Chicken Drumstick

I think people just like to see photos tbh. If you did 2500 miles across Europe I’m sure you must have some good shots. Glad you are enjoying your new vehicle.

Thanks, so since fitting this alternator the alternator dash light comes on and stays on with the engine running. Change in revs is making no difference. Assume the consensus is a new alternator required?

What sort of voltage should I see on the different terminals on the alternator? 200Tdi. There are 3 terminals. Big brown wire (B+) I'm seeing battery voltage, circa 12.5v either with the engine running or without. The white wire is I think the W terminal for rev counter, I don't have a rev counter, but it is wired into the loom. I'm seeing no voltage here running or not. Small brown and yellow wire. Is this the exciter wire? Again seeing no voltage here engine running or not. Engine starts and runs, but I'm not seeing any charge voltage at the battery. I'm guessing it is a fault with the alternator, but wanted to check as the original alternator seems to have failed and caused a short so that with the engine running I was reading 7-8 volts at the battery, but normal voltage when not running. Have swapped on this spare alternator that came of a running vehicle. Not seeing the weird low voltage now, but also still no charging and trying to narrow down on if I should buy a new alternator or mess with the wiring further. Thanks.

For what its worth. I'd want to keep the 4 speed gearbox. The shift action is arguably much nicer and more enjoyable than the 5 speed boxes and there is just something about a 4 speeder that fits with a Series.

So it has disappeared then. You can't buy one or a model from the market space that model used to occupy. Selling another product using the same bits is not really the same thing. A Disco1 was mostly Range Rover...

It is more upmarket. The Freelander was an entry point into the brand and attainable for lots of people. Not sure on pricing but they must have been about the cheapest way into the brand bar maybe a base model pickup. The DS might still be the entry point but it is probably double the price of a new Vitara or other small crossover/suv. The Freelander was introduced to combat the affordable Japanese AWD’s such as these: https://cars.suzuki.co.uk/new-cars/vitara/?CampaignCode=&source=ppc&gad=1&gclid=EAIaIQobChMIyq_u8Ii1gAMVjsPtCh2aRA0FEAAYASABEgIZB_D_BwE&gclsrc=aw.ds Maybe I’m just out of touch with prices. But £45,000-50,000 for an entry level DS does seem somewhat pricey. Certainly beyond the means for many. So I’d say yes. The Freelander line currently does not exist. Not in practice or in name.

Not sure what sort of money the Freelander was at lunch, but I'd presume it was pitched at a lower market than the current DS. Just having a quick look at the LR website, they used to show price from next to each model in the main vehicles menu on the top left. Now no prices are shown. Going to Build you Own it shows the cheapest Discovery Sport as £51,600..... ouch!

What Freelander line? Sadly JLR seem to have abandoned that one. Which is odd, as you'd think they would want some presence in that segment. Clearly they only want richer folks as customers these days though.

Very good review. Lots of unbiased info and detail.

Feel free to Message me direct if you prefer. 👍

What did it fail on? Could be interested.

It goes very well overall. Running near stockish tyres, 255/70R16 if I recall correctly, although they are an MT. Engine runs great, it is a Thor engine. Had it on a dyno a couple of years back and it was making all of its factory rating. But like all 4 speed auto's it has quite tall gearing. I think 1st gear is nearly 50mph at the red line and over motorway speeds in 2nd. So there are times when it will end up fairly lowish in the revs, but too high to kick down. It is only a minor thing, but noticeable. Another 100hp would likely mask it mostly. But I suspect it is cheaper to look at the gearing. The V8 does its best work at higher rpm, I think it makes Peak power at the red line. Not saying it lacks low end grunt, but in order to use its full potential when you go to wide open throttle, using the right part of the rev range makes a big difference.

I like my 4.6 p38, but with the auto and stock gearing it feels a little stretched. The engine does its best work at 3500rpm onwards. Stock gearing gives you a bit of a ratio gap between some gears where you end up fairly low in the rev range, but it is going to quick to want to kick down. I feel some shorter gearing would massively 'wake it up'. Albeit at the sacrifice of cruising rpm. There doesn't seem to be any options I can find on the transfer box high ratio gearing. So I think the diffs are the only real practical option. Ashcroft Transmissions offers replacement diffs, but they work out about £1000 a diff with no extra's, just changing ratios. That is a little more spendy than I can really justify. So was wondering if there are other options? I see Ashcroft sell the crown wheel & pinion for £195 + VAT: https://ashcroft-transmissions.co.uk/product/4-10-r-p-for-the-p38-type-diff/ Still quite a chuck of money, but less than a 1/4 of the price of going for fully rebuilt diffs. Are these easy to swap in for a home mechanic with basic tools? Would I need to worry about setting backlash or anything or is it just a case of unbolt, swap in new bits and bolt back together?

Hi, needing a new starter motor for a 1989 Diesel Turbo. Anyone know if a 200Tdi starter will fit? Paddocks list a Tdi starter for £90. But for the TD they only have listed as a smaller unit for £180. Although this smaller one also claims to fit the 200Tdi. eBay doesn’t show up any more budget prices starters either for the 19J. Thanks.

If you have been running a 1.6:1 transfer box. Changing it will make it feel a lot less peppy. I suspect a 1.2 would make you think you have major engine issues. Honestly it is a tough one to call though. We have a factory V8 90 with the 1.192:1 transfer box and LT-85. It now has a 3.9 Efi. It goes well, but does feel over geared. Quite relaxing and pulls from nothing. But isn’t anywhere near the fun you’d think it should be. On the other end of the scale. I have a Triumph TR7 V8. I used to run the factory V8 axle of 3.08:1. It went well and I clocked it at 144mph. Which is plenty quick for a 1970’s sports car. I broke the axle though and swapped on a 3.90:1 axle. What a riot it resulted in. Felt like I’d gained 50-70hp. But totally useless for cruising. I think on this basis I’d be tempted to look at an over drive unit and retain the 1.6 transfer box. They are rather spendy sadly. But at least would give you better cruising ability while retaining the peppy performance. Ashcroft Transmissions should also be able to offer to a taller 5th gear too which might help even more. If you really want to go new transfer box. My vote would be 1.4 As for the ATB. Really depends what you plan to do. I suspect you can probably spin a wheel quite well with the V8 and short gearing. The ATB may help here. Although axle diff ATBs probably more so. You might also find off road you won’t need to lock the centre diff. The p38 or RRC used the Borg Warner transfer box with has a viscous LSD and doesn’t fully lock. I’d expect the ATB to work similar, but have not tried one. On sand and the like if you are going in dunes the ATB would again save you needing to lock the diff. But ultimately unless you have a specific use case I’d expect only limited benefits. You really need to be sliding the vehicle or wheel spin or on a loose slippery surface. Cars like the Celia GT-Four or Impreza Turbo benefit from a lsd centre diff. The Jaguar X-Type had one in early years, but they dropped it for an open diff later on. On road you’d not really know unless drifting or driving in snow. But of course in a Land Rover you can always lock the diff if it is slippery out.

Have seen 2 x Grenadiers in 2 days. Hadn't seen any before this on the road. A blue one on Friday on the A428 near Cambridge coming towards us and then one this morning on a local road in green, also coming towards me. From the fleeting glances of it I thought it looked great. Easily identifiable as not a Defender, but clearly a good road presence too.

I'd guess there could be several reasons. Drive by noise regs maybe being one of them. Plus to stop water/mud splashing out over the top of the wings as happens on a Defender off road sometimes.

Don't think so. As the air pressure sets the springs rate and ride height. The front shocks are longer than the rears. So the front bags may well be a different length. The main issue with the p38 setup is, raised ride heights mean inflated air springs, thus a high and hard spring rate. When lowered there is less pressure and a softer spring. So it sort of works the wrong way round. Soft and squishy in motorway/high speed mode and stiff and bouncy in off road mode. Arnott offer some Gen 3 springs which use a different cone system and in theory they should offer a stiffer spring rate on a lowered ride height and a softer spring rate on a raised spring height. But you need take out a mortgage to buy them

Completely disagree. They are just poly bushes.... They will have some advantages over rubber bushes and some negatives, same as any other polybush. They possibly aren't the best poly bush, but that certainly doesn't automatically mean they aren't any good either.

Tbh that is quite a big question. And really comes down to how much you want to spend Vs what your end goals are. The old 2.5 TD lump really isn’t that bad either. Ok you won’t win any traffic light Grand Prix’s with it. But it should quite happily keep up with modern traffic and cruise at 65mph no problem. If you live in hilly areas such as Wales, the TD will feel really very good. Lots of grunt and torque. Where they tend to feel slower is on bigger open A roads and bypass style routes. The TD’s don’t tend to take to being thrashed though. A 200 Tdi is the easiest bolt in swap. Although there is still plenty to do. But way less than any other engine swap. Less refined than a TD but a reasonable performance hike. At least in Land Rover terms. Other swaps will be more involved. Lots of choices. And no need to go with an automatic. It is certainly worth starting a thread for more detailed info. As there are lots on here with experience of engine swaps.

Doubt you'll find any specs easily for a CA spec vehicle. Might be worth contacting Land Rover N. America direct and asking if there were any changes. As for performance, the NAS and 50th models used the 3.9 EFI RV8 with 182bhp (UK spec) and the same ZF 4 speed auto as found in Range Rover classics and Disco 1's. The 90 weighs less than either of those, so with the same final drive (3.54:1 diffs as standard) and same gearbox/engine, it would likely out perform both the Disco or RRC. Of course it would be very easy to tweak such a vehicle for more performance these days.

You need to hold the key in position manually for the glow plugs. They like a real 30 seconds, even in the summer of glow plug time. If cold out maybe even 45 seconds. I have a clock in the dash with a second hand, which makes it easier than counting. They should start well given enough glow plug. But tend not to start very well if you don’t give them enough. Even when warmed up you may find it’ll still start better with a bit of glow plug before cranking.

I think you need to take a bit of a wider look to be honest. People and industry have been tuning car engines for the best part of 120 years or more. It’s not as if it is a new fangled thing that someone just thought of in the past 24 months. As a mass market production engine it needs to meet many criteria. Including emissions for Type Approval, often on a global market, not just regional. Be capable of running on fuels from all over the world. Meet mpg expectations. As well as the criteria for the vehicle it is going in. Not every car needs to be making the most power straight from the dealership floor. Durability and reliability will be concerns. But when a car maker might make a million or more engines, they’d usually opt on the safer side than not in its tuning. As a one off and very tiny percentage of the total engine production run, you can tweak the boundaries and probably not impact the engines durability to any great extent. As for how long they last. Well Puma Defenders have been around and been tuned since 2007. With an engine that put out more power in other applications as standard. TD5’s have been around even longer. So it is pretty well established how durable either of these engines are to being tuned. Should an engine instantly blow up that can be traced to the tuning. Yes a company could be legally liable or accountable for it. But that is a complex question with far too many variables (ifs buts and maybes) to have a singular answer. Fact is. There are lots and lots of tuned vehicles out there. While some may have issues, the vast majority probably don’t.

Found the picture, right hand pressure plate was the new HD one, as you can see it was a lot taller, despite supposedly being the correct one for the engine/vehicle. (200Tdi).

From what you are saying, you can't actually disengage the clutch, ie. if you put it in gear and turn the engine over with your foot on the clutch pedal, it will move the vehicle. Many things could cause this, sadly I don't see any way of doing anything without removing the engine. If you have bled the clutch and the pedal feels ok, it isn't likely to be this. A wrong slave cylinder might cause a problem, as LR sell several different ones. Could be clutch fork, bearing moved or something else. When we rebuilt my brothers 90 we had the same symptoms. We must have had the engine in and out 6 or 7 times. We eventually traced it to being the new pressure plate (HD one from Paddacks, think it was Britpart). It was slightly taller than the other two clutch plates we had laying about, swapping it out for another one solved the problem. Paddocks did eventually refund, but wanted the pressure plate to send back to the manufacturer. Not saying this is what is wrong with yours, but even when you think you are doing all the right things with the right parts, it sometimes doesn't work as should. Was a real head scratcher to try and figure out. Hence taking the engine in and out many times, checking things like the release bearing, was the friction plate in the wrong round and trying many different clutch cylinders.