26/27th September - Gearbox in (and out)

Friday evening and Sat morning I managed to get the flywheel casing modified a la Glencoyne and the genuine crank seal fitted. Original was a Dowty and the new one came with no stamped ID but was in a genuine LR box). In the end I had to buy a pack of 25 off 10mm x 80mm cap head screws for the bottom strengthener bolt replacements as I couldn't source them locally. Hopefully others will need some and I can pass them on for beer money?

Noons Scrap metal also recovered the Disco shell. So that'll keep the neighbour happy!

So using the shanks from some long stainless 10mm screws (cut to form studs) they were inserted with permanent thread lock after tapping the housing to suit. At the base of the housing (3 off) and one to replace the relocated stud in the 3 O'clock position. The four cap heads at the base of the flywheel housing had to be accomodated flush with the housing. Unfortunately I could not find a suitable 16mm drill and all I had to hand was a 19mm. A bit oversize and it breaks through into the flywheel cavity but should not present any problems.

Note the third hole from the left though. Drill went a bit too 'happy', snatched and cracked a bit off the casing. So no screw to be fitted there. Three should be more than sufficient. Some installations don't bother with these at all after all?

Saturday afternoon Stu 'Twizzle' dropped over to help get the S2 gearbox up close and personal with the tdi's backend. After a great deal of huffing/puffing and tweaking the engine crank position etc. it went in!

The in a fit of enthusiasm Stu suggested fitting the renovated bulkhead. Now it has never been on the chassis before and was built up on the old and now scrapped one. Would it fit?..........................It did, and the bolts lined up perfectly :) It's starting to look like a Land Rover again?

On Sunday I had a few hours spare so I decide to adjust the valve clearances, get the trans brake rebuilt and back on then refill both the transfer and main gearbox.

To avoid filling through normal side ports I popped the access plate open on the tx box and filled that with semi-synth 75/90 GL4 through there. Then moved onto the main box and decide to fill through the top turret as that was directly over the gearbox I assumed the oil feed must come from there? After about 4 litres of expensive lube the gearbox level was still not reached,and I thought something must be wrong? I opened the tx box overflow and it gushed out so I immediately thought the seal between the boxes must have failed.

So transfer box off to access the main shaft oil seal...... and I then realised that the top turrent oil comes from the tx box via a slot machined in the back of the tx box. I was just filling the tx box through that! Duuuugh!

Pic shows tx box off and a view of the rear of the main gbx and main shaft and lip seal exposed (yes I could even have changed the seal in situ without removing whole tx box but it's a darn sight easier this way).

Luckily I saved all the gear lube (£25 for 4 litres after all x2) so that can go back in later. While it is all off I may as well replace the main to tx box seal, give the whole assy a clean up and replace all the gaskets. Cheap enough after all. At least I learnt something from the experience?

Stu had left on Sat with 4 of the 7.50's on late 109 rims and I plan to drop the last two matching ones off at the end of next week. Tyres will be pulled off (in exch. for beer) and I can then get the rims sand blasted and painted. So I needed to grab the last one that was propping up one corner of the chassis and swap it with a spare.

Well as I tightened up one wheelnut it seemed to go around a bit more than usual. Then fell out. Someone in the past had epoxying the stud in the bl**dy hole!

So along with the gbx gaskets etc I have ordered the 'spline' type wheel studs (Part No.561886). I just need to bore the hole out to 9/16" then wind the new stud in. Stud costs 25p after all, so why bodge it?

18/19th September - Cam belt replaced

Despite the PO believing the cam belt had been changed late in 2008 -

a) The Disco the engine came from had been through a lot of mud (sans plug)

b) Had the idlers etc. been changed?

Opening up the cam belt cover it was actually pretty clean internally and the belt did appear to be recent. But the idler was rusty so prob original and old as did the tensioner. Also someone had mullered the injection timing cover bolts.

So this weekends plan was to get the cam belt swapped and the front and rear crank oil seals. The first issue was despite the various searches on the 'net and the Haynes book 'O' lies my timing case markers are not as per any of those - plus the timing tool will never fit in the notch in the flywheel when the engine is at TDC - it is about 60 degrees out!

See flywheel pic below. Arrow on flywheel is on the notch and arrow at the bottom is the drain/tool entry point.

Sussed it in the end and used the crank woodruff key at the vertical position as TDC and ignored the flywheel (and marked it in red for next time). From now on I won't be able to access the drain anyway so this works for me and I will prob drill and tapo another in the gearbox bellhousing.

Pic below with everything lined up after the new idler, front crank oil seal and tensioner where fitted with the  new Dayco belt.

Now ready for next weekend and maybe I can get the flywheel housing modified ready for the S2 gearbox to mate up...and fit the rear crank seal. The only reason I didn't do the seal this weekend was the 'OEM' seal that arrived was a rubber Br1tpart affair. There was no way that was going in with all the hassle that would be entailed in replacing it if it failed. A genuine one is now on order at the cost of £25!

17th September - 300tdi turbo trial fit

Arrived home tonite at 1930 to find the 300tdi Disco turbo assembly had arrived inc. the oil pipework - as requested from the Ebay seller. Good guy and at £90 delivered it seems a bargain.

Does it fit? Here are a few pics.

From the pics the downpipe clearance is tight against the LH/passenger side engine mount but with a few mods the 300tdi Defender downpipe will clear it. The next issue if I get that sorted is the exh. pipe route. At the moment it looks as if the pipe will foul the crossmember behind the engine flywheel casing which I guess is due to the different heights that Defender mounts would position the block? I also need to find out what route a 110 200/300tdi exhaust run would take so I need to do a Google or ask the question and if I can rotate the turbo outlet to put it in the vertical position?

Another plus point is that both turbo oil feed pipes fit the block without any issue. So no worries in that dept. I just need new copper washers.

12/13th September 2009 - Engine in !

Saturday and Sunday were hectic....again.

The previous evening I managed to finsh the front hubs off with a pair of new swivel seals and vaseline impregnated leather gaiters. The hub assy's were then fitted first thing Saturday so the 109 chassis was then rollable and could be moved around later in the weekend.

Saturday I tackled dropping the gearbox out and lopping the remaining engine attachments. The exhaust looked quite new and was pulled for a possible later parts source. Props all looked good and were put to one side for scrap or sale.

To get the final top 10mm nuts off the top of the bellhousing I removed the gearbox x-mem then lowered the complete gearbox assembly onto a hydraulic jack. I could then get access. This seemed the easiest method and allowed the gearbox to be dropped onto the gravel and dragged out with a towing strop.

I eventually managed to make it indoors at 2230!

Sunday started at 1000 with the arrival of my father, Richard ('Rogue Trooper') and Stu ('Twizzle'). Richard was excited by the thought of an almost bottomless box of 1mm chop disks and a Disco front end to 'open up'.

The amusing spectical after pulling the engine was for the 4 of us plus a neighbour attempting to 'shuffle' the rolling Disco shell around the inclined parking area swapping position with the rollable 109 chassis. Lacking brakes we had to use wooden blocks chocking the wheels for every meter of movement downhill to stop it colliding with us/neighbours garages/cars/pedestrians......! After a bit of excercise we managed to get both where we wanted them! I didn't want a recurrence of  last weeks 'garage door' incident :)

Engine ready to 'drop in'

After about 2 hours wobbling and fettlin' the engine was in. We used the original 2.25 petrol engine mounts with new Series petrol rubber mounts. It took a bit of fiddling on the RH chassis mount to get everything to line up. The original mounting hole had to be slotted by 1/2".

We popped the Discovery 200tdi turbo assembly on just to see where it 'landed' in relation to the chassis rail. As Glen Anderson had quite rightly said to me before.....it does make contact with the LH rail. But Twizzle's install saw it missing with about 3/4" of air between the two. The difference there was 2.5N/A rubbers, Perkins chassis mounts and a non-1 tonne chassis.

The engine position still needs a bit of a fine tune as it sits a few degrees to one side. But the gearbox is still to be installed and there is room on the mounts to add some spacers, if necessary. I will wait until it is all bolted up before I 'tweak' it.

The first 'dying' Disco bits buyer arrived as Stu and I finished on Sunday and took away the track rod arm, cigar lighter, headlights and the one sun visor clip. Total £30 in the bank. Rear half shafts and rear prop on their way next week for a further £30 and I have had an enquiry for the front diff (10 spline). Also had one call about the 3 brg petrol engine that came out of the old 109 chassis! Transfer box has also prompted an offer £100 too.

I have now decided to keep the rear diff and drop that into the front axle of the 109. Rich has a spare Range Rover diff (with filler port) that I can have for the rear. So we are going 3.54:1 instead of the original 4.7:1. But I will hold onto the old diffs just in case.

The plan next weekend is to fit both new front and rear crank seals, replace the cam belt and tensioners and complete the engine clutch housing stud mods. All parts are on order bar the 4off 10x80mm cap heads for the base of the clutch housing which will have to wait for a few days.

Also I hope the Ebay sourced Disco 300tdi turbo assembly will have arrived. This will offer a higher turbo outlet and also a better angle for the exhaust downpipe as well. If I get time next week I will get that offered up!

All that now needs to come off the Disco 'shell' is the front diff and maybe the hub assy's (have another buyer) and parts of the tow bar assembly which I can re-cycle. I might also save the remaining track rods.

4th-6th September - Chassis now rolling

Another spurt of activity (so much so I forgot to take any pics!) over a long weekend.

Chassis is now fully rolling with both the front a rear axles fitted (still have the U-bolts issue with RM though) using Paddocks petrol U-bolts all round, which fit fine on the RM parabolics. Front hubs on temporarily though as I need to fit some new swivel seals (might as well?)....and then get the gaiters on (Vasaline soaking in). LR Series order on it's way so may finish that off next weekend. But......

The reason for this spurt was mobilise the 109 to vacate a space in the courtyard to 'roll' the Discovery in for strip-down. Had a few problems with the Disco namely I managed to drive it through the front door of one of my garages Friday (no clutch and no foot brake) but after a bit of hammer fettlin' the Disco made it into the 'yard on Sunday - {Homer voice on]dhooooo[Homer voice off]. 'Engine out' booked for next weekend.

By end of play Sunday the rad and intercooler were out. I had drained a further 25 litres of diesel out of the Disco fuel tank (fitted a bucket underneath and just drilled a hole at a low point). Most of the electrical connections removed from the 200tdi and the fuel filter and glow-plug wiring assembly tucked away. So exhaust/starter connections/heater matrix/throttle still to go....then to tackle the bellhousing. So there's next Saturday gone?

At the moment I have fitted the original 4.7 diff's in and will probably keep it that way. Diso diff's will be removed and put to one side if they are 10 spline otherwise they will be 'weighed in' if no-one wants them. As to whether to turbo or not to turbo I am still bouncing that decision around. To turbo firstly requires a 200tdi Defender manifold assembly and I have given up finding one of those. An alternative is a 300tdi Defender (custom exhaust required) but nothing yet there either.....and a DI install meets the KISS objective?

We will get it sitting in the rails and I'll decide when I come up against a wall schedule wise!

One more thing. The Disco is going to be broken anyway after I take off all the bits that I need so I have offered the majority of the parts to the bunch of LR Magpies that inhabit the internet.

So far I have had requests for the rear half shafts, transfer box, headlining, some plastic trim and the wiper assembly. So add that to the free fuel and the Disco hasn't really 'cost' me much? The local scrap merchant has also agreed to collect the non-rolling chassis/shell against the scrap value ;) Also dropped off the scrap 109 chassis/springs and two dustbins full of electrical cable Friday morning to the tune of £63!

Cheers all,
Paul