Turbocharger

I think PaulStage1V8 might be onto something here. Do you have the cross-bracket that braces the steering box to the bracket he shows? If this fits, it's probably OK. Otherwise I'd look at the position of the panhard bracket on the axle and the centre-to-centre measurement of the panhard rod. I don't think it can be your springs, because it's the panhard that's forcing them to the position you see. Even without springs installed you could jack up the chassis to the same position. I'd be cautious about using bodywork as a reference though - panels bend easily and a small error at the bulkhead could add up etc. Edit: I mean the bracket in the background here, no comments on the damper or amount of TRE thread showing please :

Given you're saying they're stuck, I'm guessing the socket Jim mentions isn't working? Sadly because of where they are you can't get a grinder to them so I've had success with the 'bash a smaller socket on' method, ahead of taking the whole hub or swivel off to put it in the vice and drill it out.

I daisychained some spade connectors for eight fuses in the battery box, and fed +12v into both ends of the daisychain to reduce any overloading potential. In fact, I think I've got two fuse boxes left over from that - must chuck them onto the classifieds!

Hard question was resolved today by the mobile pipe man. I'm still struggling with my coolant pipes though - best plan so far is to turn two 16mm -> 10mm adaptors from ally unless someone has a bright idea?

I looked at plenty of toolboxes, I've been into every shop pulling drawers in and out and I've participated in more ebay auctions than I can remember. I concluded that ball bearing was worth the premium, and that all the manufacturers have reached the same conclusion and they arrange their prices accordingly. I also concluded that there's no such thing as a cheap, good toolbox. Snap-On felt to be the best, but it seems the market doubles the price for this small margin of quality and it's just not worth that for me. There are some boxes on ebay which are scratched'n'dented factory returns but they tend to go close to (or even above!) RRP. Rather than wait to get lucky, I went to Machine Mart for their 5-drawer top box from their HD Plus chest range. Loaded up with tools the drawers are still smooth, although there are plastic corner protectors on the box which are insubstantial and one's already broken. If it peels open, it'll tickle shut again with the welder. Overall, quite happy.

I collared the on-site hose bloke in work today, slipped him some cash and got an extension and a drain hose made up - although I'm wondering about my measurements now :S L - R: 300Tdi feed pipe with new extension, bespoke Landsubishi drain hose, standard 300Tdi turbo drain hose (I won't use this)

I don't want to 'pollute' my VGT topic with extraneous questions, so can anyone give any info on the two pics below? Hard question: What're the threads in the block for these turbo oil pipes? Medium question: How do I adapt a 16mm water pipe to a 10mm water pipe? Easy question: Are these two labelled correctly?

About time for an update. I've paid an exorbitant amount of money for pipe in the colour I didn't want, and now I can mock up the turbo to the intercooler run: I've also created a bodgetastic mechanism to feed the boost pressure back to the vanes (nobody laugh please). In this form it's adjustable so I can tweak the leverage the diaphragm has over the vane lever (the travel of one relative to the other). It's adjustable for length too, so I can hopefully adjust the level of boost at steady-state. If this works I'll make a more permanent method to join the two. Now I've got to work out how to feed water into the cooling gallery (pipes just visible in the first photo, pointing towards the bulkhead), buy the oil feed and drain pipes and ideally trim the air filter pipework to fit the smaller inlet too, although that could wait until after the first test-drive. I have to admit, after buying some pipework and making some bracketry etc I'm working up to thinking that £1k for the 2.8TGV turbo assembly is actually a fair price - I might feel otherwise once mine is together and working though

I took both pipes to Hyphose, Pirtek etc and came away with an adaptor to go from the box to a common thread, and from this back to my LR hose. They're stacked up on the box and leak a little bit but overall, job done.

Here we see the issue with mid-engined cars - you have a huuuge engine bay or else bite the bullet, put the driver right at the front and risk death when the back end steps out and you're too far away to notice.

The biggest issue with harnessing the (considerable) wasted energy is the extra weight of the kit to recover it. You could get a similar gain from removing that weight instead of adding it. Looking at it overall, improving efficiency should always be secondary to reducing the amount of energy you need.

A mate of mine (all the best stories start this way) had a 2.25P rad on a 300Tdi in the back of a lightweight - hole in the floor and a hole in the back door for air in/out with big fans. I wasn't sure that the air wouldn't naturally come IN the back door and OUT through the floor but I think the fans dominated the situation. I can't remember if he pulled much mud up through the floor when offroad either, but he eventually went to a big scoop on the roof and an exit hole in the floor.

Kim - thermodynamics in a second language - top explanation! Just to add to what was above, I'm looking at some of this stuff in work. There are fuel additives which give a net benefit but generally around 1-5% by catalysis or normalising the chemical makeup of the fuel - the latter only works if you can then calibrate your engine for this single fuel, and the benefit comes from the difference in calibration. Knock off the cost of the additive and they all look commercially unattractive unless you've got some other motivation to spend the same overall, while burning less fuel.

He's quite happy to post parts out, I've used him when I lived in Brighton and Northampton, and when I lived in LondonI ordered some wheel bearing bits by mail order - he was going to see his family in London anyway so he delivered them into my hand outside a pub in Hammersmith. As I said above (some time ago!) I don't look anywwhere else.

As above. Lift it slowly and look all around it - I couldn't understand why a 2.25P was magnetically attracted to the dashboard every time the exhaust came to wing top height - until I spotted the choke cable! Make sure the clutch is aligned centrally. When you're putting the engine back in, it might help to put the car in gear and jack up one wheel so you can rotate the gearbox input shaft to help the splines line up too - again, don't force it.

Most of my tuning was done on sound, you're aiming for a crisp combustion noise but not too much diesel 'clatter' - inevitably advancing the pump raises cylinder pressures and shortens the engine life, the question is 'how much?'. You can use a recording GPS as a dyno (with some considerable errors, but it's free) to see what benefits you're getting, but it's largely seat-of-the-pants and "ears open" I'm afraid.

Yes. If the temp is enough to kill a 2.5TD at 100,000 miles, then intercool it to reduce the temp and then use the pump to bring back to the same temp (if you're happy with a 100k rebuild) or a lower temp if you want the engine to live longer. If the engine behaves in a similar way to a 2.5NAD you can advance the pump timing slightly for more knock and more power, with the adverse effect on the big ends given above. When I replaced the pistons in my NAD I also put a set of injector needles from a Peugeot XUD9 engine in my 2.5NAD injector bodies - these had enough lift to push sufficient fuel for the 2.5NAD and they are pintle (as opposed to "pintaux") injectors, so they don't waste any fuel in the secondary spray to the glowplug. This does affect starting adversely and may not make any discernable difference to the power either but smoke should be down for a given fuel setting. My engine certainly went well - up to 50mph I was two carlengths ahead of a mate's 150,000 mile unmodified 2.5NAD Ninety, although some of that difference might just have been from general wear.

If you're not afraid of swapping pistons etc then you're going in with your eyes open - I say go for it. I'd recommend an EGT gauge, then use extra boost to offset the benefits of intercooling. You could try other methods to get the charge temperature down, like Jim Attrill's water injection plan.

Cheers Jim - unless I get a closer offer or I can persuade a loan from someone at a machine shop I'll PM you my address; you're very kind. Regards John

I think TroddenMasses used two X-eng split charges, in order that he could turn himself on at the touch of a button. To me it seems somehow like electrical masturbation for your car, so I'm sticking with one battery and only jumping myself when other people are willing to lend a hand.

To mount my EGT thermocouple in the VGT's manifold I need a 1/8" BSP tapered no1 tap and tapping drill - anyone got one to loan to me before I go and buy one (~£10) or spend about as much as a machine shop?

Jim, please keep us posted on this - from stuff I've done in work you'll find that any initial change could be down to your driving style but that'll revert back to type over time, generally a week or two if you drive the vehicle every day. I'm really pleased that this is working for you and saving fuel - after my VGT is installed and bedded in, I might look at the same idea.

Hughie, It seems to me that LR parts suppliers compete on product, price and customer service. From what I saw, SFS scared me with their product so I didn't ask about price or service. Scorpion and Craddocks both offer decent products but from my previous experience with their service I don't ask their prices any more. My local parts dealer can sometimes be a little more expensive than elsewhere but the product's good and the customer service is good enough to make me feel guilty about his livelihood sometimes, so I don't look elsewhere for off-the-shelf parts. From your posts on here you've realised the point about customer service and aren't scared to promote and defend yourself in public. You don't need to compete on price because I don't know of many other bolt-on portal conversions and bespoke fabrication is only within the grasp of a few. That only leaves the product; if you've got a robust and well-engineered product then I wish you as much good fortune as Si has seen with X-Eng.

Have you got a sister? I've ordered some bits to pipe it up to the intercooler etc and I'll look for some piping next week, so progress will appear slow for the next week or so. I also need to tap the manifold for my EGT thermocouple - anyone got a 1/4BSPT tapered tap and tapping drill I could borrow?

This evening saw fettling and planning. No photos, no discernable progress, but I sank a few more hours into it, mostly playing with the diaphragm off the old turbo which I'll use to operate the VGTness. Now I've got a shopping list for thinwall pipe, silicone intercooler hoses, nuts'n'bolts and some hydraulic hoses for the oil lines. Unless anyone's got any bright ideas I'm going to have to promise my firstborn to Hyphose/Pirtek/similar. Will - can't do dyno plots I'm afraid, the auto gets in the way of the power escaping to the wheels. Unusually for me I'll just have a host of qualitative comparisons and hopefully a big grin.