"I'll be using the stock liners. I have never actually ran across new OEM liners for sale to be honest."
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Since you WILL be using stock liners, and since they MUST be pressed in flush against the aluminum shoulders at bottom of each bore in block, to prevent their being able to ever move downward at all, you WILL NOT be able to have their top edges sit above the block top, for machine shop to mill down, as you had planned, because they will sit even with the top of block, when they are fully pressed down flush with aforementioned shoulders at bottom of each bore in block. Using Cometec head gaskets will go a long way to prevent the liners from rising higher than top of block, but your pins should prevent that anyway, IF done right.

 

" All the bearings will be replaced of course,"
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If you do replace camshaft bearings, it is best to have auto. machine shop do it for you, because to do it yourself requires a special tool, which cost around $100. Unlike connecting rod bearings, or even main rod bearings, camshaft bearings don't wear very quickly at all; it is often not necessary to replace them, unless engine has tremendous mileage on it, or unless engine has not had good lubrication maintenance over time.

 

"This is the first vehicle ever that my hands can reach everything with decent ease. Every bolt is good and tight, but it doesn't take an act of God to remove. Every bolt was torqued to easily broken ability. I never felt like I was struggling to reach a bolt, or break one free.

Even the tight space bolts I could get a 1/4 socket in there and it would come free. Now I'm not saying these bolts were mere finger tight, but they all just popped loose with humanly respectable ease.

Thank you Land Rover. "
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A lot of guys bitch and complain about Rover problems, poor Rover engineering, etc., but I suspect that most of those guys have never really done much work on their Rover. So often, I look under vehicles needing work, and readily see that their engines can't be worked on while their engine is in place---no way oil pan can be pulled without removing engine from vehicle. Too, so often I see how cramped it is to do most normal maintenance work, even something as simple as changing oil filter. I have worked on Rover products, from antique Rover 75 car, to 2 litre cars, to 3 litre cars, to Rover 3.5 litre sedan, to series Land Rovers, to Range Rovers, to Discoveries, etc. and they all were as you describe above. In my books, that counts for huge points; it didn't happen by chance, it happened because it was originally designed in, ease of repair/maintenance. Early original Rover engineers deserve to be complimented for that.

 

I'm leaning towards getting an ARP head stud kit now. Should give my Reinz kit a good tight seal. I'll be doing some research to make sure that's the best route. Since I already have a head gasket kit, I don't plan to buy another one.

I wasn't able to pressure test the block over the weekend, due to not having the right size bolts, so I'll be doing that tomorrow night.

Everything is on hold until I know if the block is good or not.

If all goes well, I'll have the block stripped this weekend and ready to be hot tanked. Then I can start ordering all the parts to rebuild the bottom end. Firstly finding out if the camshaft and tappets are within specs/condition to reuse, or I'll be adding those to the order as well.

Now the wait....

 

The Disco has 127k miles.

How would I be able to tell if the cam bearings need replaced? I'd love to avoid that cost at the machine shop.

 

great build thread, thanks- keep up the good work and postings!

Rovers being easy to work on... I was replacing the fan clutch this weekend and a neighbor came over and said he was done working on cars b/c you can't reach anything on them anymore. he then looked at the Rover engine and was taken back to the 70's, started telling me about a XKE he owned. was impressed with the amount of room available to work on the engine, as am I. in the parking lot recently I ran into a guy who asked how my rebuild efforts are going and I told him- slow but steady. he then half-jokingly asked if I could change the oil in his Mercedes and was a little surprised that I laughingly told him- "no way, too difficult". these Rovers need work, but at least we can actually do it. love that...

 

you will want a way to heat that block when you're pressure testing it

 

You: "The Disco has 127k miles.""How would I be able to tell if the cam bearings need replaced? I'd love to avoid that cost at the machine shop."
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Have your auto. machine shop examine it and tell you condition of cam bearings. They can easily do it, and often won't charge you at all for that. Otherwise, to test the bearing clearance yourself, you would need internal micrometer, and good skill in its use, to check precise internal diameters of the camshaft bearings in block already, compared to the camshaft diameters that run in those bearings to see wear clearances, to determine if new bearings are needed. Camshaft bearings wear very little, due to fact that camshaft lobes turning, don't put much stress on them, nothing like the turning motion of a crankshaft, for example.

 

if you are replacing the cam and lifters? the answer is yes.
if you're not replacing the cam and lifters no.

think of it as putting a new wheel bearing in an old race, the old race will chew up the new bearing; and traversal a new race will only get chewed up by a bad bearing.
new with new old with old. Jmho

 

Is there a place in the RAVE that will let me know what measurements I can pull off the cams and lifters with my micrometer to see if they are still in stock tolerances?

From what I can see, they seem to be in outstanding condition. Nice glossy surfaces. But, I'm not putting them back in there unless they are 100%.