How hard to check condition of big ends.

Hi,
I am about to do a running restoration on my wife's discovery 200 tdi, It's a converted V8 so not much is known about the engine, No smoke starts on the button , Its has a rattle on the top end (rollers I think ) but I wanted to check the big ends without taking the lump out, On my VM engined R/R you just drop the sump pan to get at the bottom end but I see that the 200 tdi has a ladder rack, Is it easy to get it off or is there other parts to remove.
Any advice would be welcome

The only bit I'm unsure of is if the ladder frame is held by bolts from the flywheel side which means pulling the gearbox?
Otherwise it's drop sump, remove oil pump then ladder frame from memory.

Flossie said:

The only bit I'm unsure of is if the ladder frame is held by bolts from the flywheel side which means pulling the gearbox?
Otherwise it's drop sump, remove oil pump then ladder frame from memory.

Click to expand...

Thank for the quick reply, That's what was my main concern if I undo the gearbox I might as well take the lump out, But that's not what I want to do

4 bolts through the flywheel housing into the ladder frame - have a look at the Glencoyne 200tdi conversion pages

Thank's zeaphod saved me a lot of trouble, I will wait and see what the top end looks like when I change the cam rollers and make a decision then.

Simple check is does oil light go out straight away from cold? if so does oil light flicker at idle when engine at full temp? if answers are 1 yes and 2 no its sweet.
15/40 mineral oil none of this woofty poofty semi syn or full syn oils.

Yes to 1 and no to 2 and no woofty poofty oil in our cars or classic bike thanks.

I mentioned it as lots of people think they are doing good by using much higher spec oil in an old tractor designed engine.