Plan on keeping L322 forever - V8 - 4.4 Engine ideas?

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pmthompson

pmthompson

Member
Posts
46
Location
London
Hi there,

I've purchased a 2002 L322 V8 4.4 Petrol.

I plan on keeping this car forever.

I don't have much money but what I want to do, over a period of time is put together a mint, re-built V8 Engine

What's the best way to approach this? Buy any old V8 off Ebay and the like, then take it to a specialist to re-built?

b.) Bring it home, put it in the lounge (no workshop) and try and workout how to re-build it myself.

c.) buy one that's already been re-furbished?

I'm interested in your wise opinions.

Cheers

Phil
 
Interesting..... what condition is your engine in presently?

I'm no expert but I get your drift completely,,,,, build an engine whilst tickling the old one along (hopefully)... then inserting ones shiny and rebuilt project lump into the bay at the first sign of plastic chunks in the sump (chain guides)!!

The little that I've learned about the TU engine is that yes, timing and vanos side is relatively short lived and expensive to have renewed, valves go west sometimes if run on Lpg but generally they are considered good bottom end wise.



The water tube that links water pump to rear water manifold can perish but easily fixed, the PCV drain side is pants at best but all easily sorted imo.

It's a BMW engine and I'm sure the basic engine is shared across the 5 and 7 series, only the sump is different but loads of options to source a spare.

Timing is tricky but I'm sure @holidaychicken on here will e-assist, he's done his and done it right afaik.

Good luck.
 
If your going to supplant the delightful variable double overhead cam with a push rod single cam affair then at least consider the Corvette 6.2L beast with over 400hp, available on these shores courtesy of VXR Commodores/Monaro specialists.

Seen an early series Land Rover with a Lexus V8 on youtube, unbreakable by all accounts.

I seen a bare 4.4 L322 engine on Ebay last year, fully rebuilt block and heads only for £4k.
 
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Actually, as mentioned it is an expensive engine to rebuild if your going to farm it out so it may be wise to back up a bit, if your engine is presently ok just save up for the inevitable timing chain job, these can go anywhere fromm 100k to 160k, depending on use/abuse, so if it ain't broke don't fix it, until it is breaks.


A contingency fund is probably better used on inevitable things like ball joints, suspension arms, PCV, tyres, diagnostics, brakes, servicing, electrical problems, etc.

By the sound of it you've bought a cheapy with little history, am I right?
 
Not at all. It's in real good nick. Loads of history. Gearbox overhauled in 2012. The month i Brought it the guy replaced, fuel pump, water pump, oxygen sensor, crank sensor, coil packs, spark plugs, full service. Its nice but its done 140K so I want to nip anything in the bud. i heard the PCV system is worth doing. Transmission and Diff fluid I should do too.
 
Ok, forgive my presumtions...

On mine with less miles the PCV was knacked thus pushing oil out of the cam covers. A new PCV, cyclonic drain tube and new rocker covers gaskets later I had a bone dry and properly venting engine with no burnt oil smell.

Gearbox service a good call, I used Comma brand equivalent and genuine filter (a must ), @Saint.V8 has done a good 'how to' on this.
You say it's had a gearbox, I wonder if it's also had a replacement torque converter, these have an internal lock up clutch which wear giving a weird vibration on light throttle on gentle inclines if they are bad.

Engine, any rattles on cold start up?
Engine, can you 'feel' the vanos (variable cam timing) giving you varying degrees of oomph with little rev differences?
difficult to explain but mostly I felt mine vary on a certain 30mph hill when prodding accelerator, you could feel the timing change and torque thrust alter.

Any knocks or clunks from the suspension?
 
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The M62TUB is not a straight forward engine to refurbish the crankcase on as the bores are coated and generally not able to be rehoned and can possibly be recoated and i have heard of liners being fitted but generally from what i can tell a dead crankcase is swapped for a not so dead crankcase or complete second hand engine.

Turners don't touch the M62 engine when i last checked, they refurbish the P38 derivative of the Rover 3.5 V8 in its 4.0 or 4.6 guise.

Heads / lifters / valves are fairly conventional but apart from a head gasket going due to overheating i haven't read of many problems, apart from a noisy lifter.

if your compression is good then i would concentrate on the things that will kill the engine potentially like the PCV Valve and relevant pipework and the timing chain guides breaking down and allowing the timing chain to jump a tooth or several killing the engine.

The 80 degree modification is an easy good idea but most of the damage caused by running at 105 degrees instead of 80-90 will have already caused the plastic timing chain and cam chain guides to become brittle so you don't get much warning if any before they shatter and it is my belief that LPG engines are more vulnerable than non LPG.

if you are ok with the spanners and have the time and money the timing chain and cam chain guides are ok to do, the pcv valve is frustrating but again not horrendous.
You probably have leaking cam cover seals and possibly front timing chain cover seals which probably would have been done by now as again they turn to brittle plastic and start to leak.

The ZF transmission has probably already been done by your mileage and as long as the valve block was good and the torque converter replaced or refurbished then should be ok and the timing chain guides are probably not far away.

Bit of info here.
http://bmwv8capri.yolasite.com/tuning-the-m60-m62.php
http://www.meeknet.co.uk/e38/
As already mentioned you will have plenty of other issues to spend your money on but the engine would be the one thing that would make the RR uneconomical to repair or very painful to replace.

You may find that by the time it has reached 140K some other poor bastard has replaced most of the problem parts already
 
I'm on the hunt for one that's had all the expensive stuff done, I'm hoping @holidaychicken will throw a 2012 conversion on his, respray it silver and have the interior re-done in oxford/beige in a mad final flourish and sell it to me for 5k......:D

2 or 3 with the 2012 look on the bay at the mo, most likely with dodgy PCV, dodgy timing guides, dodgy interiors.......eeuuucchhhh.
 
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Or you could just do what i did, by a car for £6K, spend another £6k on it and it will be worth £5K and it still hasn't been face lifted, well apart from me painting everything black.
I contemplated the 2012 facelift for a long time but then thought no good having a car that looks ok but doesn't move so i am gradually working through everything else, just for fun...
When i flog it I'll let somebody else make it look pretty
 
holidaychicken said:
Or you could just do what i did, by a car for £6K, spend another £6k on it and it will be worth £5K and it still hasn't been face lifted, well apart from me painting everything black.
I contemplated the 2012 facelift for a long time but then thought no good having a car that looks ok but doesn't move so i am gradually working through everything else, just for fun...
When i flog it I'll let somebody else make it look pretty
Click to expand...
Are you selling it?
 
holidaychicken said:
The M62TUB is not a straight forward engine to refurbish the crankcase on as the bores are coated and generally not able to be rehoned and can possibly be recoated and i have heard of liners being fitted but generally from what i can tell a dead crankcase is swapped for a not so dead crankcase or complete second hand engine.

Turners don't touch the M62 engine when i last checked, they refurbish the P38 derivative of the Rover 3.5 V8 in its 4.0 or 4.6 guise.

Heads / lifters / valves are fairly conventional but apart from a head gasket going due to overheating i haven't read of many problems, apart from a noisy lifter.

if your compression is good then i would concentrate on the things that will kill the engine potentially like the PCV Valve and relevant pipework and the timing chain guides breaking down and allowing the timing chain to jump a tooth or several killing the engine.

The 80 degree modification is an easy good idea but most of the damage caused by running at 105 degrees instead of 80-90 will have already caused the plastic timing chain and cam chain guides to become brittle so you don't get much warning if any before they shatter and it is my belief that LPG engines are more vulnerable than non LPG.

if you are ok with the spanners and have the time and money the timing chain and cam chain guides are ok to do, the pcv valve is frustrating but again not horrendous.
You probably have leaking cam cover seals and possibly front timing chain cover seals which probably would have been done by now as again they turn to brittle plastic and start to leak.

The ZF transmission has probably already been done by your mileage and as long as the valve block was good and the torque converter replaced or refurbished then should be ok and the timing chain guides are probably not far away.

Bit of info here.
http://bmwv8capri.yolasite.com/tuning-the-m60-m62.php
http://www.meeknet.co.uk/e38/
As already mentioned you will have plenty of other issues to spend your money on but the engine would be the one thing that would make the RR uneconomical to repair or very painful to replace.

You may find that by the time it has reached 140K some other poor bastard has replaced most of the problem parts already
Click to expand...
That reminds me that my 300tdi and r380 gearbox needs a wash.
 
Not yet, I've got other stuff I want to do to it like rebuild and paint the brake calipers, I have new Delphi front discs to put on, rear wash wipe, semi sports exhaust to suit the design pack rear bumper, finish painting the nasty grey interior parts black, wheels are going black chrome....
 
or, do what I did.......

Buy the first one that you fancy, having never driven another.....become enchanted with the V8 and revel in the cheapness of LPG, throw some ball joints on, throw a tow bar on then sell it at a loss because I needed some reddies fast, regretted it immediately but not so sure now as I constantly check on it via .Gov Tax checking site........it's been sorned since January this year, I wonder what's up? Methinks engine.
It was absolutely fine when I had it but it was around 115k iirc.
Lol, just found my old ad>.>.>
https://www.landyzone.co.uk/land-rover/epsom-green-with-lpg.233275/
 
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Epsom Green. God's own colour.:)
For some reason there have been 3 Epsom Green V8s for sale withing 5 miles of me in the last 3 months. Unfortunately each one has been a hound in its own, special way.
 
Have you checked under the various plastic trims for rust? I've seen a few that look great until you check the rear sills near the wheel arches.
 
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