[VonDecoy]

Hi Zookers, My G16b Vit has made it to 300,000km.
It still runs smoothly and hasn't lost any noticeable power.
There is a slight "top end" sounding rattle upon cold starts. It clears up fairly soon after starting. Within 2 mins.


2012-07-15 13.57.59 by Vondecoy, on Flickr

What sort of issues do these engines start to develop as they get older?
What should I think about changing/checking/replacing?
Are there any spare parts I should start trying to source now?

Assuming everything inside it is happy. I'd like to get a little bit more torque out of it in the 1500 to 3500 rev range.
What possibilities are there? I'm thinking towards the exhaust system. i.e extractors, new cat, and mild steel pipe.

[want33s]

Any mods you do now will accelerate the engines demise.
Drive it till it gets so low on power you can't stand it or uses so much oil you can't afford to top it up every day.

[VonDecoy]

Fair enough.
One thing I forgot to mention is that I'm not sure if it still has the original engine. Is there any way of checking?

[zukmeista]

Check the engine number (at the back on passengers side down the bottom) against the build plate (blue, on firewall)

[VonDecoy]

From what I can see it looks like this is the original engine. So I'll work on the assumption that it is.
It's not using any oil yet, so that's good.

Ok, in that case. What are peoples normal solutions to these engines getting old?
New/Recon'd engine, Engine swap for something else, burn the car and buy a new one?

[buzbox]

Mine just ticked over 270,000km and I was hoping to swap it out at 300, well that was until I found out the replacement block I had is cactus. So I'll be ripping it out sooner than expected. It still runs fine, Only recently it's starting to use about 1-2 litres per fortnight and just the other night I saw a small plume of smoke come out of the exhaust when I accelerated hard.

I'll be replacing everything that can be replaced just for reassurance. Radiator, hoses, belts even though they look to be ok or even if they've been recently replaced. But that's just me.