rednaxela

I recently bought a 2012 4.4 TDV8. It's the best evolution of the L322 after all, so why not make one of those your target. The prices are 'cheap' because of factors like the luxury car cachet that it may need expensive repairs, government's mission to make us drive 'green' vehicles, perceived running costs, stories on forums where people complain about issues but rarely logging into to sing the vehicle's praises, the fact that fixing things and sorting rust may require more effort and planning than doing similar on a Defender...

You make a good point. The gutter on the '98 is galvanised whereas the '06 one is getting rusty and I really can't see it being galvanised. The gutter itself has draining provisions in different places. With the '98 there's a slot roughly above the top rear corner of the front doors, whereas on the '06 roof the drainage comes out at the front corners next to the windscreen. The anorak in me is having hard time deciding if I should put the 'better' but incorrect roof onto the Td5. With canvas header rails there seem to be differences based on year, I thought that would also matter here but after some more searching that may not be the case.

Hi, I've a pick up cab/roof sitting in a shed, removed from an original 1998 300Tdi. My 2006 reg TD5 is also a pick up cab, but the roof has a dent on it and paint loss. I thought I'd put the 1998 roof (roof only, not the cab sides) onto the Td5 - but before I start removing things, will it be a perfect fit/match? I can already see a subtle difference in the gutter ends at the corner of the windscreen. Thanks

The best 90s/110s/Defenders are the ones which still look as they were when they left the factory. Proper wheels, lights, correct paint colour and so on. That's what people will want to buy into in the future when these vehicles become more and more classic.

If you are getting a repro/new tank, as Snagger said, sandblasted, good paint system. But then after that, inject wax into the channels like you said, but then use a seam sealer around the seams, then spray a good thick coat of stone chip paint over it. Then, some good paint over the stop chip. It's easy to suggest galvanising for stuff like this but it's best if one has loads of other things to get dipped at the same time. I have an allisport alu tank on my SIIa.

https://ashcroft-transmissions.co.uk/product/r380-v8-bellhousing/ Then I think you'll need FRC 2859 cover plate.

There definitely was a limited edition 300Tdi 50th anniversary build. Info seems to be thin on the ground but it's out there. https://www.fullfatrr.com/forum/post79040.html

I seem quite adept at creating threads for almost everything 🥴 My 300Tdi had been 'chirping' for a while, today I got round to replacing the bearing on the tensioner pulley. The new bearing wasn't the cheapest and came with a snap ring, and, being new, felt smooth and of the correct resistance when tuning it by hand. However when running the engine at idle for a bit after fitting, the chirping seems to have gone but I can hear a dry, whooshing sound from what I am certain is the tensioner pulley. It's as if the new bearing doesn't have much grease in it. Perhaps it's just got the bare minimum of grease and no more; I understand that too much grease is bad anyway. Should I bother to open it up and check?

Thanks guys. Well I got 2 plugs from ebay. They have the recess in them for the o ring also. Hoping the cooling system should be fine. I'm feeling pretty lucky I didn't end up overheating!

The first 20 mins are my least favourite! The more warmed through everything is, the better. Why not look at it that way and combine it with your love of the vehicle.

I agree. I remember reading an info sheet for 'Rourkes' (sp) Vinylast paint for galvanising. Rather than using T-wash it mentioned cleaning/degreasing and rubbing the fresh galvanising with 600/possibly 800 grit wet/dry paper, used wet. Then degrease again, prime asap. I've used that method for several LR projects where each vehicle had 100+ parts regalvanised. Adhesion has been decent, although probably not as good as a T-washed part, but I hate seeing fresh galvanising turn black.

Yes, I have ordered two brass ones. Hoping the plastic/nylon plugs just gave up.

I've just finished installing a Turner ported cylinder head onto my 300Tdi. The original radiator was recored/refinned, and an Elring/composite HG was used, new head bolts, gasket sets, all from Turner eng. When filling the dry system with coolant, I started with all three caps/plugs removed (ie the expansion tank cap, the radiator nylon top plug and the thermostat housing nylon plug), firstly I filled up through the expansion tank until the coolant was just about at the top of the threads of the radiator, then I screwed up that radiator plug. Then I filled up through the thermostat housing until the coolant was consistently remaining halfway up the threads of where the plug screws into. I was patient when doing so. The expansion tank cap was still off at this stage of filling. On the first drive, to help the cooling system move about, I opted to run the heater at full blast/full temp/window demisters. There was consistent warm/hot air. I was quite certain I had no airlock issues. In the two outings/35 miles of vehicle use after doing this work, I noticed the water temp gauge seemed to get to half way a bit sooner than normal (normal before was a few miles). I put this down to the results of the work done helping the system work better, or something to do with the new head. (?) Then when I got home at the end of the second short journey, with engine still running but to stop to open a gate, I noticed steam coming from the engine bay and coolant spillage on the ground. The water temp needle remained in the middle; I didn't lose a great amount of coolant, so I think I may be lucky. The nylon plug on the radiator had blown apart, and the one on the thermostat housing looked a bit deformed, as if it was about to go the same way. When fitting these (original) plugs, I decided to finally use new o-rings from a Halfords set I had lying around. They seemed slightly on the big/thick side although could still fit into the recess - I wonder if tightening down the plugs to get the o-rings to seal weakened them? If the engine is revved, there's no bubbling/serious turbulence in the expansion tank, but I'll reluctantly add that when torquing up the head bolts... I first did them all to the 40nm in the correct sequence, then again I went over them to double check they were still all 40nm in the same correct sequence. Then I went through the first stage of 60 degrees, what I thought was in sequence. It was when doing the second sequence of 60 degree tightening, I noticed bolts 5 and 6 hadn't been touched since the second 40nm check. (I had marked them all with tip-ex) I presumed it was during the first 60deg sequence, the '6' of '60 degrees' being in my mind, obviously I went straight from bolt4 to bolt 7. Anyway I tightened bolt 5 120 deg and then bolt 6 120deg, then carried on as usual, ie, bolt 7 60deg. In also doing the further 20deg for the largest bolts, I felt that I would get away with this error. What are the thoughts? Thanks

Bit unfortunate for those whose livelihoods depend on mentoring post 1997 licence holders for their trailer test.

No plugs on the crated engine to prevent dirt ingress? The engine doesn't appear to be a 5 main bearing unit, which I'm certain it should be for a 1981 model.

Will the baking soda/vinegar solution work here like it does with copper wires?

That's very helpful guys, thanks Will also; my 300 is quite a late model - that could explain it.

I'll soon want to install a new ported cylinder head and was set on ordering a 3 hole gasket as that's what I thought my 90 had, but went out to double check and saw it was a no hole gasket. Most seem to imply that 3 holes is thick enough if in doubt, although I will certainly measure the protrusion. To reduce down time I could always order two gaskets, and never bother to return the unused one and add it to the dusty heap of unused gaskets and fasteners and bits of junk. 😙 Engine is at 102k miles. Had it done a stratospheric mileage, I could understand that the block etc could have had some work done necessitating the thicker gasket.

Were the 'no hole' head gaskets ever factory fitment by Land Rover? If not, why are they an option, and why would a mechanic use one, if following the simple approach of using the same type as that which was removed. Surely anyone replacing a HG on a TDI should know that skimming the head is irrelevant for HG thickness?

If you are going to go through the effort of a V8 conversion, I think you should aim for the most displacement you can find. When the 200Tdi was introduced I believe LR didn't offer v8 powered Defenders to the home/GB market. Perhaps to protect Discovery 1 sales, or because the 200Tdi was such a big leap up from the previous diesel offerings. Btw I've heard from RPI engineering that they haven't yet been able to achieve a good enough tune with a weber/Edelbrock 500 on a 3.5.

Red and a LR 'Special Vehicles' build could have been fire/water rescue service. Perhaps under a military branch.

The local engineering/machine shops I've contacted don't seem too interested in top hating a rover block.🤔 I'd rather use someone like ACR/Turners/V8 developments/John Eales anyway, but being on the other side of the Irish Sea, I'm now currently just not willing to get ripped off with delivery costs for works on an engine I haven't even used yet. So I'm hoping that this could still miraculously end up not being a cracked block; as mentioned I did like bowie/elbekko's suggestion that it could be oil/ or a problematic injector. After all, it seems to be a warranty replacement block/engine and the odometer reading from the vehicle of 113k will be more than the engine's done, surely it may have been assembled with a bit more thought in order to help prevent the issues which negated its fitting 🤣? The bottom of the head-bolt hole next to where smallfry suggested the 'crack' could be is a bit dirty, couldn't be that there could be a crack there, coolant getting in, working up the threads by capillary action and seeping under the gasket where the heavy varnishing is, and into the cylinder? The close up photo of the possible crack also shows a little ding and scores, but there are plenty of those all over the block surface. I'd probably reassemble with studs, rather than head bolts, as I've read that torquing the stretch bolts could also put huge strain on the block, causing cracks. The valves/springs/seals all look to be in similar condition, what should cause the ones pictured from cylinder 5 to be like this? Hopefully not the effects of steam? 😬 Also, the cam bearings haven't moved, have they? Thanks

Long may it continue? @western Referring back to the OP, I'll add that the exhaust valve head serving cylinder 5 was black in appearance unlike the other 7 exhaust valves which have the correct/normal light brown carbon appearance. It is also pretty hard to scrap clean (as well as the inlet valve) unlike the other 14 valves where the carbon could be easily removed with a slot head screwdriver. The cylinder 5 exhaust port in the head also has an oily/wet residue whereas the others are all 'dry' looking. Wonder how this relates to the possibility of water getting in to cylinder 5? Also another finding... When cleaning the pistons, no. 7 piston cleaned up pretty quickly whereas the others (excluding the already clean no. 5, obviously) took much more effort to remove the carbon.

Thanks FF, but too far. Maybe your blog will suffice 😁 I wouldn't consider a Td5 because I don't particularly want to change to another Defender. I've put a lot of work into mine. I wouldn't convert one in either because it would be sacrilege to throw out a 300Tdi when there are plenty of good Td5 vehicles always coming up for sale.

205r16 tyres. I would opt to use the full megasquirt MS2 kit as it seems to be the most 'plug and play' I've found, and I have some hope that off the bat it'd afford the engine a suitable state of tune, as I'd need to bed in the camshaft for 20 mins on the first start, wouldn't I! 😄 😕 The Defender is a second car yet it hugely earns its keep. It's not the familiar case where someone has chosen a 90/110 as their only vehicle and can't come to terms with the lack of performance compared to their previous 'normal' car. Therefore, it only covers a few thousand miles per year, so, the running costs shouldn't really come into the equation. I'll accept that there will be a noticeable power increase over a well tweaked 300Tdi (I'm not saying that the alterations I might to do mine would get as far as being considered 'well tweaked'), perhaps the best difference would be not the max. attainable speed, but I presume the smoother rate of acceleration and less of a tendency to get 'stuck' at a certain speed (without giving it a further jab of the throttle) on the way up to 70mph.