stewart pickles Posted March 11, 2014 Share Posted March 11, 2014 I think pete is spot on with the engine in the for sale add, if your going to do track days it's dry dumped and would suit your needs 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SootySport Posted March 11, 2014 Share Posted March 11, 2014 My XE is quite happy with it's oil pressure on track, no dry sump. Never had a wink from the oil light, I guess I'm lucky. I also don't suffer with fuel starvation on long sweeping bends without a swirlpot. Other things have broken or fallen off but nothing serious. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Terry Everall Posted March 11, 2014 Share Posted March 11, 2014 Any wet sump or altered shallow sump needs to be carefully designed and fabricated with baffles to ensure that the pick up pipe bowl sits right on the bottom of the sump to minimise the chance of sucking air instead of oil on long hard corners Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
darve Posted March 11, 2014 Share Posted March 11, 2014 My XE is quite happy with it's oil pressure on track, no dry sump. Never had a wink from the oil light, I guess I'm lucky. I also don't suffer with fuel starvation on long sweeping bends without a swirlpot. Other things have broken or fallen off but nothing serious. The evidence here suggests you're not going fast enough Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Arm Posted March 11, 2014 Share Posted March 11, 2014 I guess this must have been flashing its low oil light at some point when out on track? What oil pressure warning were you getting ? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SootySport Posted March 11, 2014 Share Posted March 11, 2014 The evidence here suggests you're not going fast enough Watch it you! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cszjrh Posted March 12, 2014 Author Share Posted March 12, 2014 I guess this must have been flashing its low oil light at some point when out on track? What oil pressure warning were you getting ? I didn't see an oil pressure warning however.... before I bought the car it had had a removable steering wheel fitted which (I have now spotted) obscures the warning light from my driving position.... Complete rookie mistake I know... However that doesn't mean there was a warning but if there was I might have missed it. Expensive lesson learnt and something I'll be remedying as I rebuild. I was sucked into watching the digital dash and was keeping a close eye on the temperatures only... On a much more positive note though I've found a mechanic friend who is more than happy to help me with an engine swap so fingers crossed I may not be off the road too long. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cszjrh Posted March 12, 2014 Author Share Posted March 12, 2014 Out of interest how many hours work would you say it is to swap the engine over? Steady pace with time for explanations and tea drinking. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dave Eastwood (Gadgetman) - Club Chairman Posted March 12, 2014 Share Posted March 12, 2014 Well that's some good news at least. To be fair, on track, with so much going on, gauges are often near useless. It's why on many, many heavily track used cars, you'll see a really, and I do mean really, bright LED or conventional lamp, right in your line of site. I've seen brake lights used before now! Mounted on top of the scuttle, right in front of you. I used something a little more restrained when I built mine, though just as piercingly bright. I got an LED panel lamp from RS, about the size of a ten pence piece in diameter, mounted vertically on a metal plate, between the scuttle top and aeroscreen, right in front of me. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Captain Colonial Posted March 12, 2014 Share Posted March 12, 2014 Out of interest how many hours work would you say it is to swap the engine over? Steady pace with time for explanations and tea drinking. A day should sort it, but you can do a lot of prep work ahead of time, bit by bit, and make the job go faster (drain fluids, remove rad and hoses, etc.) Make sure you get in everything you need ahead of time as well - new fluids and filters specifically. Also, after you're done, don't forget to tell DVLA and your insurance company about the new engine number! 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dave Eastwood (Gadgetman) - Club Chairman Posted March 12, 2014 Share Posted March 12, 2014 Hmm, with practice, ( :bangshead: ) I had engine out's down to forty minutes on mine at one stage! If you know your way round the car and have all the tools to hand, no issues with stuck fasteners etc an hour and a half shouldn't be hard to manage for removal. Two hours perhaps, at the extreme, if you need to work out what's going where. (That's assuming engine out, but gearbox left in). Going back in takes that bit longer. Specially lining up the engine/box. But despite some peoples ease of refitting and removing engine and gearbox in one go, mine was an absolute evil pig of a job, the one and only time I did it that way. Never again! would rather spend a bit longer lining the engine and box up in situ. I would say allow a good two to three hours for refit if only removing the engine. (And going at slowish pace). That said, if you were literally removing one, then bolting another straight in, you'd probably find the combined time a little less than the individual times, simply because every things already to hand and it's all fresh in your mind. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Captain Colonial Posted March 12, 2014 Share Posted March 12, 2014 Freshly uploaded today - this might help? http://forum.wscc.co.uk/forum/index.php/files/file/73-westfield-world-march-april-2003-pdf/ Pages 23-24 specifically - no offence intended at the article title, but a good read and could assist, can't hurt to read it! 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
darve Posted March 12, 2014 Share Posted March 12, 2014 Also, after you're done, don't forget to tell DVLA and your insurance company about the new engine number! good point I've not done that Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SootySport Posted March 12, 2014 Share Posted March 12, 2014 Should have a Sub Forum for stories like this, lets call it "Bought it, Tracked it, Blew it", there has been a few Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cszjrh Posted March 20, 2014 Author Share Posted March 20, 2014 Well I took the plunge today and spent a couple of hours on my own starting stripping down my current XE ahead of getting the replacement engine at the weekend. Really enjoyed myself and managed to get the alternator, induction and exhaust manifolds off and drain down the fluids that remained in the system. Cylinder number 2 is clearly where the excitement occurred on the track with a small pile of metal shavings greeting me when I removed the inlet manifold... What I wasn't expecting to see though was a bent engine mount: I'm assuming that the piston failed piercing the block which then allowed the mount to tear away? Guess I'll know more when I strip down further. Will call Westfield Parts in the morning but does anyone know if they still sell narrow body Vauxhall mounts? Cheers, John Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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