oilyhands

It’s not a 160, all *EU2* VVC engines are 143 and they have the weaker pistons. As I explained in my previous post.. it fails on the definitive tests, it’s EU2, it has the black topped plenum and a block mounted coilpack. All 160 engines are EU3 with plug top coils and natural aluminium plenums, if you have been told that it is 160, they lied. Oily

Spot on Andrew..

There are three easy indicators, the most obvious is the black top to the inlet plenum, 160 engines are raw aluminium and do not have the VVC logo on the top, another is the fact it is an EU2 and has the long HT leads coming up from the side of the block where the coil is mounted, 160 engines have plug top coils a and are EU3, the final easy spot is the plastic throttle body, 160 engines have an ally 52mm throttle body. Be aware however that there are a fair number of EU3 VVC engines which *do not have* 160 pistons, these appear to have been farmed out to the likes of Lotus and Caterham. Oily

That’s a pre 1999 143 VVC, so the likliehood that the mileage is as stated is very low and it has the weaker stock K series pistons. Oily

For information, it is the ring land between the top and second ring on the thrust (inlet) side that fractures, followed by loss of compression and piston disintegration. The 160 pistons have a thicker ring land, smaller valve pockets and extra buttressing under the crown adjacent to the gudgeon pin bosses, this strengthens the pistons considerably. When 160 pistons are used in a 1600 there will be issues connected with the smaller valve pockets as the pistons sit 1.4mm higher in the bore than on the 1800. Most of the pistons shown here are from standard 1600 and 1800 supersports, one is from a standard 1800. The failure point is so consistent that you can almost take a fractured land from one broken piston and place into another. Oily

If they are Pipers, there is a good chance that the profile number will be stamped on the back end of each cam. Oily

Just ensure that the filter has the flap valve to prevent drain back, this ensures oil hits the bearings pretty much immediately on startup.

Rimmer brothers; a pound and a half, I usually make them if I am short. Oily

XTR…

Shimano rear brake or rear derallieur cables are the best..

As above, but also check the carbs arent too rigidly mounted, this can cause the float valves to flutter.

Just my two-penneth, My experience of many, many engines has shown that engines with no Apollo tank and wet sump show distress on the big end bearings to a greater or lesser degree in around 80% of cases, those with factory fitted Apollo tanks rarely show any issues (less than 5% of cases) so the Apollo would seem a good halfway house towards the merits of a dry sump, mitigating against the effects of oil surge but nor eradicating the cause. I have seen 20+ engines seriously compromised by blocked pickups due to disintegrated sump foam. I have been advocating the removal of sump foam and drilling of the sump gasket since around 1999 and all the engines built or rebuilt here will have that modification undertaken. I would recommend that you ditch the foam, drill the gasket and if you can, fit an Apollo tank. Oily

Many many times, they do an excellent job, highly recommended, not cheap but very good. The sterling damper(or ‘rattler’) is a novel solution and replaces a dual mass front pulley

Some systems use citric acid as a cleanser, so its possible there is some acidic residue and magnetite.

Most of the weight saving is in the outer reaches of the flywheel (as the picture shows) so the rotating moment will be much lower. Oily