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Wanted, half-decent V8...

... that doesn't piss oil down the road. Just done about 200 miles and put the better part of 3 litres of oil in it.

the bugger seems to be leaking from the rear crank seal again, despite that it was replaced not long ago, so reluctantly, I may have to ditch it in favour a more modern one with a decent rear oil seal.

so...

anyone got a half-decent 3.5i or 3.9i going for not too much money? - I want an injection one for the higher compression.

must have a decent bottom end, pistons and bores (and f**$!!* crank seal!) and preferably with plenum and throttle bit, though I don't need any of the rest of the injection system. In fact, I have a suitable spare throttle unit on an old 2.8 Ford, so I don't absolutely need that either.

Things I'm not bothered about: Camshaft, rocker shafts, pushrods, lifters/cam followers as I've decent ones of all those in this engine; the cam in this one is a 3.9 cam and is near-new, as are the other bits. The bearings are almost new as well, but I don't want an engine that needs a bottom end strip; it's going to have to be replaced over a weekend; ideally, one that will slot in and run; but if it needs a cam, that's not too hard a job in addition to an engine swap - won't have time for a more comprehensive strip though.

Just to add to the fun, the main lighting switch has melted, putting all the lights out on the way home. Luckily, fiddling with it brought 'em back on, but I've had to remove it as the sidelights wouldn't go off. To be fair, it is running spots as well as main beams, but then again, it's been doing that for about a year.

Reply to
Austin Shackles
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Reply to
Jim H

On or around Mon, 24 Nov 2003 17:54:41 GMT, Jim H enlightened us thusly:

the 3.9 has a modern type rear oil seal. Mine is an OLD 3.5, dates back to the first series of 'em in the late 60s/early seventies, and has a graphite-rope rear seal. Which, buggrit, was replaced not long ago.

still, a leaky seal is a pain. On the 3.9 at least, you only need either the engine or transmission out, to get access. On the old type one like mine, it requires a bottom-end strip of the engine too.

hence my thoughts about replacing this engine with a newer version - but the later type seals don't often give trouble, I don't think. About the only thing that can cause a repeat problem there is excessive crankcase pressure blowing the seal - see the engine running and see if it blows unduly from the breathers on the rocker covers, if you pull 'em off.

Reply to
Austin Shackles

In message , Austin Shackles writes

Can't you get a tool to weedle the old rope seals into place without dropping the crank? I'm sure I saw one somewhere ...

Reply to
AndyG

On or around Mon, 24 Nov 2003 22:07:10 +0000, AndyG enlightened us thusly:

might be. they have to be pressed in though, normally. I contemplated this, and concluded that it probably wasn't going to work. The engine still has unexplained water loss which could be a cracked head, so all in all I think I'll abandon it and get a newer one, and transfer the decent bits off this one as and when necessary.

Reply to
Austin Shackles

On or around Sun, 23 Nov 2003 22:53:40 +0000, Austin Shackles enlightened us thusly:

if anyone e-mailed me in the last few days, could you re-send it please?

I was informed by Mother (my mother, not Martyn) that "something about landrovers disappeared".

over-zealous mailwashing, probably. some email addresses are falling foul of a filter for sven worms, too, which I hope to improve.

Reply to
Austin Shackles

On or around Sun, 23 Nov 2003 22:53:40 +0000, Austin Shackles enlightened us thusly:

new theory, based on more evidence...

it's losing power. I suspect the head gasket(s) again - calculated risk changing 'em without getting the heads machined, which ii didn't have time for at the time, IYSWIM.

I'll do a compression test this morning, but I suspect I know what I'll find.

so, new theory - oil throwing antics are caused by defective gasket pressurising the block. Pulled a breather tube off at idle this morning, and there's more steam etc. coming out of it than I'd like to have seen.

But I'm still potentially interested in a newer engine, even so - might however be that this one can be prolonged a bit by getting the heads machined and renewing the gaskets again. Fortunately, head gaskets aren't that expensive.

Reply to
Austin Shackles

On or around Wed, 26 Nov 2003 09:27:15 +0000, Austin Shackles enlightened us thusly:

compression test results: 5 pots at 8.5-9 bar, 1 at 7.2, 1 at 6, 1 at 5.

so that's pretty conclusive, then. Oh, and one theory debunked, too: About halfway through doing 'em, I remembered that the instructions say to do the test with throttle open. Tried one pot with throttle in idle position and also with throttle wide open, wide open gave about 0.2 bar more.

Clearly there are bad problems with 2 of 'em, but more worrying is that all are low - on a high compression engine I'd expect getting on for 10 bar.

So all in all, I'm still hunting an engine; as before: 3.5i or 3.9i, must have a good bottom end, bores and pistons, not worried about the state of cam+camchain, followers, pushrods or rocker shafts as I have good ones of all these. Would be nice if it had the inlet manifold and plenum, but not essential and I don't need any of the injection gear or injection electronics.

Reply to
Austin Shackles

There's a couple on Ebay - maybe worth a look?

Reply to
Graeme

On or around Wed, 26 Nov 2003 20:58:56 -0000, "Graeme" enlightened us thusly:

hadn't bothered yet, but aye, mebbe.

I reckon I know where I can get one, if I can afford his prices.

Reply to
Austin Shackles

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