Defender 90 TD - gaskets

[se9boy]

Have just purchased a 1988 turbo diesel [not tdi] 90 CSW which I think needs a new rocker cover gasket and exhaust manifold gasket.
Having looked under the bonnet, both jobs appear to be very straightforward - can anyone let me know if there's anything I need to watch out for?

I don't think the vehicle has been used much recently - anything else I should be checking apart from oil change & fuel filter change [both already on my list of jobs!]

Thanks in advance.

ps - what a great piece of kit, I can't believe I've waited so long to buy one!

[turnleftwhere?]

Change the cambelt, now! Otherwise you'll be changing more than the rocker gasket. By that age the manifold might be a bit of a slag to remove. I drove a 1987 vintage one for nearly two years driving very hard on and off road. in the time I had it i needed to change oil, filter, plugs, rocker cover gasket, manifold gasket (sounded like a steam engine when that went south) and the ever so important cambelt. As far as engines go they don't get much simpler.

[turnleftwhere?]

just thought of something else.

Check the state of the bulkhead, if its already been repaired/replaced, then very nice, otherwise gain ingess through the windscreen bolts either side and fill her up with some sort of rust proofing expanding foam or similar, the rails between the butt and the side panels/windows will probably rust off at some point, easy to replace with galvanised ones, and finally check the legs for the shocks at the rear of the chassis, they like rusting too. In fact, to save you some time, wander round the whole truck with a magnet, if the magnet sticks to anything it'll soon rot.