Phill S

Ok - thanks for that summary. I'll be wanting to return to the bypass thing later So do I. As a variation on: And some discussion in this thread: Picking out just one of the less negative responses from that: So when one turned up on ebay as having been returned to the seller - Maltings - box opened so reduced to £200, I decided to just do it. The plan is to run it around this summer, trip to southern Italy in September, and then take stock of how the complete 3.9 installation has stood up and how much irritating squeaking has been coming from the passenger seat. With plans to venture further afield next year, and also to hot places, I need to make the vehicle look less like an army truck - we'll be running close to the Syrian border in south-east Turkey if it all pans out. So this winter will see the body stripped back for painting, the front bodywork will all be coming off (again) and amongst other things, let's decide the final fit for the radiator. The current one can go back on ebay

Ok - going through your suggested Shed thread shortly. I understand the dynamic response but I'll be interested to see what plumbing changes you made that causes it... Dunno - guess I'll find out. I'm sort of wanting to look at one thing at a time. I've done some reading on Megasquirt, but I want to understand and work with the standard 14CUX before launching off into something else...

Wew. At a wedding yesterday - you guys have been busy! So now: Isn't that a stuck open thermostat? Agreed, but the thermostat will regulate the temperature within that ability. Minor digression follows. A number of years ago I bought a recon ex-army 3.5 for a price I couldn't ignore: As I recall, This had a 76⁰ thermostat in it. I take it from that that the vehicle it was intended for (forward control?), was designed to function correctly with that stat, so surely the pump/radiator combo's we're talking about here should function fine with an 82⁰ job? Don't want to go cooler than that as it seems the 14CUX moves into closed-loop mode above 82⁰ and a cooler stat would mean spending more time in the enriched fuel state. I should perhaps also clarify why I'm interested in running cooler - North Africa and the Western desert are calling. You might question my choice of the RV8, but looked after and not allowed to overheat they'll slog away all day every day. Army wouldn't have entertained them if they didn't. A long winded way of saying I'm after every scrap of margin I can find on the right side of 100⁰ Doing my homework on this before starting this thread I read this little lot: Jagwit (in South Africa) in his Disco 2 found the 83⁰ PEL500110 thermostat and... 90⁰ translates into just over half of the stat extension range which stacks up very nicely. As before I'm sticking with the Disco 1 configuration stat at the front of the inlet manifold but the running temperatures he's coming back with sounds good to me. Happy for people to throw rocks though - I want to get it "right" Great! I'll order up the ESR4223. Thanks for that. More questions on the heater circuit later... Brilliant - there's lots of what I'm looking for there. I had run away with the idea that the later series engines were very different and hadn't taken the trouble to look very far in that direction.... I can be bothered - that's my job for this evening

Great! That looks like the way ahead then. Except, just to be sure, what about the heater return? Here's the heater return pipe I have, centre stage, as I dismantled the engine donor Disco 1: And that connects into the bottom hose like so: So by eyeball the ESR4223 looks about right. Any thoughts on that? Having trouble finding anything on the detail of the heater pipes on the Defender 4.0 EFi Curious as to why you might want to fit the P38 thermostat in the hose? Is that to do with the bypass circuit? I have a cunning plan on that... On the subject of thermostats I'm planning to run with the standard Disco 1 configuration at the front of the inlet manifold as mentioned above, but probably the 82⁰C which I'm guesstimating ought to give me a normal conditions running temperature of 88-90⁰ - although I am toying with the idea of an 80⁰ job. Planning to be driving to hot places and with an eye to potential for overheating would be good to have the additional margin. Somebody will know. Or have an opinion....

This guy? I think the radiator for the Defender 3.5/4.0 EFi would be ESR3685: I decided not to go for that because (from memory) the dimensions of the core were much that same as the 2.5TD one, but it was almost twice the price. If that's the radiator you're using though, the connection for the bottom hose looks to be the same as mine (NTC6168), and assuming it's the same water pump geometry, it looks like bottom hose ESR4223 would fit. Expensive though...

Ah - should have made that clearer. The thinking was to keep the D1 thermostat in it's right and proper place at the front of the inlet manifold, and use the D2 hoses 11 and 12 in the diagram to get the alignment right for the bottom hose. With the D2 thermostat absent and the height difference between the radiator outlet I'm using and the D2 one, it would need a short length of metal pipe to connect 11 and 12. I did think about using the D2 thermostat, but if what I'm suggesting would work it looks like it would be simpler? I have a cunning plan on bypass arrangements. More on that if it's thought the bottom hose thing would work... Wasn't that an old Pink Floyd album? 😉

Having successfully done my first engine start on my 3.9 with a lashed up cooling system, attention turns to doing it properly. I think what follows is relevant to both the 3.9 and 4.0 engines - don't know anything about the ones bigger than that. I went for the NTC6168 radiator for the 2.5TD. It has very similar proportions to the donor Disco 1 the engine was taken from, and has the top and bottom hoses coming out pretty much square. I shan't use the built in oil cooler, doesn't make any sense to me, but will maybe use it to make hot water for the shower system, washing up etc 😉 I bought Britpart. Don't judge me. I own a 1987 110 - I'm broke. A number of questions I'd like to address, and of course I'd like to know how you did it. Let's start with the top and bottom hoses. Top hose is easy - same as the Disco 1. Here's the one from the donor vehicle doing its thing: I will of course fit a new one, part no. PCH000050 Slightly trickier on the bottom hose: I used an old Davies Craig electric pump at full power for my initial engine run up so I didn't have to worry about the PAS pump etc. Not the final solution I want, and I'm keen to use standard parts as far as I can, albeit for a non-standard installation. Anyhow, it's a right angle bend that needs to clear the steering box. I believe the water pump and position is the same for the 4.0? So my first quest is to find the simplest solution for the bottom hose, bearing in mind the need for heater connections etc. As far as I can seeeeeee........ The Disco 2 bottom hoses might give me a solution. Item 11, part no PCH119020, coupled to straight metal pipe instead of the thermostat, will then align with item 12. This is part no PEH101620. Or should it be PEH000080? My Russian isn't good enough to tell the difference. The up and over bit is superfluous, but I understand why it's there. It has connections for the heater return and a long woggly bit to connect to the coolant reservoir. Looks promising? But relatively expensive... A workable solution? Better ideas?

He's been very busy lately

There are more experienced eyes than mine looking at those pics, and I don't know Whitehouse, but you know what, if its been done properly that's all your problems solved right there. Stick it and go - the guy has good feedback rating. What could go wrong? If you don't need the cooler takeoff you'd probably get £100 for that Maybe just check with the seller for the box number so you can check against the Ashcroft gear ratio calculator as to what vehicle its from and what the gear ratios are likely to be You could also try Shipley? A kind of reverse auction site for carriers.

Sounds uncertain?

It was a dodgy earth on the Pressure gauge. Having sorted that out I got a reading of 2.8bar at around 2,500rpm, and with a small step input on the throttle a little wavering while the prv did its thing - same the other way about, a small step back down. Happy bunny time. Now to sort out the chaos you see in the pic above and dress the engine in all its finery...

I'll whip it out today and have a look at it... Just for the record, here's the cocktail recommended by Real Steel that I have used:

Ah - but you meant oil pump! It's the later serpentine engine with pump driven directly from the crankshaft Looked up the oil on the Real Steel website, it's 10/30

Wanting to address only one thing at a time, I rigged up a cooling system using a Craig Davies water pump used on a previous project like so - no thermostat: I switched on the donor Disco 1 cooling fans at 80C and it was holding water temperature at around 90C as in the pic. The instrument pic was taken about 10 mins in, after which I shut down. I'd been running at around 2,500 RPM and mostly concerned about water temperature - wasn't paying attention to oil pressure other than that it was there. I'm using a breaking in oil from Real Steel - don't recall the viscosity but will check tomorrow. I don't have oil temperature instrumented (yet). But I believe the oil pressure should be more like 40psi?

Well. It was going pretty well, but then I noticed my oil pressure was way up: Something over 4 bar indicated... ....seems like pressure relief valve not working

Nah - you can do this. It's just time and money ain't it... Do you know what the state of health of the LT77 is? Personally I wouldn't dream of fitting a used box unless I've had it all apart and put it back together again myself. This also for reconditioned boxes - unless it's Ashcroft. But then I'm an old fusspot....

You seem perfectly normal to me... Last one on the oil way? Thanks for advice on the studs and chain, I'll bear in mind on the next build.... Just in case anybody else stumbles over the terminology in the good book, here's the tune resistor: A couple of feet of wire away from the ECU connector. Measures up at 3.9kΩ which is fine for me as I'm running with the cats. Doing the bedding in the lifters engine run up thing today, unless any gotchas wriggle out of the woodwork. I know I've read it somewhere - 20 minutes at 2,000 RPM? Fingers crossed....

I don't know how come your post didn't show up when I did my last updates, but that's an excellent input, thanks for that. I use the Opera browser and it's doing some odd things elsewhere at the moment. I'm actually transplanting the original Disco 1 wiring loom into my truck, moving from 24v to 12v, so I'll go searching for the tune resistor to make sure that's correct. The wiring on the missing resistors is colour coded exactly as you say, and I've lashed in a 6.8k resistor in white/blue back to the ECU for the time being. But yes, white/black from the amplifier goes to the coil -ve and white to +ve. Also, thanks guys for the general words of encouragement. A few jobs to do on the silencer, fuel pumps and general wiring, and I'll pull it outside for the 20 minute engine run up and hydraulic lifter bedding-in that seems to be required...

Did a lash up job on the cooling system and filled that up, basic gauges lashed up, connected up the wires on the coil, turned the key - and.... ...it just started. Just like that. Only ran it for about 30 seconds, no working water pump, but still... ... that's a happy day 🙂

Took a lot of searching, but Mr google finally pointed me at this: That seems reasonable. Still puzzling over why the tune resistors have been removed though...

Eventually bit the bullet on the O ring and bought from Turner Eng. The rest of the engine build up was pretty straightforward, and I'm now working towards first start. But two puzzles that I know somebody will know the answer to. Sombody has been at the ignition system wiring at the coil end of things: Puzzle 1: I have a white wire and a white with black coming from the Ignition control module. Book say they should both be white (which would be even less helpful), so which goes to the positive coil terminal and which to the negative? Puzzle 2: Both tune resistors have been removed. Why would they have done that?

Can't help with that one I'm afraid. I would guess that it's metric, but maybe one of the fine threads? I've done a lashup job on securing the pumps and filter on my project, I want to get to the engine started and checked over next. I'll come back to this one when I'm able tomake vroom vroom noises. LP pump mounted behind the panel on the right, secured by the two silver screws and wired temporarily using Wago clips. HP pump mounted on the chassis, sort of centre screen

For carp read crepe. The algorithm messed with my post...

Progress with the fuel system today. Being an ex-army truck I have the hatches either side, and a great place to put everything is on the inboard side of the rhs one: carp catcher to the left and return hose behind that, the filter sits upright nicely behind the petrol can fence to the right, as does the LP pump, but because I'm checking for leaks I've got all the guts hanging out: LP pump top left, HP on the floor, and assorted lash up wiring. Moving around to the back of the engine: Catch tray under the pressure regulator in case of drips. Or worse. All running nicely at an indicated 35 psi, which seems about right in the absence of a running engine and with no vacuum? Bought the gauge for functional checks and early shakedown driving, but I have a feeling it might be staying Quite satisfying watching the pressure build and then stop at 35. Simple pleasures... Gauge only goes to 90psi, but I'll probably be on fire by that time anyway, so I'll know something's wrong Ran it for half an hour and all looks good so far. I'll get everything bolted down properly to show the final configuration. Final for the time being that is...

Thanks for the tip, I'll stop by there in the morning and have a ferret. I have it suspended on a ratchet strap at the moment while I wait for a collection of bits to arrive. Will report back on how it goes...