Making 1 from 2 - my new bongo project

[thomp1983]

Hi all,

Long time lurker, rare poster here. In March I'm about to embark on a new bongo project which I thought I'd document here (not sure if this is the best section, feel free to move.)

viewtopic.php?t=78632

Thats a link to my original introduction thread when I entered bongo ownership and also contains an update of what I'm planning.

The short version is I bought a rusty bongo did nothing about repairing it for 3 years then I've just bought a solid bongo with a broken engine so I'm putting the engine from the rusty one into the other one.

That's the rusty one there, looks quite deceptive but drivers sill has gone completely all, the way up into the main floor.

That's the engine and box out of the rusty one, it took me and a mate 5 hours to remove but I was rather brutal in cutting anything that didn't want to come undone, I will need to be alot more careful with the new chassis which means it'll be alot longer.

The rusty one making it's final journey.

[thomp1983]

Enter the new bongo, she's got a few marks but given the age I'm fine with that.

I plan to remove the broken engine and box in March, this will be followed by a good look at the chassis which. I'll do any necessary repairs on and under seal.

The new engine and box will go in and then I should hopefully be good to go for the summer, I kept a few bits off my old bongo that were in better condition so they'll also get fitted.

I'm currently building a service shopping list for the donor engine which comprises the below,

Timing belt kit,
Water pump,
New valve cover gaskets,
Cam and crank seals,
Air/fuel/oil filters,
Spark plugs,
Thermostat,
Low coolant alarm,
Self bleeding kit,

Most of that will be fitted to the donor engine whilst it's out the vehicle as access is so much easier, I also plan to remove the transmission and get as much old fluid out of it as possible including the torque convertor.

So as you can see I've a bit on but I've alot less on outside of this now unlike before when I was still building extensions.

Thanks,
Chris

[thomp1983]

Hello again,

So it stayed dry today so I decided I'd have a look at disconnecting the various bits that connect the engine and gearbox to the chassis and have a general poke around.

That's the broken engine that shall be removed before I removed anything,

I managed to get everything off the top side quicker than I thought so I proceeded to put her on my new high lift axle stands,

With her safely raised I then removed everything from the underside

That also went surprisingly well, I'm now left with just the gearbox oil to drain, the propshaft to remove and the gearbox/engine stay mounts to undo and she'll be out.

I'm fairly sure that once I get my big jack out I can raise the chassis high enough that I can drop the engine/box onto a crawler board and slide it out in one go, when I took the other engine out in my garage I didn't have these taller stands and the dolly I dropped it onto was alot taller so I had to take the inlet manifold off the top to clear the sill..

Not many pictures I'm afraid, I'll take them once everythings out but on first inspections everything is really good and solid under there, a couple of the metal coolant lines will need either replacing or repairing but that's about it hopefully.

Thanks,
Chris.

[BongoAlf]

Hi Chris,

Epic Post.

Thanks for taking the time to document this work.

Makes for interesting reading and shows that with ingenuity and effort we can keep our Bongo's on the road.

Well done so far, looking forward to the next update.

Regards,
Rich.

[Bob]

Agree, thanks.

[thomp1983]

Hi again,

So unsurprisingly the great british weather delayed things along with another couple of more pressing jobs such as changing the turbo on a friend's a3.

As I'd made a start on disconnecting the engine I decided I wanted it out before I go away for half term holidays on Thursday.

Not too many pictures of the removal, but basically I used my engine crane to drop the engine and box onto my crawler board, I then used my big jack and the home made height extender and that allowed me to just get it high enough to remove it out the drivers side with the intake still on.

Life would of been easier if I'd removed the intake but I wanted to see if I could do it with it fitted as I'd like to reinstall the engine as a complete unit when the time comes, given what I've learnt today I'm going to make an extra lifting frame at work that will locate in a couple of the subframe holes and sit into the jack saddle properly that will allow me to get a bit more clearance without Heath robinson'ing bits of wood onto the job.

[thomp1983]

So that's both engines now into the garage, I'm going to get a second engine crane, remove both gearboxes and get them mounted up on stands at a nice working height, quite a few of the ancilleries on the broken engine are on better condition than my donor engine so I'll be chopping and changing parts to give me the best engine possible.

With the engine out the way I took some pictures of the underside, unfortunately it's a bit difficult to get clear pictures.

[thomp1983]

So as you can see it's really clean and tidy, a bit of surface rust which I think I'll wire wheel and treat before undersealing the whole lot.

I also plan to drill a hole in the sills at each end so I can get an inspection camera in there and then fill them with a cavity wax and cap the holes with some grommets.

[thomp1983]

It looks like I need to replace the bottom 2 pipes due to the ends failing, the first one I'm sure was decent on my other bongo that's no longer here but that's just typical, what is the blanked off nipple for?

The second pipe is the lowest one and has failed at the end inside the glove, I believe this is the t piece pipe that goes to the rear heater matrix? The rear heater is currently bypassed due to the common matrix failure.

Given I have the side kitchen fitted would I actually get much heating/cooling out of the rear heater as it's effectively blocked at the side by the fridge so the only open vents are the rear facing ones in the roof, I'm more interested in getting cooling to the rear when it's hot rather than warm air, but if I'd only get little flow from the top vents it's probably not worth the effort but I'd welcome your thoughts?

That's it for now,
Chris.