Alibro
Well-Known Member
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Nice one Richard, I've done it twice now so slightly better than a novice but not by much. The best source of advice on the K series are the MG Rover forums, especially the MGF and TF forums as being mid engined they have more trouble than most.View attachment 93885 I have replaced a head gasket for a freelander 1 k series petrol last year - and since then the car has run very well indeed. The freelander had done 50,000 miles and then failed. I am not a skilled engineer so the HGF repair took me over 8 weeks - working a little bit each evening! . That said, I also had the injectors sent off and serviced and I spent some time cleaning the piston tops and making sure the head was immaculate. I also serviced the starter motor and alternator at the same time. I followed the advice from the Haines manual to the letter and also watched a video posted on u-tube. I had to make my own tools to lock the main crankshaft and over head cams - but I eventually brought the latter tool for 8 pounds. The main crankshaft locking tool used the starter motor mountings to interface a cog on the flywheel. I have included a picture of this and I was quite proud to have made it (being an academic not a hands on mechanic) If anyone is due to attempt a HGF repair on a K series I am more than happy to loan the locking tools and give some simple advice (like how to remove the fuel inlet from the fuel rail which, is meant to be easy, but I found difficult and how to lock "solid" the cam sprockets to allow removal of their locking nuts and how to feed in the new timing belt using wooded wedges to ensure it was tight and correct.). Other points were to take many pictures and label up all electrical connections unless you are familiar with the engine. I have a complete set of pictures showing the timing marks of the cam sprockets, crankshaft timing and other bits I thought important at the time. If you are an experienced mechanic then these would be common sense but for an amateur they would be very useful. Overall I enjoyed doing the HGF repair - even though it took me out of my comfort zone. I learnt a lot about fuel injection, engine management systems and the many transducers that feed into the system. I used a good quality new gasket set - don't buy cheap here including new steel bolts. Please contact me if you want any pictures and if you want to borrow the hand made tools.
Kind Regards
Richard
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