honitonhobbit

I had the same issue with a recon LT77 from Ashcroft's - used a fully synth oil from the start. Great 10 months of the year; two months of the year was a nightmare for the first few miles. I used to start it, put the T box in neutral, put the gear box in 4th and go inside for breakfast. 10 minutes of that and it was fine Worth having a chat with Shabs at Syncro Gearboxes

Moseph I found that cooling the T box helped to cool the main box - I used the Rocky Mountain finned extension (and would do so again) I also used exhaust wrap along the section that runs close to the gearbox And thirdly I popped into Merlin Motorsport and bought a Red Line version of ATF that is super-duper high temp All worked well in temps of 45plus up and down mountains towing a 2 tonne trailer Although, its worth pointing out, my mate in his RRC doing the same route had no issues with his box and that was so hot it was shimmering in the heat - he was running standard

Morrison's Ankorwax

We've lost the 3.0litre Isuzu in the UK - so second hand ones hold their money and IM (the importer) has a whole range of high quality upgrades to extend the life of the 3.0 I think the 3.0 is a better engine than the 2.5; not by much as the 2.5 is a good lump, but the 3.0 is an exceptional lump. I rate the D-max very highly. Iain - why don't you just get spendy on the D1? fit some decent seats and buy a rug for your knees?

I'd agree with Bowie. Relatively simples, relatively reliable, quite fun

What is the intended use of said vehicle, old chap?

Bought an Mpi for a laugh and very little money; fell in love with it. Did some welding. Did some servicing Half heartedly tried to sell it Sold the D2 - it went to the Falklands. Almost bankrupted me, but what fun Lots of preventative works to the Di 200Tdi - including a replacement rear axle, rear springs, shocks, clutch, UJ's and some other stuff. Great old bus, does what it says on the tin. Bought a BMW 330 Touring - sold it; with three points on my licence. Sold my last bike Had the first Davefest

I'd buy an Anorak for the family bus - if I had the pennies. It's a lovely drive. But the family bus doesn't get worked so hard. I'd even go for the 2.0litre - when the self destruct unit on the oil pump is sorted it's a big miles engine and capable of some good fuel mileage. I've always found IM easy to deal with for Isuzu spares - some are pricey, but not as bad as Toyota or in many cases Ford. The Ranger is an expensive old bus for bits

No part number - I just order them form my local LR parts chaps. They last. Taunton to Magadan and back to Cambridge; still going strong. Probably the most extreme example. My wife's last 300Tdi Auto Disco was fitted with them three years back. The new owner tows a horsebox regularly. All still going fine after 10k a year

I think I'd be getting a little concerned about drive train longevity.... For what you are paying out, you could have got very spendy on a set of decent seats for the Disco and some very cushty suspension Generally, within my industry the Anorak is relatively well received. But it's not loved or respected. Not like the Isuzu D Max or the Hi-lux Invisible - both or which are absolute nails. The way it was described to me the other day works well - "when you get to the woods, you park the Anorak, unload your gear into the Hi-lux and then carry on in" Mind you all the Anoraks I have driven or know of are 2.0litre, so have the special self destruct oil pump drive. So tend to be used rather carefully anyway

Iain - that's a 37" tyre... No wonder it's that money

Interestingly Swinton do a breakdown insurance for the UK and Europe. It's a monthly payment. Simple. Cheap and very, very good

Forgot to say 'Rebuild the winch on the 200' its a 'Hobbitbuilt' X9 Custom that I'm very fond of. But being an X9 it's not the best at keeping water out. Uncle Dave used to use oil soaked loose fibre washers to reduce water input, so I have sourced some of those. I also need to swap out the 4.8 motor as it needs a re-build - I'm going to throw on a 5.6 motor for the time being..

Years back when I was still writing for TOR I was sent a set of Iron Man Cellular Technology shocks - they were superb. The drawback with the stuff is the quality of the material. A Terrafirma Prosport is about 59 to 60 quid retail (with VAT). It’s about 11 to 14 quid (ex VAT) for a retailer to buy form the importer, who pays about 3.70 (ex VAT). Now that 3.70 includes the shipping. It’s about 2.5k to get a container from China. Or to be more correct it was – I haven’t looked for a while. No idea how many shocks you can get in a container. But let’s say 50p of that 3.70 is container costs. So that’s 3.20 materials, labour, on costs and profit. Now Land Rover is a low volume manufacturer – that’s why so few companies make dedicated shocks for them. Especially now with it only being a service or aftermarket item. Almost all LR after-market shocks available are simple fitments for other more common vehicles that happen to fit LR. Sometimes valving is adjusted, but only on the higher level stuff, like Bilstein. So a ‘soft’ shock is simply not valved for that fitment Main stream Shocks are made in Canada, America, Argentina, Columbia, Taiwan, China, Australia and Europe. A lot are generic – colour changes and bushes are about the only differences – a lot of manufacturers even leave the application of a sticker to the fitter. Then of course you have your high tech stuff and your expensive low tech stuff; then your expensive low quality stuff, your gimmicks and your surprisingly good. I have no idea what the cost is to wholesale import Britpart Cellular stuff. I what I do know is that I was just on the right side of the 2 year warrantee deal, so I had a new set out of them with no issues and within 48 hours. I had already sourced the Raw 4x4 units, so I fitted them instead. The replacement Britpart units were fitted to a Farm 90 in the village, but with the crappy yellow bushes replaced for cheap blue bag rubber bushes. That was three years ago and all is fine – that 90 drives 5 to 10 miles of drove roads (see rough tracks) 24/7 and tows a bullock box to market once a month. What would I buy to replace the Raw4x4 shocks – Bilstein B6’s or Monroe Adventure 4x4’s. I’ve fitted loads to customers cars and never had an issue

If you send him a PM he might pick it up...

What failed? The bushes crumbled after 200 miles - and I mean crumbled. front shocks seized and rears lost valving. This was on a 200Tdi Disco, medium load, Gen LR HD springs F/R. Gen rubber bushes. Slightly oversized tyres. General road use, some towing up to 2.5tonne, greenlaning and the odd bit of navigational rallying. I genuinely wanted them to work, so they were fitted properly and carefully and not abused to excess. Paint finish was good mind. The Raw4x4 HD gas shocks on their at the moment are very good - although to be fair the first set leaked badly form when the two poster was lowered. This was traced back to a factory issue. A second set were supplied FOC direct form Argentina (the factory) as the shock is no longer sold in the UK. They have done 20k of the normal usage with no issues. No rust, no leaks, valving still good

Mpi Lots of Buzzweld products. New shocks Quickshift? Try and find the time to talk to Shabs Percy about the 1st to 2nd change Major service Maybe stiffer springs Or maybe just sell it... 200Tdi Service Soundproofing - Deadmat Better exhaust Small tune Lots of Buzzweld products Sort out wheels - if the Dutchman turns up with the Disco rims Finish the aux loom Fit new rear LED light bar work light Re-build drivers seat squab - or replace seat... Audi So much it scares me

I found it - but was distracted by the office biscuit tin... I'm not going back in there - ever I did find a very interesting note on the .Gov website on HID retrofits

Lost the will to live now... http://legislation.data.gov.uk/uksi/1989/1796/made/data.htm?wrap=true

TABLE (1) (2) (3) Item No. Type of lamp, hazard warning signal device or warning beacon Manner of use prohibited 1 Headlamp (a)Used so as to cause undue dazzle or discomfort to other persons using the road. (b)Used so as to be lit when a vehicle is parked. 2 Front fog lamp (a)Used so as to cause undue dazzle or discomfort to other persons using the road. (b)Used so as to be lit at any time other than in conditions of seriously reduced visibility. (c)Used so as to be lit when a vehicle is parked.

Mind you I'd warn you that the lighting regs are not an easy read

Lighting regs state for front fog and additional lights - no requirement on number; when a pair of lamps is fitted to be used instead of obligatory headlamps in seriously reduced visibility, each lamp must be not more than 400 millimetres from the edge of the vehicle; not more than 1,200 millimetres from the ground (except agricultural and road clearance vehicles, industrial tractors and engineering plant).

I thought that

Ian does appear very occasionally - he's retired with grandkids now

Before you go spendy on Bilstein B6's try the OE speck gas shocks from Delphi - bout 16 notes a corner