Yostumpy

Why on earth would someone put 305's on a Defender, I expect they come with a free X5 sticker for the back door. If you level a 110 when empty, as soon as you put any weight in the back, it is no longer level. My old ex mil 110 had std rear springs, and had HD + 1" up front ( for an intended winch, but truck was stolen ), and it sat level.

I recently bought some new wolf ish wheels, and had similar thoughts, but I thought that having a spare wolf wheel with a 255 on would be one heck of a lump to lift up on the door. Whereas with 235's a slimmer 750 or 235 could be bonnet mounted. Opted for a 750 on std rim as a spare, with 235's.

I too have 2 spare wheel carriers, MOD type bonnet one, and a rear door one. Bonnet spare....... Heavy Bonnet lifting, awkward to get wheel on / off bonnet, as you have to lift it on to the wing first. more weight on front means you can have vents open, without a gale blowing in. useful step up to roof Rear door spare...... easier to lift on /off adds a bit of much needed rear weight to an empty 110 makes door opening a tad heavier easier to check pressure useful step to get to roof With Wallace, I used a Disco pressed steel wheel carrier, mounted on a 3 mm ally spreader plate. The carrier is bolted to the door, (through the door) and on the inside, I have a x-plate cover, that is screwed to the door frame at 8" intervals with large self tappers, which adds a lot of strength and minimizes flex in the frame. I also cut lengths of pipe to sit between the door skin, and x-plate, through which the bolts pass, as anti crush spacers. works a treat, 12years now and still going strong.

Have you fitted that overdrive yet?

if you have no self leveller fitted, and its not soggier than a soggy thing, then the springs will already have been swapped for something else. Any colour banding on them at all, then you will know what you have, and which way to upgrade.

Buy a set of Armstrongs, and a can of yellow spray paint, if your that bothered,

have super gaz on Wallace, stiff as ol' boots, they are.Can't wait to get them off and go back to oil filled Armstrong ones , plus the rear top bushes aren't std size.

as above, tensioner bearing? not something touching the fan blades is it, zip tie ?

engine and gearbox, My old 110 used to do it, but that was a n/a ex- mil, fitted with an Isuzu lump. no evidence of oil leak, and only did it first thing, so I developed a 'bad' habit of pulling away in second, slipping the clutch a tad. (t box was changed for 1.4 btw).

oil on the clutch from leaking oil seal, and / or rubber mountings old and perished.

I think my main point , is that it is mostly a post 200tdi phenomenon, with the external wing vent, that allows simple 'bolt on ' cool, whether the system is sealed or not. Pre 200 tdi, and you 'really' had to want to fit one, as it meant cutting the body, or a very expensive custom jobbie.

now this is interesting, because in the early 1950's the First Overland expedition, drove from London to Singapore, in two Series 1's, crossing many, many rivers, in remote places, but there were no snorkels, and folks are now worried about a few feet of water. I don't understand where this 'need' came from. I'm not 'dissing' anyone that wants to fit / already has one, but unless you are going to drive in very deep water, more than once, because if it was only once, or maybe' then you would take an easier route, why would you fit one. Its quite funny that now, one some forums, when someone buys an early 90's truck, that has a white roof, std white wheels, no RAI, no LED, no winch, no tat n'bling, everyone says..'or, thats nice, an unmolested original one, then they put a RAI on it and LEDs and spoil it

reply #2

I was thinking today, why are RAI's seldom seen (now and in the past) on series LRs, yet every defender in the supermarket car park has one. I know that is is a must have 'accessory' but this is aided by images on t'web. So. ...... Are defenders used for more 'adventurous' ie silly, offroad pursuits, mimicking the Camel Trophy days, play days wallowing in gritty muddy water etc. Has the use of the truck now changed from farm hack Series, to tonka toy Defender? Are the old Series oil bath filter situated in the engine bay, superior to the side mounted Defender intake, is it really that vunerable?. The Military N/A had an engine bay mounted filter towards the ns front wing, and this ws deemed adequate for military duty, only the 'waders' had them fitted. So you could fit an extension pipe from the air box to the front inner wing, and bypass the side inlet, good enough for the army?

turn on the ignition, open the bonnet, put your hands and head down to the fuel cut off valve, on the fuel pump, and carefully move the wires. if there is a click/click noise, then you have a bad connection. should only click when on/off.

At the moment I'm running Wallace in ECO mode. I read about the VW 'umwelt' ( environment) engine from the early 90's , just before the tdi. Basically it had a catalyst in the exhaust, but more importantly, they omitted the boost compensator from the FIP. So engine had turbo at lower revs working with the fuel delivery, but no extra boost fuelling at high revs. They reasoned that the xtra fuel that was boosted, wasn't all combusted, so was thrown as as black smoke / soot. It was the cleanest diesel of its time by a long way, and the eco golf would still top 106 mph. Interestingly, it was so clean, it was allowed to be sold in California. So I've now pulled the plug on Wallace's boost fuelling. Apart from a small puff on start up, there is no smoke whatsoever, still very sprightly up to 50mph bit sluggish after if you let the revs drop too low, but will still bowl along at 75-80 + on the flat, but I stick t 60-62, as it will still pull away at that, 56 mph and it won't if there is a hill. It might be better mpg, not sure yet, pulls very well, but just sounds clean, if you know what I mean. The theory is extra turbo' air will force all fuel to be thoroughly combusted. I like it. The other day I had 60 x 1.8m , and 22 x 2.4m wet decking boards in there, and it works very well under load, and even working hard up hill with this load, no smoke at all.

I do believe that changing from 7.50's to 235's , does alter the way the steering feels, more play noticeable with 235's. did with mine anyway, as the 235's seem to follow tramlines more.

nornmally supermarket stuff,with added rapeseed oil, maybe 10 l per fill up this weather, but on the return trip i filled up with Shell, not good stuff, just normal. Have since gone back to sainsburys , but its still very perky.

brief history. Wallace, a 300 tdi '98 hard top, with 185k on the clock. Had van Aaken fuel pump mod about 12 years ago, has straight thro centre pipe,and new timing belt /rad last year. Went very well, but I 've been driving it a bit gentler these days. Lately (last 6 months) the engine note had changed, was deeper, and slower. uses / looses no oil or water. When driving in walled areas, I was getting embarresed by the noise, No longer the deeper note of the straight thro pipe, but a ragged , 'farty' exhaust note, as if the rear box was hanging off. Started to look at prices for centrebox, and google injection pump timing, as it was getting a bit sluggish as well. Definately sounded a bit retarded,and mpg had dropped a bit as well. Anyway, had a reasonably long journey a month ago, ( most journeys are local), and 220 miles up to Shropshire a 60-62 mph into strong headwind. Then another 250 miles home,with a good tail wind. So rather than sit at 60mph, I gave it some beans, so prob 3+hours at 75+, with a burst up to indicated 95 occasionally.. well the truck is now back to it old self, farty exhaust has now gone deeper and hoarser, engine revs are back up a tad on tickover, and its much crisper in mid range. But the thing is, it wants to be thrashed. I don't mean rag it, but it prefers bursting from 50-75 and staying there, than sitting at 58. Its like a race horse in the blocks. Now I know the 'italian tune up' is supposed to work, but this is amazing. I am intrigued what the prolonged high speed thrash has actually done to the engine. has it burnt of some carbon, has it blown the carbon out of the exhaust, has it cleaned out the injectors. Should diesels be driven reasonably hard to keep them clean? maybe I was to kind to it. MPG is back up too.

thanks.

Hi, after the correct indicator stalk./ dim /dip stalk assembly part number. Wallace is a 1998 300tdi. Also what is a good one to go for? lucas? Bearmach?, Bluebox??,some must be better than others. Thanks.

Fitted HD yellow , blue box , to the rear on 110, sagged about 15mm in less than a year, and the truck ran empty most of the time. Have they gone soft, or just dropped, if the latter, then maybe fit a 15-25mm lift spacer?

ahh! ok thanks.

sorry my bad, SFP 000250 says 2001 onwards,, but are they different?

Can anyone tell me whether SPF000250 brake pads (gen LR) will fit 300tdi 110 '98, thanks. seem to be lots of different numbers.