Did they pressure test that block? I'd be a little concerned about that steam cleaned piston. I don't think there are any coolant passages nearby.

 

Nope. Visually inspected for cracks only. Cylinder 4 had head gasket leak, Cylinder 6 was found to be out of round. No evidence of slipped liners. I thought I saw where the head gasket went bad on the passenger side.

 

I'm not sure if you know the 4.6 has a reputation for slipped liners. I'm no expert, but I think you probly want to either install top hat liners or pin the existing sleeves while you have it disassembled.

Also, be sure to carefully read the engine installation process in the rave. There's a special trick to connecting the torque converter, and if you don't do it you wreck the tranny.

Fantastic thread!

 

Yep, no slipped liners - this car is being flown into South America next Saturday, so no time for top-hat liners anyways. Just going to cross my fingers they don't fail later. Also, didn't remove the torque converter, so no issues there.

 

The 4.6 has the same bore diameter as the 4.0, so I would toss aside the 4.6 as being more prone to failure. On the head gasket, I would not waste one red cent on the OEM gaskets.

Take the block into a machine shop and have them press all lines to the register. I don't care if you visually inspect them and they look good. Deck the block after pressing in the liners. .015 will not cause any significant increase in compression. Check the heads as well.

GET A SET OF COMETIC HEAD GASKETS THAT COVER THE LINER PROPERLY. The OEM gasket fire rings are outside the liner and will fail again. You want to stabilize the liners and keep them in place with a little help from a properly engineered gasket. Head gaskets are NOT normal maintenance on ANY motor period. Good luck and just my .02 to make a poorly engineered engine last longer.

MAK

 

Pictures look great... looks pretty systematic. No expert but I'd use the 'gray' t-stat over the stock one. The 'slipped liners' are already being mentioned. It would be ashame to do all that work only to have to address a slipped liner later down the road. The good news is that you know how to disassemble and reassemble the 4.6 liter. Hate to hear of it being rushed for your trip after seeing those pictures. Good luck either way. Looks like a clean D2.

 

Starter may have broken because
Someone may have turned the key again when it was started..
Maybe on a Rover you can't do this but...

Or someone was beating it with a hammer to crack the housing.

To break the teeth on the flywheel, I keep thinking the starter was engaged when the engine was running. Maybe an electrical malfunction.

You can use most any engine oil for engine assy.
You are supposed to use assy grease which is from an autoparts store and is like a paste.

Great writeup!
Great job.

you have a lot of energy and passion.

 

Great thread. I've never built a Rover motor, but I would be concerned about the cylinder. You would hate to spend all that money on the rebuild and the flight (how much does that cost anyway? ) fo South America and have it fail there!

I have built race motors and use the supertech for brake in... you will be fine. However I would recommend putting the full trip.distance on the block before shipping the truck off.

 

Thanks for the concern. I was looking for the hot climate t-stat, but I think Atlantic British or BP-Utah was out of stock at the time.

That's what I was thinking - someone tried to crank the engine with it already started and the flywheel turning!

The truck will be staying in South America for the rest of its life. The shipping is $5,000 alone, but the truck is easily worth $25,000 down there. They also have top quality machine shops where it will be and I have lots of experience shipping stuff down there - it costs just $1.20 a pound and gets there in 4 business days. I will be running it around town for the entire week to break it in, do 2 transmission fluid swaps of 6 quarts each, and will drive 4 hours to drop it off at the airport.

Back to the lifters question - so I soak them about 24 hrs in the 30 weight oil, and apply the assembly grease to the cam lobes, bottom of the lifters, and pack the oil pump with vaseline? Just plain oil on the cam bearings, main bearings, rod bearings, crankshaft journals, camshaft, push rods, valves, and rocker assembly?

 

Liberal coating of moly paste on the cam and lifters. Nothing changes from one brand to the next on assembly practices. Set the pre load properly on the lifters. On initial start rev the motor to 2500 RMP and hold it there for 20 minutes. The spurt hole on the connecting rods is what lubes the camshaft from the bottom side. This is how you properly seat the cam/lifters. You do not pump up the lifters prior to installation, or you cannot set the pre-load properly. I usually go down .060 from the retaining clip with a dial indicator. Once everything is lubed and installed I will pre-oil the entire engine by cranking it on the stand until I see oil from the rocker arms. This insures that there is oil pressure within a few seconds on the start-up. Your OEM gasket will fail again. Otherwise a nice job.

MAK