1993 Defender 90 Rebuild

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OK, update time again. I've realised why I put the panhard rod on the wrong way around - firstly it's the bend in the rod that just looks like it wants to wrap around the diff (and presumably does on the LHD version), but secondly the diagram in the Haynes manual shows it on that way! I don't actually have that any photos clearly showing the panhard rod in place as presumably I thought it was obvious.

Anyway, let's move on. With the chassis now able to support some weight, I could finally put the engine back in and free up some space in the garage. I haven't been able to do anything on the engine with it dangling, and hopefully fixing it to the chassis will make it a bit easier to work on. The block's looking a bit on the rusty side, but I'm not sure it's worth painting it, is it?
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Look, loads of room
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I'll just pop in a few pictures of the engine in case anyone spots anything awry. I'm fairly sure I've put it in the right way around anyway!
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Clutch end
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Fan end. While we're looking at this, does anyone know why the fan blades aren't evenly spaced? Presumably there's a good reason for it, but I can't think what it is!
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Turbo and exhaust side
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I'd noticed a lot of oil around the bottom of the flywheel housing and assumed that the crankshaft oil seal was leaking, so I stripped down the rear of the engine.

Clutch out. I've got a new one to replace it although to my extremely untrained eye it looks like there's plenty of life left in it.
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Flywheel off
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The housing has got quite a bit of oil and grease in it but not as much as I was expecting. The seal looked fine - certainly there wasn't anything obvious wrong with it.
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With the housing off you can see a lot more of the oil that was obvious from the outside. I'm not sure where this has come from. Maybe a leak down the back of the gasket?
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I've taken the sump off as it's looking quite rusty underneath. Inside it's all looking fine though. Any idea how best to get the old sealant off?
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And this is the grand total of stuff found in the sump. Barely any sludge either. I initially thought the black bit was a chunk of metal but it's some sort of rubber. The washer is made of plastic, so hopefully it's not caused any damage on its way through. Any idea where it came from?
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Once the sump's been cleaned up a bit, I discovered the imprint of the oil strainer in the bottom. Should I be looking at adjusting something here to stop it rubbing?
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And this is the outside of the sump. It needs a good clean-up and a lick of paint but luckily the rust's not gone too deep.
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Just one final question - this post seems to have a lot of them. Should I drop the ladder frame as well and re-seal it? This corner here is where most of the oil was obvious. Is it common for oil leaks to occur between the block and the frame?
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So that's where I'm up to now. I'm hoping to get a full day in soon to get a load of bits cleaned and painted as they're cluttering up the workbench.
Looking great, sorry can’t answer you Q’s but obviously interested in the responses. Weather here has been awful so not much progress for me , the timber has arrived for the garage extension so I can start that once I finish the garden gym for my daughter who is working from home since finishing Uni.

I tested the dash lights etc and checked over the wiring loom, fingers crossed it will be ok, taking out surplus wiring Installed over the cars life is always a risk. Changed the oil & filter on the engine as it is sitting awaiting install, just the valve gaps to check.
 
Another few weeks pass and things have moved at a snail's pace. Most of the time was spent waiting for parts to arrive, then waiting again for another delivery after I knackered the oil seal when clumsily trying to fit it.

To answer a couple of my own questions from the previous post - the fan blades are spaced unevenly supposedly to reduce noise (a bit of a pointless exercise with a 200Tdi perhaps, but every little helps). And the best way to remove the old sealant from the sump (well, the way I did it anyway) was with a blunt screwdriver and a scotchbrite pad.

The flywheel housing needed a bit of a cleanup but it's in reasonably good condition. Not sure if the starter motor is supposed to be attached using three different types of fixing (stud, bolt screwing into the casting and bolt passing through) but it seems to work!
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The ladder frame looks fine too, so it was probably a waste of time removing it, but at least I know it's all well sealed now.
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One evening while waiting for bits to arrive I took the opportunity to solder together the chassis loom where it had been badly crimped together by the garage who replaced the rear crossmember years ago.
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Much better!
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A saucy upskirt photo of the engine. I'm working on it from underneath which I wouldn't really recommend, but needs must as I haven't got an engine stand. I can confirm that it is do-able though!
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The ladder frame with expensive sealant applied. Not sure why (or if) it's any better than the standard RTV which I used on the sump, but it's done now.
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And with that reinstalled, back in with the oil pump, which was a right pain to get in and bolted up. Another thing that would be straightforward with the engine upside-down.
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Another evening, another thing to stick on from underneath.
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And the last of the upside-down photos, showing the newly repainted sump back in position.
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After deforming a brand new crankshaft oil seal while drifting it into the housing, I was a lot more careful the second time, and things are coming back together.
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The flywheel is bolted back on and torqued up to something ridiculous.
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And I got to fit my first clutch, which was pretty straightforward, except for an initial hiccup where I had the alignment tool the wrong way around! Is the tiny sachet of red grease included with the clutch kit this 'molybdenum disulphide' mentioned in the workshop manual?
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And that's it so far. By the next post I'm hoping to have reattached the gearbox so I don't have to rely on a plank of wood on the radius arms to support the engine. Also on the to-do list is replacing the vacuum pump gaskets, changing the timing belt and giving the engine a general clean up.
 
A month passes, and the gearbox still isn't back in place, but I haven't been completely idle. The engine tidying has taken a bit longer than expected, mainly due to everything being seized (thankfully not internally!)

First stuck thing to remove, the viscous fan. I had to detach the fan blades from the viscous coupling to get a good enough hold on the nut to shock the spanner with a hammer. I've now cleaned all the rust off and given it a coat of paint.
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This is the horror that awaited behind the water pump. Not sure what's been going on here. In the five years I was running the Landy I only ever used proper coolant to top up. Who knows what was in there before though.Time for a new water pump and a damn good flushing.
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Next stuck item - the cranshaft pulley, which I eventually damaged beyond repair trying to remove it.
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Strangely enough, the crankshaft bolt wasn't all that difficult to undo. A screwdriver jammed in the flywheel teeth through the starter motor hole, a long bar, and finally everything's off and it's timing belt time.
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A bit grubby inside but the timing belt was still in perfect condition. I replaced it anyway, along with the tensioner. Getting the belt tension was a bit of a pig. Working out 15lb ft on a beam wrench which reads to 150 is practically impossible, and looking at the ridiculous price of torque wrenches that read down the lower end, eventually I used a fishing scales to pull a bar at exactly 12" from the end. I could have done with 3 hands though. And I forgot to take any pictures so it's all boxed up and forgotten about now.
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Doing the valve clearances is a strangely satisfying job. I also took the opportunity to replace the cover seal and the three rubber bushes in the top. Another job for the fishing scales as the rocker cover bolts only need a tiny 6lb ft.
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Trying to clear space for cleaning up the engine, I thought I'd take off the glow plug cable and managed to shear off the threaded section at the top of one of them. Luckily the glow plug wasn't too difficult to take out. I've heard plenty of horror stories about seized plugs.
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Part way through the cleanup of the block. I used a small wire wheel on a drill for most of it.
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Lots of masking tape and black high temperature paint later, it's looking a bit tidier.
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And the other side.
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And finally, last night the power steering bits got bolted back on. There's a bit more room to walk around the garage now anyway.
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Now I just need a weekend to come along with some daylight and I'll push it outside to give the cooling system a good flush out. All the engine needs is a new glow plug, vacuum pump o-ring, cyclone breather o-ring and water pump, and I can move on to the gearbox side of things. I need to fit a new clutch release bearing and arm, mate up the gearbox and give it all a good clean. Some of the transfer box linkages are a bit suspect so we'll see how that goes. And just to complicate matters we're moving house some time in the next month, so who knows what I'll actually manage to get done. Luckily the Land Rover won't need relocating.
 
I just twang the timing belt knowingly and hope for the best:D
16yrs of doing that with no issues.
Not read all the posts yet but change all the core plugs if you haven't already whilst access is good. Pita to do some of them when it's all buttoned up.
 
That's probably a sensible thing to do given the state of the water pump. What do you seal the new plugs in with?
Clean the block recess with Emery paper and smear a film of red hermitite in there. Knock them in square using a socket with a short extension on it.
 
Clean the block recess with Emery paper and smear a film of red hermitite in there. Knock them in square using a socket with a short extension on it.
Thanks. How best to remove them? Is it a question of knocking a big screwdriver through and levering them out?
 
Thanks. How best to remove them? Is it a question of knocking a big screwdriver through and levering them out?
If you knock one side they sometimes turn 90deg and you can just pull them out with pliers. Blunt chisel and knock the recess not the lip. Don't forget the rear ones or one, I forget...
 
Christmas is coming, we still haven't moved house (bloody solicitors) and now my Irish in-laws are stranded here following the latest lockdown. In more positive news, I got a full day in on the Landy.

The drop-arm ball joint was seized solid and took quite a bit of extracting even with the special tool.
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Getting the new one back in was even more of a faff, requiring at least three hands and various different tools. This photo was taken before I realised that the seal needed to go in before compressing everything fully, but it's roughly how I got it fitted in the end.
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I finally got around to looking at the gearbox and transfer box.
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The whole thing needs a damn good scrubbing. And I've got to make a patch to cover that hole in the top of the bellhousing. For some reason there was no packing piece between the slave cylinder and the bellhousing so I'll need to order one.
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And the pivot has seen better days. Paddocks seem to have closed early for Christmas so I won't be refitting the gearbox until the new year. All these little bits add up to some hefty invoices!
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Finally, some daylight meant I was able to get the whole lot outside for a clean up. The engine had been waiting to have the cooling system flushed through, and I could cover the gearbox with Gunk and hose it all down.
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And with liberal application of a wire brush, the whole thing's looking much better. I'll give the gearbox a coat of high temperature black paint at some point. Typically, one of the handbrake bracket bolts sheared off when I was removing it so that'll be fun to drill out, particularly as it's going into aluminium.
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And with the cooling system cleaned out, the new water pump could be fitted.
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On the short term list now - drill out the sheared bolt, clean up, spray and refit a few more small bits, paint the gearbox and replace the snapped connectors on the glow plug lead (plus yet another broken glow plug - don't ask).
First thing in the new year I'll fit the gearbox properly and connect up the props. And we might even move house.
Merry Christmas
 
It's been a slow couple of months where I've had to spend most of my evenings packing boxes to move house, and then unpacking them following the move, plus the house we've bought has turned out to be a bit more of a project than I'd anticipated. Still, I managed to a get a few things done.

The gearbox has had a cleanup and a spray with the leftover engine paint and is looking fairly tidy.
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All new belts on and tensioned. For some reason the new alternator appeared to have been set up to pivot on the wrong side. Whether this was a manufacturing error or something else I don't know, but I had to dismantle it and rotate the inner so that it would pivot off the other side.
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And for some reason there only appear to be two clamp posts to connect wires to, and I think that one marked W is only for a tachometer (which I don't have) so the small wire doesn't have anywhere to go. Any ideas? The alternator came from Craddocks and is a 65A part number STC234.
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Yet another problem I'd not thought about. When I ordered the chassis I specified a TD5 rear crossmember, mainly because I preferred the look, but didn't realise that there would be issues fitting a standard 200Tdi exhaust. There's nowhere to support the rear silencer so I'll have to make up some sort of bracket, and the tank cradle fouls on the pipe slightly, so a bit of metal needs grinding away. Alternatively I could look at getting a TD5 exhaust but I imagine that they won't happily bolt onto a 200Tdi front section without more modification.
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The last few things that needed painting (at the moment) got some Rust Encapsulator and CIO
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I fitted a new front propshaft as the slider on the old one was seized solid
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I rebuilt the transmission brake - the pads and springs are the original ones as they were fine
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Fuel tank back on
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Nice new UJs for the repainted rear prop
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And fitted.
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So that's it really. Next step is to fit the radiator (can't find the cradle at the moment, but it must be somewhere about!) and try and start up the engine.

In other news, I've bitten the bullet and bought a brand new galvanised bulkhead. I'm not quite ready for it yet but 10% off at Paddocks was too good (and rare) an opportunity to miss so it's currently in storage waiting for me to get enough space in my own garage to paint it. Somehow the double garage at our new house has found itself full of boxes of stuff we've not unpacked yet. Fingers crossed, there might even be room for a Land Rover in there one day.
 
Great progress. I was tempted to clean up the engine and gearboxes to but decided to see if they need rebuilding, and I want to get on the road asap.

Is that a Shielder Bulkhead you have gone for?
 
I'm going to buy a new bulkhead. How did you get 10% off if you don't mind me asking?
They had a 10% sale for a couple of days at the end of January. I can't remember the last time they had one - they're not like Bearmach with their insanely regular 15% off 'flash sales', however you can get 5% off at Paddock if you're a new customer with the code WELCOME5, but if you've already ordered stuff from them presumably you'll need a different account/address/card. When you're buying something as expensive as a bulkhead every little helps. It actually worked out significantly cheaper (even without a discount) than buying directly from Shielder as the delivery is included.
 
Great progress. I was tempted to clean up the engine and gearboxes to but decided to see if they need rebuilding, and I want to get on the road asap.

Is that a Shielder Bulkhead you have gone for?
Thanks. How's yours coming along?

Yes, it's a Shielder. I've heard mixed reviews, but hopefully they've improved their quality control. We'll see.
 
Thanks. How's yours coming along?

Yes, it's a Shielder. I've heard mixed reviews, but hopefully they've improved their quality control. We'll see.
Slow progress, weather is a problem as can paint due to temp and using indoors not an option as I have another car in storage. Built the outside covered area to work on panel prep / painting so with the better weather things should speed up. Chassis order soon to be placed.
 
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