Something Else

All this work disassembling worn, unserviceable gearboxes gets trying, you know? Not only is it a lot of work, it's dispiriting. I get why a lot of people decide to leave this task to the professionals. 

Not only is it frustrating, but I am also having to find more room for parts. I'm not sure if I should be stashing things for future use. It's not like they're making any more Series 1 and 2 gearboxes, are they?

Fuckit, time to move on to something else. Let's start taking a look at this lump:

What we have here, ladies and gentlemen, is a Land Rover 200TDi engine from a Defender. LR made two versions of the 200TDi; one, to fit in the Defender chassis. The other was meant for the diesel Discovery. They differ in two ways: the Disco 200TDi has a lower-mounted turbo, and both of the engines have different timing chests. The fuel pump on the Disco engine is mounted higher up. 

Here you can see the low-mounted injector pump and the high mounted turbo. 

I bought this engine off a dude in Squamish who was leaving town for New Zealand. I basically bought it sight unseen, knowing I wouldn't have many chances to pick one up. When I saw the engine, I kinda did the kick-it-gently-with-your-boot-thing and, since no parts fell off, I figured it'd be good to go. 

I mean, what the hell do I know about engines? And how am I supposed to check over one that's sitting on an engine stand in some random dude's storage unit? 

Looks okay from the outside, but I quickly discover upon getting it home that it's almost certainly from a stolen vehicle. The serial number has been ground off. I hear that's common in the UK? 

It's complete, though, and I picked up the radiator housing and intercooler too, which I think is from a 300tdi, which ought to prove handy later. So I *should* have everything to do all the things I want to do: engine upgrade to go with the 3.54 diffs, power steering, and vacuum brakes. Sweet, right?

Step 1, start taking stuff off of it, starting at the top with the valve cover. 

Rocker shaft out. No problem with that, either. No horror stories. 

Pushrods out. They seem straight. 

Valve stem caps off. And I didn't drop any! Huzzah.

Then, time for the manifolds to come off, along with everything attached to them. I expected some trouble here, and I found some. 

I was able to get the oil pipes off -- after another trip to the store to buy a wrench sized appropriately for the turbo oil feed and return pipes. The injector pipes came off fairly easily, and I didn't have much trouble taking the glow plugs and injectors out. This whole time I'm mostly hoping that I'm not damaging anything irreplaceable.

Then came the first of the delicate operations I had to take some care with, removing the manifolds. 

I had some trouble with the original equipment nuts; but nothing that I wasn't able to overcome. I'm expecting to have to replace a lot of this hardware anyway, so... provided nothing strips, I'm happy to show no mercy to rusty hardware. Vise grips may have been used to remove one. Or two. 

One nut on the turbo -- just visible above -- isn't gonna move with the tools and skills that I have. It's rounded off. I may have to take this to someone who can do something about it because the last thing I want to do is ruin my unobtanium 200TDi Defender exhaust manifold. 

Anyway, moving on, continuing to take things off the head. Wait, isn't there supposed to be a thermostat in here?

Ebay engine. 😅

Now on to another delicate operation: removing the head. These are also no longer available. 

Care was needed (and a hell of a lot of strength) to get these bolts out a quarter of a turn at a time, but out they came, leaving me with a head that was ready to come off. 

Moment of truth! If it's badly cracked, the whole engine is probably scrap. 

It doesn't look bad? No obvious cracks between the valves or the cylinders. Maybe?

Is that a crack or is that a scratch in the head? 

Is there any thickness left to machine it? The head gasket is a "2 hole" unit. I am guessing it's probably been rebuilt before. 

Fingers crossed...