Hey all,

Recently bought a 2002 Discovery with 80k miles on it that “just needed a power steering line” for next to nothing. You know how that goes, CEL kicks on the moment I pull out of the driveway and it overheats at the first traffic light; unfortunately that traffic light was after 100 miles of driving. I’ve got myself a project and I’m looking for assistance.

Here she is in all her glory:




I’ve got her apart and it looks like she’s never had an oil change:






I’ve got the heads at the shop, ordered new lifters and push rods and have the engine mostly cleaned up. I also ordered a timing chain kit as the current one has a ton of play in it. Original head gasket didn’t blow as I thought it did. Looks like a failure in the timing cover gasket around the oil pump and coolant passage area combined with a bad water pump brought the heat up. Here it is cleaned up:




I’m getting ready to put the heads on and I realize I made a gash in the engine block mating surface when I was removing the heads. I’m really not looking to remove the block, do ya’ll think the new gasket will blow if I install as is? It looks like the fire ring is clear with a little room to spare.

 

That is pretty damn bad

 

Umm, yeaaaaa.

Btw, welcome. Always loved visiting NH!

 

Just got the heads back from the shop $225 for a pressure test, cleaning, and machining. I delivered them with the rocker assemblies still installed thinking they’d get cleaned too; they weren’t. Guess I should have asked instead of assuming. Machining looks great except for a gash in a non critical area:





$60 for cleaning not exactly the greatest. I brought a head to the same shop a few weeks ago and it came back looking new. Oh well, maybe I got the A squad the last time around:







I wonder which one was the driver side and which was the passenger? Good thing I bought new lifters and rods, or I’d have to now:




Overall I’m happy with it, a far better job than I could have done with a toothbrush and a sanding block.

 

Broke down one of the two rocker assemblies today and have it soaked in kerosene. I plan on scrubbing and assembling tomorrow. Wear marks aren’t really looking all that great.







Threw the exhaust manifold spacers in some evapo-rust I’ve owned since 2009. I wonder if this stuff still works.

 

Got the first rocker assembly cleaned and put back together. The wear on these is pretty bad overall. I’m going to run it as is and add them to the list of future projects.

 

Awesome thread - I have the same color SE7, albeit a 2001 instead of an 02. Extra 100k miles over you, though! Crazy how bad that engine looks for only 80k.

 

Thanks! After cleaning the engine looks to be in pretty good shape except for the lifters, rods, and rocker assemblies. After I get this project on the road I’ll replace the rockers, I’m a little uneasy about that gash in the engine block top. Do you off-road in the area? A buddy of mine lives in Melrose, MA and has a Disco 2, we’re both looking for places and people.

 

I haven’t really gotten into trail riding or anything - for the most part, I use the Disco for ski trips around New England in the winter and for oversand at the beach during the summer - I head mostly to Duxbury on the south shore as well as the Cape.

 

While I’m waiting for parts to come in I thought I’d get the new oil pump and seal in. I went with Vaseline instead of assembly lube, this might be sitting in the garage for a week while I wait and didn’t want lube to leak out.




I couldn’t figure out what this bevel on the gear ring that everyone keeps talking about until I almost installed it. For future searches, the oil ring bevel is on the outside of the gear, not on the gear teeth. It faces away from the rest of the engine... right?




I used a wicked amount of Vaseline, and it gets absolutely everywhere. I ran the bolts down once to clear the threads of Vaseline and then reinstalled them with Threadlocker Blue.






Here’s where I insta-stripper a head using power tools and a Phillips #2 instead of a #3. Went at it with a grinder and now it’s a standard head.




I went ahead and installed the oil seal, main seal? The timing cover was caked in oil, took over an hour to clean it. I’m pretty sure the seal was the cause. Whatever this thing is called:






I just used a 36mm socket and hammer to bash it in. Biggest socket I had, would have gone better with a 38mm so obviously I need to buy one now. That’s really gonna screw around with my socket organization: