Driving home at 20-25mph in traffic last night, just cut out, RAC told me the cambelt had snapped.. Has 84k on the clock though so I was asking for it.

How much am I looking at.. i.e. minimum and maximum.. And how long will it take an independant garage to fix it..? I'm hoping it won't cost more than £500-600.

Thanks...

Im not to sure on cost but will probably be in the region of £4-500 pounds as chances are you will have to get your head redone due to bent valves e.t.c better option might be to get a scrapyard head and get it skipped and fitted might work out cheaper than rebuilding your current head. Have you thought about attempting the repair yourself?
Welcome to here by the way.

bandido41 said:

Im not to sure on cost but will probably be in the region of £4-500 pounds as chances are you will have to get your head redone due to bent valves e.t.c better option might be to get a scrapyard head and get it skipped and fitted might work out cheaper than rebuilding your current head. Have you thought about attempting the repair yourself?
Welcome to here by the way.

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I'd be prepared to pay £400 - in the loosest possible sense.

I'd never attempt to fix it myself, I don't have enough spare time with work and I'm not the most DIY-based person - quite the opposite. How much are you looking at for an engine transplant..?

Get a second hand head. The valves and seating them alone will be over two thirds of the amount you want to spend.

Engine will probably cost you around the £200 mark depending on where you look (you would still have to do a cam belt change though as you probably wont know the history of the car besides its a safer bet anyway) and then the fitting depending on where you go CAN cost as much as £500

bandido41 said:

Engine will probably cost you around the £200 mark depending on where you look (you would still have to do a cam belt change though as you probably wont know the history of the car besides its a safer bet anyway) and then the fitting depending on where you go CAN cost as much as £500

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Thanks for you help. I know a friend of a friend who is a AA roadside mechanic, so I'll ask him to have a good look at it before I make any decision.

Just as an aside.. Would there but much possibility of putting a 1.8 HGT engine in, as I've seen one cheap.

The possibility is there but i think you will need a whole lot more than just the engine, you will need the wiring loom the ecu and quite a few other bits and bobs and the insurance will not be worth it,unless you were able to get the complete 1.8HGT s that you could have everything you need and the sell the rest, i dont think it would be worth the trouble of doing an engine conversion it would be better to buy a more powerful car rather than do an engine upgrade.

Thanks for your help, appriciate it.

Don't rush to buy a new engine. Make sure your engine actually is knackered.

Your Punto could be have a non-interference engine fitted, in which case you won't have any engine damage at all. All you have to do is fit a new cam-belt and tensioner and then re-set the valve timing.

The 1.1/1.2 55/60/75 FIRE engine is a non-interference.. but some of the later engines are not.



Ralf S.

Ralf S. said:

Don't rush to buy a new engine. Make sure your engine actually is knackered.

Your Punto could be have a non-interference engine fitted, in which case you won't have any engine damage at all. All you have to do is fit a new cam-belt and tensioner and then re-set the valve timing.

The 1.1/1.2 55/60/75 FIRE engine is a non-interference.. but some of the later engines are not.



Ralf S.

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Its a 16valve so definitely an interference engine.

Spoke to a friend today who is a qualified mechanic and has been for three years.

He said he could do it for me in a day, buy a new engine head at 'trade price', replace the timing belt and pretensioner easily enough, and get me back up and running for about £300.

Feasible..?

Sounds like a fair price if thats including fitting and new belt and tensioner .

Guaje7 said:

Spoke to a friend today who is a qualified mechanic and has been for three years.

He said he could do it for me in a day, buy a new engine head at 'trade price', replace the timing belt and pretensioner easily enough, and get me back up and running for about £300.

Feasible..?

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Yup sounds reasonable.

Guaje7 said:

Thanks for you help. I know a friend of a friend who is a AA roadside mechanic, so I'll ask him to have a good look at it before I make any decision.

Just as an aside.. Would there but much possibility of putting a 1.8 HGT engine in, as I've seen one cheap.

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fit a lancia delta hf turbo(1.6) lump that would be fun ,and there is a few on ebay

fredders1 said:

fit a lancia delta hf turbo(1.6) lump that would be fun ,and there is a few on ebay

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good idea, only a year too late as well

dave said:

good idea, only a year too late as well

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Guaje7 said:

Spoke to a friend today who is a qualified mechanic and has been for three years.

He said he could do it for me in a day, buy a new engine head at 'trade price', replace the timing belt and pretensioner easily enough, and get me back up and running for about £300.

Feasible..?

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Guaje7 - If the rest of the car is good go with it....

car nut said:

guaje7 - if the rest of the car is good go with it....

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fail

Munkul said:

fail

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What you on about

Car nut said:

What you on about

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look at the dates.

the OP is over a year old.... therefore it stands to reason that the car is fixed/scrapped by now...

then fredders comes along 3 days ago and inanely suggests putting a delta turbo engine in... so dave points out that he's way too late with the idea...

...then you come along, make the same mistake again, but fail to notice both the original dates, AND the mistake that fredders made which was pointed out.... therefore you "fail"

Anything else you'd like me to spell out to you?