VVC K-Series HG replacement.

[Rickyy]

Evening all. I've recently acquired this...



With lots of oil in the coolant and mayo showing on the dipstick.

I set about stripping it down tonight, so far I have the rocker cover off, cams locked, belt off and exhaust manifold off.

What is the easiest way to remove the inlet manifold? I've managed to remove the top row of nuts and bolts, but the lower set are a bit trickier to get at.

Does the plenum need to come off?

Any tips or guidance on the entire job would be great! I'm new to Rovers and I've not undertaken a job this involved before.

[sjc]

Although it's a Rover 75 based forum there's loads of K series knowledge on the forum link below, and probably alink to the " permanent HGF fix.
www.the75andztclub.co.uk

[dorset_clive]

I've not done a HG on a VVC, but on a non-VVC it is a morning's work. The new gasket and steel dowls seem to make for a reasonably robust repair. The one 'trick' I've found on the earlier design of K-series coolant systems is to cut the top rad hose and fit a bleed point (I use the metal pipe that goes from the water pump to the alloy casting in front of the distributor and cut it down to suit).

The OEM design means there is a high point in the top rad hose and it is virtually impossible to remove all the air without a bleed point.

[MGJohn]

With any K-Series particularly the 1.8 and 1.6 ones, the cylinder liner height must be checked to ensure that all four liners are a tad proud of the surrounding engine block. I use what I call the finger nail test. I run my nail across from the block to the liner and if that shows as "proud" that's a good sign.

There are four such liner-block interface points around each cylinder liner, sixteen in all :~



After a thorough clean up, run your finger nail across the block-liner interfaces and you should 'feel' a very slight step with the liner higher than surrounding block. You can also use a stiff metal such as this 1mm Feeler gauge pressed hard onto the block and pushed against the slight raise of the liner :~



If it moves across without coming to a stop against the liner, that means the liner(s) have dropped which sometimes happens in a case of severe overheating. If the liners are level, some repairers recommend using the original equipment Cylinder Head Gasket with the Elastomer Seals. These are the red/orange seals which are the first to suffer damage when an engine overheats, usually following coolant loss. These gaskets rarely actually 'fail' of their own accord.

If it becomes obvious that the cylinder liners have dropped BELOW their surrounding block locations, that is a sure sign of extreme overheating and is bad news. I have known drivers to admit to driving on when the red overheating part of the temperature gauge is reached by the needle. That usually means the engine block is scrap, maybe the whole engine. Stranded work colleagues' cars I recovered for them. One was a Rover the other a Toyota. Both cars required replacement major engine components.

I have read of one instance where a liners BELOW block engine was successfully repaired using 'shims' below the liners to raise them back to their correct level. That required a major engine strip and rebuild of course. That was in a Scandinavian country. Here in the UK a replacement engine would be an easier option.

If following that liner height check all appears well, I would use the MLS ( Multi-Layer-Steel ) Cylinder Head Gasket ( CHG ) with the head saver shim. The dozen or so K-Series CHGs my son and I have replaced on our own and friends' cars have all proved 100% successful and still running strong in daily use five-seven years later and more recntly. So far so good.

Obviously, some basic checks of the Cylinder head itself will be needed. Again, in our limited amateur experience, a 'skim' has not been needed although my son did skim his VVC engine's head just to be on the safe side. I did not think it was necessary. ALWAYS fit the head saver shim with the MLS CHG. Someone I know who was concerned about compression ratios ( ) did not fit the Head Saver Shim and that MLS expired less than 10,000 miles later.

Good luck. Let us know how you get on. That way we all can learn.

[alpha channel]

Interested to see how you get on, great cars and yours is a good looking number in an unusual colour though I'd get a set of original five spoke alloys on her personally .

Done the ol' head gasket fandango with my 200 Coupe (also the 1.8vvc) three times so far (admittedly the second time was down to us not tightening things up quite as much as they should've been and the third time was down to having the head rebuilt, got incredibly lucky there, so a new one went on just in case).

I can't remember exactly how we got the bottom set off but having a pit in the garage helped a fair bit, some things are definitely easier accessing from below.