EFI... Out with the old

In With the New

August 2003

 

Overheating problems, Oil pressure problems and a general carb problem ment that I was getting rather hacked off with it all. I changed the oil, took the sump off and changed the bearings, cleaned the carbs, and had the radiator blasted clean. When it was back together and still rattled and struggled to maintain oil pressure I could of cried! Anyway, whilst trying to reset the carbs my alternator packed up. No problem... I got a spare..... or did till I rewired it wrong! That went up in smoke. I was not gonna spend another dime or minute on this engine.. time for another one. My options... Do I replace the engine with another old skanky one or spend the equivalent money on repairing mine (not likley!) or maybe see about an EFI engine.....?? Hmmmm!!!

Anyway after scouting about and a drive to the other side of Stonehenge I was offered a complete although not quite... Rangerover Vogue 3.5 EFI. I would have to trailer it back to Winchester but thats not a problem. Cost - about £350. Bargin I thought.

After waiting a few days for the call to collect the car from Stonehenge I was offered an MOT failed Vogue 3.5 EFI with 75,000 miles. To look at it was immaculate! It had failed on several things including body mount rust, rear seatbelt mountings rusted, Fuel Tank and pipes all rusted. Swivel seals and brakes leaked a little too. Still, on a £1500 car that writes it off. I offered the owner £250 and we settled at £275. BARGIN!!!!!!!! (The phone call from Stonehenge never came)

After collecting it and bringing it home i soon realised just how good it is. The engine leaked oil but thats only oils seals... no problem. The auto gearbox is very smooth, not even a clunk when putting it into gear. Rear tailgates both upper and lower are like new. Wheels and tyres are like new. Stainless steel exhaust like new! Bonnets a gooden' too. In fact its very straight alround.

So... out with the old engine on mine.... Stripped of the clutch n flywheel for the EFI. Dizzi and electronic ignition taken off and put aside for sale. Carbs and inlet manifolds are off too. No point in chucking the good stuff. Exhaust is off. (I cut the downpipes because I was too lazy to take apart ( and stupid) but the manifolds are good. 1 restudded. And the section including the centrebox and flexipipe are still good as well. (Call/mail me if you want it).
Switching to the doner car, everything was taken off much more carefully. The EFI wireing loom was traced back and disconnected. The steering box was needed for mine as the old pump would not fit the EFI engine to easily because of the dizzi. The old radiator has been used. New one set aside for sale.

Once the engine was in I set too rewiring and sorting out the fuel. I ran new high pressure fuel pipes from the tank to the engine and back. The new pump was fitted to my tank. The air filter assembly was a bit of a pain because I wanted to keep my second battery and snorkel etc. I sussed it after a little modification. Power steering bottle was a pain in the ass as was the new exhaust (nothing Lee cant handle!!). After the engine was fitted and up n running I realised I had forgotten to change the front end oil seal. Its done now but it would of been a doddle if I had remembered whilst the engine was out (like the rear one!).

Some of the pics I take are for my own reference for instance the top of the inlet manifold thingy had a spare vacume take-off which I used for the center diff vacume pipe. (pic DSCF0725.jpg) Pics DSCF0576.jpg, DSCF0590.jpg and DSCF0591.jpg are to help me with rewiring! Pic DSCF0600.jpg is the EFI wire loom, I'll be needing that! Pic DSCF0728.jpg shows the new fuel filter mounted next to my Airlocker compressor. Also in this picture you will see a stub of fuel pipe at the bottom right corner of the fuel tank. Because my fuel pump wont reach the bottom of the fuel tank by about 4 inches, I will utilise this pipe (which used to feed my old fuel pump) to feed a new fuel tank. The idea being, as there are no baffles in the exsisting tank when the car is going up or down steep slopes and the fuel is about half then the pump would be near to starving itself of fuel. With a second tank a little larger than the pump itself it would no longer matter what angle the car is because the pump will always be submerged... Make sense??? I think so! Also i could use all the fuel in the 1st tank.


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