Heard back from Precision Crankshaft today. They decked the block and honed the cylinders to 020. They said the crankshaft and the connecting rods looked fine and the heads also looked good. They resurfaced the heads and completed the valve job. Per their recommendation, we decided to replace rather than reuse the piston heads so below is the new BOM from Turner Engineering. Expecting to get the parts sometime next week so Precision Crankshaft can complete the shortblock assembly.

Really blown away how helpful Precision, Turner and NoDoubt have been in steering us down the right path! Thanks all!

Also had a great conversation with Chris Fritsch over at Dark Crow Designs. Decided to go with them for replacement front and rear bumpers as they are a bit more unique then some of the other bumbers I've seen. Good guy - really knowledgeable about rovers. Attached are a couple of pics from their facebook page. Once I get these in, I will post steps for the install process.

This weekend I am going to flush out the cooling system, replace the thermostat and replace the O2 sensors. More to come!





Dark Crow Designs - rear bumper

Dark Crow Designs - front bumper

 

How much are the oversize pistons?

 

They seem pretty reasonable - about $59 US (per piston) once you do the currency conversion. All their pricing is posted on their website. https://www.turnerengineering.co.uk/ They also include the piston rings.

 

Working on a few things today while the engine is still out. I figure I got about 3 weeks to wrap up as much as I can before it comes back. I flushed out the remaining dexcool. You can see all the aluminum? particles floating out!

Also did a brief inspection underneath. Looks like a shock has been displaced. I also noticed the rear coils seem to be pretty corroded. I hadn't planned on replacing the shocks until next year but I guess I will be bumping this up on the priority list - after the engine.

When I changed out the front sensors I realized that there was some tubing that was melted. Any ideas what this is and how to go about replacing?

Is coolant supposed to be sparkly? :-0

Looks like I will be replacing shocks sooner that I hoped.

Need some help identifying this. Looks like this tubing is melted?

 

Melted tubing is a transfer case vent, slip some tight fitting hose over it and run it up the firewall and zip tie it in place.

Sparkly coolant means someone put a leakstop in it, of course with the engine out you've already dumped all the coolant or most of it from the radiator and the coolant bottle, do yourself a favor now on the Flushing bleeding situation and hook up a little to one of the heater hoses with a catch fan under the other one and start by flushing it with water and then you can repeat the process with your preferred coolant. Tilt the hoses down to drain the little bit of coolant that might spill while you're putting the engine in

 

Thanks Extinct! Got it all flushed out. Will take care of the tubing this week!

 

Parts are in from Turner! Will be taking them to Precision Crankshaft to finish the short block.

 

Decided to pull out and inspect the oil pump while I still had the engine out. Good thing I did! I am hoping I can just replace the gears rather than the whole front cover. Thoughts or suggestions welcome.

 

You'll need to post a picture of the inside of the front cover without the oil pump gears before there is anything to think about.

 

Ok here you go. I don’t see any cracks or abnormal wear.