Off the road again.. suspected head gasket failure. Hey ho.

Hoping that was an April fool, but I guess not 

'Fraid not Wardy, the cooling system is pressurising, spitting out the water, even when it hasn't fully warmed up. Thought it was the header tank cap, but nope. Picked up some more heads for it from a 4.2 engine (£50) and had them refurbished as I couldn't be arsed to do them myself. As long as the block is straight and no liner issues, should take a day to swap the heads and get going again. Just awaiting a free bay at the garage and some time to do it. If the block is shot, then it'll have to wait for the new engine.

 

Here's an image from the last blat over the North Downs with Kenton and Weathers. K's got the same as me with a Rover 4.6 V8 running about 270bhp. his other car is a Westfield V8 running a 4.6 with over 320bhp. Weathers car is squashed between ours.. a dinky Westfield with a 170bhp Zetec engine.

 

 

 

 

Not much news I'm afraid, got the new gasket kit and the heads have been prepped for swapping out. The plan is to complete it next weekend, so I should be blatting on the bank holiday Monday. If I get chance I might do a few other jobs like swapping the seats out fit a set of JK composite seats. I'll have to cut down the drivers seat though, as I'm too fat to fit it, shame to ruin a new seat but needs must...

 

Chasing another 4.6 block which has already been top hatted with modified liners, saves a bit on the cost and I don't have to wait for the machine shop to sort, so I could start putting the new engine together pretty soon. Still awaiting the new diff and new induction system. Will need to order a set of cometic gaskets for the new engine which take a little while. 

Edited 23 April, 20179 yr by B33fy

Popped up to North Weald yesterday to watch some sprinting and cheer on Jeff, one of the SKCC guys. He runs a supercharged Phoenix with 400bhp weighing around 600kg. 1000bhp per tonne. It's evolved away from its kit car roots it's almost unrecognisable. Jay (pictured with Jeff below) and the team at Snodhurst look after it, as well as giving me a bit of space very now and again. Latest additions are a wide arch kit and slicks. Second overall with the winner being the orange ecoboost formula Ford, below. A good day was had by all.

 

 

Edited 24 April, 20179 yr by B33fy

New 4.6 top hatted engine turned up, had a quick look over it, looks like a Land Rover approved replacement engine. Bores look spot on, and finished to standard size. Gulley looks really clean, usually goes brown then black with sludge as the miles build up. No camshaft or follower wear so looks promising. blocks been decked as the serial number which is stamped on the block face has been machined off in the process, probably enough to raise the compression a little to suit the Merlin heads. Need to crack on and get it built. Ball park bhp should give anywhere between 400-500bhp a tonne depending on final build spec.

 

Edited 26 April, 20179 yr by B33fy

Did the head gaskets and swapped the heads on both banks yesterday. Nothing really obvious on inspection. Running again by the evening. Lone blat to Bexhill this morning to check it out and meet a couple of the SKCC guys no over heating problems, all good.

 

 

The new diff has now been rebuilt, Richard from the Snodhurst crew kindly picked it up today for me. The diff has been completely rebuilt using quaife bearings bolts washers etc, along with a Quaife ATB unit installed. It also has a brand new CWP bringing the gearing from the current 3.6 diff to 3.1, giving me a more usable 1st gear and more relaxed high speed cruising. If I have time on Saturday I might get it installed.

 

A small contingent of SKCC including myself have a stand at Leeds Castle this Sunday, mostly sevenesque cars, please pop by and say hello, don't expect too many shiny cars, most are driven hard, though underneath the dirt the cars are pretty trick, with the potential to embarrass a lot of more exotic machinery. Might pretty mine up a little.. well, leave the dirt and change the seats lol

 

Hope to see a few briskoda members there.

Edited 2 May, 20179 yr by B33fy

Sounds very nice that 

 

And if Leeds Castle was actually nearer Leeds, I'd try to pop along! 

Poxy gearbox has turned into butter. Swapped the seats out and then popped to McDonald's. On a hard'ish pull in third, on the way home, the internals exploded. Found a gear and limped the rest of the way. Out of the game for a while.

Damn, that's a shame 

You don't seem to have much luck Mike, about time you bought a proper car!

Good day at Leeds Castle, worth going to. One image below taken by Richard of his car, a great shot.

 

 

 

New Gearbox ordered, an R380, used in morgans etc, strongest evolution of the LT77. 2 week wait while it's being built then car apart again..

That was always the 'box of choice for the Land Rover Discovery.

Gearshift extension arrived today along with an invitation for the local speed awareness course..

 

 

Errr.  Nice...   And ooops????

Grabbed the plenum base and manifold back from ACT so I can clean it all up a bit and reassemble the fuel rail etc. with some new injectors (440cc ford motorsport injectors) Be one less job to to when the throttle body eventually turns up. Only been 4 months..

The manifold and plenum base has been ported to 45mm from 38mm with new aluminium trumpets to match, more air means more fuel which gives more pppoooowwweeerrr!! and no doubt a few more stoppages for refuelling

 

 

My new gearbox has turned up so I have made another executive decision to get it fitted. The engine build is going to take forever because of supplier delays and also a fair bit of work is needed to put it together including a number of dummy builds to check clearances etc, some machining, piston pockets, camshaft etc and making a new engine loom from scratch. 

 

I'm going to do the gearbox and diff, modifying the chassis at the same time so the gearbox can be dropped out with minimum disturbance to the engine. This means fabricating a new cross member and adding reinforcing plates to the chassis.

 

Should only take two or three days to sort and it means the car is back on the road for summer or until it breaks again. Just need to check my diary and sort some leave out then crack on..

Injectors turned up from the states, so painted and assembled the intake/plenum/fuel rail, one less job to do.

 

 

Getting there again...   S..l..o..w..l..y..

12 minutes ago, skomaz said:

Getting there again...   S..l..o..w..l..y..

 

Yep, not spending much time on the engine Sko, still waiting for bits ordered back in February. Got all the bits to do the gearbox though, just awaiting a slot for a ramp up the garage and a suitable time to take same annual leave.

Induction and fueling for new engine finally sorted, bigger injectors, ported intake, bigger trumpets, carbon plenum, jenvey TB, proper job lol

 

 

Looks very nice Mike, hopefully when it's fully built this time it will run smoothly.