lo-fi

Tidy looking engine, by the way!

Yep, that's the brake vacuum connection. I can't see the vacuum advance fitting, I think that's the other side. Been a while since I worked on one!

The fitting on the manifold is for brakes, though often blanked off when there's no servo. It's about 1/2" internal diameter. Distributor vacuum will be a small fitting on or near the carb, usually right by the throttle plate. Post some pics, I'll be able to point a few things out

Why not have a 5mm spacer made up to pick up the boss on the flywheel and locate on the crank without modification?

Yeah, pressed in with a bit of sealant. A good find, that would painful after putting it back together. They're an interference fit, but I don't know the specs I'm afraid. Have a good look at the ones in the block too. I remember someone in here that did core plugs himself... Maybe Western? They're not expensive to get done at a machine shop, though. You've saved a ton of money on other jobs! The BGB isn't terribly helpful and doesn't list a spec I could find for head or block flatness. If you can get it down to 2 thou without a huge amount of work, go for it, but I'm sure that'll be fine.

Superb! Is he making a press tool up for vent panels too?

Sharing knowledge; that's what we're all here for It's turned into a really interesting thread! Oil will just take the rock out of a couple of thou. Exhaust valves usually have a little more clearance. I can't see any problem with the later type of seal. By the way, oven cleaner will do a smashing job of cleaning the gunge off the valves.

Double valve springs were common on older engines of all types, often to overcome resonance issues. Modern winding and material tech have largely removed the need, though you're right that double springs are now used in performance apps. If you can feel significant play with a bit of oil on the stem, it's probably out of spec. I've seen people fit new guides with nothing more than an oven and some freezer spray, but also a lot of failures too. They should be reamed to finished size after pressing in as they'll get compressed by the interference fit. Reaming also assures a round hole. You've then also got to look at the valve seating too as it's not guaranteed the old seat grind will be concentric with the new guide. A modern technique I've seen used at a rebuild shop is to accurately through drill the guide and fit a sleeve, which is cheap and easy. If someone has a scrap head you can have, have a go at pulling a guide and see if it's something you want to tackle, maybe? A look in a parts book might verify you've got the correct seals for that type of spring. They've certainly seen better days, haven't they! Great work on the gasket surfaces! I'm sure there's a spec in the BGB - I'll check for you tomorrow.

I've also successfully filled divets in gasket surfaces with chemical metal epoxy type stuff before You have to make sure everything is scrupulously clean, and opened up to get enough epoxy in to be able to bind, but it can work well. I can't vouch for absolute longevity, and the same applies as above, but it saved me £2000 worth of new rotor housings on my RX7. Ali corrosion had taken chunks out of the coolant seal faces, which you can't TIG as there's a steel liner pressed in right next to it. You can't even have them skimmed or they end up too narrow and there's no side clearance for the rotors, so you're well and truly snookered. I cleaned out the mess with a die grinder, applied the high tech goop and flattened using the glass method above. It worked a charm for the five years I had the car after that. Also chuckling at Peaklanders story above. Brilliant!

I reckon your best bet is just to fit one of the bars designed for a soft top when the truck cab is off. It's a bit more faff when swapping, but they're only a few bolts. I'm not sure you'd be able to get the strength in something that has to fit in the narrow gap between the seats and cab.

Just one last thing. A cheapo way back of checking the block for cracks is seat it upside down and level, fill the combustion chambers with petrol. If it leaks out, you've got a problem. It'll either run through a crack or through a badly sealing valve. Can also be done right way up and poured into the rocker space. Keep us posted, looking forward to seeing how you get on, and the beasty running. Good luck, and may your elbows never run out of grease

Believe me, I feel your pain... The head, as it's now portable, you might as well get inspected, skimmed and whatever else sorted. The block is a bit more of a challenge, but maybe not insurmountable. First up, get in clean. Everyone seems to have their own methods - wire brush, gasket scraper, sanding block - I've seen it all. Once you've got the carp off, have a good look at those high spots and get a decent straight edge to it. If the rest is flat, you've got a chance of tackling those high spots. You might well find that a gasket scraper will blast the corrosion off and you'll be able to see what you're left with. Big divets are a different problem, but a few high spots can possibly be fixed with some DIY bush engineering if you don't want to pull the block and have it all apart. A deck skim isn't much more than a head, but it is a lot of work to get it to that state. Anyway, find a large, thick piece of glass (with nicely bevelled ground edges!) you can wrap some wet and dry (start at 80 or even 40 grit) around and get to work with plenty of WD40. Take it easy, keep it flat, keep it lubricated and keep checking with the straight edge. You'll soon see the high spots and can adjust where you're working and applying pressure to compensate. It's not ideal, it's not really the suggested way, and it's certainly not right, but hey, it's an old Land Rover. Might just get you out of trouble if you're happy to put some hours and elbow grease in in lieu of spending pennies. Setting the crank so the pistons are mid way up the bores and carefully cutting some cardboard circles to pop on top and sealing with a bead of silicone will save the grinding paste going into the bores. Protecting the rest is much more tricky. Filling with rag is maybe about all you'll be able to do, but necessity is the mother of all invention! Shout if you want some more hare-brained ideas thrown at you Keep us posted! Ian

You can't, I'm afraid, or certainly not really acceptably. Flat deck and head are pretty much not negotiable. It looks like water has been sat trapped against the gasket rotting the iron as AV8R suggested above, which may explain the raised areas - rust is several times the volume of iron. The brown exhaust valves are pretty much "it wasn't running right". Possibly lack of compression, water in the cylinder, poor valve setting, even a cracked head.... So it looks like its wasn't happy when it was laid up, poor old thing. What's the history?

The wording is summed up quite nicely by: "Any modifications to/removal of emissions related devices - this includes DPF'S and EGR's - is now a major fail." It might be covered from the top by a plastic cover, but I bet you can still see it from the underneath. Yes, this is a fail. It all depends on how thorough and observant the mot man is really, though. Serious oil leaks are also a major fail, which I bet will catch more than one inattentive landy owner out, as is dirty brake fluid.

Sadly, the workshop manual doesn't give a spec, just a rather glib "replace if excessive". 2 thousandth of an inch would probably be OK for that size of valve. Very much more and you're probably best off looking at getting the head to a machine shop and getting the guides done. They'll fit new seals, and you might as well get it cleaned and the valves inspected and lapped while you're there. Sounds like a lot of work, but it's not major money and you'll know its spot on when you're done. But fingers crossed your theory is correct and the seal rubber is just old, perished and not doing the job any more. Do please take some pics either way

Just to throw a curve ball in... Are you sure it's just the seals need doing, and not worn guides too? If the valve stems are a "proverbial in a bucket" fit, new seals won't do much for very long. Liking the ideas for keeping the valves from dropping, though.

Sad, but true! Keep us posted what you end up doing

That's quite some beasty of a single phase compressor.... Assuming a conservative four times startup to running current, 28a at 240v is a big ask. It's likely higher than that, though! The petrol engine suggestion is a good one of you're looking for that kind of grunt from a compressor. You can get electric clutches for mower decks quite cheap, which could be adapted to a horizontal output four stroke and used to convert what you've got. Hard to beat the price on that one Simon posted, though!

Just build a nicely webbed piece to pick up the existing holes on the block and extend back to the mounts on the chassis. 6mm plate with strengthening webs will do the job. Drilling new holes in the block isn't likely to end well where there isn't extra meat cast in for bosses. One other thought.... If the oil filter arrangement is the same as the 2.6, will that not foul the left hand mount in that position? Also, before you get making anything, are you 100% sure you've got enough room to move it forwards that much without causing a major radiator headache, and you're definitely happy there's room to work on various maintenance chores once it's in? Fingers crossed for the flywheel by the way.

Nige, is that you??? Joking aside, that's probably overkill, but no harm it being beefy. I'd say it's a solid plan, it's basically what I've done at the gearbox end of my conversion, and the engine too somewhat. I didn't want to chop my chassis.

What engine was the S1 before the conversion, and what's different about the new gearbox? The six cylinder IOE engine has a different bellhousing, so it's possible the early IOE four pots were the same.

Likewise. Shall we organise a trip up in September? My mate from Derby who does lots of clever things with old canvas is hoping to make it too. He has much the same attitude as the Beardie crew by the sound of it. We should have some Sankeytastic wares to be flogging by then too

Just had a look at the site, @honitonhobbit. Great concept, just my kind of thing! Hoping I'll be there for the next one, will drop in.

Ah, apologies, I'd missed that distinction

I disagree that axle spacers won't affect structural load on the tube. Quite the opposite. Think it through: any load, static or dynamic, exerted on the wheel occurs at a distance from the flange welded to the tube, so you've essentially got a lever, and can think of it in terms of torque. As that lever gets longer, so does the turning force for any given load, which in this case manifests as increased load on the axle case to swivel bolts, the flanges and axle tube. I know we're not talking much, but that's still more than nothing. I think I'd want to establish that the grade of bolts and flange/axle case are up to it; possibly re-enforcing anyway.