4.6 V8 rebuild.

[Paul Woodward]

I've just bought a P38 needing engine work. It's been using water for a while but what finally stopped it was tappet noise which a garage diagnosed as a loss of oil pressure.

I decided that a full engine rebuild was the only way to go. I've not worked on a P38 before so was a bit aprehensive but it's actually not too bad to work on.

After stripping the top off the cause of the oil pressure loss and rattle became obvious;

The rocker wasn't seized on the shaft, so just a bad shaft I guess?

Spare nut also found inside!

A brand new M6 nyloc. I can only think it got in there when the lpg was fitted, and that was 35K ago!

Engine up and out. Surprisingly easy too.

Heads look in good order.

Head gasket blowing here.

Block cleaned off and pressure testing kit attached.

Lower away!

40 psi and no bubbles.

We'll try it in the hot tank tomorrow and see what that shows. Fingers crossed!

[Soren Frimodt]

Looking good, hopefully you won't find any of the dreaded leaks around the bore.

It's always nice to bring a spare m6 nut, although that was quite an inaccesible place

[Paul Woodward]

Well after simmering for 20 mins at 90 degrees there were bubbles on 3 cylinders on the l/h bank

Looking at fitting flanged liners to all 8 cylinders.

[Paul Woodward]

Well the liners have arrived

The boring is underway

The heads need new guides in the exhausts but everything else is saveable.

[Paul Woodward]

More progress.

Liners are in and bored/ honed to size.

Block faces skimmed flat true to the main bearings.

Valve guides fitted, heads skimmed, seats cut and valves ground.

Hopefully I can start cleaning and assembly tomorrow.

[ThreeSheds]

[zim]

This is an awesome post, but i dread to think what it's costing you

G

[Paul Woodward]

I'm very fortunate in that I work next door to a engineering shop!

I'm calling in some favours and oweing some too! A bottle of whisky and a case of ale may change hands also.

I estimate £1000 for parts etc.

[moore101]

i wish i had the cost to do this!

looks like a proper job! cant beat a brand new engine, one day i'll be able to afford one

[Les Henson]

Lovely job Paul There's nothing quite like doing the job 100% properly.

Les.

[Aragorn]

Good work.

When i started reading it, my first thaught was "oh no, hes not going to do all that and not bother to install new liners" as these engines are that bad that its basically a case of when rather than if the cylinders start leaking.

As it turned out you had to anyway as it had already gone, so thats a good thing!

Its a bit of a shame really, as due to the block issues you basically need to do this work if you want a decent reliable 4.6 engine, and it really hurts the RV8 as a "good donor engine" in my eyes. The older ones are all worn out and arent particularly powerful, the newer ones all have block issues. Clearly now all this work is done it will be a good engine, and hopefully provide many years of pleasure.

[Paul Woodward]

Thanks for your comments!

My thoughts exactly Aragorn. No point spending money on a P38 and not knowing how long the engine will last. There will still be all the other usual issues to worry about though!

[Boothy]

Lookin good pal,

it's nice to see pickys of the machining instead of the usual build in progress ones, looking like it been done properly.

Good luck