XLD416 - The Saga Continues

[Forbsie]

Right, the story so far.

My Buckingham 25 has a Ford 2.1 Diesel in a dreadful mess attached to a Sonic 100 sterndrive. I want to downsize to a 20-40hp engine and taking advice from the panel, I am currently aiming at a Ford 1.6, the XLD416. On my travels around the breakers yards and spares shops someone suggested calling Tim at TJ Marine in Hanworth, I think. I duly called him and he thought that he knew of a possibility which he then confirmed a few days later and priced it at £350. It was in a van which had rusted away, was seemingly in great nick and had done 80,000 miles. I asked when I could see this marvelous example and he said that he would check with the owner.

He has just called to say that it has already been taken out of the van since he saw it and again extolled its virtues. When I asked, he said that he normally charges £400 for marinising this engine.

1. Has anyone heard of/dealt with TJ Marine?
2. Do these prices sound right to you?
3. Does the mileage sound right? (sounds low to me)
4. Am I safer letting him marinise it (certainly cheaper than I could do it and solves a storage problem).

Grateful as ever for any advice.

Gordon


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[Chris771]

What do you get for your £400 marinisation Gordon? If you get a heat exchanger then it is incediblycheap. If you do not then it sounds rather expensive.

Just ask him exactly what you get for your money. Theres 'marinisation' and there is also doing it properly to achive a reliable long lasting engine.

Chris

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[Forbsie]

Misunderstanding. He was talking about labour costs only. /forums/images/icons/frown.gif

I went to see it last night and it is certainly the tidiest engine I've seen so far. Although I haven't seen it running yet, I think that this is probably the one for me. I'm going to organise some space in the boathouse to do the marinisation myself so that I can learn along the way. At last I can see the light at the end of the tunnel. /forums/images/icons/cool.gif

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[tr7v8]

I was always taught that the light at the end of the tunnel was a train coming the other way!

Seriously, this sounds like a good deal and the ideal way to go.

Jim
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[Chris771]

All the bits

Gordon,

Remember what I told you! Don't forget to get both the Coldstart timer relay and correct diesel starter (which is considerably more powerful than the petrol version) with your engine, or you'll pay through the nose later for them.

I'll try and help with advice along the way if I can

Regards

Chris

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[Jcorstorphine]

I bought a kit from Marine Mart for the XLD416 some years ago and apart from a problem obtaining some longer UNF bolts for the engine mounts, the entire assembly including a Hurth gearbox went together in an afternoon. Go on and do it yourself, you will get to know the engine better.
John C

 

[Forbsie]

That's really encouraging, John. Looking at the article that BarryH kindly sent me, it certainly looks very straight forward and I'm definitely going to do it myself. I've never come across Marine Mart, are they still in business? Yesterday I phoned Lancing, ASAP and Watermota trying to get a water-cooled manifold for this engine. LM & ASAP seemingly don't sell them and recommended that I went for a heat exchanger/header tank as did the engineer I bought the engine from. I'm sure that there will be lots more fun and games over the next few days until I have the engine and parts in one location ready for all the work.

Thanks again for your reply.

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[Forbsie]

Re: All the bits

I have the starter but not the relay but he is going to try to get the original or a replacement. Hopefully have the engine down to the boathouse over the weekend. /forums/images/icons/smile.gif

Thanks again.

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[Strathglass]

Re: Relay

Why use a starter relay?. Why not use a Lucas tractor ignition switch with a heat position then you can decide the preheat time yourself. I do not normally fit a starter relay when wiring a maranised ford engine.

 

[Guest]

Marine Mart are in Nuneaton, telephone 02476390811.

You could also try talking to Bowmans, who manufacture heat exchangers (0121 359 5401)

Don't forget to change the cam belt!!!!!!

 

[BarryH]

Sounds ominous! Seriously tho forbsie, If you wnat any "service" items for it, the cam belt is a good suggestion, give me a call I have an account with a spares wholesaler. I've lost your phone number as i chucked the mobile overboard while i was away, it got on my nerves and interupted my hols!

OK, to hell with it. Unbolt it and we'll use it as an anchor!

 

[Chris771]

Re: Relay

You can do it just with a heavy duty switch of course, but just seems a bit neanderthal these days. If you use a switch, then you have to run wire from the battery to the dashboard, through the switch and back to the glowplugs. With 4 glowplugs you will be drawing about 25 Amps so you will need at least 6mm sq wire to avoid unacceptable voltage drop, which will also require a longer heating time.

Seems much more logical to have a short heavy duty cable from the starter solenoid to the coldstart relay and a few inches from there to the glowplugs and very little voltage drop or cable heating. The coldstart relay then only takes a minimal current via the ignitionswitch to operate the relay coil. The overall result is that the engine heats and starts quicker and you do not have warm (or hot if it is too thin) cable running through the boat. If it did not make sense to have coldstart relays car manufacturers would not fit them. Most relays these days sense the increase in resistance and current drop when the plugs are hot and use this to control the timeout which takes the guesstimation out of it.

I did actually make my own electronically adjustable coldstart module using a heavy duty 40Amp relay and electronic timer I designed myself. Had most of the bits and it was cheaper than buying a new Ford item at the time.

Regarding the heat exchanger I did use a Bowman manifold combined with header tank as the pictures I sent you show Gordon.

Chris

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[Strathglass]

Re: Relay

Chris
Yes, you are right The killer is volts drop in the high current line to the glowplugs. I have the fortunate position of having the engine control panel and therefore the ignition switch directly above the engine. Thus I can dispense with a relay because of the very short and heavy leads I can have. If however the engine control panel was remote from the engine then a relay would be essential. I do use relays elsewhere such as the feed to the SSB . A relay is also useful there as I may wish to disable the SSB when I am not present for power consumption and safety considerations.

 

[Forbsie]

Having turned my flat upside down looking for my Haynes manual without success, I did a search on the web to read up on cam belts. I came across a site that showed this guy incurred a $4000 bill after his $30 cam belt failed on his VW Beetle. Apart from asking myself if he would not have been better buying a new engine, the story certainly opened my eyes.

Is this job one that I would be capable of doing myself or would I be better leaving it to a trained mechanic? Are there any other preventative maintenance tasks that I should consider?

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[BarryH]

Changing the belt is quiet a simple task. The main thing to remember is not to lose the timing. I have a set of tools knocking around for "pegging" the pulleys for the job. I'll have a look around.

OK, to hell with it. Unbolt it and we'll use it as an anchor!

 

[Strathglass]

Gordon
If the engine is out of a car, changing the timing belt is fairly easy if you have the haynes manuel. Iv'e done 2 in vehicles and 3 in boats all 1800.
The belt for a 1600 is fairly inexpensive. The two belts and a new idler pulley for the 1800 costs about £50. The haynes manuel tells you how to make a timing pin from a bolt. I used a grinder to make one. The biggest problem I have always found is removing the front crankshaft pulley bolt, and access when the engine is in a vehicle. If you send your email address by PM I will scan and send the relevent pages an the 1600 to you.
By the way a burst timing belt on my van 1800 engine only cost me one new inlet valve.

Regards Iain

 

[Chris771]

Gordon,

I am still in Malabo till September 11th so do not have access to my Haynes manual at the moment, so all this is from memory.

Basically it is quite easy. Two special tools are required, a screwthreaded pin and a cam locking plate. Both quite easy to make.

Under the pump on the port side of the engine under the fuel pump there is a removable threaded plug (probably about 9/16 afaik) the engine is gently rotated into the "timing" position, and the threaded pin inserted, the engine is rotated clockwise until the crank web just touches the end of the pin.

Remove the rocker cover and place the flat cam locking plate into the slot at the rear end of the camshaft. The crank and camshaft are now in locked positions and will not move respective to each other.

Undo the four or so clips holding the grey plastic belt cover in place. On one run of the belt there is a "Jockey Wheel" tensioner with a central bolt undo this and the elliptical mount can move to slacken the belt. Just check the amount of slack in the existing belt for a guide (should not be more than 1/2" on the longest run).

Once the belt can be slackened and slid forward off the pulleys. Take care not to rotate the crank and slide the new belt into place. Check AGAIN that the crank has not moved and that the cam is still locked and slide the new belt into place. Adjust the tensioner and tighten the bolt, check the tension of the new belt, too loose and it can jump teeth on the pulleys and if much too tight can break. If common sense is used when tensioning this will not happen. The manual shows use of a spring balance to achieve a particular deflection, but you should be able to manually judge this pretty accurately. Tighten the tensioner bolt fully, recheck belt tension and that is it. Remove alignment tools refit covers and there you go. Should take less than half an hour total.

Recheck tension of the belt after 20 and 50 hours and that is all there is to it.

Chris

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[roofer]

just seen this in ad trader. ford xld 1.6 new heat exchangerand full overhaul £1400 tel 01493 701032 hope this is of help

chris