Retroanaconda

Could you not use a Disco 1 V8 fuel pump Mo - PRC9409 I think? Seems to be a few variants. I thought they used the same in-tank mounting method as the later Defender tanks.

That’s normal, the spacers/shims are only used on the front axle to shim the CV joint end float which is quite important. As long as the shafts aren’t pushing the hub caps off then the end float on the rear is not a problem.

Genuine wheelboxes are cheap and easily available - they would be my vote after poor experiences with aftermarket ones. The later (2002-on) wheelboxes with the threaded spindles have a different sized gear and so the sweep will be different, if fitting to an older vehicle you will need to update the crank gear in the wiper motor at the same time to maintain the swept range of the arms. The rest of the motor is the same.

I had one too, ten years ago - same colour and all. This one seems good so far, only done 78k. Automatic which is a little odd and wouldn’t have been my choice for this type of car but it will do the job. Needs a good service as I think it’s been neglected in recent years so I’ll throw some new oil and a set of filters at it for all it will cost. Plus an auxiliary belt. Thought there was a clunk from the back but turned out to be the wheel wrench loose in the spare wheel well. No dents, four good tyres, new-ish brakes. No A/C but I live in Scotland! Given that I was planning to hire a car for the two weeks I take off to swap the chassis anyway, by the time I flog this on it won’t have cost me much more than I had originally planned. I’ll need to hire a van to go collect the chassis as I can’t tow my trailer but that can be done in a day so shouldn’t cost too much.

Amazing what you can get for £300! Will do me for a couple of months until the the 90 is sorted.

The chassis is ordered and paid for so will stick with them for now. I bought it through the local 4x4 specialist - can’t go direct any more. These guys do a lot of chassis swaps and buy a lot of units from Marsland so got me a good price. The wait is the downside, I could have one next week through Britpart but would need to pay another £500+ for the privilege.

Seemingly it’s GKNs fault - following the cessation of Defender production they now make the chassis by hand rather than with robots. As such they do them in batches and they’ve been doing a ‘110/130’ batch recently so I’ve had to wait until they do a 90 batch. Then Marsland have to do their thing and get them galvanised etc. which adds another month or so. I don’t really mind it taking a long time, what I do mind is being told 6-8 weeks and it turning out more like 18-20. Screws with my bloody plans!

The rust worms have won. I was welding up the rear crossmember this morning in preparation for limping the car through it’s MOT, prior to a re-chassis in a month or so’s time. Finished that, then started work on the patch of corrosion on the main chassis rail under the A-frame crossmember. But, after removing the exhaust, what started out as a small hole grew to this alarmingly quickly with just finger pressure: The rot extends along both the crossmember and chassis rail. This is beyond temporary repairs, so I’ve had to give up and admit defeat. Now to go shopping for a crappy car to run about in while Marsland pull their fingers out and get my chassis done

Standard washers are removable yes, they should be replaced when the injectors are removed.

While I agree in theory they are non-wearing due to running in oil-suspended bearings in practice no oil is 100% impurity free. Mine is changed every 6,000 miles along with the filter but it will still have contaminants in it at the end of that interval. Over a very long time that will cause a degree of wear in the bearings. Obviously if maintenance is ignored and the oil gets dirtier than ‘normal’ then wear will be accelerated. As above there’s no indication that the turbo on the car is about to fail, I just fancied renewing it while I have everything off.

While I’m sure they exist, those are not common metric thread sizes. I’m not aware of any non-standard threads being used on Defenders in any great quantity - the odd thing here and there. A tap and die set is a very useful thing to have in the tool collection.

There is a function on the Td5 speedo that provides a modified version of the transducer signal which, on Td5 vehicles, is sent to the engine ECU. I believe the modification is that the frequency is either doubled or halved, alas I can’t remember which. On mine I have used it to feed the cruise control ECU, I’m not sure if it would be suitable for the CUX unit.

Being a Salisbury axle why not drop the oil and whip the cover off? Then you can inspect the internals and see where the play is.

I rebuilt a set of front calipers about six or seven years ago which are still on the car. I used Zeus stainless pistons and genuine Land Rover seals - they’re all still available I believe, including the gallery seals. Would I bother again? Probably not if decent branded units can be had for £100 a side. And the stainless pistons are not without issue, while they won’t rust they are not fit and forget. Mine gained some kind of tarnishing over the years which prevented the pistons from retracting cleanly and eventually caused the same problem with the dust/wiper seals popping out. Managed to clean them up enough to get them back in but literally took an hour a side with a toothbrush and brake cleaner. That was a few years ago and it’s starting to happen again so I will probably just replace them with new when the time comes. Just seen that on Paddocks the non-vented calipers are £130 a side. Vented ones are £100 a side and vented discs £30 each - seems like the sensible choice for those of us with non-vented front brakes is to replace the discs with vented at the same time for no extra cost.

Indeed, I'm not expecting any improvement in performance from the turbo being rebuilt. The current turbo is still working fine, this is just preventative maintenance. I do expect to see some change from the reconditioned injectors though, as I suspect they're not working at their optimum after the miles they've done.

Almost all pre-2007 Defenders use a 1.4 transfer box so unless it's been changed it should be the same.

I find the coin tray really useful for holding loose change, gate keys and various other small items that then vibrate at certain speeds just to annoy me.

Managed to get some time this weekend to finish this off, had to get some bigger circlip pliers to put it back together but other than that there were no issues. CHRA back together with the cold side: Then the exhaust side in place (you have to put the bolts/clamps in place before assembling like this): And finally all together with wastegate actuator back on: I tested the wastegate and it opens with about 15psi so hopefully all okay there. The spindle spins smoothly without hitting anything, there is a barely perceptible amount of radial play but nothing in the axial direction which is what one would expect for a new unit. Old one had a bit of both. Turbo now stashed away ready for the re-chassis in a few weeks, just needs a new hose from the spigot to the actuator when the time comes 🙂

I would wait until you have your doors and measure them, especially if using non-genuine ones.

Marsland supply sleeves to use the older bushes with the new metric bolts. Thinking about it further, the way the mounts are welded on means it would be quite difficult to locate it wrong in the fore/aft directions. Part of the bracket wraps up to the front face of the a-frame crossmember and so this effectively ‘sets’ the position of the mounts. Tried to capture this in the pic below of mine: You'll also note the diff nose is pointing up slightly, this is with the older (soft) station wagon springs and with the fuel tank in so with your stiffer springs and no body etc. I would expect an even more pronounced diff angle.

Arms look the right way around to me. I guess it’s possible that the mounts are wrong but unlikely given GKNs methods. Most likely just lack of weight on the springs, what rate are the springs that are on there? I can measure my bare rolling chassis but not until the weekend.

It’s not that expensive from a dealer, or at least it isn’t in this country. I paid about £45 for 5 litres a short while back. At least you then know it’s the right stuff.

CHRA arrived the other day so this weekend should see it put back together all being well 🙂

Sounds like your mechanic may have cut a few corners to me. Not necessarily the cause of your problems but not a good sign nonetheless.

Heat, penetrating oil and a little more attention from the hammer did the trick: Then with improved access I was able to get the circlip out too, so it’s now fully disassembled: I’ll get the CHRA ordered and hopefully have a bit more of a play next weekend.