Andrew Cleland

Perhaps foolishly we're planning on driving the 110 to Italy in a few months time, so I'm spending some time fixing annoyances. One of which is a squeaking belt on the 3.9i (ex-92 RRC, hence this forum). The problem is that I'm trying to work out whether the belts are right and what belts I need. All the RAVE manuals seem to be for the serpentine front-end, so aren't much use. As it stands it has a big multi-groove crankshaft pulley with a V-belt running from one groove to the water pump, with a tensioner - this I think is fine. Then it has a second V-belt on another groove running to the PAS pump - again I think this is correct. The alternator is driven by a long ribbed belt from the crankshaft to the alternator (on the top-right as you face the engine) which seems to touch against a second pulley on the front of the PAS pump on the way to and from the alternator. This is the belt I'm suspicious about, as from what I can make out in the Haynes BoL the alternator should be driven by a short V-belt from the front of the PAS pump, not from the crankshaft - but the pulley on the alternator is a ribbed one and the pulley on the PAS pump is the width of a ribbed belt but fairly smooth, although it has slight grooves worn into it by the existing belt. The aircon has been removed, so there's no drive for a compressor. Does this sound like the right belt setup or is it, as I have a feeling, a bit of a mash-up of a V-belt type engine with serpentine PAS pump and alternator pulleys? Can post a photo if it helps! Cheers, AndyC.

I had a problem like this on my 110, a 3.9 with standard Lucas 14CUX injection. It was working fine, then when I came to leave work it fired-up, ran for a few seconds then died. After that I'd try to start it and it would occasionally fire on the starter, but never run. It turned-out to be the fuel pump relay being faulty - the AA man (yes, I gave up trying to fix it myself - it was cold, raining, dark and I was tired so I called them out and went for a kebab in the meantime) had a handy little tool that plugged in-place of the fuel pump relay and allowed him to manually turn the fuel pump on and off as he cranked the engine. Worked a treat to get her running again and I had a spare relay in the tool box. Anyhow, what I'm saying is suspect the electrics and particularly the fuel pump relay (and maybe you also have diode pack on the flapper system). AndyC. P.S. Engine does look nice!

Hi Jim, I had a similar issue to you, except a V8 into a 110 that was originally a 2.5 petrol. I spent a long-time trying to work out a decent air filter mount that would fit in my busy engine bay and ended-up with the bracket from the 50LE. It does bolt to the back of the engine, using the holes on the cylinder heads which take the lifting eye on the even bank and the empty ones (which would take the alternator etc. if the head was on the other way around) on the odd bank. The air filter them mounts to the bracket using 3 (or maybe 4, can't remember) rubber bushings. The bad news is that 50LE's are rare and don't tend to be broken for parts, the good news is you can still get the bracket from LR, but it's not cheap - over £100 from a main dealer (who were the only ones who'd get it in for me). When I was trying to work this out, someone on another forum kindly took some photos of his 50LE for me, I've attached them. I can take some more of mine if it helps, but it's not an easy thing to photo. Cheers, Andrew.

I don't know if you have the genuine workshop manuals, or if they'd even help, but either way, they're here if you want them: http://miro.pet.cam.ac.uk/~ajc219/land-rover/ Cheers, AndyC.

Cheers, that's good to know - save me a few pennies over the genuine parts cam next time around. I've been tempted by their hurricane or cyclone cams, but I'm always wary of loosing low-end torque which, for me in my 110, is one of the joys of the V8 - being able to pottle around in 3rd or 4th from 5mph to 40+ Andy.

Sorry if my comment sounds sarcastic - I was actually really wanting to know where I could get an OEM cam for that price. Anyhow, I buy lots from Real Steel, but I wouldn't call their standard cam OEM - it's no more expensive than a Britpart one, so I expect similar quality (it may even come from the same factory as Britpart source theirs - there can't be that many people grinding standard spec cams for the RV8 now). Certainly all the cams from Paddocks, Craddocks, Beamends, etc. around the £50 - £70 mark are Britpart. The problem I had with the cam was two nodes were slightly, about 20thou, too close to each other - you wouldn't pick that up just looking at the cam but once it's in the engine and lifters in place you can see one lifter being lifted by not only its own node but the one next to it also snagging on it as it comes around. I have photos somewhere but can't fine them at the mo. Where I was stupid with rebuilding this engine is after finding the problem with the cam and putting in a genuine parts one, I didn't also take out the (new) Britpart lifters and put in genuine parts ones. On top of the normal bedding-in procedures for the cam I like to add a bottle of Competition Cams bedding-in lube to the oil - apparently it puts back slippery stuff that modern oils have taken out. Getting back to Zoltan's original question, I'd go the route of rebuilding an engine I know (which I've done for three different V8s now). Yes, the cost of a rebuild will buy two or three V8s from the scrappy, but for me it's more the inconvenience (and to be honest, the embarrassment) of having an engine let go that makes the rebuild route my choice. I guess if you're looking for an engine for a weekend toy then you can be less picky, but all mine go in daily drivers which also make 1,000 mile plus journeys every year (I have a special savings account for holiday fuel...) - I don't want an engine giving-up halfway to Italy with the family in the back. The most recent rebuild (the one with the dodgy cam) is a 3.9i, ex Range Rover, from 1993. I know the block is basically sound and hasn't shown any sign of dropped liners/porosity/etc. I had it re-bored 20thou over, mains honed, new cam shells fitted and honed. New pistons (Real Steel, standard CR, 20thou over) and ARP studs on the mains. Cam is genuine parts 3.9i, Real Steel heavy-duty pushrods, steel rockers, new valves, springs, seals (all Real Steel). Head skimmed 20thou and tested for flatness, genuine parts composite head gaskets, ARP head studs (overkill for this engine, but I got a deal on mains + heads). The rest is pretty much stock apart from a Double S stainless exhaust (which doesn't really fit properly) & a Rimmer Bros stud kit for the exhaust manifolds. Injection is standard 14CUX and ignition is a standard dizzy with Magnecor leads. Future plans are either Megasquirt or VEMS, primarily for dizzy-less ignition, but also looking at port-injected LPG & a general tidy-up of the engine bay wiring. All this is in a 1994 110 station wagon btw. Cheers, AndyC.

I'd love to know where you can get a cam and OEM followers for £100 - sh*tpart ones yes, but I put one of their cams in my 3.9 which I was rebuilding and wondered why I couldn't turn the engine over by-hand in the stand. Turned out that one lifter was being lifted by two cam nodes, so cr*p was the grind. Genuine cam went in, but stupidly I didn't also junk the britpart lifters and I can already (6 months later) hear one being a bit sticky at idle. IMHO ARP mains studs are worth it even on a standard engine if the block's not cross-bolted - almost all blocks I've come across the main bearing caps have been pretty loose for a supposed interference fit. ARP studs help stabilise that a bit, plus it's just nice to use what are obviously top-quality bits of kit :-) Cheers, AndyC.