fresh air (of work with a case of man flu) but got drawn in to the garage.

hour later i found myself with this


then a few minutes after that it was down to this




if you look really carefully you can see the crack in the gasket, which in a way i was pleased about as i knew then i'd not just wasted my time in taking it out to find it was a seal somewhere. lol

measured the head and i'm getting a reading of 139.62mm which i'm pretty sure is about standard thickness? with the exception of the gasket being cracked i'm really pleased it looks perfectly healthy, no signs of detonation in there etc so i can't have done too much wrong with it in the past!

will get the bottom end stripped over the weekend then get shopping

 

looks a well nice car you got ,engine looks pretty good 2

 

all the best with it

 

Surely one of the cleanest cossies I've ever seen. I'm also in the process of rebuilding my YB. Great inspiration this is for me for to get on with it. Will be waiting anxiously for your updates.

 

Nice motor mate.Just wait till its finished mate then you can start to enjoy it.

 

that's the thing i've promised myself i've gotta do more when i get it back together, actually use it and get some enjoyment out of the ŁŁŁŁ it's gonna cost me to get it how i want it!

 

good luck m8, r you rebuilding to std or up power

 

well the plan at the moment is some head work, pistons, uprated shells throughout, steel head gasket etc, nothing ground breaking and i'm not aiming for massive figures, if i can get to around 400bhp without stressing the engine too much then i'll be happy.

just can't decide on management yet, i know there's not much you can't do with the standard l6 these days but it's at a price. something like omex seems a more cost effective option but, well i dunno, there's a fine line between need and want i guess.

 

the head is off to cylinder head developments any time soon as i get a box to put it in for some reworking.

going for a port and polish, triple angle valve seats, new guides and seals etc with a BD14 inlet cam i'm quite excited and the price isn't as bad as i expected but then saying that any donations are welcome