Sounds good! I've been lucky and only had one instance where the immobiliser kicked in - and I didn't even know why. Exactly as you say, it's the sort of thing that dents your confidence.

I've a few things to get through yet before this will be a priority for me, but it'll be on the list sooner rather than later.

I did most of mine recently using the Turner kit - comprehensive kit and as I didn't strip the engine completely I've been left with more than one or two things I didn't need. I think the heads were Elring. I would check though that the kit is correct for your model year.

It came with a cork sump gasket - but not the right one for my 2000/2001 m/y car.

I did all you' re suggesting with the engine in place - and I'm a relative newbie to that level of engine dismantling.

As has been said the heatshields will probably be a pain. I got the pass side heatshield and manifold off without removing the inner wheel arch, but needed to pull it out for the rebuild, so if I were you I'd pull them both off at the outset.

I also had issues with my steering column and ended up taking the grinder to it.

Gd recommended the ARP studs so I went with that. Glad I did as they were really easy to fit and no worrying about the 90' torque/stretch thing.

Ah... that explains it.

I don't suppose there will be much difference in the engine itself, but I know zip all about the L322.

I've had two Classics in the past, and now my P38 but it's a 2001 vehicle and could well remain my most modern Land Rover! My only experience with subframes is on the back of the original Minis. Sorry I can't help any further.

Searched for "wallow" and read this thread with interest as it more or less echoed my own thoughts.

Clive - did you ever make any further progress, or reach a point you were satisfied with?

I've done much the same as you had when you began chasing this - new air springs all round; new radius arm bushes at the front (as you know!); new anti-roll bar bushes and links; new panhard bushes at the front; new shocks (though they are just Britpart oil filled ones). I'm getting a very unsettled feeling from the back of the car - even with no passengers!

On my list to do are: trailing arm bushes and rear panhard bushes; and following the same logic as yourself, changing the rear sensors as I know mine are pretty knackered.

I might be lucky and find this sorts me out, but just wondered if you tried anything else?

Not the P38, but I bought and used one of these trolley jack adaptors - the exact one in the picture - recently to pull the gearbox and transfer box out of my Defender.

Unless you have the vehicle itself lifted, on a ramp or the like, then it's very difficult/impossible to remove the combination of jack/adapter/transmission out from underneath the car. I managed it by using another trolley jack and lots of bits of wood to lift the chassis rail high enough, but I doubt I'd be able to do that on the RR.

I'd also ditched the adjustable arms and simply drilled some holes into the base plate to match threaded holes in the boxes - that worked well, and reduced the height, but still not enough.

I'm not knocking the adapter itself, just pointing out that if the car itself is on its wheels, and on the ground, it won't drop the boxes low enough to be able to pull them out - or vice versa, to get the transfer box back underneath the car.

Welcome to the forum.

What's your car? Petrol or diesel? What's an 'engine support bar'?

I did my sump gasket (4.0L petrol) just recently, as part of a bigger job. Done by itself it would be pretty straightforward. My previous experience was with a pressed steel sump on a diesel engine and by comparison, the V8 one was surprisingly heavy to get back into place while fishing about for the bolts.

I also found that two out of three of the studs in the front cover had come straight out, so needed to order some threaded bar to make replacements.

Thanks very much. I've been in the habit of pulling the battery whenever the car's not mobile and keeping it on a maintenance charger so it should be up to it. I'll need to make do with wooden blocks I think, as I have a 'chop saw' which will allow me to make those up rather than trying to cut delrin, but for very occasional use I can't see that being an issue.

Gilbertd wrote:

I always start at extended and work down. One jack under the towbar and another on the front crossmember just in front of the radiator. Jack it up, fit the extended blocks, then use the Nano to let the air out and lower the jacks so it is sitting on the blocks. Note the Live Heights and store them in the extended height boxes. Jack it a bit so you can get the blocks out and fit the standard height set, lower the jacks and do the same. Same for the motorway height and access. With two people, one at each end, and a couple of trolley jacks, it shouldn't take longer than about half and hour. I found that the access blocks are only marginally taller than the bumpstops which makes getting them out a pain so drilled and tapped an M6 hole in the end so I can screw a bolt into them and use that to pull them out.

This is something I'll be doing shortly I think. I've put 'new' sensors on the front, and will be putting them on the rear too. When I say new, I mean from a breaker, but with the sensor legs in better nick than mine which are crumbling away.

Easiest bit of guaranteed level ground is my garage floor. So, looking at the instructions above, are you doing this with the engine running, or because the process is from high to low, and letting air out, is it being done with ignition on, but engine off?

The issue for me is just exhaust gasses in the garage if I do it with the engine running.

The Beast.... she moves!

Didn't go far, just about 10 B road miles in total, but it was so good to get the car out of the garage and to listen to that V8 roar again!

The EAS took a while longer than I'd expected to come up to height, but it did get there, and worked OK. Even in those 10 miles I was reminded of all the other things that were on my list before the valley gasket took over - the back end wallows all over the place, so bushes and shocks are in order.

But for the moment I'm just going to chill out and enjoy the moment, and having a car that can move under its own power.

Thanks again.

Well...... it started, and it ran, and the only leak was self-inflicted!

It did take a little while to start, but nothing I'd say was untoward. A few whisps of smoke from round the exhaust manifolds - prob the shine burning off new stuff - but then that settled down.

The leak was ATF from one of the oil cooler pipes which seems (so far) to be the only thing I forgot to tighten up. There was a 'transmission fault' showed up on the dash, but hopefully that will clear itself second time around.

Ran it about 1750rpm for about 15 mins and figured that would do before I gassed myself.

So generally pretty happy so far. Thanks for all your help and advice through this latest chapter.

Gentlemen, thank you. I feel much better prepared.

That's a good perspective on the coolant filling, and the transmission pressurising thing was something I wouldn't have thought of in a month of Sundays! I wouldn't really want to drive it away from the house; and if moving it a short distance out of the garage could cause transmission problems then it might need to stay put for the camshaft run-in. What fun!

Maybe I'll need to drag out my small scuba tank to avoid being gassed. Hopefully no-one will be standing by with a camera to catch sight of me leaning into the engine bay to check things out with a regulator in my mouth!!

Thanks as always.

Can I just check something Richard? You'd outlined that filling procedure before, and I'd read it again, and again and just hadn't "got it". Now, if I was to put it this way: "Fill the cooling system as much as you can with the bleed hose from the top of the rad disconnected - _emphasized text_at the expansion tankemphasized text" Would that be right? (Italics haven't worked quite right, but hopefully you'll get the gist.)

I was visualising it (being a numpty) with it disconnected at the radiator end, and just couldn't see how it would work. Now I think I might have it.

Thanks also for the confirmation of the fuel priming.

I'll update tomorrow!

Thanks ac - yep, that lifting eye is bolted to the back of the RH head, so we're on the same page there.

On coolant, I'd left the 'top hose' between the engine and rad disconnected and filled it there. That way I knew it was going to the block, and into the rad. I could also see that it was making it's way to the expansion tank so I'm reasonably confident that the block is full, along with the rad itself.

The problem is that I can't really let it idle. That would absolutely be my instinct, but as mentioned above somewhere, the instructions for the new camshaft are quite specific - start up and run at 2000RPM for the first 20 minutes! I don't really know if I'll follow that to the letter, maybe 10 minutes will do...? but idling seems to be a 'bad thing' as far as they're concerned.

D-Day tomorrow though. I need to get some more red OAT coolant to hand, and I also need to adjust the steering UJ link to a closer approximation of 'straight ahead' and then I'm left with three (possibly numpty) questions:
1) Will the fuel system need primed at all? Given that the inlet/injector pipes were completely dry?
2) Can I just disconnect the EAS pump? I have 'fuckered' sensor issues, and would rather leave that out of my worry equation when starting the engine after a rebuild

3) Anything else a numpty ought to consider at this stage?

Hi Richard, thanks. Good to know it's possible to take the screen off without trashing that strip. Whether that would happen up here, I guess I'll find out sooner or later.

On firing up asap - I suspect that's down to inexperience. To be honest it just didn't occur to me. At one point, at the back of my mind I did think that I was bolting a lot of stuff back together that might need to come apart again, but on the other hand I'd have wondered whether it would have started without all its plugs in place and the loom intact.

I'm also thinking about the requirement/suggestion that the new camshaft & followers want to run at 2000RPM for 20 minutes - or whatever seems sensible at the time. Because the car is reversed into the garage my plan is, assuming it starts, to just ease out of the garage and let that 'running in' take place outside. Not sure the neighbours would appreciate the lovely noise the same way you would!

Thanks guys - I'd meant to reply earlier, but I find it difficult with the ipad.

Here's a pic of the earth lead I mentioned, on a RHD car.

I'd have been happy enough to leave it, but it's a P38, and it's electrical... but in fact when I was "in the neighbourhood", I noticed that the engine lifting eye hadn't been tightened down, so I just stuck it on to one of those bolts.

On the oil separator it was in fact only in the RH cover. I'd assumed it was just missing from the LH. I stuck in what was left of the broken one - about 3/4 of it, so I'm sure it's better than nothing.

ac6 - I could have posted a lot more mumps and groans.... I didn't enjoy my manifold heat shields either! I did spend a couple of hours though grinding off all the old captive nuts; replacing them with 'rivnuts'; sticking the anti-rattle wire pads back on; and stainless bolts on the rebuild - looks more or less good as new. Also I'm sure I will be overjoyed when (if!) it starts again, but there will be a healthy amount of finger crossing, hoping for the best, and touching wood in the last few moments before turning the key!

Car is now more or less back together; filled with oil; could only get ca. 6L of coolant in but that might be enough as the block wasn't drained? But I'm going to wait till the weekend rather than trying to do this when I've already done a day's work.

Already looking to the next thing - finally getting the windscreen rebonded. I'd like to get this done properly but if the windscreen guys are going to use wire saws to remove it, surely they're going to trash the sealer strip between the dash and the glass on the inside? Item 35 in the diagram below.

It's not showing up as a part number, so maybe no longer available? Does anyone know for sure if that's the case? Is it just some foam that could be replaced with generic stuff?

Will update on the engine starting at the weekend!

Well.... looking back through photos I took of the strip down, I find it hard to believe the engine hasn't turned since mid-April.

Nearly there now though. It's looking more like it used to, and the 'strip down' photos are invaluable in remembering where the snakes nest of different pipes and cables are supposed to go.

Might turn over tomorrow, might need to wait till the weekend.

Couple of questions if anyone drops by....

1) the earth lead that attaches to the bonnet - where does it go on the other end? I'm assuming the back of the O/S cylinder head somewhere - but no photos show this.

2) those 'cyclonic' oil separators in the top of the rocker covers.... yea or nay? Can I do without them, or do they make a difference? Assume I could run without them for a couple of days if they are really necessary?

Thanks as always.

Thanks again.

I had a closer look at the assembly, and I think I've made a bit of a fuss about nothing - apologies. I did lift the injector rail off complete with the inlet manifold, so the O rings haven't been disturbed at all. In which case I can't see any need to do anything but refit the whole assembly. I should have looked more closely before posting.

On the chassis numbers that means my car is a year 2000 registration, but a 2001 model year. I'll bear that in mind for the future - it hadn't occurred to me before, but I think that's still common enough isn't it - bringing in the 'model year' towards the latter half of the calendar year to boost sales.

Thanks Richard - my edit crossed with your post.

I did just that - lifted the rail off complete, and carefully. I have to say I haven't had a close look at the O rings since, I just thought it would be essential to replace them.

Are you saying that, if on inspection they are in good nick, that you've left them in place?

There are two places I could phone on the off chance they have some in stock, but if not that then I'd probably lose two days waiting for them to arrive. If just lubing the existing O rings and putting the rail carefulky back in place, then that could be handy.

Thank you.

Yes, I saw that number too, but it was listed for chassis numbers up to WA. Mine is a 1A...... Which I thought from looking at some chassis number interpretation stuff was later than WA......? Maybe I've just made a simple mistake somewhere.

x16 presumably if the injectors have been removed from the rail...?

EDIT - RTC5679 seems to be listed for the 3.9 engines?? I can't imagine they would be different for the 4.0 though?

Hi guys,
Not posted for a wee while, so the car has sat with the top end rebuild a little 'stalled'.

A few days off and hoping to progress but parts might be the issue.

Looking at the injector rail diagram on New LrCat shows the older rail - so I'm hoping the parts numbers are OK. Is ERR7309 still the correct number for the small/lower O rings?

Do I need to replace the centre ones? EAC2414L? Do I need to replace the 'top' ones? I haven't removed the injectors, just the rail itself.

And, again the LrCat diagram doesn't show the correct fuel supply pipe. Mine's a 4.0 Thor/Bosch with the supply pipe coming in at the centre of the valley with a square sort of 'spring' clip. I assume there's an O ring in here too. Will that need changed? - and if so what's the part number?

I think I missed the lower injector O rings when I was compiling my parts list for this job, so that could unfortunately cost me a couple of days. I'd be surprised if I could find fhem locally.

Thanks for any replies.