[peeeete]

I've recently bought my brother's old Holden Drover and finally got off my arse and gotten the old engine running and registered with no new parts...

but I after a weekend trip out of the city I noticed it was having trouble staying at 90k and was shuddering in 5th. The engine started to heat up pretty quick and after popping the hood i realized the top of the radiator reserve tank had come loose and the radiator and reserve tank were empty... the water pump was leaking it out. The carby nut had come loose it was just sitting loosely on top.

When I got it home, the radiator and reserve were again empty (almost) again... The engine oil which was full before the trip is now empty and i think its time for a rebuild.

I am pretty new to all this and I plan on trying to boost the power a little bit at minimal cost while I strip the engine back.

I want to:
-Keep the 1.3
-Clean the carby
-clean the engine
-possibly try and find a vit radiator
-Replace the water pump and anything else thats going wrong with it

So what I want to know is where do I start and is there any good guides for rebuilding a g13a?
I have the haynes and factory manuals for the car somewhere... will they do?

[Mike]

go to www.suzukiinfo.com and go to the sierra/samurai section in there you can download a drover factory service manual if you don't have one already
rebuild kits are quite cheap for g13s for around $550 you can get a full rebuild kit including a water pump

[Scrawny]

There is also a manual here, in the download section.... http://www.auszookers.com/index.php?name=Downloads&c=15

What you have in mind sounds good. You'll find the standard radiator, in good condition, is suficient though.
I'm about to embark on the same journey with mine. I have another motor I will fit in the mean time to keep me on the road but the one that is in there will hopefully be rebuilt. I'm gonna try and do it for as little as possible, ie-
piston rings and honed bored
check bearings (if ok then re-use)
check head- skim and replace valve stem seals
gaskets and seals.

Mine is only blowing smoke, otherwise ok, so I'm hoping to just get away with the bare minimum. The biggest problem is the head cracking, particularly if it has been overheated. You'll also need to check bores for out-of-round and any scoring or pitting.

[joeblow]

contact micktab on here, he has a reconditioned 1.3. it just needs to be assembled.

[MART]

Just regarding honing , DOOOOOOON'T use one of those 3 bladed honing stones that fit in a drill , they will stuff your cylinder by tapering it. Use a bottle brush honer as these only scuff the bore and don't remove metal if the bore is not ridged. If there is a ridge have it bored first oversize , usually $90 dollars , and buy the rebuild kit with over size pistons and rings to suit , usually most engine rebuilders with mic up the block and tell you if its out of round. Also while the engine is apart get the water jacket arround the cylinders cleaned or de-scaled , especially up behind number 4 cylinder as gunk builds up there and can lead to over heating. If you do bore your block it may run a little hotter as the cylinder wall will be thinner.

Cheers Paul.

[Scrawny]

MART wrote:

Just regarding honing , DOOOOOOON'T use one of those 3 bladed honing stones that fit in a drill , they will stuff your cylinder by tapering it. Use a bottle brush honer.

x2 on this!!

[peeeete]

sorry for my delay at writing back but thanks! any advice on where to buy a rebuild kit with oversize pistons in melbourne? just moved here from brissy so still figuring out where everything is.

[Scrawny]

Move back to Brissie, there's nothing in Melbourne

[peeeete]

lol true... the closest thing to a hill in melbourne are the speed bumps!

[kenn]

Ah' you must be on the wrong side of the Yarra!