Dave W

There are two different setups for the track rod. The main difference is that Discoveries and RRC have the steering damper mounted to the track rod and the diff so to adjust it without destroying/disconnecting the damper they made a two part track rod with a short section at one end that is used to adjust the overall length. The RRC track rod (complete wiith adjustable section) should be the same length as the 90 track rod that doesn't have the adjustable section. There are two different lengths of drag link (one length for the swan neck end as fitted to most RRC/90/110 and another for the TRE joint as used on 300 Discos). It's a mystery, perhaps it would be worth posting a pic of it in case there's something odd about the axle or the bar. Have you checked the axle tube is true/straight ?

Not much help I'm afraid but I'm running a Defender track rod on RR axles on two vehicles without any problems. One of the RRC axles is imperial, the other is metric. There shouldn't be a difference in overall length between them albeit that RRC and Disco versions have the steering damper on the track rod so have to have a short adjuster section at one end. How old is the 90, it didn't have one of the odd ball axles on it or something ?

From the end of the chassis to the front face of the winch mount it's 60mm on mine - 8274 mounted above the chassis. I had to modify the front cross member to achieve that, the rear of the 8274 sits inside the cross member.

Still trying to get hold of a cheap RR compressor ATM, have a couple of possibles lined up and one of them has pipes with it so that would make it easier to graft to the Defender system. Does anyone know what pressure they run at ? Just wondering how easy it's going to be to join the RR pipes to the Defender pipes, the Defender pipes look to be aluminium ? I've not ruled out using the TD5 compressor yet either.

STC8875 looks to be the LR part - 12S socket on one end, plug for the loom on the other. It includes a split charge module too and looking at the accessory fitting instructions it's quite involved beyond a basic plug it in and it works task as it first looked. There are some warnings though that it might not be suitable for 2000 on P38s so it might be cheaper and easier to use an aftermarket one.

As far as I am aware there are two connectors behind a small cover, LHS rear of the boot. The 12S power supply lines are controlled by the BECM (body control module).

Whilst collecting anything that might "come in" for the forthcoming rebuild of Pam's 90 I came across a complete TD5 Defender aircon system with everything bar the front grill panel and at the price it was I really couldn't resist. All the pipes are there, the compressor, the receiver thing, radiator, fan, radiator support, complete dash panel etc... The only problem I have is the compressor because I'm fitting a 3.9 V belt engine and the TD5 compressor, as well as mounting differently to the 3.9 one, has a serpentine style pulley on it. So, do I.. a) Fit a V belt pulley to the front of the TD5 compressor and modify the mount to suit the compressor. (Are the pulleys/clutches a common fit and interchangeable between compressors like they are between alternators ?) B) Fit a compressor off a 3.9 and somehow modify the plumbing so that it fits onto the TD5 pipework Any thoughts/pointers/pitfalls in all this ?

Regardless of which type you have, make sure you have a master switch in the cab to enable/disable the external controls. Mine only work when the ignition is on and I've enabled them with a switch on the dashboard.

RS and Farnell both do them. I prefer the push switches myself as they're far less prone to physical damage than a toggle switch. Just look for IP67 rated items and it'll be fine on the outside of a motor as it's totally sealed from dust and waterproof to 1m deep. IP68 gives better depth if you're thinking of turning into a submarine for any length of time. Toggle switch... http://uk.farnell.com/tyco-electronics/awt...-mom/dp/1436246 I use one of these... http://uk.farnell.com/itw-switches/76-9410...equestid=305814 and http://uk.farnell.com/itw-switches/76-9410...09281?in_merch=

Yes, SuperPro are really good and are available outside a full kit. OEC stock both metric and imperial versions, you get two bushes and a pack of grease. There's a discussion about them here... http://forums.lr4x4.com/index.php?showtopic=38224

I won't try working it out as the first time I weighed mine I calculated it as just under 2000 when it was actually 2300. I'll go for 2450 Kg

Any pics of the result available ? It's difficult to visualise what they'd look like with the original panels fitted around/to them. For those without a tube notcher (like me) I've done a fair amount of work making up custom bits with nasty multi angled notches, what I do is roll a piece of thin card around some pipe and tape it up to make a tube, you can then slide the cardboard tube over the end of the pipe and mark/cut it in situ. until it fits the joint. Once you have the template sorted you can pull it back over the tube and mark the area to be cut away with a saw/grinder/hole cutter. It makes the whole process much quicker and more accurate. If you're doing several joints the same then you can reuse the card template each time.

Have you got approval/authorisation for the repairs ? Remember that one man's "filling a hole" is another man's fly tipping ! Make sure what you are doing is officially sanctioned or you can find yourself in hot water.

If you're going to use the same fuel pipes (with a different pump obviously) make sure you check the return pipe is clear as hooking the SU return up to it will give you the same problem otherwise as SU float valves won't close if they have too much pressure and you'll end up with petrol pouring out of the overflows.

I avoided suggesting that on the grounds that he's changed everything that MS would replace already so could end up putting MS on and having the same problem... albeit with better diagnostic facilities !

I have the same dilemna myself although I've pretty much decided on P&P simply because they're closer to me and they've always been really helpful in supplying the odd bit of tubing when I've needed it. I've yet to see anyone build a wing up in the way I want to do it so I need to go and have a look at one before I buy and see if I can fit them without it being obvious they're fitted - I want them to protect the motor from damage, not look like something off Mad Max.

Flush fitting valves are my preference but I've been told in the past that Mach 5 beadlocks don't seal too well and need tubes ? If you can stick with tubeless then flush valves are good and it removes the balance problems that welding lumps of metal on the rims can cause. The main downside of flush valves is that you are screwed if you lose the adaptor so need to carry a spare, I carry two anyway so we can air down two tyres at the same time.

Do you have a way of checking the fuel pressure ? Just wondering if it's running over pressure as that would leave it running rich and the problem would be increased by the extra fuel going in when it sees the throttle increase, causing it to stall and flooding it making it difficult to restart. The two main causes for over pressure are the regulator unit or restricted return pipe (the lining of the rubber pipe can collapse, restricting the return). The other thing that comes to mind is if one of the air pipes is split.

A laptop would be relatively expensive and vulnerable to theft if you leave it in the vehicle, if you want to go for an external screen you might be better off building/buying a dedicated PC. If you feel you need to you can even do what I did and build it into a waterproof case. For a touch screen the most important thing is the native resolution. Most apps require 800x600 as a minimum resolution and a lot of the cheap touchscreens are only 640x480 which are often completely unreadable at higher resolutions. That's why they are cheaper than the 800x600 ones. The applications themselves are important, if the app you want to use isn't designed for touchscreen then it'll be much harder to use, small menus/toolbar icons on an 8 inch screen are very difficult to use, impossible if you want to use your fingers to control it rather than a stylus. I created my own user interface to work with OziExplorer that overlays the map with large finger friendly buttons to control the application, as far as I know there is nothing similar for memorymap. There are a number of in car touchscreen apps that allow you to customise your screen and give you built in features such as music, mobile phone interfaces etc... It's well worth hooking the computer up to your ICE so you get the full benefit. You can also get road navigation software designed for touchscreen such as PCNavigator which is very good for guiding you "on road". For a free, simple and easily configurable interface app I'd recommend In Car Terminal (ICT) - http://www.cartft.com/community/ict For in car computer components I'd recommend http://www.linitx.com/ I mounted mine into an IP67 box... With an 8 inch touchscreen on the dash.

BTW, just did a quick search on ebay... http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/CAR-VAN-TRUCK-BIKE-T...%3A1|240%3A1318 They do spare string too, you need the brown string for 4x4 use though, the black ones are thinner for motorbike use I think.

The full Tyrepliers kit contains the bead breaker, two tyre irons and a puncture repair kit - the repair kit is very good as well, it includes a full sticky string kit as discussed here... http://forums.lr4x4.com/index.php?showtopic=41626&hl=

I'm not sure on the legal aspect i don't see any difference between using string or putting in a plug or even using tyre "gunge". I suspect it's more to do with the nature of the hole you are fixing than the method of fixing but, like you, I've been told it's not legal to run on the road but have no idea why or even if it is really the case. I normally get tyres repaired properly after using the string but have ended up doing thousand's of road miles on repaired tyres without a problem. On the 2005 Outback Challenge every single tyre on my motor had at least one repaired puncture and one of them had 5 repairs !

They're very good although you can buy them cheaper from agricultural tyre places. They allow repair of a TUBELESS tyre without removing the rim or tyre from the vehicle. Find the hole, use the reamer to make the hole bigger if required, put the string into the hole with the insertion tool, twist it and pull it out. The string stays in the hole and self vulcanises. If the hole is too big, put in more pieces of string until it seals. The string bunches up on the inside of the tyre and is coated in a self vulcanising rubber solution, it's known as "sticky string" or "silastic string". It forms a mushroom type plug on the inside of the tyre making, to all intents and purposes, a permanent repair.

That's a difficult question unless you tell us what engine you have, what fuel you are running it on and what year... Having said that that does seem a bit low even if it's a V8 petrol, unless you have a very heavy right foot or are running on LPG or are running a 4.6 GEMS engine. What do you get out of it on a motorway ?

Technique is more important than effort, putting a tyre on the rim should take minimum work with the tyre irons if you get the technique right - as you say get the first half of the bead pushed into the well and it's easy. If you want a set as an investment for the future I'd strongly recommend getting a full Tyrepliers kit which gives you everything you need to break the bead, remove and/or repair the tyre and put it back on. Since buying mine I've not used a tyre shop for anything other than balancing. I carry my set in the Land Rover with me all the time and use it to repair my own and other people's tyres when we're out and about. http://www.tyrepliers.com.au/ Not sure who's stocking them in the UK at the moment.