Morning, Good news is that the heads are off. Bad news - the gaskets look like they're in pretty good nick to me. I was praying for an obvious blown gasket, but it seems that's not the case.

Gasket looked in good nick on the passenger side. I'm hoping to see a damaged one on the driver's side, otherwise I'll be in trouble...

Right you were. Snapped one of my sock size adapters last night. But the good news is I've got the passenger side head off, after much swearing and knuckle scraping. Now it's just the much harder driver side left. I've taken the wheel arch out...

You are learning some lesson here young jedi🙌

On the basis that you already have socket wrench, etc. get a set of imperial sockets like these from halfords...

I guess who ever had this before me decided to swap the wheel bolts, as they aren't the normal 27mm. Looks to be around 22mm - one of the only sizes I haven't got 🙃 Today's progress.. Managed to get the exhaust manifold off on the passenger...

Today's update. Slow progress, managed to get the top exhaust manifold bolts out purely just by mangling the heat shields out of the way. The tricky part now is getting the lower ones out, access from underneath is pretty impossible. My mangler...

For those heatshield bolts i just used a pair of plumbers pliers while lying under the car. Some ended up coming out, most just snapped off. Honestly i was glad if i could get them to snap because it meant less unthreading to do. Thinking about...

Silly question, but aren't the exhaust manifolds bolted to the cylinder head itself? Or do you mean they unbolted the manifolds from the lower end and pulled the lot out all at once?

Thanks for your replies. I could maybe try and hack the top ones off, but access to the bottom ones might be a bit tricky. Car is on it's arse right now, so not really any room to get underneath or under the wheel arch lining. I'll try the...

Afternoon all, I bit the bullet and decided to try my hand at getting the heads off myself. All was going very well, until... Those bast*rd exhaust heat shield bolts. 16 of them total, and only 2 have come out. The rest of them are seized and...

What's the purpose of keeping the throttle open? Apologies if a silly question. I've removed fuse 39 (Fuel Pump) so stop the engine going while I'm running the test. Just tried to remove the first plug - my ratchet wrench is comically oversized...

I've just been to Halfords and picked one up. I'll have a crack at it in the morning - are any of the plugs particularly tricky to get out on the Thor engines?

Thanks, they look to be the cheapest at the moment. I've called nine (9!) garages so far, none of them do compression testing! I'd rather not buy my own kit for a one time use. The search continues

Just been looking at this catalogue, am I right in thinking that this is what I need: AZ510A No front row-20 per engine Want to confirm as a lot of the sets I've seen have only included 10 studs

Apologies if this is a stupid question, but wouldn't the compression test fail regardless of if it was a HG issue or a block issue?

It all sounds very tempting. I might get in touch with V8 Developments and find out what the process is. I'm willing to throw a bit of money at it to secure its longevity (and resale value). Only problem is getting the block out - definitely...

Appreciate your support. I've been doing a lot of reading up over the last day, and I'm quite interested in getting flanged liners fitted. Has anyone here had it done recently? I'd like a once-and-forever solution just in case I have a cracked...

Doesn't sound like mine is making that noise, so fingers crossed the liners are in good condition. I've been in touch with a local machine shop who can measure + resurface the heads if necessary, so some progress is being made. When I moved house...

Thanks again all for your input, it's greatly appreciated. I'm going to pull some spark plugs and see if any look obviously cleaner than the others. I'm also doing my reading and pricing up the tools required to DIY it or get it done by a garage...

I've done a little more research in to DIYing it, and I've seen the debate about stretch bolts vs ARP bolts come up quite a lot. What's the general consensus on the matter here?

Thanks again for your advice. I don't have the tools or space to try and tackle this outside my house, so it looks like I'll have to search around for a garage that will take it on

Thanks all for your advice. I've added my town - feel free to suggest any trustworthy LR mechanics nearby! Sounds like my next best step is to do a compression test. I've replaced a HG before but that was on a Rover K series engine - much...

I've only had the car recently, previous owner said it hadn't overheated, but take that with a pinch of salt. There's some copper dust around the coolant overflow cap, so I'm thinking maybe someone tried some leak sealer before. It's petrol only...

Hi all, Got a 1999 4.6 Thor. Recently noticed that the coolant level has been dropping, idling has been a little rough, and sometimes harder to start. Topped the coolant up but it's low again a week later. The car hasn't overheated, and stays...