dr pepper

The weld on mount is only a few mil above the axle tube, and the bracket is 6mm steel, the spring mounts on the chassis are going to fail way before the mounts on the rear axle. Anyways its circumstantial for the moment, the landy has taken enough time and money, the old girl is going into storage until I decide what to do.

Its actually not as bad as it looks, I have taken it apart again and cleaned everything up. That said it is worse for wear. I have to disagree with the comments of easy though, this is a lwb, as far as I can tell a lwb rear x isnt available, the ones I've seen done use a swb which has different depth chassis rails, so you have to rejig everything about and weld in a section over the top to get things to fit well. The tub floor unbolts so that makes things easy. I had no intention of hiding things from the mot man, and mine knows landys well so would probably see it anyways. The old fuel was petrol so that wouldnt be good with sparks made by the tank contacting the road, the new fuel is diesel, still dangerous but this time to the vehicles behind esp on a corner.

You were right about the rear cross member its seen better days, a lot of that has been covered up by the fuel tank, which is now back on. I'm gonna just see what the mot man writes on the ticket when it goes. New crossmembers are not expensive, however whilst writhing about on the ground struggling with the tank I was thinking, this is gonna be hard to replace, anyone done this?

2 axles came at the right price. I have the option to fit disco discs on the rear whenever I want having the disco axle, another reason. I wanted the wider track from the start also.

Well the backun fits:

Couple of things there, the vehicle doesnt spend long periods in 4wd yes, however the front prop will be turning all the time, I spose if there no load then vibration isnt going to be an issue, I am also considering fitting a r380 so the diff nose angle then would be more important, if I fit the r380 then I'll make the diff nose angle the same as the series. About the plating yes I was wondering about that, however if you look at the 40mm lift brackets I have that are commercial items for the disco, they are only 6 mil and open front and rear, and on the disco they take the whole weight of the vehicle, obviously they were deemed good enough my the maker. I'm not going to reinforce the rears, as the assy looks plenty strong enough, and the saddle mount is inbetween the spring and the axle so theres little up/down force, only sideways and most of that will be held by the U bolts. The front is simlar pretty much, however for the front some extra work is probably good as forces are greater and the rear axle comming loose would be bad but the front would be a disaster. Interesting comment about the prop shaft calculations, going to look into that, sort of thing I'm into, I suspect however the chaps at the shop you mentioned probably go off a wall chart and experience, the latter being the hard to get and expensive bit.

I take it you dont have the prop anymore then, if you do then I'm prepared to exchange beer tokens. The old piece of rust looks better for a bit of oxide, you cant tell where I've been bashing.

Interesting story Nick and nice page. How did you go about correcting the diff nose angle, or are you leaving it as is. Spring perches for the disco are available from dare I say britpart, with 40mm lift, I got a pair of these with the vision of adapting them for the series mounts, time saver. Phil. are you aware that I have a 109?, does the 2a 109 have a rover diff?, if so then thats a good idea. I have been welding bits on the rear axle, its nearly ready to go in, new disco coil spring mounts with a 17mm hole drilled in the middle have been welded on for the spring perches, and the shocker mounts of the salisbury have been ground off and welded on. Heres some more piccies:

I'm sure there are others that have done this, however I've been working on fitting coiler axles to my series, heres some progress. Since I took these photos I have just about completed the rear axle, and it will be going on over the next couple of days, I have some other pics of bashing and welding the axle, I'll post these when I get a lead for mi new fone, seems nokia have changed usb connectors again, and you dont get one in the box. With mi new inclinometer gizmo I've been measuring up the series salisbury rear axle, with the spring mounts level, the diff nose is 2 degrees up (the spring must cause the diff to point nose down, as this would compensate for 'windup'), the shocker mounts are at 36 degrees forward, I've ground these off carefully and I'm gonna weld them on the disco axle, the spring centres are 35 1/4", and the shocker centres are 35 1/2", the diff drive flange on the disco axle is 1 3/4" further back than the salisbury so I'll need a longer prop, or a spacer-eek!. I have new !part spring mounts for the disco, as said I'm gonna drill a 16.5mm hole for the leaf locater and weld them on upside down for the spring mounts. Think that'll sort out the rear, dunno if I'm gonna need arches yet or not. Heres some pics of bashings and measuring with the salisbury:

Put your old diff on ebay too, tall ratio ones have a demand from series owners.

Oops didnt want to step on anyones toes, and you obviously have more experince than me on the issue. Not direct experience no, however I have seen issues on race and rally cars that have had the rears jacked up, causing uj failiures (rwd). land rover made the disco front diff flange 12 degrees for a reason (poss due to the leading link geometry) having said that in your application it works, I have read that folks have had failiures with the diff nose up, spose it depends on the applcation. In the disco and deffy, as far as I know the prop shaft has diffo centres, ie the output on the box is I suspect higher up, also the series has in effect trailing arm suspension, where as the disco has in effect leading arm, suspension compression will make the diff nose a worse sharper angle on the series and will straighten it out on a disco. Good to see in your apllication that it works, at the very least I wont need to be so accurate with setting the diff angle. I have to complete the rear axle before I get to the front, meantime research is interesting, seems quite a few have done this and there are many mixed opinions.

I have a 300tdi on disco axles. The 300 tdi fits onto the series box with its original bellhousing, I drilled and tapped 2 of the holes in the engine flywheel case, the case had moldings there allreasy, and I drilled a couple of holes in the bottom of the series box. Point being if both the 300tdi and 200tdi flywheel cases fit the series box, theres a good chance that you'll be able to get the r380 off a 300tdi to fit a 200tdi engine.

200 tdi with the turbo. Probably do better than the volvo petrol. A few have done this and I have not heard anything about a 'box failing. You could also fit a lt77, or r380 'box as well as the motor, if its a 88 then you'll need a deffy 'box as the bellhousing is shorter on the deffy than the disco, and with the lt77 and r380 being 100mm longer you'll have to shorten the prop shaft or move the motor/box forwrads, if you shorten the shaft you'll need wide angle uj's, if you tried to fit a disco 'box to an 88 I think you'd have problems with the 'box and bellhousing the two flanges would be well close.

A late post I know, this fault sounds like a shorted regulator diode. If its a lucas alty or similar then there are 6 large rectifier diodes on a square heatsink within the rear casing, above this part of the same assy there are 3 small diodes usually marked 1n4004, one or more of these could be shorted, you can get them from maplin and resolder them in. If you can get to the alty warning light with a meter then measure the voltage to it, if the polarity is back to front when the lights on and the ign off, ie what should be the ground is + then this backs up the above diagnosis.

There is someinteresting info here. I was looking for this info as I'm adapting a disco front axle for my series, allthough now I might not need wide angle props. Hey tuko int yours a 300tdi, I am doing mine at the moment, with disco axles.

I know this is reviving an old thread, but here goes, I'm looking into the same conversion now, and I'll be correcting the diff nose angle, and keeping the castor angle correct. This is the info that I have found trawling data sheets and various forum threads, comments welcome. The standard series front axle is 'square', as in if you set the spring mounts level with a spirit level, then the diff nose angle will be 90 degrees horizontal, and the castor will be 0 degrees, ie no castor. Apparently the 3 degree castor on the series come from the springs, they tilt the axle forward at the top to create the angle. Disco/deffy axles with coils are diffo, if you set the axle so that the susp spring mount is dead level (ie the spring would be vertical), then the diff nose angle will be 12 degrees up from horizontal (like it is in the vehicle), and the castor will be the req 3 degrees. So what we need to do is to weld on the leaf spring mounts horizontal on the disco axle so that the diff nose is also 90 degrees horizontal, then re-drill the holes for the swivel mounts and rotate them 12 degrees so that the req castor is back to 3 degrees. If you dont re-drill the holes, the castor would be 9 degrees negative and the vehicle would drive like balancing a pencil on your finger, another way would be to postion the axle as it would be in the disco/deffy with the diff nose at 12 degrees, that would put strain on the prop shaft and running gear, if you were to do this you could use wide angle prop uj's and put them 45 degrees out of phase to compensate for the 'box and diff being at diffo angles.

I looked at tods link and have too fitted a 300tdi to my series, and the bellhousing fits, as tod says you have to bash one of the reinforcing supports and drill a couple of holes in the series bellend, but its not hard to make it fit.

Sounds like you want to put coil spring axles on a leafer. I looked into putting disco coilers on my series, you can buy cheap brackets to weld onto the front/rear axle that fit leaf mounts, and its a simple job to do on the rear, though you may have to mod the prop shaft as the diff nose length may be diffo on the rangie. The front axle is very diffent, the coiler has a track rod position that gets right in the way of the leaf spring, you'd have to either have steering arms specially made, or lose a load of susp travel by putting spacers under the leaf springs to clear the steering arms, the other issue is the track rod that goes from one side to the other, this fouls the diff, as its on the other side, well at least on a disco. Another fouler is that a leaf acts as a leading link setup and a coiler as a trailing (I think I got that the right way round), so the castor angle is screwy on the swivels, you have to weld up the hinge point and re-drill it. Hope this applies to what your up to.

Hi mate, I have fitted, well nearly fitted a 300tdi to a series, the issue with the 200/300tdi is the torque (not the power) exceeds the capability of the 'box, you can however turn down the boost pressure on the wastegate, that will help make the 'box live longer, and still give you some pull from the turbo. The turbo on the 200 does not fit as is, its right in the way of the chassis rails, you can make a short exhaust adaptor to make it fit, or I believe that a defender manifold and bracket will work. My 300 tdi has the turbo higher up, and it fits in the series with its original downpipe no problem with no mods, I've been informed (but not tried it) that the 300 manifold will fit the 200, so you could go and rob a manifold/downpipe off a 300 and use that, do a couple of measurements first. If you do that, pinch the flexi exhaust gas recirc pipe off the inlet too, as you can remove one of the flanges on the pipe and weld it over where the egr valve goes on the manifold, the egr valve is a joke. The 200di works ok without a turbo, and still produces more wack than either of the 4cyl original engines do. Good luck with your conversion, post some piccies. Ta.

Hi chaps, the comment about the 300tdi is right, I have one in the garage ready for inserting into my series 3, one side of the engine has mounts in the right place, and t'other does not. Also the drive belt is a serpentine, unlike the 200, you have to remove the power steering pump and fit a shorter belt. One good thing about it is the bellhousing will fit the series box without any mods including the counterbored bolts. Some of the 300's have a digital stop solenoid which is offfputting but not hard to bypass, some are an 'eds' which is a 'fly by wire' setup and not practical for us bashers. Heres some photo's of the 300 including the aforementiomned mounts.

Hi mate, you might know this allready, but the 200 fits the series mounts, the 300 does not, I have one, it fits directly onto the series box without any mods but not the mounts. If you have not found a donor yet then look for one that is not a eds (loads of electronic carp on the injector pump), some have a digital stop solenoid which can be offputting but not hard to get round.

Well guys the xud is staying in the garage, I was told a load of carp elsewhere though, they said it wouldnt even move off, total carp as you say it has more guts than the original landy engine. The freight rover van has the xud in and it mounted longitudanally so these mounts might fit. All circumstantial now though, I have a 300 tdi engine from a disco.

There might be a 'phase tap' on the alty which drives the rev counter, not all alty's have them, if yours doesnt then thats why its not working.

Pretty sure your right there mate. I dont use big hammers unless I'm really miffed, a dremel is probably a little more professional.

Oh right, can I just remove the security screws, take it out and fit a standard single wire one then?.