mi16 broken timing belt

MTAYLOR.US.ORACLE.COM (MTAYLOR@us.oracle.com)
30 Apr 97 10:24:11 -0700

John,

Your figures are way off base for rebuilding the head and your additional wo=
rk
of adding a replacement clutch and changing the front and rear main seals
would most certainly close to double the cost of the head repair, not
something Sandy appears to be interested in right now. I can sympathise with=

getting a second opinion, but the most that would be saved would be in the
area of $100 for head removal, and climbing to the bottom of a waiting list =
to
boot.

As for the additional work while the head is off, you can add at least 10-15=

hours of work for a pro to remove and replace the transmission to fix the
clutch that is working now. There is very little overlap of tasks for doing
=
both of these jobs, so all additional work to remove the trans is applicable=
,
and there is much of it.

For parts availability, there simply is no source that I was able to find th=
at
acrried any gaskets or rebuilding parts. You must be ordering most of it
through Peugeot or use one of the hard working parts sources on this list if=

you are going to be successful at finding aftermarket parts for the Mi16.
(peugeotogo@aol.com, peugeotlew@aol.com) These guys can find some things tha=
t
saves someone a few bucks, but not most of the parts. The engine rebuilder
that I used had listings for the kits for the engine overhaul, including
piston/liner ass'ys, valves, bearings, gasket sets, but his source did not
have access to any of them at a national/regional level. Now comes the fun
stuff. The gasket sets are not cheap. The overhaul set (which has very littl=
e
over what replacing the head needs, namely just one oil pan gasket and the
water pump gasket and the two main seal parts as well as two rubber seals th=
at
seal the sides of the rear main bearing cap ass'y should be used for the hea=
d
r&r. You must also purchase a head gasket, sold separately. The cost of the
=
two kits were around US$210. The valves are darn near $30 each, and labor i=
s
not free (unless you don't value your own time and do it yourself, then it's=

almost free.)

There is no way that a job of this scope could be done for $300 or even $750=

(which you said would also be used for replacing the clutch and main seals) =
by
any business. The clutch adds some $250 just for parts, if you get a good
deal. Lew provided good prices, but I got the same price locally overnight f=
or
those pieces.

Sandy, if the car is in good shape, which it should be where you live, since=

road salt is not used, and acid rain is non-existant barring no volcanic
activity, you should feel justified in spending up to $1400 or so. I agree
that over $2K is not justifiable, but a used head could be gotten for alot
less, and you could then be driving for less than a $1000 easily. The old he=
ad
could be used by a heads-up machinist to get ready for the next poor guy tha=
t
has one go on him, with the machinist or parts reseller listing to the maili=
ng
list or being called by a list watcher. If the head was not repairable for
reasonable money, maybe multiple heads could be scavenged for cheaper parts
=
than new. The old valve guides are removable, and therefore could be salvage=
d
to be placed into another head. Same with the valves. The correct way to dea=
l
with this should be to have the engine builders change the shape of the
pistons to accomodate a fully-open valve. This could be done by using a dome=

and full relief pocket to allow valve movement past the piston's upper
boundary without sacrifricing chamber volume.

Glen Gurney: Contact Lew Bailie at peugeotlew@aol.com for availability of high
compression piston/liner sets. He was working with a hobbyist that was placi=
ng
an order to England for the sets for his own race engine, who gladly offered=

to piggy-back the pieces for me onto his order. The lead time was 14 days or=

so across the Atlantic, dunno about South Pacific times. Possibly, there are=

sources closer to you for the same parts. The price I was quoted was around
=
US$1600 for a set of pistons, rings, wrist (or gudgeon) pins and liners.
Luckily, I did not need them and am already back on the road before I could
=
have had them shipped in.

One side note about the pistons and liners: you can change these on the
vehicle without removing the crankshaft, making fairly short work of it.

Mike Taylor