My First freelander project. (pictures)

Well I've just bought the car with a head gasket fault for project money and knew that it had problems.

Stripped the head, piston and liners seem to be alright not much wear so doing the headgasket. Was going to spend £300 on another engine but £300 on the engine I already have could go along way to rebuilding it.

Seemed to drive home reasonably well and temperature only started to rise once over 50mph. Can tell the gasket had gone. Once stripped down found the gasket has a couple of small rust holes through it.

rossymtb said:

Well I've just bought the car with a head gasket fault for project money and knew that it had problems.

Stripped the head, piston and liners seem to be alright not much wear so doing the headgasket. Was going to spend £300 on another engine but £300 on the engine I already have could go along way to rebuilding it.

Seemed to drive home reasonably well and temperature only started to rise once over 50mph. Can tell the gasket had gone. Once stripped down found the gasket has a couple of small rust holes through it.

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As long as the engine didn't overheat you should be ok. Fitting a new gasket to a previously overheated K series generally results in subsequent failure a short time later. This is due to the head being heat treated, once an overheat has occurred the head gets annealed. This causes fire ring recession and no amount of facing will re harden the head.
Good luck with the rebuild.

I can only try I suppose. otherwise its another engine. Do you know of any others which fit/mount onto the existing bell housing in case this idea goes t*ts up.

Also can I mount a winch onto a nudge bar if I buy one of them metal ones or is this a big no no?

yu could try a T series

no-one has done a t series conversion afaik


go on..............................do it

several peeps have - or beef up the L series.

Try and fit a V6 from a Toyota. That should be fun....

The Mad Hat Man said:

several peeps have - or beef up the L series.

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on here?

Freelaner said:

on here?

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Bar - don't be silly. No-one has the knowledge.

The Mad Hat Man said:

Bar - don't be silly. No-one has the knowledge.

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I could do it

but love my "K" and don't have the inclination to try

The Mad Hat Man said:

Bar - don't be silly. No-one has the knowledge.

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Maybe no one wants to

rossymtb said:

I can only try I suppose. otherwise its another engine. Do you know of any others which fit/mount onto the existing bell housing in case this idea goes t*ts up.

Also can I mount a winch onto a nudge bar if I buy one of them metal ones or is this a big no no?

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Any K series will fit. Get a later version for better reliability.
There are a couple of Freelanders with Toyota 4 cylinder engines in Africa iirc. Tbh the engine isn't that bad if you keep an eye on water level.
Winch on an nudge bar is a no no. There is a under bumper bracket thread on here somewhere.

did my head gasket 1000 miles ago still going strong but was told they stoped driving when the needle started to go over half way ,its quiet and smooth to drive ,no dowt i will have some form of probs in the future but full h/g set multi layer bm job plus head bolts was only 41 quid plus a cambelt and pump full service and 150 quid later she seems fine,do up what you got if it fails least you tried

Right good news. She lives!
Eventually started her up before. and after a couple of coolant changes and a oil flush out she seems to be running very well.
(touch wood) After a couple mile uphill drive with a hour or so messing about parked up the temperature stayed in the middle.

Shocked me when driving, its quieter inside than i expected and seems to pull really well. possibly because it took me a whole day lapping the valves in who knows.

Pictures to follow tomorrow after i give her a wash. Still a few things left to do if i want it right. bottom ball joint and drop link looking a bit worse for wear.:car:

Nice one mate,,
now for the rest of the Freelander journey..

I hope she looks after you as well as you look after her..

well done