I'm no stranger to buying project Range Rovers but I've always stuck to L322's. I rebuilt my 2007 4.2 SC L322 from front to back including a top end engine rebuild, new diffs, new ball joints, bushes, bearings, the lot. The car was in bits for 8 months. My 2012 5.0 SC L322 was bought needing the timing chains doing.

These are the threads on Fullfatrr.com if anybody is interested in having a read:

4.2 SC thread:

https://www.fullfatrr.com/forum/topic57991.html

5.0 SC thread:

https://www.fullfatrr.com/forum/topic67143.html

Anyway, enough about my previous projects...

Back in March I was flicking through Facebook Marketplace and I came across a 2013 RR Sport HSE Black Edition that had only done 77k miles and was about an hour from home. It was right up my street as it needed some spattering due to a knocking engine. I loaded the wife and our 2 year old into the car and we went to have a look at the Sport.

The car was very tidy, the bodywork was in great shape, the interior was almost unmarked but sure enough, the engine was knocking.

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Going by the noise I'm fairly certain it's spun a con rod bearing.

Our 2 year old seemed to love it and was adamant that I should buy it. Strangely, so did the wife which I wasn't expecting!



So, a deal was done and I went back a couple of days later to collect the car with the trailer.





I got the car home and gave it a good look over. I was really happy with the overall condition of the car for the price I paid for it. There are a few marks on the rear bumper so it'll likely get sprayed once I've got the car sorted.

Anyway, here's a few pictures of it:















My next step was to remove the oil filter and get a look at it:



The oil was disgusting in the filter housing and the filter tore in half when removing it from the filter housing. I'm assuming that a lack of maintenance is what's killed this engine. Further inspection found the filter to be twinkling and full of metallic chips.





I'm fairly certain from watching hours of videos online over the years that it's spun a con rod bearing. 2002 4.6 Vogue SE - Alveston Red with Lightstone Leather
2012 Range Rover 5.0 SC Autobiography in Indus Silver with Jet/Ivory Interior
2012 Range Rover 4.4 TDV8 Autobiography in Baltic Blue with Sand Interior
2013 Range Rover Sport SDV6 HSE Black Edition in Santorini Black with Ebony Interior

Last edited by dhallworth on Mon Oct 06 2025 11:16pm. Edited 1 time in total

When I got the car I noticed that it was missing a few options so I've collected a few things to retrofit to it:

Heated Steering Wheel
Adaptive Cruise Control Switch Pack & Radar
Rear View Mirror with Home Link and High Beam Assist Camera
Removable Tow Bar

Once I've fitted this lot it'll be a fairly well spec'd car with all of the other bits which were standard on the HSE Black Edition.

Since I bought the car it's been sitting in the corner of the workshop as time has been in short supply due to work commitments and the little fella.

My initial plan was to rebuild the engine in the Sport and refit it but in order to get the job done and minimise the amount of time the RRS is sat with the body off it, I bought a Jaguar XF to remove the engine from.

I've got a dead Disco 4 engine here that has snapped it's crank so I'm going to remove all the LR specific bits from that, then remove the engine from the XF and swap all the LR specific bits over and replace the oil pump, timing belts, valve covers, oil cooler, and anything else that needs doing whilst the engine is out of the car.

Once this engine is built and ready to go in I'll get the body off the Sport and begin the process of swapping the engines.

I've got a couple of questions I'd like to see what others thoughts are:

1. Is it worth sticking a set of bearings in a running engine before fitting it?
2. What other jobs are worth doing whilst the body is off?

I need to get under the car and see what's leaking and what isn't first of all.

However, I understand the hydraulic anti roll bar pipes need the body removing so I'll likely fit a set of those as the originals are likely to be a bit crusty by now. I take it the hydraulic anti roll bars are only replaced if they're leaking? The brake pipes on the body should probably be replaced. I guess the upper wishbones are much easier to replace with the body out of the way too.

If anyone has any hints, tips, suggestions or stories from having already done a similar job, I'd be really pleased to hear them

Thanks,
David. 2002 4.6 Vogue SE - Alveston Red with Lightstone Leather
2012 Range Rover 5.0 SC Autobiography in Indus Silver with Jet/Ivory Interior
2012 Range Rover 4.4 TDV8 Autobiography in Baltic Blue with Sand Interior
2013 Range Rover Sport SDV6 HSE Black Edition in Santorini Black with Ebony Interior