monkie

^^^Yes, I got Britpart ones and they aren't very..... well you can guess the rest.

Put this stuff down before you do. It makes the biggest difference on the inside of door skins and seat box in my experience. I also plan to line my roof and body sides with the stuff.

What, in the pub?!

This is one for the Britpart thread on the international forum. Its frustrating they can sell something so far out of tolerance. Makes me think they must be using a dodgy ruler or measuring tape!

How do the new shoes compare visually to the ones which were on?

One of the first jobs I did when I got my 110 was replace the steering damper and got Britpart as I didn't know any better. I must have been lucky as 10 years on its still fine.

Nice work Ralph, it was Pimply Sissing down up country in Somerset. No driveway land rover maintenance today

Well, yes and no. I get your point but the fuel begins the combustion process in the swirl chamber before entering the cylinder. The combustion of diesel is near instant as soon as it mixes with the hot air in the swirl chamber.

The piston on the compression stroke pushes air through a small port into the combustion chamber, this causes it to swirl so when the fuel is injected into this swirling air it mixes well. The hot gasses then are forced back through the port in the chamber into the cylinder for the power stroke. The glow plug and injector sit in the combustion chamber rather than protruding the face of the cylinder head into the cylinder.

I have no idea of who did what to this engine before I had it. What I can tell you is that the bore and head were fine. So someone either did a terrible job and put a damaged piston into the engine or something else did it. I still have this piston as a momento and when you look closely at it the damage looks more like cheese on toast; the surface looks more melted than hit. Possible cause bad injector spray causing the formation of hotspots on the crown? A hotspot in this sense is the swirl chamber part that is inserted into the head on indirect injection diesel engines. On a Tdi (or newer) the fuel injector sprays the diesel at a high enough pressure straight into the combustion chamber formed into the piston itself. On pre-tdi diesel which are indirect injection, the injection pressure is lower and so sprays the fuel into a combustion chamber in the head to give a smoother combustion. This is why the pre-Tdi engines are quieter and smoother running than the clatter from a Tdi. That hole in the head is where a hot spot would sit and you see through the injector apature to the other side.

How's this piston then for you? (the engine was amazingly still running quite nicely at tick over!)

If it isn't your daily driver and you can accept it being off the road for some time, I wouldn't buy anything other than a gasket set (Elring head gasket) and a timing belt set. Take it apart and check how servicable each part is then produce a list of what you need based on careful inspection of the parts. My engine is a 19J rather than the 12J, but here are some examples of what to look for in pistons and the head. Pistons 2 and 3 were cracked down the centre as Snagger says, you need to look carefully as they really are hairline cracks. The head had cracks between the valve seats and from a valve seat to combustion chamber.(Sorry for the poor quality of the photos - but hopefully you get the idea!) The bores were actually in good condition, but check your piston rings crefully to make sure they are not stuck or gummed up.

To avoid any possibility of damage I thinks its best to follow the advice from Western and remove the whole unit first rather than do it in situ. It will allow you to clearly see what you are doing and give you room to work as the housing can be stubborn to remove.

Thank you. That's a good idea, I recent ordered too many mudflaps as I thought they were sold separately but came as a pair. I will cut them up as you suggest.

I've taken my front wings off to paint them. Whilst I'm there I've noticed some minor rust starting to appear on the footwell which I want to nip in the bud before the wings go back on. What recommendations for anticorrosion paints are out there. I don't care about the look as it is hidden. I had used U-pol zinc primer followed by a topcoat of enamel paint which has lasted well, but would like something a little more robust.

Thank you for that. Very interesting information. I will use a dial indicator to ensure I'm not over doing it

I've got some chunky angle iron and M18 threaded bar. I'm going to make my own axle spreader. I'll post a pic of the results

Put on of them on a grinder then you'll see if it's metallic or not

Wash them in some petrol or brake cleaner as well as the magnet test as Bowie suggests. You need to determine if they are iron, aluminium or none metallic to narrow it down a bit.

That's the easy part, I've now got to think of a way to get my wife to take the kids out for a day so I can get on and do it

I'm absolutely amazed at the apparent flexibility of what I thought to be a solid chunk of metal. I'm initially going to buy some magnetic plugs, drain it and take the cover off and the half shafts to see what's going on before I try to take anything apart.

I'm going to get some magnetic drain plugs from Nige.

I see. Thank you. Anyone got one I can borrow or is it just as easy with lever bars and a big mallet as you suggest?

I've been looking at what's involved, I'm not entirely sure I understand the function of the diff spreader. Does it pull the final drive unit out of the housing?

Did this happen when you held the glow plugs on? It is easy to not spot a possible short to the engine on the glow plug feed wire. When you tightened the terminal screws on the glow plugs one of the terminals could have rotated slightly to make contact with the head.