I hear what your saying. We all have are preferences for how we build out vehicles up. Some folks enjoy stripping away the stock drivestraine and motor for that of a Chevy or Ford system. Some folks like to install 5 inch lift kits, fender flares, super swampers, disconnects etc. Some folks put tape over their existing warning lights and ignore them. Myself I prefer to keep things original when possible. Improved but original engine, a replacement frame and resolving any trouble codes - thats how I like it to be. Once the misfire issue is resolved and the frame is swapped out this truck will be 80% save for a new paint job, some tint and afew more accessories/additions. The only real issue with the Rover V8 engine is the ticking and slipped sleeve. The other main issue is the frames likelihood of rusting out and of course the front drive shaft. I have a top hat lined engine and a serviceable frive shaft so Im pretty dam confident Ill never have to worry about either of those things again. A replacement galvanized frame and yearly application of wayoyl SHOULD take care of any rust concerns.

 

There is another benefit and motive for a frame swap... some of you may recall my obsession with ACE...

 

My 0.02cents on this.
Buy yourself a cheap 4 cylinder daily driver. Get your rover indoors and sort it properly without the stress of needing if for daily driver duties.

Regarding ACE. Look for a west coast ACE equipped truck and swap all your bits including the engine into it and call it good.
I'd then take what's left and turn it into an epic off road trailer but that's just me

I do think it's important to note that your current issue, coils-plugs-wires is not computer related typically. The codes you're getting, while annoying, are significantly more helpful than when I'm trying to debug a problem on my 109 or even the Range Rover classic.

 

Well honestly the fishing season is about to begin up in Seward AK so this would be a great excuse to park my truck at my mechanics (AGAIN) and go up and rack in another big sum of cash. While Im up there have my mechanic resolve the misfire issue and replace the axle shaft seal (AGAIN) and give the truck a final look over to make sure its ready for the road trip. Then when the fishing season ends in early September fly back to east coast, pick up my truck and FINALLY embark on my road trip. If I take this route than Ill also have my mechanic inspect or test all the fuel injectors and make sure they are in good shape. Etc.

I imagine the RRC has as many computers as a D2... especially a fully loaded one with all the extras. Still A Defender/Series or older Land Cruiser (70 Series or 80 Series) would generally have less computers and sensors on board and thus be easier to work on and have less things to go wrong. I used to want my next Rover to be a LR3 but at this point im sick and tired of all the electronic gadgets and emission related BS fitted to modern vehicles. Sure they are good to have since they help keep the air clean but man when one dam thing fails its a pain in the *** to diagnose and expensive and will fail inspection. Computers on vehicles are stupid though. They only inform you of the effect of any given problem, not the specific cause. For example: "Cylinder 6 wire failure" or "Front driver side bulb blown" or "rear 02 sensor not detected". Direct to the point information like that would make repairs so much easier and cheaper. Instead they just tell you the effect and many times there can be tons of different causes that create the same effect. I used to think computers and technology in general on cars was awesome but have since changed my opinion on the matter.

 

This line of thinking would result in MORE computers, not less. The OBDII codes you're receiving are actually pretty helpful if you know how the system works.
Plugs, wires, and coils. You can swap all of them with known working/good ones to track down your problem. But again, you have to be deliberate with your trouble shooting. Only change 1 thing at a time and note the outcome.
Try swapping coil packs and reset the codes. If the problem moves from 1/6 to 8/5 you've found your problem. Make sense?
If the problem stays with 1/6 then its either the plugs or wires, both of which are easy to swap and troubleshoot. You will also want to check the plug for that coil pack, MAKE SURE ITS PLUGGED IN ALL THE WAY or that the pins aren't burnt.

 

1 and 6 are on the same coil, I'm pretty sure. Someone recently said that the coil that you get at O'Reilly auto parts is actually a re-boxed Bosch coil, and it comes with both coils and the bracket for less than some of the other individual coils.

I'd also recommend a compression test or cylinder leakage test. Even a new engine could have issues, no one is perfect, not even the guys working at Turner or the guys that rebuilt your head. Speaking of rebuilt head, was it actually rebuilt, including valve job, or was it just pressure checked and resurfaced? Perhaps you have a sticky valve or it's not sealing well.

You've mentioned your cats a few times, maybe over on facebook, I have heard of someone getting misfires with a plugged up cat. Now they were getting codes for the same bank, and it was just one cat that was really bad, but it's worth looking into.

On my D1 when the big round cat was coming apart, it did the glowing red thing you have mentioned. It also wouldn't rev up over about 1500 rpm at the time, but it was in BAD shape.

EDIT: I'm not suggesting ANY parts based on these ideas. That will get expensive very quickly. Parts are not a substitute for troubleshooting, unless you were just wanting to put new parts on it anyway.

 

The RRC is about as primitive a car as you can get in terms of drivetrain, transmission etc. later models like mine did come with extra electrical doodads that many owners remove, (one touch Windows, heated seats etc) but it's a simple car with standalone systems for the most part.

You could put an r380 in a rrc and pretty much drive it forever as long as you were on top of body rust. I've been toying with the idea of putting the body of my 109 onto my rrc for the improved chassis, coil sprung suspension, power steering, disc brakes etc

It's a hard jump to go from a d2 to a series or defender. Low maximum speeds, low service intervals, poor insulation and heat (or cooking) inside the cab, crappy brakes, very narrow track so not as stable as a classic or discovery, the list goes on...

 

fishEH:
Debatable I guess. Either way I have been swapping things around, testing for spark and noting the results and still have not gotten to the bottom of this issue. I have not flipped around the coils yet but may just give it a try. But yeah that does make sense what you said about 1/6 to 8/5. I have already checked the plugs for the cylinders misfiring. They look fine as seen in pics and when I swapped them around the results stayed the same. Cylinder 6 is getting a weak spark while cylinder 1 is getting a strong spark, even when you switch the plugs 6 is still getting the weak spark. Is there a way to test the wire itself to make sure its good? My understanding is that the spark test is for testing the plugs. Can the same test indicate a possible faulty wire? Perhaps if cylinder 6 is getting a weak spark maybe switching the wire for one of my older mag wires could improve the spark? I still have the old set of wires. My mechanic told me that he had trouble with them during install so... but I have not sent them back yet so I will try to swap the 6 wire.


Jafir:
I literally just replaced the coil pack with allmakes4x4. Previous owner changed the coil pack to but they used a cheap quality coil pack. Either way this leads me to believe the previous owners may have had a similar issue with misfiring or something related to the ignition. But like I said the misfire did not appear on my truck until afew weeks ago. I was going to do a compression test last week but noted how the cylinder 1 misfire went away after fitting a longer ignition wire on cylinder 1 port. Then cylinder 6 started misfiring. To see the misfire bounce around like that made me think that rules out the block as the issue. But I still have a compression test kit. Im pretty sure a valve job and resurfacing was done on my heads by the way but ill confirm that with my mechanic. Yes my cats glow red. Would bad cats cause misfires? Is it possible that enough damage was done to the cats prior to installing the new coils and new set of wires, and now is causing the misfires? I do wish to upgrade the cats and cat back system to stainless steel magnecore but not right now....

RobertBooth: I dont know much about the RRC but Ive seen some pics and read some info regarding the factory equipment and I saw air suspension, power windows, built in phone among the list of **** included. Of course this was for later years. I know when RRC first hit the production lines it was very primitive inside and out but I have yet to see one of those RRC's here in the states.

 

New doesn't always mean good. My LR3 has 8 separate coils and I replaced them all. A little while later two were bad again. They were probably defective right out of the box, and the parts place covered them no questions asked. But swapping them side to side is a good test.

 

heh Julian.
EAS got introduced on the Classic LWB in '93. Most have been reverted to coils now. It's somewhat safe to think of a Classic as just being a Defender with a different body on it. (with the notable exception of the transfer case Borg Warner vs LT230)

I don't want to get off track here by diverting attention from your build but I brought up the Classic as an example of a much simpler car that can still exhibit some of these problems. I just went through a painful process of trying to hunt down a rough idle on my Classic. Without the same level of reporting that i'd get from the OBD2 diagnostics on my D2, it was painful to go through the entire list of possible problems. In my case I had a bad coil, a plug wire that was shorting AND I had a fuel pump on the way out. lots of trial and error there.

hang in there.
If you decide you want a rust free, low mileage D2, I have a Zambezzi Silver SE7 with low miles that is completely stock with a blown engine here in Seattle that could become the basis for a build. It's a facelift '03 with 80K on it. I'd let you have first right of refusal, but if you don't want it, my plan is to put an LC9 in it