first off i have an 03 disco 115k miles, ive had it a year put 10k miles on it with no problems. then it began.... start up in the morning the engine would shake for a few seconds and throw a misfire cylinder#4 code then go away, i figured head gaskets. on occasion at idle the oil light would flicker on then off, probably cracked oil pump, coolant started seeping from the radiator side plastic cap where shroud mount screw is, fixed with jb weld.... then the other side started leaking..urghh.... time for new radiator.... i purchased a new radiator, since the cooling system would be drained i would go about fixing the other problems. i yanked the motor, pulled the heads sent them to a machine shop to get checked and machined, heads are good. cylinder 4 piston looked steam cleaned with the heads off, cylinder looked ok, no signs of slip.
i installed the following new parts
front engine cover with oil pump
water pump
lifters
cam chain and sprockets
arp head studs
all gaskets and seals
thermostat
coolant bottle, rad cap
mann filter, rotella oil

i checked the main and rod bearings with plastiguage.. in spec, time to assemble

everything went together great, bleed cooling system, starts runs great..
test drive, no codes...slight tick when warm
engine temp started to rise on my way home one day, i bleed air out of the hose screw.. alot of air
next day, same, more air, same tick, goes away when reved
ive bled the thing 10 times! no way all that air was trapped in the cooling system
coolant test strip showed high acidity

im pretty sure i have a loose sleeve at this point
i have a few questions

does anyone have any ideas on what i may have missed?

has anybody used LA sleeve to re-sleeve their factory block?
a new short block from AB is $5k, too much money for what it is, my pistons, rods and crank are still good

thanks
Dillon

 

u could also consider pin liner

 

pinning the liner would not seal the sides of the sleeve where i think im getting the air from

 

You can get a brand new block shipped from the UK for around $3000.
I think it is MD Engineering, not for sure.
A guy on the forum went this route a year or so ago, swapped over his heads and stuff.
If you search I'm sure you can find it.

 

Land Rover conversions - M&D Engineering

 

Turner Engineering is the one that everyone seems very happy with.

 

Ill probably go with the Turner

 

Turner is great. I bought a block last year and have been very happy. Frida will take good care of you. You will have it in two days from order.

 

Curious on what additonal fees added to the total? Was it $3K for just a bare block, and what was shipping & taxes like?

May go this route at some point.

Thanks,

 

Attached is the invoice for my Top Hatted Block and other needed items. Multiply the number on the invoice by 1.7 to convert to US dollars. No Sales tax just freight which at 210.00 US I didn't think was to bad.