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4.6 V8 Engine Rebuild Photos

26K views 36 replies 22 participants last post by  mwiggins 
#1 ·
Thought you guys might enjoy some photos of the engine rebuild I've been working on for the last couple months.

Initially the plan was to replace a set of leaky head gaskets, so I set to work:

Intake manifold removed:


Heads finally off:


HEAVY carbon buildup on the heads valves & pistons indicated the problems lie deeper - engine had to come out:



Took the bottom end apart myself to save machine shop costs:


Bag of old bearings & rings:


The rod & cam bearings were SHOT. As were the rings (which had 2x the max allowed gap in certain instances). Main bearings still looked great thanks to the cross-bolted bottom end.

Block is back from the shop:



Carbon buildup on the pistons. This is after a few rounds of cleaning already. it was THICK to begin with, I need to keep the RPM higher I guess:



After they cleaned up they mic-d out great, indicating it was OK to reuse them.

One last bath before reassembly, just in case. The bare block is incredibly light. Less than 80lbs I think:


Buick 215 cam bearings pressed in, perfect fit - just ignore the spare oil hole:


3D printed organizer for the main & rod bolts:


Yes, I reused the rod bolts at the recommendation of a trusted local LR specialist. Some claim they're "stretch" bolts, but the fact that they're stamped 10.9 proves otherwise. Also the RAVE doesn't say to discard them, which it does for the head bolts.

3D printed tools. I made bolt organizers, a ring compressor, ring expander, ring grinder, torque angle gauges, some tabs to keep the pistons organized. Not pictured are the cam bearing drift tools:




Also made a makeshift blasting cabinet to clean up some parts. Used glass beads to clean up various small parts and soda to blast the tops of the pistons.


Begin the assembly:


I bought most of these from Miami British and was pleasantly surprised to receive Glyco & King main & rod bearings despite being cheaper "Eurospare" parts.

Crank is in and spinning beautifully. End play is WELL within spec:


Pistons are back in and once again spin freely:


Went to great pains to make sure the pistons, rods, caps & bolts all went in EXACTLY how they came out. With the exception of the #7 piston, which the factory installed BACKWARDS. So it got replaced.

Bottom end is back together:


On to the top end.

Before/After of the rocker shafts. Kept everything in order. Slight wear but nothing drastic:




The heads are back. The runners were gasket matched and ported to have the casting slag removed - LR did not take too much care in their assembly.



First upgrade. Crower 53230 cam. Direct fit requiring no machining unlike it's Buick counterpart. Yes I'm bummed that this is the only picture I have:


Cam is in & timing chain is on, great fit:


Second upgrade, ARP stud kit:



I used the Rover-specific kit (rather than the shorter Buick). I did NOT want to risk pulling the the threads out of the block. ARP recommends tightening the studs to 100 ft/lbs! 90 was as high as I was willing to go and it seemed perfect.

Heads are on:


Valve train is all done:



The stock pushrods measured out so I reused them. For lifters I used Comp Cams #869-16 for Buick/Cadillac and they were a perfect fit. Some guys use Chevy SBC lifters, but these are slightly too short & the pushrod cup is slightly too small.

Top tip - if you never want your valve covers to leak again - use studs:


Added benefit here is it makes aligning the gasket a breeze.

A note here - you'll notice the non-standard fittings in the SAI ports. That's because I've decided to remove the complete SAI system from the truck. I mangled the flex pipes during removal and thought "**** it", get rid of 'em. Yes I'm aware of the emissions implications but Florida does not have testing & this truck will run less than 3000 miles/year, so the increased emissions I'll be producing for 30 seconds after start-up will be negligible in the big scheme of things. All other emissions equipment (catalytic converter, O2, evap system, purge, etc.) will stay put.

Valve covers & manifold are on:


I tried blasting the valve covers clean but the cast aluminum was so stained up it didn't help. Eventually I opted to paint & bake them.

Timing cover & water pump are on:


Job done (no the upper manifold isn't bolted down):


Or so I thought. Couldn't resist more upgrades. Hedman 39800 headers:


The headers are designed for early Range rovers so they bolt up to the heads perfectly. You need to do a bit of modification to the starter & engine mount heat shields on both sides for clearance but otherwise they fit great. When installed they apparently run pretty close to the frame rails so they may or may not need some modification, but I'll post about that later. I'll be welding up a new exhaust (I'll retain the cats and O2 sensors) in the near future.

It's been a really fun project that should hopefully breathe some new life into my D2. Just wanted to share it with you guys to show you what can be done. Parts are readily available, pretty cheap, and knowledge is plentiful. The total cost came in at $2000 or so but if you opt not to get the ARP studs, headers, and cam you can shave nearly $700 off that price.

She's going back in the car this weekend and I'll let you guys know how it turns out.
 
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#6 ·
Thank you for the post and pictures.
Nice work.

You state -
First upgrade. Crower 53230 cam. Direct fit requiring no machining unlike it's Buick counterpart.

Question - Does this cam have the machined groove, as the stock cam does, to allow the use of the cam retention plate ?
 
#7 ·
Thanks for the encouragement, guys - I'm glad y'all liked the photos.

@belew - Yeah the 3D printer is an incredible asset. I would have had to pay over $300 for engine assembly tools I would have used ONCE. These worked just as well for basically pennies. Also the fact that they were plastic kept them from marring any of parts.

@RWilson - I considered the liners but it would have blown the budget. I just couldn't justify the expense on a high mileage motor in a car that will see so little use. I figure if they haven't decided to move by 115K miles they're probably good.

@Maximumwarp - Thanks man! If/when I get it running I'll post some clips of the noise. Hopefully it won't be too over the top with the cats & stock center muffler.

@Optimusduff - I used Mr. Gasket 6329 studs. 1/4"-20 threads and 1-1/2" length. The threads appear to be industry standards so there are TONS of options on the market.

@15mpg - Yup, the 53230 cam is a direct "drop in" fit. Absolutely no modifications needed. It's machined for both the the thrust/retention plate as well as for the later 4.0/4.6 cam gear. It runs about $100 more than the Buick (50230) cam and can be had direct from Crower or through Summit. The wait time is almost a month though.

Got a couple more photos for y'all - I managed to get the motor back in the car on Saturday.

I cleaned up the bay & went about fixing the cracked looms on on the wiring harness. I replaced the looms and wrapped everything up with high temp electrical tape. Then I zip tied everything just to be sure!


The stock lifting eye that bolts to the back of the passenger's head was missing, so I got 4 3/8 UNC eye-bolts (that fit the threads in the heads) and 6' of 800lb chain and made due with those. If you look at the heat shield on the starter you can see the spot I had to hammer in to clear the headers.


All bolted in. It went in without too much of a fight and despite installing it with the lower intake manifold I didn't have too much trouble getting to the top 4 bellhousing bolts. You'll notice how much cleaner the engine bay looks without the SAI. I also opted to pull the cruise control system as it never worked right.


So far I've managed to bolt up the mounts, bellhousing/block bolts, and drive plate bolts, accessory drive, and electrical connections. All that's left is to install the radiator & battery and finish welding up the exhaust.

I also got the headers in! Both sides went in pretty easy. The driver's side collector has plenty of clearance from the frame rail but the passenger's side nearly touches. I may have to cut the flange off and reweld it at a slight angle if it ends up being a problem. I think it'll work as is.
 
#9 ·
This is just been too cool. There's just something about a brand new looking motor on an engine stand that gets my juices flowing. It's like art. I could have one sitting in my living room and be in heaven. My wife on the other hand...


Thanks for the detailed thread. I can't wait to hear that fire up. Nice job.


Colin
 
#13 ·
@NVDiscovery - I haven't tried to start her up yet so I can't comment on the performance of the headers, but judging by the low quality and amount of the paint they put on I think "smoky" will be quite the understatement. I'll have a fire extinguisher on standby!

Hedman does offer the 39800 headers with the ceramic coating, but since I wasn't sure if I'd have to tweak them to get them in place I opted to go uncoated since I didn't want to crack the ceramic. So far I haven't had to do much to them (apart from grind the mounting flanges slightly to get around my new SAI port plugs), so I'll run them as-is for a few thousand miles to see how they work and if all goes well I'll pull them back out and send them out for coating.

The passenger side headers sit REAL close to the rubber EVAP lines and the drivers side headers are pretty much touching the AC lines so I'll have to figure out some sort of heat shield system to protect those to make sure I don't run into problems. I think I'll be a function of moving a few brackets but maybe I'll have to fab something up.

The motor & engine bay is all buttoned up so all that's left is for me to weld up the transitional pieces for the exhaust. Ideally I should be able to knock all that out on Saturday provided I don't run into any issues.
 
#15 ·
@carmaniac37 - Oh I'm absolutely CERTAIN that I'll get 20+ fault codes when the computer realizes the SAI is gone. Fortunately it's just an emissions system and shouldn't impact driveability. My plan to (hopefully) get rid of the codes is to eventually replace my ECU with one from the 4.0L engines that didn't have SAI - so hopefully that should sort it out.

Technically the 4.0L software is slightly different from the 4.6 (different MAF sensor, etc.), but through anecdotal evidence I'm led to believe that the 4.0L map should "adapt" pretty well to the 4.6. If it doesn't, I'll just live with the codes or try to find an ECU from a Non-SAI 4.6 liter ('03-'04 models sold outside of North America)

Land Rover loaded the '03-'04 ECUs with software for the 4.6L w/SAI, 4.6L wo/SAI, and 4.0L wo/SAI so I could theoretically just get it reflashed, but considering how cheap a full replacement ECU is I'll just go with that.

Now back to the build. Unfortunately I didn't get a chance to start it this weekend because it took me almost ALL of Saturday to weld up the new y-pipe & catalytic converters. When I mocked everything up Saturday morning I quickly realized that it wasn't going to be as easy as welding in a reducer and having everything fit.

I ended up having to cut the stock y-pipe almost completely back and then I used the various leftover pieces to splice everything back together until if all fit correctly. It took some creativity on my part but eventually everything went in just fine and afforded plenty of clearance.

Here's the final product:



Admittedly, my welds look like ****. The stock piping that LR used was (bless them!) quite thick - making welding a complete breeze, but the new stuff (for the collectors, cats, and reducers) was so thin that if I so much looked at it funny I'd burn a hole through it. My machine (but mainly my experience level) wasn't really suited to welding metal this thin.

After wasting many hours welding, grinding, and rewelding, I finally had some functional (but hideous) welds. I did my best to check for leaks, but there's sure to be a few pin holes hiding in there. I'll try to locate those and touch them up as I find them.

Here's the fitment:



Everything cleared the frame rails & drive train nicely. I'm a bit close to the TC on the passenger's side but I'll see if it creates any issues and proceed from there.

As you can tell I had to **** the PS side O2 sensor locations out to the side rather than straight up - there was just not enough clearance above the pipe to put the sensors in. Hopefully it doesn't create too many issues.

Tonight's the night. The last few parts go in and I hopefully get a chance to start it. Fingers crossed.!
 
#17 ·
Way cool! I love the printed tools, can I swing by with a few plans? HAHA!!! Excellent work, looking forward to what you find out with the headers.
 
#19 ·
@mshawari1 - I thought using some sort of resistor to trick the ECU but after reading the RAVE it appears the SAI system is relatively complex in how it senses operation. It uses inputs from several different sensors & parameters (engine temp, ambient temp, time since last started, etc.) so I'm not sure it's worth pursuing - I'll just live with the codes for now.

UPDATE - Last night I finally got EVERYTHING buttoned up and I filled the motor with oil and coolant. It was too late when I wrapped up to give it a full 20 minute run-in, but my curiosity got the best of me and I just wanted to see if it would fire up - and of course, NOPE!

The motor spins fine and sounds healthy, but it doesn't seem like my fuel pump is priming. In fact I know it isn't because there's no pressure to the rail and I can't hear it running.

This afternoon I'll double check to make sure I installed the CKP sensor correctly but I think the real issue is a sticky fuel pump relay - the car's been sitting in the Florida humidity since late October so I think the relay isn't switching due to corrosion or something. When I tried to turn the headlights on there was a 5 second delay between my flipping the switch and the relay clicking on, so I think there's a good chance the electrical system has some gremlins that I have to work out.

I'll try to troubleshoot tonight and let ya'll know how it goes!
 
#20 ·
Another quick question BD - where did you find plans for the bead blaster you made - or if your design would you share the supplier list?
cheers
Barri
 
#21 ·
Great job.....

I have overhauled over thirty (lost count) 4.6s and you used most of the good tricks... I would suggest restricting the top end oil flow hence pushing more oil to the bottom end. I thread the oil passage in each head 1/4" x 20 and insert a brass allen set screw with a 1/16" hole.. This will boost the oil pressure at idle to 20+ psi vs less than 5psi without the restriction... And yes the 1/16" hole provides plenty of oil to the top end.. Old time racer trick.... Best of luck not replacing the liners with Top Hats... I buy mine from Turner Engineering in Europe.. They are awesome to work with..... I found that liners started slipping about 50% of the time after a rebuild so I insist on them now.. They are expensive though.... ARP fasteners are awesome and I have had no issues torqueing the head studs to 100ftlbs.....

Again, great work on your rebuild.......

RG
 
#22 ·
My new rings worked a liner loose on mine after about 2500mi. It isn't too bad. Just a little noise when cold. No other side effects yet. Might try to pin it to make it last. I did mine in a hurry and cheap and planned to build another block up for later. Guess I need to push it through.
 
#23 ·
IT RUNS!!!

She fired up on the first crank last night! My fuel pressure issue seems to have resolved itself overnight - probably a battery voltage issue. I ran it @ 2000RPM for about 25 minutes to break in the lifters and cam and everything ran beautifully - no leaks, overheating, or weird noises.

The smoke/haze is the paint burning off the headers! The paint turned to powder in just a couple minutes:



After I shut it down I double checked for leaks/problems, changed the oil (running 20W-50 now), and took it on a short 3-mile spin, just to make sure everything held together on the road, which it did!

Here are my takeaways on the various modifications & upgrades to the motor:

Camshaft:

Definitely more aggressive than stock, but entirely streetable. It gave the exhaust a noticeable rumble which admittedly sounds great. Right now the idle appears to be more lopey, but nothing serious - it definitely lets you know the cam is there. It sounds very much like a cammed-out American V8 (go figure!) Odds are it will settle down a bit with more miles, so I'll keep posting updates.

Headers:

No leaks and a great sound. The engine noise definitely increased by maybe 25%, which is no surprise considering how thin the tubes are compared to the stock manifolds. However I'm a big fan. The only potential issues I see - THEY'RE HOT! Like wicked hot. Underhood temps definitely seemed to be higher than stock, but I'm not sure how much of that I can chalk up to the increased friction of a new engine. Engine temps never got above 194F during the 2000RPM break-in. I'll definitely have to set up some heat shields/wraps around some hoses in the engine bay to keep everything cool. But the good news is that within 10 minutes the headers cooled down enough to touch - they don't "heatsink" like the cast iron manifolds.

Catalytic converters/exhaust:

The new cats appear to be working! No SES codes (apart from the obvious SAI ones) and no strange smoke/smell from the exhaust. Before the rebuild the exhaust would smell of rotten eggs for the first few minutes after a cold start. The noise (probably a function of removing the rear muffler & adding headers) is excellent. Low burble in idle that gets slightly louder at higher RPM. I hate loud exhaust and this is perfect. The exhaust velocity also seems to have gone up, which means the new cam & port job are doing their thing.

Overall performance:

It's impossible to gauge performance before the rings bed in, but in the short bit I drove last night I can definitely tell it had more grunt. I don't know how much of that is due to the headers/cam/porting or the fact that the rings & valves now actually work. The engine was much happier to rev and getting off the line was much easier. I'm sure things will improve as everything breaks in but at this point I'm super happy with the results.

At this point it looks like the rebuild has been a success. I'm very happy with the performance. Obviously I'll continue to take it out on longer and longer test drives to break it in/make sure nothing breaks, but my initial fear of having the engine go "BOOM" at startup is gone.

Thanks again to everyone for the kind & encouraging words. I'm happy to share the experience with y'all and maybe motivate some who now know it's possible to build an RV8 in a garage. I'll keep the thread updated as the break-in progresses!
 
#24 ·
Also forgot to answer some questions:
@gurunutkins - Recipe for a DIY media blaster:

Harbor Freight "Portable Abrasive Blaster"
Portable Abrasive Blaster Kit

Harbor Freight "Long Cuff Blasting Gloves"
Rubber Blasting Gloves

Home Depot HDX "27-Gal Storage Tote"
HDX 27-Gal. Storage Tote in Black-207585 - The Home Depot

3"x4" PVC Toilet Flange (Hand holes/glove mounts)
Sioux Chief 3 in. x 4 in. PVC DWV Closet Flange-886-PPK - The Home Depot

12"x24" Lexan Sheet (Viewing port on top)
LEXAN 12 in. x 24 in. x .093 in. Clear Polycarbonate Sheet-GE-33 - The Home Depot

It's fairly self-explanatory past that point, but here's what another guy on the web did:

https://www.ar15.com/forums/t_6_19/412910_DIY_Low_Budget_Sand_Blasting_Cabinet.html

Honestly it looks exactly like mine bud I'd never seen this site before! Also I'd recommend using some hose clamps to affix the gloves to the flanges. I also stared out by using zip ties but they kept slipping off! Another top tip is to use saran wrap over the window as the media bouncing around inside will turn it cloudy in no time. I didn't use saran wrap and had to polish it out every 20 minutes or so of use.

BIG thing here is to make sure you have a decent-sized compressor. Pancake/portable units just won't cut it. I wouldn't even attempt this with anything below a 30GAL. I have a 3.2HP 60GAL rated at 10.2CFM@90PSI and it ran pretty much continuously.
@rgrimes007 - Thanks for the info! In the end my decision to not change the oiling and not use liners was down to a function of budget & utility. Opting to go with liners would have added at least $1500 to the cost of the project and for a vehicle that will see maybe 15K miles in the rest of it's lifetime it just doesn't make sense. I basically use it for Home Depot runs, to tow a light trailer, and it'll occasionally see some sand & mud on the trails in North Florida - I didn't want to drop $4500 into a engine with such limited use.

Still - it's very good info and I'll keep an eye out for liners slipping!
 
#27 ·
Also forgot to answer some questions:
@gurunutkins - Recipe for a DIY media blaster:

Harbor Freight "Portable Abrasive Blaster"
Portable Abrasive Blaster Kit

Harbor Freight "Long Cuff Blasting Gloves"
Rubber Blasting Gloves

Home Depot HDX "27-Gal Storage Tote"
HDX 27-Gal. Storage Tote in Black-207585 - The Home Depot

3"x4" PVC Toilet Flange (Hand holes/glove mounts)
Sioux Chief 3 in. x 4 in. PVC DWV Closet Flange-886-PPK - The Home Depot

12"x24" Lexan Sheet (Viewing port on top)
LEXAN 12 in. x 24 in. x .093 in. Clear Polycarbonate Sheet-GE-33 - The Home Depot

It's fairly self-explanatory past that point, but here's what another guy on the web did:

https://www.ar15.com/forums/t_6_19/412910_DIY_Low_Budget_Sand_Blasting_Cabinet.html
Thanks BD - much appreciated - I actually found the same site after asking you :smile

Glad its running well - starting the first time is always a high pucker factor!
 
#25 ·
engine break in.....

I do not remember reading what type of oil you are using for break in... I highly recommend using a break in oil like comp cams break in oil... At a minimum you can use a break in additive... Modern oil doesn't have the additives to protect a camshaft during break in....

It is very hard to cost justify an overhaul in these discoveries... Curious to know about the secondary air delete.... I have never tried a ECU from a 4.0 in a 4.6 truck.... That will be interesting......
 
#26 ·
@rgrimes007 - The oil I used for break-in was conventional Castrol GTX 20W50 with a bottle of Rislone "Engine Oil Supplement" which is quite high in zinc & phosphorus. During the rebuild the bearings were lubricated with Permatex "Ultra Slick Assembly Lube" and the cam lobes/lifters were lubricated with Joe Gibbs "Extreme Pressure Engine Assembly Grease". The oil pump gears were packed with petroleum jelly to help with priming. Based on the sound & performance of the engine at these early stages I think the lubrication was sufficient - oil pressure is nice and strong according to my gauge.

I used a cheap FRAM oil filter during the initial break-in period, which consisted of running @ 2000-2500 RPM for 25 minutes, and as soon as that was over I drained the oil, refilled, added another bottle of additive, and replaced the filter with a higher quality Mobil 1 unit. I'll run it another 500 miles before I do the next change.

Regarding the SAI delete, so far the only code I'm getting so far is a P0413 "SAI Vacuum Solenoid", which was to be expected.

The only "issue" - and it may be unrelated - is a low idle speed. The engine now sits at about 575-600 RPM when previously it never got below 750. It doesn't stumble or stall, it's just lower than I remember.

I'm not sure what the cause is exactly - could be the fact that the ECU is expecting the SAI to pull vacuum so it lowers the idle accordingly, could be an issue with the MAF/TPS/IAC components, could be an issue with a higher lift cam, or it could just need a few dozen miles to "relearn adaptive values" and adjust to all the work. I'll get a chance to do a proper 50+ mile test run tonight to see what, if anything, changes.
 
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