v8bobber

I think that someone mentioned fate but from my point of view it seemed pretty unavoidable. My Dad now nearly in his 80s showed me pictures of him towing his caravan over with an 80" soft top, complete with soft top and his then kids shivering in the back. Apparently, a tooth broke off in the transferbox whilst decending some mountain and jammed the transmission. The weight of the caravan and the severity of the slope managed to push the little series one a few hundred metres down the mountain track. Once the swear words has ceased, the series one was reversed causing said geartooth to drop out which was then fished out from the bottom of the box. Never missed another beat. This was in 1959 or something. By the time I came on the scene in the early 70's. a Series two was the weapon of choice and I nearly arrived in the back of it! I don't remember much about it as it was sold before much longer and it was the last Land Rover my father owned. However, many years later, I made friends with a local boy who had a series 2 soft-top which our big group used for various activities including epic camping trips and numerous off roading adventures. A series 3 of my own soon followed in 1993 and i've had nothing but Land Rovers ever since. After the series 3, came a 90, then Range Rover Tdi and now P38 diesel, amongst other random LR vehicles. Current count stands at the P38, 300Tdi disco, a 2.5na 90, and a class 5 trialler in mid build. The condition appears to be worsening!! Dave

Yes, did consider the 3.0 Td6 after seeing it in one of the magazines. Problem is that I doubt that it will mate up to the manual box, and would be a real pain to convert everything to auto. My P38 is in good nick and would like to hang on to it. I did have a thought last night that a Td5 might be the way forward as the engines are of a similar capacity / power? Dave

Hi all, I am the (sometimes) happy owner of a 2.5 P38 Range Rover. It's not been a bad machine (touch wood) and apart from a couple of blend motors and the normal stuff its been fairly reliable. Without going too much into the detail i'm considering changing the engine for something else - although another diesel without doubt. My vehicle is a manual, and would like it to stay so. Is anyone aware of any engine conversions available. I have decent workshop and a sound mechanical knowledge but have kept my tinkering to older Land Rover models up till now. I need to "new" engine to be reliable, fairly powerful but something that will not be massively out of place in a RR Hope someone has some suggestions Cheers, Dave

just looked on fleabay. As you will already know, but surprised me is that these 3pin plugs look nothing like the "normal" plugs that I have. How do I go about sorting it so I can use is on the normal 240v / 13 "household" system that I have set up in the garage?? Dave

you are indeed a gentleman and a scholar. i guess that this means that i will need to do the same for my extention lead if I don't put a longer cable on it? In fairness, i am welding to some thick (roll cage) tubing so I may well be generating a fiar bit of extra current. Did you find that it was easier to use afterwards?? I will order some flex and a new plug/fuses and see how I get on. Thin stuff only for a bit then!! Do you do anything else with yours in relation to maintenance? Cheers, Dave

Hi all, Shortly before I started my trialler project I bought myself a Clarke 151TE Mig welder which up till recently has been a joy to use although sometimes I wish I had bought a slightly more powerful one. However, the last couple of times I have used it, it has been blowing fuses. I blew two whilst welding on the wing bars, 3mm tube and another two whilst welding on a relatively thin bracket that I fabricated for the fuel pump and filter. On this occasion, one fuse went in the plug of the welder, the second time, the fuse went in the extention lead. The only thing that I can think of that is different this time is that the earth clamp was slightly "sticky" to the metal as if it was welding itself slightly to the workpiece aswell. I have cleaned that off as a precaution but wanted to get some advice before I used it again. Sounds strange but it seems as if the welder just isn't as powerful as it has been and seems more reluctant to form an arc. The thicker pieces of metal that I have worked with recently have been a real chore. I have looked in the manual and there doesn't seem much in the way of maintenance but wondered if anyone had any ideas as to what might be causing the problem. I can't go on welding for a couple of minutes and then spend another couple of minutes changing the fuse!! Regards, Dave

Cheers!

Thanks for that. Nice to know that it's possible. I remember that on a 200tdi the turbo position is different on the defender and disco. Is this the same with the 300? Or did Land Rover decide to to keep the turbos in the same place on the later engine. I'm assuming that you have done this conversion. Was the 300tdi from the disco or defender? Regaards, Dave

I have purchased a lovely (but painlessly slow) 2.5na 90. I know where there is a rusted out 300tdi disco and am considering buying it for the engine and axles. I have done some searching on the web and also this forum but cannot find the definative answer as to if said engine will fit in the vehicle or not. Fabrication / welding is not a problem just need to know if it will actually fit on the box. Someone here will hopefully have done it / knows how to do it....... Another quick one while i'm on, disco front calipers, there are two hoses going to the caliper, does this mean that each of the pots in the caliper is fed independant of the other one. The reason I am asking is that I am using front calipers on the back of my trialler and am in the process of plumbing in fiddles and want them to not be affected by the footbtrake Cheers, Dave

yeah, you're probably right. just the way i fancied doing it. I think what i'll do is run and extra hose and split it the rear end and hope for the best. If that doesn't work then i'll go for gold with an alternative method. Where's the best place to get some hose as where I live we seem to be bereft of car spares shops Dave

Cheers for the advice, There's nothing wrong with the vacuum pickup off the plenum chamber but this will be used to power the original brake servo for the footbrake. I didn't go into too much detail originally as it's a bit of wierd set up. I'll try and explain The vehicle is an 80" trialler which I want to have fiddle brakes. As you probably know fiddle brakes are things that quite often don't work properly. With regular levers (such as Milner) you either use drum brakes on the rear axle to give the required bite or discs. Problem with drums is that once they get wet they're not brilliant until they dry out and are never as efficient as they could be. Disc brakes themselves are brilliant however they were never designed to work without servo's, especially relatively modern ones. So in order to try and get them to work you have to heave on them quite often will only work in the mud. Other surfaces are just beyond them.. The solution is going to be, of course, twin servos, one for each side. However, i'm a bit loath to run vacuum pipe from the front of the vehicle where there's a possiblity that they'll get ripped off, which will give unmetered air to the engine and knacker the brakes. I'd prefer to keep the fiddle brakes and the main brakes separate if possible. Electric pump would be ideal as I could site it in the back with the servos. Second choice would be an aux pump from the engine which would mean unfortunately that I would have to run pipes dpwn the length of the vehicle but would not leave the whole vehilce u/s if the pipes get ripped off. In addition to this, i'm not entirely sure that the engine vacuum would be enough to operate 3 servo's, although I am aware that the three of them wouldn't be operating at the same time. Whadya think? Dave

Hi all, The trialler build is continuing apace, however to sort a complicated problem out, or rather to make a complicated problem simpler, I am looking for an electric vacuum pump to work on the brake servo, as opposed to using the vacuum normally generated from the engine. I've searched fleabay but to no avail, i'm beginning to think that such a thing does not exist. I have contemplated about fitting some kind pulley driven pump on to the 3.9 (rover v8), but this seems over complicated. I appreciate however that something of that nature may fit nicely where the aircon pump would normally go? Anyway, I am open to solutions and ideas. However it works, i need some kind of additional vacuum to operate a brake servo. Hope someone can assist Dave

Just realised, as you say, that there may still be some oil left in the torque converter - arse. The gearbox, engine and torque converter were on the garage floor for a fair while so i'm not sure now what to do. The manual goes on about not overfilling the autobox but are there severe consequences for UNDERfilling it. Also, I see that the level must be check with the engine cold and the box in park but i'm not too keen on starting the engine if the oil in the autobox is way under or way over. Any ideas anyone? Cheers, Dave

evening all, As some of you may remember I have been putting a 3.9 and autbox in my trialler. Electrics have been temporarily put in place and have decided this evening to do the relatively easy job of filling the engine and box with their respective fluids. However, the gearbox seems to be full already, despite me only having put about 8 litres in. The various books say that it should take 9.8 litres. The oil is to the top of the level tube and can't work out why this is. There should be another 1.5 litres or so to go in. Have I dropped a clanger somewhere? For your info, the engine and gearbox were split to take them out. Hope someone can help Dave

sorry Russ, I think I ommited the fact that it was a 3.9Efi. The haynes book only covers the diesel I believe. Silly Really as I only need a few pages of it covering the whole system as I am trying to work out what to cut out of the loom! Cheers tho, Dave

evening all, i'm trying to find a Discovery wiring diagram but have failed so far. I have looked in the tech archive in this forum but the links do not work unfortunately. Any other sites that I may be able to borrow one off, at the moment, the loom is on the floor in its entirety about 20 feet away from the machine which has no wiring in it at all! Hope someone can assist Dave

Guys, Finally found a solution. The oil cooler could only go in one place because of the location of the steering box, steering resevoir, pipework, radiator etc etc so made some brackets up and mounted the cooler halfway between the bottom pulley and the water pump. The original passenger side pipe luckily fitted straight up and all that's left tomorrow now is to get a 4ft hose made up and away to go. If I ever get round to reading the thread about posting pictures i'll put a couple on. Regards, Dave

Nice one, I had u a think about this one whilst I was out and about looking for some box section (you wouldn't believe how hard it is to get some on a Friday afternoon!), and was wondering what pressure the fluid is in the cooler. Is it the same as in the box or is it at a lower pressure? Can you remember how much the hose was? If its going to be a case of moving it completely I might even move it into the back out of the way Ta, Dave

All, I have finally sorted out the cooling system and i'm waiting for a fuel tank to be made i'm going to try and put the ancillaries back on. Steering box, piping and reservoir are all on/in and I may well make some mountings for the radiator this afternoon. Whilst searching through the pile of bits that came off the donor disco I saw the auto-box oil cooler that I had been trying to forget about. No doubt that I can get the cooler itself to fit somewhere, the piping is going to be a problem I think as firstly the pipes are formed and will not fit in this application. Also, it seems that the orignal pipework went via the radiator aswell as to the "bog brush" cooler". Does this mean then that the cooler on it's own will not be sufficient to cool the box? The engine is a standard 3.9 and the box is HP22 auto from a disco. It will be used for trialling and will obviously only really run for short periods. I also have the problem of sorting the pipework out - like i said, the radiator is now a non standard one and I have two loose ends! Also the formed pipes will not fit. So, any ideas? I did think about taking the lot down to the local hydraulic specialist and asking him to make some pipes up for me - would that work? Hope someone can help - get yr thinking caps on CHeers, Dave

Hi Guys, Thanks for the replies. I'm waiting for a reply from "Alifab" off the internet about the tank internals etc etc. I did have a look at Demon Tweeks last night but the tanks that would do the job for me are a bit too expensive for my tastes. I've emailed Andy at Allisport to see what he recommends and how much he can do me one for. I had an intercooler off him a few years ago and the quality was excellent and I guess that he'll have an educated guess of what I need for my application, especially as regards to swirl pots / baffles and other stuff i'm trying not to think about.... I've rebuilt vehicles before but never this in depth and i'm stuck between trying to keep the vehicle to a budget and getting decent kit for it. I need to remind myself that it will only be used once a month so I can't justify spending a huge amount on it. But then again I do want it to last. The machine is coming along nicely and the engine and gearbox are in along with the wiring. I'm onto the fun bit now which is buying the shiny bits!! If i ever work out how to post pictures on here i'll show everyone how far i've got to go! thanks again! Dave

Evening all, I think I have finally sorted the way forward for the use of injection fuel pumps and the like for the trialler. Nect question is, can anyone recomment a reputable place to get a fuel tank made or where I can buy one off the shelf? I have seen "alifab" on Ebay and they seem to do one about the right type and size. I am looking at about three gallons or so pickup, return, and breather (3.9efi). I am going to try and do without a swirlpot for the time being so a tank with beffles would be preferable. Hope someone can advise Cheers Dave

Is a surge/swirl pot an absolute must then? I will be going for a 3.5 gallon tank and guess it will only use a gallon or two over a morning and usually refill at lunch time anyway. I've been looking on ebay for standard land rover in-tank pumps and it seems that there is a problem in that the 3.9efi pump has a plastic top, is quite large and would be a bugger to fit to a relatively small tank. The older 3.5 efi pump would be alot easier to fit although i'm not sure whether it would be up to the job of supplying fuel for the bigger capacity engine. The other option I seem to be left with is the external aftermarket job like a Sytec, getting on for a hundred quid but will seem to do the job. I am not sure which way to go at the moment as I would prefer not to spend the extra money as new internal pumps can be had for under forty quid More thinking methinks Dave

Thanks guys, I think I know what direction i'm going in now. I think what i'll do is buy ones of the alloy tanks from ebay and then cut a hole in the top and sink the standard pump into it. I like keeping bits like that standard as I know they'll work with the engine. I'll do what I did last time, and try and get a tallish tank so the pickup is always covered with fuel. I need to fund a tank now, anyone want to buy a secondhand Mallory and a Facet carb fuel pump? Thanks again Dave

Cheers Fridge, I had a horrible feeling that it may not be as simple as I first thought. All in-tank pumps I've come across in the past have been recessed into the top of the tank, held in with a few screws, almost like the old senders in series land rovers? I think that the problem I may have there is that a car pump is fairly deep but my alloy tank will probably be 250-300mm deep, and I obviously want the pump to pick up from fairly near the bottom of the tank? Help me out here if i'm going off tangent? Dave

I've finally managed to squeeze the 3.9 and HP22 auto in the 80" frame and now that the heaviest oily bits are in place i'm starting to look at what to do and in what order. Amogst the massive list of things I need, I have selected a fuel tank of just over 2 gallons with breather/feed/return, but am now on the look out for a fuel pump for the injection engine. It's something that I know very little about, being used to working on petrol vehicle with carbs, or diesels. I was wondering whether anyone could recommend a fuel pump for my application, and do I need a pressure regulator Cheers, Dave