1994 RRC LWB 300Tdi

[RiftRover]

I didn't get very far with my build thread on the other site so i figured I might as well post it here. I bough this truck on Ebay in November of 2015 for pretty short money. I knew the conversion wasn't perfect and it would need some attention. I drove it for about two months until the clutch failed. With busy life it sat in the garage until June 2016 when I was going to get the engine out. Got about half way until life took over again. Sold the 110 in the fall which remotivated me to work on this truck. Got a lot done over the holidays so decided it was time to catch up on posting. Here is what it looked like when I got it.

 

[RiftRover]

One of the first things I did was to replace the drive belt and idler. It was making a squeaking noise that was obnoxious... I also discovered that the oil cooler lines were leaking which was making an absolute mess of everything, so I replaced those too.

 

[RiftRover]

Some time last year I picked up a complete Sable interior from a local friend. I really love the color but still not sure if I'm going to use it or not. I really want a shoulder seat belt in the middle of the rear seat since I have three kids, so I'm considering fitting a D2 rear seat. Also picked up some other goodies from him at the same time.

 

[RiftRover]

Finally got around to pulling the engine over the holidays. It's a total pita with a 300 TDI in a classic because the engine is very close to the firewall and tucked under the cowl. Had to raise the front of the engine, remove the mounting brackets, drop it down to access the nuts on the flywheel/bellhousing, etc., etc... Typical rover issue I guess. Once I figured out what to do it wasn't that bad.

 

[RiftRover]

I?ve posted about the clutch in other threads but this is what I found when I finally got the engine out. The ?heavy duty? fork had failed catastrophically. The heavy duty forks are actually cheaper quality than the genuine part, with the added metal so they can charge more for it. I ended up going back with a genuine fork that I welded my own backing plate too. We?ll see how it holds up. The original pivot was extremely worn as well which didn?t help, so I replaced that too. Since the engine was out I replaced the rear main seal and of course the clutch itself. Went with a heavy duty. It's a lot easier to work when you can sit in the engine bay!

 

[javelinadave]

And who called the failed fork when you first posted your issue?

 

[RiftRover]

And who called the failed fork when you first posted your issue?

Some guy from Canada?

 

[RiftRover]

Not sure if there is any interest in this build or not but I'll keep posting either way...

Once the clutch was finished I cleaned up the firewall and coated it, then it was time to reinstall the engine. A few more pics of how tight it is with the 300. Had to go through the same procedure as removal to reinstall, but much easier when you've already done it once.. The bungee cord helps when you are doing it solo!

 

[RiftRover]

Once the engine was back in it was time to do the timing belt along with new tensioner, idler and crankshaft sprocket. I tried everything known to man to clean up the timing cover but nothing would make it look nice. Ended up painting it with engine paint, so we'll see how long it lasts.

 

[Kevin88RRC]

Damn that is a tight fit! Too bad the rad support does not bolt on & off.

 

[javelinadave]

The timing belt cover looks pretty painted.

 

[rovercolorado]

Keep the posts up it's nice seeing things with pictures.
I was wondering why you didn't do the timing belt when it was out of the truck?

 

[javelinadave]

Way easier to do the belt when the motor isn't on the floor. I'm doing the same on a buddy's truck this Saturday.

 

[RiftRover]

Keep the posts up it's nice seeing things with pictures.
I was wondering why you didn't do the timing belt when it was out of the truck?

Way easier to do the belt when the motor isn't on the floor. I'm doing the same on a buddy's truck this Saturday.

Yep. It's a lot easier when it's mounted. Plus I needed to get the engine back in when I had the time over the holidays, whereas the timing belt was easy enough to do in the evenings.

 

[RiftRover]

Damn that is a tight fit! Too bad the rad support does not bolt on & off.

It's a total pita! I will actually be replacing the top of the rad support to fix the giant hole that the previous owner cut for the ridiculous intercooler that was mounted, but honestly the bigger issue with mounting the engine was the clearance at the firewall. Certainly hope I don't have to remove it again any time soon.

 

[RiftRover]

Body work

With the engine mounted I've turned my attention to the body work. As I said before the previous owner hacked up the front end to mount a junk yard intercooler instead of just sourcing the correct rad and intercooler setup. NOT COOL! This is a pain in the butt to fix but I can't leave it alone. Of course I found some rust issues that now also have to be fixed... Had to drill out MANY spot welds to get the affected parts off the front.

 

[RiftRover]

Also went ahead and painted some of the replacement parts in the new color. I'll have to touch up after welding but I was excited to see the new paint on something plus it's easier to paint the nooks and crannies with the parts off the truck.

 

[RiftRover]

I also found time to refresh the vents in the cowl. SEM makes some great products for this kind of stuff.

 

[RiftRover]

Pushed hard over the weekend to get the bodywork back together and painted. Welding the thin metal was a pain but I got a lot of practice, that's for sure. Should be able to get it driving again soon. Pictures aren't great cuz it's always dark when I get home.

 

[javelinadave]

Nice job!