Ed Poore

Nah too fat - don't want to be another @GBMUD in his Freelander. Although to be fair the L322 does have significantly more ground clearance and a better traction control system.

Many ££££ - at least the Cummins 2.8 re-power that they've done is. To be honest if I was going down that route I'd be sorely tempted in light of some stuff that may come up in the next few months to get a 3.6TDV8 and ZF 6HP26X running stand-alone

I'm currently leaning towards a new crank and rebuild. Possibly since I've got two engines now converting one to a 2.8 but not sure how much of a benefit that gets over just a straight 2.5 with VNT. May get the two cranks out and pop them up to Robin and see what his diagnosis is - find out whether they're cast, if they are then a forged one is a definite improvement.

I'll take a look at the snapped one I left behind the back door but I'm pretty sure it was cast not forged. It's rusted up a bit while I was away skiing but can quickly knock that off. Benefit of the snapped one is I can actually see the internal structure of the crank.

I did raise the question since Bob (can always trust a guy named Bob) has plenty of familiarity with them. That reputation apparently largely comes from conversions and they leave the original radiators in. Then you're asking a cooling system that was originally built for a (usually) smaller engine to now cool a 6.5L lump - consequently it overheats and then basically you're always chasing your tail when a diesel has been overheated. Plus bear in mind this isn't a massive vehicle it's going into and therefore going to be working hard. I mean I'm only asking it to push a brick through the air, not the breeze block that is your ambulance

Yep - I take these things on the chin. Been lucky I could pinch my Mum's car first when I did the engine swap and then currently pinched Dad's Shogun so I could return a trailer. Nah - at this point if I stay 300Tdi I'll be rebuilding one from the ground up. Turners I see do forged cranks now so that would be my preference. Although I do know of a 6.5L GMC V8 diesel lying around. Not significantly more power (155 in NA form) than a 300Tdi but more than double the torque and being an American engine massively under-stressed. My friend who's got the engine also built custom bell-housings to adapt them to Land Rover drivetrains so you can leave gearbox and back in the same place and just move engine mounts. The engine doesn't sit further forward so you can leave the viscous fan on and then the only other upgrades are to change the radiator for a Saudi spec one (better cooling for bigger engine) and fit HD springs on the front (which I conveniently have a set lying around) as it's a little heavier. Apparently very easy to use V8 pipes on it as well so everything is off the shelf. So currently on the lookout for a super cheap (<£500 ideally) runaround, quite fancy a little van actually so I can use that for a few months while I rebuild / fit new engine.

Well there is some further post-mortem information I neglected to mention so as not to bias initial thoughts. Crank #1 snapped between No4 and the bearing block between No3 and No4 cylinders. At least one (can't remember if the second one was) of the bolts to the block was sheared. My conclusion on this one was that it was a bolt failure that subsequently caused the crank to snap. Crank #2 snapped between No 1 and front-most bearing. In hindsight it actually drove all the way down from Oswestry to Pembrokeshire with a Bridgeport in tow with a snapped crank. Drivetrain is in good nick - in summary this vehicle has had in the last 2 years: Rear: Pegged P38 short nose Ashlocker built by Nige with new wheel bearings, Ashcroft halfshafts, drive flanges. New discs, wheels and tyres Front: Pegged Ashlocker built by Nige, new wheel bearings, Ashcroft halfshafts, CVs and drive flanges, wheels and tyres Transfer Box: New sleeved, HD cross pin from Ashcrofts Gearbox: about 8 years ago was replaced because of worn synchros and splines - new R380 from forum member. Input shaft appeared to be in good nick when I swapped engines, there was a slight wiggle in the input shaft but apparently that's not too surprising since it's supported by the end of the crank and this was free floating. Certainly no noises when turning over. Clutch (new Valeo 130 one at time of engine swap) When I swapped the engine the only things transferred were: Starter motor Alternator Engine mounts Flywheel Cambelt tensioner It had a new spigot bearing, clutch and cambelt fitted as part of the swap. I'd recently done the cambelt on the original engine, probably about October / November time but it had done about 2000 miles since then. Did the cambelt on the new one as well but the kit supplied despite requesting it didn't have the lipped pulley for the tensioner so reused the (relatively) new one. So given the drivetrain has been completely overhauled and has been running smoothly for thousands of miles I doubt that. Cambelt / timing - I'd have expected it to not run smoothly rather than snap a crank. Flywheel - possibility but I'd have half expected vibrations or the like if that was enough to break a crank Clutch - original one had done ~100k so unlikely, but was then replaced with a new one (including new release bearings). One thought I've just had is perhaps the crank pulley wasn't done up tight enough but I did put a large breaker bar and pipe on it the first time around, copious amounts of thread-lock and did it up as tight as I could. The second one when it was out of the vehicle was done up with my Milwaukkee impact (with lots of threadlock) and that's capable of torquing up to 900Nm so it had a good rattle with that.

So you've all heard of the Land Rover disease. Well I've come down with a severe case of snapcrankeritis. Cue 6 weeks ago and was pottering down to Wales with a pretty empty 110 and this happened. Conveniently had a friend with another 300Tdi engine sat in the yard, bit unknown origin but was running well when it came out of a wrecked Disco. So cue a busy weekend and 16h later an engine swap was done, complete with new clutch and cambelt and up running. A couple of niggles were sorted out over the next few days and she was running well. Cue 1500 miles and 5 weeks later with a Bridgeport in tow and this happened. So let's hear some ideas! And contrary to popular belief I was actually driving extraordinarily gently when the second one went. The original one rusted up while it was outside when I was skiing but I'm going to take the second to my Godmother's husband who is a metallurgist and should be able to diagnose the failure mode from looking at it. And a huge public thanks to @GBMUD for retrieving the 110 after the first incident.

@Hybrid_From_Hell I'll bet you a crate of beer you can't rebuild that one Where's the red flag to a bull emoji when you want it?

You can buy long travel rams off the bay of evil for about 40 squids so that might be a backup option.

There is apparently a Saudi spec radiator available (not sure if for the 300Tdi or V8s) as when I was chatting over engines conversions that was what was recommended if chucking in a 6.5l V8 diesel.

@landroversforever, have you considered 3d printing a battery adapter? There's a M18 to Ryobi adapter on thingiverse which could probably be adapted. I second muddys comment though. I got into them after experiencing their big 1000 lbft impact, but now have a lot of different tools. Get a decent socket on something and its unlikely its not going to come off. Hasn't failed me yet, only one it thought about was a seized crank pulley but a decent socket and that came off easily enough.

If there's demand I could look at integrating it into one and trying it out.

Was that aimed at me? The LED is from Plessey but they're custom made for my father for some lights he makes, this particular one would be a bit annoying for a vehicle because it's got a forward voltage of 12.4V which means you'd realistically need a boost supply to drive it. It's just an LED on a PCB at the moment - I just happened to have one on the table next to me when I came across this thread. So integrating it into a X-lite would require some fabrication but perfectly doable.

Hmm. Just had a look at a custom LED (made in UK) I've got sat here next to my sofa and quoted 970 to 1040 lumens at 4000k. Not sure of it's current draw but could try and remember to wire it up tomorrow and see. Oh and that's a single LED about 8mm square. And as it's designed and manufactured in the UK it will meet its quoted output. Oh and they are not that expensive if I remember correctly.

Well if you need it then let me know - usually I consider a detour under 100 miles to not be a detour... I'm trailering a 40"x1.5m pipe up for someone and then bringing a Bridgeport with horizontal attachments back down.

Slow and steady is generally the name of the game, like with all things it's best not to break traction in the first instance. Experience is the cheapest and biggest help. Whilst I agree with John's comment you only gain experience by going out and trying. But go with a friend, preferably with some experience. Incidentally it is very worthwhile getting some proper tuition if you're relatively inexperienced. Mum gave me a one on one day with Jumbo at Woodpark Off road when I was 18 and I honestly say I struggle to think of anything I know about driving off road / 4x4s that he didn't teach me. Other than that it's just experience in lots of different terrains.

I'll be heading up to Newcastle in a couple of weekends (16th) to collect a mill, could potter up the A1M. Might be able to be convinced to do a slight diversion unless someone can get it closer to that route?

Finally found a link I could share:

Does the Alisport radiator have a bevel running around the edge. If so I'd make sure that your clips / clamps are not resting on that. I had some Mikalor style clamps when I got my replacement turbo hoses from DPH Motorsports on eBay and they've been superb - slowly replacing all the appropriate jubilee clamps with those. Surprised you're getting leakage, implies something's not sitting right or the hose is perhaps too large a diameter?

Facebook won't let me copy the link on my phone but if you go to his Facebook page (Xcess4x4.com) then have a look at his photo albums there's an album entitled P38 / 110 Short Nose Diff Build. The only photo I have is of my diff guard

Hmmm, I'd be whipping off the thermostat and a) checking there's one there and b) checking it's operation. The reason for point a is that I snapped a crank and ended up swapping an engine as a quick fix solution. The substitute engine wasn't getting off cold so got around to whipping out the old thermostat (which I knew worked) and went to swap it in. Was a little surprised when I couldn't find a thermostat in the swapped engine. So perhaps the "fix" was to remove the thermostat so now it's always being cooled by the radiator

That's what everyone thought, even Ashcrofts at the time. Turns out Nige is a bit stubborn and doesn't think like everyone else . It is a blooming tight fit though. He'd done a trial with a 4 pin before and I've got his first pegged short nose Ashlocker. He did say it is a little scary taking a brand new shiny locker from the packaging and then putting it straight in the lathe... Ashcrofts still honour the warranty because it's been done by him but I've had no need to try it.

Sent him a message, he's near Guildford.

I've got a friend whose got a yard full of stuff and I'd be surprised if he doesn't have some somewhere (has a couple of mogs for the business). We spent 15 minutes wandering around a corner of his yard trying to find and entire 300Tdi engine. He knew it was in the north east corner but still took us 15 minutes of lifting up tarps on engines to find the right one... If @steve b doesn't pan out I can ask him.