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The Incredibly Slow Process Build Thread

18K views 80 replies 21 participants last post by  jgee0_1 
#1 ·
Ok, I got bored of not having started a thread for my van, so, here it is. As titled, it is going to be a verrrry slow process I reckon, especially as I will be being made redundant at the end of February.

But anyway, onto nicer things.

I have lots of plans, and none of them are set in stone, so expect lots of different things tried.

Here is the van (name undecided as yet): A 1998 2.4D, 188k on clock, but has a younger engine in her. Bought for the princely sum of £1262, with 6 month MOT left.



PROBLEMS: Lots of blue smoke on startup from cold. Little leak from fuel pump. Annnnd on the 240 mile journey home in her, she got 230 miles back, when 5th gear disappeared. She is now in the garage waiting to be looked at for a couple of these issues.



TOTAL COST SO FAR - £1355 - Van and flight to southampton + fuel home.
 
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#2 · (Edited)
Additional purchases from the last couple of weeks (pics to come once I get the van back!)

Angled gear stick extension - £9.99 delivered off ebay

Pool ball knob (purple no.4) - about £9.00

5th gear selector segments + Circlip + 3L gearbox oil - £42.00 (SEGMENTS AND CIRCLIPS NOW FOR SALE - £5 RECORDED DELIVERY)

NGK glow plugs - £30.00 off ebay (NOW FOR SALE - £25 RECORDED DELIVERY - PM IF WANTED)

Mini twin usb charger for cigarette lighter - £4.00 delivered off amazon

2 x B&Q aluminium bubble wrap insulation - £26

1 x B&Q plastic bottle insulation - £13

1 x roll of B&Q foil tape - £6

2 x 10m rolls of flashband + 1 x Evo Stik impact spray glue + 1 x Different brand spray glue (cheaper, works the same) + Tub of 100 degreasing wipes - £24
 
#11 ·
#13 ·
Update from today -

Decided to remove the old panels from back of my van (but keep them of course to carpet at a later date)



So, panel removed, and what do I see . . . . The old insulation I am removing, and a grill up top that is bloody riveted into place :(



So, do I leave the old insulation up top and just put a layer of thermal bubble wrap on back of the ply when I refit it, or, drill the rivets out and start it all from scratch like I am doing on the bottom half?
 
#14 ·
So, the panels all degreased



And ready for flash banding to reduce noise a touch. I am unsure on how much flash band is really needed, as I have seen some cover the whole panels, and some with just a small strip in the middle of the panel . . . . Anyone any thoughts on this?

But, before I got carried away flashing the panels, I realised I had bought my stuff, driven to where my van lives (not at my home) and not brought anything to cut the stuff with A:

After a while sulking in the back of the van, I remembered I had brought my glass hammer from my old car to leave in the van for emergencies, and that it has a seatbelt cutter on it T:



So flashing was able to be cut, very roughly, as it would only cut an inch each side, I then had to tear the rest of it, so not perfectly straight. But these are the results so far

 
#15 ·
All work stops now as van has been trailered to a garage. Upon driving the van up the ramps he said he thinks a cylinder has likely gone, causing the smoke and lots of knocking under high revs. So, if thats what is wrong, then it is either engine rebuild or donor engine time. Frankly, looming redundancy means a rebuild is well out of my range. Though a cheap donor engine my redundancy could stretch to.

Frankly I'm rather gutted right now. And I'm just hoping it could be something completely different and easier to fix. So for now, the next 10 days i should be able to get the fuel leak and 5th gear fixed (hopefully).
 
#18 ·
It is actually fairly flexible stuff I'm using. But to be honest, I was surprised I found something to cut it with, so I just put a few strips on as a 'test' really. A test that will be staying on mind, but still. At this point all my worry is about the engine and other problems. But, the slow converting will have to be priority now, as that will be much cheaper in short term, to continue banding and insulating. Not sure how much banding to use?
 
#17 ·
Hi mate.I had a 1.9 d m reg with the blue smoke at start for @30 seconds and than dissapeared.I took the head off to fit another one and found one of the cylinders badly pitted and this is were the white smoke was coming from!!The van was unused for a while and a think water donne that to the cylinder...
 
#20 ·
Aaaaaaaannnnnd, the gearbox is basically knackered :(

Been told it will work 1-4 fine, and the new 5th gear cogs will go on fine, but, if I drive about half a mile in 5th, was told they will likely strip again. Can't remember the ins and outs of why, I was kinda just running costs of a 2nd hand box through my head. Mechanic said something about another part should have 32 teeth on it, but has only got 16 on now.

So, I now need:

2nd hand gearbox

reconned/2nd hand fuel pump

Probable knackered cylinder meaning replacement engine

So, all good so far!
 
#22 · (Edited)
T: Cheers. If I think of the positives, the van drives 'fine' generally. Just lots of smoke on a cold start, no 5th gear, and a fuel leak. So it is mobile at least I guess. And the rest of the van is all good pretty much (I think), plus, it was cheap at least.

It really is going to be one job done when I get paid I think. Then hopefully the rest when my redundancy arrives end of march.

UPDATE -

Van trailered away - £50

Van inspected, engine probs found, fuel leak diagnosed, gearbox flushed and diagnosed and trailered back to me - £134

TOTAL SO FAR - £1634
 
#23 ·
Sunday Update

Headed to the van this morning to do a little bit of insulation. Got there, and realised I had left screwdrivers, anything useful to cut flashband and bubble insualation with, brush (to start cleaning my floor properly etc etc . . . . . . However, to the rescue came untafu6 from the forum, bringing with him a few screwdrivers, hammer, and scissors!

And, he got a reward for his kindness . . . . my rear seats! Glad to get them out, I now have room to work!




So first job today was to get some bubble foil insulation up on the bottom panel. I am treating this side of the van as my 'test' side, as it is the first panel for any work. Lots of spray glue later . . . .


Next was to see what was under the carpeted panel on the other side! Answer? Nothing. No deadening or insulation. A blank canvas to degrease, flash band, and insulate T:




And lastly for today (gotta get home for Liverpool game), Slap a little insulation on back of the carpeted panel. Next time, should be stuffing the spaces with loft insulation to make it toasty warm :D
 
#28 · (Edited)
if you have a piston/bore problem this should help i had the engine running it didnot knock bang etc good oil pressure no slap in pistons and bores are good have you started the engine with the cold start out as this helps them sometimes if pump leaking could also cause air in system which also makes engine smoke heat plugs not working right also causes smoking first off i live in scunny and as quoted you can have the bottom half even if you use crank pistons in yours will help T: yes it is an aab
 
#29 ·
The glow plugs all seem fine, no starting issues at all. A forum member said the fuel pump letting some air in could be the cause of the smoke when he came to look at it, then a mechanic he recommended said a cylinder was gone as it was knocking it's nuts off when revving high.

So, would it be a collect from yourself job, or could a courier be arranged if I go for it? Gonna ask a couple of people who have looked at my van if a bottom half will be good. Also, thank you as well T:
 
#31 ·
I will try and find out in next couple of days if I will be needing it. Figure I'm only other side of the pennines so fuel over there would be similar to courier probably :*, but either way, it would be cheaper than a full 2nd hand engine if it does what I want T:

I'll pm you when I know what I'm doing. Thanks again.
 
#32 ·
these engines are quite easy to work on etc i dont know your mechanical know how but obviosly plenty of people on this forum to help out does it sound like it is only running on four cylinders if not the bottom pulley/damper if old and cracked sounds like bigend rattle they arent cheap but dead easy to fit if you remove just drop on floor if gives hollow thud could be your prob i rebuilt the engine on one i just sold and it had the symptoms thought i had done something wrong but new pulley job done a lot of v8 engines have these style pulleys and are called harmonic balancers for obvious reasons before remove give it a visible check if rubber inner cracked then could be your kiddyT:
 
#33 ·
My mechanical know how is basically non existent, bar th few little things I have learnt so far on here from people. I can't say if it sounds odd when running really, but the mechanic who trailered it the other day said as he revved it to get it up on the trailer he could here it 'screwing its nuts off', so seemingly only under high revs a noise is obvious. Nothing leaps out to me, but my diesel experience is again, zero. Would that account for the unburnt fuel smoking on a cold start or just the noise the mechanic heard?
 
#34 ·
the bottom pulley if rattly does sound like a big end when you start van do you just let the light go out or do you wait for a click sometimes it takes abit longer for the heat plugs to warm up fully the two plugs near diesel pump are notoriously hard to fit new ones so arenot changed as much as they should like i said before the cold start lever near the door pull it out and see if that helps when starting my van smokes on first start does clear up but the 3 2.4 i have done also smoked a bit on first start and dont forget its been pretty cold as long as they dont constantly smoke then should be ok blue smoke is oil white smoke unburnt diesel if engine off a cylinder watch it if it rocking excessively then possibly down on one cylinder
 
#35 ·
I let the glow plug light go out twice before starting, and even with the cold start out it still smokes a lot. One problem is I do not have it taxed or insured, so currently cant drive it but usually the smoke last up to 1 mile at the most, then stops. If left running on the drive, it takes ages for the smoke to go away. I would say the smoke is lightly blue.

As for excessively rocking, I wouldn't know what too much was really, but what I have seen it does move a bit. I will try to get a little video of the engine with it running.

Given the previous owner, I wouldn't be surprised if the last 2 glow plugs hadn't been changed.
 
#36 ·
Hi mate,just like what you did 2 yrs ago I went to Southampton pick a t4 up, when I got there was waiting for him come home from work next thing he walked around the corner his gearbox went on him few hundred yards up the road so I ended having 8 hr round trip for nothing.
At least its not only you that has problemsRasp:
Hope you get it running sweet soon.
 
#37 ·
Wonder if it was the same guy . . . . . . I should have been more concerned when he said his work nickname was The Wrecker :eek:

However, in good van news, my mechanic called today, saying he had sourced a complete engine, gearbox and fuel pump, from a caravelle that had covered 80k T: and was being broken because someone went into the side and insurance wrote it off.

So, dropping that in should be going on this weekend I hope, and I will hopefully have an actually running van next week!!

4potter, I will say sorry as I won't (hopefully) be needing that bottom half engine off you, but thank you very much for offering it. If I hear of anyone or see someone on here it may be useful to, I will point them your way T:
 
#39 ·


A little update. Been a little lazy today, so just did one panel with the plastic insulation. Was thinking it was way too thick, then remembered it can be split and pulled apart easily enough, so half thickness it is that went in. What with double sided foil bubble insulation on either side, this should be more than enough really. Was kind of a test really, and I forgot about the screws on the middle of the panel when I tried putting it back on. Much longer ones needed to get through the insulation.

Tomorrow however, sees the drill come out and all the rivets and old fibreglass insulation get removed to start on the top panels!

Then the van goes in to garage on wednesday for it's engine transplant!:D
 
#41 ·
Bit of Sunday work before the football (A: incidentally)

Insulated the bottom half of the rear panel and a layer of bubble insulation on the wheelarch as well. Still trying to drill the many rivets out . . . . and they are only small but very little success so far.

Also, the black box behind my wheelarch, was told what it was for but have now forgotten, so left it uncovered for no incase it is important.


 
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