WesBrooks

I guess most of these questions are traditionally answered by live data collection on increasingly complex tests. In a way what I'm attempting to do is more challenging than what vehicle manufacturers do. With that in mind I guess I will have to adopt over engineering on safety factors merely because I have less confidence in the expected loading the components will experience in use. That said I assume you get my point about over engineering not being the answer to all my problems!

I may have asked this before a while back excuse the repetition if so! My background is mechanical engineering to a degree level, along with general aquired information from the following 17 years of life in engineering related industrys and of course floating around these forums! I'm looking for a read on vehicle dynamics that is a general introduction that would allow you to go forward and start to play with ground up homebuild vehicle design that's backed up by a little more than seat of the pants instinct and heresay. ...or more accurately allow you to take heresay and nuggets of experience from others and try to start understanding the mechanics of what they have observed. A recent post talking about getting engineers advice on a spacer on the axle made me realise I understand all of the basic potential failure mechanisms such a fatigue, shear, tensile load, etc., but coming up with reasonable estimates for loading to design to is a vast gap in my knowledge. Take even a very prescribed case such as driving into a curb a 20mph with 285 75 r16 tyres. Where to draw the line on what is a failure level event? Don't get me wrong, I'm not nieve enough to think one book (or website) will make me an expert. Navigating options on online book sellers is difficult because there are many options. I will have a look for recommended reading lists from motorsport engineering courses but welcome suggestions. My ultimate aim is once I have finished my current project to move onto a ground up design of a independent suspension electric off roader. I'm not trying to do something that is ground breaking, but would like some confidence it is safe and grounded on fundemental best design practices! Over engineering is fine, but it adds mass which counters the objectives of the initial desire to engage in over engineering!

Swapped my Superb over to Bilstiens with new springs and some rubbers at around 180k on the clock. Yeah, the old dampers were knackered (the old how many times does it rebound is not a good test for condition!) and it transformed the ride. Also lifted it a little which stopped it wiping its nose on the tarmac from time to time. Now got around 267k (been doing negligable miles since June 2018) on the clock and the suspension is not showing signs of degradation. A 1.8t (1.5t curb) independent suspension vehicle is a poor comparison but fair indication on general build quality. I've been asking questions about dampers on other threads and niw appreciate that ideal damper selection for a custom vehicle is complex. The corner weights of your build will obviously be very different to original. I'm probably going to need to go over spec on dampers so I can get adjustment on them to get them dialled in right. Yeah, I could just stab in the dark and tollerate a reasonable comfort level most of the time, but I really want my vehicle to behave to its best ability that one time I need to take avasive action.

Good morning! Late to the party but this is more my neck of the woods than LRs. Been involved with Rapid Prototyping/Additive Manufacturing/3D Printing for a few weeks off 20 years now. CAD wise try FreeCAD. It's come on a huge amount in the past 5 years. I think it is a user interface on OpenSCAD and a few other tools. I've been contracting trying to sort someone elses designs out for Additive Manufacture and they wanted me to use Fusion 360. Highly depends on your thought process but I found it a right pain. Yeah, looks pretty but navigating through constraints to find out why your drawing is not fully constrained was next to impossible. The material extrusion machines are truely very capable for their price point, but quality control on sub £400-500 machines are poor, and some are outright dangerous fire/shock hazards. I've built my own, mostly from existing frames but custom parts from there. That's not necessary but it helps me keep my CAD and design-for-manufacture sharper. As for running costs if you are just costing material then ectrusion systems can't be beat. However they are slow and not highly reliable, so it is surprising how quickly it becomes cheaper to make something with higher grade commercial powder bed or photopolymer systems. Personally I want to try some investment casting from printed masters but not found a willing person with kit who is interested in trying it out yet. This could be a great way to get small manifolds and other obsolete parts made up at low volume. Here was my small holding shifting some PPE earlier this year:

@geoffbeaumant that's fair enough! Essentially wanted to make sure I wasn't ruffling feathers by posting in the wrong place! 😄

I will double check the drawings I have of the chassis and see if I can calculate roughly the relative positions of the mount pounts. Engine angle changes subtly as in moves back but not a massive issue. Everything centres around the position of the transfer box relative to the two axles to save me needing new custom props. This is the standard tomcat engine shift back as far as I'm aware.

Cheers. That is what I assumed but thought it wise to check! I've got a similar job to yourself to perform. Props are getting reversed to move the engine back around 10" before I can tack the engine mounts in position, and mark the transfer/gearbox mounts up. I guess the all up weight of the drained drive train to the in the order of 360-400kg, so that will prevent the longest reach of the 1 ton engine crane, perhaps limit to the shorter two if at all possible. There will be no bodywork that needs to be lifted over. Still advise removing the transfer box? I'm not to sure how I would get the transfer box mount holes lined up well with the gearbox and without it being attached to the gearbox?

Hi All, Should we have a forum (/is there on that I've missed!) specifically for generic tech questions like this and my previous one on the brakes? Seems it's not the point of the International forum, but it makes less sense sticking it in a model specific forum as unless we're talking about body panels much of the Defender/Range Rover/Discovery came from the same parts bin. Continuing the strip down of the Range Rover Classic I'm now ready to remove the braking system from the body and then move onto removing the automatic gearbox selector. Does it make sense to leave it in a specific gear to make re-assembly easier? Currently I've left it in park with the bog-warner in neutral. Other extreme of travel would be '3'. Thanks!

Having recently stripped two land rovers for V8s it is very clear that you want to make sure the exhaust pipes don't get close enough to the chassis rails to heat them. The heat from the cats on a Disco 1 and RRC V8 completely rotted out the chassis rails. Consider exhaust heat wrap to keep the heat loss from the exhaust as minimal as possible?

Not so sure the UK response is still looking rosey now!

I should have made it clear I am stripping the system for transplant into a new build. Thinking about the valves I will just drain the tank, then disassemble from the highest point down just sucking out the fluid as it becomes exposed. Will get some spill, but shouldn't be too bad. Are there any off the shelf plugs for the flares when removed to stop junk getting in the system? Seem to remember a M10 * 1mm thread being mentioned someplace. Other option woul be just to cut the pipes, fold and re-tighten flares. Bound to scratch myself on the hedgehog that will be the valve block though! 😄

Would using a hand vacuum to clear the brake fluid cause any issues? I realise that it won't be an issue of just draining the caliper bleed nipples but wanted to make sure the obvious answer isn't likely to cause issues like the intuative way of rotor arm removal on V8s!

Why replace the existing solenoid driver?

Electronics are cheap most of the time. Manufactured in large batch sizes in the far east. Trim not so much.

I'm guessing UK MOD is fleet sales target #1 followed by forestry and power/telecoms companies. Private sales won't be high on the agenda.

Yeah I realise that but if they are aiming for a fix-it-on-the-field friendly machine it will have a far higher quantity of bolt on/easily removable pieces than the new defender. So production volume lower, build costs likely to be higher, and durability targets also higher (meaning all critical components are likely to be more expensive) all point towards a more expensive machine than the new defender. Unless, as I said LR's current margins are significant.

Unless LR are making some huge profit on the defender I'd guess this would be more than the defender purely based on sales volumes. There was also regular comment about how much more expensive the defender was to produce relative to the Range Rovers, and Grenadier have reverted back to more like a Defender style build.

Softdash era classics definitely come across as customer funded test mules! The ABS, traction control, intermediate Serp V8s, and air suspension were all early but similar versions to that seen in the P38s?

Any one else read that as an assessment on the level of application required in the field of Geology to earn coin? 😄

More likely slag but heavy, metalic, and signs of melting also ticks boxes for meteorite. Far more likely to be slag if spread over a large area and the geologist didn't say meteor straight away as I believe they have decent value! Had a look at the old maps websites to see if there was a foundry nearby?

I certainly intend to keep the ABS. Don't think the '94 (14CUX) had traction control did it? Where the V8 disco disc brakes that poor?

Close but no cigar for me today! 😄 Remembered it being connected to something!

Here's the valve block and accumulator up against the bulkhead, drivers side on a Range Rover Classic... ('scuse my foot. I was getting a 12V charger from the garage!)

Yup. On the classic (and maybe top model disco 1s?) it is a seperate sphere component next to the valve block, and on the P38s I believe it was integrated onto the valve block.

Hope so yes. I have the fall back of the non-abs disco 1 system if needed.