Chicken Drumstick

That looks like a 100", probably built off a Disco chassis. Bumper mountings also look Disco (through the side, instead of through the top of the chassis rails). I'd suggest the bumper is likely a one off. And wouldn't fit a regular 90/110.

SAE Gross hasn't been used since 1972!!!!!!!! 🤣 Hugely unlikely to be relevant to this thread. And I don't know of any Brit who uses W or kw to rate engine power.

Meaning?

Are you sure it is brake squeal? In my experience and knowledge the squeal isn't the pad on disc contact. But rather it is the back of the pad vibrating very fast against the piston/calliper. Correctly fitted shims/springs and something like copper slip should solve this. Assuming the pads are the correct ones for the calliper and there is nothing causing them to not fit or sit correctly.

Not seen those in that size in the UK. Again they are one of those tyres I just don't think work in the UK very well. Weren't they designed in Australia? Oddly they were factory fit from Land Rover in 235/85R16. My Uncle has them on both his 12 plate and 65 plate Defenders. But they are noisy on the road, they make a humming sound you can hear inside and out of the vehicle. They are completely hopeless on the mud round our way too. And in the snow we had at the weekend my Uncle was not impressed with them at all. So much he went home and got the farm 300Tdi pickup out instead. They aren't a bad all round road tyre and drive well on normal dry/wet roads. But most certainly not a trials tyre. There is a newer tread design of the MT/R sold outside the UK, that looks like it should perform better, but not an option.

Yes the BFG KM3's are probably the best in this size (255/85R16). Not too keen on the Toyo's, have them in 235/85 and they are performed very subpar off road. Not as good as some AT's, certainly not a tyre I'd pick if I was going in any sort of proper mud. A friend also has them and used them to good effect overlanding. He has tried trialling on them and completely useless. Couldn't even make it to the start gate on some sections with them. I'd view them more as an All Terrain compared to some of the other choices. That Cooper looks like a road tyre, certainly not even close to the type of thing the op is looking at. Although I have no first hand experience with them. But have run the STT Pros. Maxxis can be hard to get in 255/85. And usually it is Crawlys not the Bighorns. They don't even list the either Bighorns in this size on their site: https://www.maxxis.co.uk/tyres/car/4x4 The Creepy Crawly is an awesome tyre, but designed for rock crawling with a special compound for it. Not really suited to UK mud plugging and high wear rates on road due to the compound. Only 3 hits for 255/85R16 https://tyresdirectuk.co.uk/t/tyres?utf8=✓&per_page=&search[tyre_width][]=255&search[tyre_profile][]=85&search[tyre_diameter][]=16#searchResults Only 1 hit for 33.10.50R16, although I'd opt for this over the Trep copy if honest. They look much better in person (and better pics) --- op take a look --> https://tyresdirectuk.co.uk/t/tyres?utf8=✓&per_page=&search[tyre_width][]=33&search[tyre_profile][]=10.50&search[tyre_diameter][]=16#searchResults 5 hits for 33.10.50R15. But one is the BFG KM3 and obviously you need 15" rims for these. Plus this size is about half inch shorter than the 255/85's. There is a Maxxis AT, not a bad run around tyre. I have a set on my Jimny. Very impressed for an AT, but not a tyre I'd buy for trails events, same for the BFG Km2 All Terrain. The Land Dragon again, same as above in the 16" rim size. These look the right sort of thing for trials, but maybe a tad too aggressive for laning and running about on. Last tyre listed is the General Grabber X3. I have a set on my 88 at the moment, in this size. Not bad, but not what I'd use for trails events. I bought them as a good set of road going, go anywhere tyres. The Km3 would probably make for a better trials tyre IMO. But the X3's have been pretty good so far I admit. https://tyresdirectuk.co.uk/t/tyres?utf8=✓&per_page=&search[tyre_width][]=33&search[tyre_profile][]=10.50&search[tyre_diameter][]=16&search[tyre_width][]=33&search[tyre_profile][]=10.50&search[tyre_diameter][]=15#searchResults I don't know of any other 255/85 tyres available at the moment. Hence my comment of, not much choice in this size.

It does happen. Although I didn't say overheat, I said run hotter. Not seen it on just one, but many many examples of different states of tune/use. My current setup will run hot if you keep wide open throttle for prolonged periods, but I can get away with it for my use and our climate. I doubt it would be suitable in Oz.

A bigger radiator will never hurt. If you are having issues, it is worth a try. Is the pump tuned on the Tdi? Does it smoke much and what sort of EGT's are you seeing over distance? I suspect in hot climates like yours, you can't get away with some of the stuff we do here. I'm also suspecting that you might well run at higher speeds for longer distances than we do in the UK.

I suspect this depends what you are doing. In the UK, yes the Tdi can seem to take long to warm up and for normal road use not really need additional cooling or air flow from a fan. But go laning (using low range) or do a lot of work in low range such as setting up a trials event and they will run a heck of a lot hotter. And will need a fan. FMIC and tuned pumps can also make a big difference too. The FMIC will restrict airflow somewhat to the rad and more highly tuned engines will run high EGT's, meaning more heat in the head and block.

Very few choices in 33.10.50 and even less in 255/85.

That is quite a chunky size. They will probably stick out of the wheel arches on a standard 90. They also have big lugs, so the foot print is quite wider, they will rub the radius arms at ET00 and limit steering lock. I think they look pretty cool, basically a Maxxis Trepador copy. But I don't think they perform very well on UK terrain. A mate ran them on his 80" trailer. He is now on 235/85 Diamonds instead.

The suspension or shocks are stiff? Do you know what spring rate (how many leaves) the parabolics are? I found most are of the HD variety and give a poor ride unless loaded.

The cut off is more a result of the housing and lens type. Projector lenses will give a sharp cutoff, even with halogen bulbs. And conversely you'll get a more gradual cut off with reflector lenses, even with LEDs.

Kind of depends really. But more light is rarely a bad thing when night driving. Rover 200's (bubble shape) are particularly bad on main beam leaving a huge shadow in front of you. Very poor night driving experience. Can't recall if they are H4's or not though. Just one I remember being a good example.

This causes a lot more heat. You may get away with it with some bulbs and housings, but others it might cause issues or radically reduce bulb life.

Ultimately no, halogen will not give you the same colour temp as a cool white LED. Although neutral or warm colour temps would likely be better overall. There are some halogens that have a blue filter (blue paint on the lens of the bulb) to change the colour. Personally I've found such bulbs to be dreadful. They bleach all the colours out of green and brown things (verges etc) making everything look rather grey. I have also found such halogens make it hard to see the road surface when wet for similar reasons. This was my biggest complaint with the Osram Night Breakers. Main beam uses a clear part of the glass and has a nice beam colour. On dip it uses a blue part of the lens and in my opinion the tint was not very nice at all giving poor colour rendition. So much so on my p38 I didn't go for the Night Breakers and went for their bulb down (called Silver or something) as it doesn't have the blue on the glass.

Just make sure they have some way of producing a dip beam. Amazingly some LED H4 bulbs do not, the hoods on the ones I have create the dip beam. The real plus point over halogen is on mainbeam both LEDs work on the bulb. Whereas on a halogen it will turn off the dip element. This can cause less light right in front of the vehicle.

I paid between £30 and £36 a set for them. I have 3 sets in H4 plus some in another fitment and know of 3 people with the H4's too. Sadly I've not seen them for sale for a while now though. I'm considering buying the ones Ed Poore posted earlier as they can be had a in a warm white tint, rather than cool white. Which I think would be a big plus.

This was a number of years back. And note it isn't on a public road. LED in the right hand/drivers lamp, Osram Nightbreaker halogen in the left hand lamp. The LED certainly light the ground up better to the eye. You can sort of see this in the photo, note where the right hand bank grass gets longer (directly above the p in the photobucket stamp), you can see the ground is illuminated better. From the drivers seat this was vastly noticeable. A real big leap in illumination. From the front view, note the LED actually has less glare than the halogen. The halogens are aligned and recently MoT tested. I did get the MoT station to check the LED alignment and it was bang on according to their test machine. With LEDs in both lamps the cut off is clean (I don't have a pic of the halogens, but it looked essentially the same). But you can clearly see they are not a torch beam, nor would they be dazzling on coming traffic. These were H4 bulbs, but the LEDs are placed to align with the halogen filament. One LED is also hooded for the dip beam. The lenses also had scatter shields: I do agree there are many designs of LED bulb which don't work well and some lamps will not work as well either. But get the right combo and they are fine. Remember halogen bulbs are not identical, the filament is a different size and location across brands and types. So the beam can vary even with a halogen bulb. It is this reason Maglite torches have an adjustable focus, to overcome the short comings of halogen bulbs and the variance in manufacture. I have tried the above bulbs in some Wipac Land Rover lamps (smooth mirror and cut lens type). They worked well in those too. The amount more light was less than the Subaru. I can only conclude the Wipac was maybe a more efficient design. But they still felt like an improvement, just not such a big one. The beam pattern was 100% the same with the LEDs however, including the same beam artefacts the halogen products, but the cutoff was clean, sharp and in the same place.

Many will give far better beam patterns with much better cut off. Seen it in person multiple times on different vehicles. Some don't I agree, but you can't tarnish all with the same brush IMO.

Doesn't the p38 use H4's for dip and high and then has additional units which act rather like aux spot lights with I think H1's in?

When it was Europe/Africa I always felt it was more attainable as you could easily drive there and back. But being that it just isn't a Dakar as it is on a different continent now, shipping costs to get out there are likely more money than the event EDIT: Just looked it up as I haven't bothered watching it this year. Didn't even realise it wasn't in S. America any longer 🙄 Really this event has no right being called Dakar....... Rally Wales coming to you soon. Live from Botswana anyone

If I were you. I’d run it as is too. But it would be good to figure out what you have. I do think for myself I’d like the 1.6:1 best. And would allow you to run 255/85R16 or 33” tyres without blunting performance. But I will admit it might be a bit revvy for some. Interesting the S. African 2.8 BMW petrol 6 pot Defenders (factory built) used the 1.6 transfer box. The 2.8 makes a bit less torque and revs a little higher. But similar power to a good 3.9 V8. However I suspect the 1.4:1 is probably the sweet spot to cover all bases. And if you wanted better cruising you could either go Over Drive or maybe just a different 5th gear ratio. Despite the fact I have a 1.2:1 on my 200Tdi. It isn’t the transfer box I’d pick unless running 29” or smaller tyres.

It's not just about revs IMO. It is about character. Simply using a lower gear doesn't achieve this, because with tall final drive gearing the speed range is large within each gear, which can make an engine feel less peppy and exciting, as you'll relatively slowly wind it out to the red line. Shorter gearing will allow the engine to rev much more quickly, making it feel far more exciting, even if it isn't hugely quicker (although it can make quite a difference to performance). A tall 5th gear I agree can be handy for cruising. But you can often achieve this just by using a different 5th gear ratio (or an Over Drive unit with the 1.4 transfer box). Ultimately it comes down to what the owner intends to use the vehicle for and their driving style. If all you want to do is cruise and almost never wind it out to the red line. Then tall gearing works well for this. If you want to grab it by the scruff of the neck and give it a good pasting, banging through the gears. Shorter gearing will likely be far more exciting, heart pounding and grin inducing Using my TR7 as an example. I used to run a 3.08:1 rear axle, which gives it pretty tall gearing. Tall enough that I clocked it at over 140mph. However due to money constraints at the time, when I broke the rear axle I replaced it with one running 3.9:1 CW&P. Now I fully admit it is bloody useless on the motorway and will only cruise at 60-65mph and still feels like it is high in the revs. Top speed is also only 112mph at the red line in 5th. But the change in character was dramatic. It almost felt like you'd gained 100hp more. In this guise it is a far more entering car than ever it was before. So much so that is has now been running this gearing for the past 10 years. I do have a 3.45:1 gear set, which I think will be a middle ground between fun and better practicality. Although the reality is, this car just isn't built or owned for practicality. Although it would be nice to maybe drive the NC500 or tour Europe in it at some point. Which really would mean changing the gearing. But for bombing around B roads in a semi rally car style. The current gearing is ideal. For a 90/110 the use case may well be different. The 90 we have just put the 3.9 EFI in, it goes well. It never feels like it is lacking power. 5th gear 30mph pulls to 50mph no sweat at all. No need to down shift. But even if you drop it to 2nd gear at 30mph and blast it, somehow it still feels a bit lazy as you'll be in 2nd gear for a long time then get a single gear shift to 3rd before you are at illegal speeds.

I agree that there is room, scope and want for smaller capable 4x4's in the market. The 2 door Wrangler is still fairly compact, but pricey. I wouldn't however call the Jimny mid sized. It is more akin to an 88" Series 1 in dimensions, maybe a tad narrower across the bulkhead. The current 4th Gen Jimny uses largely the same chassis as the 3rd Gen did with very similar overall dimensions. Some earlier variants of the marque may have been even smaller, but the Jimny in narrow body trim still qualifies as a Kei car in Japan. This is my one. Looks quite tiny next to the Land Rovers...