Escape

I wouldn't risk it, to be honest. I have not heard of problems with a TD5, but I now there is a continuous power usage, caused amongst others by the ECU. On a P38a, prolonged lack of power, can leed to the loss of adaptive values and even the death of the ECU. Why are you considering a cut-off? As an emergency measure or rather as an (additional) anti-theft device?

I am going to try an alternatieve way to cut some corners and make the most use of the existing wire-loom. I have a 2005 Defender E, with no options but a complete wire-loom nevertheless. This means I have access to fuses and relais, designed to operate the electrical windows, heated seats, rear wiper and so on. The idea is the use them for spotlights and other accesories, thus eliminating the need to add wiring and fuses.

I have both a Defender and P38a and have used both for towing, so will gladly share my findings. Q1: The GEMS controlled V8s run lean in midrange, which can lead to higher blocktemperatures and slipped liners. The block itself is not porous (it's almost identical to the 3.9), but the standard liners can leak. ECU-remapping is supposed to be the answer, but like any Rover V8, with proper care they should last and last... Q2: The transfer box is the same as in the later Classics, with a viscous coupling. As most P38a's see little or no offroad, there are few problems with it. It also adds to the comfortable ride both on and off the road, as power distribution is automatic. (mind you, I do prefer the LT320 myself) Q3: I experienced no problems with the BECM and find it both reliable and easy to use. The HVAC system is less robuust, unfortunately. Q4: EAS is a must, don't go and castrate a P38a just because you don't understand the system. In fact, the EAS is the reasing I drive a P38a and not a Classic. I absolutely love it, both on and off the road. It's also excellent for towing, levelling the car indepent of rear axle load and allowing you to adjust ride height to keep the trailer level as wel. As Q-rover said, Arnott or Rover-Renovations is the place to be for DIY maintenance. Q5: Before I got my 4.6, I had a diesel. I used it for work, towing trailers around 2 tonnes. It needs some revs and anticipating to cope, but in a manual this isn't much of a problem. The automatic struggles more. It's a good car for cruising, but don't expect breath-taking performance. Off course, the V8 performs better. When chosing between a Defender or a P3a for towing, I would take the P38a for longer distances but the Defender for city, heavy traffic or construction sites, as it's lower gears help pulling away. In a P38a you cannot shift from low to high on the move, which can be very usefull sometimes. Q6: The 2.5DT used about 10-11l/100km (including towing), now my better halve drives it and she only needs 9-9.5l/100km to get to work. The 4.6 V8 uses between 18 and 28l/100km, varying greatly with traffic, speed (anthing upward of 120km/h) and terrain (quite thirsty offroad). I am running LPG and the engine needed a tune up. I expect to consistently better 20l/100km after the rebuild I am undertaking (that is if I can resist using the extra power...)

And different wheelnuts.

I'm afraid your reasoning is correct... On the other hand, I have alse drilled my bushes, exactly the way you described, removing almost all the material bar a few mm. Offroad the difference is remarquable, especially because the car feels a lot more balanced. Onroad I have not noticed any side-effects, altough I heve been using it to get to work on occasion. So I guess it's not as dramatical as one might think.

I am rebuilding my 4.6 wit a Piper Torquemax, for maximum low-end grunt. It will be used in my P38a auto, mostly as daily driver, but also for towing the cartrailer and doing greenlanes.

Only to find out you need the winch on the other side.

I try and keep my pressure quite high and get real good mpg, about 30 to 40 psi depending on the tire, car and route.

A 15" rim gives you a bit more rubber, which means it can flex more on low pressure. But the difference is very small. Much more relevant is the availability of tyre sizes. In 15" you'll be limited to US-style sizes, like 32x10.5R15 for LRs On 16" rims there is much more to chose from.

My lights are mounted similar to Ian's. There are 4 brackets on my roll cage, on the rear of the front hoop. By chosing small lights, they are almost completely protected by the cage.

Don't forget to put the gearbox and/or transfer box in neutral.

We also used M8 to connect the winch.

We have made the castor adjustements to the swivel balls ourselves, before Paddock offered them. Rovertym Engineering and an Aussie firm have been offering them for some time. The ones from Paddock bother me because it is nowhere mentioned how much offset they have. This is essential information to determine if they will work as expected.

A friend of mine has the Recip Trials in 235/85 under his Classic. They are in fact a copy of the Mickey Thompson Baja Claw (which I use) and not of the Maxxis Mudzilla (which IMHO is a poor attempt to copy the Baja). The Recips are also retreads. The perform very well offroad, especially when getting out of ruts, but are quite stiff, so dropping pressure can give an advantage. On road they are noisier and less well-behaved then the BFG Mud or Mickey. If you mainly drive on road, I would look for a less agressive pattern.

So glad I'm not the only one who hates what they've done to the poor Range! I do like the 'real' Stormer a lot, as LR presented it. A 3-door RRS would certainly be a welcome addition to the range.

wolf rims have an offset of 21 mm modulars have an offset of 8 mm or less, including negative offset on some widths.

Another vote for First Four, best looking bumper for that price!

Absolutely stunning! And looks very well balanced to, even at extreme articulation!

A couple of my mates are/were running Silverstones MT117s on Wolf rims, size is 285/85R16 and fits nicely.

I'm guessing L322 or RRS, as I've never heard of a Classic or P38a beeping when towing a trailer.

Sorry, I saw it being described as a Tomcat, by BBC amongst others. What is it then? It sure looks sexy!

I had to use this procedure on a 2007 Defender after disconnecting the battery.

more piccies Including a few impressive ones of Mouse and the Tomcat.

I'm afraid johnny joints wont help much, on the contrary. The problem is not so much the twisting of the bushes, as the radiusarms themselves can twist a fair deal at the chassis end. What happen on articulation is the axle is being twisted between the 2 radius arms. Off course the axle doesn't actually twist, so the bushes need to compensate, with one bolt being pushed up and the other one down on one radius arm and the other way round at the other arm. It is in fact the same kind of motion (U-shape) as a stabilizer bar, only difference is the stabibar is fixed and its ends are moving instead of fixed radiusarm end and a moving axle. In the suspension thread HFH started, a twisting axle for Bronco's is also mentioned, which involves a bearing in the axle acasing to allow one end to rotate with respect to the other. I have recently drilled my front bushes and am very happy with the performance. The car feels a lot more balanced offroading and road handling hasn't suffered much. I was thinking about a 3/4-link as well, but using an upper third link in the form of an A-frame. Because of the performance of the slotted bushes, this will be put on hold for quite some time. Greetz, Filip

I had that problem once, I used a Dremel tool to make a cut in the inner bearing race to release pressure so it would slide off.