Tales from the Sherpa Shed

[Noel Tidybeard]

On 18/08/2025 at 14:49, Heavyspanners said:

Maestros did indeed have an auto choke. It was so unreliable that converting to manual choke became a common modification.

no it wasn't

get in, turn key, put seat belt on- this gave the stepper motor time to set choke, start car

vacuum switch on carb could fcuk up but took 35 seconds to change

[Heavyspanners]

 

11 hours ago, Noel Tidybeard said:

no it wasn't

get in, turn key, put seat belt on- this gave the stepper motor time to set choke, start car

vacuum switch on carb could fcuk up but took 35 seconds to change

My uncle Chris bought a brand new Vanden Plas Maestro (in Opaline green) in 1984. It replaced his Morris Marina estate, which had replaced his Austin Cambridge, which had replaced his Morris Minor. He saw all this as a natural progression, although the Maestro was a step-change. It was a modern car in all the ways the others weren't, really.

It had the talking dash - a real novelty, the neighbours used to come round to listen to it. Everything about the car was reliable (even the talking dash) except the auto choke. At this distance I can't remember the exact problem, but then there didn't seem to be an exact problem - just lots of baffling symptoms.  I just looked in some Maestro-related corners of the internet to see if I could jog my memory, and all this seems very familiar.

As it was a new car it was down to the dealership to fix it, which they did by replacing everything (sometimes more than once) until the problem went away. But as I recall there never was a real diagnosis.

Before I set off down The Road Of The Sherpa, I looked at a few Maestro vans. I might have bought one if I had found one without scary rust in the windscreen surround. I still keep an eye out in case a not-bad, not-expensive one pops up. A-Series only, mind, no fancy stuff under the bonnet.

At the moment this is on FB Marketplace - a fine addition to a fleet of historic BT vehicles. From the yellow/grey transition period, when the BT fleet got a hasty blow-over in the new colour. MOT record shows fails for excessive corrosion going back to 2005, although strangely this isn't flagged up in every test, which might mean it sometimes went through a 'friendly' testing station. Its most recent MOT (in 2019) is a pass with no advisories, so either someone finally fixed the rust (and looking at the state of it, no they didn't ) - or the tester was very friendly.



 

[Heavyspanners]

I think the last time my Sherpa had a service was in 1993 or 1994, at the tail end of its BT career. I have no service history for it (which is a shame in a way, because I should think BT kept meticulous records of all their vehicles) but looking at the engine, all the service parts are Unipart items, all of them obviously fitted a long time ago. That suggests the Sherpa got plenty of by-the-book servicing. Just not in the last 30 years.

This is what I saw when I first opened the bonnet. I think it's been a long time since this engine saw a spanner. Or even daylight.

 

This sticker tells me that a new clutch was fitted in 1993. So the Sherpa was still going into the workshop at that point, still having relatively major work done, even though by then it had completed its standard 8-year service life. It was sold off in 1994, so it might have done a few extra months work after that clutch replacement, or possibly it just sat in storage before being shunted out to a dealer.

 

Did BT service their vehicles just before selling them off?  On the one hand that would have made them easier to sell, but I shouldn't think it increased the value much. I can't believe that a 1985 Freight Rover 255 would have fetched much money in 1994, no matter how comprehensive its service history was. After all, at that time you could buy a brand new LDV 200 Series (not yet a Pilot), with a warranty and all the trimmings, for an attractive economy price.

So, given that it's probably 30 years overdue for the basics, I thought I'd better update the service record. Starting with the petrol pipe...

New pipe on, new filter on. Should I put clips on the hose/filter connections? They're extremely tight, just as push-fit. The main length of fuel pipe, going off to the left (and eventually, by a round-the-houses route, to the petrol tank just behind the passenger side of the cab) is some sort of hard plastic stuff. It seems OK...

There were at least two different types of petrol pump fitted to O Series Sherpas. I don't know which one I've got - possibly this one, although that operating lever looks far too long. Nothing wrong with the pump, so I'm not looking to replace it, but it's always good to know which one I might need one day.

I see a problem. The vacuum advance tube, on the right, has broken off...

New vacuum advance tube from Mini Spares. They're pretty much universal components, aren't they? At any rate, the Mini version fits the connection points on the O Series engine just fine.

The pipe turned out to be about six miles long, which is definitely a bit over the top for a Mini. It's ridiculously long even for a Sherpa.

At the distributor end, the vacuum unit looks a bit rusty, but with any luck it's fine inside.

Unipart HT leads, marked with pre-printed labels so that the BT mechanic can put them back in the right place. Those labels must surely be evidence that Official Workshop Procedure has been followed.

I drained the oil. It was ancient and dirty and smelled of horrible things. Quite possibly 1990s vintage.

In order to get at the oil filter, it's necessary to take the front off. But that's no big deal, because the front of the Sherpa is designed for easy disassembly. You just undo three self-tapping screws, and the grille is off. Then undo four bolts, lift away the bonnet slam panel, and there's plenty of access. The radiator slots into position and is clamped by the slam panel - quite a clever design. It means that once the hoses are detached, the radiator just lifts out.

But I wasn't looking at the cooling side of things yet. At this point I just wanted to get at that oil filter, wherever it is.

Ah, there's the oil filter, tucked away bottom-left of the block. There were two different oil pumps/filter mountings on the O Series engine: the early type, like this, where the filter sticks out horizontally, and a later type where the filter is held upright. Presumably you get better filtering if the filter isn't sideways.

This filter definitely looks like a vintage item.

At this point a slight problem occurred. I couldn't find my oil filter wrench, and there was no way that filter was going to unscrew with just hand pressure.

So I resorted to the messy method - stab the filter with a screwdriver, and use the screwdriver as a handle to turn it. This tends to gouge a massive hole in the filter (they're not much stronger than a coke can), and oil goes everywhere. But then, I don't think there's any way of getting a sideways filter off without making a mess.

Here's the filter, with some sort of warning on it to the effect that it should not be used on Austin Maestros with automatic transmission. Well, that dates it! 

It seems to be one of these - still available as new old stock. But I suspect that when my filter was fitted, it was new new stock. So we probably are looking at 1993 or thereabouts as the date my Sherpa was last serviced.

I fitted a different kind of new old stock filter. I don't know if Fram filters are still made, but this one had been on somebody's shelf for a few years.

I'm glad to see I'm supporting the Welsh filter industry. This filter was made not too far from where it's now being fitted, but I bet it took the scenic route to get here.

A little top-up, so that when the engine (eventually) starts there is a bit of oil in the system. It is, of course, impossible to fit the sideways filter without a fair amount of this nice fresh oil going everywhere....

Freight Rover Special Tool Number One in evidence on the bumper, there.

And finally, the main dose of oil goes in, via the long filler tube which goes directly into the sump - just like an old Land Rover engine.

I always thought that the reason the tube-into-sump filling method was abandoned on Land Rovers in favour of a filler in the top of the engine was so that when new oil is poured in, it lubricates everything on its way down. But it seems the idea made a comeback.

I've seen photos of O Series engines with an oil filler in the cam cover, but apparently this was an early feature - in fact it may not have ever been used on production engines. At any rate, almost all O Series engines have the filler tube going into the sump.

Here's a picture of an early O Series engine, trial-fitted in an MGB engine bay. Oil filler in the top!




At one time the MGB was supposed to get the O Series engine, but never actually did, presumably because it wasn't thought viable to rework the MGB for a new engine when it was nearing the end of production anyway. A few home-brew O Series MGBs have been made, and apparently they go quite well.

 

[grogee]

23 hours ago, Heavyspanners said:

At any rate, almost all O Series engines have the filler tube going into the sump.

Mine has this, with some pipe lagging to keep it warm...

On the Maestro the pipe sits at the very front of the engine so receives the incoming airflow. 

I can only think the lagging is there to stop condensation mixing with oil and producing 'BL Mayo'. 

[alf892]

8 hours ago, grogee said:

Mine has this, with some pipe lagging to keep it warm...

On the Maestro the pipe sits at the very front of the engine so receives the incoming airflow. 

I can only think the lagging is there to stop condensation mixing with oil and producing 'BL Mayo'. 

This was actually part of an official breather mod on S series maestro/montego

[Noel Tidybeard]

later s-series has cam cover cap

[Datsuncog]

On 20/08/2025 at 12:17, Heavyspanners said:

It was sold off in 1994, so it might have done a few extra months work after that clutch replacement, or possibly it just sat in storage before being shunted out to a dealer.

AFAIK, ex-British Telecom fleet vehicles in Northern Ireland were generally disposed of via Wilson's Auctions in Mallusk. They would hold several dedicated ex-fleet sales a year of decommissioned commercials on behalf of big organisations like BT, NI Electricity and the Department of the Environment.

I used to go along to Wilson's Tuesday night car auctions back in the mid-90s when you could have snagged a dreadful Rover P6 for £50, and can recall seeing row upon row of yellow Sherpa, Maestro, Transit and Escort vans up the top of their yard waiting for the next fleet sale.

Reserve prices were generally pretty low, if applied at all, since they'd have had their asset value depreciated year on year by the bean-counters and by the end of their service life probably held little residuals. But they made for good value and low risk auction buys, as they'd generally have been well maintained.

These fleet auctions were pretty popular, and I can see why anyone looking a farm pickup might have gone there first.

Good to see the progress on this one!

[Snipes]

The o-series MGB had me wondering how an M-Series MGB would do, but then I thought how about an M-Series Sherpa!

[Heavyspanners]

I've spent the last week being ill, so no new work got done on the Sherpa, or the shed, or anything else. Which was a shame, because I had plans to power through the bank holiday weekend and make some big progress. All I ended up doing was languishing in bed, making spluttering noises.

But I can at least show you a few more things I'd done earlier, as part of my Sherpa's 30 year interval service.

I thought I'd better have a look at the coolant - and it seemed surprisingly clean. So clean, I suspected that the previous owner had hastily topped it up when some fool (me) bought his old Sherpa, and now he had to make good on his claim that it was all up and running.

Well, that's encouraging. But even so, I thought I'd drain, clean, and refill the whole system. You can't skimp a 30 year service, that's what I say.

As I mentioned earlier, the front end of the Sherpa is cunningly designed for easy disassembly. The radiator is clamped in place by the bonnet slam panel. With that away, and the hoses off, everything can be lifted out with no further fixings to be undone.

One feature of the Freight Rover front end (as opposed to all the other front ends the Sherpa had over the years) is that the grille doesn't quite cover the full height of the radiator. The bottom of the radiator sits behind a solid panel, as seen here. This probably wasn't the greatest technical decision, because it blocks a small amount of the airflow.

The earlier Leyland Sherpa, and later Leyland Daf and pre-Pilot LDV models, all had deeper grilles with extra vent holes along this bottom bit. Only the Freight Rovers and early Leyland Dafs have the solid panel (I hope you're writing this down in your Book Of Sherpa Facts).




Here's a picture which I've just found on the internet, showing the later grille with lots more vent slots.

I have to say I'm not a great fan of the multi-slot grille. In my view the Range Rover lookalike grille is the best one the Sherpa ever had, even if, technically, it's a bit style-over-efficiency.

I drained the coolant, which did indeed seem encouragingly clean. I even managed to catch some of it.




Oh no. Too late now! I hope I haven't invalidated the warranty.




Radiator out (those are the locating lugs, top and bottom), and flushed through.  It looks good - not even any damage to the fins.

Behind the radiator, things look a little grubby, but nothing that won't clean up. Although I'm a little concerned about the state of the alternator - it's looking rather rusty. Is that likely to be a problem, or is it just cosmetic? The electrics do (mostly) work, but I haven't run the engine long enough to verify if the alternator is actually charging or not.

I had a look at the internet to see if Freight Rover 200 Series alternators are available, just in case I need one.  And I found this, on the Euro Car Parts website:



'Stylish and efficient'. Well, I've always said so. I'm pleased to see the experts agree!

Now the radiator is back in, and the front end is reassembled. Of course, it would have been a good time to replace the belts while I had the front off, but I didn't actually think of this at the time. Still, it's so easy to take it all apart again it's not a big deal to come back later and do it.

It's time to fill the cooling system up again.  I'm using Forlife Advanced Engine Coolant (with its strangely amateurish my-first-attempt-at-graphic-design label), not because I think the Sherpa really needs it, but because I happened to have some on the shelf.  I originally bought it to try and damp down my Land Rover's chronic fuel vapourisation, which didn't really work because (I strongly suspect) the Land Rover's engine block is toast. That's another story, however...

I also got some new pressure caps, because engines always run better with some shiny stuff on them.




In it goes...

Now my cooling system is full of ribena, instead of lime cordial. It was actually all fine - no evidence of blockages - which is just as well, because I forgot to check the thermostat. That's another one for the come-back-to-it-later list, if necessary.  O Series thermostats aren't quite made of unobtanium, but they do seem to be hardtofindium these days, so maybe I should buy that one...




In other O Series engine news, this was on FB marketplace. I was kind of, sort of, thinking about it - when it was sold, literally as I looked. But if that's what a running O Series engine goes for, it's not bad. I wish Land Rover engines could still be bought for that kind of money.




Come to think of it, a Land Rover O Series conversion probably could be done. The Perkins Prima (basically the diesel version of the O Series) was a popular conversion at one time, and if that fits, the petrols should fit, too...

 

[grogee]

I think the alternator will be fine, but the rusty pulley might chew up the belt until it's all cleaned off. 

So maybe not changing the belt was actually a master stroke

[Noel Tidybeard]

On 31/08/2025 at 19:12, Heavyspanners said:

Come to think of it, a Land Rover O Series conversion probably could be done. The Perkins Prima (basically the diesel version of the O Series) was a popular conversion at one time, and if that fits, the petrols should fit, too...

 

discovery MPi is an M-series so it's basically is an O-series landy

[MarinaJosh]

On 20/08/2025 at 12:17, Heavyspanners said:

I've seen photos of O Series engines with an oil filler in the cam cover, but apparently this was an early feature - in fact it may not have ever been used on production engines. At any rate, almost all O Series engines have the filler tube going into the sump.

Here's a picture of an early O Series engine, trial-fitted in an MGB engine bay. Oil filler in the top!




At one time the MGB was supposed to get the O Series engine, but never actually did, presumably because it wasn't thought viable to rework the MGB for a new engine when it was nearing the end of production anyway. A few home-brew O Series MGBs have been made, and apparently they go quite well.

 

Production engines did feature the cam cover oil filler. Not sure when the change was. All the O series Itals I have owned have had the sump filler whereas MK3 Marinas tend to have the cam cover filler. I picked up a seized unit from a car which is being banger raced the other day. If you need any random O series bits let me know. I only really wanted the gearbox! Whole lump is free-of-charge if you can get it from Suffolk... Thermostat housing has sold, that's the most common failure point. The Marina club is working with the Marlin club (O series-engined Marina-based 30s style car) to make replacements although number of outlets and angles vary across different O series applications.

Sherpa radiator is the same shell as the Marina radiator, but has a bigger core/more rows.

They are not a sought after engine. Certainly in the Marina world the O series engine cars are often overlooked. A shame as they're lovely and smooth. The main reason I sold my O series Ital was because it felt too much like a modern car so I didn't find it very interesting! 

[Heavyspanners]

12 hours ago, MarinaJosh said:

Production engines did feature the cam cover oil filler. Not sure when the change was. All the O series Itals I have owned have had the sump filler whereas MK3 Marinas tend to have the cam cover filler. I picked up a seized unit from a car which is being banger raced the other day. If you need any random O series bits let me know. I only really wanted the gearbox! Whole lump is free-of-charge if you can get it from Suffolk... Thermostat housing has sold, that's the most common failure point. The Marina club is working with the Marlin club (O series-engined Marina-based 30s style car) to make replacements although number of outlets and angles vary across different O series applications.

Sherpa radiator is the same shell as the Marina radiator, but has a bigger core/more rows.

They are not a sought after engine. Certainly in the Marina world the O series engine cars are often overlooked. A shame as they're lovely and smooth. The main reason I sold my O series Ital was because it felt too much like a modern car so I didn't find it very interesting! 

My engine should be basically OK (famous last words there, of course) because it looks like it got some good maintenance during its BT life, and it's only done about 50,000 miles. But the first thing you learn about O Series engines is that there just isn't anything like the parts availability or support that you get for the likes of A or B Series engines, so I do find myself looking at second-hand O Series bits whenever they come up on the internet, and wondering if I should build up my own spares stash...

The one thing that's missing off my engine is the pipe and flappy valve which goes from the air filter housing to the 'hot box', which is just a tin box mounted on the exhaust manifold. Just about all BMC/BL engines had this kind of arrangement, but I have to admit I've never known how it's supposed to work, or even why it's supposed to be a good idea.

The theory is, on start-up the flappy valve moves over to close the cold air inlet pipe, so warmed air that has passed over the exhaust manifold goes into the engine, making cold starts easier. Once the engine is running, the flappy valves moves over to block the hot inlet pipe, and open the cold pipe.

BUT...how does the valve move? It's not powered, or activated, or controlled. It literally just is a flap in a pipe, not connected to anything except its own hinge. And while warm air might be a good thing if you're trying to start the engine on a frosty morning, the air doesn't warm up until the engine has been running for a while and the exhaust manifold gets hot. So cold starts are still cold.

My Mini has this kit, but the flap seems to have permanently stuck in the half-way position. It can be pushed to and fro, but it doesn't move by itself. My Mini has a plastic air filter housing, like this - the flappy valve is in the 'saucepan handle', shown closed in this photo:



The whole thing seems so vague and unworkable that I'm thinking of just running my Sherpa with the air filter intake as it is - just an inlet into the saucepan. I'm sure it won't really matter. Unless anybody can give me a reason not to do it BECAUSE YOU'LL WRECK THE ENGINE YOU MAD FOOL?


 

[Asimo]

Is the hinge a bimetallic strip? (Bends as air temp increases etc)

 

[Heavyspanners]

19 minutes ago, Asimo said:

Is the hinge a bimetallic strip? (Bends as air temp increases etc)

 

Could well be. I can't see any other way it would work, although it seems unfeasibly sophisticated for a flap in a pipe.

[Noel Tidybeard]

1 hour ago, Asimo said:

Is the hinge a bimetallic strip? (Bends as air temp increases etc)

 

yes, yes it is

[Heavyspanners]

I've neglected my Sherpa saga for a bit, but I'm still plugging away at the recommissioning job.

So far, I've ticked this lot off the list:

I refurbished a set of five wheels. Blasted them in my back garden, primed and painted with rattle cans - and the result was pretty good, if I say so myself. 

How about this for shiny:

I bought a set of Riken Cargospeed commercial grade tyres from the Kwik-Fit home fitting service. Very efficient - the tyres were on and balanced in about 15 minutes.

The tyres are rated for106mph, which should just about cope with the Sherpa's performance.

They're 195cm wide, a bit wider than the usual Sherpa tyre width of 185cm, but 195 tyres were always an option, and I thought it was worthwhile having that bit of extra rubber on the road.

I have to say I like the way the fatter tyres make the wheels fill the arches in a purposeful-looking way. That's STANCE, m8.

The previous owner's DIY tow hitch was removed (which probably reduced the unladen weight by about a ton).

New rear lights fitted - the same type as the old rear lights, but a later version with actual reflectors instead of black plastic inside. Back end rewired to suit.

Rear number plate removed from the back of the load bed and repositioned on a home-made plinth - basically a sheet of plywood bolted to the chassis rail, but you'd never guess.

Crummy old exhaust replaced by new old stock exhaust. It still needs a bit of adjustment, because I used three different sections from three different manufacturers, and they didn't quite line up. Complete replacement was the only option, because the old exhaust looked like this:

I found the new exhaust sections from three different sellers on eBay. And then I painted them, with barbecue paint - which may not do all that much to preserve them, because exhausts tend to rust from the inside out, but it might do something.  And in the meantime, the exhaust looks shiny. Fitting was an endless festival of a-bit-this-way, a-bit-that-way, and it's still not quite right, so I'll be coming back for a final adjustment later.

The next few things on my To Do list are:

- Check over the brakes, and refurbish as necessary (they work, but I suspect nobody has looked at them since the 1990s).

- Fit new alternator (because the present one is grinding and screeching and not charging very well). Change belts while I'm at it. 

- Clean out carburettor. Engine currently only runs with ALL THE CHOKE, and bogs down if I press the accelerator too quickly - the classic signs of a bunged up carb. I might send the carb away for cleaning, because I tried to clean my Mini's carb a while back and it turned into a fiddly nightmare, with microscopic parts falling onto the floor and much chaos 'n' confusion. It put me off doing that particular job ever again.

- Retrieve driver's window from the bottom of the door, find out why window winder is stuck, and make it all work again. This is an old problem (someone's obviously had the door card off before) but there can't be too much that goes wrong with a window winder, surely?

- Fix and replace the inner door catch on the driver's door. Not sure what's wrong with it, but it's stuck. The outer handle works fine. May be easiest just to replace the inner handle, although I'd prefer not to pay the Rimmer Bros price.

- Take steering column apart and fit new ignition switch and new indicator switch.

- Fix three small rust holes in cab floor, not a big problem because they're the only serious rust spots on the whole Sherpa.

- Do something with the dashboard switches, to replace the present DIY assortment with an array that looks proper.

- Dig old grease out of windscreen wiper gearbox and re-lube.

- Replace wonky rear spring shackle bush on offside (maybe do both sides at once - I have the bushes, which are still obtainable).

There's more, but that'll do to be going on with.

Here's proof that the Sherpa runs, drives, and stops. The engine actually runs quite smoothly, but it needs to rev really fast with the choke fully out in order to prevent stalling (you can also hear it hesitate when I press the accelerator), and the alternator is making an 'orrible noise. So it's all a ghastly racket, but it's not as bad as it sounds.

It's a surprisingly manoeuvrable vehicle. Look at that turning circle...

More from the Sherpa Shed later. In the meantime....let's off-road!

[grogee]

Excellent work there @Heavyspanners. That Sherpa is an absolute babe. 

I might have ignition switch and indicator switch from my Maestro somewhere in my spares pile, possibly the same part? 

[Matty]

Favourite thread back from the dead 👍

[Matty]

1 minute ago, grogee said:

Excellent work there @Heavyspanners. That Sherpa is an absolute babe. 

I might have ignition switch and indicator switch from my Maestro somewhere in my spares pile, possibly the same part? 

You want to be careful keep giving bits away. It is an Austin Rover vehicle so may at some point need all  the spares 😁

[Heavyspanners]

1 hour ago, grogee said:

Excellent work there @Heavyspanners. That Sherpa is an absolute babe. 

I might have ignition switch and indicator switch from my Maestro somewhere in my spares pile, possibly the same part? 

I think the Maestro switches are the same as later Sherpas, but mine has the older type of indicator switch which first appeared on the Series 3 Land Rover in 1971. The stalk (and possibly the innards of the switch itself) was used all the way up to the last Defenders of 2016, although the fixing method to the steering column changed, and the Defender version gained a fancy rubber boot to make it look all modern. The Sherpa version is still available, anyway.

The ignition switch is this type - or at least, I hope it is, because I've bought one!

[Heavyspanners]

I was just taking a swing through Facebook Marketplace - just looking, you understand - and I saw this.

It's a BT Sherpa from Northern Ireland, just like mine. This one is GXI 3254, mine is GXI 3270. They probably come from the same order, and went through the registration office in Belfast at the same time. They may well have been parked next to each other in the BT depot.


I'm not going to buy it. Because buying an ex-BT Sherpa from the other side of the Irish Sea and getting it transported to me would be a very silly thing to do. Only a fool would do something like that.

Now, where was I, with my Northern Irish ex-BT Sherpa, which I had transported to me from the other side of the Irish Sea?

Ah, yes. I've been taking it to bits again...



I'm in the middle of fitting a new alternator and a new water pump. This, of course, meant that I had to take the front off (no problem, it's only 4 bolts) and remove the radiatior, which I had only just filled with nice fresh coolant.
I probably should have planned all this out a bit better, but hey. I've started, so I'll finish!

And at least I now have a shed to work in, and a comfy chair to sit in. It wasn't so long ago that I was doing this kind of stuff in the street...

And let me tell you, it's necessary to undo a lot more than 4 bolts to take off the face of a Land Rover. And they're all tucked inside the wings, for maximum inconvenience.

The new alternator is a Lucas-lookalike, which doesn't seem to have any brand name. Every spares supplier on the internet seems to sell the same item for £50-£60-ish. Holden Vintage & Classic sells a Lucas-branded version (at a price of HOW MUCH???), and you don't even get a pulley and fan with it, which is frankly a bit poor at that price. I think the cheapo version will do just fine.

I also decided to change the cam belt, which I suspect hasn't been done since the last time my Sherpa had a BT service in the 1990s.

The new cam belt is a Gates POWERGRIP item, which features a list on the box of every vehicle which ever received an O Series engine. They do seem to have got a bit confused about the Sherpas - and that's OK, I'm a bit confused by Sherpas myself. But they don't mention Freight Rover at all, and LDV did not stand for Leyland DAF vans. When LDV was formed as a management buyout of the Leyland DAF van business the deal did not include the rights to the Leyland or DAF names. So LDV was coined to make people think of those names....without actually standing for them.

The 'Rover 2000' mentioned at the bottom of the list is not the Rover P6, which as far as I know was the only Rover model ever referred to as the two-thousand. What they mean here is a Rover 800. There was an entry level model which featured an 8-valve version of the T Series engine engine called the T8, which was actually a rebranded version of the 2 litre O Series engine.

Now the engine is freshly belted up, and all I've got to do now is replace the water pump. I have to admit I completely blipped over this job at first. For some reason I didn't even think about the water pump, until I gave the pulley a spin, and heard.....this:

I think that means I need a new water pump - unless it's possible to put new bearings in? Theoretically that should be possible, unless they're a permanent  press-fit, or something.

Nobody has made O Series water pumps for years, which is slightly strange. You'd think there would be enough demand for some aftermarket company to put a batch into production. As it is, the only thing to do is look on the internet and try and find a New Old Stock pump.

Well, I did just that, and managed to find one on eBay for £35.27, which was quite reasonable, I thought. But it hasn't arrived yet, so the Sherpa Revival Project will take a little longer...

 

[R Lutz]

11 minutes ago, Heavyspanners said:

The 'Rover 2000' mentioned at the bottom of the list is not the Rover P6, which as far as I know was the only Rover model ever referred to as the two-thousand. What they mean here is a Rover 800. There was an entry level model which featured an 8-valve version of the T Series engine engine called the T8, which was actually a rebranded version of the 2 litre O Series engine.

The Rover 2000 mentioned is the Rover SD1 with the 2.0 O-series. You are also right, that that 2.0 O-series appeared in the Rover 800. This was sold alongside the M-series, the 16V version of the O2-Series. 

[paulplom]

35 years ago I helped my cousin change the head gasket on his sherpa pick up. We did it on the street when that was the norm. Only the 2nd time I'd ever worked on a cam belt engine. The first being a 1.6 mk3 escort cvh in about 1990.

[Matty]

Im on with fitting the second one of these lucas alike alternators tonight after the first one was chattering its bollocks off on the slip ring. Straight out the box 🙄.

Still the first one lasted well enough, so maybe second time lucky?!

[grogee]

8 hours ago, Heavyspanners said:

Nobody has made O Series water pumps for years, which is slightly strange. You'd think there would be enough demand for some aftermarket company to put a batch into production. As it is, the only thing to do is look on the internet and try and find a New Old Stock pump.

You did well. I had a job finding one for my Maestro. Turns out there were two (or maybe even three) types of wasserpumpe for 2.0 EFI. 

Some chancer is trying to sell the one for my car for £180 on the bay. Luckily I changed mine a few years ago. Mind you, they're probably a service item now. 

It's one of those parts that surfaces from time to time at a reasonable price, which is when I tend to pounce. Not that I'm hoarding spares, you understand... 😳

[Heavyspanners]

Sherpa progress! Water pump on...and carb off.

So it's a slight case of one step forward and one step back, but at least there's one less dodgy thing about that engine.

Here's the NOS water pump I bought off eBay. It may not actually be NOS - it looks like someone has been cleaning it up, and that label doesn't look like an 80s original. So it may be old old stock, tarted up a bit. But it runs smoothly, and that's all I'm asking for at this stage.

Old pump unbolted and wangled out from behind the timing belt...

Here are the two pumps together, to compare 'n' contrast. As I recall from doing this job on my Mini, the Mini Cooper water pump had an impeller like the one on the right (which shifts a greater quantity of water), while normal Minis had an impeller like the one on the left. Switching over to the Cooper pump was considered an upgrade.

It seems my Sherpa had a Cooper-spec pump as standard, but now it's getting a downgrade. I shouldn't think it'll make any difference on a commercial O Series engine. But it'll be interesting to see if the new pump with its different impeller has any effect.

 

Gaskets for O Series engines seem to be readily available. It's nice that something is. Here's a complete set of bottom-end gaskets. We only want one of these for now...

 

 

Water pump gasket offered up. The gasket only fits one way - the holes are not evenly spaced - and there's an odd straight section on the outer edge which doesn't match the shape of the pump. I spent a lot of time trying the gasket this way or that way, but I could only get it to fit properly like this. So that flat section goes there....er, I think.

 

 

Then I scraped off the old gasket, with an old pair of my underpants strategically placed to catch the bits. Pro engine builder's tip: never throw away your old underpants. You never know when you might need to protect the waterways in an O Series engine block.

 

Now the block is suitably clean and smooth, although I found some scrapes and scratches already there. I think someone has done this job before me.

 

 

Some say that gaskets should always be used dry, without any additional sealant. Others say that a small amount of sealant helps. And some say that you don't need any silly old gaskets, just bosh it on with sealant, mate. In this case I decided to use just a thin smear of sealant, to make sure that all those scrapes and scratches I'd noticed earlier were filled up.

Captive bolts held in place with blobs of grease, as per the manual. This is just so they don't fall out before the pump goes on and they become properly captive - although, weirdly, they're always a little bit loose until the tensioner is fitted. It's the belt tensioner itself which fixes the fixing bolts in place.

Pump on, with that wider section of the gasket sticking out, top-right. It looks like it should be on the left, under the wider part of the pump base, but when I offered it up it just wouldn't sit right that way round. So I don't think I've got it wrong. We'll soon see, anyway.

The tensioner is on, precision-set at a tension of "That feels about right." According to the manual, if the belt is tight enough so it can be just twisted through 90 degrees, that's the official "about right" setting.



However, the manual also says that I should take my Sherpa to a BL agent at the earliest possible opportunity and get the belt tension set properly. As there are no BL agents these days, perhaps I could go to a Land Rover dealer, what with Freight Rover being an adopted cousin of the Land Rover family.  Or maybe Maxus. I mean, Maxus used to be LDV, which used to be Leyland DAF, which used to be Freight Rover, which used to be Leyland....

There's also a special torque setting for the tensioner nuts. I didn't even notice that until I looked at this photo of the manual page. Strange that the nuts have a particular torque setting, while the bolt heads sit slightly loose in their housings.

 

Fan on, and my shiny new alternator set at the correct position using Special Tool No. 2: a crowbar.  (Special Tool no. 1, of course, is the Big Hammer.)

Let's test the engine!  Well, it runs, nothing leaks, and there are  no longer any grinding noises coming from the rotating parts on the front end. So that's good....
 

BUT the engine still only runs with maximum choke, so it's revving its nuts off in the video.

I thought it wouldn't be a bad idea to look at the carb, which is obviously, outwardly, in poor condition. That adjustment screw is rusted solid...



Inside, it's pretty grim. I don't know if it's possible to see this in the photo, but there are lumps of dirt sticking to the needle.

There seems to be sand inside it. And some of the internal surfaces seem like they've been scraped, or chipped - as if at some point someone tried to clean up the inside with a chisel.



I've decided to send the carb away for a refurb. On the face of it, it's a job I could do myself. But the one previous time I tried to refurbish a carburettor, it turned into a complete nightmare and I swore a solemn oath that I would never try it again. And there are plenty of carb-refurbishers on the internet, so it shouldn't be too difficult finding someone who could give mine a swift once-over - you'd think.

Unfortunately,  so far, it's proving stupidly difficult to find anyone who's ready, willing, and able to do the job.

I tried this company, but I wasn't too confident about their method. No contact, just parcel up your carb and send it in, with a form printed off their website. I would prefer some sort of initial contact first, just so I'm not sending my carb off into limbo. And anyway, I don't have a printer attached to my computer. So I tried to email them via the handy form on that web page. I got an error message: the email form doesn't work. That kind of thing really puts me off. It's a door slammed in the face of a customer.

OK, I thought, let's try a Plan B. I emailed Burlen - the owners of the SU brand these days, who offer a refurb service - via the contact on their very slick 'n' snazzy website. Well, it seemed to work, so there's that. We're a little further down the road. But no reply yet.

Then I tried this one, which seems to be a one-man business, and, fair play, the man himself did email me back very quickly.  But the news wasn't good:  "...the main problem is likely to be turnaround time as I’m currently undergoing chemotherapy treatment for cancer. I am not really working at the moment just doing bits when I’m able." Well, that stopped me in my tracks!

I'm very sympathetic to the poor bloke's plight, and I do wish him all the best, but with the best will in the world I don't want my carb to get stuck in some sort of open-ended "whenever...." kind of situation, where I don't know when I'll get it back, and I won't feel like I can even ask for a completion date. So I'm going to have to find a tactful way of saying thanks but no thanks - and even that's going to make me feel bad.

Well, I'm sure the carb will get sorted one way or another, and my Sherpa will live again.  But not this week.



There's plenty of other stuff to work on in the meantime. Maybe I'll sort out the wipers next...


 

[Mike D]

Have a look up of AC Dodd on facebook he seems to be an SU whizz

[Matty]

Honestly, just do it yourself. Im a hands like hams heavy engineering fitter and ive done 2 SUs and a dcoe Weber. SUs are quite nice to do and all the bits are available from Burlen.

[Westbay]

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/175150742747?_skw=sherpa+carburator&itmmeta=01KKK3ZP78ZMSPQV1WYZYA9T0J&hash=item28c7cc3cdb:g:ZB0AAOSw98ViA8-C&itmprp=enc%3AAQALAAAA8GfYFPkwiKCW4ZNSs2u11xBZ4qW62w6DPX%2BC2SDBXjyr%2B4UC7E0g2NdcF2EI6HiSGLIQ43hWzc4ha0VddW6mh3H7k4uYkHakRDGYrpi6PpN%2FZ2JHnuNkMITadb9zO9oZvYc54roHSagb9s5rfTe%2FTDH6%2BbXWdJRH%2FgOXVJ9BRIImnS%2Bxy82sAsxZ6nJHfINTiHxghz67hYWZ5msBtJddBKSROiQUg1Ot1bmPgUiiIq%2Bm6MeMMS%2BhdFpe2X1lk0WOakWwkMDCfOo9J8%2Fmf3CDALhNe5Z9jkBOlo1BCakUgvbrvFOWXLvpXwJiWObBTGYySw%3D%3D|tkp%3ABk9SR9Tk_uOcZw

It says Stromberg but is all "Brand New" £270+ postage ....