So I got my engine from the yard and it is waiting to go in the 3. Working on pulling the motor out now, and find myself second guessing myself for taking it on. Definitely a pain of a job. But in the end it will most certainly pay off.

Questions or advise. Anyone dropped a motor in with all accessories attached? Would this work

Does the half shaft on the right side really need to be pulled? I have not found a reason this needs to happen yet. There is so little room on the sides of this motor its ridiculous.

Right now everything is loose, and I am working on separating the tranny from the motor. Hopefully this thing will come out without too much grief.

 

Have a look over on disco3.co.uk - I think the usual way to get at the motor and transmission is actually take the body off as mad as it seems....

 

When I was going to fix our 06 the rover tech I know said it's doable but a pita without a lift,ull rad , and front diff, hood and it should come out

Oil pan goes around diff so need to be removed

 

So i did not have to remove the axle or tube. Left all of that stuff together. I did pull the radiator out, which was a major pain even with the front timing cover off of the motor, and coolant tank out of the way. I hope it goes back in with the accessories on the motor. Probably just take some finesse. Really just the width of the radiator mount brackets that make it difficult to get over the fender well.

The motor mounts had to be disconnected, and then just as the manual says, the right bracket had to come off once the motor was elevated. I also had to remove the left bracket at this time since it was catching on the steering shaft. Once I was able to break the bell housing loose from the motor, it wasn't to bad. I think I should be able to install everything on the motor as far as alternator, A/C compressor, etc...maybe even the new belt, before I set it back in.

I am dreading trying to put the heat shields back in around the exhaust on each side. Those things are going to be a joke. I may just be cussing for quite a few hours on those.

Also no need to pull the hood. Simply disconnect the struts, and tie a rope to the latch on the hood, and pull the rope back over the rear and tie on to the hitch. No problem. It swings straight up vertical.


I would say now knowing what it takes, I would be able to do this much faster. I probably have 8 hours in pulling it. Probably another 4 switching over things, and then probably a solid 6-8 putting it back together. Hopefully less

Cheers

 

Hello Everyone

I wanted to take a minute to write a little follow-up on this project.

I was able to get the motor completely assembled outside the vehicle. From all of the wiring on the motor, to components on the motor, it was all able to be installed ahead of time. I put the belt on as well. Everything accept the vacuum line coming off of the intake on the back of the motor. That is very easy to break, which I did. Also the fan needs to stay off until the motor is inside.

I did leave the radiator out until the motor was installed.

I installed the left motor mount Bracket on the engine before lowering the motor into the car. One of these bolts are extremely difficult to get to. The rear upper one. For this reason it is advised to install ahead of time. I was able to push the motor to the right side of the car and get the mount bracket around the steering shaft. Once the motor is down align the tranny and get a few of these started.

Next get the motor mount bracket (right side) installed on the motor, and the starter installed..Lower the motor and align the mount bolts (2).

This gets the motor in. The rest is all the other mundane tasks of hooking things up and installing the radiator, shields, and covers. Hopefully this helps someone. Its not the best tutorial but gets you the idea.

If anyone takes this on and has questions, feel free to pm me. Its really not that big of a deal on this to change the motor out. In fact its much easier than pulling the timing cover off the front. There is really minimal equipment to remove ahead of time.

Take great care in not damaging anything on the motor when entering an exiting the engine bay. The plastic fittings on the vacuum lines are not hard to damage.

Also

I did use some 8mm steel to make for brackets to install on 4 corners of the motor. 2 larger on back, and 2 smaller on front. Just basically 4in long and no wider than needed to get in place. Then attach the chains side to side, and couple the 2 chains together with a bolt over the center of the engine.

The brackets help get the chain up and off of the intake and components. Using a bolt to couple the 2 chains together will allow for a good attach point for the lifting chain. Otherwise there is high risk of engine spinning or worse, a chain popping out of a clevis grab hook that was attached to my lift.


GOOD LUCK

 

Nickrover, thanks for this write up.

If I may ask what was wrong with your engine in the first place , that you had to take it out ?

What did you replace ? timing chains perhaps or something else ?

How did you get to a top bolts on transmission ?

Also , IIRC, when you remove hood struts , there are cut outs on metal hinges, that after de pressing , will keep entire hood in full upright position , like in RR.No need to tie a rope to it. Cheers

 

In another post I described the reason, but essentially I purchased the car with mechanical issues. Turned out the intake cam on the left side had seized. Head was shot as well as the cam. With 144k I was left with replacing the head, timing components and so on. The bill would have piled up quickly.


I lucked out finding a motor that had a small hole in the case from impact. It suffered a broken motor mount bolt. The piece was still there, and I was able to make it all work out. For $900, I was able to install the motor that was traced back to a crash test vehicle. It was the official crash test LR3 used by the NTSB in 2005 for the frontal 25mph impact. It had been setting every since.


The yard had no info on the car, and had purchased it from a govt auction in 2007. They had only received the motor and part of the front clip, as the rest was dismantled for inspection. All they had was the VIN. After I carfaxed the vehicle and it came back as no record, I googled the VIN and "BAM" there it was. All the info about it, including a Youtube of the car itself being crashed and the actuall document from the test. All matching the Vin on my motor.




So no I have a nearly 0 miles motor in my 144K LR3...Sometimes it all works out


That's why I changed it

 

How did you get to a top bolts on transmission ?

Also , IIRC, when you remove hood struts , there are cut outs on metal hinges, that after de pressing , will keep entire hood in full upright position , like in RR.No need to tie a rope to it. Cheers[/QUOTE]



The top 6 or 8 bolts on the tranny are easy to get to. The can be accessed from the top of the motor by laying on it. 1/2 Ratchet and socket can be used. The upper side bolts are by far the hardest. A combination of wobbles and extensions have to be used for much of the process.


Thanks on the hood, didn't know that. I will definitely keep that in mind