fpga

That's great and thanks for posting the photos! Your confirmation of a broken bolt and estimate that only 2-4 threads remain helps a lot i.e. whereas I was reluctant to drill the head bolt with a depth to diameter ratio of 70/11 which mean't that being out by a few degrees would cut into the head even I'd have a go at drilliing this one...with a depth to diameter ratio of 17mm diameter + 2-4 threads. Thank you very much for this.

___the push rods cover Thanks ___puzzled by your observation, no coolant coming out Me too The bolt was very short and had a very irregular end. At first I thought it was eaten away by coolant but today it dawned on me that it might have been broken off and that's why the wire I stuck in the hole came to an abrupt halt. Ideally I could do with an endoscope but will stick my phone down there tomorrow. The problem is my old Sony Ericsson cybershot (used for all photos to date) focuses better at a distance. I'll have more information tomorrow and thanks for checking.

Thank you very much for the advice, posting my photo first and then another photo showing the correct position of the drain bolt. Both look immediately below and to the right of that big horizontal access hatch which spans the width of the front of the block so...I'm not sure why they're not the same hole. Any advice would be much appreciated.

Thank you very much for the advice and information. I've done 24 miles now and the coolant level's gone down from max to min. I filled to max yesterday by removing the sensor in the thermostat housing and pouring water in through the header tank until it came out of the thermostat housing (all done cold and with the engine not running). The point is no water got past the thermostat when filling whereas after 24 miles it would have so this might account for the lower level in the header tank. Any air over and above this extra volume being filled might easily be attributed to air making it's way out of the system as Wino suggested. The white stuff's gone when I'm moving along but I'll have to check on tickover after a good run i.e. I was getting white yesterday. Fingers crossed. The temp gauge never moved above normal much so the fan didn't seem to cut in at all. The car seems to run very smoothly. The drain bolt was very short and irregular on the end. I have a nasty feeling it has been broken off previously...that's if the photo I sent IS the right bolt.

Thanks for the reassurance and advice.

Thank you very much for the advice, supplier details and howto video (I always like those). Just came back to say I've done about 5 miles (2.5 there and the same back to get some anti-freeze) now and the car seems to be running fine other than some white stuff coming out of the exhaust and the brakes catching a bit when I started off as they've been on for about 4 weeks. The white stuff was billowing a bit initially but settled down and I saw a bit when reversing. It is cold and wet around here and the car's been standing for 4 weeks. Re reassembly...the only thing I struggled with was one of these hose clips http://www.hcl-clamping.com/Ezyclik-M-Spring-Automotive-Hose-Clip-P7 clamping the bigger of the two rubber hoses from the air cleaner to the oil filler neck in the rocker cover. I suspect you need some special pliers for it but I just went and got a worm-screw clamp with a nut into which are cut philips and straight screw-driver slots. 30 seconds later it was on the car....a pound well spent By contrast the car also has these spring clips on the fuel hoses... http://www.hcl-clamping.com/Rotor-Spring-Band-Hose-Clamp-Constant-Tension-P9 but they're lightning fast to remove/replace with just your fingers. One thing that did surprise me was... I took the temperature sender out of the thermostat housing and started filling with water and also removed what I thought was the block drain plug intending to flush the block a bit. I was surprised that the water came out of the top of the thermostat housing whilst none came out of what I thought was the block drain plug. I poked a bit of wire up but immediately hit something very solid i.e. not crud blocking any holes. I'll take a photo tomorrow of the "drain "bolt. In the meantime any comments? Irrespective...I just need to put some miles on the clock now and change both the oil and coolant i.e. I didn't have much antifreeze today so need to change the coolant when I change the oil. I never count chickens but am quite hopeful. Thanks Ricardo and Wino for all your help.

I did wonder if I could get away with not connecting the broken connector but dismissed the thought as it seems that everything nowadays is highly dependent upon sensor information to function. To confirm the same I thought I'd try to locate what the connector connects and this is the closest I've seen...so I'm guessing not fitting it means lumpiness at best or something like that Brand: BOSCH Bosch Part Number: 0280130026 Product Type: Temperature Sensor Product Group: PETROL - SENSORS http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/181723220559?clk_rvr_id=932681796715&rmvSB=true

Nearly done. Just got to put oil and water in now and connect things like the air cleaner/rocker cover. It would probably have been finished today but both wires broke off flush at the back of the connector that goes into the back of the inlet manifold and it rained heavily this afternoon. I wasn't really putting enough pressure on the connector to break both copper wires in exactly the same place but did note that when I was removing that connector that the wire was quite tight so....20 years of vibration could well have fatigued the wires at the point of fracture. Breaking off flush I had nothing to solder to so...I hacksawed the back fo the connector off and removed the blue spongy insulation which gave me some length. I then soldered two new wires to the exposed pieces and pushed some plastic cable sheathing down each remaining hole to insulate each wire and taped the whole lot up to seal it. You can never count chickens doing any job can you That jack the wheel up and use it as a crank spanner to do the tappets worked a treat and also showed me that everything is spinning very freely.

Ricardo Like Wino said...thank you to you and Lugosy for solving the pipe mystery and the puzzle of needing to be in two places at once i.e. both rotating the crank AND seeing it's effect on the rockers. That's one elegant solution and I'm really pleased I asked.

Thank you very much Ricardo. Any tips re doing the tappets?

When cleaning up the exhaust manifold...I noticed a fair-sized threaded hole and the pipe that goes up through the exhaust shield fit it perfectly so hopefully...that's "the one". I've got quite a few photos (including one of some "mission-saving" equipment) and just tried to send them but my ISP service is down. Hopefully later...

The head went on yesterday....after lots of further cleaning (Photos later). When initially finger tightening the head bolts I forgot a washer...so removed the bolt again and was surprised how much crud was on the threads. By contrast my chaser had ran clean on each one so that's something to check. I checked all of them and found crud on 3 or 4. I also didn't finger tighten the bolts that hold the rocker gear i.e. I just placed them in the holes to act as guides which let me better position the rocker gear bolts and lift the rocker gear up and down to locate the push-rods into the gear. Re the 90 degree head-bolt tightening...I wacked up the torque and used the ratchet to postion the wrench to point to the back of the car. I then stood on the passenger side of the car and pulled the wrench towards me so that the handle was at right angles to the side of the car i.e. using the car's sides as a set square. Today I need to clean the manifold faces and fit the manifolds. Not sure what that little pipe that passes through the exhaust shield goes into??? i.e. when I removed it I had to do it blind. Before realising that my gasket set included those for the thermostat housing... I created a masterpiece using a cereal box and X-acto knife so...I should've checked first

In between the showers I managed to chase all the head-bolt holes and get most of the rubbish out which was mainly confined to the holes at the corners of the block, Hard to tell whether the crud removed is gasket, rust or both. Today it's just...give everything a final cleaning with petrol and drying ready for reassembly. I also need to go and get some oil. While I'm at the shops I thought I might try an air duster. Letting my fingers "do the walking"... I've just seen that Poundland are doing 200ml air dusters for....£1. This contrasts with Screwfix's £6.99 for 150ml can. Guess where I'm going . Back later.

Thanks Ricardo. I'm waiting to use the thread-chaser but It's pouring down at the moment. Hopefully later. As you can see the block top didn't escape the corrosion entirely but on balance it seems better to leave it in the cleaned state rather than try to remove metal and get it wrong. The cylinder tops look relatively unaffacted.

___Use only a soft cloth or paper towels with WD40 or similar. Let it penetrate then wipe It will work great. Thanks...will do! Thanks also for the liner-securing method. Thanks also for the Vacuum cleaner suggestion...I tried that but used an A4 plastic sleeve and it collapsed in a bit due to the suction.I got it to "work" by supporting the tube shape with my hand but card would've been better. ___aerosol 'air dusters' That's a new one on me...Thanks for that and also for the encouraging comments.

___How about cleaning the treads of the head bolt holes in the block? Today I went to the local pound shop and bought.... Some more of that penetrating oil (that loosened the broken off head bolt) and a fine copper wire brush to clean all male threads before whizzing the nuts up and down on them repeatedly. Re the female threads that the head bolts go into...once I got my new head bolts I sacrificed one of the old (non-rusted) ones and made a thread chaser (like Wino suggested) i.e. I held the bolt in a vice (like this...http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/like/141807278989?adgroupid=16885268106&hlpht=true&hlpv=2&rlsatarget=kwd-124272971586&adtype=pla&ff3=1&lpid=122&poi=&ul_noapp=true&limghlpsr=true&device=c&chn=ps&campaignid=270621186&crdt=0&ff12=67&ff11=ICEP3.0.0-L&ff14=122&viphx=1&ops=true&ff13=80) fitted to my window sill and used a tiny triangular file to cut a V. I'll be using that tomorrow. ___How about cleaning the head ports side where the new manifold gasket(s) will sit? I already did a bit of that. I started using a stanley knife but it seemed like very hard work and quite risky to the mating surface so I tried an old London pattern screwdriver like this...http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Vintage-Toga-London-Pattern-Screwdriver-8-1-2-Total-Length-/151401585287?hash=item23403cda87. No damage was done and it was a LOT more efficient. ____Grease all studs and nuts that will hold the manifolds. Good point...I used to have some in the garage. I'll get some if I can't find it. I was going to use engine oil. Before checking the forum I'd been looking at what to use (with my penetrating oil) to clean the rusted cylinder/piston top and block top more thoroughly. I was thinking about a well-used washing up green scouring cloth and penetrating oil. What do you think of that?

Not much done today i.e. it's been very dark and threatening to rain all day. However, I did check the height of the liners vs the top of the block. My straight edge was too big to fit easily so I used a steel ruler. I couldn't really confirm that the liners were higher or lower than the block so (there wasn't much in it at all and I know the rulers out very slightly by comparison to the straight edge so.....I'll give it a whirl i.e. if I could see that the liners were lower....it would've been "plan B". I also did the job I was least looking forward to i.e. getting the (many) tiny pieces of rotted/broken gasket and sludge from between the piston liners, at the bottom, in what are very narrow, but deep, spaces. I tried several "tools" but the only one that really worked was a high tensile wire cavity wall tie (very stiff but springy for it's thin-ness) with one end bent straight. I used this end to loosen and move the debris to the wider areas and then moulded a piece of blue tack to the same end (into a point) and pressed this into the crud to lift it up. I used a maglite with a focussing beam to get down into the gloom and guide my actions and find the pieces that were hiding. There were several.

Thanks very much for the advice and the valve guide shapes.

Thank you both for all the clarification and information. ___only about a dozen shapes of guides that cover all existing engines WOW I've got the broken valve guide but it was too dark to take a good photo...Hopefully tomorrow.... Wondering how to check what it was made of...I grabbed my big magnetic screwdriver and...the guide "stuck" to it so....cast iron. Looks like the UK got the cheap stuff :( The engineer (not Gerry) machined the new guide from a bigger guide (longer and thicker) out of his box i.e. he told me that when he has to order guides, whatever they are, he always over-orders a few for this type of job. I just need to test that the liners aren't below the top of the block tomorrow and then the great reassembly can begin. One thing I am wondering about is...is it best to put the head back on the block WITH or WITHOUT the manifolds attached??? I can see pros and cons both ways. BTW that's a very clear video. Thanks.

Yes sorry...you did say brass. Thank you for the detailed photo, howto and for asking your friend. Very much appreciated. I must confess I was quite surprised at the lack of availability.

I just came back to say I called the engineer and his prices are so reasonable I'm having one made (your first suggestion) 40 EUR + shipping is a REALLY good price and I very much appreciate your and your friend's kindness in making this offer. Thank you also for advising re the valve guide supply situation in the Czech Republic. When I looked at various sites in the Czech Republic I couldn't understand anything I saw. Hopefully...it'll be plain sailing from now on. I'll keep you posted.

Thank you very much for your work Ricardo. I have sent an email to Metelli. Thank you too Wino for standing by.

Yes...they look to be in the right place too i.e. I did a google of "MOTORSERVIS KASL S.R.O.REVNICE skoda" and the map that popped up is peppered with Skoda-related locations. They don't seem to have their own email address but I found a collective one so....I sent a message albeit in English so we'll see what happens. I'll report back if/when I get a response i.e. your workmate's services might be required depending on whether google translate is having a good or bad day.

Looking at this site...they don't look to be the "ones". http://www.edb.eu/czech-firm-321629-motorservis-kasl-s-r-o

Yes that is a solution Thanks very much Ricardo Wino Thanks very much too. I just had a quick look on Motorservis site and unsurprsingly it's all in Czech so...it's not easy to see where to email.