GuyG
17th December 2007, 01:09 AM
Well the rangie is finally working again:):). Have to say a big thanks to Dave for his assistance with all the work or should that be his work and my assistance. For those on the Pacific Pines trip in late August may remember that I was loosing a fair bit of water, originally we thought it was the welsch plugs, partially it was, but the main culprit was the head gasket which from memory was leaking in about 2 places. This was also over pressurising the collant system causing the welsch plugs to leak. This was the reason I then missed the Coffs Harbour trip and everything since. I was kinda :mad::mad: as the car was all packed ready to go and I was lucky to make it home from the mechanics. Unfortunately we did not realise how stuffed the motor really was.
Oh did I mention that I had just had the gearbox removed to replace the welsch plugs at the back of the motor which were leaking (this was the Wednesday, leaving for Coffs on the Friday)
Step 1 - heads removed, in for quote, fully rebuilt and the injectors etc all serviced at the same time. 9 valves didn't seat properly and the heads were warped. Then was suggested that would need to re-ring due to the heads being new:mad:. Unfortunately they just went ahead and fixed them without giving a quote, therefore didn't get the opportunity to have any work done to the heads.
Step 1a - Mechanic said that the heads had previously been machined and done incorrectly, so in hindsight my/our theory is, engine had been seriously cooked prior to my ownership (maybe why it fairly cheap at the time) The radiator was quite blocked when we purchased it. So would suggest that it was only a matter of time until the heads let go due to the fact that the block had no hardness remaining.
Step 2 - helicoil threads in block - couldn't be done as not enough space to get accuracy, (which in the long run has probably saved us) so block removed from car, engine fully stripped, bores & pistons looked ok within tolerance anyway (we were originally aiming for the cheap rebuild - it didn't turn out this way), bearings well some were average, some ok and the one was completely grooved - photos exist of it somewhere. I cleaned it all as much as I could.
Step 3 - what about having the EFI fitted to the P76 (P76 motor has a holley on it which didn't work for me off road). Found that the inlet manifold spacers are available as are the ZF adaptors. But no shops that I spoke to were interested in fitting it. Would then have all the garbage with trying to relocate the airconditioning and rewire where necessary and find a computer to drive it should the standard one not be sufficient. So decided to stick with the 3.9 as the heads and injectors had already been completed.
Step 4 - take it too engine builder/tuner - this is about when it really when completely pear shaped.
*5 liners had movement
*pistons warped
*lifters stuffed
*cam stuffed
*block had lost its hardness - had to be re-heat treated twice to get it back to correct hardness
*crank scored/marked
Step 5 - all of the above repaired/replaced/rebuilt
Some might suggest that it would have been cheaper to buy another car, in the short term quite possibly, but I have already done the quite a bit too it that would more than likely have to redo it all with a different car that was within my budget.
Install 1 - finish off rebuild of engine (valley cover and inlet manifold/injection) and fit motor into car attach to ZF
Install 2 - dummy fit starter, extractors, air con, power steering pump etc (for those that might forget, put the extractors in prior to the air cond and starter:mad:)
Install 3 - properly fit all the above, hook up all the electrics, correct the orientation of a spacer/gear - which meant removing some of the above and added several hours into the process. Was not impressed as we discovered this at 11.30 Friday night.
The motor started first go at about 5.00am Saturday morning, sounded a bit rough as we put 3 of the exhaust gaskets back to front - easily fixed in the afternoon after some sleep.
Now to run it in so I can then come on trips again. Will let you know what the power/torque increases are like after it settles down:twisted::twisted:. Its still 3.9 and the heads are standard but thats all:cool:
Next on the list is the heater core as the lower pipe decided to seperate itself, oh and quite possibly some axles in the near future.
Happy Xmas everyone
Guy
Oh did I mention that I had just had the gearbox removed to replace the welsch plugs at the back of the motor which were leaking (this was the Wednesday, leaving for Coffs on the Friday)
Step 1 - heads removed, in for quote, fully rebuilt and the injectors etc all serviced at the same time. 9 valves didn't seat properly and the heads were warped. Then was suggested that would need to re-ring due to the heads being new:mad:. Unfortunately they just went ahead and fixed them without giving a quote, therefore didn't get the opportunity to have any work done to the heads.
Step 1a - Mechanic said that the heads had previously been machined and done incorrectly, so in hindsight my/our theory is, engine had been seriously cooked prior to my ownership (maybe why it fairly cheap at the time) The radiator was quite blocked when we purchased it. So would suggest that it was only a matter of time until the heads let go due to the fact that the block had no hardness remaining.
Step 2 - helicoil threads in block - couldn't be done as not enough space to get accuracy, (which in the long run has probably saved us) so block removed from car, engine fully stripped, bores & pistons looked ok within tolerance anyway (we were originally aiming for the cheap rebuild - it didn't turn out this way), bearings well some were average, some ok and the one was completely grooved - photos exist of it somewhere. I cleaned it all as much as I could.
Step 3 - what about having the EFI fitted to the P76 (P76 motor has a holley on it which didn't work for me off road). Found that the inlet manifold spacers are available as are the ZF adaptors. But no shops that I spoke to were interested in fitting it. Would then have all the garbage with trying to relocate the airconditioning and rewire where necessary and find a computer to drive it should the standard one not be sufficient. So decided to stick with the 3.9 as the heads and injectors had already been completed.
Step 4 - take it too engine builder/tuner - this is about when it really when completely pear shaped.
*5 liners had movement
*pistons warped
*lifters stuffed
*cam stuffed
*block had lost its hardness - had to be re-heat treated twice to get it back to correct hardness
*crank scored/marked
Step 5 - all of the above repaired/replaced/rebuilt
Some might suggest that it would have been cheaper to buy another car, in the short term quite possibly, but I have already done the quite a bit too it that would more than likely have to redo it all with a different car that was within my budget.
Install 1 - finish off rebuild of engine (valley cover and inlet manifold/injection) and fit motor into car attach to ZF
Install 2 - dummy fit starter, extractors, air con, power steering pump etc (for those that might forget, put the extractors in prior to the air cond and starter:mad:)
Install 3 - properly fit all the above, hook up all the electrics, correct the orientation of a spacer/gear - which meant removing some of the above and added several hours into the process. Was not impressed as we discovered this at 11.30 Friday night.
The motor started first go at about 5.00am Saturday morning, sounded a bit rough as we put 3 of the exhaust gaskets back to front - easily fixed in the afternoon after some sleep.
Now to run it in so I can then come on trips again. Will let you know what the power/torque increases are like after it settles down:twisted::twisted:. Its still 3.9 and the heads are standard but thats all:cool:
Next on the list is the heater core as the lower pipe decided to seperate itself, oh and quite possibly some axles in the near future.
Happy Xmas everyone
Guy