Tanuki

After 140,000 miles and a decade-and-a-half the calipers on my 90 were problematic [couldn't push the pistons back cleanly, one of the wiper-seals on the front had rusted to the piston and pulled out of the caliper-body] - looking at the time-cost and parts-cost for a rebuild compared with the price of new AP-Lockheed-Delphi parts it was a no-brainer: I bought new calipers all-round, fitted them/bled the system all in under an hour, and used the time saved to have a few extra pints down the pub!

Remember that it's a BMW-designed engine so it's going to be happier to rev sportily rather than stagger along at low-RPM like a truck or tractor. Provided the torque-converter and transmission work to generally keep it spinning in the RPM-range between the peak-torque (2200RPM) and peak-power (4800RPM) points, everything's fine.

A decade back I thought it would be smart to put 10-Watt bulbs in place of the standard 5-watt ones. They melted the lenses, and let water in, causing the bulbs to fail. So I reverted to 5-Watt bulbs and put a blob of Araldite over the melted hole. To be honest, why bother trying to uprate your glow-worm-power 'parking-lights'? It's really rather easy and more sensible to fit a relay that switches your main-beam headlights on as soon as you turn the ignition-key.

In the 1970s someone I knew fitted the 3-litre IOE six from a Rover P5 into a SWB 'station-wagon' SIII - it involved a bit of messing-about to accomodate one of the twin-SUs [which wanted to live where the brake master-cylinder/servo had already claimed residence], the engine needed to sit a bit high to give sump clearance and and the radiator needed moving forwards but the result was rather smooth-and-fast nice. You started off in 2nd. 3rd was good for 65MPH, and had loads of mid-range torque, brilliant for A-road-overtaking. You ran out of revs in 4th well before you ran out of power. Biggest problem was the brakes: even with 1-ton 109-inch drums they smoked/faded horribly if you were driving fast for any time. If they'd worked out a safe brake solution and fitted Range-Rover 3.54 diffs I really think a factory version of the 3-litre IOE engine and a SWB SIII could have found a niche in the 1970s LR product-range.

I ran a SIII with a home-made adapter, onto the existing manifold. A length of 2-inch exhaust pipe bent nearly-90-degrees MIGged to a pair of flanges milled from 1/4-inch plate [use carb gaskets as templates!]. 2-inch SU from a dead 4.2-litre Jag XJ6. Not liking K&N type filters (they don't filter too well and suck hot air from the engine bay which isn't a good thing), I used a large oval paper-element and metal 'frying-pan' type casing, which I arranged to be quickly removable from the carb to improve access when needed. I think the can/element was from one of the old 1970s Vauxhall Victors/Ventoras. A length of convoluted plastic heater-duct tubing from the end of the 'snout' down to in front of the radiator gave a cool-air feed to the carb so helped reduce potential fuel-vapourisation problems. The result was a lot more responsive than the orginal downdraught Solex monstrosity. If I was running a 2.25/2.5 these days I'd use the later Defender manifold and twin-barrel Weber carb.

I've always gone with the NATO 20-litre black water-jerricans. Anchor Surplus in Nottingham were selling them off cheap a while back. [Note: in an emergancy - filled to the brim with water and with the caps screwed-down tight four of them can support a Defender-90's rear corner!]

Handbrake sticking partially on? [I had this happen ages ago on a Defender, after the engine-to-chassis earth connection had been wonky for a while: the starter current had been earthing back to the battery-box via the handbrake cable, partly melting the nylon sheathing over the inner, and causing it to bind so the h/brake didn't fully release. Burned brake linings smell the same as clutch ones.]

I think I've still got the home-made rubber-base-to-threaded-socket adapter, will have to go and scrabble around in the shed.

Get one of the military rubber-bases to fit the column, and wire your antenna coax to it. Then to attach the antenna: get an Imperial-thread double-female brake-coupling union. The thread on these is 3/8 UNF just like the thread on the end of CB/amateur-band antennas. [The yanks call it 3/8-24]. Get a short 3/8UNF bolt - one with maybe half an inch of thread and an inch of unthreaded shank. Cut the head off. Screw the threaded part of the bolt into the brake-coupler. Screw your antenna into the other end of the brake-coupler. Then fit the unthreaded end of the bolt into the antenna-base and do up the wingnut. Job done! [it's worked just fine for me and handles 250 Watts on 14MHz just fine].

Be aware that several Ford engines of this generation can have 'issues' re-priming the oil pump if they're left to drain-down for too long. [similar to the antique Rover-V8 ~~~need to pack the oil-pump with vaseline to get it to suck at first-startup~~~ thing] If you want to try to unstick a stuck relief-valve I'd be more inclined to drain out whatever oil's in there now, then refill with a 50:50 mix of cheap 5W-30 or 0W-30 and ATF. ATF is rich in detergents and is good at clearing carbon/gum from neglected engines. Let it idle for an hour or so, then take it for an "Italian Tune-Up" - a blast down the local motorway/dual-carriageway, using full-throttle acceleration through the gears revving until the rev-limiter cuts in. Then drain/refill and fit a new filter with the 'thinnest' oil that's specified for the engine - 5W30 is what I've used in loads of Fords this century.

Definitely sounds like the relief-valve is sticking closed. Can you get a presure-gauge on it? A few decades back we had this on a batch of diesel Austin Montego vans: over a few days one winter about half a dozen of them burst the oil-filters. At first the fleetmaster put the blame on a batch of non-OEM oil filters workshops had fitted being faulty, until the genuine bought-from-Austin-Rover filters started doing the same. Turns out there was a manufacturing fault and the relief-valve bores had been machined undersize so the plunger wouldn't move. A cold-start followed by 70MPH down the A34 before the oil had warmed was all it took to burst.

I had these on a 110 some years back. They're good for cold-morning de-icing, and will evaporate the water off the surface after a few tens of minutes. Not so helpful on salt-spray-troubled motorways and gungey A-roads though: the spray dries out and leaves the mud/white salt residue behind - meaning the mirrors are even less useful than when merely covered with wet spray. So eventually I rewired mine to the same supply as the rear-window rather than the ignition-switched live - that way you only get mirror-heat when you're really defrosting rather than all the time.

My 90TD5 does this every so often if I've only been pottering-around. With the wastegate seized closed, if you give it some welly the boost-pressure goes way-high at higher revs/wider throttle-openings: this excess boost is fed [by the MAP sensor] to the ECU which will only allow it for a certain time before it switches to 'limp-home' fuelling in order to protect the engine. If this happened during a journey I found I could temporarily clear it by coasting, switching the engine off and restarting it. Which sometimes caused confusion to the people I'd just overtaken. Giving the wastegate actuating-arm a 'twatting' using a socket-set extension dribe and a small hammer frees the actuating arm off. I prefer not to use lubrication - well certainly nothing oily - on the point where the arm goes into the turbo-housing, as the heat will quickly reduce any oily stuff to a carbonised sticky mess.

Yes, do a search for "Cow Mat" - it's a thick rubbery-but-grippy mat used in cattle-sheds/stables. Combines anti-slip with additional sound-damping! Your local agricultural/equestrian-stuff supplier/farm-store should be able to supply you some.

I'm confused that the DVLA list it as a "3300cc" Diesel. Wonder what it's had fitted?

DVLA "Is it taxed" website currently shows: Vehicle make: LAND ROVER Date of first registration: December 1982 Year of manufacture: 1982 Cylinder capacity (cc): 3300 cc CO₂Emissions: Not available Fuel type: DIESEL Export marker: No Vehicle status: SORN in place Vehicle colour: RED Vehicle type approval: Not available Wheelplan: 2-AXLE-RIGID BODY Revenue weight: Not available

Sounds like a fuel-starvation issue. When was the fuel-filter [under the offside rear wheelarch] changed? Also - can you hear the in-tank electric fuel-pump running? If it makes a noticeable whining/screaming noise this is a typical sign that it's on its way out: usually caused by failing copper injector-washers, which let combustion-gases and soot get back into the fuel-system causing 'black sludge' in the Diesel-tank, clogging the pickup-screen and making the fuel-pump work its heart out in trying to deliver fuel. Also worth checking is whether the turbo wastegate is seized closed: if it is, then the engine will overboost any time you give it some welly - the ECU detects the overboost and switches to a 'limp-home' fuelling profile when the engine won't pull the skin off a rice-pudding. --Pete "No man is totally useless. He can always be used as a horrible example to others".

When I've needed to do a recovery I've always used the rear axle or rear tow-hitch. And sometimes a Tirfor! One thing I never understand is why when doing a recovery so many people try to pull the stuck vehicle out forwards: to me this is just dragging it further into the problem! Makes far more sense to me to drag it out backwards, following the route it went in - that way you've at least got some knowledge that it's actually possible. "It went in that way, it's got to be able to get out the same way".

I've got several high-definition CCTV infrared night-vision cameras pointed at my 90 and its environs, and where it lives is also gated/fenced - so if the alarms go off I let the dog out. To be honest I view door-security on Defenders to be the biggest 'fail' - filling the Torx-sockets in the hinge bolts with body-filler then pushing a ball-bearing into it [to stop lowlives digging the filler out] is a cheap-and-effective fix. Then check that your alarm actually works: I've seen several Defenders where the door courtesy-light switches [which also trigger the alarm] have been corroded/gunged-up so even if the door was opened the lights/alarm didn't trigger.

After someone tried to steal my wheels (but failed - they didn't have a jack so couldn't get the wheel off the studs - in annoyance they took the wheelnuts...) I now carry a set of wheel-nuts as spares.

I'd say it's a dead head, and needs replacing. The problem with welding it is that there's a risk the weld will let-go and then the pressed-in valve seats can come loose. If one drops, it then jams the valve open sufficiently that it gets whacked by the piston. [Had this happen on a Transit minibus some years back: I'm not sure if it was my cursing or the burst of machine-gun rattle from the engine but it certainly woke-up the sleeping old-folks in the back!]

My Defender usually smells of hot brakes outside, and inside vaguely doggy - currently with overtones of stale beer after a can of the stuff leaked in the back and saturated the carpet.

Get a nut that's *just* big enough to fit over the protruding sheared-bit, and force it down until it's flush against the top of the alloy housing. Then use your favourite welder [MIG or stick] to weld all round the top of the nut so joining it to the sheared bolt. Then while it's still nice-and-red-hot from the welding get a lump-hammer and whack the top-end of the broken bolt *HARD* a few times. When it's cool-enough-to-touch put a spanner on the nut and unscrew... The heat from the welder will have an expanding/loosening effect - also hitting it with the lump-hammer will microscopically drive the bolt _down_ in its thread, in the opposite direction to the years of tension it's been applying when it still had its head, so helping to fracture the corrosion-bond. There's always a risk that some of the thread-into-the-alloy will come out along with the bolt. In which case drill/tap the hole to the next-size-up, and make up a stepped-stud. . . . that's what I had to do on the WWII-era Allis-Chalmers crawler tractor I was working on on Christmas Eve.

If the rot in the A-frame pic is representative you need to be cutting-back and replacing a good bit further-forward than the A-frame crossmember. It's hard to weld a new 1/4- or 1/2-chassis on to rust! TBH given the time-cost - someone with a proper jig to make sure repairs are properly 'square' before and during welding will charge a pretty penny - I'd be re-chassising it. [Nothing good's ever been written about the handling of a repaired Land-Rover whose wheelbase ends up 3/4 of an inch longer on one side than the other]

What about: Putting the tubular end-nipple things on the outside sheaths of both cables. Then get 2 copper-pipe 'end feed' blanking caps and a short length of copper tube. Drill holes in the ends of the blanking caps; thread one over each end of the bowden-cables to be joined - then put the copper tube on one, and join the inners of the bowden-cables together using the 'barrel' and screws salvaged from an electrical 'choc-block' connector. Then slide the blanking-caps down on to the tube (which will hide/protect the choc-block barrel and prevent water/mud/gunge getting in).