[Another Defender special edition fails to sell well new]

Not odd Dave, just sane

glad someone thinks so

Also glad im not the only one that doesn't like it, lots of mates at college who know im a big landy fan have pointed it out in mags and stuff and asked whether i like it and can't understand what i dont like about the headlight surrounds. Sadly it's the way all cars are going at the moment, i mean look at the new mitsi l200, that's one hell of a kid scaring, ugly brute. I dread to think what the defenders eventual revamp will look like, i just hope and pray that tata inject some of their boxy simplistic styling similar to the old sheds they used to churn out.

Tata have the potential to do something good with the land rover brand, just need to shake off all of fords awful additions and go back to the utility vehicle the defender was/is. The discovery/range rover/freelander are the road biased suv and always were, the defender always was the utility model and should always remain so.

Anyway everyone's bored of listening to my ramblings so i'll leave it there

Dave

[Another Defender special edition fails to sell well new]

does that make me a little odd then?

i'm 17 and peronally hate the look of the svx. You'd think with it being an extortionately expensive limited edition they might have put a sensible roof on it that you can remove inside 20 minutes. and those headlight panels *retch*. Other than that all i can see they've done is put a few bits of polished aluminium in places.

The 50th, now THAT was a land rover, a proper v8 (not these diseasels everyones raving about), not a fan of autos but they made an effort to make it different, it was bold but understated, it looked respectable but didn't have so many bolt on goodies that it looked messy and was just generally a fantastic vehicle, the svx is barely diffferent from production, other than a stupid complicated roof and some expensive seats.

Then you have the problem that nobody would buy one, if someone had money to spend on a fun vehicle, why would they choose a diesel that was designed for the rough stuff but has so many silly frilly extras like side steps that you can't take it into a slightly rutted field. Land rovers lost its sense of direction in recent years, they need someone to show them the error of there ways, turn them back to making them series style (wonder if they're looking for someone new to run the place )

anyway just my opinion, i'm sure there are people that like them, i wouldn't say no to one but those headlight grilles would be first to go and chopped into little pieces so they could never foul up the front end of a defender ever again

Dave

[New Defender]

dont like the new puma's anywhere near as much as the 300tdi.

So the arguments for a new defender are slightly better road manners and they're a bit quicker.

solution, standard suspension back on the 300 cos the lift wont help the handling and then an overdrive or disco transfer box to get the speed up a bit, you'd be surprised how good they are with the disco box. You then have a defender that will last a life time, won't rust, handles well and is quick enough to keep up with traffic.

The puma really isn't as good as its cracked up to be, its still pretty basic inside, just has a fancier slab of plastic for a dash board and its slightly quicker but not enough to make it worth it in my opinion. the electrics have shown problems and i've lost count of the little niggles they've been recalled for.

This is by far the cheapest option as you wont get back the money you spent on the 90 whether you px or sell privately and the puma will last till the end of its warranty before it returns to its component parts and rots (zero rust proofing)

good luck

Dave

[Wipers not up to much!]

theres an adaptor that fits over the spindle on the outside, these wear and cause the wiper to flop about. Worth a look, just pop the arm off and check the adaptor sits tightly on the shaft

[sticky handbrake]

on an earlier defender, the adjustment is by 2 nuts on the outer sleeve of the cable underneath the vehicle on a bracket from the transfer box (possible from underneath but if i remember right, much easier to take the access panel off the seat box inside and do it from there. However on a later vehicle the adjustment is indeed on the end of the cable. There is also a brake shoe adjuster, this sticks out the back of the handbrake drum on the lh side of the vehicle (lh from drivers seat). It has a square head and i'd start here, park on level ground and chock the wheels, release the brake and wind the adjuster right in, the drum will lock on, then wind it back till it "clicks" and check that the drum now moves, then adjust the cable to get the required number of clicks on the handbrake lever.

If that doesn't sort it, take the drum off, give a visual check of shoes position and the release springs (make sure they're still taught and not stretched) and if everything looks ok then strip down the expander and grease it all up.

It sounds like a lot of work but each part will only take a few minutes(although the expander may take a while), i've done it in under half an hour in the past (although everything was very easy to remove and i had a ramp so set aside an hour or two)

good luck and hope that helps

Dave

[Parabolics and shock absorbers]

i think standard and lifted apply to the springs, i.e. whether you want springs that will provide a standard ride height or ones that will give it a slight raise.

Go for standard height, lifted gives problems with props binding, ask me how i know

Dave

[two pumps then she wants to stop]

failing seals in the master cylinder?

Dave

[Wading kit.]

the larger threaded hole you can get your finger in could be the bellhousing drain hole? its there to allow any clutch fluid/engine oil to drain without ruining the clutch if the rear main oil seal fails or the slave cylinder fails, it should have a wading plug fitted if you go wading and removed afterwards although if the water is relatively clean the clutch ought to dry off quickly and you should be ok.

Hope that helps

Dave

[Looking at a Series 3 109 today, 4 cylinder]

take a magnet, ive seen far too many bulkheads filled with newspaper/cardboard and smoothed over with bodyfiller.

Dave

[Locking handbrake]

if they wanted the vehicle theyd just cut the handbrake cable. But if you want one im sure it couldnt be difficult to make, maybe even just drill a hole through the lever in a convenient place that would stop it moving down?

Dave

[Chassis advice urgently needed]

if you are using a second hand chassis then the vehicle is constructed from 2 different land rovers and is subject to an sva i think. If you use a new replacement that is identical to the old one then its not even worth notifying the dvla in my opinion but if you want to avoid any problems it could be a sensible thing to do.

Dave

[Converting lhd bulkhead to rhd]

aren't all the holes already there, the hole the heater blows through (on a rhd) is the hole the steering column passes up through in a lhd and vice versa. Not sure about pedal box holes but im near certain on my dads the passenger footwell has the holes there with a plate over the top and assume this is standard.

Dave

[my 2.25 petrol has an allergy to coolant]

Well having drained and refilled the system and changing the thermostat for a new genuine one, my 2.25 has started to dribble it's coolant out around the filler cap when warm. It ought to flow through to the overflow bottle but although the pipe is clear (ive blown down it) it doesnt seem to go down there as the level hasnt changed. Instead it just pours out around the cap. The level is about 1cm below the cap as haynes recommends, the only suggestions i can come up with is that there are some air locks and the air is expanding much quicker than the water would or that the radiator cap is at fault, not sealing well or with enough pressure.

Any help appreciated

Thanks

Dave

[Speedo cable fitting wrong]

does the defender use a square cable end or is it just squashed into an oval? Any help appreciated

Dave

[Converting tailgate and fog lamp rubber protector]

i think most original if not all series with rear doors had them, mine does. I'm sorry though, i havent a clue where to get one. Maybe use a bump stop?

[Fitting anti-burst locks to a Series]

Yep, just make a hole in the door for the lock barrel to poke through and bolt in to original holes. Did this on my series cos the latches were all knackered and wasnt much more expensive, doors shut with a nice clunk now which is an added bonus.

Dave

[transfer box]

but much simpler to reroute the cable . Youre right but this was the easiest way to do it and it works fine for us.

Dave

[transfer box]

the handbrake cable bracket was in a different place but you can just use the disco bracket and bolt the defender cable in it, much less hassle because the bolts holes werent there on the disco box for the defender bracket. Otherwise straight bolt on.

Dave

[Wrong fuel used !!!???]

we've drained loads at work that have been run until they conked out on the wrong fuel, drained and refilled it and it ran for another 150,000 with no problem, the car was scrapped before the engine gave up the ghost. I wouldnt be too worried but as said, do your best to remove it all and be sure to change the filter.

Dave

[Whirry noise on coasting]

before you order anything, just check that the prop bolts are tight, mine weren't and i got a very similar noise. Otherwise totally agree with the advice. In terms of running like that, you might find the extra vibration from the prop will knacker the diff and trans box bearings if used for a long time

Good luck

Dave

[Ignition switch- how easy to change?]

yep, youre right 2 screws i think through the casting into the switch and it drops out, dad's is dead too but he couldnt afford a new one so i rewired to a sprung loaded toggle switch for the starter and a hidden toggle switch for the coil in the hope that it confuses a potential thief. He would hav fitted a nice starter button if he had one but we made no new holes so we'll change it when he finds one he likes.

hope that helps

Dave

[Series 3 Wheels]

thats a strange url in ure link there western

http://just been playing with a s*** load of wires, and, errm anyone got a weiring diagram handy/

Dave

[Series 3 Wheels]

i know that range rover classic 3 spoke or the 5 spoke fitted to lse range rovers will fit defender rear drum brake axle, so i presume they'd fit a series.

Hope that helps

Dave

[12 seat defender]

so if you cant drive one until youre 21 on a car licence, whats the youngest age you can pass a pcv test?

[Sunday Click - No -Start]

if a battery drops below,something around 10.7? volts it can become permanently damaged, i did this to mine, not realising how long i'd had the radio on (and the radio also powered the amp and cd changer so quite a draw) and despite charging it was still dead, took backto battery place (still under warranty and sure enough,it was stuffed. Try swapping out the battery for a known good and fully charged battery, while youre at it, give the terminals a clean up and loosen the earth at the gearbox etc and clean the terminals, you'll be surprised how much better it willturn over.

Dave