mace wrote:
Gilbert; I take it you left the front cover on the engine then, from what you've said?
I left the front cover on as well as the front pulley. I only took the water pump off as removing the fan and viscous coupling gave me a lot more space at the front when lifting the engine out and I already had a new water pump to go on when the engine went back in.
I'll pick up a set of BCPR6ES then and do a swap with you. Another success for Millfield today. Took the other half's Merc in for MoT expecting it to fail on the clunk from the front end over bumps but at least the test would show me which bit I needed to change. Failed on a knackered bottom ball joint (which is part of the lower suspension arm so a complete new arm required) and a broken rear spring. Decided that I'm not changing just one spring and having a lopsided car and if the ball joint has gone on one side the other side isn't far behind. A pair of springs and both bottom suspension arms from stock and £30 cheaper than if I'd got them from Euro Car Parts (who weren't open today anyway).
Or even cheaper here http://www.island-4x4.co.uk/cylinder-liner-da1185-p-27307.html but would anyone seriously consider fitting liners from Britpart?
It's been doing it for a couple of weeks now. It's getting there, Gordon just needs to sort out the unread posts showing until you hit the mark threads as read button even when you've read them.
They do roughly the same (see http://www.v8developments.co.uk/workshop/reliner/index.shtml). £950 to fit top hats, core plugs and new camshaft bearings. You'd need to supply them with your pistons so the can bore the liners to suit the pistons, whack in a set of rings, big ends and mains and you would save quite a bit (but have to do more of the work yourself).
mace wrote:
Gilbert, whilst I wait for V8 to get back to me, what level did you tear your block down to before taking it in to them? Did you clean it up to save them some time?
All I took off were the heads, engine mounts and water pump and left them to do the rest. I don't remember if I even drained the oil from it to be honest. I gave them a new oil filter to fit and that was about it. It came back in the same state but very clean and shiny.
I wouldn't go for a secondhand one at £1600 when for only slightly more you can get one that has been done and is known good.
I took the heads off mine and took the short engine to V8 Developments. They did everything. Acid dipped and crack tested before they started. New core plugs, crank checked and polished (but would have been ground if it had needed it), new big end and main bearings, top hat liners, new pistons and rings, block line bored and new camshaft bearings fitted, new camshaft and followers, new oil pump with chain and sprockets so really, all that was left of my original engine was the block, crank, rods and flywheel. They built it back up with my flywheel and sump and even changed one of the knock sensors as that had a crack in the casing so probably wasn't working that well. While they were doing the block, I pulled the heads apart and they got new guides, valves and a skim but with hindsight, it probably wouldn't have cost much more to have swapped them for a pair of their recon'ed heads. Put the engine back in the car and fitted the heads with it in place using a set of ARP studs too.
Ray at V8 Dev certainly knows his stuff and does a really good job. If he spots anything that isn't right he will deal with it (like my knock sensor) rather than just leave it as it isn't part of the normal build like some places would.
Vibration through the seat of the pants at around 60 ish is usually down to a rear wheel out of balance. I used to get it on mine between about 62 and 70 so got the wheels balanced. One thing that was noticed was that my offside rear doesn't have a centre cap so there was a build up of corrosion on the face that bolts up to the hub so it wasn't sitting flush. Cleaning that up and getting that wheel balanced again cured it.
Drone on the over-run is a diff, probably the rear. Changing the oil may reduce it but as long as the oil you drain out doesn't come out looking like metalflake paint, it'll carry on for years.
Brakes can be almost completely seized but will still work due to the amount of pressure available from the pump. Sliders do seize too and are another candidate for a good wire brushing and grease.
If it's only been stood for a couple of hours it shouldn't take that long to get up to pressure, but it isn't unusual if it's stood overnight,
I'm surprised Simon hasn't chipped in on this thread. It may well be something he's come across in the past.
But at least he's not telling anyone to read it, just download it......
Never having seen a pen test done before I'm not sure what I'm looking at but 4 definitely looks lower down in the block than the others.
Out of those I would have said that cylinder 4 is the one that has slipped. It might just be the angle the photo has been taken at but the liner looks to be very slightly lower in the block than the others and it's also the one that is nice and clean and shiny. I know you mentioned Gordon had a go at cleaning it but it looks almost too clean compared to the others (I'm sure Gordon hasn't got to Morat standards of cleaning yet). 8 actually looks fine, nice carbon build up around the top of the liner as well as on the piston crown.
Marty will no doubt give you the definitive reply but I'm not sure you can replace the head unit and retain the DSP amp as the current head unit only outputs two channels and data while the DSP amp deals with the fade and tone functions.
You might be better off looking at the Grom BT3 unit that OB has fitted (https://rangerovers.pub/topic/305-resurrection-vogue-se-a?page=11) or a Pure Highway (http://www.pure.com/car-audio/products/highway-600). They will both use your existing head unit and retain the DSP amp and steering wheel control functions but give you Bluetooth connectivity, hands free phone use and, in the case of the Pure, DAB radio as well. The main difference is that the Grom hides away while the Pure has the external display.
Tried to get a video of mine this morning to compare with yours but failed dismally as I've never used my phone for video before. Mine had stood since Sunday morning on a level (ish) bit of ground. It had dropped from normal to motorway height (or had been at motorway height when I'd parked it) but as soon as the engine was started it was back to normal in 5 seconds or so. Poked the rocker for high and it went straight up to high with no delay. So I still had plenty of pressure in the tank which it seems you hadn't.
RutlandRover wrote:
Popped in to Millfield Autoparts for the spark plugs too. Never been that side of town before - it's chaos!
Oh yes, deep in the heart of what my missus calls the immigrant patch. Millfield are superb though, the amount of stuff they keep in stock is unbelievable and if they don't have it, they'll get it for you by tomorrow. I just hope you haven't taken all their stock of plugs though as I'm due for a set too.
The pump running every 2 or 3 applications is normal, it's topping up the pressure as you are using it. The brakes work well but the pedal is heavy (on mine anyway) and can feel a bit 'dead' until you get used to it. There's two totally separate circuits too. The conventional hydrostatic circuit only works on the front brakes and the powered circuit (which is simply opening a valve to allow pressure from the accumulator to the calipers) works on all 4 wheels.
With no pressure in the power circuit the pedal should still be firm and not spongy unless there is still some air in there, although it needs an awful lot of pressure on the pedal (like, both feet) to stop the car. Air in the power circuit will give a very slight delay between hitting the pedal and the brakes coming on.
Hmm, that would suggest there was nothing, or at least not a lot, in the tank.
So Marty will have to change his usual advice that door outstations hardly ever fail to door outstations only fail when they get jealous that everything else on the car gets regularly cleaned and polished but they get ignored.......