Head gasket - first big project

[AU_88]

Replacing the bolts with SS would be good too... I plan on doing that and if I'm feeling nice I may try and list all the bolts needed...

[2manykids4a7]

Thanks everyone. I don't think I will be done in 2 hours, no mechanic friend or air tools!

Since I am viewing this as both a repair and a get to know my rover experience, taking off the grill and the wing seem to be a good place to start. I had some time this afternoon and took out the radiator.



It is a little dinged up but I wasn't having any problems with it, maybe I should get it looked over while it is out (pics are in the webshots album). One of the books I had said I could take off the fan to avoid damaging the radiator so I did that and it made removing it pretty straight forward.

I still have what I think is the oil cooler to remove. I haven't looked it up yet but I guess that similar to the radiator I drain the oil and then unbolt everything.



I think I may have the most trouble with the actual grill assembly. At some point an awful paint job was added over the beautiful original green and all the screws, bolts etc were just painted over.

[SafeAirOne]

Another tip...

If you are planning on removing the radiator, the radiator support panel (the whole center (nose) of the rover), and the wings, it is easier to leave the radiator attached to the radiator support panel and remove them as a unit after the wings are off.

[2manykids4a7]

Good to know. For right now I don't mind taking it apart piece by piece, but for future projects I will remember that it can all come out together. My plan (if possible) is to remove the rest of the front grill and then just the wing on the manifold side (passenger side for me).

[2manykids4a7]

I was getting ready to drain the oil so I could take out the oil cooler when I had the following thought.

Am I was shooting myself in the foot for later on by draining the oil now (so I can take out the oil cooler). Am I going to want oil in the engine later when I take the head off? Are there circumstances that could arise where taking the oil cooler (as part of the grill) out, while giving me more room to work, is actually going to hurt more than help?

I may be displaying my ignorance here but I'd rather do that now than later!

As always any advice is most welcome.

[SafeAirOne]

It has been my experience that draining the oil out of the sump does little to drain the oil from the cooler. It'll still be full and will still make a huge mess when you remove the cooler.

Mind you, my experience has been with a 2.5 oil cooler with the thermostatic valve on a diesel engine, so even just a little sooty, black oil from a diesel constitutes a huge mess.

[2manykids4a7]

Progress! The grill is off, and though unnecessary I really like the room it gives me.



I broke one bolt.



I'm still trying to undo the nut here, soaking in PB Blaster right now, any better ideas? It is on the pipe that led to the top of my oil cooler, you can see the other end in the first photo just in front of the top pulley (that I took the fan off of). I'd really like it off so the pipe isn't just floating there waiting for me to damage it.



I'm now turning my attention to the wing which is proving difficult due to some sort of coating a previous owner had sprayed over everything (bolt and screw heads included) on the underside of the truck. The following pictures show where a big chunk came off when I removed the bolts at the top of the mud shield and my (as yet unsuccessful) attempt to get at the screws holding the bottom of the mud shield off.



Has anyone had any success beating this stuff with any means other than brute force?

Thanks Steve..

[SafeAirOne]

Hmm... My splash guards are held on by nuts and bolts, not screws and nuts. That just plain stinks. Nothing worse than slotted screws. I'd recommend a grinder personally.

Oh--I know it's too late, but you don't need to disconnect the top of the splash guards to get the wings off. It can just dangle.

As for your oil cooler line--Hmm. That b-nut looks pretty solidly stuck to the line. You can hold the bulkhead fitting with a wrench and turn the b-nut, but if the nut is stuck to the line, you're just going to twist the line into a pretzel. Of course, you already know that or else you wouldn't be asking...

Can you just disconnect the line from the other end and pull the whole shabang as one unit?

[JimCT]

head gasket

Changing a had gasket should me a 2 o 3 hour job at best, not sure why you are taking your LR apart? Does not make the head job any easier.

[2manykids4a7]

Mark. The screws do stink, I may try using my Dremel to give me room to get a bigger screwdriver on there. Whatever happens I do plan on not using the screws again and replacing with bolts.

I'm following the wing removal instructions in one of my Haynes manuals so may end up doing more than necessary. I am not too worried about it though since I have a huge hole in the floor pan on that side and fixing that is on the to do list. A previous owner put in a rigid plastic patch to cover it! I figure what I am doing now will just make life easier on that future project.

The oil cooler line is a bit of a pain, I can remove the bracket it goes through and maybe able to then disconnect it further down the line. I will take a look. Who knows maybe it has loosened up overnight (fingers crossed).

[2manykids4a7]

JimCT. I guess my post title is a little misleading since right now I haven't touched the head! When I first posted there were various replies about removing the wings and grill, no-one said it was completely necessary but that they found it helpful. Since I am not under time pressure I decided I would take that route too. For me the added benefits of more room to work, getting to see the engine more clearly and making future projects (like fixing the hole in the floor pan) easier made it worth it. I will get to the head though, and then probably take considerably longer than 3 hours!

[LaneRover]

Oh, and the 'previous owner' you speak of is the Ministry of Defense.

My 109 P-up as the stuff all over the underneath of it.

[2manykids4a7]

LaneRover. Good point, I hadn't even thought that far back! The truck was apparently originally South African military.

One of the screws on the mudshield is out but the other is still resisting, along with a few others holding various things to the wing. In my oil cooler post someone suggested using a little heat to loosen them up. So I am considering getting a small blow torch and giving that a go. As I said in that post though, to a novice, the thought of an open flame in close proximity to flammable liquids and gases makes me a little jumpy.

If all else fails I guess the grinder will get some work!

[stomper]

You are more likely to burn yourself with that torch than start a fire. don't worry about gas and other flamables. just don't go and touch the bolt after you have heated it up.

[2manykids4a7]

Thanks stomper. That's what I needed to hear, obviously I don't plan on burning myself but what I really didn't want was to start a fire! I took a quick look and the torch I remember my friend using was one like this..

http://www.lowes.com/pd_148755-13877-309272_0__?productId=3130885&Ntt=torch&pl=1&currentURL=%2Fpl__0__s%3FNtt%3Dtorch&facetInfo=

But there also seem to be mini versions like this

http://www.harborfreight.com/micro-torch-42099.html

(and obviously you can get both at the cheaper or more expensive ends of the spectrum).

It may make no difference as heat is heat but what do you guys use when you want to heat up a bolt to loosen it up?