We call them "Junk Yards" up here in New Hampshire lol and I would never buy a block from a junk yard. The truck is there for a reason and most D2's had/have engine problems. Furthermore you have no idea what kind of life the vehicle had, weather it was properly maintained or completely neglected. If buying a used standard engine its probably best to source one from a truck thats being sold as is by the owner. that way you can at least get a feel for how the truck was treated and if your lucky you might have access to service records.

Im certain that I would have better luck rebuilding a couple things on my Turner block than I would be throwing in a used standard block. Top hat liners, machined heads, all the other new parts etc. As for the D2 that Im looking at with the rebuilt engine, supposedly the rebuild was done by Land Rover and apparently all records including detailed information on parts replaced during rebuild are included. I would take a chance with that for sure, hopefully its still for sale in a week.

 

Same here in Va.
Sign waiver, $2 admission, or a dead battery.
They started doing that here less than 10 years ago.
Which was great, because for about 10 years before that, most junkyards in the area stopped allowing people in for liabilty reasons.
I love going.
Local pick n save has 5 D2s now.

 

That's where you're TOTALLY wrong. Neglect is easy to spot...While having top hats are wonderful, they don't stop the tick noise and just as many things can go wrong with them that can on a standard block, Why not just pin your standard block? Why not just drive it with the lose liner? Others do? They drive with lose liners until they find out the liners loose. People pull their truck in for a repair and then find out their liners loose, they've been driving for months with it loose...now they want to make it a big deal?

All the local car repair places around here utilize these yards. Junk doesn't go there, they buy the cars from COPART
https://www.copart.com/
Copart is where all the insurance cars go. Totally running cars.
The yards also buy local people cars, cars that are driven in get more money.
These cars are then stripped by you and I and the yards make $$$. Trust me when I say...I get tons of parts there throughout the year for many people. If I would have bad success I wouldn't do it. Yards here have chains, just like fast food restaurants...in different towns.
Many used parts you guys buy on ebay come from the same cars, places etc.
Sometimes the cars even have GOOD ENGINE, GOOD TRANS written on the windshield.
They don't sell whole cars either.
You keep relying on people that have something used for sale...you don't really know THAT cars history either. People lie all the time. I go to the yard, test things, look at things, make sure it seems ok. Then I take it home and decide to rebuild it or not...

As for the rebuild scenario, we bought a rebuilt engine for a v6. Put the thing in and it ran like crap. When we started asking questions...the heads were rebuilt and shaved. They didn't shave the intake. Guess what...we had the intake shaved and it fixed everything.

People somehow think that rebuilt is oh so amazing...it can be if the person doing it has compassion and responsibility to do the work. If the guy doing the rebuild doesn't like rebuilding anymore and is bored out of his mind doing it...do you think the quality is there? The ONLY thing that's beneficial is the warranty, but at only $175 an engine...I can buy 3-4-5 before I equal the prices people pay for engines.

You may not know what to look for...and there may lie the problem.

You keep on spending money you don't have and I'll keep telling you there are other ways to do things...sooner or later one of us will learn from the other.

 

I've been going since I was 18. That was in the early 90's...

I bet 1-2 of those Rovers would run. If you take a small 12v battery in with you, you might get the odometer to light up, maybe 1 or 2 have lower than average miles too.

 

Me too, I'm 40.
It's been too cold to go and look at any of the Discos.
I just saw them on their website.
I'm going to go look soon, as there's a few small pieces I could use.
They all look really good in the pictures.
Prices are general here too. An engine, a sun visor, tail light, what ever, is the same price no matter what vehicle.
All parts are also garaunteed. So if the $175 engine doesn't work, you get your money back.
They also have "all you can carry sales/contests". So, if you can carry an engine, or anything, 30', it's $60...or less. So fun drives business even more.
Pays to have friends that are gorillas, lol.

 

"Dear Julian
Thank you for the information.

Something is creating a heavy load on the rear of the crankshaft which is causing severe wear to the rear thrust face of the bearing. This is normally caused by a mal-adjusted clutch in a manual but we have also come across this with automatics on occasion. There is nothing within the normal operation or build of the engine that can create this type of dynamic. The thrust bearings are measured for clearance at time of engine build and according to the engine records were correct at time of assembly. Quite what is causing this I cannot advise as I am not familiar with the transmission setup. Clearly there is something forcing the crankshaft forward which eventually wear the thrust face of the crankshaft as well..

I believe the combustion conditions within the engine maybe causing the spark plugs to foul over a period of time which is causing the misfire hence this clears for a while when you replace the plugs . The mark around the bottom of the piston appears to be condensation or maybe again a product of abnormal combustion.

Regards
Richard Turner"

 

So now what?

 

How does that cause 0 oil pressure?

 

If the pan is still off, try to get a look at the cam bearings. You will need to rotate the crank while finding the right spot to view each one.

 

The pan is still off and we are waiting for a package from Lucky 8. I'm going to help them replace the crank rod main bearings and the connecting rod bearings. Probably call it good after that and put this project aside while I try to source a new D2. As it stand I bought a new oil pump kit, bearings for crank rod, o-ring and gasket for oil pan. This engine may actually still be good. I want to learn how to tear these engines apart, understand the workings and how to rebuild them. However I'm also low on money now since I had to blow $1,000 on a beater daily driver. So I might actually sell the block if anyone is interested. All the information about this block and the issues is in this thread.