Engine Punk

September 2014 and Mighty Whitey 's future hangs in the balance I still have my aunt's old C15D van, which she christened Mighty Whitey . It's something of a family heirloom having been supplied new to her by Arnold's of Penryn in 1986. It used to have a dealer's sticker in the rear window that showed Falmouth mis-spelt as Falmoth but it's disintegrated entirely now. My parting comment on VT 44.1 was about sustainability and the intervening 10 years have been a testimony to that.  Following an engine failure on the M5, my C15D van is now a C15TD.  What happened was.... a complete loss of power just the other side of Exeter with lots of white and black smoke. I pulled onto the hard shoulder and when I tried the engine again it span over very quickly. No compression! On a diesel no compression means no ignition. There had been no indication of anything wrong with the engine. I remember a slight whiff of antifreeze going up Haldon Hill but the water temperature ...

It looks so innocent I bought this car with the intention of robbing its engine but during the drive home its fat torque curve endeared it to me and I couldn't kill it. I was looking for a replacement engine for Mighty Whitey (VT No.44) and through suddenly not having a van anymore buying a running car gave me the means of getting  said engine to the Boogie Wundaland workshop as well as the opportunity to see how it went. I did not expect this little diesel Peugeot to go quite so well. I changed my plans forthwith and bought a 1.9 turbo diesel Citroen Xantia to sacrifice instead to get my dear old van going again but that is another story. 1.7 litres of blown dieseasel The engine in Michael Morpeugeot is very similar to the 1769cc unit in my Citroen C15D but comes with a turbo and a five speed box. The character is thus transformed. Instead of a frugal slogger, this powertrain takes this little car on a romp to the top of any hill and then wants another challenge an...