Dave W

I just had one fitted by Nationwide Windscreens (York) Ltd, cost me just over £200 + VAT including fitting. That was on a new install though with no insurance, if you have windscreen insurance you can probably arrange to pay for the difference if your excess isn't too steep.

All Series models apart from the Stage 1 and a few 2WD only versions were selectable 4WD. Freelanders are all permanent 4WD although not all have the traction and hill descent control.

Yellow is the supply (5v) Red is the signal Green is the earth edited - you got there already

Just to clarify, the valve in the top of a TD5 plastic tank is NOT a one way valve, it is a roll over valve. It's fixed into the top of the tank at the left hand side. During normal operation it allows vapour to escape from the tank when the tank is over pressure (temperature expansion, release of butane from the fuel etc...). It also allows air into the tank to replace the fuel being used by the engine and compensate for dropping fuel temperature. If the vehicle is inverted then the valve will close to prevent fuel escaping. The nett result of all this is that if you do run the breather pipe under water then water can get into the fuel. It's easy enough to extend the breather pipe (it's clipped to the inside of the rear LH wheel arch). I just replace the original pipe with some 8mm ID fuel pipe and fit a pressure control valve inline with it. Unlike the ROV a pressure control valve only opens when the tank is above or below a set vacuum/pressure. Having said that the breather is already pretty high up on the vehicle.

The easiest way of removing the arm (without specialist tools) is to take the steering box off. You then stand the box on a block of wood with it's full weight balancing on the output shaft. You then hit the drop arm downwards with a big hammer as close to the shaft as you can. I've never failed to get one off using this method and it reduces/removes the risk of damage to the steering box providing it's resting on the output shaft. It normally only takes 1 or 2 decent blows with the hammer.

If he has a UK address it shouldn't be a problem for a non-race license. There are "issues" regarding international competitors however it shouldn't be a problem at this level. I've been told that there shouldn't be a problem for people without UK addresses either as long as they are a member of a UK MSA recognised club. I'd be interested in the details if you/he don't mind PMing me with them.

I always used it when rebuilding engines, it never did any harm and all the old school mechanics used it religiously. As to whether it was of any real benefit in either the long or the short term... who knows ! I never had an engine seize on me when I'd used it but then OTOH I never had an engine seize on me when I didn't, I will still use it though in the future just like my dad taught me.

From the manual...

The two ports at the front (away from the servo) are for the front wheels - one port for each. The rear (near the servo) port is connected to the rear wheels via the normal T piece on the axle. On a 90 they normally have a shuttle valve between one of the front ports and the rear port but on the 110/130 they don't use a shuttle valve. I assume that's because a 110/130 needs more braking force at the rear.

The simplest answer is... all of it... It does get slightly more complicated if you want to mix and match though. I use Disco 300 steering setups on my Defenders as a preference. The biggest advantage being that the Disco 300 used a track rod end where the drag link joins the drop arm which is a LOT easier to change and work on than the version with the ball joint built into the drop arm. If you want to maintain the steering damper in front of the axle then you need an aftermarket damper setup that clamps to the drag link as you lose the swan neck that the standard damper attaches to. You then use the normal Defender track arm at he back of the axle without the damper.

The BW and the LT230 use the same speedo drives so anything used on a BW should plug into an LT230 without any modification.

The MSA are currently running a series of training days all around the UK, perhaps it would be worth making sure those involved with organising events actually take up the offer of free training. Whilst the courses aren't aimed specifically at cross country events they do provide a useful insight into the paperwork and regulations behind the running of events. Club officials will have received notification of the courses and reminders every month for the last 4 months in the MSA newsletter.

I'm just in the process of converting manual to electric windows and adding central locking. The inner door panel that the scissor mechanism mounts on is different on the electric version so I've bought a replacement inner panel. I'll need to modify the mounting points for the inner panel but they're not too different. It may also be down to the age of the doors I got. Of course that does mean I have spare manual scissors, inner panel, winder handles and door cards if they're of any interest.

Coming at this from a slightly different angle, I'd use the oil pressure warning switch as a way of switching the earth side of the unit, possibly through a relay but I doubt it'll require much power. That way the timer is only running when the engine is actually running. You can also use the alternator warning light in a similar way but that's slightly more complicated.

It will be a YWC106280 then and won't have a spider. At one time there used to be a glut of these on ebay but in recent months I've only seen one but if you can get hold of one at a decent price it'd be worth keeping an eye out. You can disconnect the door electrics altogether if you want to rule the drivers door out. There is a multi connector tucked inside the bulkhead where the wires come out of the door and into the bulkhead. If you disconnect the multiplug you'll effectively disable the central locking and the switch on that side. If you have electric windows I can't remember if it's a combined plug or two separate. If it's two separate ones the central locking will be the one with the most wires, if it's all one plug you'll have to live without electric windows at that side until you rule it out as well as having to use the key to unlock the door. The volumetric sensor has a small plug on the back of it that can be disconnected, the bonnet switch also has a multi-plug that plugs into the bottom of it. The door switches are screwed to the bulkhead with a single screw each, undo the screw and pull the switch out, disconnect the spade connector and put some tape around it to ensure it can't touch any metalwork. If none of those make any difference then you're looking at an ECU change. The ECU is located just behind the instrument panel on the dash, it's a green box with two plugs going into it. A replacement unit will need to be put on a testbook or similar to match your key fobs.

Do you know which alarm you have ? The year of the Defender will help, the ECU part number would be better. My guess would be a TD5 with a YWCxxx280, 2002 on. The bit about it unlocking the doors may be a clue, there are a few instances on the above ECU where the doors are automatically unlocked. One of them is if the alarms internal inertia switch is triggered (this is built into the ECU, not the fuel pump one). It could also be a faulty switch on the driver's door lock. You could try localising the problem by disconnecting bits one by one. The volumetric sensor can be unplugged and the alarm will work quite happily without it. Same goes for the bonnet alarm switch and the door switches. Even the alarm sounder can be disconnected although that is slightly more complicated than just unplugging it unless you have a soundproof bin to throw it in while it's battery runs down The fact that the doors are unlocking on there own does smack of an ECU fault as the alarm ECU controls the door locks with a completely independent circuit from the alarm functions.

There may be a number of reasons for this, I know last year several clubs were "requested" to change their championship to club only to avoid this problem. The number of clubs you invite isn't effected, you can still invite up to 15 clubs to the event it's just that the scores from competitors who aren't members of the organising club can't go towards the championship. The MSA could well have applied a waiver in previous years and they may well have applied a waiver this year or may have not realised you were running an inter-club championship. You'll have to ask them that, i just assumed from reading your regs it would have to be a National B event and a registered championship to run like that. I was involved in running an inter-association trial many years ago and we were given a waiver for the first two years to run it as a clubmans event so we didn't need comp. licenses. In the third year though we had to "do it properly" and get licenses and run it as a National B. Having heard on the grapevine about clubs applying for a "punch hunt permit" and navigator/co-driver being referred to in the SR's as "winch bitch" I'd hazard a guess that the MSA are kind of busy atm, it is, after all, primarily an organisation that relies on volunteers.

It's a valid question, I don't have any direct connection with the MSA but I have been organising, competing and scrutineering in MSA events for 20 odd years. I've been involved in rally and off road/cross country events and have combined that with challenge events for the last 10 years. Most of what I've learnt about the MSA regs has been as a result of trying to push the boundaries quite a lot of that time. I've been on a number of MSA training courses covering officials, marshals and scrutineering but never taken it any further because I love driving too much

True, although I have no idea who is running challenges outside the MSA this year.

You can either buy a "Non-Race Clubman" or "Non-Race National B" so if you only enter clubman status events you only need a clubman license which is cheaper than National B. You need a National B license to enter any National B status events. Clubman is £23 National B is £37 so it's best you know which l;icense you need at the start of the year. Upgrading a clubman license to National B will cost you the differnce PLUS an uggrade fee of £27 so to go from clubman to National B afterwards costs you £41 on top of the £23 you already paid...

I suggest you read the rest of 4.3.1(b)... "Clubman events may not form part of any championship other than a championship restricted to the organising club" You can only have one organising club and only the members of the organising club can take part in the championship. So in that case whichever of the two clubs apply for the permit, their members will be the only ones eligible for the championship. Any members of invited clubs (including the club that didn't apply for the permit and is therefore an invited club) can compete in the event but their score cannot be included in the championship results. You have to run National B to have more than one club in a championship and you have to register it as a championship. Only single club championships are exempt from registering. Being recognised as a member of a club requires that they have voting rights at at least one AGM. This means you can't use some form of weekend membership to allow people to take part.

Neil will correct me if I'm wrong I'm sure but I think AWDC are running clubman status. LRS is registered as a championship I believe so will be National B. Hopefully the organisers will start making it clear what status their event is so if you might want to compete in more than one you can buy the highest level you need at the start rather than having to do it twice.

Be aware that if you're entering a championship you need a National B license not a clubmans license. If you have a National B you can enter either level of event but with a clubmans license you can't enter a National B event (which is what all championships have to be run as).

That was never supposed to appear, it was abandoned a few months ago. I'd like to think it was because I pointed out that for smaller club events this would put the cost up too much as clubs that don't have registered scrutineers will need to pay for one. In reality the bigger clubs, who do have their own scrutineers, argued for it but it was dropped when they realised there weren't enough scrutineers to cover all the events.

I'm surprised they agreed to that given that they had to drop the scrutineering requirement. I'd assumed that 24.2 was yet another misprint, not 24.2.1. Thanks for the info, I'll chase it up on Monday.