BJ73 help and advice

[Username]

Hi Outdoordan and anyone who can help,

I've been slowly working on my 1988 bj73 with a vm 5 cylinder engine for over a year now: brakes, steering pump, fuel pump, all the rubbers in the suspension and soon, new bearings in the rear diff. All from watching YouTube videos!

It's a daily driver but I'm now seeing more vapor coming out of the valve cover breather tube than before and what appears to be white smoke coming out of the dipstick tube. I don't want to destroy the engine. The head gaskets seem to be leaking coolant somewhere and the blowby from the piston rings seems to be getting worse.

I've got two questions. Does anyone know where I might find torque and tolerence settings for the VM 5 cylinder AND do you think it's possible for a novice to watch YouTube videos to successfully rebuild an engine?

I want to and I don't at the same time! I really enjoy working on this vehicle but I've never done anything close to an engine rebuild. Am I crazy for thinking this is something I could do?

I was thinking if someone has a manual for the BJ73 VM 5 or Alfa Romeo Alfa 6 with the same HR 588 engine, I might be able to pull this off.

Thanks for any and everyone's help. This forum has been invaluable on my Land Cruiser adventure!
Mike

 

[outdoordan]

Hi Mike. Quick answer. Top end Yes. Bottom end send to George at VM motors in Chesterfield. He is the go to man for VM rebuilds in the UK and did one for me about 5 years ago. I hope he's still going. I think i have posted links to the 5 cylinder manual on here. Have a root through my posts.

 

[Username]

Thanks outdoordan, next year will be dedicated to getting the engine straight.
I was able to download using the Range Rover vm4 link but the link related to the vm5 doesn't work (or at least not for me).

 

[outdoordan]

Hopefully this will work.

5 cylinder manual but in Spanish. its the only 5 cyl reference I've got. Hope it helps.

VMs come up complete on ebay occassionally. Worth keeping an eye out for.

 

[Username]

Thank you very much outdoordan, that helps tremendously! I'm in Spain and speak a bit so the manual is perfect.
Cheers,
Mike