Thread: Rebuilding Sid

More prep ahead of engine rebuild. This prep is getting expensive.

Fuel pump today.


I didn’t take a pic of the before state, but this was black, inside and out. Copious carb cleaner and trips through the parts washer got me to this. New valves installed (simple task in).

I had splashed out on a genuine Land Rover refurb kit rather than a blue box but results were the same.


Replacement part on the right, didn’t fit. New oil seal took some working out. Goes on the outside of flange unlike the original that was inside.


Still, all done. Fitting the membrane and shaft is like assembling some old Bomb timer. Insert at correct angle, push to precise pressure and turn 90 degrees to click into place.

Pump now sounds like it’s sucking which it didn’t before.

Rebuilt dizzy on the right.

Final job of the day was to clean up and inspect the rocker set.
Fell apart easy enough


But shaft is cactus


Looked at spare head I have, even worse, like a knobbly stick.

New shaft in order from UK with new bushes and a trip back to machine shop.

Too long between oil changes?

Indeed, it’s a good example of why regular oil changes are critical.

The oil passage holes in the shaft were blocked.

One of the strengths, as well as one of the weaknesses, of this engine is that it will withstand an awful lot of abuse and still keep going. But the abuse does result in this sort of issue.

Finally the handbrake is fitted and working. That was a pig of a job. Fitting the shoes with the prop shaft and drive flange was impossible. Took the advice on here and stripped the prop shaft off (8 expensive bsf nyloc nuts gone). This did make access much easier but removing the flange empties the transfer box oil all over the hand brake drum. So after cleaning, the solution was to pull the flange half way out (not enough to leak) to get the outer spring then shove back in and stretch the other side over with your third hand and keeping the adjuster in place with your other hand. Easy!!

Engine rebuild starts tomorrow. Last minute panic when I found two problems, one mine, one the previous owners. I’d forgotten to have the small end bushes reamed. Sorted.

But the big end seats were damaged ( I’d left the old bearings in to protect them) but on removal the old seats were dented. Machine shop thinks someone did a bearing swap in situ and tapped out the old shells with a punch. Still, guys at the shop resized the big ends in a couple of days so panic over.

Also got the firewall back from blaster. Photos later. Another last minute panic being given an hours notice to collect on Friday lunch when we’re out on the staff Christmas lunch. Fortunately the firewall fits into the back of the wife’s car.

Engine build Day 1 (Christmas shopping done)



Crank having the soapy water treatment. I’d deliberately left this until the last moment to keep the protective film on the newly ground areas.

Bearing shells in, seats had a wipe down with degreaser and another blow with air before clipping bearings in.


Dry fit this time, all went together fine and looks as though the machine shop has done its job well.



Flexiguage shows clearance as spot on (~0.002”) The crank was reground to 020 over sized and bearings were King brand from bearmach.

That’s it for day one, tomorrow I’ll re fit and install the thrust bushes and seals, etc.

Day 2 ... cranks in !



Today was long but necessary. First fit of crank and testing end float. I’d anticipated that this would be an issue. End float with old thrust bearings was over (0.2mm against max 0.15). Challenge is that the bearings had worn down to 0.09”. The only size I can buy is 0.1” which is too big.

So a long afternoon was had with the emery paper.



These things are hard as you would expect, took a good few hours to get them sorted.



Bang on minimum tolerance. I don’t have any finger tips though.



Everything back together with plenty of Lucas assembly lube which is excellent stuff.



Fitting the seal was easier with the crank on the bench, I tried to do it on the engine stand but no chance trying to hook up the spring ends between the crank and block, so out the crank came again.

Bottom seal plate is a pig to fit on a stand, careful removal of fixing brackets one by one allowed access to fixings. The last one could be reached (as planned ) through the pivot on the engine stand. At this point I probably should have moved the engine to the bench but it worked in the end.



The final steps were fiddly but easy enough. Went with cork T seals as the neoprene cheap ones from Britpart snapped despite heaps of grease. Cork much easier to fit.

Another thing to watch is the length of the locating pin for the bottom seal plate. It was too long to get the plate in without taking the bearing cap off again (and the mess that would make) but was able to tap in enough to get the seal in place. Worth checking before you spread hylomar on everything.

Everything torque up and cleaned down. Ready for pistons next.



It all turns over beautifully by hand.

When i built the bottom end on my diesel I had new thrust washers but they were too tight, so I fitted the new one to the main thrust side, flywheel end, and the best old one to the other side and got minimum clearance that way. I bought 1st oversize thrust washers as standard was too loose. So 1 oversize and one standard did the job for me. .003th won't make any difference to the engine running.
I used silastic instead of the "T" seals to seal the main cap. I also used locktite 515 on the new rear seal caps to seal them too. I sealed the flywheel cover onto the block too with silastic and a new "O" ring as well.