nickwilliams

Some weeks ago, while looking for something else entirely, I found myself deep in the recesses of e-bay looking at a shop which was selling a rather nice looking range of heat-protective sleeving for electrical cables. Basically, it was a range of different types of silicone and/or glass fibre braided sleeving which go over a cable to protect it from heat from exhaust and engine parts. Stupidly, I did not bookmark the site and I now can't find it. (It's possible that the products I was looking at were not actually in an e-bay ship, but I certainly got to them via e-bay.) Does anyone know of sources of such stuff, sold by the metre? Nick.

<rant mode = on> Reducing weight is really only important in motorsport where acceleration (and braking) are significant factors in performance. Anyone who has ever been kart racing (or has watched the Top Gear Star(s) in a Reasonably Priced Car over an extended period) knows that while a lot of racing is in the head of the driver, ultimately if you have two drivers of equal skill and determination and one is a large heavy bloke and the other is a small skinny woman (or bloke) the large bloke is always going to come second. You don't see any burly F1 drivers! On LandRovers, until you start talking about several tens of kilos, the weight makes precisely bugger all difference. Off road you are far more likely to need the extra strength of the properly forged arms than the (utterly negligible) benefit of any weight saving. The idea that any of these aftermarket welded products are 'stronger than the originals', as seems to be the common claim, would be laughable if it were not dangerous rubbish (which it is). <rant mode = off> Nick.

Delving deep into the wiring loom on my 90, I find that there is a pair of wires which run down the passenger side wing and end about the same level as the headlight wiring. The colours are light green with red stripe, and black. The cable is terminated with a two 1/4in female spades in a single moulding. The wires are at least 2mm sq, possibly more. After much head scratching and poring over the diagram, I've reached the conclusion that there are probably for the 'Power Wash" option (which I don't have). 1. Can anyone confirm that I'm right, (or definitely wrong)? 2. What is Power Wash, and why does it need a 25 - 30A circuit? 3. How is the circuit activated if/when the Power Wash option is fitted? TIA Nick.

Autosparks are cheaper than VWP per metre, but they are more expensive on delivery. I have purchased wire from both VWP and Autosparks in the last month. It's worth noting that the VWP lengths came carefully coiled in the separate colours, whereas the Autosparks delivery was all in one big coil which then took me about an hour to separate. I may be able to help with sourcing enough for an engine loom out of the leftovers I have got. PM me if interested. Nick.

I spent Saturday morning making a new loom for my 300tdi engine. Very straightforward. You will need: - about a metre of 6mm sq cable, brown with red stripe (heater plugs cable - goes from bulkhead loom to glow plug: note that the wire between the glow plugs themselves is a different colour) - about 1.5 metres of 4 mm sq cable, white with red stripe (engine crank cable - goes from bulkhead loom to starter solenoid) - about 2 m of 25 mm sq cable, brown (alternator main terminal to starter battery terminal) (10mm sq is adequate for a normal alternator, but I'd go for 16 or 25 mm on 100A one). - about 1.5 m of 1 mm sq cable. white with black stripe (stop solenoid - from bulkhead to injector pump) (NB this colour combination is also used for the rear window heater!) - about 2m of 1 mm sq cable, brown with yellow stripe (alternator exciter/ignition light - from bulkhead to alternator) - about 2m of 1 mm sq cable, white with brown stripe (oil pressure warning light - from bulkhead to oil pressure switch) - about 2m of 1 mm sq (whatever you want - it's not standard, I used black/brown which is the recommended colour in BS AU 7) - (rev counter, if fitted - goes from bulkhead connector to 'W' terminal on alternator) - about 1.5m of 1mm sq cable, green with blue - engine temperature sender - from bulkhead to temperature sender below thermostat housing) - about 1.5m of 1mm sq (whatever you want - it's not standard, I used blue/green) - (a/c compressor clutch, if fitted) - about 1.5m of 15 or 20 mm ID split trunking to protect the wires where they run along the side of the block - needs to have adequate temperature rating. (All wire lengths are approximate - best go and measure up if you have to pay for your wire!) - about 300mm of polyolefin self adhesive heatshink sleeving to protect the ends of the trunking (you could use PVC insulating tape, which is what Rists use when the make the loom for LandRover, but I HATE the stuff). - 8mm ring tag for the starter solenoid end of the brown wire, 6mm ring tag for the other end - 5mm ring tag for the alternator end of the ignition light wire - 4mm ring tag for the alternator end of the tacho cable - 4mm ring tag for the heater plugs end of the glow plugs wire - 2 x 1/4 in push-on connector (female) for oil pressure switch and stop solenoid - Matching connector for the a/c compressor (if fitted) - Bullet connectors for the bulkhead ends (assuming your 300tdi is a conversion - otherwise if it's got 300 tdi wiring you will either have to pay for a loom with the correct connector on, or you will have to chop the 300tdi multiplug off and replace it with bullet/splice connectors). I can provide instructions for assembly as well, but it's all pretty obvious for anyone who knows which end of a pair of crimping pliers to use. And without wishing to seem elitist, if you don't know how to use a set a crimping pliers then this probably isn't a job for you - bodging this harness has a reasonably high chance of setting the vehicle on fire. The main thing is to preserve the original 'C' shape of the loom. This means that the heavy duty cable from the alternator to the starter seems to go the long way round but it avoids having to run it past the hot parts of the turbo/exhaust. Nick. PS, the remainder of Saturday, and most of Saturday morning, was spent trying to troubleshoot why the panel lights and the engine crank no longer worked correctly, but that's another story, and, it turned out, was nothing to do with the engine loom...

I've asked Bolt On Bits if I can send them back if I don't like them. Not had a reply yet. Will be interesting to see how they square it with the Distance Selling Regs. if they say 'no'! Nick.

Well, I've got the machine in pieces so if I'm going to do it, now's the time. But that's certainly a question worth asking. They'd need to be literally bulletproof to be worth the RiverRunner's asking price! I'm not too bothered about appearance, but I do want them to be uber-reliable - so they need to be directly wired LED's with sealed and completely waterproof housings. Otherwise, I may as well stick with filament lamps. Nick.

Does anyone know of any alternatives to the RDX/BoltOnBits NAS Spec LED solid state lights (http://www.boltonbits.net/lamp-1983-1993-p-88.html)? By solid state, I mean LED lamps which are complete self-contained and sealed units, not simply standard bayonet holders with LED bulbs in them. Nick.

Hmm, I think I can see some improvisation on the horizon.....

Defender wipers: There is a small rubber seal which goes over the wiper shaft and the threaded bush which holds the wheel box to the bulkhead. It's intended to keep water from entering the wheel box up side of the wiper shaft. If you look closely at the parts book (p777 in RTC9868, M128/129 in STC9021) it's shown on the drawing but it's not separately identified from the wheel box itself (PRC 8495). I find it hard to believe these are not available without replacing the entire wheel box. Any clues, people? TIA! Nick.

It looks original. I'll snap a few pictures and post them over the weekend.

On mine, the green domes have disintegrated entirely so I'm left with the bulb holders (loosely) held in place by being cable tied to the gauge wiring. Does any one have any sources of replacement bulb holders which will fit snugly in the ~14mm holes in the back of the instruments? Nick.

Thanks for looking. I'll try it without and see if it's vital. Nick.

My new (to me) 300 Tdi engine has a one way valve in the return line from the injector pump to the tank. It's a small (approx. 25mm dia. x 25 mm long) diecast cylinder which sits beneath the driver's feet and when I unscrewed the two halves to try to clean it tonight the thread has stripped. I can't find it in the parts book. Is it really necessary, and if so what's the part number? Nick.

I'm undoubtedly being dense here, but why does it matter which way round they go? Nick.

This got moved from the part numbers forum, I guess because it looked like turning into a discussion, However, I'd still be interested to know what are the part numbers for the plastic inner wings if anyone knows! Nick.

Have sent you a PM, but not sure if it's got through! Pls post here if you did not get it and I'll try again. Nick,

New Defenders have plastic front inner wing liners. I know 'cos I've seen them on 09 and 10 plate vehicles. 1. Does anyone know how easily they will fit earlier vehicles - in my case it's a 1990 90? Our next door neighbour has just bought a brand-new 90 so I'll have a look under his bonnet over the weekend, but has anyone already tried this? 2. Anyone got any idea what the part numbers are, and a recommendation for a supplier who will do mail order? TIA Nick.

I took my Denso compressor to pieces at the weekend (I needed to mend the connections to the clutch coil, which had been severed). It was pretty oily inside. This site shows that it's a swash plate piston compressor but there appear to be several rubberised components inside which probably won't benefit from being in long term contact with mineral oil. The oil inside was colourless and the sticker on the outside says "use only ND Oil 8". Some internet research reveals that this is the same as PAG 46 which seems to be widely available on e-bay etc. (PAG is Poly Alkalene Glycol, 46 is presumably the viscosity grade.) I'll be fitting mine with an inline oiler on the inlet, and buying some PAG 46 to fill the oiler with. I'll decide what level of filtration is required on the outlet when I get it running. Nick.

Thanks all! Now I know what I'm looking for I can see where it connects to the air intake pipework. Nick.

There's a lump mounted alongside the rocker cover which I don't recognise: http://forums.lr4x4.com/index.php?app=gallery&module=images&section=viewimage&img=9658 What does this do, and (more importantly) what should the pipe which leads from it around the back of the engine be connected to? Thanks! Nick.

As posted about previously, I'm re-building my RHD 1990 90 onto a new galv'd chassis and converting from a 2.5TD to a 300 TDi at the same time. I've now got the bulkhead fitted and have come to fit the clutch pedal and pipework today. I've got a 300 TDi slave cylinder (and the associated bracket, short metal pipe and the widget which switches the pipe through 180 deg.) but I was planning to use the original master cylinder. The 19J clutch slave is on the LH side of the engine, whereas the 300TDi is on the RH side so I need a short metal pipe rather than the old long one since the fixed piping no longer crosses the rear of the engine. I also find that the thread for the flexible pipe used on the 19J slave cylinder is a different thread to the one in the widget on the 300 TDi slave. I fear this means that the thread on the '300 tdi' master cylinder is also different, so even if I buy the correct combination of flexible and fixed pipe I will find that it won't fit at the master cylinder end. Can anyone advise a combination of part numbers for the metal and flexible pipes which will provide an off the shelf solution, or, failing that, at least confirm that no such thing exists? I suppose the key question is whether or not the master cylinder pipework threads are different. Thanks NIck

I find the part I've put in bold type very hard to believe. Nick.

Thank you both. I have now found it - it was indeed camouflaged as an oily mess, but I was not looking in the right place either. For the record, the cold (25 deg. C) resistance is around 1.6k ohm, hot (100 deg. C) is about 125 ohms. Part number is PRC6663. Nick.

I'm clearly being very dumb but I'll be damned if I can find the engine temperature gauge sender on my old 19J engine. I can't even find it in the parts book, let alone on the engine itself. It's certainly not in the same place as it is on the 300 or 200 tdi's although it could be close and I just can't see it under the liberal coating of black oil all over the old engine! Has anyone got a picture to show where it's fitted on the 2.5TD? Nick.