On a car with no TC, you can change to 2 wheel TC by changing the modulator and ECU for the 2 wheel type. Whether you can change from none or 2 wheel to 4 wheel TC, I'm not sure but it wouldn't be an easy swap. The non TC and 2 wheel TC use the Wabco Type C ECU, whereas the 4 wheel uses the Wabco Type D and they are physically different and have different connections (Type C has one big connector but Type D has three smaller ones).

It might just be that the oil changes haven't been done as regularly as they should or it's had cheapo oil in it. What's in the sump looks a bit dirty. Turners and V8 Developments are the only two places I would trust on anything to do with the engine, so what they say about the cam is likely to be correct. Price is a bit steep though. Cam timing for the 4.0 litre and 4.6 are different, (and GEMS and Thor are different again on the 4.6) and I've wondered which one out of the 3 standard ones would give the best results. That's a question for Ray at V8Dev next time I'm passing I think.

As for learning in a P38, my step daughter started learning to drive in a Micra she bought but then lost her job and couldn't afford to run it any longer so sold it. She started a degree course and got a part time job as a hotel receptionist but the buses around here are pretty infrequent and there was none at all if she worked a late shift. She asked about learning in the Ascot (my spare P38) and pointed out that it wouldn't matter if she did an auto only test as all three of my cars and her mothers Merc are all autos. Even with a provisional licence, but 25 years old, she could get Classic Car insurance on a 4.6 P38 for less than she'd been paying on a Micra. Then she went to visit her boyfriend in Holland for a couple of weeks in September while she was furloughed, the Covid restrictions on travel kicked in and she finally managed to get home a couple of days ago (after the bank of step dad stepped in to pay for the multitude of Covid tests).

I'm wondering if the engine has ever been changed or if it is just the oil that has never been changed? I would expect it to look less black than that but I've seen many that are far worse where everything is coated in what looks like, and has the consistency of, black wax. I've seen the marker writing on most engines, so it may be factory, who knows.

You'll know what the rest of the engine is like when you get the heads off and can see the bores.

I edited your post so the picture appeared.

and I bet your sidestep supports aren't rusting away like they mostly do over here....

+1 on Delphi. That's what I've always used.

No. It shouldn't drop at all if everything is perfect, so when you get in it in the morning you should still have the normal height light showing to tell it is still were you left it. If it has dropped, then it should come up immediately, within 10 seconds or so. 3 minutes suggests you are losing pressure in the reservoir and it is having to refill that before the pressure is sufficient to lift the car.

Personally I wouldn't go to the added grief of taking the front cover off, you've already got enough work on your hands as it is. Mine had never leaked even when it was up to 285,000 when the engine came out to be rebuilt. Obviously it was taken off when the engine was rebuilt but that was 135,000 miles and one replacement water pump ago and it isn't leaking now. So yours should be fine. The gasket will have been put on dry originally and the fact it is weeping would seem to suggest there's no gasket goo in there to seal it (or tear the gasket when taken off) so tightening it up when the pump goes back will close up the gap and it will seal again.

Most replacement cams are to give more top end when the engine is used in a Morgan or the like. If anything the P38 could do with a bit more bottom end grunt (or at least the 4.0 litre GEMS could) so you are likely to be in uncharted territory when selecting a cam. As you say, it isn't going to be cheap and if your existing cam and followers aren't worn the cost benefit ratio may not be sufficient to justify it.

They'll get there as more decent ones appear on the market and more people start to appreciate them. Prior to the P38 there was the Classic which was pretty basic initially and not that much different to a Defender but with added luxury features such as deeper carpets, electric windows, air con, leather seats and the sort of things that luxury car buyers wanted. But it was still the same old design underneath. The Disco 1 was merely a budget, re-bodied Classic so was accepted as a 'proper' Land Rover by the One Life bunch. The P38 was designed as a luxury car but retaining, and improving on, the off road capabilities. Being seen as a luxury car, the purists immediately didn't like it, it wasn't a proper Land Rover. The complexity, for it's time (which compared with a car 10 years newer is pretty basic), wasn't understood, even by the dealers, and initial weaknesses meant it got the reputation for being unreliable. Which, in truth it was and, as even the dealers didn't really understand it, that reputation stuck. For 97MY there were numerous minor changes made to address the weak points and the advent of mandatory OBD2 compliance from 2000 would have meant a complete redesign of the GEMS engine management so a switch to the Bosch Motronic, already in use by numerous other manufacturers (including BMW who owned LR at the time), was the obvious next step. But it's interesting to note that the One Life crowd haven't accepted anything later than the Disco but the P38 appeals to a different class of buyer.

I think I've proved that a P38 can be reliable. When they do need work doing, they are easy to work on, parts are readily available (and cheap) and I wouldn't swap mine for an L322 at all. I might swap the Ascot for one as that is a standby, ready to be used if I'm halfway through a job on mine and need to go out and pick something up, but if I've got a 3,000 mile trip to do, I know which one I'll take.

Agree with the above. The plugs you took out are either Iridium or Platinum tipped, the replacements are standard copper core. I ran Citroen DS's while they were dirt cheap and always used Champion plugs in a carb'd DS21 and they were fine. I then changed it for a DS21 EFi and found that if I ran around town for a while, the first time I gave it some welly out of town it would pop, bang, splutter and misfire like crazy until I'd ignored the noise and wound it up to the red line when after that it would clear and run fine until next time I drove in traffic. Mentioned this in my local friendly Citroen dealers (in the old days when main dealers were inhabited by mechanics rather than salesmen) and was asked what plugs I ran. They reckoned they all did it on Champions and told me to put NGK plugs in and that cured it completely. Not used anything else in anything since and never had any problem. In the P38, for GEMS it needs BPR6ES which have the larger hex and are copper core, for Thor, as said, you need PFR6N-11 which have the smaller hex. Even though I use the copper cored plugs and change them every 10,000 miles (LPG being harder on plugs than petrol), I always coat the threads with graphite grease when putting them in (and torque them to Mr NGK's recommendations not hang on the end of a breaker bar like some people seem to do).

The leak from the front cover probably wasn't there before you took the water pump off as some of the bolts go through both. Removing the pump allows the front cover to move out slightly so you will get a weep which goes away once you put the new water pump on and tighten the bolts.

Two things stop the sliding joint on the steering shaft from moving. One is the fact that it has been there a long time but a thin cold chisel slid up the slot will move that. As you tap the chisel upwards it not only opens the gap so allowing the splines to move easier, you are also tapping the UJ up the splines. The other thing that stops it moving is having the wheels on the ground and the steering lock on, which it will be unless you have the keys in the ignition and turned, as there is tension in the shaft so it doesn't want to slide......

Be wary of the replacement steering shaft and go for OE. All now seem to be steel with a hex rather than splined sliding joint but there are two things that you need to be aware of. Some have the hole for the bolt on the steering box UJ in the wrong place (too close to the centreline) so the groove in the input shaft that the bolt should run in isn't deep enough and the bolt won't go in. The second problem is that on some the UJ's have been pressed in and the ends peened over to hold the bearing caps in place. This isn't done enough so the caps can move outwards and give slack in the UJ. The tiniest bit of movement in the UJ becomes an awful lot of slack at the steering wheel.

I think some had it but not all. Easy way to tell is to look at the part number on the ABS modulator, STC2778 is with Traction Control, STC2779 is without according to LRCat, although Craddocks site has them the other way round.

A Disco 1 rots so quickly soon they will be completely extinct so the few that remain will go up in value purely on rarity (although having used one from brand new in 1993 until it was pensioned off at 10 years old, I can't understand why anyone would want one).

It isn't so much the Vogue that fetches good money, it's cars that have been looked after. A Vogue is not much higher specced than an HSE, just it came with everything as standard rather than almost everything and many buyers added the bits it didn't have as options. The only one that is really different is the Vogue SE which came with everything.

There's dogs of P38s about that have been abused and neglected (the only reason a V8 will overheat) and then there's ones that have been looked after and are worth good money. This one, a Jap import, on coil springs (and sitting too high so will likely handle like a blancmange), the book showing on the HEVAC, peeling aftermarket stick on plastic wood and nothing really special, didn't reach the reserve https://www.carandclassic.co.uk/auctions/2000-p38-range-rover-46-hse-w8evOg? but still reached a good price.

Good news then. I suspect someone has used aftermarket stretch bolts that are too hard and managed to do them up as per the instructions so they are way too tight. First time I went to buy stretch bolts, I was asked if I wanted decent ones or cheap ones. when I asked the difference I was told the cheap ones might stretch, might not or might break so I went for genuine LR ones. Since then I've always used the studs, expensive but they work and you know how much pressure they are putting on.

Don't try heat as the alloy will expand more than the steel and make it tighter. A good smack may help though. See how many you can crack undone, just an 1/8th of a turn will be enough that the head won't be distorted, and if you need to drill the heads off the remaining stuck ones. When I took my engine out, 3 of the flex plate bolts came out but the fourth refused to budge until I'd rounded it off. I started off with a 2mm drill down the centre of it for the depth of the head, then went up a bit at a time until I reached 8mm and the head just fell off. Cobalt drills, cutting fluid and patience. With a head bolt it won't matter if you aren't completely central as the holes in the heads are bigger than the bolt diameter.

Or see how many of them will move with brute force and use some cobalt drills to drill the head off those that won't shift?

That may be why only one head was off before? I've never had a problem getting them out but it has involved a serious amount of grunt and a big long bar. Maybe my plug socket is a better quality one that yours? They do tend to go with a hell of a crack though. I use the plug socket with a 2" extension so the handle clears the head casting and my big bar. The short extension means there's less chance of it twisting sideways. 3/4" drive, 6 point impact socket should shift it.

Of course your other option is that as the head gaskets aren't blown and you are only replacing them as a preventative measure, just leave them......

Yeah, Proline, ANR4849 which is probably cast into the inside.

As mine is ex-police, it still has the huge Spraystopper mudguards on it which are just cut from a sheet of this https://www.truckware.co.uk/acatalog/Anti-Spray_Mudflaps_-_Manufactured_by_Clearpass.html. There would be nothing to stop you cutting them more to the size of the original ones and using the original mounting points (if they are still there that is)

That looks about right, 5/8ths of an inch is 15.875mm which would explain why a 16mm plug socket fits nigh on perfectly.

I use a 1/2" drive 6 point spark plug socket on the head bolts, the one with a smaller hex for plugs used on a lot of modern cars. It's probably some strange Imperial size, but 16mm, 6 point is a nice fit. I use the handle from my trolley jack which is about 5 foot long on the Tee bar. They are seriously tight and need a lot of grunt, hence the use of the jack handle. Heads are symmetrical so the tightening sequence is the same for them both and the undoing is the reverse order.

Wing liners are held in with plastic plugs but the mudguard has to come off too and that is held on with rusted screws and almost always need a grinder to get them off.