red90 driver

Mine arrived this morning. My 3 year old lad enjoyed it as much as I did! Definately a petrol head in training.

We have a set of 35x12.5x15" pro comps on the 90. They drive ok, quiet, but you do get the steering wheel shakes, but that may be down to using large offset wheels. Very good offroad, they do grip well for muds, and on road, they seem to be lasting the distance. On a less offset rim, they did restrict the steering lock somewhat, the bigger offset rims cured that, but then we got the shakes a little!

Hydraulic? Oh yes, but I'm a cheapskate, and so elecktrickery clockwork winches are what I'm stuck with, so there.....

Not 'Hysteresis' ?

Not sure why the winch battery went flat, the voltage gauge went down to 10v, the winch was still working, I'm just paranoid that we will have problems during a challenge!! I think we (I) might have fried the yellow top when I stuck the battery charger on it over night. Allegedly, you should not charge a yellow top for more than 4-6 hours otherwise the battery gets fried. So all I need is the bracketry required, please????? I'll check the archive (never thought of checking, DOH!!)

Guys - after flattening our yellow top last weekend, I need to fit 2 alternators onto the 90. We already have a 120 amp alternator with a split charger, but the winch battery does not seem to want to charge very quickly at all. Therefore, we have decided to use the 120A for charging the yellow top, and get another 65A unit for the main battery. What brackets, pulleys and belt do we need? (the yellow top only has the single winch connected to it (until we fit 2 X 8274's in october)) Pros / Cons? (I will wait more than 15m before being impatient.......)

We used conveyor belting on the challenge 90, then used tek screws into the inner wings to hold it in place. I do know of a good free supply of conveyor belting (unused sand pit near me, still with all the processing equipment in situ), thats where I got the 20 ft or so to do the truck. It's so easy now to wash all the muck from under the arches!!!

Hmmm - after reading this I am having thoughs about monopoint injection on my Edelbrocked 3.5 Is there a throttle body and single injector setup that would fit onto the inlet manifold that cam with the carb? Or, seeing as I have the EDIS-8 bits waiting in the garage, should I just flog the carb and manifold, and put on the injection manifold, plenum and injectors that I also have sat in the garage, and then MS the lot? Monopoint would be really simple, or maybe twin monopoint setup, just to get sufficient fuel in... Just a thought. (Now waiting to be shot down in flames)

I would'nt take the p*ss too much - the guy runs a martial arts school in Wrexham, N Wales. I was on my trials bike, and met him checking out a tarmac'd bumpy road in Llangollen - I don't think he has ever taken the thing off-road (other than parking at game fairs ) After a quick conversation, he admitted he only wanted the 'look', and would never take it anywhere where damage might occur (Tesco's car park on a satday spring to mind).......

Yes. But you may experience a few minor technical issues doing so. Please detail when the issues have been resolved........

I thought it was an OK episode tonight. Apart from having 2 shouting toddlers running around the house interfering with my beer drinking, the pictures were fine....... Fair do's though, the 314 mph at elvington was impressive. Have been to a run wat ya brung day there with a CR500 super motard. Bumpy little potholed runway that is. Must have been improved since 2002..... I'd like to see more tractor puilling on Top Gear. Or let Clarkson et al try an RTV / CCV trial. Any one else got an idea?

The best chargers I have seen for this are from Optimate. http://www.optimate.co.uk/ They were originally for motorcycles that spend a lot of time standing over the winter. £34 each.

Ah! Would that be the proposed route for the new high speed M4 Tollroad for the M25 area carpark? Faster and safer than the existing network. But 'gas guzzling 4x4's' will be charged a greater amount or just banned on environmental grounds.

Hands up anyone that wants to move to Oz? Or any other country that has hills, unmade roads and does not penalise ppl for living!! Me! Me! Me!

Can anyone help with information for rebuilding the brake servo on a 200TDi defender? Typically with these things, mine is fitted with the most expensive one to replace! Looking from the front of the truck towards the back, the vacuum hose is top right, and the 2 bolts holding the master cylinder are at 4 and 10 o'clock. Is it a PITA to rebuild one of these? There appaears to zero info in the LR workshop manual 'if faulty, then replace'. Help? Please? Whimper? Chocolate hobnobs traded for any relevant info.

OK, PM sent to you. Nick

It appears that the servo on the 90 is 'knacked. Is there a rebuild kit available, and if so, it is straight forward? Alternatively, a 'man in the pub' has told me that it is possible to replace with a discovery servo, with a few 'simple' mods. Is this feasable or just pie in the sky? All I know is that the brakes require two footed operation when I'm waiting for my winchman to pull his finger out and rescue us from gravity! Sorry Ian, only joking!!

Every time I've had to prime the oil pump on my V8, i've used an electric dril with a steel rod that had had a groove 'carefully machined' by angle grinder at one end, which is just wide enough to engage the male slot of the pump drive. Works every time. Damm sight better idea than packing the pump with vaseline for 2 reasons: a. I could not get it to work b. I got a slap for getting oil in the vaseline she bought for the baby.

We only have 59000 miles on the engine from original. So, therefore we should be OK doing the turbo boost and fuelling without having to worry about old tired engines. Back to the possibility of going to a VVT, has anyone decided what would fit onto the 200TDi in place of the standard turbo? Just what IS the std turbo? a Garrett T4? What are the hybrid turbos that some seem to fit? Anyone? Bueller? Bueller? (Obscure reference)

At the moment, 265/75/16 Grizzly's About to go to 35/14.5/16 Pitbulls for winch comps, and for general use 35/12/16 pro-comp muds.

OK, thanks all. I think we'll go with the quick and dirty method of turning the boost up and tweeking the other settings. We'll leave the VNT stuff for when we blow the turbo.........

Hmmm....... Too much smoke attracts plod though. Plus winchman would get a face full of diesel smog on the way in.... I had heard that a turbo from the mondeo would work / fit............ 2.8 TGV?

OK, i'm going to throw this one to the wolves........ Take a 200TDi defender that does some occaisional winch comps, green laning and p&p days. We need *want* more low down grunt as the turbo takes a bit of winding up, esp. starting off on steep up hill sections.... We have fitted a larger intercooler and had the fueling slightly tweeked. The boost is being upped in the near future. Will these mods give us more immediate power from tickover? I was wondering if any one has experience with swapping to a modern variable vane turbo. From what I know of these units, they will boost from much lower revs and also boost for a much longer period. What turbo would fit (if any)? Is there any fancy electronics required for boost control? How would the defender cooling system cope, as I assume that the turbo would be water cooled, not oil? Any help would be appreciated.........