Engine

The contents of this post are spread across two periods in time, as I initially stripped the engine about 6 months ago but didn't reassemble it until recently. Despite being very rusty and sad looking on the outside the internals were actually reasonable and it has had an .040" rebore at some stage .

The valves were covered in carbon but none were burnt out or with bits missing. The bores had a very slight ridge, barely enough to catch a fingernail on. My plan initially had been to have the engine professionally reconditioned, but the high cost of this compared with the fact that the vehicle isn't even on the road yet made it hard to justify spending that kind of money when in theory, what I have currently should get me going at least until it is complied and on the road. I will consider a full re condition after that. Bearings and journals on the crank shaft and cam shaft were all in good nick also.

I decided to simply re-assemble the engine with all new seals and new piston rings. To start with I cleaned and degreased the block and head enough to get some paint on them. I went with UHT engine paint in a spry can, the colour is called 'pontiac blue' and is nothing like the original 'duck egg blue' colour that Land Rover used but it looks OK. I then honed the bores with a glaze buster on a battery drill to get a cross hatch pattern to seat the new rings.

Next the crank shaft went back in with it's original bearings. They have been replaced before a they are .010" US, still genuine Rover bearings though.

I had managed to buy a NOS genuine rear main seal kit, so that went in with the crank. This job is tricky enough with the engine on an engine stand, I can't imagine attempting to do it in position. Basically there is a split oil seal that you slip over the crank shaft (smeared with the supplied silicone grease) then you have to thread a garter spring around the inside of the seal, then connect the spring and get the orientation of the spring and the seal correct in regards to the engine, I can't recall what it is now but it's in the manual. The other tricky bit is getting the cork 'T Seals' into position, I used some 0.1 mm shim to help slide the bearing cap with seals fitted, into position. Once  bearing cap is tightened you trim off the remaining cork, to leave 0.8mm protruding. All very exciting stuff I can assure you..

New gaskets, seals, rings etc were ordered from the UK as well as a new clutch, which was 100% necessary as the existing clutch was for a 2A gearbox which the vehicle was previously fitted with, so I needed a new S3 type clutch to mate with my newly rebuilt S3 gearbox. Clutch was AP brand, gaskets were all Britpart as there didn't seem to be an alternative, and the front main seal was Corteco. From memory I used Bearmach valve stem seals and piston rings.

Measuring ring gap. 3 were within tolerance, 1 required some light filing. The old rings were so far out of spec that I can't imagine they were ever right! almost 5mm gap when fitted into the bore. Either way, I imagine oil consumption should be significantly reduced .

Old pistons w/ new rings, going back into the cylinder block.

Finding TDC when fitting the timing chain. The manual suggests temporarily fitting the front pulley to do this, but I figured a dial clock would be more accurate, and meant I didn't have to go hunting for the pulley and indicator arrow.

Cleaned up the head with a scotch-brite pad and re-lapped the valves. New valve stems seals fitted as well.

Home made valve spring compressor...

New front seal pressed in with a lashing of Hylomar. The seal retainer was originally held in by solid rivets. I drilled these out then drilled and tapped the holes to make it easier to change the seal in the future.

Starting to look complete

New clutch going on, using a spare input shaft as an alignment tool.

And voila, back in it's rightful home. I remember this was on New Years eve and I was rushing to get it done as I had to work that night. In fact I did nearly all of this engine work over the course of a week while my partner was overseas (unlimited time in the shed)

That's enough blogging for now, will come back with another post about the bulkhead over the next few weeks.