Engine rebuild do's & dont's

[rismail01]

Greetings to all! I'm interested to hear from those that underwent their own 4.6 engine replacement project and what went right/wrong for them. Such as what's the best upgrades on hardware , gaskets & seals, timing chain, cam shaft, head bolts or studs etc. Any necessary adjustments, any preferred suppliers/vendors and any "what-if" or "should-have" list. I am half way into my own project and personally I feel I need to make well informed decision before preceeding much further. Thanks in advance.

Ray

 

[RoverMack]

Recommend addressing the risk of a slipped cylinder liner - pin the liners or install top hat liners.
The V8 has been around for a long time and the idiosyncrasies well documented, worth considering ARP head studs rather than bolts, matching exhaust manifolds to the cylinder heads, shortening the intake trumpets, using ford (Mustang , i think - cheap on Ebay) fuel injectors, magnacore plug wires, be careful to prime the oil pump before starting (can be a source of issues after a rebuild)

http://www.robisonservice.com/articles/RonR_articles.asp

http://www.v8engines.com/engine-4.htm

http://robisonservice.blogspot.com/2009/10/all-you-ever-wanted-to-know-about-land.html

 

[RonL]

Ray,

How miles do you have on your D2?
I am thinking of doing the same with mine, but at this point it has 145,000 miles and still fine.

Ron

 

[BLUEGRASSMAN]

Just got finished with a 4.6 rebuild in my 04 D2. I would reccomend using the ARP Head studs instead of bolts. During assembly one of the head bolts pulled the threads on the block. Ended up heli coiling it so its fine but I would recommend using the studs.

Check out D&D Fabrication's web site: http://www.aluminumv8.com/

Call Mark at D&D and ask him about his cam and timing sets. We installed a crower cam and timing setup thats much better than stock. The motor gets into the power band lower in the rpm range now and keeps on pulling and pulling. I would recommend anyone building a Land Rover motor to contact Mark at D&D and pick his brain a bit. Very knowledgable.

While you got it apart....go head, as previously reccomended and port match the heads to the exhaust manifold. On my Bosch motor, you wouldnt believe the burrs and metal we polished out on the intake manifold, if its a bosch motor i would do that. Gems motor you typically shorten the trumpets.

After all the motor work I done, I would say my truck is much better than it was new!

Good Luck

Justin

 

[ntsqd]

Head studs are nearly always a good call in an alloy block. The one issue with studs is can you remove a cylinder head with the rest of the engine still in place?

 

[muskyman]

be careful to prime the oil pump before starting (can be a source of issues after a rebuild)

No priming is needed if you are using the crankshaft driven oil pump they are self priming.

The distributor driven pumps as on the older motors and the Vbelt defenders need to be packed with white lithium grease and then primed down the distributor bore with the correct tool to insure oil pressure right at start up. there are two styles of oil pump drives so confirm the one you have on those shaft driven oil pumps and then make up a tool that can be driven in a power drill to prime it until you have pressure.

 

[Antichrist]

Two things I always do. Coat all moving parts, like bearings, rocker arms, etc. with assembly grease. Coat the cylinder walls with a 50/50 mixture of STP and 30w oil.

 

[rismail01]

Ron-I have almost 180 K miles on my D2 and was lucky enough to secure a 03 V8 short block.

Thanks to all that replied - really appreciate everyone's input

Could I get the part number from ARP for the studs?

Ray