Defender 90 300Tdi Engine Rebuild

markomate2 said:

Certainly never heard of skimming pistons, or block deck, unless its been damaged.

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In order to get back to std pistons I've had new liners pressed in after which they need to skim the block deck. During disassembly I removed a 2 hole head gasket, counting from the thinnest I'm on the second one of the available 4. The difference in thickness between the gaskets are 0.09mm thus if I fit the thickest gasket I've got 0.18mm to play with. If the block is skimmed 0.20mm it will leave me 0.02mm short and the pistons will hit the head. In order to correct this some guys machine the piston tops which messes with the combustion chamber which I do not want at all.
As far as I can work out Turner Engineering offset reams the little ends on the connecting rods in order to get the correct operating length, I've asked the local guys to investigate this option plus I'm only charged R800 (about 45 pounds) for assembly therefore I made it their problem to get the connecting rod operating length sorted.

Hi Thanks for clarifying. Lot more involved than I would have imagined!
We used to use offset machining of the big ends to increase the stroke of the old A series Mini engines, but it reduces the diameter of the journal.
That's a pretty decent labour rate you have there!
Maybe worth a (not cheap!) call to Turners, they have been very helpful whenever Ive called them.
Mark

At last a bit of an update for you. Just have a look at how shiny the block is now


It does look nice painted like that. According to the engineer he managed to offset ream the little-ends by the same amount he skimmed the block face. I can't remember now how much he said it was, either 0.10mm or 0.01mm,
It probably was the former.

Those bores looks a work of art!!!

The head is also semi complete, they still need to put the studs in.


Willie

Hi Willie
Looking very sharp! Cant wait to see it all come together!
Mark

Why is it I find posts like this looking forward to a good read only to discover it's not finished yet!

Looking good.

I had a terrible flu over the last week, I'm just starting to show signs of life.....
The engine is back in my garage and I'm planning to start the assembly process over the weekend. It is also my dads 65 birthday this weekend so progress will be slooooow.

wvanzyl said:

I had a terrible flu over the last week, I'm just starting to show signs of life.....
The engine is back in my garage and I'm planning to start the assembly process over the weekend. It is also my dads 65 birthday this weekend so progress will be slooooow.

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Engine rebuild party?

discomania said:

Engine rebuild party?

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Haha....I like your idea! It is his bday today and when I spoke to him earlier he asked me whether the engine is assembled and back in the car....

Not a big update but something worth posting none the less.
I re-checked piston heights.


With this in mind I believe a 3-hole head gasket would be in order.
Some individual cylinder pics just because.
Piston 1:


Piston 2:


Piston 3:


Piston 4:


One thing I did manage to do was to figure out the manual in terms of oil pump rotor clearances. I must give my dad credit here as it was his idea to ditch the metric figures and use imperial. using the imperial figures and converting them to metric confirms both the engine overhaul manual as well as the workshop manual to state incorrect metric clearances. The screen grab below shows what is printed in the engine rebuild manual (only metric figures):


I measured the oil pump rotors but my noticed the thinnest finger on my feeler gauge to be 0.05mm which I think is pretty standard. I took measurements anyway and found measurements exceeding the above ten fold. At this point I got a bit worried that I would need to replace the rear timing belt cover in order to correct the clearance of the outer rotor to the housing. Quickly checked the old oil pump and found the measurements also 10x greater than what is printed. Measured the new oil pump and found the same issue. Out came the workshop manual:

My dad noticed the imperial numbers and one of his feeler gauges is marked in both metric and imperial so I rechecked everything using imperial numbers and both the old and new pump is well within limits, obviously the new pump is in a slightly better shape thus I will be fitting the new one.
Using basic maths when converting from metric to imperial where 1 inch = 25.4mm shows that 0.010 in = 0.254mm and not 0.025mm so do not rush out to purchase new parts just yet......first double check the manual

The oil pump cover plate needs a bit of attention. I did not measure the wear as one can clearly feel the ridge with your finger thus it must be in excess of 0.1mm. I will probably get someone to surface grind this for me, failing that I will lap it.


You might ask why the heavy wear on the top of the plate, well the screws holding the plate in place was not properly secured thus the inner rotor was allowed to move or wobble, that is the only explanation I can find. The casing is still in good shape though.

Looking good! Funny Ive had my doubts about the feeler gauge numbers in the RAVE manual for the TD5, it seems as if they did everything in imperial when they were designing it then "had" to come up with metric conversions for the manual. The metric numbers can be a bit odd, not nice round numbers like Imperial!
Mark

An hour and half of lapping with medium paste and look at the difference (compared to last pic in previous post)



I've got a bit more to go and will finish it up this evening.

Hiya mate, great thread

I would give that a flick on the surface grinder instead of lapping myself, you might as well be sure it is flat since it is a critical bit and it is a 2 minute job.

Thank you for the kind words.

theflyingvegetable said:

you might as well be sure it is flat since it is a critical bit and it is a 2 minute job.

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I already fitted the cover plate and the rear timing cover but you are correct thus I'm going to remove the oil pump cover plate again and ensure flatness by means of surface grinding.
Progress.....some of which will be undone
It is important to refit the oil squirt tubes....I agree it is a bit late and they should have been fitted before the crank went in but I never gave them to the machine shop and had to fit them afterwards.


All torqued up


Rear timing cover received some attention with the Oil pump and oil seals fitted


new gasket on block between block and rear timing cover

Note the use of 3 guide studs, these are important to keep the packing in it's place

Front cover fitted.


Now I'll go remove the timing rear cover again in order to get to the oil cover plate and take that for a quick surface grind.

I will show you the result tomorrow I hope.

So after the post from theflyingvegetable I removed the rear timing cover and took the oil pump cover for a surface grind. The shop I went to failed to assist me with a surface grinder but did assist none the less. According to them the plate was flat enough to be installed but they assisted in getting it near perfect.


I refitted the oil cover plate to the rear cover and refitted the rear cover to the block.
Next I fitted the oil pickup and return tubes to the block

Got the sump back in place with some Loctite sealant and followed the suggested bolt tightening sequence, this should prevent it from leaking anytime soon.


I left the next bit a tad late but I checked the end float on the camshaft. I measured an end float of less than 0.09mm


My wife stuck a notice board on the Landy, I'm not sure whether she refers to me or the engine that is suppose to be there......


Next job is to fit the rollers and the head.
Willie

I figured out the story behind the "Genius at work" notice my wife stuck on the Landy. It is to remind her why the car is not running yet.......it also loosely translates into "do not bring coffee if sign is visible" for the kids
On to the important bits.
Cleaned, oiled and fitted the rollers in their original positions


Head is now fitted and torqued up to first stage of 40nm in correct order


At this point we had to dash of to a meeting thus I will do the second (60 degrees), third (another 60 degrees) and fourth (inner bolts a further 20 degrees) bit early tonight.

Looking good. Enjoying these pictures. It doesn't matter how many times I have stripped an engine to pieces myself or watched others; I still want to look at more!

awesome read! thanks! can't wait for more!

Looking good. Its such a good feeling when you get all the shiny bits back together..

I'm waiting!!!!

After a slight delay, 2 week holiday , the engine is back in the Landy. I will post a proper update sometime this week