I had one of these engines in an auto 110 that I bought. Very nice, good power delivery and economical too. I wish I had kept it and put that into my current 110 as the 200Tdi in there is OK, but this is nicer.
Keep going with the updates and pics!
The lift pump is the most likely culprit, but did you check to make sure that the fuel lines are not blocked or restricting fuel delivery? The ticking is probably coming from the injector pump and this is usually due to lack of fuel as the shuttle is not lubricated properly from the fuel.
Also...
Could be the cable that changes it from hot to cold from the lever on the binnacle has come lose or something. Can you hear it moving something behind the dash when you move it?
Later 200Tdi ones also had the cross drilled gear so it's not just 300Tdi ones. There is a suffix on the transfer box which will help identify if it does or doesn't but not sure what that suffix is right now. Converting to the Defender transmission brake is not hard, just 2 holes tapped and...
It might be the first thread where something important and a PITA to do actually works with a S**tPart part.
You never know, it is a new year and all that.
I have a Discovery 200Tdi in (more or less) the 300Tdi engine position in my 110 and I have fitted the viscous fan but not the cowling. I think the fan is not in the best condition anyway but the radiator is in good condition and when driving the gauge sits in the middle and if I am sat in...
I've gotten into RC rock crawling in a big way with quite a few trucks. I got one of these and I was really impressed with the build quality and its crawling ability. You really can't go far wrong for the price too. It will crawl better than the Axial SCX10 and the Tamiya CR01.
Nice one!