Retroanaconda

I doubt the sales of the Grenadier or the Defender are going to be in trouble, they are both small volume products and Ineos and Land Rover both have far more demand than there is production capacity - even without component shortages. They are both in the leisure/lifestyle 4x4 market and there will always be enough people with money despite the rises in the cost of just about everything. What will be more interesting is how many Grenadiers are bought commercially.

Fuel cost has gone from £0.16 a mile when I bought it up to £0.27 a mile. At 30k p.a. that’s an extra £3,300 a year Interesting to read about second hand values for older Defenders, I guess that market is more affected by inflationary pressure than that for expensive new cars.

Thanks all, I think I’ll try some Velcro strips to begin with. I need to get some van lining stretch carpet and do the soundproofing/carpeting first, then I’ll be refitting these as well as adding a 12v socket and some wiring for a courtesy light into the right hand one. All part of the plan to make it a bit tidier and more user friendly in the back.

Has anyone come up with a better way of securing these? From factory it is two self tappers into the top of the wheelbox and an M5 bolt though the rear face of the tub and capping just next to the brake light. If possible I’d like to find a way of securing them that’s a bit less prone to leaks and seizing/rusting fixings. Given there’s no structural loading I wondered if some Velcro strips would work? This is the bit I mean. You can see the hole for the bolt top left (with the end of the rivet I’ve currently got in the hole poking through), the two self tappers go into the slotted holes at the bottom. The two slotted holes at the top appear unused.

Earlier vehicles use the rubber bullet connector blocks which are behind the light panel yes, same as where the leads from the light units themselves connect. On later vehicles (Td5 and on, but maybe 300Tdi too I’m not sure?) there is a large proper sealed multiplug provided but it is in the area at the rear of the wheelarch behind the cover, rather than inside the cabin as before.

The fuel gauges are not particularly accurate so from your description I would not think that there is anything wrong. Low fuel warning light was not fitted to all models, and there were lots made without them.

Been offered more than I paid for mine by a dealer, and it’s done 30k. Madness. And pointless as it would be a minimum 12-month wait for a new one which would cost a lot more and would have lots of things missing that mine has. More money for a lesser spec, the world is officially mad

Propshaft nuts are slightly shallower than ‘standard’ 3/8” UNF ones, so make sure you get the correct size. Otherwise yes there’s nothing special about them or the bolts so a fastener shop should be able to supply.

I was lucky and found the conveyor belt in a quarry, just had to cut an inch off it to fit the load space. It’s not stuck down, I may need to replace the floor in the future so not too keen to do so yet but if I ever do that I can glue it then

My car had factory soundproofing on the engine bay side of the bulkhead, which I didn’t reapply but perhaps should have done. That combined with stuff I put on the cabin side plus all the factory CSW stuff made it pretty quiet inside for a Tdi before I rebuilt it. It’s noisier now than it was and I’d like to address that, but I’m not sure I’ll ever get it as quiet as it was. Doing the rear tub etc. will hopefully help and my hope is that the WOR kit has done what the old factory soundproofing/carpets used to do - but with a more resilient finish. This was the stuff on the bulkhead. I was in a rush rebuilding it and didn’t replace it, and of course now it will be a ball-ache to do with the car reassembled

Thanks. I already have the rear hard top sides done (albeit with builders flashing), and I’ve got a bit of thick rubber matting on the floor - a bit of 3/4” quarry crusher conveyor belt. The wheel arches will be the first bits to get done. I will cover 100% of those as it will create a smooth level surface to carpet over, but we’ll see how I get in with the doors. I’m happy for the bonnet to only be a benefit outside the vehicle - soundproofing matters there too!

From the colour I would guess it’s ex Network Rail. They're quite cool, I think they’ve moved over to pickups now.

I have a nice big box of Dynamat and a bog standard 90 to fit it to - I would be interested to hear peoples views on the best places to target it’s application. It is a vibration dampener rather than a sound blocker, so I need to focus on panels that resonate and cause or amplify noise. Preciously I have used it on the rear wheel arches, seatbox, floors and bulkhead. I now have the wright off road matting in the front so not much benefit in fitting it there I don’t think, my thoughts are that all three doors and the rear wheel arches would be the best start point. The roof too but haven’t got enough to do that in this phase. I already have dampening fitted to the upper hard top sides. So I am thinking to start with: Front doors x 2 Rear door Rear wheel arches and tub sides Bonnet I also have a box of closed cell foam which I will fit on top of the Dynamat in non-loadbay surface areas like the inside of the doors and the underside of the bonnet - reckon it can’t do any harm. I did all this many years ago and it worked well, but interested to hear if there any pitfalls or things to be aware of, or indeed if I could target it better.

LT230 failure very rare - MT82 coupling failure so common as to be almost guaranteed. Have had several go on fairly low mileage vehicles. Whip the cover plate off and see if the end of the shaft inside the input gear is turning - if not then the fault is with the coupling. Or the MT82 itself, though those are pretty robust too to be fair, it’s just the rubbish bodge to adapt it to the LT230 that is the issue.

This is a very interesting debate and I’m not sure anyone really knows what the EV landscape is going to look like in 5 or 10 years’ time. I’m a big fan of electric propulsion as a means for day-to-day driving, the means of storing/generating that electrical energy is less clear though. It is not currently an option for me as I simply drive too many miles to make it practical. If and when a 4x4 EV is available that will do 300+ miles on a charge in all weathers, carry/tow decent weight, and can be recharged in five minutes then it will be doable - but I would not like to guess how long that will be? I’m hoping within 9 to 10 years or so as that’s when I’ll next be looking to buy a new car. Other societal changes may well affect how things play out. One could argue that the entire modern world has been built on a plentiful supply of cheap and seemingly consequence-free energy and if that is coming to an end things may have to change - personal transportation may well be part of that change. Between the pressure on fuels, emissions and climate change I think we may well be at or around the peak of the car as we know it. Hopefully at some point in the future EVs (or some other technology) will become a practical solution for most and petrol and diesel will be in much less demand, meaning we can enjoy practical classics like old Land Rovers in an affordable way. Just as long as we can find a fuel station that’s still open

Turners have a good reputation for only selling quality parts, it would indeed be a shame if they have turned back on this. I would have similar concerns about using that pulley.

I tend to work on the principe that mud and water will always get in, and so it is better to have decent drain holes so you can wash it out. Plus an old chassis will already have rust inside, and in order to slow this down (there’s not really a way to stop it) you want it to dry out it in there.

Do you mean for the cables to pass through or as a drain in the bottom of the box? I do intend to fit a removable bung in the bottom so that it can be drained out if I did end up too deep for some reason.

Meanwhile, on the edge of Sussex and Surrey…

Doesn’t stop the tide mark of silt/mud though Mo, which is what I am trying to avoid.

I’m not digging the cables off the starter and block as the access is a pain in the backside! Removal of the battery clamp terminals is an option but I’d rather not as they are original and I don’t want to disturb them lest I introduce more electrical weaknesses. The battery box is a YRM one so there are no holes in the bottom. I plan to seal it up and add a vent tube which I can route into the engine bay to ensure any fumes can escape. The top cover is also unsealed and I don’t intend to seal that up as if the water is they deep I have bigger problems!

They’d need to be pretty huge to go over the battery terminal clamps! I think as usually I’m overthinking this - as suggested I can just use a normal soft rubber grommet and cut and glue it. This will be more than good enough for my application. Thanks folks - will update how I get on.

OD doesn’t really matter as I can make a new hole if needed, the current hole is probably about 30mm. Its the two main battery cables - one to the starter and one to the block/earth.

I would like to seal up the holes at the bottom of my battery box where the battery cables enter. The cables are probably 13mm or so in diameter and so a normal cable gland would work fine, except that the large terminal connectors on the end won’t pass through them. As such I need a grommet/gland solution that can be fitted in situ as it were, i.e. around the side and then sealed up afterwards. Does such a thing exist? At the moment I’m looking at the sort of thing shown below, and cutting a slot in it to fit over the cable and slide into place. If sized correctly and with the addition of a little sealant if necessary I think this should be fairly watertight. there is an existing hole the cables are going through but the size is not critical as I can plate and re-drill a new hole if necessary. I’m not looking for IP67 here, just enough to stop the battery box from getting a later of silt in it every time you go through a muddy puddle.

Some pics that may be useful. I can get more of the chassis engine mounts tomorrow evening if you want - just shout. Happy to take measurements too.