Ed Poore

On my 300Tdi 110 station wagon (side facing seats) there was a 3 or 4mm steel plate as a spreader plate for the rear, this was then braced to the rear cross member by a ~1.5" tube. Inside the cab there was then a similar specced tube that tucked into the "hip" of the tub and then bolted to the C pillar. Although this was primarily for the seat belts the frame for the seats was also tied into it as well as the tub. However the steel frame for the seats was far flimsier. Thereby backing up the fact that it was for the seat belt restraint rather than the seat restraint.

Depends on how the seat belts are mounted - if you think about the front seats in a standard Defender then they're just bolted to a piece of aluminium with a piddly spreader plate. In the event of a crash then the belt is what's holding you in and that is tied into the chassis. If the seatbelts are integrated into the seat then they'd need some suitable anchorage. If I'm remembering correctly from when I looked into it when I built my rear seat framework then according to the SVA / MOT manuals suitable spreader plates behind suitable panels are OK for seatbelt mounts but don't quote me on that. Ideally yes they would be tied into something structural but given most vehicles don't have a chassis anymore...

Simple solution. Buy good old fashioned tools where everything comes in at at least half a tonne and requires a JCB to move. If they nick it in under a day then I might employ them to move things around for me.

Vince did do private. They are prioritising commercial but fairly sure he still did private.

I've sent car parts with Vince's Speedshift and fairly sure he's still shipping to France but it's painful, time consuming and massively variable on price. https://www.speedshift.co.uk/services/BREXIT-Requirements/

Not Land Rover spares but I did have my gun dealer phone me up and ask if he could "buy" back some shotgun cartridges off me as he had none of that type in stock and someone was after them. Guess he charged the new price for them since they'd more than doubled since I bought them but did replace like for like later on.

Come on - where's the picture with the bandsaw on it!? You've got the ingenuity / presumably an engine crane Was lucky enough my bandsaw was big enough it came ready made with castors and a stand - mind you half the stand is the coolant bucket. But for £100 even if it was in Essex I couldn't turn it down, single phase to boot.

Oh if I had the choice I'd probably get one of everything but if I'm honest between the 1/4" hex with adapters and the big 1/2" they do everything I ask of them at the moment. I like the idea of the ratchet one because if I can't get the 1/2" in then chances are the 1/4" isn't going to fit either. It's not so much for doing silly torque stuff, just difficult to access areas where the compactness of the ratchet head will be useful. I seem to recall Rich from Deboss Garage saying if he only got to keep one tool from Milwaukee's line up it would be that one because even if it can't crack off the nut you can use it as a normal ratchet and then wind it off with the motor afterwards.

I've had the high torque 1/2" impact for quite a few years now, between that and the little 1/4" driver I find they cover most eventualities. Kind of been tempted by the 3/8" version for something more compact but don't think it's small enough. Very tempted by the 3/8" extended reach ratchet though for those nuts that are a sod to reach and need lots of winding up and down.

What for a how to - just done one last night...

I know someone who buys it in 50 gallon drums...

Similar situation - recovery lorry a couple of weeks back broke down and needed recovering... He said it's not that uncommon - worst they had was out of a fleet of 150 they were almost to the point of half the vehicles being recovered by the other half...

Have you got a picture of the head gasket failure? One of my (been through a couple of crankshafts a few years back) 300Tdis had the fueling wound up a lot and never had any issues with it. Given the coolant wasn't hot I'm struggling to see how the boost pins etc., caused any issues. Did you do the extra 20° required for the 10 main bolts? Having said all that the last four head gaskets I've done were just torqued up and then "judged" based off bolt angle rather than anything more precise and not had an issue with head gaskets. It's not what you wanted to hear but based off the information to hand I think it's probably just bad luck with the gasket, the 300s are pretty resiliant engines unless you've overheated them which it doesn't sound like you've done. Assuming everything is flat like you say then I can't think of another reason. After the crank issues (failed crank pulley) my 300Tdi's run for 2 years with a 1.2 transfer box and wound up fueling with no issues and a fair chunk of that has been towing heavy loads across the country.

If the head gasket went between 3 and 4 into the coolant passage ways that would explain both your white smoke and water pouring out because not only would it be letting water into the pistons causing the white smoke but pressurising the coolant system causing your spewing of water that wasn't hot. As to why the gasket went in the first place the only reasons I can come up with so far are: Dodgy / damaged gasket Badly installed causing damage or the gasket to fail due to lack of clamping So can't really comment on those options but to me it sounds like your failure was the head gasket first for whatever reason and the other symptoms were caused by it. Unlike mine recently which was overheating but hasn't damaged the head gasket.

That's one thing that's blown me away with the Ulefone I got - signal reception has gone through the roof compared to all the other phones I've had. OK 4ft thick Victorian walls don't help but I can pretty much get signal in every room of the house now at certain locations - it was a case of one side of the house if I was lucky with all the previous phones. Similarly at my parents farm once you left the yard up the top of the hill it was a done deal you lost signal but this phone seems to get signal everywhere except at the bottom of one of the woods up a narrow valley.

Fair enough, as I say it was your choice. A phone for me is mainly a phone so have different requirements.

Your choice is your choice but does appear to be double the price of the X8 we've recommended? and that's direct from Amazon so no import duties to worry about.

The ZF box in the TDV8s is pretty bulletproof and has been around for donkeys years so can be rebuilt easily enough. The main issues with the TDV8 itself seem to be ancillaries and EGR causing sticky EGRs then breaking off and potentially lunching the turbo and engine. As long as you keep on top of the maintenance and perhaps clean it out I don't know of any other issues

The Ulefone X8 has rubber caps (attached) for all the ports so you don't get dust in them. Or as I found with my old one hat and straw from bedding lambs down at the farm.

Only had it since mid January but been suitable impressed by the Ulefone Armor X8. Dropped it a fair few times and from height and not suffered, it's got the case built into it. Waterproof (even a submersible mode for the camera). Think it was £124 from Amazon when I bought it. Battery life is decent and also seems to be far far far better at picking up signal than my old Sony Xperia. There's pretty much no-where at my parents farm where I can't get a signal now which considering before there were only a couple of places I could get signal. And no there's no new masts that have gone up.

Like you I wasn't criticising - just I guess I've fallen into the camp now that my daily driver needs to be able to carry half a tonne in the back on a fairly regular basis. I'm an anti-social bugger now and don't get out working from home so when I do go out it's for stuff for the farm and/or work and/or work around the place so load carrying capability or towing. Land Rover's whatever guise that is fit the bill quite nicely. Same reasoning when I had the L322 - wanted something comfier / more powerful for longer journeys but ultimately because of what I did when I got there I needed the 4x4 capability. Horses for courses.

Because some of us have a different everyday to you Mo . I mean if it wasn't in pieces with an engine transplant going on the 6x6 for me would be the most suitable day to day vehicle. But I appreciate not everyone needs to pick up half a tonne of sheep feed or a couple of bulk bags on their daily outings...

👍 I'm half tempted to set Ross the challenge - can he finish the truck before I finish: Reassembly of 110's engine due to slight overheating issue with pallet racking in tow SL35 into 6x6 ISO locks on cherry picker + bed 1UZ into Defender Machine shop Exterior of house: rendering, painting and driveways (only 600sqm of rendering to do) I think I stand a better than fair chance.

I bought my L322 with ~100k on it but had a years warranty (third party) for £16.5k. On the more modern vehicles I'd be wary of lower mileage ones as they'll have sat around not doing a whole lot, as others have echoed condition is far more important. One of the issues I have with "motorway miles" only on something from a Land Rover stable is that it won't have had all of the features exercised (for example the selectors for low box have a tendency to seize up). The other aspect (I think more prevalent on the 8spd boxes) is that cruising along at the limit the engine isn't really getting a workout because top gear is so tall for economy. If it's been regularly given the beans then at least it's had a chance to build up heat and burn off all the EGR related carp in the intake system. I'd say do the research on the specific model and check the history of it. If everything's running as it should then why not irrespective of mileage provided the price is right.

The 3 bolt on my Sandringham is massive compared to the 4 bolt on my 300Tdi. Not sure if it's a heavy duty version though.