The ARP instructions won't open for me but no, they don't torque up anything like the stretch bolts (as they don't stretch). If the engine was out of the car you'd screw the studs into the top of the block then drop the gasket and heads on but with the studs in the block and the engine in the car you don't have enough space to get the heads on. So put the gasket and heads on without the studs in place, screw the studs in using an Allen key in the hex hole in the top (after you've made sure the holes are clear of coolant, oil and muck before putting the heads on), then lube the washers and nuts and torque them down like normal. As the instructions won't open for me, I don't know what torque they recommend. I've seen people talk about 80ft/lb which seems too high for an all alloy engine to me. Ray at V8 Dev told me to use 65ft/lb so that's what I did. 3 stages, 30, 50 and 65.

Not that old and still running, but I'm in Stilton, just south of Peterborough and have a Nanocom. It's got the GEMS licence so can't do anything with the engine on a diesel but will do the SRS and other sub-systems.

Chris, found out what I was doing wrong with my CReader, I was using the driver for a VI and mines a VI+. Tried the correct driver and it updated but doesn't appear any different to before. Doesn't seem to allow it to be used with a computer though unless Brian knows any different..

Rimmers do them, https://rimmerbros.com/Item--i-RB768020 and I think Turner do too but can't find them on their website. The problem with stretch bolts is that they must be made from the exact same spec steel as original so stretch exactly the right amount. Too soft and they stretch too easily and either don't hold the heads down firmly enough so the gasket blows again not long after or break when you give them the last 90 degree turn, too hard and they don't stretch enough so can pull the threads out of the block. Core plugs are much lower down the block so even with the heads off you still won't have any better access.

As long as you don't find you are short of something goes horribly wrong, yes, easily doable over a weekend. I picked up my engine from V8 Developments on the Friday evening. That was a short engine, the block with no heads. Started on it Saturday morning, engine in, bolted up and then fitted the heads with it in the car. Fired it up for the first time about 1pm on Sunday, took it for a test drive, got cleaned up then drove it to Leeds at 6pm. All you have to remember is that it is two old school 4 cylinder pushrod engines glued together, once the inlet manifold is off, treat it as two engines.

That drip is above the core plugs, they are hidden by the engine mounts and one is behind the starter, so below the head gasket seam. If the engine hasn't been overheated the heads should be fine, just run a straight edge over them, the overhaul manual in RAVE says that the maximum warp allowed is 0.05mm. Rather than using stretch bolts, it's worthwhile replacing them with an ARP stud kit.

Unless you need the car to get to work, i suppose taking the exhaust manifold off to have a good look is about your only next step. At least then you are half way to getting the head off to replace the gasket if that is where it is leaking from.

I had some long M10 bolts that had a thinner shaft before the bolt head, that came from a blown Toyota engine I stripped down.

I cut the head off and tapped an M8 thread onto the plain shaft giving me a stud with M10 at one end that would screw into the re-tapped thread in the head and an M8 thread at the other that I could just use a standard M8 nut on to hold the manifold.

The throbbing you hear is the standard noise you'll get from a V8 as the firing is not even. That alloy block is at the top of the engine block, just below the head gasket joint. The coolant passages run at each end of the heads so it is in the right place for a weeping head gasket at the front. Just because a coolant passage is leaking, doesn't mean the head gasket has failed in the normally accepted way, the idle is far too smooth for that.. The combustion chamber seals have metal fire rings at the sealing point, the coolant passages are in the gasket material with a seam of gasket sealant around them. It's always possible that your engine was built using a gasket that had an air bubble in the sealant.

What happens with a lot of the Chinese assembly companies is that they get a contract to manufacture x,000 units for their customer. They then make a few extra and sell them for less. So you are buying the same thing but not through the normal channels. It happens a lot with radio equipment, you can buy a Kenwood or Icom hand portable radio or you can buy something for less than half the price that looks identical except for the label saying what it is. In fact, they are identical internally and made on the same production line by the same sub contractor that makes the brand name ones.

Been out and checked my Creader and it still works.......

That's why I checked Microcat as I'm sure some of the bolts on the engine are Imperial sizes. As there's no difference between heads on a 4.0 litre and a 4.6, I can't see the threads being different. However, there's different part numbers for the up to 98 and 99 onwards heads and the threads for the GEMS lifting bracket (which I'm fairly sure are the same thread as the exhaust manifold bolts) are shown as 3/8 UNC compared with M8 for the Thor engine. However, if you are helicoiling the holes, as long as the bolt you put in is the same thread as the helicoil, it isn't going to make any difference. On one engine I worked on the exhaust manifold bolt hole threads were stripped due to the bolts having been cross threaded. I tapped the holes out to M10 and then tapped an M8 thread on a stepped bolt so it became a stud with M10 on one end and M8 on the other. Actually made fitting the manifold easier as a stud held it in place while the bolts were put in.

You get further than I do, mine just comes up with Communications failure even though the green OK is lit and the red spanner flashes, it does nothing. On the Launch website there is a warning about pirated Chinese copies but my view is if it still works does it matter? I've got a Chinese copy of a VagCom unit for VAG group cars and although it comes up with lots of warnings that it is unregistered, it still works. Just got to check that mine still works now having been plugged into the computer or if I've turned it into a brick......

Mine's lasted about 4 years so far so Brian must have just got a duff one. I wasn't even aware it could be plugged into a computer so I've just got mine out of the car and checked, sure enough, there's a USB socket in the bottom under a little flap. I'll have a play with it later and see what it can do.

The graph squidges up so it the switching of the lambda sensors get closer together until it decides you'd never be able to read it so the graph scrolls. It will display the last 10 minutes or so. So if you drive it normally and look at the graphs (the most important thing you are looking for is airflow through the MAF rising with revs and lambdas switching between the limits) then keep driving until it goes sick and have another look. You should be able to see the difference and that will give a clue as to what is going on.

Calculated load value is determined by throttle position, revs and MAF. It is a combination of this and the road speed that the gearbox uses to decide when to change gear. So if you have low revs and high throttle opening, it drops down a gear.

GEMS and Bosch ECUs do the same job in the same way but the Bosch is much later technology. GEMS dates back to the early days of electronic fuel injection and was a joint venture between the French company Sagem and Lucas. It was mainly used on BL vehicles while most others used variants of the Bosch systems. Bosch continued to develop their systems (and supplied more and more different manufacturers) but Lucas decided it wasn't worth updating their system to make it fully OBD compliant. The two systems use the same sensors to do the same jobs but they aren't interchangeable.

He's just clueless but it may have had one of the 8 grand Coscast blocks that RPi were selling. They were cast by Cosworth but were still identical to a standard block, just made with a bit more care than a production block. Only problem was they still used standard liners so despite the claims by RPi, although liners didn't slip they could still leak into the combustion chamber.

I'm just down the road in Stilton? Been there the last couple of years and found so little P38 stuff that I'm not bothering this year.

I was going to reply to the PM but as you've copied and pasted it here, I'll reply in public. Yes, the Creader can connect to both the engine and gearbox ECUs so the first one on the list, with only 4 parameters, is the gearbox ECU. The second one is the engine and it shows most things. Looking at your video it's obvious that you've recently reset the adaptive values. The long term trims are showing 0% so they are back at default but the short term trims are permanently -ve so after a while the long term trims will go slightly -ve so the short terms will flip flop either side of 0%. The lambdas are both switching nicely too so all is running well at that time. One thing to note is that the OBD standard requires a 0-1V lambda output but the GEMS engine uses 5-0V sensors so it converts what is actually happening to something that meets the standard. So when it displays 0V, the sensor is actually outputting 5V (lean) and when it displays 1V the sensor is actually giving 0V (rich). OBD didn't become mandatory in Europe until 2000 by which time the P38 had the Bosch engine management that uses 0-1V sensors anyway, earlier ones had to fudge the figures to keep the Yanks happy (who had to be OBD compliant from 96).

If you select the View Graphic items it allows you to select up to 4 parameters and display them as a graph. If you select the two lambda sensor outputs, the air flow through the MAF sensor and the revs, you can then drive it and see what the lambda outputs do when it goes all sick and flat. Then at least we'll know whether it is going rich or lean.

Because some people just do not realise what they have. He should have stuck with some dodgy old diesel Discovery than butcher that.

If I was going to buy brake hoses, I'd go for Goodrich braided ones rather than rubber, especially not from Britpart. See https://www.merlinmotorsport.co.uk/s/goodridge/goodridge-600-series-brake-clutch-hose-fittings who also do complete kits but although they list Land Rover don't list a set for the P38. Might be worth giving them a call though. I've used them in the past on more obscure vehicles and they are very good (and quick).

Definitely other lubrication but a bit more than just oil changes. Other than a complete engine and gearbox change, there isn't much we haven't done in the last couple of years as Nick's bloodied legs will testify.

Weekend of the 22nd is a definite no for me, daughter's wedding is likely to take priority......

That's why. The Creader is just a generic OBD reader for reading engine codes, the EAS V4 fills in the gaps for most of the subsystems on the P38 but even a combination of both won't do everything a Nano will. As well as live data on the engine, the Nano will show, and can record, live data on the rest of the systems too. For example, you can record from the HEVAC, go for a drive and it will show you the varying temperatures from all sensors, the blend motor positions, whenever the AC compressor is engaged, etc, none of which the EAS software can do, it can only read what is there at the time. The same functionality is available for other systems too.

Safety glasses and maybe gloves too if you are a real wimp. You'll get a lot of sparks, just watch where they go, you may need to cover other things up in case they don't like being hit by tiny bits of flying red hot metal. It'll cut though in a matter of seconds. Take the side handle off so you've got more manoeuvrability.