Educate me please (a big ask, I know)

[Grandmaster Flatcap]

"If" one was going to buy a used car / right off in order to get a donor engine to rebuild as a project / upgrade, would / should the mileage of the donor engine be a consideration?

Assuming the engine will be stripped, cleaned, bearings etc checked, does the block or head "wear" (porosity? mechanical / prolonged heat stresses? chemical changes? etc)

Ta,

[Roger Ford]

( Smartarse attempt at humour deleted )

 

[Peter G]

Nigel, simple answer is yes for aluminium bits, heads can overheat and soften rendering thiem pretty much useless.

[flaps7]

Roger - I can only asume you have had a drink too many for lunch as your reply is that of a teenager trying to be clever; and failing. You do need to get out more, have a word with your mum.

Nigel - from my many cries for help on this site I can assure you that Roger is in a very small minority (covering their lack of social skills with 'smart' replies) and there are many in our club willing to offer help withouy trying to offer lessons in 'English'.

Rick

[Roger Ford]

Sorry if I offended anyone. I don't normally comment on grammar but "educate me" followed by an Americanism seemed to cry out for such a reply. I can't always see the line between humour and offence.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Dorset7]

No wonder some of the other forums and sites are doing so well while this one suffers a bit given that sort of response to a simple question - good way to put people off! 

It doesn't make you look clever - it makes you look like a smart arse and a bit of a tool.  

[Jonathan Kay]

Roger has apologised. And his comment was uncharacteristic.

Please let it go.

Jonathan

[Grandmaster Flatcap]

I second JK.

[Dorset7]

I had let it go JK, I'd made my point quite clearly and it didn't require further comment, from anyone.

But......now you've got me on it again I'll comment further..........I joined this club a while back and love it, I've had all the technical assistance I could wish for, some interesting an frank debates, I've been provided with some genuinely funny and witty comment on all manner of subjects and, in real life not cyberlife, made some fantastic friends that I enjoy spending time and having a laugh with - all as a consequence of my membership.

However - it gets my back up when someone asks a simple question to then be bombarded with comments on grammer, spelling or is replied to in a condescending or deriosry manner. Couple this with endless, and largely irrelevant, links in an attempt to make the respondent look clever or supeirior at the expense of the original poster when a simple answer would do - it's just not cricket!

I'm not looking to start a row or jepordise my forum rights but I just feel it needs saying (I doubt I'm alone in my views). There is a wealth of information, experience and knowledge amongst members that is there to share. I'm not, by any means, saying it should be sterile and lack banter but a bit of thought to how your response will be taken wouldn't go amiss sometimes.

My comments are a generalisation and not really aimed at anyone but it's needs saying - people will be put off asking questions or posting if we're not careful!

I dare say I'll be banned from the forum as a result of a complaint now - so be it.

 

[Roger Ford]

Nigel was hardly "bombarded" with comments. I simply took the subject heading as-is, and attempted a parody of a pedantic English teacher trying to educate him. Of course I should have realised that this would look like it was criticising his English, and when this was pointed out to me (in a none too pleasant manner, I must say), I immediately apologised and I stand by that apology.

As for posting lots of links in replies, that's not an attempt to look clever, it's an attempt to be informative and to point people to further information. There's no need to follow them if you're not interested.

[Dorset7]

Roger, as I said, I was generalising and my rant was off the back of your comments rather than at them directly.

I realise this incident was just a bit misjudged and there was no malicious intent followed by a quick and genuine apology.

I stand by the comments I've made though - we need to think before we type!

 

[Grandmaster Flatcap]

Gentlemen, please.

Roger's post was out of character. He has appologised and removed the post.

Christian: I think that there are a couple of "Trolls" who lurk on here. They should stop. Roger is not one of them.

Can we move on now and discuss watches, coffee makers, PDF's, planes, secret desires, the government, Top Gear, internet scams, the opposition, the NHS, 3D printing, airfix, robots, reptiles, books, films, old gags, new gags (I'm thinking UKIP) OR perhaps we could find time to pass comment on cars...?

[paul richards]

Nigel

To answer your question and I assume we are talking K series, I don't think mileage has much relevance. As you say it will be rebuilt with new bearings etc. Aluminium can be porous, but low mileage is no guarantee that the head is good. Obviously it would be better to purchase an engine that is a "runner".

[garybee]

Although aluminium heads/blocks can be softened due to overheating (K-series particularly so), this is not due to the mileage the car has covered.  Whether or not the engine has been overheated would bother me much more than the odo' reading.  Spotting that is the tricky bit though.

Check the plastics that sit against the head for deformation.  If the cam cover is off, have a look at the black plate/seal which loses it's protective coating if it's been very hot.  Look for signs of a past overheat in the header tank (residual emulsion, coppery deposits from K-Seal).  These can be cleaned out of course, but often aren't.

[OliverSedlacek]

Having some experience of high mileage engines, I can only comment that mileage doesn't seem to do any harm. My 200,323 mile all alloy tintop engine has just been stripped and rebuilt and the engine builder's comments on the condition of the internals was that the bores, block, pistons, rings and heads were all 'very good'. I built a 270 BHP Rover V8 engine out of an engine pulled from the scrappers with god knows how many miles on it. The engine in the wife's car was solid after 250,000 miles, but it did need new followers.

As others have said, overheating is a different matter. Determining whether an engine has ever overheated badly may not be terribly easier, and all I can think of is to check the head and block faces for flatness once they are unbolted. If either has warped, chuck it. As for 'going soft', a Shore or Vickers hardness test is non-destructive and should be easy to do.