Thread: 12 steps forward and....crACK...one giant leap backward

Hey Scallops, check this thread out...

someone else snapped a water pump bolt.. AND he did it into an ally block.

want to go show him how to fix it.. and

see, even the best of us do it sometimes.

AKA

Oh great another water pump thread.

Originally Posted by Blknight.aus

<snip>
AKA

Oh great another water pump thread.

If mine gets even CLOSE to Scallops' debacle, this Disco'll be rolled into a ditch and a match applied.....

well that's a sadness,
we will send dan to the rescue, he may bring his waterpump and the matches.
hang in there,
you aren't the first, and won't be the last.

Originally Posted by harry

<snip>
you aren't the first, and won't be the last.

Thanks Harry, but that's the worst part isn't it really? Learning by someone else's expensive mistake is the way it's supposed to go!

Reading lots of other threads about waterpump debacles and snapped bolts, and somehow expecting the outcome to be different for me is daft.

But I guess once Mr Murphy and his laws come into play, if there was to be a time that a bolt would shear, it would be at 7.30 on a Sunday when I'm in a hurry!

out of interest, a mate of mine is a fitter and snapped a bolt off deep down in a cummins block. got the mig out and filled the hole with weld (doesnt stick to the cast block), welded a nut on and wound the whole show out. the heat probably helped too. operation big success!

for all the engine stuff, heads and the like..

try

300TDI engine parts from Turner Engineering

good price, fast delivery (even from uk)

My mistake was hardly expensive - not in monetary terms anyway - cost me $70.00 to rebuild my original water pump, and $10.00 for the Helicoils.

OK - the grog and food for the thank you BBQ will be another thing!

The reasons for my ongoing 10 week debacle were...

1) My car is from 1956 - so sourcing parts takes time and often suppliers send the wrong parts.
2) Many parts are Indian repros - not always made to tolerance so again, these are sent back and the search continues.
3) My lack of experience and knowledge meant I had to go slowly to learn.

So no match was ever coming near my Series 1 - you just don't treat classics like that.

Still - all I stuffed up was breaking 1 bolt. It's all good now, thanks to my LR mentors.

It sounds like you know what you're doing really, so I'm sure you'll have it sorted soon.

It wasn't exactly straight forward getting the broken bolt out again, but that might have been partly due to the cast iron block it was stuck into.

Originally Posted by Scallops

It sounds like you know what you're doing really, so I'm sure you'll have it sorted soon.

Hey I wouldn't go that far! I've just learnt which end of a screwdriver to hold!

Yes, a 12 year old Disco is a very different beast to a 50 year old Series 1, is as much as they are very common, very easy to get parts for (though getting a good price is a different matter!), and 40 years newer so that getting the damned things apart should be a much simpler matter.


All I've had a problem with so far was:

1. Getting the viscous hub off (with a great suggestion by Blknight.aus)
2. Undoing one rounded off head bolt (ended up using a die grinder to grind it off - very tedious)
3. Undoing the small screw holding the handbrake drum on (drilled out)

And then this one. So I'm not whining too much, it could have been far worse! There hasn't been many things that a rattle gun, blowtorch or both hasn't managed to remove.

There's only one unsolved issue so far, and that's the brake distribution valve that won't let any fluid through to the rear brakes, but I'm going to send the new one back to the supplier and replace it and hopefully I'll be up to a running vehicle stage then.