My 04 D2 rebuild adventure by knightmetro

4 minute(s) of a 35 minute read

Well, that was a long weekend.

I managed to get the engine out and on the engine stand. (Darn good engine stand for $45 off amazon) My brother in law's forceful tactics cracked the flexplate while getting the engine out with the torque converter still attached. Next time around I'll mate up the engine and TC after the engine is back in. Much easier. $50 part I have to order now.

I was able to mock up all the block plates so I can pressure test the block, but I found that the bolts I have wont work. (Too long) I'm off to Lowes at lunch to get the bolts needed to get the block plates nice and tight. Then I'll pressure test the block to see if I have any coolant channel leaks. Fingers crossed.

I'll probably head back out there this week for the test so that I'm not waiting all week to find out which direction this engine is going to take.

If the block is good, I'll get ready to Loctite and pin the sleeves and start ordering parts for the bottom end this week. I'll probably send it in to get hot tanked so it's nice and clean before I pin it down.

Then, hopefully start all the measuring on the crank, camshaft, etc to find out what bearings I need and what may need to be replaced. All the bearings will be replaced of course, I just need to know if I need over sized or not and if the cam and tappets are within tolerance. They all look to be in amazing condition, but a micrometer and full dry inspection will tell.

Block looks good. Pistons look good. No sludge in the pan, or miscellaneous pieces of metal, gold bullion, or spare nuts.

Oh, I'd like to say this as it bears noting over every other car I've ever race tuned, ripped apart, or rebuilt. Integra, STi, 350z, Rav4, 370z, Sentra, Hondas, Nissans, etc etc.

This is the first vehicle ever that my hands can reach everything with decent ease. Every bolt is good and tight, but it doesn't take an act of God to remove. Every bolt was torqued to easily broken ability. I never felt like I was struggling to reach a bolt, or break one free. 

Even the tight space bolts I could get a 1/4 socket in there and it would come free. Now I'm not saying these bolts were mere finger tight, but they all just popped loose with humanly respectable ease. 

Thank you Land Rover. So, after an entire 2 weeks of ripping this apart, I have one nick between my finger(from no idea what), and a sway bar that fell on my face and bloodied my nose. My bad...that cracker was 4 times heavier than it appeared. 

I've got all my knuckles. No slipped wrench gashes, and no breaker bar blisters.

I LOVE IT!

I hope the shaft isn't fragile. My forceful brother in law had the engine rocking every angle trying to get it out. I'm going to have to inspect everything when I get back out there.

The teeth looked fine, so I'm not too concerned of any damage.