Timing a 200TDI in a 109 Land Rover

Hullo,

    If you are a regular follower you might remember that I had an issue with my fuel injection pump. Ever since I resolved the broken shim and swapped the damaged bits my 109 hasn't been the same.
   It was smoking(nothing new there) and under powered(that's new). When pulling off from a cold start it felt like it was in third gear. Once the engine warmed up it worked better, but I still had underpower issues on hills of any type. I had to have high revs in first or second to get up the street to my house, which I found out the hard way......

   I finally figured out that I needed to re-time the injector pump. Either the parts I swapped were not working right or the timing wasn't correct. Checking the timing would be the least costly thing to do.

   According to the manual to time the 200 you have to put a pin in the drain plug hole for the flywheel when the #1 cylinder is a TDC. The timing mark on the crankshaft pulley now lines up with one of the strengthening webs on the timing cover. Then you pin the injector pump with another pin to keep it from moving. At this point if the injector pin won't go in you have to loosen the pulley on the injector pump and turn it until the pin fits. Tighten it all up and yer done! (IIRC)

My first big problem is that the drain plug hole for the flywheel housing is blocked by the crossmember. No access, zip, zero, can't even see it without a mirror. I fretted and planned for over a month on how I was going to cut my crossmember and bolt up some steel to retain the chassis integrity. I asked on other forums how they did it. Most just lined up the crankshaft timing mark with the web and called it good.

   Which leads to my second problem; I can not get a good visual on the timing mark and the web to see how well it is lined up. The radiator and electric fan are in the way, even using a mirror.......Grrrrrr!
I made a pointer with a magnet and put it on the timing mark, but the web is so wide I couldn't be sure how close I was. I mean it ran but was underpowered.

    I made a pointer to clamp to the web with a fine point but I can't even get my hand in there to clamp it on........Arrrrgh!......

    Not wanting to cut the crossmember I kept thinking.......tick.......tick........tick................clunk.

Knowing I needed to find TDC I decided to pull the #1  fuel injector and stick a bicycle spoke down it and watch to see TDC. Once I put it in I knew it wouldn't be close enough. I needed my dial indicator but I don't have a long enough rod to touch the piston....grrr.....

Then it hit me::THWAK!:: IF my dial calipers would fit down the injector hole I could use the depth finder feature to watch the piston move and find TDC!

It fit!

It took a bunch of tries to figure out exactly how to do it. and getting consistent readings. I found that while I held the fixed and moveable parts of the caliper in the hole I could feel when the piston hit TDC before I visually realized that the gauge had stopped moving.

So I now had TDC dialed in, pun intended ;^)

My next step was to test fit the injector timing pin. And as I thought, it would not fit, the timing was indeed off. According to the book my fix was to move the engine off TDC until the timing pin slipped in, then on the side of the injector pump remove the keeper plate and tighten the bolt and lock the pump. Ya then slacken the 3 bolts on the injector pump gear, turn the engine to TDC. Check the injector pump timing pin fitment(should be easy) and tighten the 3 retaining bolts to the correct torque.
   Back on the side of the injector pump loosen the locking bolt and replace the keeper plate and re-tighten. Remove the timing pin.

I re-installed the injector and lines and fired it up. Just a quick trial in my drive shows it pulls away stronger from a stop. I haven't been able to drive it anywhere yet.

How you ask, did I ever turn the crank and hold on to the calipers and watch them all at the same time? If you remember I use my handcrank that I modified to take a socket which fits the bolt on the crankshaft pulley. Which I turned with my foot.

Land Rover prop shaft seal repair

OK, OK,... I spent most(all) of my afternoon replacing the seal in the sliding section of my rear propshaft. Why that long I hear you ask, I'll tell you why..

Mine did not have anything but grease under the nut. I have a spare front for an 88 so I took that apart to see what was in there since I can't find anything online that will tell me.

Here's what I found, first that directly under the nut is a split steel washer;

Under that is a split fiber washer;

Alas and alack, I had neither of those on hand and no place to get them. So I improvised I got some cork gasket material some of which is rubberized and figured that I could use 2 sizes to get close to the 5/32" thickness of the original. I measured the OD of the propshaft sliding section for the ID of my seal and the ID of the nut for the OD of my seal. Then using a compass I drew them and cut them out with a safety blade. I made 4, 2 sets so I could have a spare in case I screwed up.

And I wound up with,(one set is stacked up);

I test fit the seals on the shaft;

Good to go!

Then came the hard part! I had to make a split washer. I looked thru my scrap and could not find a suitable piece of steel so I made one from Birmabright. I don't know if it will work but I guess I'll find out. I will also keep my eyes out for some steel to make another one from.

Using my 1-3/16" hole saw I cut out the ID. It is too large as the shaft is 1-5/32" but it was what I have. Then I laid out the steel ring and marked the OD.

Tin snips made a rough cut out and I used my angle grinder in a vise with a flap wheel on it to remove the excess material.

It took FOREVER to get my ring to fit inside the nut, working with a file but I got it. As I was doing this I checked to make sure I was keeping the ID centered when it hit me..........I could use the old ring as a template and file to it's edge.

Pulling some vise grips from the tool box I clamped the 2 bits together and filed away. Second revelation I could do this with the seals too! My first seals got tossed out as the ID and OD's were too large. Now 2 vise grips were employed to hold the materials together while I used the Dremel to quickly make the seals.

At first I cut a triangle to allow the Dremel tool access to the ID, but then I discovered I could just grind right thru the cork. Takes about 3 min to make a seal now.

I split the seals on a 45 sideways and the metal washer on a 90. Put some anti-seize on the threads, lined up the balance marks and tightened the nut. I greased it the other day so unless I find out different it is good to go!

My slip joint travels 2". I learned a lot today, I hope you did too!

Land Rover output shaft seal replaced

My output seal decided to leak. I found it by the drip from my transmission brake when I went to check the transfet case oil level. It wasn't bad and the case was full so I figured I would still drive it.

Well the next day I drove 6 miles and then I could smell oil so I pulled over and it was dripping a lot! So I canceled my bike ride and went home. On the way I had a guy at a one way stop for storm damage walk up and tell me he thought I needed oil due to the smell......I told him thanks and it was a diesel.

It was too hot to do any work so I waited a day more for it to cool down. Then I went to work.

Pulled the rear prop shaft while the oil was draining out of the transfer case. Disconnected the handbrake bell crank from the frame and linkage. Removed the oily brake drum and Yeow!, was it a mess in there with oil! Removed the output shaft w/flange.

I could have stopped there as I now had access to the seal. But I knew it would be easier to replace if I removed the speedo drive housing and worked on it on my bench. So off came the brake backing plate and the speedo housing.

Some brakeclean  sprayed on it cleaned most stuff up and I pounded out the old seal. Cleaned out the mating surface and smeared some gasket maker on the outside of the new seal and pounded it in. Crap! It wouldn't go in a deep as the old seal so I really wailed on it. It bent......That is when I noticed that it was thicker than the old seal.

So I pounded it out and in the above pic you can see them side by side.

Now I have heard on some forums that you can put 2 seals in there to help with the sealing. Not with the genuine ones I have; FRC1780G's

I couldn't find a brand name on the old one, perhaps, SKF  it says CR16245USA on it.

I put a good seal in the speedo housing and using all shims after cleaning them reinstalled it.

Next I cleaned up the brake shoes and backing plate and that was a chore. It is so much easier to reinstall the brake shoes using a vise than it is under the vehicle. All clean they went back on the 109 and then I put in the output flange and the cleaned brake drum.

An now it sits. for a couple of reasons. 1) the propshaft boot has fallen apart and I am looking for a new better option, mainly a shock boot. In the process I have discovered that from the factory they didn't come with a boot.. While cleaning up the propshaft I found that the felt seal under the nut on the female section of the propshaft is missing. I have queries out on forums and part suppliers.
     2) I fear that the seal between the mainbox and the transfer case has failed and haven't checked it due to time constraints.
    3) I am tired of working on the 109 and just want it to be reliable. I'm too old for this shit!