UdderlyOffroad

I think it was your custom dash piccies we couldn’t see

Thanks Steve! Actually, was asking Nige but your answer is good too ;-) Just realised that one probably doesn’t need to do any more than that as the hole left by the light is underneath the seatbox so will be open the elements anyway…. Incidentally, I reckon a few of us following your build have missed out on pics ‘cos you post more on Innovate – but they want you to have made umpteen posts before you can see your thread/pics.

Very Giggedy Nige! I was also planning on doing the same, only possibly with LED NAS lights for that full bling. IIRC LR changed the two stacked lights layout to the Defender one so that the rear light could still be seen with the rear door open – but I might be wrong on this one, am sure a grown-up will correct me if so. All I need to do is find a TIGist to weld up the hole. Speaking of which, did you weld up the capping or did you go for full belt+braces and weld up the hole in’t tub?

Welcome to the vehicular masochists society! I went the ‘expensive’ route when converting my Salisbury to discs, in that I effectively procured all the bits listed in the parts catalogue (mostly from a scrappie who wouldn’t sell me the whole axle but didn’t care about fixtures+fittings….go figure) and literally bolted it all together. Hub Bling by udderlyoffroad, on Flickr I managed to wangle some ‘narrow’ hubs for free from a 300 Tdi-era Disco my brother was scrapping. Land Rovers are like old Fords in that respect, bits from one model will usually fit another! One thing I would say is, carefully price up the options before you go for it, even the cheap route will soon mount up the costs too if you have to get new calipers and discs, and budget for replacing at least one stub axle! And whilst you’re at it, might as well replace the bearings…genuine ones aren’t much at £8 but you do need two each side….you get the idea. Ideally, get yourself another Salisbury axle, refurb+convert that one, then swap axles and sell the drum one. As for doors, yes they’re not a great design, but remember what started that corrosion was galvanic action between the dissimilar metals, the aluminium door skin and the steel door frame. Good doors are hard to find, but the more modern ones have steel skins. Or you can repair and re-skin your existing doors. Again, ideally you want to refurb a door ‘offline’ then swap them over and sell the one you’ve just taken off.

Personally, I think two LED NAS lamps (at 95 mm dia) stacked one above the other would work quite well, and not look too out of proportion. Would have to be LE Perei Originals though, not the horrible copies that Paddocks (amongst others) are selling. I’m considering doing this on my coiler, but I seem to be in a minority of one who thinks it’s a good idea  It’s a thought anyway. Matt

<sigh> Not the crimp versus solder debate again. Fact remains a £15 pair of ebay crimpers will, in non-expert hands, produce a more reliable joint than the same non-expert will with a £15 soldering iron. And I thinks it’s fair to say that the majority of posters in this thread take the view that this also applies when you go up the scale, size-wise. Mike, I agree that for £40 it seems like an extravagance – but I took the view that I only wanted to do it once, too. Given I have to do quite a substantial re-wire, plus I seem to have become the one amongst my circle of friends (both of them) who ‘knows about car electrics’, it seemed like a decent investment. Far better than waving a blowlamp near mine (or someone else’s) pride and joy. I have a grinder for setting fire to things.

Another vote for the ebay-special hydraulic crimp tool. Mike, I too used to solder large cables - 35mm2 and up onto Anderson connector lugs – but this required liquid flux, a seriously heavy duty soldering iron/blowtorch and large diameter (electrical!) solder – all of which is expensive and with a £35 crimper producing good, repeatable results that, as has been stated, crimps properly. So the OP is probably better off buying/borrowing one of those than getting tooled up for soldering.

Just caught up on this thread. Glad I had my dinner first!!

No it's not - read what people, specifically Pete3000, are telling you. You have a nasty malware infection. They only sure way to remove this is to wipe your HD & reinstall windows, having first got your data off by other means. If you dont have the patience or skill to do that, pay somebody else to do so. Fiddling around with a chronically infected system usually makes it worse. You'll note how the malware has disabled safe mode, for instance

Normally I wouldn't do this, and I'm sure the mods will change it if unacceptable, but have you tried posting this question on Defender2.net? There are at least two Switzerland-based members on there who post regularly. IIRC there were one or two on here too (Hoss?) but I haven’t seen him post in while. Also, you sure Germany will end up being much cheaper? By the time you factor in fuel/travel costs - and that's assuming of course your truck is still mobile? The 200 TDi is a relatively simple unit to do a HG change on, so shouldn't require many labour hours - heck, it could be a learning experience for the Lehrling (apprentice)! And actually, that's the point - any garage should be able to handle a HG change on a 200 Tdi without charging the earth. It's nowhere near as complex and inaccessible as a 'modern' engine. If I were still living in Switzerland, I would seriously consider taking it to my local agricultural dealer - these guys often have better facilities and will understand how to rebuild an 'old school' turbo diesel. Not the answer you wanted, but felt I should mention it...

Dremel gas powered job. £30 IIRC. Sounds like a small jet engine. You sure you're letting the iron get hot enough? Electric jobbies need a good 5mins to get up to temperature usually.

Excellent...Muppet Gloves! For those that don't know 'Harbor Freight Tools' are a chain of stores in the US selling tools of, shall we say, variable quality. And they advertise in all the comics with money-off coupons. They seem to have something of a 'Britpart' repuation. In that there's probably some value-for-money-stuff in there, but it's buried in amongst the carp made from cheese-steelTM. Last time I was in the States, I spent $100 in one of there stores....about $50 of it fell apart in short order. Good spring compressors though. Best $9 I ever spent.

....And in retaliation the Belgian government deports all British expats?

Thanks Lesmond, had a look at your brackets....looks simple enough. It won't exactly be the world's most complicated piece of fabrication, but has anyone got any pics of the standard arrangement on a 110? Or diagrams out of the RAVE? Away from home at the moment with the work laptop so can't look. Any help appreciated Matt

No worries, I guess you went for the short engine in the end?

Short if you need back on the road! Do Turners do a short minus head – as that’s presumably ok? 4th option: Might be cheaper (or possibly logistically easier) to buy a £300 banger with a few months MOT+tax, and drive that whilst you do a DIY rebuild. Then you know you’ve got a good engine…That would surely be less than £1800, and gets you mobile. Worst case, you can weigh the banger in at the scrapper when you’ve finished! Actually I've got a 200 Tdi ‘Short’ on my drive out of a scrap Defender (I wanted the ancillaries to make my Disco lump into a Defender). But I’ve no idea of the condition of the bottom end – there aren’t any holes in it. J If you do decide to go for a DIY rebuild, you’re welcome to come inspect and remove for not much money. FWIW: 200 vs 300 Tdi comes up all the time on here. My take on it is, it depends entirely on what you can find in a good condition for sensible money local to you. In your case however, you’d be mad to contemplate an ‘upgrade’ to a 300 Tdi – as you have a shiny galv chassis. HTH Matt

Any company with such contempt for its customers that it expects them to use a website like that just won't be getting my business!

True, but I think it's still quite relevant to young drivers and what they pay. A couple of years insurances with NCD will result in a drastically reduced premium, insurance with an accident and no NCD not so much... As stated, this is a must-read.....

Thanks Gareth, will put an order in after pay day!! Much as I'd love a bumper like yours I doubt I'll pick one up for sensible money, so home fab it is!!

Another instance of holy thread revival Batman! Thanks to some judicious ebaying a 110 Td5 tank is now mine for the princely sum of 99p + £15 postage. I decided to go down this route as the current steel one leaks from the seems, and it allows for future installation of a Td5 should my 200 Tdi ever die. Sadly the thing is minus sender/pump, but I plan to either adapt a disco 300 tdi one (essentially use its guts mounted onto a plate suitable for the defender tank's orifice) or just stump up for P/N WQB100440, which LRDirect list at £69+VAT for an allmakes one, which I can live with. My question is about physically mounting the thing. Because I've already had my chassis galv'd I don't want to do any welding to it, but I don't mind drilling holes. Does anybody have any piccies of their installation or of bolt-on-brackets they've made? I'm sure it's a simple task, especially using this as a reference, but thought I'd ask the question. As a final complication, I'd quite like one day to fit a Guardian/Southdown style tank-guard/tow-hitch. Presumably a TD5 one will need to be fitted?

So obviously, use all the big comparison websites (Opera Singer, MeerkatManor, Supermarket, Tesco - using a dedicated email address), as well as the usual suspects that advertise in the back of the LR comics. Then try all the ‘young insurance specialists’ - probably a waste of time as they will see 300 Tdi as = BIG whizzy fast rocket-ship Turbo. Finally, keep an eye on Moneysavingexpert.com ‘s young drivers insurance guide for up-to-date tips. Remember that specialist/classic Land Rover insurance might not give you NCB – unless you make it clear that it’s your only car. Once you have quotes that are only bordering on extortionate, get on the phone to them and haggle, play them off against each other. Should knock your quote down a couple of hundred quid anyway. Remember you are the customer, do not appear ‘desperate’ for a decent quote, and have no hesitation in walking away. Don’t forget to limit your mileage too - a lot of people pay for 11k a year when they could get away with 7k. Don’t even bother with 3rd party only (fire+theft) – won’t save you any money these days. Finally, when you turn 21, make sure fully comp entitles you to drive other people’s cars. Good luck, let us know how you get on. Matt

I’m not sure where this ABS-as-a-substitute-for-engaging-brain comes from – presumably marketing related from when ABS was first introduced. I remember on my driving theory test (10+ yrs ago now), there were questions pertaining to the fact that ABS was no substitute for proper braking. O/T alert: I had a day off yesterday, and during my lunch-break (no Landie progress sadly, house DIY) ‘Dave’ was showing an old Top Gear. They showed a young Finnish chap learning to drive, and he had to complete at least three lessons on a skid-pan, as well as night driving, motorways…etc. Would be better than bloody pass-plus!!

To be fair that's the MWP of the unit as a whole, not the pressure the gas will be precharged to (24 bar / 350 psi), however the the fact remains that hydraulic accumulators can be dangerous if not handled properly, and in any case your average workshop will not have the facilities to repair/recharge it. Agreed. LR deleted them for a reason - albeit probably cost driven - but given later models can cope perfectly well with progressive rate springs, that's the route I and others have taken.

Thanks Pat_pending, sounds like the setup I'll go for then! Will report back, though it might be a while...

Zul.betr Uber drueck = max permitted working over-pressure (literally translated) or maxium design pressure in English. This is 1.21 x maxium working pressure at 207 bar or 3000 psi in old money. I read fabr nr as manufacturing number or serial number In other words the sphere is a nitrogen-filled diphagram accumulator, similar to those in Citroens, which needs to pre-charged (filled) with nitrogen to 24 bar. I think. Assuming the diphagram is intact. Matt