nicks90

Yep agree with most of the above. Ditch the lift and go with softer springs. I do a fair bit of offroading and i dont run a lift. The 2" just dont make any real difference really unless you need the space for big rubber. If its road use only, I would be tempted by discovery springs. They are slightly softer than standard defender springs - as the defender out of the box is expected to carry and tow heavy loads. If you dont do either, then that extra capacity is wasted and firming your ride for no reason. Discos have a heavier body and lower load carrying capability and handle relatively nicely... no reason why they wont work just a nice in a defender. Although I would suggest keeping an anti roll bar on it for extra control and minimize lean. Biggest difference is always with the shocks. Buy the best you can afford.

Not talking from any knowledgeable standpoint - I like diesels - but a carb would be simple for fueling with changing boost pressures. More air you draw through it the more fuel it atomises in the venturi. With injection would presumable have the same problems you get on a turbo engine, calculating fuel delivery against boost and revs a nd throttle position. Can MS do that? How would you measure the boost and change the fuelling map without risking it running to lean and burning a hole in something important? Ps. Want to have a go in your dax mate. Had a go at a track day in one fitted with a heavily tweaked honda S2000 engine in it. RAPID did not describe it, brutal!!!

Now to my logic I should be getting better economy in winter with.my 300tdi. Colder denser air means that there is more cold and dense oxygen in the cylinders to ensure complete efficient combustion. Plus engine efficiency is partly due to thermal differential, so having the ambient air 30c lower would mean a greater temp differential between engine and ambient in winter and better running. As for economy... no idea. I dont measure it really. I just know I can get to work and back for 3 weeks before the gauge is scarily low. When it starts getting to 2.5 weeks I know its due a service.

Love the fact that a little atv on pram wheels got up there when some of the $100k buggies made such a meal of it...

Whatever you get, ditch the cat. Best thing you can do for a bit more ooomph

I went to the unipart trade counter with the dimensions of my battery box and got the biggest that will fit. One I currently have is now showing its age at 5 years old and is starting to struggle if left in this weather for a few days. Hasn't failed yet but does turn over slower than it used to in winter. But for £55+ vat I can't complain!!!

I had avon rangemasters on my old 109 and they were lovely quiet well handling tyres - until it rained... Swapped em for some firestone SATs. Awesome but noisy and excellent fun. Stick with proper series tyres like the above, they make the motor imho. Bigger metric tyres just dont look right.

i have often thought of putting a simple small 240v immersion heater into a coolant pipe or fan heater into teh cab and wiring it up to a waterproof 3 pin external socket on the front grill, then just wire a simple extension lead from the garage to another water proof 3pin plug and plug it in. On the garage end of the extension cable have a socket timer (left over from christmas lights) so it turns on at 7.30 and off at 8.00!

its all well and good getting your heater set up right - but my tdi struggles to warm the coolant sufficiently on my morning journey to make the heater matrix worth having! engine gets up to temp, but not hot enough to force open the thermostat and actually noticably warm the rest of the coolant!!!!!!! Now if my commute involved a good motorway blast where i could get some heat into the engine, brilliant - but unfortunately sat around 20-40mph doesnt generate enough heat to get the thing going. Radiator muff is on the cards for tomorrow.

good find - finally lays the myth to bed on turbo charged engines!

Now i'm being lazy and a proper Yorkshireman i'm afraid... My 300tdi is in need of a service. I can usually tell its due when the idle doesn't feel quite as even, economy drops a bit and it doesn't feel responsive. Its also done 5k miles since last service so definitely due. As mine now has 160k on the clock with the original injectors I was considering replacing them as part of the service. But post christmas the wallet is more than a bit empty... many moons ago in my mini and metro days I used to pop a bit of atf into the carbs on high idle and it would clean the upper cylinders a treat. Would the same work on a tdi? Pop a capful into the fuel filter and top it up with diesel and screw it on and let it fast idle for a while? Or is this a really stupid idea on a diesel? Other option I considered is a fine water spray into the intake at fast idle to clean the innards. Again is this mega daft? I will get some new injectors eventually, but if the old methods work then why not use them? Cheers Nick

no, you dont need back pressure in the exhaust. You have a turbo that does all that for you anyway. If anything, having back pressure after the turbo will slow the spool up time of the turbo.

the chap who runs/owns/moderate (delete as required if i got it wrong) www.difflock.com owns one. He even has a sub forum for azalais as well on his forum. might be worth giving him a poke and seeing where he is in the country and go take a look at his. Pretty sure he also takes it to shows etc.

can you afford to get some new wheels as well? If so, going to a 15" wheel opens up a huge number more options in wide tyres at the 29-31" range.

What about a shogun? Plenty in your range a nd very reliable. Plus I believe the ifs can be replaced with a yota axle as the diffs are the same ratio on certain models. Nice v6 on lpg and locking rear diff with a yota solid front... sounds nice

alternatively throw the whole diff in the bin and fit a good second hand diff with a normal drive flange and change the rear prop flange for a 4 bolt flange.

If i had a more powerful engine, i wouldnt need to give it some boot in 2nd gear to haul a heavy trailer up a stupid steep road at somewhere near sensible and safe speeds! Or i could crawl up the hill in low box 1st gear at 1500rpm with the slightest touch of the throttle - but the queue of traffic behind me might not appreciate that :-)

i like my viscous fan. yes they can fail, but so can electric motors powering the fan / multiple wiring connections / relays etc when regularly dunked in muddy water and getting covered in lovely UK road salt viscous fan doesnt care about getting wet or muddy, it just works. when your rad is half blocked with mud, the viscous can pull soooooo much air flow through it that you still wont overheat. The nominal amount of air flow you get when the engine temp is under control - eg low speed offroad and low speed towing - means your intercooler keeps good airflow over it. Might not sound important, but when you are labouring up a bloody big hill with 2.5t hanging off the back end screaming the nads off your tdi in 2nd gear - it helps! Same offroad. As for them breaking.... yep, things break. Luckily in the 'majority' of cases, viscous fans break locked on. Thats a nice failsafe system if you ask me. Leccy fans fail off meaning you are screwed, Yes i have had one fail - on - and it sounded like a jet aircraft when being rev'd, but i didnt notice a great amount of power difference when i replaced it with a working one. As for engine heat up times in winter, i just sling a piece of card between the radiator and front grill, leaving a 6" gap on the left to expose the intercooler. heat up time therefore remains the same more or less.

Couldnt find any particularly worn bushes, but rebushed back axle completely and rear steer has gone!

A frame, not sure how that would allow the back axle to move horizontally, that would allow vertical movement surely? Either way, cheers and worth the look. Will defo check out front panhard though, as its lead a hard life so far under there

My truck has started to do the dreaded throttle steer again, power on it lurches left, power off and it lurches right. normally this is associated with the rear radius arm bushes being worn and allowing the back axle to move about under torque loadings. But i have checked the bushes at teh back and they all seem solid! What other bushes or settings would cause this, as i have a couple of days 'working from home' at the end of this week and want to get it sorted. cheers Nick

doesnt sound that bad to be honest. i have a 90 300tdi csw, 235/85 mud tyres and a snorkel. around town and A/B roads i get about 25mpg. Motorways and major A roads at 60mph i get high twenties and that drops to low / mid twenties when i go above 70mph. and yes my speedo is accurate. Thats the first thing i always suspect when people report 30+mpg, that their speedo is over reading. In standard guise with standard rubber, most defender speedos over read by over 10%. Thats the difference between a sensible 28mpg and far fetched 32mpg!

i dont bother with a heater/demister or a heated windscreen, i just smear a thick layer of Mer wax car polish on the inside of the glass and let it dry to a fine powder and gently wipe it off. Job done, no misting up for several weeks at a time. i also use it for my spectacles, bathroom mirror, kitchen windows etc - basically anywhere that gets steamed up that i dont want to. Works brilliantly. Also very good for the outside of the landies windows and wing mirrors, as it prevents fine dew from coating the glass as it just beads into big drips and runs off.

i had a knackered steering damper on my 90 for about 2 years before getting around to replacing it (spewed all the oil out, and not something the MOT man can actually check thankfully). but as my swivel preload was accurate and my bushes in good condition and not running a lift, i didnt get any excessive steering feedback with no damping. If i really whacked into something offroad it gave a bump, but nothing horrible. Put a new one on, only because i got a new set of shocks and it was included, and have noticed virtually NO DIFFERENCE!

disco 2 is excellent offroad as it is, fitting a centre difflock will be the icing on the cake. Diff lock and traction control will make it very good indeed. chuck some nice all terrains, or even a mild mud terrain and it will rock along any greenlane quite happily. as for the advice about leaving the bumper - nope. Ditch it. Lanes like stanage edge will remove most of your lower bumper very quickly. I highly recommend TP4x4 are gorgeous and give it a fairly standard look whilst giving it some real beef i'd also be tempted to do a HD rear bumper too, as the D2 has a fat a$se and can drag a bit. And get a front diff guard for those accidental clonks against rocks. Cheapo clamp on guard should do the trick (well it has for the past 10 years on my 90!) then spend some money on a remap and go enjoy!