It’s been just over a month since my last update on the Land Rover. Speciality mechanic Philippe was giving it a final check-up before sending it my way. (“Houston, we have a problem.”) Without going into detail (at this time), there were serious problems with the engine. Rather than deal with those down the road — without the services of Philippe and Mr. Wolf — we decided to put in a new/rebuilt engine.

Mr. Wolf found what we needed at Zombie Motors. A 300Tdi 2.5 liter diesel engine that will be a major upgrade from what’s presently in the truck (specs below) and you can read about 300Tdi engines here. Zak at Zombie Motors sent a couple of photos of the block, just back from the machine shop.

The engine will be assembled next week (at Zombie Motors) and shipped back to SF where Philippe will do the swap. Then Mr. Wolf picks it up to put some more check-up miles on the new engine. Once he puts his stamp of approval on it, I fly out for a little celebration and we ship the truck back to Missouri.

Zombie Motors – engine update (PDF)
Zombie Motors – Tdi engine conversion (PDF)

Philippe (the “specialty mechanic”) has had my truck for a couple of weeks, giving it the final inspection. He drove it a bit and put it on the lift, running down Mr. Wolf’s punch list. Mostly small stuff. He’ll probably put in a new ignition switch; check the play in the steering; and see if he can fix some small thing in the turn signal that Mr. Wolf found annoying.

The only big item seems to be adjusting the timing and Mr. Wolf says that’s not all that big a deal. The video below (not my truck) shows a chap inspecting the timing chain on his Land Rover.

Depending on Philippe’s work load, my truck might be done by the end of the week. Nothing left to do but fly out to San Mateo to celebrate and play with the truck for a couple of days before shipping it to Missouri.

Everybody hates those badges car dealers bolt on to new cars. But nobody removes them. Except me and Mr. Wolf.

The folks that did the initial restoration on my truck stuck a couple of these on and I would have left them if they hadn’t been so sloppy with the restoration. I can’t, in good conscience, promote these guys. Mr. Wolf, on the other hand, has been my salvation so I had a little custom badge made. You can see the one we’re replacing in this photo.

Mr. Wolf clearly knows his way around vintage vehicles but his buddy, Philippe, is apparently something of an expert on Land Rovers. Based on the photo (above) it looks like Philippe has a garage rather than a dealership. That’s where the truck is this week, getting final tweaks.

I told him to start with a valve adjustment, reset cam timing and injection pump timing, set timing chain tension, replace the thermostat, and see if he can find a way to adjust the free play in the steering relay box.

Regular readers will remember last week’s Mystery Patch, which leaked.

Good news from the drive up in the rain: the Mystery Patch in the roof does not leak! The bad news: everything else does leak. A bit more grey goop and we’ll be watertight.

And a bit less drafty…

Looking at a Series 2 Santana at Philippe’s, I realized that your truck is missing seals on the slider windows front and rear. I’ll track them down, that’ll make the cabin much less drafty.

Once Philippe is done, the truck is done. Everything has been checked and fixed. Sometimes twice. I’ll fly out to meet Mr. Wolf, play with the truck and celebrate, then it’s time to ship the truck to Jefferson City.

Here’s a bit of background on Phillippe from the Euroland website:

Originally from the beautiful South of France, The Provence, was originally a Rolls Royce, Bentley technician. He added Land Rover to his knowledge and specialty and is very fortunate to be one of the technicians to be certified at Land Rover in Solihull, England.

This project has taken twice as long as expected and cost a lot more, but I’m probably going to get close to the “better than the day it rolled off the assembly line” promise.

Update from Mr. Wolf: “I have been driving the truck today and it has been great. One little gremlin came up (the fuel cut-off cable came loose, easy fix), but I feel like we are in the home stretch here. The odometer is going to roll over 1,000km today!” I had to ask about the “fuel cut-off cable.”

Because diesels don’t need any electricity to run, turning the key off doesn’t stop the engine, so you pull a little knob next to the key to manually cut fuel flow to the engine. It’s pretty neat.

I won’t share the full list but here are the kinds of things he’s been finding and fixing.

• R&R left rear hub seal and change gear oil
• Reassemble rear brakes, bleed system, lube all zirc fittings, adjust brakes
• Reinstalling and modifying filler neck
• Front spring shackles installed properly, problematic Britpart steering damper removed
• Disassemble rear suspension, grease all shackles and bolts, reassemble.
• Replace incorrect hardware holding the grill on
• Final adjustment on brakes
• Replace & rewire glow plugs (one failed out of the box, replacement ordered)
• Re-adjust idle speed and all throttle linkage
• Re-wrap passenger side wiring harness with 3M friction tape

This is the attention to detail someone gives their own truck.

Last week Mr. Wolf added a steering stabilizer to the truck. I’m guessing the only way to know if you need a steering stabilizer — or that the one you have isn’t working — is by driving the truck.

“The steering stabilizer’s primary function is to dampen or stabilize the side to side movement of the wheels in much the same way shock absorbers limiting excessive suspension movement & oscillation. Steering stabilizers are a necessary component because it helps to absorb bump-steer and flighty steering issues.”

At last check Mr. Wolf had put 700+km on my truck (I’ve come to think of it as our truck) so he’s probably getting close to the targeted 1,000km. When restoring a 40-year-old truck, there’s just no way to find all the problems without driving it. More importantly, knowing what to look/listen/feel for while you’re driving it. This is where Mr. Wolf has earned his commission (and then some).

When they started the restoration of my Land Rover it was with the intention of putting a soft top on it since the prospective owner lived in southern California. Near the end of the restoration I asked about putting a hard-top on the truck and they found one. (During the warm summer months, I’ll switch to a soft top)

Following a recent power-wash, Mr. Wolf noticed more water the cab than he thought should be there and concluded it was coming from a mystery patch over the passenger side of the cab.

Fix A would involve some hours and additional expense. Fix B is putting some “grey goop” on the patch and worry about it later if water is still getting in. This “escape hatch” is part of the main roof and not in the “safari top” so it’s unlikely water would ever be pouring in.