Time for a long overdue update from my side...
As you may have gathered, the car was sent in to have the bearings done. I had been accumulating the parts bit by bit over the past few months, so minimise the butt hurt come December time.
Anyways, after much procrastination, reading, discussions with fellow forum members, and also evaluations of other external parties, I decided to send the car to Peter. It was dropped off a few days before Christmas and collected shortly after New Year.
Honestly, it felt weird sending one of my cars for someone else to work on, given that I can throw a few spanners around on occasion. I did seriously ponder to do the job myself, but the lack of a lift, a fancy torque wrench and not being familiar with the intricate details of the S65 deterred me from doing so.
Overall, I am pleased with the service Peter offered. Despite my car going in just before holiday time, he soldiered on to complete the job whilst everyone else was relaxing with family and friends. On a daily basis I would receive pictures and feedback on progress made, as well as any other gremlins that popped up. Thankfully these were minimal.
Over and above the rod bearings. I had my suspicions about replacing the engine mounts (also seeing as the sub-frame comes off anyway), but didn't order beforehand. Once stripped down, one mount was KO and the other was also looking a bit sad and collapsed slightly. So new mounts were ordered and installed. There was also a plastic bracket missing which secures the oil cooler pipes, so this was also ordered and fitted. In it's past life, the radiator must have been removed at some point and installed incorrectly (skew), but this was rather easy to rectify, and minimal financial outlay - let's say things came to fruition.
Here's a summary pic of all the rod bearings:
Anyways, I've had the car back for about 2 week, and completed close to 400kms since the repairs. All is going well. It does feel smoother with the new mounts fitted, although I also suspect there is some placebo effect in the mix.
I'm going to take it easy for the next couple of months, to make sure everything is A-OK and settled down before stretching it's legs again.
Also, shortly after getting the car back, I replaced the cabin air filters. The ones which came out had done approx. 20000kms:
Other than that all is good. Will post more updates again soon....