hi all.
im asking for my next door neighbour. he has an r reg rover metro, 1.1 petrol. the head gasket has gone and he is considering doing it himself but is unaware of the parts thats needed, also does he need any special equiptment? how long would it take him ( he has just obove average of car mechanics)!. the car itself is in emaculate condition thats why he wants to do it..
thanks
kevin
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IMO He would be well advised to get a Rover expert to do it for him,if not done properly they go again within months,done properly it should last several years.
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Steve
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i would have the exact opposite view to steve.o
i would buy a haynes manual
read the relevant section 3 times
then go get stuck in
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Agree with bell boy.
Ideal car to have a go at !
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Rover produced a modified HG for the Land Rover in 2005.
It may be worth investigating if this improved item could be fitted to the Metro.
(Should be possible, as the k-series block is common to both vehicles)
Also, it is worth changing the water pump, cam belt, and tensioner during the strip down.
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i actually thought it was land rover who produced the new modified head gasket set and it was later than '05? other point to note is the liners need inspecting carefully and make sure the head is skimmed and pressure tested.
chris
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The LR hg was for a 1.8 engine.
The Metro is a 1.1.
The chances of the bore diameters being the same are imo zilch/zero/nil... so the hg will NOT fit.
And if your neighbour has little mechanical knowledge - which it appears he has - the chances of him resetting camshaft timing correctly etc are again very low.
Best left to someone with some experience imo.
madf
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It was Ford who redesigned the L/R head gasket in an effort to improve that engine.
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Isn't this the old A series engine? In which case it's a doddle to do.
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Hi Kevin,
Your neighbour is well advised to get this repaired by someone who knows how to handle repairs to this type of engine. This is not the old style 'A' series but a 'K' series single ovehead cam. These are prone to head gasket failure and usually the head will need skimming too. The head bolts are such that they are about a foot long and hold the main bearing caps in place. This means you can't turn the engine whilst these are removed. They are a special headed bolt to deter the home mechanic from attempting the job and to further complicate matters, you don't use the old conventional torque methods like tightneing up to a specific 'click' and that's it. You then have to giv it anothe 90deg turn. Whilst this is'nt the most difficult job to do, it can be a labourious job if you are only a part time mechanic.
I't's purely my advice to leave it to an expert - your neighbour can attempt it and I wish him the best of luck if he succeeds.
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These are the views of Robin the Technician with 35 years in the trade. I fix, therefore I am...
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Buy a haynes manual, and follow what it says, but he will need a torque wrench - capable of the force listed in the torque settings in the haynes manual. And depending when the cam belt was last done he'll need one of those, same goes for water pump and tensioner.
I've done it on a SOHC 2.0 vauxhall and it is all fairly straight forward, the haynes manual makes it all possible to do this.
Things to look out for...
How much room is there to work in at the timing belt end of the engine? I'm doing one now (on a Daewoo Nexia 1.5 8v - with no manual. and the space is very tight at the cambelt end.
Is there a big viscous fan in the way of the timing belt, which will have to be removed? You will need a big spanner 32mm/36mm for this removal.
Take the spark plugs out - it makes turning the engine easier to get the timing marks correct. and turn the engine using the crankshaft pulley nut - the big bottom one, (not the camshaft pulley nut - the top one).
I suspect he is in the same poition as I am, it's too expensive to have a garage repair such an old car, so he going to have a go himself to save money, and if it fails - it was going to go to the scrap man anyway, so you might aswell give it a go. That's the conclusion I came to aswell.
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