Greetings Again All,

Just bought myself a 2002 (plated 2001) S-Type V8 4.0L
86K miles, main jag service history up til a few years ago, then other garage history.
It's a very clean car for it's age, and for the ｣480 I paid for it, it's a steal.

I bought it with a few problems as advertised, those being:

A monkey spanner replaced the rear track arms and didn't have the wheels tracked afterwards, consequently the tyres have gone through to the canvas on the inner shoulders, the rear parking sensors were playing up (I found the bad one), one of the air-con pipes was leaking in the engine bay (found that), and it had also just started to overheat.
So the owner (more likely the wife, with a new born sprog) said no more money to be spent on it (it had just cost him ｣400 to get it through the mot) and put it up for sale.

Now it's mine.

The overheating I was kinda hoping that it may have been a head gasket, just so I could get stuck into this engine. Haven't done a V8 for a long time, especially in the car; the last one was a V8 Mustang lump on the stand.

Any way, checked it over and it was indeed leaking water out the rear of the right hand bank at the back. Not much, but enough to tell me the head gaskets needed doing, right now.
Purchased the complete head gasket set, got stuck into it.
Soddin' wiring brackets all over the place, just don't make it easy do they!
Anyway, got to the water pump and thermostat housing, then found that a proper monkey had done some work on this.
Took the pump off and found it had been fitted with loads of black mastic on the metal gasket, then took the thermostat housing off to find the thermostat had been cut off, leaving just the outer ring and seal in there.
Checked the water pump fins for signs of cracking or missing bits, no missing bits but it has started to tear in a couple of places, so new water pump needed.
It also looks like I got to this engine in the nick of time too, as the right hand upper chain tensioner seems to have lost it's pressure some, leaving the chain a little on the slack side, so new upper tensioners needed.
When I eventually gets the heads off, they will obviously have all the valves out, head de-coked, new stem seals, the full works.
I don't believe in doing half a job on any cylinder head on any vehicle, it's just my way.
I'll check the chain guides and all that as I go through it, but I'm loving doing this one already.
Bit of a pig in places, doing it in the car, but I'm like a pig in **** just now. Up to my elbows in oil and dirt.

I'm also looking at replacing the standard head unit with something more up to date, a double din fitting with DAB radio and bluetooth connectivity, the connectivity being more of a requirement these days than a luxury. I'm pretty sure I will be able to keep the steering wheel controls and use the cars own amp's and speakers, I don't really want to end up doing a complete fresh install on the i.c.e, BUT, whatever I fit, it must be condusive with the cars interior, I don't want flashy LED's and bright lights all over the place, that wouldn't suit at all.

All and any advice on the engine overhaul and radio situation is most welcome.