Retroanaconda

Not a good start for the product. And at that price a decent-condition genuine item should be achievable, including subsequent galvanising.

It's probably a later axle with the narrower hubs and therefore shorter stub axles and CVs. Have you got a picture of the outside of the hub?

The later ones are a different type, they're a sort of squared-off oval shape where they go through the bulkhead. And they mount the other way up, not that that matters for your purposes. You'll need the type to match the age of the bulkhead you are using. Pre-2002 the older type, after 2002 the newer.

Ignoring the legal/IVA side as requested, the simplest solution would just be to buy a 110 V8 chassis, that way you can have coil springs, PAS, your V8 engine and R380 manual box all with standard and easily available parts. A 109 body will fit on a 110 chassis with some modifications or use of some 90/110 parts. The P38 option sounds cool though!

NRC6388 and NRC7000 I believe for the self-levelled CSW springs.

I had a 110 CSW for a short while with its original spec springs on along with the self-leveller and it rode beautifully. Far nicer than the other one which had been ‘upgraded’ with HD (i.e. non-SW specification) springs and only rode even half well with 1/2 tonne in the back. Which is why for the rebuild I’ve gone with CSW springs and will use rear air bags to replace the function of the self-levelling strut as they are NLA. The Td5/Tdci progressive springs are a compromise, and result in the ‘arse-up’ stance that later vehicles have.

There was a fair bit of talk a while back about aftermarket relay shafts being of poor quality and prone to failing like that. Not sure how much of it was based upon fact though. The alternative option for those rebuilding intact relays is to use a speedisleeve or similar on the seal lands. When I rebuilt a relay a few years back I went to great lengths to get a new-old-stock shaft in order to avoid the issue.

This shows the holes that the Defender 300Tdi gearbox crossmember picks up on. They should be present on all chassis, certainly from 2.5TD onwards at least.

If it’s a newish chassis it’ll have the holes - they all have holes to fit both the earlier bolt-on (V8/4-cyl up to 200Tdi) gearbox mounts or the later cross-member mounted style. Later Td5 and Tdci used welded-on mounts on the chassis and they went back to a standalone crossmember in the old place, but the holes are still there. Disco crossmember has square end plates, the Defender one is more triangle shaped. I suspect with some minor modification the Disco one would suit. But plenty of Defender ones available if not. YRM do new galvanised ones.

The 300Tdi mounts are a flat type rather than the angled ones that the V8, 200Tdi and all previous 4-cylinder engines used. You'll need to source some or make them, then weld them on in the correct position. Your plan to use the 300Tdi crossmember should work well, you'll need later propshafts, floor, tunnel and seatbox too but they shouldn't hard to find an it's a small price to pay for having a standard(ish) setup parts-wise. You may need to notch the crossmember where it sits against the chassis as sometimes it conflicts with the seatbox front mount bracket. On later chassis this bracket is sloped to avoid this. Not a big deal though. A 300Tdi gearbox crossmember should bolt straight up to the chassis from what I've seen, but I've never seen a chassis old enough to have a 2.25 in the engine bay. Certainly my 200Tdi chassis has had the holes in the correct places. The later crossmember picks up on several of the 'triangle' of holes each side that the bolt-on 200Tdi gearbox mounts use, plus one of the lower ones for the removed round tube crossmember - sticking just down from the chassis a bit.

It's not really a case of is it okay or not, or even will the wheels stand up to it or not (they will). And as above there's no specific law that says you can't do it. Does it make the vehicle unsafe by doing it? One could argue both ways, only a court of law could give a legal decision one way or the other. It's more a technicality that could potentially land you in trouble in a situation where the vehicle was scrutinised following an accident etc. - by an insurance company for example. The chance of it ever causing a problem is miniscule, but it's there nonetheless. Given that alloy wheels exist which are rated for the purpose and neither expensive or rare, I can't see any reason not to use those instead. However the vehicle will not fall apart if you chose to use the lower-rated alloys.

Yes only one of the holes on each bracket lines up with the silver one from the chassis crossmember.

They pick up on the same ridge on the tub, and so mount to the tub and chassis bracket the same but are longer to put the belt mounts further forward as described above. I believe the chassis bracket (outlined in red above) is the same on both versions.

Shamefully I’ve not got that far yet, so I’m afraid the answer is I don’t know yet if it will work.

If you fit the cable clip in the correct position you will find that it lines up fine - compare your before and after photos. Dim headlights is usually due to the carp wiring, a relay modification is a good way to resolve this issue. I used a Landreizger loom but you can make your own fairly simply too.

A well known fault in the Tdci models is the adaptor shaft between the gearbox and transfer box which causes a clunk and eventually loss of drive.

I’m 99% sure I have some of these banjo fittings in the workshop - I can check at the weekend if you like? If I have some I’ll could stick them in the post for you?

First one is the diagnostic port and the second is the reverse switch, it goes into the back of the gearbox not the transfer box.

I use a genuine one and it works well enough. There’s still something not quite right with the setup though as when the signal is poor (quite often round here) if I turn the wipers on the static gets a lot louder. Dodgy connection allowing interference from the motor to get in somewhere perhaps.

The hole is for the air conditioning pipes. Try this thread:

Mine is the same, I made some plastic spacers out of oil drums that were just the right thickness to take up the play. Looking at your video yours may also be worn where the bolt runs through, perhaps you could drill it out to the next size up to remove the play?

Some suppliers will sell parts individually that Land Rover only do in certain quantities - e.g. trim clips that come in packs of 10 for example. Often these will come in plain bags, having been re-bagged. LR Series do this a lot, but I’m reasonably confident that the stuff is genuine as it’s held up to scrutiny. Howver I tend to just order in the bagged quantity anyway as then you get the LR packaging and know for sure, plus you have spares 😁

Did the suspect parts come in Land Rover packaging?

Picked a good spell in the weather - back to normal now Looks well, I've never really seen the appeal of roof tents but I suppose folding it up is a lot quicker than trying to take a normal tent down in the rain!

I presume it's exactly like this?