Get The Best Out Of Your Engine

1. earthed5 Infrequent Poster Joined: Feb 2010 Wigan Posts: 102 Saxo mk2 1.1 Saxo mk2 vts Combo van

   #1 12th November 2011, 22:50

   I don't want to be one of them 'not using the search button users' I have had a look at lots of posts and not really found what im after.
   
   Basically im not after more power for free or anthing like that all im looking for is how to get the best out of your engine. Most of our saxos are over 10 years old now and im thinking i may have missed somthing in looking after my engine.
   
   Im guessing a regular quality service evry 12months would do the job but what should i do to get the most out of my engine? wether it be a standard engine or modified. Any advice from complete strip down to a simple oil change. what are we looking at?
2. Tontsy Saxperience Addict Joined: Oct 2008 Plymouth, Fiddling - under a two poster ramp Posts: 14064 Audi

   #2 12th November 2011, 22:52

   change the alternator bracket for a chromed one.
3. user_36198 Saxperience Post Whore Joined: Aug 2009 ilkeston derbyshire Posts: 9823 C2 VTR stripped, 406hdi, clio 172

   #3 12th November 2011, 22:54

   drive it like you stole it! alternatively,get your mate to follow you in his car,make sure he has an army surplus blue flashing light on the dash, at a pre arranged speed get him to switch the light on, i can vouch, the presence of a blue flashing light doubles ANY cars bhp
4. earthed5 Infrequent Poster Joined: Feb 2010 Wigan Posts: 102 Saxo mk2 1.1 Saxo mk2 vts Combo van

   #4 12th November 2011, 23:00

   I think you may need to read it again, im not looking for more bhp or people taking the piss. just some serious advice on improving the running of your engine.
5. Tontsy Saxperience Addict Joined: Oct 2008 Plymouth, Fiddling - under a two poster ramp Posts: 14064 Audi

   #5 12th November 2011, 23:01

   dont use diesel . . .
6. user_34645 Saxperience Forum Bum Joined: Jun 2009 Rack City, Isle of Man Posts: 4127 GS300, MK1 VTS, Katy M 1190

   #6 12th November 2011, 23:04

   You said it yourself really, without building a high spec engine.
   
   General servicing with decent quality oils and such. If they haven't been done already, Get the head off and re-lap the valves and de-coke them + the pistons. Just thing like these can cause poor running/ compromise the engine to run at its best
7. user_21226 Saxperience Post Whore Joined: Feb 2008 wirral Posts: 6348 Icelandic vtr turbo

   #7 12th November 2011, 23:11

   Personally the best way to look after the one you have is to Start by giving it a full service ie oil, oil filter, fuel filter, plugs, and change the water pump, cam belt, alt belt, headgasket and thermostat. That should give your engine a fresh breath of life then stay on top of services every 10,000 miles.
   
   You could make a near new engine with out much hasstle would just cost around 1k-1.5k and personally unless your building a more performance engine I wouldn't bother
8. Tontsy Saxperience Addict Joined: Oct 2008 Plymouth, Fiddling - under a two poster ramp Posts: 14064 Audi

   #8 12th November 2011, 23:15

   srs now then.
   
   i give my motor an oil filter change every 3k.
   at 6k i will change plugs and air filter too.
9. Barry123 Saxperience Hardcore! Joined: Oct 2005 Aycliffe Posts: 32205 Saxo VTS

   #9 12th November 2011, 23:31

   Ultrasonic the injectors
10. user_39821 Saxperience Forum Bum Joined: Dec 2009 Uckfield, East Sussex Posts: 3362 Citroen saxo 1.4 furio

    #10 12th November 2011, 23:40

    Quote:

    Originally Posted by ed-bradley You said it yourself really, without building a high spec engine. General servicing with decent quality oils and such. If they haven't been done already, Get the head off and re-lap the valves and de-coke them + the pistons. Just thing like these can cause poor running/ compromise the engine to run at its best

    Cleaning pistons will make the engine less efficient
11. user_34645 Saxperience Forum Bum Joined: Jun 2009 Rack City, Isle of Man Posts: 4127 GS300, MK1 VTS, Katy M 1190

    #11 12th November 2011, 23:44

    Really? How so? Fml, I take it back.
    
    But surely, I know this may be an extreme case.. If the Pistons are so coked up with carbon and crap that'd compromise the combustion? Bits may flake of and clog up the Exhaust ports and such?
    Whenever I've built bike engines I've always been told to De-coke the pistons and give the head a general tidy up..and thats for bikes that Race the Manx GP and world superside sidecar.
12. logic_guy Saxperience Forum Bum Joined: Nov 2010 England Posts: 3423

    #12 12th November 2011, 23:53

    Ultrasonic clean your injectors (injectortune.com)
    Oil change every 5K with a new filter
    Replace and renew belts when recommended.
    Renew any gaskets
    Replace air filter and fuel filter
    Grind a knifes edge onto your butterfly in the throttle body. (Increases throttle response)
    
    Just look after it and it'll look after you. I'm paranoid that my Piston rings will soon wear out. I've only done 66K
13. user_34645 Saxperience Forum Bum Joined: Jun 2009 Rack City, Isle of Man Posts: 4127 GS300, MK1 VTS, Katy M 1190

    #13 12th November 2011, 23:55

    Piston rings had gone on my 1.1, It was burning oil like hell.
    So much built up carbon and crap on the piston tops and Valves I'm surprised it actually Ran.
14. Damask Regular Poster Joined: Jul 2011 Rutland Posts: 487 Saxo desire 1.1 2002, no mods.

    #14 12th November 2011, 23:59

    personally, i'd say breathing mods would be best, a decat exhaust (illegal though :/) uprated air intake, chipped to allow for the better airflow... just basically stop your engine from being so restricted... apart from that, the rest has already been said (and i daresay someone says im wrong)
15. user_39821 Saxperience Forum Bum Joined: Dec 2009 Uckfield, East Sussex Posts: 3362 Citroen saxo 1.4 furio

    #15 13th November 2011, 00:05

    The carbon that builds up around the edges of the piston and the rings creates a molecular seal between the the piston and the bore (which will also have a build up of carbon, a build up which is facilitated by the honing marks applied to it when it was last built). you will often find that as engine bores wear it is this seal that is stopping a lot of blow by and oil burning. so when people rebuild the engine all squeaky clean, it will actually be worse than before. obviously if it is excessive then you have a problem to solve, such as a fuelling issue.

    1 user thanked this post: user_34645
16. user_34645 Saxperience Forum Bum Joined: Jun 2009 Rack City, Isle of Man Posts: 4127 GS300, MK1 VTS, Katy M 1190

    #16 13th November 2011, 00:11

    Ahh Yeah, honing marks and such.. I've never cleaned them/the cylinder walls or bores them selves unless building it up from scratch. When I've taken the head off before to clean I've only cleaned the Crown, Valve heads and seats etc, not the bore or skirt.. well not thoroughly anyway, a wipe around and smear with oil will do. With the crown and valves I tend to scrape the build up off and soak in Kero (on bikes anyway) to clean them further.
    Gets rid of the majority of impurities for the meantime, until the head comes off again
17. user_39821 Saxperience Forum Bum Joined: Dec 2009 Uckfield, East Sussex Posts: 3362 Citroen saxo 1.4 furio

    #17 13th November 2011, 00:18

    another problem comes when people use high end thin fully synthetic oil in old/low tolerance engines like saxo's. and it just finds it's way past every gap
18. logic_guy Saxperience Forum Bum Joined: Nov 2010 England Posts: 3423

    #18 13th November 2011, 00:25

    Quote:

    Originally Posted by adamskiTNR The carbon that builds up around the edges of the piston and the rings creates a molecular seal between the the piston and the bore (which will also have a build up of carbon, a build up which is facilitated by the honing marks applied to it when it was last built). you will often find that as engine bores wear it is this seal that is stopping a lot of blow by and oil burning. so when people rebuild the engine all squeaky clean, it will actually be worse than before. obviously if it is excessive then you have a problem to solve, such as a fuelling issue.

    I can see exactly what you are going on about. I thought that Piston rings were supposed to cause the tight seal?
19. user_34645 Saxperience Forum Bum Joined: Jun 2009 Rack City, Isle of Man Posts: 4127 GS300, MK1 VTS, Katy M 1190

    #19 13th November 2011, 00:27

    The rings wear, as all Metal on metal things do. Thats why Oil is basically squirted between them to seal them further and reduce wear.
20. tarzan Frequent Poster Joined: Apr 2010 Lurgan Posts: 767 2001 black saxo furio 2001 black saxo vts

    #20 13th November 2011, 15:11

    im rebuilding a vts engine ive took the old rings off and cleaned the pistons. you are saying that cleaning the carbon reduces efficiency? should i get the block honed and should be sorted then?
21. user_20080 Saxperience Hardcore! Joined: Dec 2007 smurfland. Posts: 17346 Ex saxo owner.

    #21 13th November 2011, 15:49

    Quote:

    Originally Posted by Damask personally, i'd say breathing mods would be best, a decat exhaust (illegal though :/) uprated air intake, chipped to allow for the better airflow... just basically stop your engine from being so restricted... apart from that, the rest has already been said (and i daresay someone says im wrong)

    Sorry to p1ss on your bonfire mate,but regular servicing & motorway driving all adds to longer engine life.When you drive around town the oil doesn`t heat up to it`s most efficient temperature so you`ll get more engine wear.
22. toxic Frequent Poster Joined: Mar 2007 Posts: 772

    #22 13th November 2011, 16:20

    Quote:

    Originally Posted by tarzan im rebuilding a vts engine ive took the old rings off and cleaned the pistons. you are saying that cleaning the carbon reduces efficiency? should i get the block honed and should be sorted then?

    If I was you i would get the block honed i did mine and evey 1 told me to do it as well as they did theres, even in the book on engine rebuilding it tells you to hone the block
23. tarzan Frequent Poster Joined: Apr 2010 Lurgan Posts: 767 2001 black saxo furio 2001 black saxo vts

    #23 13th November 2011, 19:06

    Quote:

    Originally Posted by toxic If I was you i would get the block honed i did mine and evey 1 told me to do it as well as they did theres, even in the book on engine rebuilding it tells you to hone the block

    brilliant. cheers mate
24. LSOfreak Saxperience Addict Joined: Jan 2008 west london Posts: 13810

    #24 13th November 2011, 19:26

    Quote:

    Originally Posted by Damask personally, i'd say breathing mods would be best, a decat exhaust (illegal though :/) uprated air intake, chipped to allow for the better airflow... just basically stop your engine from being so restricted... apart from that, the rest has already been said (and i daresay someone says im wrong)

    cant i ask what you mean by 'chipped'?
25. user_39821 Saxperience Forum Bum Joined: Dec 2009 Uckfield, East Sussex Posts: 3362 Citroen saxo 1.4 furio

    #25 13th November 2011, 22:26

    I'm not saying that cleaning it will have long term detriment on your engine, it will just take time for the rings etc to seal to their optimum
26. logic_guy Saxperience Forum Bum Joined: Nov 2010 England Posts: 3423

    #26 13th November 2011, 23:27

    Once you've done the free stuff, its worth looking here:
    
    http://www.saxperience.com/faq/show-...e.php?artid=82
    
    I've never came across this page before (under the Articles section), but it gives some basic info.
27. Grant187 Infrequent Poster Joined: Oct 2011 Stone Cross Posts: 184

    #27 14th November 2011, 02:36

    what do you mean by chipped to increse air flow ?