Tomcat 300tdi Build

Righto,

Done a few searches on here to see if anyone has done a Tomcat build thread and found none...

Would this be the section to start one?? I'd like to put my progress on here and would welcome tips/advice as I go along!!??

Cheers

Loz

Yep sure would

I bought the frame welded on to a really good chassis, most of the body panels i need, a couple of axles, a running 300tdi engine outve a disco and a few other electrical bits, gauges, looms etc.

so my main aim is to rebuild as much as i can myself, so I know where i stand!

First thing was to check the engine, as i said in a previous thread, had some trouble idling after standing for some years, that turned out to be the fuel pin struck in the diesel pump, free'd that off and away she went, idled like a beaut!

Right, tried putting a photo on, and failed, will have a look on the forum how to do photos first....

Ok, that was alot simpler than I thought....

As you can see, stripped the manifolds off, as there was alot of thick EGR black stuff in the intake manifold, and still alot in the head... What's your thoughts on this? head off, clean and replace with new head gasket, or whilst it's off get it overhauled, ie. valve stem seals, re-seat the valves and pressure test...?




Loads of soot etc in the head ports...

Started on the axles the other day, making good progress...



Sandblasted, primed and on it's 3rd coat of black. Havent done the diff yet mind!!

Well worth pulling the cyl head for a look see, that way you can have a good looks at the bores and tappet followers etc.
I would just give it a good clean, new valve seals and check valve seats when you fit the seals and go from there, decent head gasket is about 15 quid, head bolts can be used up to 5 times IIrc?