Grim Reaper Posted June 3, 2003 Share Posted June 3, 2003 Alas,I only managed 200 miles or so before I managed to break the thing! On the way home from the SVA (which it failed on noise I might add) my new DVA'd VVC 1800 decided to eat one of the Bernard scouse airbox retaining captive nuts ☹️ The bolt had vibrated loose and fallen out (between cylinders 2 & 3) the captive nut dropped down and was ingested into No 3 cylinder. I have removed the head,recovered what was left of the fastener from the cylinder and am now looking at a peppered piston,combustion chamber and slightly marked valves. Needless to say I am devastated. The noise I could have fixed quite easily,the result of the ingestion I cannot. ☹️ So,as a warning to other users of Bernards airbox,go now and check the bolts are all tight,loctited and the retaining nuts are siliconed in place.I would not want this to happen to my worst enemy. Any thoughts on the best way to fix this will be appreciated,no need to pass on comiserations,I feel terrible already. ☹️ I think the best thing to do is replace the piston,put a standsrd 1.8 head on it,get it through the SVA,get it registered,then look at sorting the other head out.(more money ☹️) It was going so well up until then too... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Graham Sewell Posted June 3, 2003 Share Posted June 3, 2003 Having seen pictures of how Roger King has repaired a cylinder head I would suggest having a word with him or see what DVA suggests in terms of getting your current head fixed. That way, the cost could be as 'little' as a piston, cylinder liner, 4 valves and a cylinder head repair. Low tech luddite - xflow and proud! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
New Barbie Posted June 3, 2003 Share Posted June 3, 2003 You have my symapthies, after all that effort. As you know, I have an unused VVC head with valves. Give me a call if you want to discuss, maybe we can get you going again with plenty of summer left. shrewdcookie - my site Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Peter T Posted June 3, 2003 Share Posted June 3, 2003 In my opinion any bolt within the area of the ingestion of an engine should be correctly secured using a spring washer or Loctite, even better is to have them lock wired together! C7 PWT Pure Steel XE. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Colin Grundy Posted June 3, 2003 Share Posted June 3, 2003 Grim, Did you do the job yourself. If not, is there not some sort of a warranty issue or goodwill gesture here? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Grim Reaper Posted June 3, 2003 Author Share Posted June 3, 2003 Ah,Robert,always on the lookout for a sale I agree that they should be secured,but they all seemed to be very securely fixed when I put it on,in fact the remaining 4 are unmoveable now that I have it off again.(that won't stop me siliconing them in place further still) The engine and all the parts have been put together by me,so I suppose I am to blame,but it seems like a scene from CSI is playing over in my head...the bolt working loose and dropping out,the captive nut slipping downwards off the fibreglass,rattling around behind the trupmets for a while then being dragged into the throttle body,sticking for a moment in the throats then passing past the inlet valves to be smashed to pieces by the piston. An unforseen cataclysmic failure (as seen recently on the shuttle,who would have thought a bit of foam would have the effects it did?) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CHRIS CLARK Posted June 3, 2003 Share Posted June 3, 2003 Sorry to hear of that. And it had failed SVA too. Luck can only get better! I believe that this sort of disaster also occurred to an R500 owner with one of the 100ukp 'Reverie' C/fibre air boxes that was fitted by a proffesional outfit. Think there was a right old 'doo' regarding warranty as to who paid for what as who was at fault. Was it the Reverie box, the fitters or what? Clamshell Club Founder Member. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
normalbloke.29 Posted June 3, 2003 Share Posted June 3, 2003 I believe the foam is still innocent until proven Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Grim Reaper Posted June 4, 2003 Author Share Posted June 4, 2003 Chris,No not the reverie box,one made by Bernard Scouse (see DVA's website) The captive nuts were (and the ones left are) quite securely in place on the fibreglass when I installed it. The vibration has dropped the bolt out onto the road at some point (could have been during the SVA even) and then the captive nut has worked its way loose off the GRP and dropped behind the trumpets,rattled around in there for a while then been sucked into No3,past the butterfly,through the throat and past the valves. When I took the head off,the remains were still in there (I stopped it pretty quickly once I heard the rattle) Bu@@er! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
oilyhands Posted June 4, 2003 Share Posted June 4, 2003 As already offerred over the 'phone, please bring it down and I will check it over/repair it for you, I have all the necessary parts in stock, you'd be surprised how well it will repair. I have a stock head I can loan you FOC in the meantime if the repair takes longer than a day. To be fair to Bernard the installation instructions on his website specifically mention that the fasterners should be loctited in place as should any that are at or near the induction system. Oily Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Grim Reaper Posted June 4, 2003 Author Share Posted June 4, 2003 Yes,Thanks Dave,I'll send some pictures as soon as I can bring myself to look at it again. I have no-one to blame but myself. My reason for posting this thread was to bring the fact to the attention of anyone who has the airbox to go and check it again. For 10p worth of silicone sealant on the inside this would never have happened. Frustration at not being able to get it going initially or exitement when it finally burst into life may have got the better of my engineering procedures. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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