JohnnoK

Looking good! Hope the mug heals up nicely. I got burned like that from welding once, too. It's not pleasant.

Any more info on the OM606 conversion, please?

Unless you are looking for aesthetics as well as protection, I wouldn't bother with the oiled bits. Chances are the oil will protect the wood anyway and your application would cover the rest of it that wasn't oiled.

I have this on my D2, but I would never use it for a recovery point.

Have a look at the AMC heads for replacements. They seem to have addressed a lot of the cracking issues with their casting, and they come with or without valves. I'd replace the bolts as a matter of routine, though, but that's my choice.

Does anyone have a CAD file for the flex plate, please? Mine has failed and the ones I can get locally are all mild steel, so will also fail. I want to get one cut from spring steel sheet, but need the CAD for that. TIA, John

A question, if I may... What is your reasoning for using the dark covering on the panels? You will probably end up having to use your lights all the time you are in the vehicle and if you are on battery power, it will soon run them down. Surely, white or lighter would give better ambient conditions and require less use of the lights?

He did, apologies!

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Land_Rover_engines

It is an invasive import form Australia. We have Eucalyptus, Black Wattle and Port Jackson Willow which are varying degrees of nuisance, depending where you live. We have Port Jackson in the Western Cape that regularly contributes to the big fires we have when our local Fynbos does it's regeneration burn. On the other hand, Eucalyptus in the fireplace really gives a good burn, plus, my wife's lungs don't mind it as opposed to Port Jackson which has her wheezing in short order. I remember hearing as a kid that sleepers were Rhodesian Teak, but that was phased out in favour of the locally grown Jarrah.

I wonder if a Hydroboost unit could be made to work?

Most of the sleepers we had were Jarrah and Karri, some Oak from the early days, apparently.

Sleepers for furniture is a big thing in South Africa.

Has the pump primed the system completely to purge air out? When you turn the key on you will hear the pump running for a while, this is the purge/prime feature. It should be a gentle hum, if it's making a racket, there is either air in the system or it's a dud pump. I know the pump is new, but that is no guarantee of anything, quality wise. If the vehicle is a Discovery you can also turn on the key and push the throttle pedal fully down and release it 5 times to initiate the purge. I'm not sure if this also applies to the Defender.

You may need to practice a bit with material of a similar thickness. Once the rivnut is set, any additional pulling simply damages the rivnut. The hassle is, if they aren't squeezed enough they will spin, but if you pull too much you mess them up.. Generally, you can feel the rivnut "give" as it deforms to the final dimension before it becomes harder to pull and you enter the damage phase of setting it.

Use the same bolts as either part has for it's standard fit. No need for increasing sizes.

Aluminium at 10mm and over should be well up to the job.

It's the only one I have ever seen in that colour.

The roof panel is steel. I cut the alpines out with an angle grinder and will softly-softly remove the metal.

No, it was for the 3.5 and pre serpentine engines. The Buick cover from the cast iron V6s is a direct bolt-on to the RV8 and has the better flow rate pump.

OK, so I found a rusted out roof with 2 manual sunroofs and Alpines still in it and snapped it up to investigate. Some chopping and chiselling reveals that the roof is spot welded to the underlying structure and I lost count and interest at 53 spot welds down only the one side. Looks like it's going to be a pillar cut and weld job for now. Cutting the old one out and seam welding/bonding it might work, but it is a screen out job however I approach it. Right now, my spare roof with it's sunroofs is languishing in my workshop waiting for some minor repairs and refitting sunroofs and roof bars prior to the big swap.

I have seen structures guys using buff packing tape on bits that need to be kept separated.

If you want to upgrade your pump, then fit a front cover off the Buick V6 engines, it has the high volume pump standard and is a bolt-on swap. Alternatively, there are kits available that you can fit, but they are a fiddle to set up with a bunch of shims.

For the P6B, as long as the light is off, you are fine, the gauge was largely unimportant to daily affairs.

I have a dual sunroof roof that is cut off a scrapper and another one that is rusted to play with to get an idea of the scope of things before leaping in. I'm not scared of cutting and welding the pillars if it comes to that, I just need the P38 mobile first so I have wheels while I do the job.