Ash.Witty

I did a v8 swap a few years back. I left the gearbox in its normal position and bolted the engine to that, then fit the engine rubbers and chassis mounts to the engine. It was then a case of lifting it up n down to get the final position and tack welding them in place. I then removed the engine, fully welded up the mounts and painted the chassis surrounding areas. Not too difficult but to make it easier for yourself I'd hoist the engine out rather than struggle welding in an awkward position and potentially ending up in the same situation as before. Mine was a 300Tdi R380 gearbox in its normal position with a turned out spigot bush to suit the 7/8" Tdi input shaft. I'm not 100% sure whether all the gearboxes are different lengths as well between manual and auto etc. which may be the case and why they are telling you to weld in a different place on the chassis.

Most thermocouples are 1/8" NPT, I would fit it where all the primary's meet, just before the turbo. 1/8" NPT is very similar to M10x1.00 Which is what I tapped mine to because I didn't know there was an NPT thread at the time.

There is a pressed tin gasket that fits between the turbo and down pipe, part no. ESR3260

I have just bought a north off road crew cab rear end to convert a normal hardtop into a double lenght King cab, crew cab length but no second row doors. http://www.northoffroad.co.uk/index.php/products/new-products/fibreglass-double-cab-king-cab-roof-extension-extension-detail

Do you know anyone with a boroscope? Could have a look inside without lifting the head. When you checked the clearances did you bar the engine and check each individual one or just have a quick look and rattle? It might be possible to see the piston if you remove the glow plug and injector and shine through the holes and trying to peek in, although you might not see much.

How bent is it, I have seen a few bent push rods occurring when the rocker shaft has been tightened down without slackening off the adjusters after the head has been skimmed and then barring the engine round to set the clearances, valve comes into contact with the piston and the push rod bends. Or if the pushrod wasn't correctly located in the follower, whilst tightening the rocker shaft it has been bent then relocated when barring to do the clearances and the valves were set correctly to look at you may possibly not notice until its running and making the tapping noise.

I know someone who has done this and has been working well, plus you have the benefit of the mag clutch so it can only run when you want it to.

I once ran 38's on a 2" lift, now run 37's on a 4" lift. Couldn't feel any difference in handling, also the disco's had heavy bodies and rolled a lot as standard, it might not feel as bad in an ally bodied defender.

A mate of mine did this, his was fixed to the bulkhead at the rear of the engine and used a series of silicone bends and ally joiners to connect it to the plenum. He used the quick release type clamps as fitted to the 300Tdi filter box to mount, it looked neat but if using a 4.6 I'd use a high flow filter like a K&N or itg as some 300Tdi types are restrictive.

I was surprised to see two cylinders full, cylinder 2 was full to the brim and pouring out when the plug was removed, prior to that it was running sweet. I've run a 4.2 and two 4.6's with not a single problem, unfortunately my dad's p38 started losing water and once we took the heads off it was apparent 3 cylinders had been steam cleaned.... Ended up doing a rebuild with a top hat block which is working a treat. Not sure about the 3.9v8's but there are plenty of cheap second hand engines on eBay etc. if it is knackard.

Would very much doubt its the head gasket, usually its only cyl. 1,2,7,8 to be affected as they are next to the water passages at the end of the block. Something happened to my mates 3.9 this week, lost all water and he couldn't work out why it wouldn't crank over. I pulled the plugs out and cyl, 1+2 were full to the brim of water. I'd suspect either a cracked head or block problems.

It might be easiest to get your 12V+ from the back of the ignition barrel, use a multimeter to work out which terminal becomes live each click of the key, simply use a piggyback connector to fit. Saves tapping into other systems.

It had 175,000 miles, I had the turbo rebuilt but with a marginally larger compressor wheel, which boosted up fast. The diaphragm spring was standard and I removed the nylon spacer. I put an auto meter egt gauge on, when going up hill flat out the EGT's would race up to about 850'c (1560'f) and by letting off the throttle very slightly they would come down to 600-650'c I ran it for roughly 18 months like this with not a single problem. I was planning to instal a water meth injection kit but sold it to get a 110.

I ran my 200Tdi at 24Psi of boost and advanced the injection pump timing too. turning the max fuel screw 1/8 to 1/4 turn really heats thing up, id fit an egt gauge as its amazing how high they get going up steep hills or when going flat out.

What grade of oil are you running? I used 10w40 in winter and 20/50 in summer as the later is very thick and took a while to gain pressure on my v8 in cold weather. When you used the pump priming tool did you set it to go clockwise? You might not create much pressure with the drill to put the light out, I tried this method and after a few seconds you hear the drill trying to stall or being put under load and this is when its primed and has a bit of pressure. If you remove the pressure sender does oil come out if turned with the tool? Now also not 100% but did you remove the rocker covers? Try looking at the end of the rocker shafts, there are plugs held in with split pins may be possible one has come loose.

Nige, the 4.2 serp setup is exactly the same as 3.9 serp setups. The 4.0 is the same as the 4.6, gems Hotwire type plenum and Thor is the banana type manifold. Also there was a 4.4 v8 for the Australian market which had vee belts, like the 3.5.

The white plug is a diagnostic port, doen't give out fault codes but allows you to watch live data. TPS, Lambda probes, water temp, air flow, rpm, fuel temp.etc.

I am pretty certain that the key way in the crankshaft is exactly lined up with cylinder 1&2 crank pin, therefore if the pulley/damper is being removed to fit the 36 tooth timing sprocket, its a simple case of offering the sprocket up to the pulley/damper with the gap inline with key way then rotate it however many teeth the correct way and fit. Or mark the outer of the pulley in relation with the key way and mark the block between two known points eg. Bolt holes to align the pulley at tdc, then clock the sprocket to suit the vr sensor and mark the point at tdc, remove and fit the sprocket to the pulleny/damper then refit to the engine.

I think they have slightly different internals, I think the rd161 is meant to be better than the earlier unit. I have just purchased a set of Salisbury axles, one with an rd20 and one with an rd161 and came with a spare rd20 but is locked so needs a bit of work, I'd be interested in seeing the difference between the two in reliability but I presume the strength is similar.

If the splines are worn like mine, you will find that accelerating and deaccelerating will slowly undo the nut. Then oil passes the felt washer and goes everywhere.

Right then as well as a new box, hydro assist must be a good move to prevent this from happening. Just spoke to someone running 37" tyre and his sheared the bolts holding the plate down.

Was thinking that too, bit annoyed really but you live and learn.

It's done 110,000 miles so I would have thought it would have failed long ago, also I've just tested to see if its ally which it is. Next step I presume is to hunt down an iron topped box.

I've run 38" tyres for well over a year, off roading etc. no problem it just failed whilst doing a simple million point turn. I will get a magnet on it today, didnt know that there were ally and iron tops. I would presume an iron top would be stronger and if this is an iron top then do you recon a hydro assis kit would be good to help it out when I fix it? You wouldn't have any idea when they started putting ally tops on would you? Mines a 1998 Defender.

Has anyone had the P.A.S. box crack on the 4 bolt plate simply just from turning lock to lock? I'm running 37" tyres but was just manoeuvring out of my workshop for the first time doing multiple lock to lock turns and it failed. Anyone got any ideas cos I'm stumped.