When I replaced the damaged timing sprocket and lightly contaminated belt a few weeks ago, I wasn’t able to reset the injection pump timing accurately because the flywheel housing is too close to the SIII bell housing cross member to allow fitting of the flywheel locking tool – I had to wait until the gearbox was removed.
Using a cut down R380 (300Tdi Defender and Discovery) reverse light switch as a slim-line and free tool, as opposed to spending a lot of money on the genuine tool that still wouldn’t fit in the limited space available, the flywheel was locked in the correct position. With the steel plate removed from the timing cover, the three bolts securing the fuel pump pulley were loosened, and then the proper timing tool (a 3/8″ drill bit or rod could be used just as well) used while rotating the pulley to obtain the correct pump timing. Once set, the bolts were re-tightened and the cover plate refitted.
A simple job that doesn’t need expensive tools. However, for Series II or III owners with retro-fit 200Tdis like me, the only way to achieve this task in the future is either to have a large diameter (1.5″+) hole drilled through the top and bottom of the bell housing cross member to allow the tool to be fitted with a socket and extension bar from below, or to undo the engine mounts and jack the engine up as high as possible (which is what I’ll be doing).
Hello, I will soon (next year maybe, still planing) be putting a 200Tdi (defender) into a 1965 series 2 swb. I note your idea for inserting the ‘timing pin’ into the flywheel ‘hole’ is to ‘jack up’ the engine as high as possible. What do you thing about using the flywheel housing and flywheel from a 2.5 N/A engine which has the ‘timing’ hole at 10 o’clock position as an alternative.
Regards.
Stephen
I considered it, having a stripped 19J engine in my garage, but I wasn’t sure if the 19J and Tdi timing tool positions would have the crank shaft in the same position when locked. There is also the problem of the four bolts through the bottom of the flywheel housing into the ladder frame – with a 12/19J housing, you wouldn’t be able to fit these bolts, and the block/flywheel housing joint would lose strength and stiffness.