RPR

I like it! Very cool. I think it will want some other engine choices but it's a cool vehicle and looks great.

They won't work with a station wagon because the rear door will foul on them. As long as it's a two door, they will fit a 109.

That Daihatsu 2.8 is a nice engine. I'm off to Nova Scoatia this weekend with a chap who has one in his coild conversion SIII. He fiited a smallish intercooler from a Saab and feels it has had a substantial impact. Worth considering. I'd love to see some shots of the Simca portals. They are reasonably exotic and while there's a lot of natter out there about them, much of it seems uninformed.

Okay - got it now. Sorry for the tangent but would love to have 6cyltdi come back and talk to us about the engineering behind the Series in that picture. Newbe, can you tell us what your goal is for the suspension lift, i.e. how much lift and for what purpose? That will help us to provide the best advice. In general, my view is that anything more than the lift derived from longer shackles, aka "military shackles and available from the usuals: Paddacks, Craddocks etc., and parabolics is a bad idea (with the exception of going Spring Over Axle). If the goal is fitment of bigger tyres, and you have done the needful with reagrd to halfshafts, propshafts, power, gearing, etc., then much better to chop body and keep the CoG lower. Besides, after shackles and parabolics, to get any lift will mean more arched springs, which will be less flexible, and rather redneck booty-fab... SOA is a different kettle of fish. When done well, it can be quite satisfying. It is rarely done well...

By the way, the rig looks fantastic. I don't know how the drive-train is going to cope with those tyres, but I have opened that phot three times now and it just looks super. Just please re-assure us that more thinking/engineering has gone into it than the "Monster Discovery"....

Hmmmmm, whatcha got fer halfshafts?

Carlos, If you are fitting coiler Rover axles (24 spline I presume) via leaf springs, you shouldn't face any real change in pinion angle or need for improved/CV jointed props. Same(ish) axle. Same pinion length and, unless you go SOA or something when fabbing the new leaf spring perches, same relative position for the props (unless I'm missing something). BTW, with the decline of the US Peso vs the E, you should be delighted with a US suplier

This was a not uncommon conversion in SA and, as I undertand it, was done with some frequency in the late 80s early 90s in the UK as well. The Ford motor is a good powerplant and, if looked after, has good longevity. The longevity of your gearbox will be largely subject to its treatment prior to your purchase and, subsequently, to your driving style. The Series gearbox is not very strong, but if you drive accordingly, it will hold up pretty well. I have a carbed Rover 3.5 V8 in frontr of an SIII box and, unless it has been tweaked, the Ford 3.0 L should be putting marginally less stress on the box. It should also deliver peak torque a bit higher up the rev band. The key to gearbox longevity is torque management. 1st gear is pretty weak on the Series box, 2nd, weaker than you would like, and Reverse is positively dangerous. Take it easy in those gears. No boy-racer burn-outs or hammering it backwards and no thrashing it in the mud, and your box should live long and prosper behind the Ford engine. I use a high ratio of Lucas Heavy Duty Oild Stabilizer in my box and I have heard of people very successfully using something called Red Line Anti-Shoc (or something like that) which is a high molecular volume gear oil. If you can run to the expense, it seems a good idea. If your 88 is a chopped 109 you will be able to tell PDQ by looking at the chassis rails in front of the rear spring hangers and at the spring mounts. There should be a sleeved section in front of the rear hangers and you may have a Sals rear axle with the springs outside the chassis at the back. More likely is that A) you have the VIN garbled or B) this is a LR bookeeping error. You can look it up on the Gaydon site as I recall for a second opinion. Oh - and as per above. Yours is a crashbox and you have to double de-clutch in 1st and 2nd.

Series Trek Halfshafts Keep the Rover axle housing, pop-in the 30 spline Toy half-shafts and Toy e-locking differentials (Hilux) from the scrappy. Keep the Series T-case. Your rig will be top notch.

I think you should do it, just like the rickslandy's bloke. It looks like a very well engineered set up from a thoughtful bloke. Go for it! ...you wouldn't mind me taking a little life insurance out on you with me as the beneficiary, would you?

Next week I'm headed up to the Moose Trophy in Nova Scotia, an annual event held every Victoria Day Weekend. These chaps are planning to attend to. The difference is that they are BUILDING their truck TODAY. Great project and Award Winning Film!!!! Check out these three, so far, vids of gathering parts for the build, which will take place today. Thus, the name of their project '88 in a Day'. Forget the fact that they are going to build a truck from parts in a day, the scene of "pulling the engine from the donor" in episode 2 and the hangover scenes in episode 3 are enough to merit critical acclaim! Through various underworld contacts , I have also gained access to the Pearly Gates of "Land Rover Heaven", episode 3, next Friday morning before taking the ferry from St John to Digby. :thumbsup: 88 in a Day Episode 1 88 in a Day : Episode 2 88 in a Day: Episode 3

I think the LT95/V8 sounds like a great solution. What's the T-case low ratio in the LT95 (integral)? You can use the Series gearbox but you need to do some chopping around the bulkhead: and it fits in most wonderfully, if done properly (thank you Matt Browne, Overland Engineering!): Leaving the front end in place: But if you have the LT95 and the 101 bellhousing, that sounds like a winner! If you go that route, please report back with lots of pics and obscure details!!! Good luck.

You will be very hard pressed to get 285/75/16 under a Series truck but provided you are willing to aggressively trim the wheel arches, it could be done with some military shackles probably required. You will lose turning radius with a nearly 11.5 " wide tyre but with substantial offset in the new wheels required to fit these tyres, it may be a wash. Bushwacker's views on skinny vs wide in mud are sound, but you will have to factor in the additional weight of carrying several sets of rear and front halfshaft assemblies (as well as a spare diff) since the floatation moodel requires a relatively high rev approach and as soon as a 285/75/16 MT catches traction at high revs, you will hear that dread "ping" sound of halfshafts (or front u-joints) breaking. As for cost, this should not be a serious consideration given the other issues. Seriously, can you do it? Yes you can! I had BFG ATs in 315/65/15 on the Tonka for a year and a half in Dubai. I had the turning radius of an oil tanker and broke halfshafts with some regularity.

A number of rally teams in the Gulf ran LT85's successfully behind various levels of John Eales built V8s. As I recall, the LT85 was a Santana designed box and lived behind their proprietary 6 cyl (?) diesel. As Bill said, if it managed behind the Zuzu 3.9, it will take a hopped up 200 tdi. In any event, I would have thought given its Santana origins, there would have been a bellhousing to suit the 200 tdi. As per the above advice, it has more of a Series gearbox feel to it, so will take some gettiing used to.

17.5% on landed cost plus import duty, if applicable. You should have a certain personal import "duty-free" allowance level, but I have no idea what that level is in the UK. It is entirely possible that, following a pleasant discussion, the supplier may provide documentation with regard to value that falls within that level (but that will also have to be reflected in insurance, if applicable)...

A 2a box is arguably (and I don't happen to buy the conevntional wisdom on this) the strongest Series box. Gremlin has got it. 200 tdi = plenty of power an dtorque and relative economy. 3.5 V8 (the most you can reasonably fit to a Series box) = more power and torque (somewhat higher up th rev band so better for the gearbox) but thirsty and somewhat more complicated to fit. If you can get a 200tdi for a reasonable price, that would be my 1st choice. On the other hand a 3.5 V8 should be pretty cheap and sounds delicious. FWIW, I think a carbed V8 running composite gaskets is probably marginally kinder to the box than the oil burner because peak torque and HP are higher up the rev band. Peak 200 tdi torque is coming readily through 1st gear. Not good.

Unless Karmic fate is about to deal you an Ace for past good works, it will be a custom jobbie. Your only choice is to measure. However, even then, if you plan to benefit from the coil spring articulation opportunities, you will need an extra long slip joint and wide angle yolk. Depending on propshaft angles with the coils, you may need a CV jointed shaft anyway....

Sorry, saw the post title and thought the mods must be asleep at the wheel and this was spam for some kind of weird Canadian or Eskimo porn....

You shouldn't have any problem at all. If you do, a brake bias valve is a pretty inexpensive and readily available item. I don't think it will be necessary. You might find the servo doesn't do quite as much as it did before, but it won't do your leg any harm

Not from Devon of course

You might try these Pacer 4 1/2" Flexy Flares They won't crack like fibreglass will and they have the benefit of being cheap - about 23 quid, although unless you can find them on your side of the pond, the shipping will probably be about the same. They aren't a beauty accessory of course, but they aren't bad:

Eaton was the maker of the ENV Land Rover axle and the EV11 portal axles for the Volvo C303. These are roughly equivalent in strength to a Dana 60 and/or Salisbury, so a plenty of axle for 98% of Land Rover applications. Who is the successor to Eaton? Would they consider licensing the axle for production? Could the likes of Curry in the US be convinced to undertake such licensed production? Updated with disc brakes and preferably less expensive CV boots run in Land Rover, Toyota, and Jeep width axles, one suddenly has a commercially viable business, with volume potential to bring the cost down below both Maxi-Drive and Portal-tek prices and no need for extensive R&D. Just a thought.

Sadly, I have no under bonnet shots of the Cummins 109 (belongs to a fellow called Jean-Leon Morin as far as I know - same as handdbuilt ?) Sweeeeeeet rig. Couple of other interesting critters: That's a Disco chassis and running gear (lockers, uprated halfshafts, etc.) and a 4.6 lump that sounds delicious, covered in various Series bits. Very capable. The Range Rover SUT ? A custom topped Jeep CJ2A (I think) that has all the charm of a Series 1 and that proves that Jeeps don't float either... my junk The calendar shot and some links to more photos: Andrews Photos Carl's Photos Nick's Photos Dave's Photos Chris' Photos

Just saw this beast up at Winter Romp in Maine - chap from Ottowa. Very cold and nearly 4 feet of snow made the trails pretty tough. Lots of fun though. It's a 109 with a Cummins 6BT 12 valve good for somewhere near 300 bhp and 550+ lbs/ft torque, run through a TDF727 and LT230 to Toyota axles and hardened shafts. Those are 38" tyres. Can't belive how nicely he shoehorned the 6BT in there.

Uncle Bill has pretty much nailed it. All other issues aside, it is highly unlikely that either the Panamanian or Colombian authorities would sanction the trip. I had a chat with the Panamanian Ambassador to the UN about this some two years ago and with the Colombian Minister of the Interior in late 2006. Both of them were highly amused with my even contemplating travel in the area and the Colombian Minister suggested, only somewhat playfully I thought, that if the FARC didn't get me, the Colombian Army most definitely would.... But other than that, it's a great Vapour Expedition!