sixtwoeight

Thanks, that's interesting. I did spin the new release bearing before fitting and it wasn't as quiet as Id have thought. I think il fit a new spigot and buy a clutch kit with new release bearing and maybe il risk spraying some grease into it and hope it wont get onto the clutch...and il grease the new spigot! Cheers, oh and should I stay away from britpart clutches??

Cheers Steve, Il be getting good at splitting them and taking one or the other out...ggrrrrrrr, at least all the bolts are new so will come out easily this time!

Just been searching and found the following statement to determine release bearing or spigot/pilot bearing. "To isolate the two, keep the clutch pedal on the floor and shift the transmission into neutral. If the noise persists, the release bearing is bad. If the noise is gone, the pilot bearing is bad." According to the above it is my release bearing as the noise persists with the pedal to the floor??? Any ideas?

Hi Steve, its a series 3, I didn't grease the pilot/spigot bearing.

Finally have finished fully re building my 2.25 petrol engine. I fitted a new release bearing - I cant remember why i did, but I think the noise im about to describe was present prior to engine rebuild and assumed it was the release bearing so fitted a new one from Turners on re installing the engine. With the engine running and in neutral it all sounds great - as soon as put my foot on the clutch (about half way down its travel) it will start a horrible noise, difficult to describe but a load groaning, graunching noise. With it in gear or neutral when I take my foot off the clutch it stops making the noise. I didn't fit a new a clutch, and I didn't grease the release bearing - I assume I shouldn't grease it to ensure no grease gets on clutch. I also didn't replace the pilot bearing (forgot and overlooked that, concentrating so much on the engine rebuild itself). I also fitted a new 1st gear and 3/4th syncro in gearbox before I knew the engine was bad, so am loathed to remove the engine or gearbox again!! Any ideas?

Thanks chaps, Unfortunately nothing to compare it with but... I had a search on youtube and one guy was changing his 1983 109 (i think) rear wheel bearings and once finished he spun his rear wheel by hand and it was like it wasn't connected to the diff - mine is nothing like that but I take on board what @Bowie69 and @rtbarton says about the resistance. Il have another look at mine later. Thanks for all the replies.

Replacing the rear brakes on my 1980 88", and noticed the rear wheels don't spin freely, taken drums off and still tight to turn, so it not the brakes binding. Removed half shaft to check wheel bearings thinking they are too tight but they are fine as without the halfshaft in, the hub will turn nicely. The handbrake isn't binding, and holding the rear prop and trying to turn that, is quite hard, so why is my axle tight?? Thanks

Had a few more goes, and the seal gets deformed and starts rising up and also turning with the crank - any tips on how to stop this. I also fitted the crank without the seal and seal retainers and the crank binds before being fully torqued up. Taken it back to machinists.

Finally got the time to start on my engine build - a 2.25 petrol 3 bearing crank. I am already struggling! I am doing it by the book so didn't think id have run into trouble so quick - anyway, I have the rear crank seal on the crank (the split seal with the spring inside) but it seems the seal will need to be compressed up against the metal flange on the crank more than I can seem to do. With the seal retainer half loosely on I can get the crank in but once the first bolt is done up and the crank turned the next bolt binds the crank up and I can see that the seal is also turning and getting squished out - it needs to be in a specific position.. Any help appreciated. Thanks

I finally made a decision, and have stuck with the 2 1/4 petrol. It is currently off at the machinists having a re bore, hardened seats, new guides and skim. So my first engine re build is on the horizon. I weighed it all up and figured by the time id brought a tdi, then with the possibility of that being tired, and factored in re selling the land rover, I didn't want to take the risk. Thanks for all the replies.

Thanks to all replies, all interesting reading. I need to have a think and make a decision..... sooner rather than later. cheers

Thankyou all, for your input, I will have a good read of the link. @Gazzar, you mention value which is a good point, I need to have a careful think about that point, what would you think the loss in value would be percentage wise, assuming the conversion was done well, any ideas?

Following on from my engine trouble thread Ive been thinking about possibly fitting a 200 or 300tdi into my 88" series 3. Ive been searching and am getting a bit of conflicting information so was wondering if anyone has done the conversion here or knows definitive info. I am potentially thinking of fitting the tdi minus the turbo, I don't need loads of power so am not too worried about the loss of the turbo although having said that what are the issues with fitting the tdi complete with turbo. Differences between 200 and 300 positions etc?? Do both 200 and 300 fit to gearbox ok? What issues will I run into? Welding new mounts is not an issue for me. Fuel side, can I use the new petrol tank I have fitted? Anything I should know before I buy a rotten disco. (will be looking for a manual not auto as these have edc as far as my research has found out). Any help appreciated. Thankyou.

Thanks for the advice.. and I thought I was doing things the wrong way!

Glad you agree, fingers crossed and all that! Ah ok, I see what you are saying. Cords - is that term I should be searching for?

The plan is ( I think) to hone the bores and fit a new set of rings plus big end bearings. There is a ridge at the top of the cylinders and I expect a machinist would say re bore - and he may well be correct, but as the car will only do minimal mileage I will take the risk with a hone and new rings and hope for the best. If it doesn't work then il be having to spend a lot more money on it so in that case I would have wasted the cost of the rings and some of my time, so well worth the risk I think. Obviously if I had some spare cash I would bite the bullet and spend £1500 on the engine.

Right, took the head off and looked into the inlet and exhaust ports and don't think there is any oil leaking down the valves. So, took the sump off and removed the pistons and found that 3 out of the 4, has the oil control rings stuck.

Removed the plugs and no.1 is the worst being very black. Looking back at my compression test results no.1 was the highest reading. 1 = 185 2 = 160 3 = 170 4 = 160 To my mind that is odd, I would have thought if there was a problem with the rings on no. 1 then the reading would be the lowest - although if there is a problem with the oil scraper ring on that cylinder then could compression still be Ok but allowing oil to be on combustion chamber. Need to ascertain whether to completely recon head or look into rings.

If I were to do valve guides, head skim, unleaded seats, new valves, that would be the top end all good. But as my block isn't 100% flat I really should get that skimmed as well, but then I could have a stuck oil control ring? So as rings are not much to buy I could re ring it. If I were to re ring it how do I go about determining if the bores are at an acceptable wear limit for new rings to work. I.e how much bigger can the bore be than the piston? At what point does it need a re bore and oversize pistons? Thanks for your continued help.

I didn't measure the valve guide clearance but with a thin smear of oil on the valves there was no detectable sideways movement as far as I could tell, without any oil on them there was a little sideways movement. Cant do a grand it just isn't possible, but I take your point with an unknown "good lump". Argghhh A bit more info, on first start up it smoked bad so I left it running for a good hour and then drove it for 10 -15 mins, the oil seemed to clear after driving so I thought all was good, took it for an MOT today and it smoked straight away again on start up so left it to get up to temperature and then drove it another 15mins, this time it wasn't running very happy at all (plugs fouled maybe??), anyway had to get to the MOT which was pre booked and it smoked the MOT station out, much to their amusement but not mine. Not really sure how to get a definitive answer as to what to do?

Gutted Finally had time to put this back together and its no better. I honestly thought it was going to be ok, I was happy with how I did things ( yes I know it was the wrong way) and was meticulous in re assembly and keeping it all clean. Problem is I know the block and head aren't perfectly flat, so no point in just doing the valve guides, but then it could be rings?(compression test seemed ok - only did it cold), so need to get this done once and for all but without ending up doing a full engine rebuild. So if anyone has a reasonably good engine that doesn't smoke that they'd sell me please shout, 2.25 petrol or even a 2.5 as I believe its a straight swap? A very disappointing day all in all.

Thanks lo-fi, Gazzar and rtbarton. I'm glad I found that, it would have been painful indeed! I have a gasket set with a copper head gasket in, but will order a composite one, taking the advice from this thread that the composite ones maybe a bit more forgiving. With a thin film of oil on the valve stems the valves felt much better with virtually no detectable sideways slop - so they will stay for now. The valve seats are not the best to be honest, I gave them a light grind, which will have to do for now. If the work ive done only lasts for a few thousand miles il be happy, if and when that time comes hopefully I will have forgotten about my feelings I have at the moment and be in a position to spend a bit more money on it again. I know its a false economy but needs must. Good idea with the core plugs with fitting one inside the other, il have a measure tomorrow and see what I can find as looking at the usual suppliers and the parts book on line I cant find what I need for some reason.

Im glad its interesting and hopefully it will help others in the future. Had another good look over the head and noticed a depression in one the core plugs (I think that what they are?), so had a poke and opened up a hole in 2 of them. Are these just pressed in?

Thanks for the help and encouragement, couldn't be doing this without your input. So the valve stem seals... Looked on a parts catalogue online and it seems to show a different seal - more like an O ring with the double valve springs. I typed the part numbers of the O rings into google and one came up as superceded (ETC4709 originally, superceded ERR1510). The other one didn't say superceded but pictures of the later type of seal popped up - from this I'm thinking I can use the later type. If you think I'm wrong please shout. I also checked the valve stems in the guides after I wiped them dry, so maybe if I oiled them they might feel a bit tighter.

Pictures of the seals. Missing springs in seals Used a piece of glass with wet and dry taped on the rubbed away... So a before and after As far as I can tell with a piece of glass and my feeler gauges the head is within 0.1mm ( 4thou I think) - is that acceptable?? The block also got the same treatment and is within the same tolerance. Were they ever perfect when new??