Tanuki

if you *must* fit an oil-cooler, combine it with a thermostat - otherwise, as others have noted, you will probably spend 99% of the time with over-cooled oil which means a buildup of condensation and acidic combustion-products in the oil which is really-not-good-news. The best 'oil-coolers' are those that fit into the existing cooling-system [oil/water intercoolers] - they help get the oil up-to-temperature quickly after a cold-start by transferring engine-heat from coolant-to-oil - but then when the bulk-oil temperature's getting a bit hot they dump oil-heat into the coolant and let the coolant-radiator deal with it. Truth is, modern synthetic multigrade oils are *vastly* better than the SAE30 monograde-stuff Land-Rover were designing-to-use in the 50s/60s/70s. Back then, an engine rebuild/rebore-every-50,000-miles was considered normal.

I work on the principle of "Do what I'm good at; pay others to do what they're good at". I'm happy to do electrics/electronics (when you've spent 20 years professionally involved in the IT/communications-industry it sort-of comes naturally) but I run shrieking like a nun harrassed by a drunk if faced with something like the insides of a gearbox: all those springs shims and needle-rollers are my vision of hell! Give me a nice clean predictable TD5 or R322 ECU any day! So - rather than spend a weekend lying on my back under a car wrestling with some horrid oily assembly, I'll happily *work* that weekend managing someone-else's IT-upgrade, and then spend *half* the profits with Mr. Ashcroft or someone who knows a lot better how to fix a R380 than I ever will. At least his gear comes with a warranty, which I wouldn't have if I reworked a gearbox and put the wrong number of shoms/rollers in somewhere.

I've driven a Tesla Model-S; it was really rather impressive. Torque - and acceleration - on-tap instantly, all in impressive silence! Its owner describes the throttle as the Orgasm-pedal. But as others have noted, if you're running the heater or the aircon seriously it really does reduce the potential mileage-per-charge. Fortunately my friendly Tesla-owner has 3-phase AC power at home and can set things to turn the aircon or heater on for an hour before he needs his car in the morning, so it's pre-heated/cooled to the right temperature [running off mains not battery] for his morning commute, which saves a bit of charge. For a small business, offering "electrification kits" commercially would be a nightmare - apart from the need to do a SVA/IVA-style test and some sort of HMRC-assessment for each vehicle converted, you'd also need to have some serious product-liability insurance in-place - - all the more so if you were offering 'kits' to be fitted by backstreet mechanics rather than by any sort of accredited dealer-network. I can just imagine someone trying to get insurance for their home-fitted electric-kit - sane insurers would expect a certificate-of-competence from the installer, and an inspection of the workmanship of the particular fitment. Let's say £1000? And, let's face it - would it really be worth spending £10K plys VAT to electrify a 20-year-old car that's only worth £5K, and will ** still ** only be worth £5K after the electrification? I'm reminded of the late-80s/early-90s emissions-kits that were offered to 'de-tox' old London Taxis that had been supplied with the Land-Rover/Freight-Rover 2.5-Diesel engine fitted as standard. They were really not that successful - smart cabbies dumped their old taxis and bought ones with the 2.7-Litre Nissan lump.

In theory, like everything, it could be arranged - but at a cost. Not only the cost of engineering it, but - more importantly - the cost of having it tested-and-certified by a Government-approved emissions-test lab-facility and getting them to issue the appropriate city/state-recognised paperwork. This second part is - for a single vehicle - likely to cost more than the value of the vehicle. Better to sell your existing Defender and buy one of the Puma-engined ones with a DPF - and supporting-paperwork/certification - as standard. [This is why I'm selliing-on my 90TD5 and replacing it with a Euro-6-compliant Toyota Landcruiser]

And remember that these days a scrappy will want photographic proof-of-ID/address before taking non-ferrous scrap, and should not undertake cash-for-scrap transactions either. [See https://www.gov.uk/government/news/scrap-metal-laws-to-stop-metal-theft-come-into-force - intended to stop 'metal-laundering' by dodgy scrappies accepting lead-off-church-roofs, stolen copper cable etc]

Check the glowplugs, and make sure they're getting power (no blown fuses/sticking relay). An engine with healthy compression and good glowplugs should start on the second or third complete rotation, hot or cold, and run smoothly. If it takes more than half a second to 'catch', and/or runs lumpily at all after starting then you could have one or more glowplugs not playing. [If you need to replace the glowplugs I recommend "BERU" as a good brand]

A battery-isolator switch is worth considering. It'll make any 'start-and-drive-away' thief take a bit longer to get it started. Go for the type that has a low-Ampage fuse wired across the switch - so you still get power to keep your radio's stored settings alive when the isolator-key's removed, but the fuse blows as soon as someone tries an unauthorised start. You can also wire a high-decibel sounder [search 'Sonalert'] across the switch so when the fuse blows it starts screaming.

Good to see you're getting down-and-dirty into the block. Do you know anyone who can acid-tank 'pickle' it? It's the best way to get rid of decades of sludge in the oilways and corrosion in the water-passages. A pickle will give you a block as near as clean as it was when it was manufactured. Be aware though that a 'pickling' can erode the surfaces of the camshaft-bearings - so you would be well-advised to have then pulled and replaced. Do all this properly and you'll have an engine that will be good for decades-to-come.

Given how long I've seen a supposedly 'professional' auto-electrician take to track down this fault, a switch activating a remote relay that cripples the output from the crank-position-sensor would surely be a good way to go? If the ECU doesn't acknowledge that the engine's actually rotating it will leave a drive-away thief dead-in-the-water.

Having owned and driven Defenders for the last 20+ years I don't feel particularly threatened by theft-issues; my bigger fret is that more and more towns seem to be introducing, or planning-to-introduce, swingeing taxes on legacy Diesel-engined vehicles they class as 'gross polluters'. Hence, I'm moving-on my 90TD5 - I've got a Toyota Landcruiser 'Commercial' on order, which is Euro-6-compliant so I'll still be able to drive in Birmingham, Manchester, Bristol and London without risking a £50-a-day wrist-slap.

My first-level security is delegated to this guy: who knows how to open the back door if he hears a disturbance. He treats the back of my defender as his personal den-on-wheels and woe betide anyone who intrudes! If he *really* triggers I've got a 20-inch Husqvarna chainsaw (which fires first-time-every-time I pull the starter-cord) in the back-porch and we'll happily nakedly chase thievy-types down the lane if need be. There's also two levels of CCTV: the cameras-you-can-see are there to protect the cameras-you-can't-see.

Wasn't there a run-out "poverty-spec" version of the RRC? I remember something 25 years or so back about Virgin Airlines buying a bunch of cheap RRCs to use for chauffeuring "Upper Class" passengers to airports - from what I remember these were end-of-production-run RRCs that Virgin probably got as a 'close-out special' and could well have been de-contented as a result.

The Bosch alternators were fitted to loads of Vauxhalls and Fords in the 80s 90s and 2000s; though in some cases you'll find they came fitted with a dual-belt pulley because two belts were needed to provide enough drive to also handle PAS-pumps and air-conditioning compressors.

I don't know if the Bosch K1 will fit a Series engine using the standard alternator-brackets, but it will fit in-place of an 18ACR; one of the mountings on these alternators includes a sliding-spacer-tube to accomodate different sized mounting-pedestals. You may need to add a few washers as spacers.

The old Lucas 15/16/17/18ACR types are rather obsolete; not sure what you're looking at but a Lucas A133/80 will do 80 Amps (standard fit on the V8 EFI Rangies). I always preferred the Bosch "K1" series which are mechanical equivalents to the Lucas - a K1-80A will give you 80 Amps reliably. Remember that you'll need to fit a decently-thick cable from the alternator-output terminal direct to the battery +ve terminal in order to avoid any voltage-drops.

The 'noisy fuel pump and poor running' sounds very similar to the symptoms for failed copper injector-seals, which let bubbles of combustion gases get into the fuel-rail and cause intermittent flow of Diesel to the injectors. What distance has the car covered? I would expect the seals to need replacing after something like 70,000 miles/110,000KM.

In the past when I had a [non-LR] vehicle with one of the spider's legs that looked like it was not passing grease, I rotated the prop so that leg was uppermost, then hooked my arm round the prop and hung on it with all my weight while pumping grease - the idea being that the weight would pull the end of the spider away from the blind-end of the cup and give a gap so any plug of hardened grease in the spider could find a way out.. A few *vigorous* pumps on the grease-gun got the required effect.

Best I ever got out of my 88" SIIA was about 24MPG - that was driving at as-near-a-constant-55MPH-as-possible on motorways early in the morning when there was little other traffic about. The only 'mods' it had were an ex-Rover-2000 SU-and-aircleaner on a homemade elbow-adapter, Sparkrite electronic ignition and a straight-through exhaust. If I was doing it again I'd start by doing all I could to get the compression-ratio as high as possible, given that modern petrol's so much better. Mega-ing it with single-point injection, balancing/blueprinting, a decent low-restriction exhaust. I've heard it said that fitting the Diesel camshaft to the petrol engine is worth doing too. I'd reckon you should be able to get a reliable/efficient 110-120BHP, as well as making the engine more free-revving and smoother (thereby obviating the need to mess about changing the gearing). Probably 25-28MPG but the problem I've always found is that improving vehicles mean I end up travelling faster which offsets any efficiency-based fuel-saving. Also, consider using modern thin synthetic engine oil - 5W30 or similar - they offer a significant friction/drag-reduction over old gloopy 20W-50.

Serious neglect/chronic maintenance-failure. That must have been creating one hell of a noise/vibration for thousands of miles before it failed! Just be glad it didn't let-go at any high speed; I've seen the aftermath of a UJ-failure where a flailing prop entered the passenger compartment - one person dead, the other with catastrophic life-changing lower-limb injuries.

For "early-morning starts" in my 90TD5 for the last couple of decades I've used a 3Kw mains-powered fan-heater sat in the passenger footwell. The door-seals in a Defender are slack-enough to accomodate the cable; I've got a timeswitch set to activate the heater an hour before my expected need-to-drive time. It's neat to always be able to get into an ice-free car which is nice-and-toasty inside. Just remember to unplug before driving away!

They should separate.... easily. If you've had to spend time doing 'percussive disassembly' it would to me suggest that your shaft has been neglected (as Kenneth Williams would say - Ooooh! Matron!!) . If there's rusty-stuff coming out I'd be inclined to dump it and fit a new one. I once saw a car where the propshaft had let-go at speed and flailed its way into the passenger-compartment. One rear-seat occupant dead, the other one surviving but with catastrophically-life-changing lower-limb injuries.

You haven't inadvertently swapped the alternator warning-light and the oil-pressure-light wires over have you?

As I see it, one of the 'issues' about the old Defender shape which resulted in its discontinuation was the whole matter of pedestrian-safety: a Defender-style flat-front and protruding bumper is really rather unfriendly (gets you a low star-rating in the NCAP tests, potentially meaning increased insurance-costs too). Equally, the Defender-shape is about as aerodynamic as a medium-sized warehouse, which pushes-up your fuel consumption and grams-of-CO2-per-kilometre emissions in comparison to aerodynamically-smoother shapes, particularly at higher speeds. While some may hanker after retaining the "classic" Defender-shape, I'm happy to adopt the improved knowledge of automotive shapes that have been learned over the last half-century.

Sadly no, otherwise my towcar-of-choice would be a Lexus LS500h ! Instead, I've got a Toyota Landcruiser on order. Sadly, Toyota don't offer the really-rather-fun hybrid petrol-V6-with-electric-assist Lexus powertrain on the Landcruiser. Which is sad - I'd rather have liked a truck that could do 0-60 in 5.1 seconds [without the trailer].

Does look good: I look forward to a few future videos - and posted lap-times - of it on trials towing a 3.5-ton triple-axle flatbed round Nürburgring. [For my daily-driver - I don't want crazy offroad axle-articulation - to me the important thing is can I tow a laden trailer at legal-speed-plus-20% for 500 miles in comfort and without losing my hearing]