engine out!!!!

nearly forgot if you do go for arp studs leave the bolts out at the bulkhead end,it,s tight squeezing the heads in and saves damaging the head surface,they can be screwed in when the head is in place,an allan key is needed to screw the studs in but only hand tight,as they will tighten up fully when the nuts are fitted and torqued up

i think there is my little problem, i'm gonna measure up tomorrow and see where the land lies!

i know its passing alot of oil into the pots, and it doesnt seem consistant with the rings going, unless every ring has gone!!! couple that with the signs of water in the oil(all be it very faint trace) rings wouldnt do that!! i can only assume its sucking in oil on the downstrke or the oil pump is forcing it past the gasket, i bet if i had run it properly up to temp and pressure on the coolant then that would have passed too and given the impression the liners had slipped again!!

A V8 is a V8 irrespective of whether it goes in a disco or rangie. The holes in the block are all drilled and tapped (Or should be) to spec. If the gaskets were "Loose", you would have lost compression and water and it's doubtful if it would even start. Obviously, the engine must have run before..even smoky. To check if the bolts are bottoming out in the block, screw them in until they bottom out, measure the distance from the block face to under the bolt head then measure the corresponding height on the cylinder head, obviously Gav the block to bolthead dimension should be a lot less than the cylinder head size. The blocks changed for the advent of the P38 but the heads remain much the same casting wise since the earlier EFI's. Did you do a compression test before the stripdown??..I am sure that would have thrown up a bad head gasket seal.

the arp ones i got from v8 tuner came as a set for the 14 bolt heads,so i just used the 10 i needed,and ended up with 8 short ones left,if you do order any gav get them to make sure the arp lube is in with them as this helps getting the correct torque rather than using oil

who supplied the head gaskets gav,the first i used on mine came form island 4x4 in the head kit,but i found coolant would leak around the area where the locating studs on the block deck are,the next ones i got from v8 tuner have been great no leaks and felt better quality,and thicker

What about a porous block??? My old 3.9 didn't show any signs of liner slippage, all dead flush. Replaced head gaskets twice in a week thinking I may have cocked something up, drained the oil and around 2pints of clean water came out the drain hole followed by oil, the sump was full of Irish Coffee!
When the liner slipped a couple of years ago on the 4.6, the water came out of the exhaust instead and no.4 piston & plug looked as though they had been in the dishwasher plus the engine would hardly turn over because the cylinder was half full of water.

on one of the fire rings on the gasket there was a slight burn beyond the inner face of the fire ring.

i dont suppose anyone has the spec sheet to hand to see whether the holes were changed on the newer blocks?? getting giddy now to find out whether the holes are different on the two blocks i have. if the car was outside i'd be out with the table lamp to have a looksy!

if you have one of the short bolts to hand gav measure it from the bottom to the top in mm and i,ll get one of these arp ones and i,ll do the same,but i need at least 20 mins so i can get in the shed

everthing is up at the yard i'm afraid. thanks anyway, i'll post my findings in the morning.

hopefully it will be good news, and if/when its all up and running, i suppose i will have to keep it as i have become fond of it now. i also know every nut and bolt concerned with taking engines out of rangeys now! i reckon a 8 hour engine swap single handed is a real possibility now!!

right gave here you go this is the short arp head stud

overall length 71mm

24mm is stretch thread for the block

22mm is a unthreaded shank

25mm is the fine thread for the arp nut and washer

Irishrover said:

What about a porous block??? My old 3.9 didn't show any signs of liner slippage, all dead flush. Replaced head gaskets twice in a week thinking I may have cocked something up, drained the oil and around 2pints of clean water came out the drain hole followed by oil, the sump was full of Irish Coffee!
When the liner slipped a couple of years ago on the 4.6, the water came out of the exhaust instead and no.4 piston & plug looked as though they had been in the dishwasher plus the engine would hardly turn over because the cylinder was half full of water.

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if its a 3.9 block which it certainly seems to be, or a hybrid then porous block etc are real possibilities. i want to be sure where the problem lies before i go any further as any cash spent could go towards a flanged liner fit!!

did the 3.9's have the cps flange on the block as i was under the impression they didnt. also this block is cross bolted and has the longer crank spline that goes into the torq converter. ive been confused all day with the stuff i have read and obviously i would need to id the block to get rings etc!!

whats the block no.gav,have you done an id on it

where do i do that?
its 42d 01664a i think.

right i,ll speak to someone if i can get hold of them,im sure he has a way of identifying the engine block

http://www.rimmerbros.co.uk/cgi-bin/rimmer.bat?rr/eng-v8#Engine Numbers

according to that all 42d's are 4 litre blocks from 94 on, could there have been a change of block design but same identifier for 4ltr pistons etc?

gavbriggs said:

i hope so, the feckin thing'll prolly get nicked after i get it sorted!!!

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hi gav,its a good job you dont live in manchester,you would probably get shot then have it nicked,ha,ha.

car jacked then shot then have it nicked!!!

bloody hell gav,i live in manchester,we would not go that far,there again maybe we would,ha,ha.

gavbriggs said:

car jacked then shot then have it nicked!!!

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Someone mention Thrybergh????

right gav as far as i can make out through the jargon you have a pre 1996 14 bolt 4ltr engine one of the 3.9 blocks that was turned into a four litre,what has been done to it since leaving the factory is anyone guess,thats about as much as i can get for you,but looking at it and thinking of the age is the block solid,has it been repaired or relined