The Dispatch | Expert | Scudo Hub

from what i remember, not much. i did an engine swap on a 1990 citroen BX (1.7 TD) and used a 2002 XUD (1.9 TD) engine. the original engine was very low miles so i swapped over everything i could including oil pump.
the only thing i remember is that one needed a steel gasket when it was bolted in place and one did not.

given the DW8 uses the same oil pump as the XUD that is! they all seem to be pretty similar.

the original cause of the engine swap was a almost 30 year old cam belt failing. i did buy the car with the snapped belt.

to add to this, mine has a dealer fitted tow bar with twin sockets. i bought the van cheap as it had "electrical faults" (if only it was just electrical!). i ended up fixing the constant flat battery the every night i bought it as it was the auto voltage charge relay on the grey/white towing socket going crazy after the van had been parked up for a while. the relay even though it had no load somehow melted its self away and consumed the amps and drained the battery.

worthy of checking

as it goes the dryer is all I would replace.

The compressor should be fine once it gets it's oil thrown around everywhere and pumped through the system.

compressed air is pretty shun worthy if he is a dedicated HVAC technition but would give the same results I guess. seen horror stories where people have done that on a system which uses a flammable refrigerant. The result has cost people their lives. thankfully vehicles do not use flammable refrigerant so nothing to worry about. unless it's been topped up with butane or propane in the past which is something I have seen done before. [shock]

thankfully it's a pretty small refrigerant circuit so a leak will be easy to spot!

ahh well may as well live in the moment, eh? ha ha!

if you have absolutely nothing in the system its possible it has got a leak, you can get a top up and have dye added to it to see where it is leaking out of.

i would always recommend replacing the filter dryer. however i have a big caution if you do. the short pipe between the AC radiator and the dryer can become corroded and stuck on the filter dryer.. this pipe is pretty hard to find a replacement for (i recommend a place that breaks taxis) however if you go second hand you may find that is also stuck on the filter dryer. i recommend spraying it with loads of WD40 and rocking the 19mm nut back and forth rather than just undoing it by force.

if you vacuum a system out for long enough you can suck all of the stuck moisture from a dryer. i have seen systems that saturated with moisture that when you vacuum it out and leave it over night, the pressure gauge reads slightly less vacuum the next day. not because of a leak, but because the moisture has turned into a vapour and made its own atmosphere inside the system. you can just keep pumping the vacuum down and eventually it will stop loosing vacuum as the moisture content runs out.

if your compressor still turns over by hand it will still be in perfect working condition. remember to turn over the inner part of the pulley.

if you know someone with a vacuum pump, ask them to pump out your system given it has nothing in it. if it holds a vacuum then just top it up with refrigerant.

as i said, an AC system will loose refrigerant due to it not being used. this has been so much of a problem that some cars were made with a system where if you were coasting for a long time (say down a hill) it would kick the
AC compressor on just to lubricate the seals to prevent leaks.

some Eco modders have even made it so the AC compressor comes on with the brake lights to aid in engine breaking. interesting way of looking at it.

not at all! usually the gas leaks because the seals dry out. get it re-charged and you will be pleasantly surprised. that 4 pin pressure switch will be detecting that the refrigerant charge has dropped below its normal running pressure so it stops the compressor from kicking in. just a top up should be all you need given the front radiator is good. f you find that theres no pressure in the system any more i recommend getting it nitrogen pressure tested first but you can just get it vacuumed out and see if it holds the vacuum before being charged back with R134A refrigerant.

there's a naughty way of checking if there's a bit of pressure in the system still and that is to press one of the valves in with a small screw driver, like like a tyre valve. if it hisses then you still have something in it so you can just go strait for a top up. see, if theres still pressure in it, it means no moisture has gotten in.

the AC system that i have came from a taxi, the belt skipped the AC compressor pulley as taxis never use the AC and the system had no pressure in it what so ever so it had not been used for probibly 10 years.
the only reason why i am changing all of the seals in mine is because i have taken the joints apart. if a seal is never moved they stay good for years.
i had a early 80s Citroen BX estate a few years back running the old R12 refrigerant. that still had good AC seals on it despite its age!

just updated this again.. added another video.

well things have happened.

the gearbox somehow fell out.  ...    ...  actually it took quite some getting out. one of the more harder vehicles to remove a gearbox on sadly.

after moving the ABS pump and a few strengthening bars it did come out.

anyhoo the flywheel ended up being a solid flywheel so i had to return my clutch kit and get a different one.
also the crank shaft seal was weeping so i replaced that too. on the HDI the crank shaft oil seal size is : 90-7-110 with a Left-hand twist.

well used...

still life in it, but the spring plate had gotten very hot and warped the spring tips.

while i was waiting for the parts to come through the post i decided to do some cleaning up. de-rusting and painting.

after a jet wash i was left with this..  nice

and when i removed the strut i found this..  nasty!

thankfully not eaten through!

and if you look here, this is on the inside of the engine bay on the back of the suspension strut location.

just reclaiming sheared off bolts in the best way ever..  Fire!

seen these things in the scrap yard with more left on them..  geez..

just uploading a video now.. all 4K stuff so rendering and uploading takes a while!

Edit: heres the video!

clutch change time!
yes thats me!

so had to drain the gearbox oil, surprisingly clean looking! magnetic drain plug also is rather clean for 100k miles. wonder if its been changed before?

while taking the bumper off i found this.. well worth addressing as i bet everyones is like this!

and ill also be cleaning up, up here too!

still tempted to take off the sub frame completely so i can clean it up and repaint it. from what i have seen it is pretty rust free, just the bit s where its starting to get under the paint and rust out. wire wheel time! ill also fill it with dynax when i am done. protect the inside of it.

thats all for now!

all of the rust has been cut out and new steel welded in.
the welding is complete.

before and after shot? you got it.

now this little set back has been dealt with, i can now focus on more "pressing" matters. or should i say lack of it given the clutch spring plate has failed.. get the van turned around.. and oh my favourite thing to do with vehicles.. rip its heart out.
i work in a scrap yard because i enjoy my work. its nice to bring it home. i have far better tools here to undertake such an operation. though my frankenforklift is duly missed. boss would not assign me a forklift so i pretty much built my own. when i eventually leave the company its coming home with me. it came in for scrap and i spent my days off fixing it with scrap. looks like hell but keeps passing yearly inspection. can build anything if you have a machine shop (that all came out of the scrap pile!)

looking forward to what is to come. its been too long since i've had an engine out of something. (i've got issues.. or withdrawal or something)

there's no limit to how often you can change one, just like changing engine oil its just cost that makes it uneconomical to do often. the book says 100,000 miles if not driven hard or every 10 years. though myself i would change mine every 6 or 7 years and every 60,000 miles.

the main thing is getting the belt tension correct. the fitting is pretty easy. plenty of space but the plastic cover can be a bit difficult to to get off. one of the 10mm bolts on the back can be hard to get at.
garages should have the special belt tension tool needed to get the right tension. i was a bit naughty and measured the belts deflection on another van that had it recently changed and copied the amount on my van.
ive done a few cam belt changes on XUDs and HDIs before and its never been an issue. ive done it that many time i never use locking pins now, though i highly recommend you do. after your 30th belt change you pick up a few tricks.
i highly recommend the Gates kits. if you have a high mileage van, i also recommend replacing the shaft seals under the pulleys for the few pence they cost to replace. i did all mine though not high mileage they are now 15 years old. they just require the cam pulley removing the old seal pulling out and the new seal pressing in. no special tools need just use your fingers to press the seal in, then maybe a socket over the cam shaft and tap it with a hammer to get it flush. when i do the clutch and flywheel change i will also be replacing the crank seal under the flywheel, just as a precaution.

oh we do love ourselves some pictures, dont we.

so i cut the outer skin off the sill, and i was greeted with this. what a pleasant sight indeed. time to get happy with the grinder

so that was fun time to start making new metal, yes some bits still looks rough but believe me, the magic of Dynax S50 will prevent future rust for many years.

anyway, cut a long story short and we have this result. silky smooth. not bad for saying i have no experience with using filler. i usually just grind my welds totally smooth. (my welds are just THAT flat to start with)

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oh  OHHHHHHHHH What is this?!   "Youve not!!" i hear you say, well yes. YES i have done the unthinkable. i have painstakingly undergone the tedious task (it was actually quite easy) of removing the air conditioning system from another vehicle (Peugeot E7 Eurocab).

some disassembly required... again not as bad as it looks.. by far the most easy vehicle to remove the dash from (excluding my old Fiat Panda 4x4, 5x "normal" screws )

really a T20 torques bit and a 10mm ratchet.. no problem this. 10 mins work! (and it still starts, runs, and drives like this!)

now i "could" just attach this to my original air box system as it just happily sits on the back with 2 clips and a simple switch that turns the radiator cooling fan and compressor on (thats it!) but wheres the fun in that. you folks should know by now that its not the way I do things.
i need to get in with the wiring, become one with it (you will if you undo that loom!). i am just going to do the lazy thing and run new wiring alongside it. thankfully you get a nice wiring harness that just "plugs in" to your original vehicles wiring loom. that.. does seem... to be missing a few wires.....   well im SURE it will be ok...  i mean theres Already SO MANY.. i'm sure it wont mind a few not being there... ahem.
Moving right along..

now i do have to do some cutting out. remember i said that vans with aircon have 2 blower motors..  well turns out its a somewhat solid panel it mounts to. i was kinda hoping there was a plug i could just take out and to some extent there was.. but its too small. so Mr happy grinder time again.

this is how it should look...

and this is mine.

ahh but enough of that for now. check out this impressive filler work on the other sill the other side of the van. thats a good few mill thick that.

hmm nice..  wonder whats inside..

its like ive been here before! just everything is backwards now!

ahh and the bit i cut off? lets have a look and see the thickness of that filler work..  top job!

ahh but now it is time that i come to the end of my post..

remember, insanity and creativity is a close friend. or is that insanity and genius.. well whatever.
(must remember to not show these guys my old car)