If you have a 205 gti engine and a 205 si engine fully stipend down is there a different between the 2 blocks are they interchangeable?
205 engine block
- Thread starter 1pugnut
- Start date
Thanks Peter,
I have taken the head off an si motor and the in the water jackets it’s spotless so I was going to keep the block as a spare.
I have taken the head off an si motor and the in the water jackets it’s spotless so I was going to keep the block as a spare.
Did you take the liners out? You won't know for sure until all is revealed.
I was going to say, in my experience (not that extensive) Si blocks seem to survive corrosion much better than GTI blocks. I rebuilt my GTI engine in a Si block after trying a number of GTI blocks and finding they all had bad corrosion. The Si block was like new inside. In fact it looked like it had some sort of dark grey slippery coating inside. Maybe they changed the alloy in later engines, (the Si was a 92 car), who knows? Maybe GTI owners were just less careful with the coolant they used. Either way, these blocks are not going to be around forever so a good spare is not going to go amiss.
PS. Yes, you might need to take the liners out to know the full truth. Actually, if you want to keep the block I would say it is advisable to take the liners out and then pack the block as clean as possible (not necessarily blasted, just clean of all the oil/sealant/gasket residue, etc.) in a sealed container (nothing special, just carboard is enough but it needs to be sealed).
PS. Yes, you might need to take the liners out to know the full truth. Actually, if you want to keep the block I would say it is advisable to take the liners out and then pack the block as clean as possible (not necessarily blasted, just clean of all the oil/sealant/gasket residue, etc.) in a sealed container (nothing special, just carboard is enough but it needs to be sealed).
I attribute that to the fact that Si's were newer and were more regularly driven / more frequent coolant changes. But then again, who's more likely to top up their coolant with tap water, the GTI or the SI owner?
I think you are right.
My own car has a very interesting history that illustrates that.
The first few years of ownership show stellar and expensive servicing with every service interval ticked off, all work done at a dealer and a specialist still in business today. Total service costs exceed the cost of the car and that is in its first six years of life.
Then it gets sold.
Servicing starts to get patchy.
The first signs of trouble appear, the car has some cooling system problems. These are sporadically addressed by replacing bits and pieces at random intervals. Some normal servicing is done (oil change, etc) every now and then.
Then it is sold again but there is no sign of it being registered again.
No service records, no repairs record.
And then I bought it.
The block was cracked all the way from cylinder #3 around above the g'box and back to cyl #3 again. The crack was open 1cm at he widest gap, above the g'box. Inside, someone had put expanding foam to stop the coolant leaks until they filled the block with it. Car still drove well but didn't make it home. Someone had also put a crappy round air filter directly in the AFM, the wiring was a mess, the A/C didn't work.
On inspection, the block had so much corrosion everywhere it was like a sponge. Even the water pump duct cast in the block was corroded. The bit above the crack came off in my hand in one piece when I took the engine out. It was as brittle as the dash plastics.
So there you go.
My own car has a very interesting history that illustrates that.
The first few years of ownership show stellar and expensive servicing with every service interval ticked off, all work done at a dealer and a specialist still in business today. Total service costs exceed the cost of the car and that is in its first six years of life.
Then it gets sold.
Servicing starts to get patchy.
The first signs of trouble appear, the car has some cooling system problems. These are sporadically addressed by replacing bits and pieces at random intervals. Some normal servicing is done (oil change, etc) every now and then.
Then it is sold again but there is no sign of it being registered again.
No service records, no repairs record.
And then I bought it.
The block was cracked all the way from cylinder #3 around above the g'box and back to cyl #3 again. The crack was open 1cm at he widest gap, above the g'box. Inside, someone had put expanding foam to stop the coolant leaks until they filled the block with it. Car still drove well but didn't make it home. Someone had also put a crappy round air filter directly in the AFM, the wiring was a mess, the A/C didn't work.
On inspection, the block had so much corrosion everywhere it was like a sponge. Even the water pump duct cast in the block was corroded. The bit above the crack came off in my hand in one piece when I took the engine out. It was as brittle as the dash plastics.
So there you go.
I haven’t taken the sleeves out yet, I have seen a lot other guys having trouble with corrosion and broken head bolts, all the head bolts came out with no problem and the water jackets and sleeves are spotless from a quick visual they are a light grey colour, there is no build up sludge, I am planning to rebuild the engine in my S3 gti and hopefully I have a good backup if needed.
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One simple thing you can do is put some (old) petrol in the block, see if anything seeps past the bottom of the liners. If it holds petrol, it's probably good to go but there's no guarantee for how long.
If they came out nicely then put some antisieze on the threads to preserve them as best you can whilst its stored!
I pulled the liners out and it is in very good shape only a little bit of discolouring from corrosion but no pitting yet on cylinder 1 right at the back of the block. Next I will bead blast, spray Knox and never size as suggested and pack it away.
