For the love of a tractor engine: The life and times of the 18R-G

[twentyEight]

2R = 1.5L (1490cc)
4R = 1.6L (1587cc)
8R = 1.9L (1858cc)

Just to add to the confusion...

Owen, I'm pretty sure the 16R is a 1.8L... (1808cc)

[tomvale13]

Yeah, its the 2r then. Boy doesn't it go.

[o_man_ra23]

Simon, I believe 1808cc is actually not classed as 1.8L as it is greater than 1800cc and the class must be above the actual... could be wrong though

[twentyEight]

I always thought it was class rounded... Oh well...

[bnicho]

Owen, I'm pretty sure the 16R is a 1.8L... (1808cc)

Yep, that's what's on the build plate of my 16R hardtop - 1808cc.

To me, that's a 1.8L.

[timbosaurus]

another for the 1.8L!

You can even run slightly > 2L cars in most 2L categories to allow for it

[airfireman1]

Further to a few post ago I have removed the head on the 18rgeu and yes, the head gasket was blown between no 1 and 2 and also no2 to the exhaust side of the head. Corrosion was a bit horrific.Fortunately I had a spare head off an 18rgu that was in very good condition. It looked like it had had a recent reco job done. So off with the old and on with the new. I have set all the cam timing as best I can with a slightly stretched chain.
Whilst the head was off I noticed that the distributor was from an 18rc, as the clamp system was not correct. So from the same 18rgu I borrowed that dizzy and was able to use the correct clamp. The internals are slightly different in that the sensor is the same but not the actuator for it. No probs though so I started the engine and it is only running on 3 cylinders. No1 has no spark. I have checked this with my timing light, it works on all the other cylinders but not NO1. I have also checked the lead and that seems fine. So it looks like that dizzy has a fault. I will change all the internals tomorrow and see if that makes a difference.
Also I now see th value of the balance tubes that I had to remove to fit the webers. A very unstable vacuum signal to the dizzy, causing pulsing of the vacuum advance mechanism.
I am now thinking the webers were not such a good idea.
Cheers

[RAd28]

hey all... if anyone has got (one of) the latest issues of ZOOM, with the maroon 3T-GTE TA23, go to around page 55... there's a corolla i think with an 18RGTEU doing 9.63 on the quarter!!!

[airfireman1]

Its alive, I dont know why it didnt want to fire on NO1 cyl but I removed the dizzy with the thought of swapping the internals but decided against it an reinstalled it and hey presto its all good. I will now just recheck tha cam timing but I am sure it will have to do as there is no more adjustment holes left. Water temp is great and after 30 minutes of idling and reving the temp guage sits on normal.
I will have to pull off the webers and give them a good going over as it is idling so rich and no amount of screwing in the idle mixture screws will lean it off at idle.
Cheers

[EldarO]

pulled my 18RG apart today...

its an 88250 with 88270 EFI gear, and 88270 cams...

i havent had a chance to take the timing chain off yet to remove the head, but the head is in immaculate condition, and whoever owned it before me spent some serious coin reco'ing everything, everything has bugger all wear, and is in immaculate condition.

im a bit suss of the bottom end though, so ill know more once i pull it apart, hopefully get some time tomorrow...

ill post up some pics when i get it apart to see what pistons ive got...

Elmo.

[bnicho]

Well, as of yesterday I've joined the 18RG club.

I bought a shabby RT104 Corona fitted with an 18RGU (88250 head) and W50. The plan is to use this RT104 for Autocross and then eventually fit the motor into my RT112.

It was running pretty poorly when I first looked at it. It had Ram Flo's on it but they were pretty clogged up. The car had not been driven much lately. As it warmed up the idle settled down. The seller reckoned it had a reco head and new timing chains not long ago, and it was actually pretty quiet with no tappet or chain noise. So I bought it.

A mate drove the RT104 and I followed in the RT112. For the first couple of kays there was plenty of black crap coming out the exhaust, but this cleared up. It was running really great until he run out of fuel!! We put 10L in the tank, but it wouldn't run very well at all after that, it was hardly driveable.

Today I had a better look at the motor. The pollution stuff was hooked up wrong, so it took it off, plugged the manifold hoses and connected the breathers direct to the air filters. I cleaned the Ram Flos, changed the fuel filter and cleaned the little filters in the carb fuel inlets (they were solid with crud). All four aux venturs were loose, so I tightened them up. Unfortunatelty it is still running poorly. I think I'll fit some new plugs.

To my surprise it has electronic ignition, but it's pretty oily in the dizzy, so I suspect this is the problem. Maybe oil is working it's way in there from the motor?

[maurice c]

Pretty hard for oil to get in there from the motor, more lightly somebody oiled it in a well meaning moment of inspiration. Clean it up and check the air gap.

[o_man_ra23]

Sounds like crud in the fuel lines... get some compressed air, take off the fuel cap, and blow the line back into the tank. Also stick a torch in your tank when its low, and check for rust... could have the same problem my brother's RA23 used to have.

[airfireman1]

Elmo, what car are you going to fit the 18rg into?
Well after another day in my workshop, Webers were removed as they were running way too rich. I overhauled a set of solex's and fitted them along with puting the balance tube back on. Rechecked and adjusted the cam timing, made a throttle linkage set to use the original pedal. It runs much better and revs very freely and linkages allow full range of movement
Cheers.

[airfireman1]

Another day in the workshop as I am not happy with the way the engine is running. A couple of points seem toneed attention. I have this very unstable idle and a very bad miss when just above idle until it gets a heap of revs. It also sounds lke I have a noisy inlet valve. Compression seems average , between 155 and 165. So that is not a great concern.
I rechecked the cam timing and that needed redoing. So I have reset that again but it seems a little more reluctant to start with a slight amount of kickback when cranking. So I will recheck that again. Due to the stretch and wear in the timing chain it is a little hard to set it up as the tensioner pulls the chain back and hence tends to retard the cam timing and ther is not really any more holes to reste the timing to.
Also a few issues with the solex's as I have stripped and cleaned them but the idle screws are worn.
I think a carby balancer may be the way to go as well.
Cheers