The washer fluid reservoir is in the worst spot. I destroyed mine last night on the trail once and for all, time to come up with a different solution and relocate it. Looks good!

 

This is what I don't understand, and frankly drives me nuts, about you. Trouble seems to have a knack for finding you, and when it does you go looking for more.
You had a hard enough time finding and installing nuts on what is a pretty popular wheel. Instead of taking people's advice and installing nuts that obviously fit(you sent them back) or running highly recommended alloy wheels, you decide to find just about the most obscure steel wheel ever made for a D2. The RRC114560 was not very popular(I only ever saw one D2 running them) and now it's no longer even made.
Given your track record picking a wheel as rare as hens teeth doesn't seem like a wise choice.

 

Firstly I appreciate any and all useful advice given on this forum. Many good folks here and I understand your trying to help.

I did ship the smaller lug nuts back to lucky 8 after several sources made claim that they do not go with the Terrafirma steel wheels. But also because when I spoke to Eric over the phone I was offered a reimbursement for the lugs. I figured I could send them back and use a store credit to put towards 4 replacement tf steel wheels from them. Unfortunately after I shipped them out I called Lucky 8 to let them know to keep their eyes out for the package and Cullen informed me that their policy forbids them from accept returns on lug nuts and that I will not be reimbursed. That was the last I ever heard from lucky 8. Lesson learned.

As for my wheels. It is one thing to look at crappy pictures and another thing to see them in person. And as much as I appreciate all of the advice I got on this forum, some of you suggested I keep the big lugs on and you and others say I should put the smaller ones back on. Ultimately it came down to the fact that the tire specialist shop strongly advised against putting the smaller lugs back on. I can't very well tell the shop to **** off because I heard on a forum that it's alright to reinstall the smaller lugs.

My decision to go with factory steel wheels is a calculated one, rest assured. Yes in the US those RRC114560 wheels are rare as ****. However in the UK they are much more common. I've been in contact with folks on a UK forum as well as a few merchants within the UK. My understanding is that low trim level TD5 D2's came with those steel wheels as standard. And apparently there was a commercial trim D2 with paneled up rear windows that also came with factory steel wheels as standard. So I will get those wheels.

Also you got to remember that I spent a small fortune on those factory lug nuts and center caps. If I ditch steel wheels now you might as well toss all that money in the garbage as well. But seeing how I still have the lugs and caps then I might as well get the factory wheels that without question go with them.

You should know by now how picky and particularly iam about my truck. I want it to be a certain way. Look a certain way and feel a certain way. I dont care what the majority put on their trucks or what everyone else think looks "dope". I go with my heart and I know exactly what I want. Fortunately I'm totally willing to work my *** off to get what I want. Along the way mistakes will be made and lessons learned. That's life. You were not born a expert Land Rover mechanic and 1st class off road instructor. It comes with experience and trial and error.

 

My trucks been making some sort of chirping like noises in the morning while warming up. I'm aware that the power steering system needs to be serviced. In the mean time I'm trying to figure out what is causing the noise. A worn pulley? A worn serp belt? Maybe the ps pump itself?

 

Pulleys and tensioner, change them...and belt.

Brian.

 

So I'm gearing up to perform my first head gasket job. Major coolant leak and large concentration of coolant behind the block where it mates to the transmission. Otherwise the engine runs good. Quiet with no ticking or racking and no loss of power. The heads that were on my Turner block are at the machine shop being cleaned up. They will be swapped over to my white D2 during the head gasket job. I'm also replacing most of the pullies, serp belt, power steering pump, ps hoses and ps gearbox. Also replacing the coil pack with genuine coil pack assembly, champion spark plugs and magnecore blue wires. Big weekend.

My question is regarding the lifters. I've been advised that while doing the gaskets that I should also replace the lifters. Obviously I need to inspect them and determine if they will be removable without the need to remove the cam. But should I be able to pull the lifters from the top end, is it wise to install new lifters and call It a day or should the camshaft and pushrods also be replaced?

My objective is to give the engine a tune up and resolve the coolant leak. I do not wish to perform a complete engine teardown and rebuild nor do I wish to replace more **** than needed. But I also don't want to get everything back together only to have all hell break lose.

PS: According to carfax my white D2 had a engine overhaul in 2009 at a Land Rover dealership in South Carolina. I called the specific dealership to find out exactly what work was performed but unfortunately they do not keep records from that long ago. After so many years records are purged. All I know is that this engine has 230,000 and seems to run much better and quieter tham both theTurner block and the original block that was in my grey truck prior to theTurner swap. I dont want to mess it up now.

I still have the Turner block and plan on performing a complete cleanup and rebuild with new parts. But for now I just need to deal with the issues at hand.

 

I didn’t touch my lifters when doing my HG — my block had about 123k on the clock though

 

RPI Engineering recommends replacing camshaft and lifters together; always as they wear together. They also recommend that I replace the oil pump gears.

If I decide to perform the recommended work then I'll have to post phone this job a few more weeks. Sucks.

 

With 230k and no known overhaul for ten years, I would replace the lifters and rods. I'd think the lifters were actually the most important to replace, barring an obvious defect in cam/rods, because they have moving parts. You will be able to replace the lifters and rods while doing the HG job as long as you take the additional step of removing the lower intake, which does make it a bigger job and requires a new valley gasket (which you have).

Replacing the cam with the engine in the truck is not a small thing like replacing the head gaskets and lifters/rods, and really expands the scope of the project. I wouldn't do it unless there is an obvious problem since the engine is running good. If you do replace it you will want to be sure, and pray, that the bearings are good and go with an upgraded cam.

 

I wanna do this right. But after speaking with RPI Engineering, I was advised that anytime you replace the lifters, that you also gotta replace the pushrods and camshaft. Furthermore anytime you have the cylinder heads skimmed, that you then need to measure the distance between the top of the lifter piston and the retaining clip to determine which shims you need to install under the rocker pedestals. They went on further to advise that anytime you replace your camshaft with a non factory spec shaft (like a upgrade camshaft) that you then have to have your ecu tuned to compensate for the new cam.

They also provided me with a link to a useful website that shows you in some detail how to preload flat tappets:
morgandoc.com : How do I set tappet pre-load



While I understand some of this, it is alot to take in all at once. Admittedly I'm not prepared to perform the major overhaul RPI is suggesting. The head gaskets is one thing but the lifters, rods, camshaft and rocker pedestal shims is another thing. I simply dont have the time or extra parts needed to perform all of those things right now. As it stands I already have alot of work to do this weekend with the power steering overhaul. The truck does run good and has been mostly reliable. But I need to address the coolant leak. In December I may be in the market for a 3rd generation Mercedes Benz Sprinter van so when I get that some pressure will be relived off the Disco and I will have the luxury of performing a more comprehensive teardown and overhaul of the engine in my white D2. So for now I think I'm going to take a gamble and just replace the head gaskets, coils, plugs, wires, pulleys and the power steering stuff. Reassemble and hope for the best.