Retroanaconda

Sorry to ask again Ralph, you don't happen to know what size the wires in the dash are do you? In terms of which of the two sizes of connectors I need to order. I'd imagine it's the larger one but I'd like to be sure. Ta

I always used to call that C-strip. Used it a lot back in my PC modding days. Got it from Screwfix or TLC I think. Some electrical place.

I used 'Gold Label Pond/Aquarium Sealer' that the sales rep for the company that makes it gave me for free last summer (I work in an aquatics store). http://www.aquatics-online.co.uk/catalogue...rium-sealer.asp We do it where I work for £20 odd for a full tube. It sticks pretty much anything to anything (metal, wood, plastic, glass etc), and sealed up my leaking roof a goodun. Holds very well too, just don't get it on yourself

No worries. When complete I will write up a full 'idiots guide'. And as Ralph has correctly pointed out, they generally come from eBay. Plenty about, mine was about £35. One here, for example. I bought all mine from that seller, the speedo, fuel and temp gauges and the loom. Lots more to choose from, occasionally a whole binnacle will come up, with the later type warning light panel and lit surround too. That's a whole seperate ball game though

Yeah, I've ruled out the electric drill method as I worked out it needed more than a month or two running constantly to rack up the 80,000 miles I have to add on. I'll send it to Digidash as you did Western, when I have some more money to play with. Got to buy all the transducer etc yet Thanks for the info re. the plug, I will contact those guys and get a couple of plugs (bound to bust one) and a shed-load of terminals I am going to try and create an 'idiots diagram' of the dash loom one should end up with (ie. the standard Td5 loom modified to match the ROW 300Tdi loom). So far I have this: Just temporary for now, will do a digitised version, but this shows the relevant connectors on the loom, and how it needs to be. It's basically the wiring information for the ROW 300Tdi loom, the difference being the signal from the 300Tdi temp sender being passed through the lower speedo plug (plug B) before going to the gauge.

This topic has been well covered in the infamous 'wibbly wobbly speedo' thread (see here), however I wanted to try and consolidate the information contained within all those pages somewhat to make it easier for people to do this upgrade. So this is going to be my worklog on how it goes for me. So let's get started. I will be putting the Td5 speedo, fuel gauge and temperature gauge into my dash. Kept standard (200Tdi) will be the dash housing (for now), and the instrument warning lights pack. This is what I have so far: In this diagram we have: 1. Heater fan-speed control illumination bulb (unused) 2. Speedo 3. Temperature gauge 4. Fuel gauge 5. Heater temp/distribution control illumination bulb (unused) 6. Loom end plug I need to obtain: - Speedo transducer and relevant fittings - A green 300Tdi water temp sender, and a second 200Tdi one to use as an adaptor - Various wiring parts (wire/plugs/etc) - Probably more stuff too My speedo when powered looks like this: Needs a bit adding to make it up to 144,000 miles but that's a job for soon. I have a question or two to start with, for those who have done this conversion before: 1. The end plug of the gauges loom, item 6 in the first picture above, does anybody know the part number (RS I presume) for the counterpart plug? I'd like to make this installation as tidy as possible, so the correct plug/terminals would be great Edit: I've partially found the answer to that here: http://forums.lr4x4.com/index.php?showtopic=28502, does anyone know of a source for these connectors? Other than buying a whole loom? 2. The speedo as shown above reads 67,689 miles. Mine has 144,000 miles on the clock...how does the Td5 display show the extra digit required? Is the decimal point etc removed and only whole numbers shown? Many thanks all

Losing the beam-axle and body-on-chassis build structure will be a great shame I think

My 200Tdi has one fan and it only ever comes on when off-road, higher revs and slow speed. It comes on for a few mins and then it's off for a good 15 or so. A very efficient-running engine like the 200Tdi barely needs cooling at all, I've never seen it come on once while on road, in nearly a year.

Brilliant, thanks.

Just to piggy-back off another topic rather than start a second one, does anyone know the distance between the wheelboxes in the rear loadspace? I assume it's the same on 90s and 110s, or is it different? Thanks

Doesn't like Vista x64. Windows 7 x64 works fine, with the new Virtual Windows XP feature thingy.

Fair play, didn't know that. Maybe something inside the switch part of the light unit then?

There is a difference between taking a vehicle in with known faults with the intend of getting a 'to fix list', and taking one in and hoping it'll pass. My Defender went in for it's MOT with a rusty outrigger, I knew it would fail, but wanted to make sure I could do all the work at once so got it tested to give myself a job list. Nothing wrong with that, if I want to pay £50 for the privilege. If for some reason it had passed with the problem I would have pointed it out, as the prospect of driving an unsafe vehicle around doesn't sit very well with me. As for the magazines, well I confess to buying them now and again...but just to have something LR-related to read. I don't really take any of the articles/advice given seriously.

The only components in the system are the 12V feed, light unit, the selector switch bottom right in the dash, and the door switches. I would be checking the mode selector switch in your case, it may be that it has failed internally.

Champions the lot of them

Well I don't know for sure, but I would think other than your bog-standard 'oh that looks like a larf' joyriding opportunist theif, Land Rovers more than most cars get stolen by people looking specifically for them with the view of breaking them down and selling the parts on. These people might well be equipped better with jammers etc than your average car theif. Not trying to put you off, just voicing my concerns over spending possibly many £100s on a system bypass-able with a £30-40 jammer.

Any GPS will be rendered useless by a GPS signal jammer, no matter where it's mounted. Just stops it locking on to any satellites. As far as I know, there aren't any civillian units which can't be jammed. I stand to be corrected though.

I've not had a 300Tdi, but all I can say is my 200Tdi has been going for 17 years and 144,000 miles and still starts on the button, uses no oil and revs beautifully

Considering how easy it is to jam a GPS signal, I worry about the effectiveness of the units at all. But then I guess it only needs to work once to be worth it.

I'll be there one of the days

Well I have this for when I am going somewhere with someone who wouldn't approve of the Defender, and for other occasions where the need arises: Also very useful as a vehicle to use while the Defender is out of action for any non-disclosed reason A wonderful car, and I love it to bits...but I do generally prefer driving the Defender as it's so much more fun! I don't intend to get rid of it either, I would rather see it sit unroadworth on the driveway for a year while I saved for a new chassis than it go to a scrapyard. It's my Land Rover, and that's a very important bond

Yep, that's on the cards. After a weekend's greenlaning with the power leads lying all over the place, some 12V sockets on the bulkhead area are something I'm definitely looking into. Going to get some from Mudstuff when I get a Mud Console, and I will give them dedicated earths as you say. Much easier for diagnosing faults. The circuits I've already installed beforehand can use the earths they've been given though, easier than running more wires reb78: It's an X-Eng split-charge system. Seems to work fine

I have yes, something to consider for the future possibly...but for now the airline reaches all four tyres and a good distance from the vehicle if needed too

Just to show how I have mounted my T-Max 12V compressor in the cabin. It's the double-pump model, and so far I'm very impressed with it's performance. It sits behind the cubby box on a custom-made wooden mount like so: Here is a close-up of the mount: It is screwed through from inside the cubby box, as well as riveted to the rear bulkhead via a piece of aluminium plate bent to the correct angle. This should stop the thing going flying in the event of something adverse happening. I decided to keep the little power box that comes with the thing. It seems to offer no disadvantage that I can see. It's stuck to the bulkhead with some double-sided foam tape stuff. Power-wise, it's wired directly into my aux. fusebox which runs off the second battery. I hope that is of some use to someone

For reference purposes, here's my Defender (200Tdi) auxillary fusebox install. We begin in the battery box: The supply wires to the fusebox are 16mm², rated for 100 amps. As such, there is an in-line 100 amp fuse mounted to the side of the battery box. This keeps the supply safe as it is fused right next to the battery and before any routing through panels. The two large gauge wires described above exit the back face of the battery box through a grommet, and then head upwards through the seatbox top through a second grommet-filled hole: This takes us to the main bulk of the system. Mounted on the bulkhead behind the passenger seat we have: The fuxebox itself is a reasonably expensive unit (£30 odd from VWP), but it features up to 12 fused circuits in two seperate banks of 6. I'm only using the bottom bank in mine for now. Each circuit is rated for 30 amps and each bank for 100 amps (hence the supply cable/fuse ratings). It also provides 12 common earths as well, although I imagine these are of less use for most remotely positioned accessories. As it stands I only have three circuits wired in, the 12V compressor, the central locking system, and the engine cooling fan circuit: So that's my system. I need to remember to sleeve the supply wires in some of that convoluted tubing you see in the fourth picture as well, must get around to that soon.