Nice build ! Try to post more photos to make it interesting :D

A 'knocking' from somewhere in/around the front cover was reported. Coolant pump was suspected. FlowKooler ordered....but it didn't arrive in time. Had to buy a cheap one from Amazon to be delivered in one day. I'll swap in the FlowKooler over the summer.

The good news is that the old pump was shot and the new pump seems to be reasonably well built and should last a little while. She is purring like a kitten once again.

Some of the pulley bearings will need replacement sooner or later. Gotta start lining up parts for that job.

You could use a needle fitting to shoot some grease into the pulley bearings to get some more life from them.

FlowKooler water pump installed. New bearings in the two fixed pulleys.

While pulling the fan, the left(driver) side fan shroud clipping point broke off. The fan doesn't really fit between the coolant hoses on the passenger side and this fixed point. I've always been pretty careful to ease the fan out gradually and not over-stress the plastic. My luck ran out and the clipping point of the fan shroud broke off. Dammit!

I sandwiched two strips of metal (cut from a 6" dry wall puddy trowel) on either side of the break and riveted it together. Perfect fix. It now allows for the opening to expand allowing the fan to pass through, but the vertical position is super solid.

Also changed the front and rear differential oil for good measure.

Here's an odd note....
I was having some temp sensor issues. There is a sensor in the bottom of the radiator on a P38 and also one on the intake manifold. The difference in reading between the two suggests to the truck whether or not the thermostat is opening as it should. I replaced both with Bosch branded sensors from a 'parts house' (I don't recall which house). With the new sensor on the intake installed and wiring continuity tested, the gauge on the dash was not functioning.

While I was installing the new water pump I took the opportunity to install a genuine Land Rover temp sensor on the intake manifold. Low and behold the gauge on the dash is now functioning!

That is annoying but I am glad it is corrected (even though the gauge on the dash is pretty useless).

The front cover gasket was leaking and so it was time to drop the pan, pull the front cover, and replace the gasket. That sounds simple enough when I write it, but there is always more to story.

The leak was bad enough to cause an overheat situation which was somewhat sphincter tightening given the proclivity of these aluminum engines to act badly when subjected to overheating.

Parts were gathered and work began.

First we pressure tested the cooling system to determine with some certainty that the leak was solely from the front cover. Thankfully it was. Then on to a compression test of each cylinder. Everything checked out fine with all cylinders being 160+. The compression test probably added 2 hours to the job given the difficulty of removing and replacing spark plugs in an engine with SAI. On top of that, one plug wire broke when pulling it off the plug and needed to be repaired.

Tear down was uneventful.

The oil pan looked clean. I had it off two years ago and there is no sign of shavings, debris, or anything but oil in it.

I figured the sprockets and timing chain might be due (168k) so I had them on hand. The existing sprockets had VERY little wear (testament to regular oil changes). The new OEM cam sprocket did not fit into the notch in the camshaft which is kinda frustrating. A new chain was in order. There was a fair amount of play and I hope not to be in that area for a long time so I replaced the chain.

The front cover was filthy so it took some time to bring that up to standard. I also checked on the oil pump which was fine so repacked it with assembly lube. I replaced the crank seal with a new Corteco seal.

A bit of Hylomar on the cover side of the gasket and a tiny bit more on the block side should prevent the need for more work anytime soon.

Re-assembly was also uneventful.

After priming the oiling system by cranking without the fuel pump fuse, she fired up without skipping a beat.

No leaks, and holds temp well.

A 75 mile ride back home went very smoothly. No signs that anything had been wrong.

The next day another 70 mile ride re-affirmed things were in good order.

I was the beneficiary of SIGNIFICANT help from another member of the forum. Without him the logistics involved would have been impossible and I am super grateful for his generosity. Good Rover karma is good to have.

Hurricane wheel renovation. I have noticed a difference between the hurricanes on a DII vs a P38. The finish on my P38 appears to be "sparkle silver" as opposed to the other variety "bright silver."

A little research suggested other names for the technique/style are "Shadow Chrome" and "Hyper Silver", found on BMWs of similar age.

With that in mind I used my spare tire as a test bed. The process is pretty straightforward...
1) sand to a smooth finish being sure to remove all baked on brake dust and dirt. I wasn't seeking perfection so yes, there are a few flaws.
2) clean with brake cleaner
3) grey primer
4) two coats of gloss black. first is light. second is heavier.
5) one coat of chrome
6) two coats of satin clear coat (the wheel in the photos had not been clear coated yet)

They are a bit shiny, but are much nicer than the chipped and dirty state of the wheel prior to the work.

P0126 This code has been a constant source of trouble since I renovated the cooling system.

Upon startup, the Engine ECM compares the temp at the manifold to the temp at the bottom of the radiator. Theoretically the temp in the manifold should be much higher until the thermostat opens. If the difference between the two temp sensors is not sufficiently wide the P0126 code is generated.

If you use a 180 thermostat there is a chance that it opens early and allows heated coolant into the radiator faster than the ECM expects. The ECM interprets this as a faulty thermostat (stuck open) and throws the code.

A 5 kOhm resistor spliced into Light Green & Black (LGB) wire from the radiator temp sensor changes the resistance the ECM senses and this is interpreted as a lower coolant temp. This effectively widens the difference in temp between the two sensors and evades the code.

The orange lines are -33 deg C. That is the line where a different error code will be generated. We don’t want to raise resistance such that it would put us beyond this point.

The purple lines are generally about the coldest temps you will encounter. -10 dec C = 14 deg F

Therefore, we can add between 5 and 7 KOhms to the sensor circuit.

broken T connector on upper rad hose
 

I had a bit of seepage from the water pump gasket and a t-stat that seemed to be stuck open so parts were assembled and work began.

While reaching to release the clip for the fan shroud my arm lightly touched the T connector of the upper radiator hose. Oh ****! I guess it is better to have happened in a garage than on the road, but where am I going to get a T connector?!?!

After mentally thrashing about for a couple of hours and some intense googling, the Dorman 627-006 seemed to be close enough to try. It worked well enough but I think it is a touch smaller than the stock connector. I'll measure the difference in the next couple of weeks. As it is winter, a slightly smaller inside diameter is not going to be an issue.

Land Rover used one part number for all three hoses and the connector as a unit (PCH000900) and did not sell the connector separately. The parts houses only offer the three-hose unit.

Next thing to investigate is a brass fitting.

coolant T update.... aluminum T available on Ebay....same inside dimensions as the stock T (you could go with a 38mm X 25mm for increased flow).... https://www.ebay.com/itm/157258629615

Bonnet release cable apparently had become stretched and no longer releasing the pins. Replaced with new. That job kinda sucked since I had to remove the air box and EAS system to gain access to mounting points for zip-tie trees on inner fender in engine bay. Adjusting the pins N, S, E, & W as well as their length (screw in/out) was critical to getting the new cable to function properly.

When I did the front cover gasket I mangled the plug wire for #1 cylinder. A misfire code finally showed up so I replaced the plug and wire.

Also renewed the gasket on the driver side cabin filter cover. They leak when the gasket dries out allowing water intrusion in the footwell.

Just got caught up. It is a lot of fun to read how you go about things and address. It’s just a more meticulous manner than I do- and that’s saying something!