New Engine

As my frequent readers are aware I have had a head gasket problem for going on 3 years. This year with the sale of our house we had money in the budget to repair the engine on the Big White Bus (BWB) and get this problem fixed. I talked with several folks about this and the best plan was to replace the head gaskets and get a valve job done when you had the heads off.

I got it in my head that I could get a new engine. New, meaning new to me, basically an engine with fewer miles on it than mine. When I talked to JagGuy about this his said we could get another engine and do the valve job, gaskets and all with it outside of the Rover.

So we started looking for an engine. We contacted the place one would go for an engine, Rover Cannibal, and the like. I even toyed with putting in a diesel motor, like I've always wanted. Found a great deal on one too, but that is another story. I was not excited about the prices of a new engine considering I only needed a valve job and head gasket. As you will read, this is a labor intensive job. Most of the cost of this project is labor. Or in my new mind set, "SOME OTHER GUY HAVIN' ALL THE FUN AND ME PAYIN' HIM TO HAVE IT". Naïve is not just a word that's hard to spell and find in the dictionary. It fits this "new mind set" of mine.

So with JagGuy onboard for the project. We found a 1993-1995 Range Rover LWB at I-35 Imports in February. I bought the horns (non-functional) and JagGuy wanted the exhaust for his 1991 Range Rover. When the BWB started popping hoses I told him to see if the engine was still in it. Originally we planned to buy the tranny and transfer case too. Those are expensive parts to replace and having a spare might be handy. We opted to just take the motor, due to expenses. I will probably regret not buying those parts later, mark my words.

JagGuy had some Jaguar bodies he was trading with them so he swapped the bodies and some cash [$500(US)]for the engine. JagGuy has a nack for this. He and I traded an old PC/XT computer and monitor for a 1974 BMW 3.0s back in the early 1990s. I drove it for 3 years, total cost of purchase $50 for a monitor and a tie-rod end $12, $62 and I was driving a BMW. I wish I still had that car.

So I called JagGuy and told him the third of the hose popping stories, this was the heater core one. He said he would get started and he'd see me on Saturday. I honestly believed this would be a weekend job. I was really worried he would get too much of the engine done on the Friday before and I would somehow miss the fun. He told me what to order for parts and I called Atlantic British and got it all ordered.

Saturday I showed up at the shop and we cleaned parts and discussed what we should do. He presented me with several options and I chose the one that had us getting the heads done. So after 4 hours we called it a weekend and he took the heads down to Buddy Rice, Precision Engine Service in OKC. He did me right and $105 bucks later I had new re conditioned heads. We were expecting $200 in expenses. So a good deal there. Thanks Buddy.

We started the next Saturday with JagGuy already done with the engine. He got the heads from me and started on the motor the Friday before. He took some pics which explain the head gasket failure very well.

The head is torqued down with 12 bolts. Four bolts at the bottom of the head cause the head to cantalever at the top end. The first 8 are evenly placed on the head one across from another. Then the factory put in these extra 4 bolts at the bottom. I'd love to hear their thinking on this. When you buy the new gasket the instructions tell you not to even put those bolts in and in fact the gasket doesn't allow for them.

This is a huge job. I rate it a 5* on the Difficulty Scale. You have to have a shop where your Rover can sit while you work on it. You have to have knowledge of "how things work". That is to say, knowledge of how motors and compression and torque and tools all come together to make an engine do what it does. A reference of best practices would not hurt either. You will need a engine hoist, torque wrench, large sockets, and a lot of extensions. You will need patience and trickery. A box or two of rubber gloves, a parts cleaner, pressure washer. Basically it makes sense to me know why the folks on TV and such remove the body first when they start working on engine and transmissions.

JagGuy really enjoyed the Boddington's and #9 Theta Burgers from Johnnie's.

Thanks for reading and happy Rovering.