TBH it still sounds more enginey to me... especially since your suggesting it felt stumbly around 4k then eventually pushed thru.

Bad MAF perhaps? When they get old they start underreading, which has the biggest impact at high engine speeds

NCT Manual is here: https://www.rsa.ie/docs/default-source/services/s4.7-nct/nct-manuals/nct-tester-manual-june-2021.pdf?sfvrsn=4cddfe90_5

Excerpt:

Method of Testing

1. If the vehicle is fitted with an Anti-Lock Braking System (ABS), check that the relevant warning lamp is fitted, and follows the correct sequence of operation (manufacturer’s check sequence
   must be verified).
2. Where possible connect OBD scan tool and check for error codes.
3. Visually check wheel speed sensors are not damaged or missing.
4. Check wiring or other components are not damaged or missing.

So much like the UK, the ABS test is simply a test of the correct function of the warning light.

Theres some confusion between ABS and the brake booster here...

ABS functions by turning the brakes OFF, when it detects a locked wheel. Certainly in the UK, the only test for the ABS system is that the light correctly illuminates, then goes off. The P38 catches some testers out because the light doesnt go out until you drive the car. I've had one try to fail me before because the light was on, but after explaining they accepted it was working as expected.

The UK MOT test also states that vehicles with permanent 4wd should not be tested on a 2 wheel brake roller.

The UK test manuals are available online, i would suggest you try to find the irish equivalent and see what it says.

The pump you hear running is the hydraulic boost pump for the brake booster. This replaces the vacuum booster found on most cars with a pressurised hydraulic system instead. The pump should not typically run every brake press, maybe only after 2-3 presses. If its running every time, that could suggest the hydraulic accumulator is on its way out. The accumulator holds a quantity of high pressure fluid ready to be used by the braking system when you press the pedal. If the accumulator has failed, it wont hold enough pressure in reserve and thus will need to restart the pump every time you press the pedal.

If its a petrol, at wide open it shouldnt be trying to shift until at least 5k.

So i would actually suggest the opposite is the problem, the gearbox isnt shifting because the engine hasnt reached the shift point yet... Something on the engine side is stopping the RPM climbing any higher.

Lifting your foot will have lowered the shift point and so it changed gear.

Will it rev past 4k in neutral? Any fault codes on the ECU?

defo worth checking the fluid level

Is it a diesel?

Oh i also found a small leak on the top radiator hose at the manifold. Replaced the factory constant tension clamp with a nice JCS HiGrip to see if that fixes it. It almost looked like it was leaking out of the fabric reinforcement at the radiator end too which is very weird. Will need to keep an eye.

Not sure if i should try to steer this back on track or just make a new thread. Anyways i had a day off yesterday and after the brake issues i decided to do some more plumbing on the engine.

When i put it all back together i replaced every coolant hose on the engine. That meant that the LPG vapouriser was no longer connected so i've done the last few hundred miles on petrol. MOT is due next month so i need the LPG working as the cats are worn out and it probably wont pass on petrol... I didnt want to hack up my new pipes, and i wanted to try something i've been thinking about for ages.

Some years ago i blanked off the throttle heater loop. So yesterday i removed my blanks and ran new pipework to the LPG vapouriser. Now it comes off the manifold pipe stub that used to feed the throttle heater plate, goes over to the vapouriser in 10mm hose, then from the vapouriser back to the small header tank inlet underneath.

Obviously cant drive it, but i fired it up, initially with the return line just poked in the top of the reservoir so i could see the flow, and once the air purged out, i was getting a nice strong flow from the pipe. win?

Wont know until i fix the brakes and try to drive it, but hopefully it all works nicely and its a LOT neater than the horrible T'ed fittings that were there before.

My only concern is both the manifold and header tank stubs are 8mm, with a 10mm hose cinched down onto them. I'll keep an eye as that might leak, if it does i'll probably get a short length of 8mm and some streight couplers and use those for the final connection. The vapouriser has 10mm stubs so those fit nicely.

I also reinstalled the passengers side exhaust manifold heat-shield, and peered at the drivers side one thinking how the F am i getting that back in there... any tips?

Found a great angle from a youtube video and took a screen shot.

Blue line is the caliper flexi we can see above.

Then there is a red line representing the hardline that seems to just span from two points on the chassis.

Then a green is flexi from chassis to body.

Then the orange line is the hardline that heads off to the front of the car.

My thinking is to simply connect the orange hardline directly to the blue flexi.

Thanks.

The early setup (my car is a '94) has hard lines running across the axle a bit like the older classic/discovery, which then jump up to the body/chassis from a bracket off the middle of the axle.

So i have Flexi from caliper to axle, hardline across the axle to a bracket, flexi from bracket to body/chassis, hardline to the front.

Except my axle is the later type and doesnt have the bracket. Someones bodged it previously by hacking the bracket off the old axle and clamping it to the newer axle with a jubilee clip. The later axle also doesnt have any provisions to secure the hardlines to the casing, so they're attached with cable ties. Its all a bit crap and thus I'd like to try and convert it over to the later style as per your pics.

The bit you've pictured i can understand, i need a new flexi and possibly i need to add a tab on the chassis to hold said flexi.

The bit i was struggling with, is what happens after that. Your car will have a short hardline that goes up to the top of the chassis near the spring mounts, then a flexi going somewhere, then eventually the hardlines to the front.

I'd like to run the hard line from the front, directly to the flexi in your photo.

Looking at photos, the later "caliper" flexi goes from the axle across to a tab underneath the chassis. Then theres a short hard line to another flexi.

I dont understand what that second flexi is doing?

Can the hard line not just run along the chassis and then directly into the caliper flexi?

My best guess is that the original brake hardlines were attached to the body during assembly, rather than the chassis, and the second flexi is to allow them to jump across to the chassis during mating?

I'm not sure my lines are actually attached to the body any more as they've been replaced, so i'm thinking i use the late caliper flexi to the chassis, and then reroute the hardlines down and in, skipping the second flexi entirely.

That way i'm using standard late flexis, but only the two for the calipers.

Since i need front hoses, i'm revisiting my thoughts on the rear axle hoses.

My car has an early pipe routing, with the pipes above the axle. But the axle is a later one without the bracket, so its all a bit bodged currently.

I'm struggling to figure out what exactly the short pipe and jump hose does on the later setup?

If the caliper pipe goes from the axle to the chassis, why cant the hard line from the front just go directly into that flexi?

Lpgc wrote:

If not a collapsed flexi could it be a problem inside the ABS unit?
Yeah that was the only other thing that was on my mind...

I drove it up and down the drive a few times after putting it all back together. brakes feel normal, but the passenger caliper is still loose and not even touching the pads.

I think i'll order a pair of front flexis and go from there.

I'm wondering if its a collapsed flexi? They look pretty old.

Went to the builders yard this morning and when i got there i could smell cooking brakes. Got out for a look and passenger front wheel was smoking hot.

Got it home driving slower and using the brakes as little as possible, and i've pulled the corner apart hoping it was just a stuck slider, except i cant actually see anything wrong.

sliders are free, pads werent even stuck in the carriers. I lifted the pistons boots and the pistons are shiney clean. I then got a G clamp, and if i push one piston in, the other pops out and vice versa, very little force needed, suggesting the pistons themselves are free. Now heres where it gets really odd...

I put a block of wood in the caliper leaving about 10mm of space, jumped in and pressed the brake pedal, in an attempt to push the pistons out some more, so i could check for rust, except nothing happened. The space remained at 10mm. I turned the ignition on and charged up the brake pump and properly heaved on the pedal... same thing.

Got a chunk of metal across both pistons and managed to force them both back 5mm or so with the g clamp. Reinstalled the caliper on the car. Since i pushed the pistons back theres now a 5mm gap between the caliper and pads. Stomped on the pedal as hard as i could inside the car, but the gap didnt close.

So what on earth is going on here!?!

One minute they're stuck on, and now they;re not getting any pressure at all?

4v just isnt needed, as GM discovered with the LS.

Ford went off down the 4v OHC route in the 90's, at the same time GM ran the numbers and realised that a very well designed 2v pushrod engine with all the latest technology could compete favourably at much lower cost and we got the LS, which is now in its third generation and has all the good stuff like cylinder on demand and variable timing, and competes pretty favourably with 4v designs from their competitors.

4v is great when you need to extract every horsepower from a tiny engine, but for a big V8 it tends to matter a lot less, and they can get close enough with a good 2v head.

Yeah its odd, especially given the massive range of heads available for the various other yank V8's

I suspect it comes down to cost and volumes. Massive numbers of chevy/ford/chrysler V8's sold and a thriving tuning/hot-rod scene mean huge aftermarket for them. Heads are available at a massive variety of price points and performance levels.

The Rover in comparison was only ever really fitted to a few niche low volume sports cars back in the 70/80's and spent most of its life powering various 4x4's..

The two heads that do exist (wildcat and TA) are very expensive as a result and both are a bit "weird" requiring many additional parts which drives up the cost further.

the D2 only got the 4.0 IIRC? and the rumors go that they used the better blocks for the 4.6, and the worse ones for the 4.0, so i guess it would make sense that you see a higher instance of issues on the D2 simply due to them always getting the poorer blocks, whereas the P38 will have had a lot more 4.6 engines with the better ones.

I think as with anything, a common fault doesnt mean every single one has issues. The aforementioned N47's are a good example of that. A huge number of them having timing chain issues, but there are still plenty driving around. eBays also full of cars with broken timing chains!

I dont think its fair to say they dont have liner issues though. It was enough of an issue even during manufacture that they were x-raying blocks and sorting them based on cylinder wall thickness. Wether you call it cracking or "porosity" its the same thing in the end, water gets thru the alloy cylinder wall, up the back of the liner and into the chamber. The fact that top hat liners exist tell you its enough of a problem that a fix has been developed. If it was a rare problem the fix would be "just get another block"...

VW/Audi and the other german marques use a sleeve style clamp with large bands:

They come in a variety of sizes. The Audi exhaust systems come from the factory as one single piece, but if you need to replace a muffler for instance they have a prescribed cut line, and then use those clamps to join the two halves back together. They also use them between the downpipe and system, instead of a flange.

They work really well if you can find one the right size. They are often metric and come in 5mm increments.

FWIW the police engine with issues is the N57, the M57 is the previous generation and seems much more robust. The N series diesels are pretty crap, the 4 cylinder being renowned for eating its timing chains. Certainly one to avoid.

The whole police thing is weird, because they stopped making the N57 in 2015/2016, thus at this point they'd naturally be getting cycled out of the fleet anyway. BMW also appear to be the ones to pull the plug, rather than the police refusing to buy them. As with anything theres probably more complexity than portrayed in the media.

Isnt the "porus block" just another name for the cracking-behind-the-liners issue that they all seem to eventually suffer from?