Boris113

The 90 currently has a 300tdi and the original lt77 gearbox fitted, resulting in the engine sitting 6-8 inches further back than it would with the factory R380. The oil cooler pipes were extended by the previous owner by cutting them in the middle of the rubber and extending it with some plastic pipe wedged into the ends and jubliee clipped tight. They have always leaked at the extension but seem to have got worse, despite putting a second jubilee clip onto each end. Ideally I would like to swap this bodge for a proper solution but have little knowledge of hydraulic piping and associated costs. Could anyone advise which is the best option? 1. Steve Parker kit (extended pipes with all fittings) £62. 2. Remove dodgy extensions and replace with hydraulic pipe and compression fittings, using original pipe at either end of join. 3. Utilise existing unions at engine/oil cooler and replace complete length of rubber/metal pipe with 1 longer rubber section. Thank you in advance Harry

What about the the rover T16 engine? There was a build thread on here a little while ago and it looked to be a great engine - easy to MS as well apparently. LC axles are a good way to go, they are stronger internally than a standard LR axle and easily upgradable too. Electronic locking diffs are built in but the later ones have larger brakes so you can only fit 16" wheels rather than 15s.

Are you fitting the later type of 2 piece doors with the anti-burst lock or the conventional series latch? The later alloy door tops are better, both panels of glass slide and they won't rot out but the alloy can crack around the front edge. With the door stay, you can drill a hole in the top of your current bulkhead brackets and attach the end of the stay to that with a small bolt. Failing that the series brackets align with the bolt holes on your bulkhead.

You don't have to use sealed rivets but it's another way to prevent water ingress, albeit in negligible quantities. Most of the original rivets on the 90 were the sealed type so I replaced them like-for-like. HTH

I don't see a problem, I lost the passenger seatbelt during the rebuild and needed to MOT the vehicle quickly so pulled out the seat. That passed with just an advisory that it was not present during the test.

The corner alone is easy to replace, you should be able to do it by slackening the roof off at the rear and using a high-lift in the rear door aperture. It took a bit of juggling on the 90 to get the corner to align with the forward part running to the front doors. Some small washers between the capping and the tub soon sorted that. Yours may be easier to align because they will be sandwhiched between the hardtop side and the tub, I have a soft top so that wasn't possible. Taking the roof off would probably be the only way for 1 piece cappings because you will need the space to drill the rivets on the top of the capping. If you are going to the hassle of doing it, then definitely go for galv versions New seals and liberal use of silicone/dum dum putty should keep it nice and dry.

It was surprisingly difficult to find round my way. Eventually found a 5l container in a Crown decorating centre for £10. I brushed it onto the 90 chassis and used about 2 litres, next time I would use a garden sprayer as Astrol_Al says. No complaints with the liquid itself however

I have a couple of clamp-on brackets knocking around in the shed if they might help? Slightly different designs but both grip around the bar and offer a mount for a pin or a bushed-eye depending on which way you use them.

I made one a couple of weeks ago from a piece of flat bar, a couple of nuts and a bolt. Unless you are going to use it regularly, that may be a more cost-effective option.

Hi Chris, my uncle runs a campsite in on the shore of Lake Bala which would be happy with your above requests I'm sure. If it's not too far North then let me know and I'll find the website. Harry

Great stuff, thanks guys. I'm back off abroad shortly so the 90 is going to be laid up again but I'll sort the wiring out properly when I get back. Mo, I used your trick to get the old one off, but my ring spanner wouldn't fit inside the smaller pulley to get onto the nut and all I could do was clamp it on the vice in a last-minute attempt to get the vehicle useable again. Stupidly if I'd thought about it, I could have clamped it between some bits of timber so that it didn't damage the pulley I've had a look and some people say to crack the nut with a socket when it is still fitted to the vehicle, using the belt to hold it tight. Once the shorter belt and new pulley arrive, I'll see if it works and report back. Cheers again, Harry

Thank you for all of the help chaps, I fitted the new alternator and all seems ok but the pulleys are slightly different. On the old one, the external fan and some washers act as a spacer whereas the smaller pulley on the new alternator has a spacer built in. I couldn't get the shorter belt over the bank holiday and needed the vehicle asap so in a rush to get it sorted, fitted the new alternator with the old (larger) pulley and it all seems ok. Stupidly I damaged the smaller pulley in the vice (not enough room for ring spanner + allen key) trying to remove it so replacement pulley and shorter belt are on order. I'll pinch a heat shield from a mate's scrap disco and all should be hunky dory once again. As a belt and braces approach, both of the large brown wires were running to the starter, but I put a 16mm2 wire back to the battery positive also. Harry

Perfect thanks guys I don't have a split charge, just 1 Numax battery and the original Tdi wiring so will connect the brown/yellow onto the D+ terminal. Having had a bit of a read around, people suggest adding a 16mm2 from the B+ to the starter motor, or better still direct to the positive terminal of the battery. I presume it's ok add this alongside the current wiring? Harry

Apologies in advance, but I've got a few questions to ask in one go The other day my alternator decided to throw it's bearings around the engine bay so I ordered a new Denso unit. I removed the goosed unit tonight and went to fit the new one but have come across several differences. On the old one, there were 3 wires connected to the back: 2 x thick brown wire and a smaller brown wire with a yellow tracer, along with the additional earth lead I fitted when the vehicle was having earthing problems. Unlike the old alternator which had no terminal markings, the new version has terminals labelled as B+, D+ and W. A look on Google suggests that both of the thick brown wires should go to the B+ terminal, and that the brown/yellow trace should go to D+ which is the charge light on the dash, could someone kindly confirm that is right? Assuming this is correct, then is the W terminal redundant unless a rev counter is fitted to the vehicle? Finally, the pulleys are different sizes, with the new unit being much smaller. As far as I am aware, the old alternator was a standard 65A whereas the new one is 100A, should I switch the pulleys over and use the larger one that matches the current auxiliary belt or retain the smaller version? Both alternators have the same width pulley in relation the the mounting points so the belt should run smoothly on either, but I'm not too sure if the smaller pulley will create slack in the belt, leading to it slipping rather than spinning the pulleys. Once again, apologies to ask lots of questions in one go but I wanted to check that I was doing the everything correctly the first time round. Harry

Prior to the rebuild, I popped into the local Screwfix and bought BZP M6 and M8 bolts, nuts and washers in various lengths and that covered most things with plenty left over. Don't forget plenty of copper-slip also, it will be much easier next time you come to undo things. As has been said, use the proper bolts for anything safety critical.

Have a look at your panhard rod bushes/bolts and also your prop Uj's first. Both of those were an issue on mine a while ago. Is the vehicle on standard height suspension?

I ran the rear loom along the top of the chassis in conduit as per Western. The reasons that swung it for me was that it can be opened up easily to trace faults/add wires and there is no chance of it chaffing on sharp bits of galvanising inside the chassis. The rear loom was a mess and 7 core was my original plan but after an evening with an old sidelight, a wiring diagram and a couple of drams, it works perfectly and can be understood by anyone that works on the 90 at a later date. I then ran a length of 3 core household wire inside the conduit also, just to provide some additional wires for use at a later date with things like worklights.

Sorry Maverik, I didn't read what I had typed before hitting post Good news, the 90 seems to be sorted now. I swapped the small rubber vacuum pipe that goes to the waste-gate but the old one looked to be in mint condition. The old spring clips didn't feel very strong so it is now held on with jubilee clips instead. The actuator was quite stiff so I removed the pipe that runs round to the FIP and connected an airline on, opening and closing the actuator for 5 minutes. I then blew air the other way, towards the FIP pump and I could hear the diaphragm moving without any leaks. Took it for a spin last night and all seems hunky-dory. I'm going to pull the injection pump apart tonight anyway, more just to have a look inside and check everything looks ok.. A boost gauge should arrive next week so that will tell whether the turbo is still in good nick. Thanks everyone for your help Harry

Thank you for the replies guys! I took it down to a garage last night and asked a grown-up to give a second opinion. He wasn't worried about the stiffness of the actuator arm when it was wiggled from underneath so we then set about pressure testing the turbo. He connected a pressure gun onto the back of the turbo where the turbo-FIP pipe would usually connect to. The wastegate would not open with this however. Would that point to a partially seized wastegate/leaking actuator? We are going to test my original turbo tonight, it seems strange that both turbos have not fixed the problem, although it's worth bearing in mind that the original wasn't great and the borrowed one was of 'unknown condition'. Mav, coincidentally I had seen a thread on another forum that mentioned something similar to your issue, that was going to be my next port of call once we can test the second turbo tonight. If it is the same issue, is there any reason why i cant clean up the cone with wire wool and some oil rather than swapping it? Thanks all! Harry

Ah it sounds like that is the problem then, I'll have a look tonight though. All of the air hoses are new in the last year, and the intercooler is in good condition so I don't think it would be that. Is there any chance that the injection pump could be gummed up if the turbo turns out to be ok? Thanks for your help Harry

I don't have the hinges but I have a couple of brackets that I think were designed to hold the catflap open if you would like then?

Sorry if this is a stupid question, but how do I check if it is stuck open? Before i fitted it, i removed the circlip from the actuator rod and wriggled the arm a bit but it needed a pair of pliers and was pretty stiff. Definitely no mouse nest, all the filter housing/intake pipes are clean as a whistle since removing the gallons of oil that had built up in the IC pipes...if only it was that simple to fix though! Many thanks, Harry

I've had an on-going saga with the 90 for a couple of weeks and was wondering if anyone had any advice. It's been in storage since January (no problems when it went into the shed) until I dragged it out a couple of weeks ago. It all seems to drive ok, but has no oomph high up in the rev range. It will accelerate up to 60 in 5th but that is flat out and this speed promptly falls going up the slightest incline, it's not dissimilar to driving a 2.5 na. I had my doubts about the turbo because it had put a lot of oil into the intercooler and that was cleaned out 6 months (<2500 miles) ago. After that short distance there was enough oil in the I/C that it would drip out when inverted. The vehicle then got a lot worse over the course of 4 or 5 miles and wouldn't pull past 30mph, stuttering as it went so I pulled the engine apart, replaced the lift pump with a new Delphi unit, borrowed/fitted a secondhand turbo from a mate and given the engine a full service. It starts/runs fine with no stuttering which makes me think that the lift pump was suspect but it still struggles to reach 60mph and slows down on hills. There is a nice flow of fuel from the nut on top of the filter housing so there shouldn't be a problem with air in the system but I'm worried that the secondhand turbo may also be a dud? Could anyone advise on how to re-check the turbo or if there is something that I have missed? Many thanks in advance, Harry

Mine had a similar problem, with Sumo Bars and a QT guard. I used a ratchet strap to pull the front of the guard closer to the diff pan and tightened up the bolts on the underside of the diff before releasing the strap. It only gained about 3/4mm of clearance on the track rod but at least it doesn't catch.

That's a great idea, thank you Si, means I'm not reliant on borrowing a telehandler either! I didn't manage to have a go yesterday but will try over the weekend. Will a conventional butane blowtorch be up to the job do you think? Many thanks again, Harry