Well it wasn't my car it was my brother in laws!!
Anyway stripped the head off and guess what 16 bent valves a few followers the worse for wear and some of the lifters well out of position.Great. The worst of it is that the car done all this damage just on the starter.And the piece of resistance, as they say in France,the timing chain didn't snap it slipped the timing.
Got an initial quote to get the head sorted of £240 plus the gasket and head studs timing chain kit idler chain kit and I was thinking ,thats a lot of money. So rang round the local scrappers and got a complete engine out of a Vectra for a mere £250!!! The engine is out of a rearended police-car so I reckoned the servicing end of things would be as good as you would get but I'm still putting in the timing chain kit.
So as things stand the engine is in and I'm in the process of plumbing it all together.I think that by tomorrow if the weather holds there'll be some smoke out of her one way or the other!!!
If anyone wants the old head, pistons, crank, block or sensors give me a shout.BTW I'm from sunny Northern Ireland so pick up only.If anyone has any words of advice regarding successful transplants or Vectra to Bertone Astra 2.2's drop me a post.
We'll see what happens shortly............