mad_pete

okay I went to see it. It is a rough area at the top of the piston stroke. I think what happend is the gasket leaked and the water pooled into the cylinder and rusted into the liner. It's about the width of a finger and the length of 2 knuckles ( very technical I know ). The piston is rusted in the matching place and there is a leak mark on the cylinder head between the cylinder and the water channel. So it's on the borderline. Is it mostly likely a leaky gasket and I can let the piston rings smooth it out a bit ? or not risk it and go for another block ? Mental note spray WD40 into unknown engines that are going to stand a while.

Hi, Just set my V8 block to be re-honed and the engineer chap says cylinder 2 has a mark in the piston ring area in the bore. He says its not "too bad" and I haven't seen it yet. Any advice ? Ignore it ? New liner ? New block ? I am not yet well versed in the world of what you can get away with the inside the engine. Thanks

I may well try swapping the thermostat out. I was just about to see what good the service had done and the LPG pump at the garage would only half fill me tanks ! ( I suspect it fills one tank and then doesn't swap over the the other ) So I have 140 miles on the clock without running out of gas ( 11.8 mpg ) but then didn't get a chance to fill up. So I'll have to wait till next time.

got mine at CP fastenings. http://www.cpfastenings.co.uk/

Appears the tailgate has decided to bow. The centre lock is a much closer to the car than the side locks. It would appear I need a way to persude the glass to bend back. Couple of hours in an oven with some bricks on either end ?

hmmm. Last tank full comes to 11.8 mpg. Getting better ...... just had a service and gas service tomorrow perhaps I can tease 1 or 2 mpg from somewhere.

well I had the dizzy cap off over the weekend and the rotor arm doesn't seem to have much spring. It's in for a service tomorrow and a gas service on Saturday I shall see what they come up with.

After with messing with every hinge screw I could find it appears the tailgate doesn't like the rubber seal at the bottom of the upper tail gate. If I pull it off the tail gate shuts fine. I'm wondering if the rubber has shrunk slight and now the hard end bits don't line up with correct bits on the lower tailgate. It was held on by loads of silcon that probably pushed it out a bit further too. The tailgate is slighty rusted I'm hoping it hasn't warped in the middle. Having pulled the driver door apart I sprayed everything with WD40 and the driver door now locks and unlocks with the rest of the central locking. However it still doesn't activate the central locking on the other doors. The microswitch in the actuator appears to work ( it has low voltage that goes from one connection to the other depending on switch state ). However it appears to have an aftermarket alarm and that does unlock the driver door ( and only the driver door ) on disarm and does nothing on arm. So I'm sensing dodgey alarm splice job. Next stop ECU. :-)

I pressed the button until it would take no more on the display read 55 litres. I think it is 2 x 35 litreish tanks, but LPG doesn't fill right to the top ?

Thanks for the info, I've been doing a reasonable mix of motorway and in town and while I haven't been ultra econmical I haven't floored it everywhere either. THe chap I bought it off said he was getting about 130 miles on gas as he used the odometer to gauge LPG fill up as the little green lights don't work. I'll see what the plugs and dizzy are like over the weekend.

Having bought a new old rangie I have done a quick bit of maths and come up with the figure of 10 mpg while running on gas ( 55 litres = 130 miles in case my maths sucks ) While steeled for V8 thrist I find 10 a bit low. So any advice ? Power wise the engine is great loads of pull alll over the place This weekend I plan to have a poke around in the dizzy, check the timing, check the tyres, put some new ignition leads on and maybe go mad with the irduim spark plug things. I do have an RPI power amp with the LPG power retard but can't decide with to fit it or the ignition advance box of tricks. The engine does seem to run slightly cold so maybe the viscous fan is jammed on. Are there any other LPGers out there ? What sort of mpg is achievable ?

Hi, just picked up a H reg Vogue. It has 2 interesting door related issues. 1. Drivers door won't open unless you lean in on it ( from outside ) or pull it in from the inside. It shuts fine but the catch won't release unless they is pressure on the door. Any ideas what to adjust ? It does rather look like I am breaking into the car everytime I get in 2. Tailgate won't close without being slammed. Upper Tailgate won't catch unless you slam it just so. However if the bottom tailgate is down is shuts just fine. Nothing seems to be obviously to be blocking it. I think I just need a couple of mms more clearence but again don't know what to adjust. ( 3 interesting issues ) 3. Central locking is completely mad ! Drivers door usually does nothing although occasionally a fruitless "thunk" is heard from the doors. Passener door unlocks the front doors and one of the back doors. I'm not too worried about this but if it is an easy fix ...... ( yeah right ) All advice gratefully recieved.

Well the engine is in lots of lovely pieces now, all a bit black and slugdey so off to find some sort of dip tank to clean em up.

I got 2 little L brckets that sit ontop of the winch bumber so the plate sits just above the fairlead. Helps keep the rope clean and I take it off if the winch is going to be used alot.

I got tubular manifolds on mine and I was planning to swap them striaght over. The range rover ones that came with the engine wouldn't have fitted I think.

Autobox in. So far so good ....

REbuilding a 1994 3.9 V8 hot wire from a rangie to go in 90 with ZF4 auto. What bits should I be changing ? List so far Sump Gasket+ sump plug washer New Rubber type late V8 rocker gaskets Plugs Waterpump gasket, and replace timings gears and change with solid steel options Crank rear main seal Set mains and big end bearings Set Piston rings Piper RP4 camshaft kit complete with genuine lifters, timing chain set & all gaskets to fit £320.00 Core plug set Any other suggestions ? Anything I should watch out for ?

Currently I'm carrying out a little change for my 90, out with 3.5 carb with LT85 and in with 3.9 EFI, ZF4 auto and megajolt. As it is the old engine and gearbox are out. I plan to re-use the LT230 with the auto box and change the ratios and hope the engine and gearbox are a straight swap. There seems to be some who say it is a straight swap and some who put it firmly in the "total nightmare" category. We'll see. After the old engine was very obliging in coming out without any fuss the "new" engine promptly sheared 2 exhuast manifold bolts off in one of the heads, so if the head is coming off the whole engine is getting rebuilt. Got the injection manifold off today, but it leaves the question of what to get done while I'm taking the engine apart. Uprated cam ? Stage 1 heads ? Injectors cleaned ? Rumour has it the engine had 140,000 miles on it so a rebuild is probably a good thing. I have an EDIS 8 from the US, coil packs and mejajolt all ready for that long distant time when the new gearbox and engine are in the 90 and I can take the ignition system to a whole new waterproof world. But my current task is take head off and work out how to remove broken studs and try to split engine and auto without flooding gargae in ATF fluid. I'll update this post with how I get on, in case it proves useful to anybody.