Anybody know anything about block casting numbers?

I read a post on here that said:

"Also, the castings themselves were different - up to fall of 1998, they used the HRC2411 casting. After this date, ALL rover V8 blocks used the LCF000250 casting. If you compare the two, they are different. It isn't just the same master dies with the numbers changed - there are enough differences to clearly show that this was indeed a new casting. So All D2's (introduced in 1998 in Europe) and about half of the P38 production used the same casting. All D1's used the HRC2411 casting."

I have a 4.0 bosch/thor block from a 2000 RR and it is HRC2411.

I have an 03 D2 and it has LCF000250

So were the earlier block castings any better? or do they have the same problems with slipped liners and such as the later castings?

Thanks

 

The best way to tell is the color grading system that LR used.

It's explained in this book, pages 23-26 I believe,

Red is the best and yellow is second best.

How to Power Tune Rover V-8 Engines: For Road and Track - Des Hammill - Google Books

 

Good reading. I would like to have that book but, not at $200. Too bad they don't make another run and lower the price to about $50 or less.

I looked at my block in the valley on the wall and don't see any paint. Maybe after I clean it I will be able to see it.

According to that, if I understood it, all 4.6 blocks are supposed to be red coded and if that's the case then we are all in a heap of trouble as anything else doesn't look too promising. I didn't know it could get any worse than the 4.6 blocks.

with red being best
yellow being next best
blue being thinnest

and it says 80% of all 4.0 blocks had cracks, then I have a 20% chance of getting lucky!

I hope the machine shop I carry this to know what they are doing when it comes to pressure testing this before I spend money on it.

I pressure tested to 60lbs with soap and no bubbles but that was a cold test. so any cracks may not open up till hot.

thanks, I wake up in the morning feeling good and then I start reading about these motors and it's downhill from there!

 

I have always understood the earlier the block the better, by the end of the run this little power house had been bored and stroked to within an inch of its life.
They were about to switch over to the BMW engines in the rest of the line so why spend money on new tooling for a 50-year old design when it is only going to get scrapped.
in my quest I only look for late model Gems blocks, easily converted if you want to replace a Boshe. definitely getting harder to find though

 

That's what I'm hoping. Since I have an earlier block from an older casting HRC2411 maybe it'll be a better block than the later casting LCF000250 even though it is a bosch block.

I was thinking maybe the HRC2411 bosch block was the same casting as a gems block just with the crank sensor changed? since D1's had the HRC2411 block.

Now that I am getting into tinkering with these, in the future I will keep an eye out for a late model Gems block or a junker with a Gems block. I could salvage the block and part the rest out.

I passed up a truck that was running with a gems block awhile back for $1k probably could have bought it for $700. Just didn't know enough about all these then. Also didn't know gems blocks were getting a little hard to find. I guess the recent scrap metal drive has not been to our favor as more and more of these are getting crushed every day.

I guess if someone is planning to tinker with these for years they should buy up a good lot of spare parts. I'm sure my wife would be tickled if I had junk trucks all over the back yard since I already have vintage Chris Crafts all over the place. hehe!

 

they get used to it, or they get out.

 

I see you have alot of "his" and "hers" vehicles. Maybe I could tell her some of them were hers. haha! or maybe I could sell alot of the spare vintage Chris Crafts that are taking up space and replace them with spare trucks. I think it would be a cheaper hobby!

 

I just tell her that I put her name on 1/2 the titles , someday she will check the vault and i'll be in it deep.

 

hehe! sounds like a plan!

 

So does anybody know if the early bosch block HRC2411, made prior to fall 98 when they changed molds to the LCF000250 casting, is actually the later gems block only with the crank sensor setup changed?
Would be good to know that the block I have HRC2411 is really a gems block altered by the factory for the bosch setup.