Opel Club Cape Town

Eish, thats heavy dude! Cambelt snaps are not a good thing.

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Opel Club Cape Town Chairman
My Ridez
Opel Kadett Superboss 16vS 20XE
Toyota Prado 3.4 V6 VX
Hyundai GetzR Open-filter-box 16v
Ex Ridez
2000 Opel Corsa B 1.8 16v conversion
1991 Opel Cub 1.6i 8v c16ne conversion

8v motor should be safe man.

goodluck!

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Current:
'13 Alfa Romeo MiTO Quadrifoglio Verde Sport 125kw 250nm
Dont take life so seriously

Swedish House Mafia- Greyhound

Ex:
'12 Fiat Bravo Sport 110kw 235nm
'11 Kia Koup 122kw 203nm
'08 Daihatsu Sirion Sport 1.5 VVTi
'02 Euro Opel Corsa 160is
'85 Opel GSI 2 door Boss

It was once apon a time it failed due to age, not kilometers.

I was going to replace it this month, I can't believe it didn't make it for another two weeks!I was waiting for the money to be paid into my account as I am using the car for business now, so it is getting a lot more use. 500 business km this week already.

With the money I am getting paid per kilometer I could finally give the car some TLC. If this turns out to be a head off problem I am going to end up paying out of my own pocket to use the car for business

Due to studies before this I haven't been able to afford to spend any money on the car since the rebuild, just been getting in and driving.

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1996 200is 312000km,272 Kent cam,4-1branch, 57mm Powerflow exhaust, fully balanced bottom end, DIY ported
Short Shift mod

Complete with - cracked windscreen, fading boot spoiler + bumpers, melted fusebox, incorrect grill, no headliner,cracked front disks, warped rear, 1X buckled and scraped mag 2X buckled

Gomoto GT125 71000km, 7kw of frame bending power :-) Still the most reliable vehicle I have owned

Ok so you haven’t really driven your car daily, 7000km came over a number years. Hopefully it’s just the belt. 20ne is safe, 20seh 50/50 chance there is no damage. Damn, you scaring me now, I only did like +/-2000km last year in the Kadett and the cambelt/waterpump change was over 3 years ago.

Anyway, let us know the outcome.

I will find out tonight, going to go pick up a new tensioner and belt after work

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1996 200is 312000km,272 Kent cam,4-1branch, 57mm Powerflow exhaust, fully balanced bottom end, DIY ported
Short Shift mod

Complete with - cracked windscreen, fading boot spoiler + bumpers, melted fusebox, incorrect grill, no headliner,cracked front disks, warped rear, 1X buckled and scraped mag 2X buckled

Gomoto GT125 71000km, 7kw of frame bending power :-) Still the most reliable vehicle I have owned

Update

2 rockers broken, so not too bad I guess. Was expecting worse. #2 inlet valve dropped, but luckily I don't see any damage. CAS wire also damaged, and the plastic cam belt cover doesn't mean much any more.

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1996 200is 312000km,272 Kent cam,4-1branch, 57mm Powerflow exhaust, fully balanced bottom end, DIY ported
Short Shift mod

Complete with - cracked windscreen, fading boot spoiler + bumpers, melted fusebox, incorrect grill, no headliner,cracked front disks, warped rear, 1X buckled and scraped mag 2X buckled

Gomoto GT125 71000km, 7kw of frame bending power :-) Still the most reliable vehicle I have owned

Ahhh thought I would find an update here of what went wrong. Goodluck and hope she be running soon buddy!

I gave up with updates on the Opel owners forum when they were having all those server issues.

Hopefully by next weekend, going to drop the head off tomorrow. Going to replace all the valves and seats.

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1996 200is 312000km,272 Kent cam,4-1branch, 57mm Powerflow exhaust, fully balanced bottom end, DIY ported
Short Shift mod

Complete with - cracked windscreen, fading boot spoiler + bumpers, melted fusebox, incorrect grill, no headliner,cracked front disks, warped rear, 1X buckled and scraped mag 2X buckled

Gomoto GT125 71000km, 7kw of frame bending power :-) Still the most reliable vehicle I have owned

It sounds like quite a bit of damage actually. Sorry to hear buddy. Maybe the 284 cam also contributed to the damage.

definetely, the longer duration and higher lift definetely decreased the chances of coming off scot free.

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1996 200is 312000km,272 Kent cam,4-1branch, 57mm Powerflow exhaust, fully balanced bottom end, DIY ported
Short Shift mod

Complete with - cracked windscreen, fading boot spoiler + bumpers, melted fusebox, incorrect grill, no headliner,cracked front disks, warped rear, 1X buckled and scraped mag 2X buckled

Gomoto GT125 71000km, 7kw of frame bending power :-) Still the most reliable vehicle I have owned

Mmm havent had any server issues lately...and yes true, modified cam increases the likelyhood of klapping a valve or two...been there a couple times

She runs again! Due to a stupid mistake due to working in the dark I only get her started at 21:00, will update in more detail later on in the morning

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1996 200is 312000km,272 Kent cam,4-1branch, 57mm Powerflow exhaust, fully balanced bottom end, DIY ported
Short Shift mod

Complete with - cracked windscreen, fading boot spoiler + bumpers, melted fusebox, incorrect grill, no headliner,cracked front disks, warped rear, 1X buckled and scraped mag 2X buckled

Gomoto GT125 71000km, 7kw of frame bending power :-) Still the most reliable vehicle I have owned

Update
I assembled the car over the course of the weekend. I had to do it in stages due to prior plans. Motor Masters had my head ready on Friday morning.
What I learned, 8v owners should take note:
Our heads have a design flaw. The amount of material between the inlet and exhaust valve seats is very thin. This leads to it cracking between the seats (due to the constant heating and cooling), and therefore the seats cannot be replaced! Once the seats are worn beyond repair your need to replace the head as a repair isn’t usually successful. My head has cracks between the seats on all cylinders. This is a pity as it turns out my head was a virgin before its first skim last week.
If you are buying a second hand head it is very important to look if there are cracks or not. Bad cracks can actually lead right into a water port running above it, causing coolent loss.

There are two different tensioners for our 8v’s. One with the spacer and once without. Mine has always been running the wrong one till now. I luckily found this out while on the phone to Masterparts. However, once I reached the counter the salesman did not ask me which one I wanted and supplied me the incorrect part, I had to tell him about the other one.
How do I know if I need the spacer or not? Look at your tensioner while it is on the car, is the belt running off about 2mm on the outside (away from the oil pump)? Or look at the wear on the pulley, where was the belt running? Simply saying I have a SEH is not good enough, there are still two different versions. I am not sure If this contributed to my cam belt breaking or not…
While trying to assemble the last few things with a torch I swapped the fuel lines inlet and return by accident. This led to a trouble shooting stint as the car wouldn’t start . All I am going to say is that it took a long while to end up back at the fuel lines.
The car is feeling very strong, I know I shouldn’t have been red lining it 4km after It was assembled but it pulled very strong till 6400rpm. The car also sounds different, good differnt

In a way I am happy the belt broke. I wouldn’t have known that all 4 inlet valves were leaking otherwise

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1996 200is 312000km,272 Kent cam,4-1branch, 57mm Powerflow exhaust, fully balanced bottom end, DIY ported
Short Shift mod

Complete with - cracked windscreen, fading boot spoiler + bumpers, melted fusebox, incorrect grill, no headliner,cracked front disks, warped rear, 1X buckled and scraped mag 2X buckled

Gomoto GT125 71000km, 7kw of frame bending power :-) Still the most reliable vehicle I have owned

Glad the car is running and that you so happy with it boet.

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Current: '05 VW Golf 5 2.0 TDI Sportline
'97 VW Jetta VR6
'83 Datsun 1400 Sunny
Ex: '97 Opel Astra Estate 200i
'00 Opel Corsa GSI 2.0 16v
'96 Opel Astra 200i E 16v
'02 Opel Corsa GSI 1.6
'93 Honda Ballade 160e 16v
'95 Opel Astra 200i E 16v

Happy its sorted. And thanks for the write-up. Many lessons learned, and lots of valued information. It will come in handy for all many of us. Thanks Gourami.

Hey buddy,

Nice update you got here.

I had to change my head gasket as well due to head damage causing water and oil to mix. All sorted now. Think I have the tensioner with the spacer, as after I tightened the tensioner I noticed that there is still some play on it. Its almost like a spring mecanism.

Tell me what is the difference between the 2 tensioners and how do I know which one is the right one for my motor?

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It tensions against the spring. I had my cambelt cover off on Sunday and noticed my belt was below the correct tension notch (belt stretched?).

You need to tension it against the spring till the arrow points to the notch. It will then move again once the engine rotates. I normally start the car and let it run for a bit, don't just let it idle, give it a few revs, you will see it move. Normally the tension will need to be adjusted again at this point.

The only difference between the two tensioners is how far out the roller is from the oil pump, the spacer bringing it further out. Once installed and tensioned up, feel if the cambelt is rolling on the entire width of the roller. If it is not you will then be able to determine if you need the one with or without the spacer

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1996 200is 312000km,272 Kent cam,4-1branch, 57mm Powerflow exhaust, fully balanced bottom end, DIY ported
Short Shift mod

Complete with - cracked windscreen, fading boot spoiler + bumpers, melted fusebox, incorrect grill, no headliner,cracked front disks, warped rear, 1X buckled and scraped mag 2X buckled

Gomoto GT125 71000km, 7kw of frame bending power :-) Still the most reliable vehicle I have owned

Got it buddy. Thanks for clearing this up

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Do you have the correct one on?

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1996 200is 312000km,272 Kent cam,4-1branch, 57mm Powerflow exhaust, fully balanced bottom end, DIY ported
Short Shift mod

Complete with - cracked windscreen, fading boot spoiler + bumpers, melted fusebox, incorrect grill, no headliner,cracked front disks, warped rear, 1X buckled and scraped mag 2X buckled

Gomoto GT125 71000km, 7kw of frame bending power :-) Still the most reliable vehicle I have owned

More bad news. Turns out my chassis is bent.

The passenger side strut tower is pushed in towards the engine around 15mm. When I have time during December I will take the fender and fender liner off and take a look at what happened to it before I bought it. I can't see much from inside the engine bay.

When I bought the car it had heavy camber on the passenger side, but not realizing it was the chassis at the time I had the strut bent which sorted out the alignment 100%.

Moral of the story - Don't take me with to view a car for you

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1996 200is 312000km,272 Kent cam,4-1branch, 57mm Powerflow exhaust, fully balanced bottom end, DIY ported
Short Shift mod

Complete with - cracked windscreen, fading boot spoiler + bumpers, melted fusebox, incorrect grill, no headliner,cracked front disks, warped rear, 1X buckled and scraped mag 2X buckled

Gomoto GT125 71000km, 7kw of frame bending power :-) Still the most reliable vehicle I have owned