)So, finally got the fresher engine in and running, but its been a hard slog with the “sausage” resisting all the way..
Started off with a believed low mileage bottom end that had a little head issue. (internally looks very clean and low mileage)
So I’d dug out my nicest, freshest pair of heads to fit the prev weekend and lapped the valves in, prepped the gasket faces etc etc (quick lick of paint).. Raided the parts bin for a couple of valve adjusting screws as a couple of them were a bit worn (inlets) and it seems most of the rocker gear I have removed and have in the stores have the same issue.
Cleaned up the set of barrels and pistons I had on the shelf in the stores and did a little hone on the barrels.. pistons showed very little sign of wear on them and the rings had near new gaps when installed in the barrels.
Dismantled the cam followers as they all had a bit of leakage (been stood a long time and spongy) and found one with a chip out of the top, replaced that with a good one from the stores..
Assembled the barrels and pistons into the case, gaskets in, heads on and torqued up.
Pushrods installed and rocker gear on, set the adjusters to just touching initially as I want to run it and check and adjust them to ½ turn max after its been run for a few miles.. Rocker covers on etc..
The old engine was dropped out the prev weekend with a pressure wash off and some de rusting of a couple of spots and painting carried out in the engine bay..
Manifold and carb all installed on engine and dizzy too, along with water pump, fuel pump and coolant flanges and hoses.. Most of the steel pipework and flanges was wire brushed and painted satin black before installing, raiding the stores for other parts better than the ones on the old engine, its amazing how much time this takes up, along with finding good engine mounts to replace the 2 that had delaminated etc..
After trail fitting of flywheel and setting end float, a new flywheel seal was installed and found that a nice fitting tool was an old piston with a lump of wood in the middle of it.. Made easy work of getting the seal in straight with a couple of firm blows with a hammer, think I will improve the design by making a permanent tool out of it.. (Pic to follow)
When I got round to the sump plug to drain any remaining oil, I found that there was no thread what so ever in the case.. a little disappointed I can tell you.. As it was Sat 2pm, not many options open to me to provide a solution.. A Helicoil is of little use as it will prob come out next oil change.. so tapping out to M16 was the best option, if I could find a suitable sump plug. Anyway, cutting a long story short, Halfords (sadly always the last place I visit) had suitable Citroen sump plugs on the shelf (2.50 each).. result.. just the tap needed now.. Well the only place I could get that, was local tool shop, the downside, it was part of a 45 piece set… 84 quid later, I now have a nice thread in the sump and a plug that seals it.. with a threading set that I can do anything up to 24mm… so sump plug repair 86.50 plus at least 1.5 hours running around, at least I can do this repair for others at a much reduced price now
As we had guests arrive I had to pack up earlier than intended..
Sunday, more reassembly and install..
New clutch on.. fit engine to box, coolant pipes, new T stat installed, housing on etc and tinware on..
With a bit of careful lifting and balancing on the engine hoist legs, slide it into position under the van and then raises the assembly slowly into position, with the aid of a jack under the gearbox nose.. and hoist lifting the engine
Engine bar on and all lifted close to position, a couple of bolts installed to keep the engine up and stable..
With a mass of coolant pipes and wiring to connect that took a little while of climbing in and out of the back of the truck and lying underneath. (auxiliary heating system is installed on mine lots of extra pipes in the engine bay)..
After starter re connected and difflock actuator installed, the driveshafts offered up and installed..
Nose of the box was raised the final amount and mounts bolted up. Clutch hose reconnected and bled etc..
It was raining all afternoon and I was cold and wet by this point so decided to call it a day a bit earlier than planned again (5pm)
Mon morn Sun was out and drying fast.. now to assemble the exhaust, the existing one was shot, so luckily I had a useable selection of parts available.. the best pair were selected a minor welding repair to one of the flanges performed.. Bolted onto the engine they needed an “adjustment” with a large bar.. Cast knuckle installed and then came the J pipe and silencer, a trial fit showed I had over 20mm between the knuckle and J pipe, if I rotated the silencer I could get it close, but the end of the J pipe wouldn’t meet as the fixed flange at the silencer end didn’t allow any movement.. The only option was to file the flange mounting holes elongated to allow some silencer rotation to close the gap..
With the silencer brackets mounted as far back as they could go and the silencer rotated just enough to get the gap down, the elongated holes were enough to allow the J pipe to connect to the knuckle finally..
Oh, I also welded a boss onto the J pipe for lambda probe fitting.. (more on that later)
Ignition components installed (new leads dizzy cap and rotor) and wiring checked, coolant system filled and sump charged with 4.5 L of oil.. I was now ready for a start..
Amazingly it fired up pretty much straight away, although died after a 20 or so seconds..
I’d started it on LPG and as the cooling system wasn’t fully charged, the vaporizer froze.. So switched over to liquid gold and fired her up on that.. all running reasonably if a little rattly from a lazy tappet/bit of clearance.. or 2..
Top up coolant and bleed the rad after a few mins,, changed back to LPG and all seemed well until the wife pointed out the coolant drip from the left corner of the bodywork.. “easy fix.. just a hose clip or something I forgot..”…. nope.. the bloomin bleed loop around the engine hatch had sprung a leak, a pin hole where it must have been rusting (its steel) from damage when installed originally.. this pipe hadn’t been disturbed so why it should leak now is odd.. Anyway, only solution was to unclip, and cut the pipe and a short length of rubber hose inserted..
Continue with another run up. bleed and check with temperature gauge getting just below half.. great…. time for run up the road..
Test run up the road, new clutch bites in a different place, but feels smooth.. engine pulls better than old one, if a little tappety.. gentle trundle up the road about 3 miles to the first stop, quick check round the back and off again.. about another 3 miles this time with a bit more right foot.. doesn’t quite feel sharp enough so stop off and give 1 turn more gas on the power valve.. run back with a lot more right foot and feels much better..
Back home, no leaks and no pressurized cooling system.. great.. tappety sound still there but not as bad, but I need to reset them in any case and it really needs a longer run....
Its all taken a bit longer than I’d planned as the existing components were either worn or too scruffy (limited life expectancy) for my liking and it’s a darn sight easier to replace things when the engine is in front of you than when buried in the back of the doka. For those that haven’t worked on a pickup, the load floor is a good 6-8 inches higher than a van, smaller hatch and as it’s a Syncro too, the engine sits a further 2 inches lower also.. Placed on axle stands and then it all gets a bit awkward leaning in from the top…
Anyway.. it will get a recheck, with tappet and timing reset this weekend, with a couple of other components being installed too.. and some more test miles…
So I reckon the cost of this engine, including the base engine, the heads and the gaskets and clutch etc, discounting any bits I raided the stores for though, is already around 550 quid.. So I hope it hangs together for a while to get the moneys worth back out of it.. If anything does go wrong (bottom end is unknown really, although it looks to be ok..) I hope it doesn’t wreck the perfect heads etc as at least they can be reused..
Only time and miles can tell!!
The other engine (full rebuild and some upgrades) is slowly coming together, but I need to order some more bits for it..
Time is my biggest problem.. I work away from home most of the time.. (I had 5 days at home in May)…
) but just time isnt what I have.. 
