My S2 coupe bit of a rebuild and repair thread.

[B5NUT]

So to all the users that guessed my car had an early superchips modification done to it, you were 100% correct. These are the chips removed.
1-chip.jpg

2-chip.jpg

Thankfully the MAP sensor had not been changed. So it was just a case of replacing the chips.

[B5NUT]

So yesterday I got to remove the crank bolt & pully, as I wanted to see where all the oil was coming from. However I'm still not 100% sure...

It's all wet around the back of the alternator bracket1-oil.jpg

All nice and covered in oil above and below the sump gasket
2=oil.jpg

So there is grime along the green line but it's not wet, it's just more dirt. So I don't believe the crank seal is leaking. Everything around the red line is wet with oil.

3-oil.jpg

It even runs around the other side but not very far.

4-oil.jpg


So still none the wiser, so it's all been cleaned up. Thinking of running the car and then look for the leak when it's back on the road. However I have a feeling it could be the sump gasket!
5-clean.jpg

[Bowie69]

Think you could be right..... If you have the subframe off the car, now is the time to do it, it is a pain otherwise.

[Mikes2]

If it's gathered higher up than the sump gasket, it probably isn't the sump gasket. Could be the oil pump gasket or higher up still from the cam cover gasket

[B5NUT]

Subframe is back on the car. I will go round with the torque wrench and make sure the sump bolts are all torqued correctly.

I don't think I have any other option but to run the car and now with it cleaned up just look for the leak next year. One possible place was the oil pressure switch (now replaced) it could have just run around the base of the engine block, even more so if the car was parked on a slope...

[johne]

I'd suggest the most likely source of oil in those places isn't the engine, it's the PAS pump which can be intermittent or in the past and then fixed.

[B5NUT]

I was looking around the PAS pump and it's all dry around there.

[LHD_Kid]

Did you check round the back of the engine? It can leak from the breather pipes and trickle to there... otherwise, my bet is the cam cover gasket...

[B5NUT]

Yes had a look around the back of the engine, and it all looks nice and dry. I will just keep an eye on it once the car is back on the road.

So it's been a bit quiet on my thread due to mainly waiting on parts and tools (torque wrench) which should arrive tomorrow. Anyway I got an almost new oil cooler the other day thanks to Tango123. He also provided a bracket but it was just not OEM enough for my liking, and by now you all know what a tart I'm being about trying to keep the car as factory as possible..

Now this is what I had to work from, the original bracket from the car that has almost dissolved!
1-odear.jpg

After watching far too much project Binky, I decided to have a go at CAD, and have to say it's not as easy as it looks! Think this was template number 5 and even that was wrong as I forgot the extra few mm for the speed clips that would be clipped to the tabs on the cooler..
2-cad.jpg
Sounds daft but this took about 4 hours to complete.
3-cad.jpg

Local metal shop provided a 1mm sheet steel for £5 and using the templates started to cut out the shapes with the grinder, which did not go well! So got out the jigsaw which made the job a hell of a lot easier.
4-metal.jpg

After bending the metal using a bit of flat bar, vice and a hammer the top and bottom sections were complete. It was then I found the sides were to small due to forgetting about the speed nuts.
5-metal.jpg

So new CAD templates made and more hacking around with the sheet of metal, the sides were made and got the welder out. Now I'm no profession welder! Hell I'm not even an armature welder that's for sure, but the welded edges turned out Ok, after a bit of grinding back!
6-metal.jpg

7-metal.jpg

So the final section to complete is the mounting plate. Thankfully this was still in one piece on the old bracket.
8-rust2.jpg
It just needed cutting out and the rust removing.

9-clean.jpg

Then it was welded to the bracket. Now, don't know if it's my poor welding skill's or it's this mystery welding machine for which I cannot find a manual for, but I always get a lot of little hole in my welds. I was given the machine years ago, but I would like to improve my welding skill's and not sure this machine going to help with that. I've also no idea on the quality of the wire I'm using. I'm not using gas and I was told the wire I'm using does not require gas.
10-machine.jpg

See all of the little holes... or craters as you professional welders would call it!
11-craters.jpg


So the finished bracket
12-finish.jpg

Just needs several coats of epoxy to protect it from looking like the old bracket.
13-finish.jpg

[Bowie69]

That's some excellent work there my man, well done.

Gasless migs don't produce very good welds I'm afraid, if you switch the wire out, and get a bottle of argon/co2 mix it will improve immeasurably.

[Tractor Dave]

Yes, nice work indeed. That took some patience!
Is your wire clean? Any corrosion on the wire? The craters are caused by impurities I belive. I'm not keen on gassless anyway. Buying a more modern welder vastly improved my welding. I have a jasic pro and it's brilliant.

[B5NUT]

I think I'm going to add a new welder to my tool list, it's also heavy as hell and not what you call potable. I would also like one I can do alloy with.

[K Simmonds]

That's some excellent work there my man, well done.

Gasless migs don't produce very good welds I'm afraid, if you switch the wire out, and get a bottle of argon/cow mix it will improve immeasurably.

Exactly what I was going to say, I've never been impressed by gasless MIG's. While they can work okay under perfect conditions they will never produce as good of a weld than with gas, you did well to do as nice a job as you did, that's tidy, must have taken ages. Still, very satisfying.

As Dave say's more modern welders are much, much easier to use and get good results with. The one I use at work is amazing, you enter the material thickness and what profile weld you want and it set's itself up for you, it's basically impossible to get wrong.

Though if you get to know your machine an older MIG with gas can work just as well, I have the previous one from work at home that was made in about 1992 and nothing special, I put a new Euro lance on it and once I get it set up I can work just as well with it. Take's a bit of faffing with the wire speed and couple of trial runs on waste material though.

[K Simmonds]

I think I'm going to add a new welder to my tool list, it's also heavy as hell and not what you call potable. I would also like one I can do alloy with.

If you want to weld alloy nicely, especially fine work, you should consider investing in a TIG, while there are MIG's that can do it (the one I use at work can if you change the wire and gas) they don't produce the same results as the TIG my mate recently invested in, which I'm yet to learn how to use.

[Bowie69]

Yep, a nice multi-process machine is on my dream list, c.£1500 however for a mid-range one.