Seems the gods are against me on this.

The valve block seals I ordered where marked as delivered today (Royal Mail tracked) but nothing has been delivered. A little frustrating.

I ordered the rear pipes from Island-4x4 who I have spent a bit of money with in the past and never had any issues. Their website product listing clearly stated that the product was for a set of rear ACE pipes, and listed both part numbers.

Unfortunately only one pipe turned up, and when I contacted them to ask for the other pipe, their response was that it was for only one pipe and would I like a refund as it was not what I had expected.

Well, I expected 2 pipes because their website said a set of rear ACE pipes, and both part numbers were included in the listing. A little peeved with that and interestingly, within minutes the product listing had disappeared from their website.

Like I said, never had problems with them before, so awaiting the outcome of suggesting to them they need to honour the order for the product I requested and paid for.

Looks like I won't have all the parts to put the car back together at the weekend!

i always like to use maltings offroad. they've also been decent to me. also get yourself a few of the ram seals incase you butcher them. i find the oring fine but the small white plastic ring always gets mauled.

Ive had good experiences of Maltings as well.

Don’t want to write off Island as a supplier just yet but i suspect their listing was an error judging by the associated price! Also a factor in why I ordered from them as it was very competitive. Its more an honesty thing and when i have multiple choices of supplier, honesty comes into play along with delivery time, price, ease of finding stuff etc.

They could have just said oops we got that wrong and offered the second pipe at normal orice with a quick delivery or something to help out rather than leave me hanging with the parts for the weekend. But maybe my expectations are too high.

Ill work round it though. Just might need another weekend. Got to try and track down the pipe seals. I’m hoping the postie foynd them in the bottom of his bag!

The front pipes arrived today so i can at least get them in place ready to connect up!

Most of the parts arrived today, so on getting back from work while there was still a bit of light, I managed to get the old rear ACE pipes off (Thanks Disco_Mike, just needed to get the heat shield off to get to that clip 10mm bolt) and the new rear pipes in place.

Now that was a total ball ache. Like one of those chinese wire puzzle where you need to feed and twist the new pipes in the get them round everything, get the ARB flex pipes round the chassis, and get the rear clip back on without bending the pipes. I could have done with the body being up another inch to help, but with a bit of patience and a lot of swearing, the pipes are in the correct place without cutting or damaging.

I will get them all connected tomorrow morning and get the front ones ready as well. Only part that has not arrived is the new valve block seals.

Might even get some photos while I am doing it.

It is not a bad job so far, just damned fiddly and having to take a lot off to do it properly.

Loads of fixes to do at the same time though. Heat shield was hanging on by a thread so new larger washers etc to hold it and the floor one on, I have an OS rear height sensor to go on to correct an air suspension error (then recalibrate), rear brakes stripped and serviced. Both sides had semi seized pins, and a bit of a tidy up underneath.

New valve block pipe seals still not turned up from DLS. Ordered on 6th Nov and they sent me collets by mistake. Flagged Wed, chased on Thu, but nothing turned up by Saturday and no confirmation that anything has been sent, so looks like another week off the road. Not a big issue but I am getting impatient to drive the thing.

So Fri evening and Saturday morning spent getting the new pipes in place (Island 4x4 did send a pair of rear pipes after some email discussion).

Rear pipes I had to disassemble the pair and feed them through individually. Very difficult job as I probably didn't leave enough room between body and chassis. The ARB flexibles go through a section of the chassis that the front of the rear diff bolts to, so feeding them through while manoeuvring each pipe to get it under the body, round the front of the rear suspension mounts, and over the chassis, and getting the clip in place that goes next to the flexible sections was hard. Even the wife told me off for my cursing!

Front pipes much easier. I had to disassemble the 4 into individual pipes and remove all the brackets. Careful marking up of each pipe required doing that so they go through the valve block mounting bracket in the correct place. I had not removed the front air suspension strut which means needing to feed the supply and return pipes through from under the front bumper, but it was very straight forward and all is in position.

I got a used valve block from Kent 4x4 breakers. First one that turned up had a damaged rear solenoid and was full of grit and oil, but they were really good comms wise and sent another one in two days. I have bench stripped it ready to clean later today, and removed the old pipe seals. Some alloy corrosion but not so bad under where the seals sit, so fingers crossed, new seals and a full clean, and it'll work fine. Just need those new seals!!!

A couple of things sorted while under the car. Rear diff breather pipe was not attached, so I bet moisture has got in, so rear diff oil change today and sort out the breather hose.

I hate those heat shields, one under the rear floor and one round the prop and fuel tank. They always corrode round the washers and fall off. I have much bigger penny washers and the same size rubber ones to replace when I put it back together.

Rear prop centre bearing rubber mount is badly perished and I can see daylight through parts of it, so just a note to self that I will get a new prop or get a centre bearing and rebuild the prop at some point later this year. Probably a new prop so I don't have to faff with the UJs.

Lots of surface corrosion on the rear of the chassis but close inspection showed nothing concerning. Rear suspension looks to have been done recently and exhaust is in good nick.

So fingers crossed that the seals turn up and I can rebuild the valve block in the evenings and get the car on the road next weekend.

Still no photos. Real reason is my phone case is bright yellow and does not look good covered in oily glove prints

Good luck with the valve block and the pipes.

I found the same with the heatshield. I ended up using some odd bits of steel mending plate I had laying around to secure them in place, along with some new fixings.

Concerning your prop, when you remove it, what you will likely find is that in addition to the centre bearing, the rear UJ will be notchy. In the end, I replaced the whole prop on mine with a new GKN one from Island4x4. They were the cheapest at the time for GKN. I think it was about £240 all in. Don't buy cheap on the prop - go with either GKN who are the OEM or genuine. Kev

MY2014 L405 RR Vogue SE 4.4 SDV8 in Corris Grey
MY2010 L320 RRS HSE 3.0 TDV6 in Stornoway Grey

The sound advice on the prop is really appreciated

I don't seem to be having much luck with parts!

Island4x4 did make good on the rear ACE pipes, in fact they were awesome and send a pair of rear pipes really quickly. They said at their own cost, but even if it is just postage, I am happy to pay the pipes cost for the new ones. They were good.

Unfortunately same cannot be said for the valve block seals from DLS in Matlock. I ordered a set of 6 on 6th Nov and a set of 6 plastic collets turned up on 11th. Emailed immediately and got a response saying they would look into it, then nothing. Sorted out what the problem was (wrong parts sent) after double checking delivery tracking with my postie, and called them after lunch on Thu having heard nothing.

They started by saying it had been delivered and got a bit confused when I told them yes but collets had been delivered not seals. They promised that they would send out the valve seals as soon as possible in the hope I would have them for the weekend. I get that it was always a long shot even with Royal Mail first class tracked, but nothing turned up Saturday and nothing turned up today.

They ignored 2 emails (I appreciate they are likely busy, but so am I and could not call them), so I called them late morning and they confirmed they had been posted Royal Mail. Nothing had turned up by the time I got home, so I called them again. It was then that they told me they had been posted second class. In our covid bound times, they might turn up later this week.

Another spannering window lost! First the weekend and then the chance to get home early to rebuild the valve block. I have cancelled the order and got an OEM set via Bearmach who do an air drop next day delivery. Guess I should have thought of that first, but I thought mistakenly that a week lead time would be more than enough.

Only used DLS once or twice in the past for various Land Rover things, and their customer service was surly to say the least. I'd never say never, but probably not a supplier of choice from now on.

Hah! \i guess I sound like Victor Meldrew really, but honestly, getting the various parts for this job has been more of a challenge than I am used to. In my Alfa Romeo world (a 155 Q4, once owned by Simoni, the second driver in the 1994 BTCC winning team as his UK hack, a 916 Spider, a GTV Cup, and a 75 V6 Cloverleaf), I use Shop4Parts and Alfa Workshop for pretty much everything. I can get next day delivery if I need it, or get to Alfa Workshop to collect worst case.

My supplier of choice so far for LR parts I reckon are JGS 4x4 and Island 4x4, both who seem to have excellent customer service.

On a side note, just out of interest if anyone actually reads my drivel, my brother in law owns a company called Muddy Mods who have specialised in Freelander 1 and 2 off road modifications, so also a useful source for suppliers on occasion. If anyone does Freelanders (I have had 4 of all flavours in the past, 5 door, 3 door, LDi, 1.8, V6 but not TD4), I can heartily recommend what his company does, including a very interesting 1.8 turbo conversion putting out about 225hp or so.

A quick further comment on the valve block and seals.

Noting a few comments about the holes in the valve block corroding, and therefore leaking even with new seals and pipes, I did a bit of research yesterday evening on high pressure hydraulic joint sealing compounds. Most of the ones I found are for threaded applications, but I did find a couple for push fit and clamped pipes. They claim to act as a sealer for high pressure applications, and fill scratches and pits in the pipe sleeves or holes.

Interested if anyone else has looked into this and used anything when they have got into the depths of their ACE system.

I have ordered one product from a well known manufacturer of such things, and will try it out. What is the worst that can happen? I have to disassemble the whole lot and start again I'll report back!

the_wombat wrote:

including a very interesting 1.8 turbo conversion putting out about 225hp or so.

A normal 1.8 turbo will only do around 200bhp

We've had our own Freelander 1.8T featured in LROi a few years back

Currently off the road for a restoration, uprated turbo and bigger injectors

That’s interesting to know. I live the idea of it.

I’ll get the specs of the Muddy Mods Freelander turbo. It was in one of the magazines, possibly LRO recently. It’s not a normal 1.8 but I can’t recall what’s been done internally.

It’s currently on Sport springs with 18in wheels for road use and looks the part.

This is a long way from having anything on it

Muddy Mods is currently 200hp using a 75 turbo engine built into a Freelander 1.8 block. Rings correctly gapped, 75 sensors fir engine management and 75 injectors, manual boost control set at 11.5 psi, KMaps ECU map and an L series clutch.

I have all the parts now and finish work early tomorrow!!

I reckon I can get the valve block rebuilt and on the car tomorrow evening, and then put everything else back together Saturday, so re-MOT next week and get it back on the road.

Can't wait to drive it again actually!

Aimed to get the thing finished today, with a few photos.

Here was the starting position:



A little unsure if I got the rear pipes the right way round through the bracket near the rear diff. I was hoping at that point I would not have to swap them as it was a tough job to get them located



Front pipes all nicely routed:





But it all went together as it should:





It is all back together now after a few more servicing bits (NS rear brake calliper pins seized), but on running it to start pumping the ACE fluid round, noticed there was a very slight fuel drip from the OS from of the engine!! Where to start looking:



Kept in running so I know the supply and return line for the ACE are not leaking (yet), but due to the fuel leak I have not taken the car out to try and get the fluid fully round the system. That will now have to wait.

I had the OS cylinder bank cover off, and the leak is very clearly the front most leak off pipe. Unclipped it (and dropped the clip ) . Looks like it needs a new O ring and I guess a new clip, so off the road this week until those parts arrive!

Managed to find an O ring and clip to sort out the fuel leak. When did diesel designers change the name of the leak off pipes to 'spill rail'?

Took it for some test miles and the ACE warning came on once or twice, but the last drive it has not re-appeared so I would assume it is bleeding related. Error code was 'unfeasible signal' which I am a bit uncertain about but it resets on ignition and has not come back so will see.

Awesome car to drive and so good to see back flat on the ground rather that jacked up at all angles.