Reading this inspires me. I used to cringe when I first starting wrenching our Rover in 2012. Slowly I learned more and more and now I get a kind of adrenaline rush when preparing for a new project. This weekend I'm swapping water pumps and it's kind of a high. At the same time that nagging, "why don't Toyota's do this?" is at the back of my mind.

At any rate, watching your work and reading posts on this forum keeps my spirits up for when things go south on the Rover and I realize it probably can all be resolved with the right amount of time, money and knowledge about the truck.

Being a school teacher, having 2 out of 3 ain't bad! :-)

 

Jamieb I am glad to encourage you and you are encouraging me! I used to get a new car every year and the first time I turned a wrench on one was in 2000 when I decided to change the oil on my brand new Rover and drained the transmission fluid instead! Needless to say, it was several years before I approached my truck with a wrench again. I've grown to love this old truck but the truth is that, once it was paid off I just refused to get rid of it. It has been driven by every member of the family and past family including kids, and somehow never been seriously hurt in any accident, and it sat unused in my garage for five years after a head gasket failure. Now, 16 years after I bought it, I've taught myself to do most things and--sometimes to my regret--don't shy away from things that I don't know how to do. I'm a lawyer not a mechanic, but I've accumulated engine stands, a crane, parts for three rovers, etc. None of the mechanics in my small city will even touch it and the closest dealership is a couple of hours away. I have to say that the latest and greatest addition to my skillset is to actually use the RAVE instead of hit and miss guesstimation.

But, without a doubt, the greatest resource and really the main reason I still have my Disco is the information on Land Rover Forums.

Why not a Toyota? I got a parking ticket last week and the meter maid identified my rover as a Toyota. Haha. I'm older and when I was young, Toyota and Datsun were considered sub par, too small, underpowered, and cheap. By the time Toyota was the thing to get, it was also so expensive that even a Land Rover seemed reasonably priced. Nonetheless, I had a new Toyota 4 runner--I think 2009 or 10--with all of the stuff for a year but the interior felt like a car so I got rid of it. I live in a city of about 90,000 not close to a larger city, and maybe because we don't have a dealership, there are very few Land Rovers here and the ones that are stand out. I only see four or five in a regular basis and we always notice each other. Toyota people don't do that. A very well heeled peer looked at my Discovery about a year ago and said, "wow, Charlie. A Land Rover. What did that cost, about 70k?". Um, yeah, idiot...for fifteen of them! Of course, since I bought mine new and have put things on it I probably do have a 40 or 50 thousand in mine but I can't think of it that way or I'll just cry.

Mine has 146000 miles on it and everything is perfect (either because it stood the test of time or I have already replaced it) except for the engine. I know Europeans consider THE 4.0/4.6 to be the small block Chevy of Europe but my response to that is that we should send them some small block Chevy engines to tinker with. I wish I had the know how to put a Chevy engine in mine. The engine, head gaskets, cooling... the engine bay, basically... has been the sole weak point of my Disco. A retired military friend of mine is formulating a plan to transplant a Chevy engine into our Discos on the cheap and if that works he will be my hero.

Good luck with your water pump!

My newer engine is on the crane in the driveway right now and will be in tonight, for better or worse.

 

For posterity and anyone who doesn't know... There is very little space between the crank journal and the pistons in ideal circumstances. I studied it pretty closely because it is new to me and I'd say about a sixteenth of an inch as the crank turns. It would not take much to bring a journal in contact with a piston.

Having studied that and the damage to my piston, I do think a hydrolock bent the rod slightly and the crank kept turning (the noise I heard before shut down). A little more bending of the rod destroyed the piston and I guess I stopped the engine right when the journal came to a hard stop (because it did not stop on its own).

 

I have to admit yesterday another goof. Everyone knows I have replaced my head gaskets on various engines numerous times. This time I tried something new: I sprayed the gaskets with copper gasket spray. What a great idea.. . Except I covered up any markings on them. They are Reinz gaskets.

So when it was time to put them on I couldn't tell top from bottom and I completely forgot to check the dipstick tube hole. Last night, putting the tube in, I found head gasket in the way! Ugh. This means they are upside down (and on the wrong side). So this morning I grabbed my old Reinz gaskets and held them to some extra heads... Everything lines up and nothing is obstructed no matter how I place the gasket on either head, as long as the set pins/dowels line up. I then resisted posting my latest error here (for some reason I always feel compelled to tell on myself) until after googling it.

Apparently this will be okay owing to the fact that Reinz gaskets have the same holes on both sides. Are they idiot proof?

If anyone disagrees please tell me! I would hate to have to order new ones and wait longer to install the engine but I would rather replace gaskets on the stand than in the engine bay.

Edit: I triple checked. All holes line up either way and on both sides (I have an old block, too. I have alot of old stuff. Pack rat. Hoarder).

 

have you tried calling a Reinz distributor?

 

Can you slowly drill the hole you need and use a straw or sucker to pull any shavings out that aren't removed through the drill bit? Then you won't have to pull heads.

 

Hell, don't even worry about shavings too much. use some compressed air to blow it into the pan then pull the pan and blow it out. If there are any really tiny shavings left (which there shouldn't be) it won't cause any issues. You'll have some metal flakes on your first couple oil changes anyway on a new engine because of the bearings, rings, and cam being broken in.

 

I called a shop in Dallas and they said the gaskets will work either way. I hope that's right. In any case I'll be the test bunny and maybe someone can have a laugh while learning what does and doesn't work later on. After all of my misfortune I basically refuse to pull the heads unless someone knows for a fact that it won't work.

The gasket material only partially covers the hole so I just cut it. No biggie and none went in the hole. But if I ever do gaskets again I will be much, much more attentive to that hole. I checked how the gasket fits on the block and heads using my spares and that is the only mod needed. Alex, no need to add this to your mod thread! Hahaha. At least I have studs now so if it all goes kaboom or trickle I won't have to buy new bolts.

I'm waiting for ADT to get here and probably install spying equipment on my alarm system. When they leave it will be into the overalls and a few hours of engine installing. The boss (me) gave me the day off.

Dro, that is a good suggestion. I'll see if I can find a number. Everything I have read seems to say it is no big deal unless the gaskets are not symmetrical and cover up an oil or coolant opening, and I have confirmed this one is symmetric. I've always wondered why there was a coolant opening over the side of the block that is closed... Maybe now I know. For idiots like me who put them in backwards. If I hadn't used copper spray I would be concerned about the little line of red stuff in the gaskets (at the back, behind the water opening), so that's just dumb luck on my part, though if I hadn't used it, I would probably have put them in right. That cancels out the luck and leaves me with dumb. Hmm.

 

With all of my spare time waiting for parts I took he opportunity to fix an upper intake bolt hole that didn't feel right. I found most, but not all, of the helicoil kit I bought at O'Reilly Auto Parts a long time ago and it worked great. When I removed the bolt, I saw shavings in the bolt hole. I think these heads are a little soft and I wish I'd used one of my other sets. But too far in now, I just fixed it.

For anyone who hasn't used it, helicoil looks like a little spring that twists perfectly around your bolt. The kit is specific to your bolt size and pitch, and it comes with a little tool for inserting the spring, and a thread kit to tap threads in the new hole. You basically drill the hole to the required size, thread it (which is easy on aluminum but I hate that step anyway) twist the coil in the new threads, and put the bolt in. The spring uses the new, bigger threads you made, and the bolt uses the spring for threads. I think it makes a stronger joint than threading alone would do, in aluminum heads anyway. I was lucky because the bolt that had a problem was on the end (easily accessible), everything was closed up (no worry about shavings in the engine), and it was the last bolt in the tightening order. With my newfound focus on correct torque and sequence, it was a very lucky location.

The part of the kit that I couldn't find was a metal dowel that has a slot in the end and twists the spring in place ( the spring turns in at the bottom for this purpose) inside the newly drilled and threaded hole. A flat screwdriver does the same job.

I don't know what the maximum torque is for helicoil but this location was 38 pounds and it felt very secure and like I could have gone much higher. As I see it the only downside is that the helicoil spring may be shorter than the bolt hole (and is, in my case), in which case you get less surface and less threads to hold on to.

The following picture tells the tale

 

I am just posting some of the things I found useful wile waiting for ADT to vacate. This is my "crank pulley genie" (my name for it anyway; inspired by the diaper genie which proved so useful 20 years ago when my kids were small) that has bailed me out over and over when I forgot to take the pulley on or off and didn't want to drop the oil pan. A local shop made it for 25 or 30 dollars, I can't remember. The bolts thread into the crank pulley. I use a post or bar to extend the handle to something solid, and the hole in the middle allows the socket to loosen or tighten the pulley to the required 200ft/lbs.

I can't recall the exact size of the bolt but the size, pitch, and length is critical (hence my use of washers to pull it out a bit). It works on the truck, the crane, and the stand.