Sorry guys and gals, for a very basic question.

Just bought myself a 1600 Kent engined 7 replica with "mild" engine problems -- very little compression on no.1 and low compression on no.2. Suspect head gasket but could be any number of other problems. My Escort MkII workshop manual is on its way from the UK but I want to start with the job and not wait any longer. Please can someone give me the vital info required for this job, i.e. dismantling and replacement sequence, bolting sequence, torque values, etc. Alternatively, if you have a pdf version of the workshop manual floating around, please forward me a copy of the engine section to francoisd at webmail dot co dot za

Many thanks and greeting from sunny South Africa!

Francois de Villiers

The following from from the Mk2 Escort Haynes manual:

Tightening sequence:

code:
 

          Inlet side 

 9     3     1     5     7  

 8     6     2     4     10 

        Exhaust side 

comes off in mins mate very easy to remove get a manual its will save you time and money.

You need to take the engine apart to bits, thats your best bet. I have a few of these engines and its always the same issue.
On one of them I had bent con-rods thats why the compression was bad, also worn out valve guides.
In the rebuild of one of these budget for:
Gaskets
Rings (possibly a rebore so don't commit to rings before you choose your pistons)
Check the crank and rods for deformations (engineering shop),you'd possibly need main/big end bearings.
Possible skimming of the head and block
Possibly new valve guides in the head.

While working make sure the internals are completely clean. I always end up spending more time cleaning than assembling these engines.
It may seem time consuming but worth it for any future work.
Follow the figures That MikeRJ posted. They are correct.

Thanks for the replies, guys. I'm first going to do the head gasket only. Hope this will solve the problems. If not I wil strip the motor completely and look further. No if only Amazon would stop losing my parcels ...

Might be worth doing a compression test before stripping ,do a wet test after !

if you take the head off, then turn each piston to TDC and measure the height of each from the face of the block, should they vary then you prob have bent rods or something worse :S.
You mentioned that one of your cylinders has bad compression, heres a small test:
put a few drops of oil in that cylinder and do the test again. If compression increases then its most probably your rings or something from the bottomend, if it doesnt then it could be a blown gasket or worn valve guides.

Does the engine smoke at all when running? or after idleing when you open up the throttle?

Your spark plugs might be of help,see what colour you get after running the engine.

Haven't done the test myself so not sure about the values (bought the car via "remote control" and a friend with a Landy workshop checked it out for me).

Will do wet and dry tests before stripping the head off. No smoke, also no contamination in coolant or engine oil. Neither the telltale idling "clunk" of big end damage. The guy I bought the car from never revved it over 5000 rpm (or so he says) so I doubt if there would be major damage. Suspect low coolant level and bit of slow traffic combined to cause mild overheating and blown head gasket.

What is a wory though is some "smoke" (probably oil vapour) from the tappet cover gasket when driving without the bonnet -- worn valve stem seals?

Plugs sooty black from over rich DCOE's, no other indications of damage.

X flow engines do seem to "breathe heavily" . I worried about mine when I first had it on a rolling road

Smoke from there could also be rings,if the compression gets past the rings and is blown into the sump then you get that vapor too.

quote:

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Originally posted by thepest
Smoke from there could also be rings,if the compression gets past the rings and is blown into the sump then you get that vapor too.

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BTW ... what should the pressure readings be on a hleathy engine?

with new rings and standard compression you should see around 10bar, I used to run engines even up to 8.5 bar

You have been given good advice on removing and refitting a Kent cylinder Head. Dead easy, just get on with it, if you can't manage that then sell the kit car and buy something off the local garage forecourt with a good warranty. As I say you have to learn and they don't come much easier!

Compression testers are notoriously inaccurate and I always advise my customers to use them as comparitors trather than a measuring instrument. Establish if all the readings are the same within a bar.

A compression test may not tell you if a head gasket has gone.

Take little notice of the man who thinks bent rods are commonplace on these engines or that valve guides can contribute to low compression.

It probably is a head gasket but possibly a burnt exhaust valve or both. Just get the head off and have somebody look at it for you.

[Edited on 7/10/07 by david walker]

Thanks Dave for the words of encouragement! All the talk about serious engine problems made me wonder what sort of nasties I missed when I checked out the car

It will be delivered later this week, and time permitting I'll have the head off on Saturday ...

The Kent is an ideal "learning" engine, it's difficult to completely bugger it up unless you are clueless

Yep - as said above. The Kent is one of the easiest engines to work on, with very few things to worry about.

One of the commonest problems with the head is the narrow bridge of iron between 2 and 3 - which doesn't sound like your problem, fortunately. This crack is usually caused by poor technique in tightening and/or undoing the head bolts (in other words, follow the sequence suggested above).

The same goes for the sump - start off by making sure that the mounting face is flat, then tighten up in the middle and work outwards, alternating sides and ends diagonally. If you start at one end and work round there's a fair chance that you'll get leaks.

Oh yes - if you take the head off and feel the need to remove the pushrods, keep them in order by pushing them through holes in a bit of cardboard and writing their number alongside.

Otherwise it's a very forgiving engine, a bit like a kid's Meccano set.

I can recommend the Wallage x-flow book, which I found useful in combination with a Haynes manual for the Mk2 Escort.