Boris113

I was in the same dilema a month ago. Like Ballcock said above, I also weighed up time, cost and the chance of messing up the o-rings and having to wait for more to arrive with no car. In the end I bought new AP branded ones which were about £70 +vat each.

Slightly biased as my uncle runs the place but Pant-Yr-Onnen is a nice spot, good/clean facilities and plenty of space right on the shore of the lake, it's about 3 miles from Bala. They don't open until 24th March though so it depends when you are going. http://www.balacamping.co.uk/

If it's just me or we go away last minute then we tend to sleep in the back of the 110, with the bike removed there's space for 2 of us, I am 5'11" and can lie flat / stretch out without hitting the back door. The lockable boxes making the floor have chequer tops so there's some rubber backed carpet door mats on top for insulation and then we on sleep self-inflating camping mats. Plenty of insulation in the roof/side panels keeps it warm and condensation free. Best of all it's pretty subtle and doesn't attract the attention that a roof tent or large camper might do. For longer trips we tend to take a tent to get a bit more room and you don't have to move all the kit around in the back before sleeping or pack up everything to fetch a pint of milk etc. We use a Quecha XL3 which goes up in a couple of mins and has held up to some awfully strong winds. There's an awning on the side which gives room for cooking / beer drinking in the rain. Very happy so far with the set-up, compared with a roof tent it's much cheaper and flexible. Overall height of the vehicle remains below 2.2m which a lot of car parks seem to be across Europe.

I sourced a roof, sides and rear door on behalf of a friend from Foley specialist vehicles, don't recall it being cheap but the panels were immaculate take-off versions from a Puma. Might be worth a call.

Thanks SumDarkPlace, possibly managed to find an R380 locally last night, I'll likely get it rebuilt when funds allow before fitting to upgrade the carrier bearings and convert to suffix L internals at the very least. Accumulated the correct transmission tunnel, v8 front prop and seatbox so it's just a case of flywheel and clutch assembly + sundries. The conversion won't be done soon but I'd rather get all the parts ahead of time and it saves fitting the auto to pull it out/swap it at a later date. My Dad used to have a 3.9 v8 90 with an auto box and I was never a fan, whilst there are many advantages to an auto, I'd prefer the control of a manual. The 90 is a keeper so I'm not too fussed about the resale value Cheers, Harry

Thank you for the quick response Fridge and Dave, I'll go with the Discovery version then. I currently have the engine, exhaust and an autobox, it came from a 3.9 D1 which the previous owner subsequently fitted to his 90 so I know that all squeezes into place I'd prefer to go for a manual box rather than the auto version. With regards to the boxes, is the ZF autobox/bellhousing the same length as a v8 r380? I'm trying to keep on a relative budget and if the build is possible in stages, that's ideal. In other words can I fit the engine, existing autobox and sundries for the interim, keeping the transfer box in it's usual position then at a later date, pull out the autobox and wedge in a recon R380 without having to move engine mounts fore or aft? Thanks, Harry

My TD5 had the old type of coil spring and a very heavy clutch. I bought the Britpart kit which for £30, is a great mod, it's now as light as a 300tdi and unlike most products in a blue box, it seems to fit and work properly. No other parts needed changing, just remove the old spring and fit the new one with bushes, the holes and locating slot were already present in the pedal. I found the easiest method was to compress the spring in a vice, use a few cable ties to keep it closed then move to the car and once in position, cut the cable ties to release the spring. https://www.britpart.com/all-parts/da1266/ With regards to gear slop, as well as the nylon cup below the gearstick, check the sides of the gearlever turret for excessive wear, the locating pins on either side can cause wear to the soft casting leading to slop, mine had a similar issues and after replacing both and readjusting the bias springs, it feels much more precise.

I'm hoping to fit a 3.9 Rover V8 into the 90 soon and would ideally like to couple it to an R380 gearbox. Finding hens teeth is easier than finding a Defender V8 R380 so the options appear to be 1. take defender diesel box, fit v8 mainshaft then locate v8 bellhousing at great expense or 2; find complete disco/RR v8 R380 and using Ashcrofts conversion kit, swap the selectors to bring the g-box lever up in the correct place for a Defender. I lack the tools/skills to dismantle and swap a mainshaft so the disco option looks to be the ticket. Hunting on eBay has shown a few different versions of a V8 R380 to suit a disco 1, disco 2 and P38. I've got my head around the bearing differences from suffix J to L but was unsure if there were any further differences between D1, D2 and P38 gearboxes that may cause issues when fitting into the 90? Thanks in advance, Harry

You aren't wrong, Faceache can seem like a broken record at times, if there was a better search function it would make it far more useful.

Not sure if you use Facebook but there is a fairly active group called '4x4 Winch Challenges' which is a good source of information and plenty of for sale/wanted ads. It seems to stick closer to technical info than some of the spurious LR related pages. It's a shame the Devon forum closed down, the builds were really interesting.

That's great thanks Red90 and Muddy, I'll have a ganders when they are out. Thanks, Harry

I have a 2005 110 which the previous owner advertised as having Ashcroft shafts and CVs. I'm about to pull the front shafts out for a complete swivel rebuild and curious to see if the innards are actually uprated. Does anyone know if Ashcrofts mark/brand their uprated parts? If so what should I be looking for please? Thanks, Harry

The website says they have a neg 35 offset so they would be quite a way outboard. A friend fitted the same set to his 90 and they definitely stick out more than my 0 offset wheels with 285 tyres. I have 285 75 r16s on modulars with a neg 32 offset and despite a 2 inch lift, the arches still needed trimming.

Thanks for confirming Western, very pleased I don't have to buy new swivels as well!

The swivels in my 2005 non-ABS Td5 110 are not in a good way, there's virtually no preload and minor corrosion on the balls. I'm going to rebuild both swivels with new balls, seals and bearings over Christmas. In the shed I have a set of swivel balls with part no's FRC7065 / FTC5366 that I purchased for the rebuild of a non-ABS 300tdi Discovery axle which has subsequently been mothballed. can anyone confirm if they are suitable for the 110? The numbers I've found on the web suggest various different ones. Thanks, Harry

There was mention on a Facebook page last week that Flatdog were going to take over the supply/distribution of Mantec products including aftersales.

Thanks Dailysleaze, I'll torque it up to 230nm

Is anyone able to confirm the torque setting for the bolts on a 2005 Defender panhard rod please? The Haynes manual says up to 2002 model 65 lbf ft and then 230nm / 170 lbf ft for 2002 onwards but I can't help but think 230nm is very high for a bolt of it's size. Thought it best to check before breaking anything as I'm a long way from a parts supplier! Thanks, Harry

I have one of the panel mount ones like above fitted into the dash and very happy with it. The flashing light was a bit annoying at night time. For the 110 I fitted the rubberised plug version, it pops out of the seatbox beside the passenger seat runner. Much cheaper and no need to dismantle the dash to run cables. https://www.amazon.co.uk/CTEK-CTE-56382-Comfort-Indicator-Adaptors/dp/B002MT8S7E/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1511175193&sr=8-1&keywords=c+-tek+comfort

I have the gen1 JW Speakers on the 110 and am very happy with them, apart from occasional icing in the snow they are great. That being said, they were fitted by the previous owner, not sure I could stomach the price to buy them new.

The difference is in the Puma bonnet rather than the wings, it's wider at the bulkhead end so the Puma chequer panels are slightly narrower and finish before the radio ariel hole rather than going around. I tried to fit a set of pre-Puma Mamouth chequer to my TD5 which has a Puma bonnet and the chequer sat under the edge of the bonnet, preventing the bonnet from closing properly. There's a company on eBay that apparently produce chequer and NAS steps for Land Rover, I'm tempted by a set of their wingtops and the price is reasonable given that gaskets are included. https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Defender-Black-chequer-plate-Wing-Top-Protection-Plates-NEW-AND-GENUINE/282625790831?ssPageName=STRK%3AMEBIDX%3AIT&_trksid=p2055119.m1438.l2649

I had a similar problem with my Td5 Defender, the £10 DIY cruise control worked perfectly until I installed a rebuild gearbox with a V8 ratio 5th gear. After that the CC would engage but automatically knock itself off within 10 seconds because the pulse signals sent to the ECU were outside of it's operating parameters. Fitting a Speedo-healer worked perfectly, took 5 mins to wire in and calibrate, it maintains its memory if you disconnect the battery etc. Due to a change in tyre sizes, the speedo gauge read accurately against GPS true speed which I wanted to maintain. Instructions suggest fitting between the transfer box and speedo however I popped it after the speedo so as to correct the pulse signals into the ECU without adjusting the reading shown on the speedometer. May be able to dig out some wiring diagrams with associated scribbles if that helps?

I've had a few Numax batteries and on the whole they have been very good, especially for the money. If you do go down that route then Tanya Batteries offer a brand called Enduroline, made in the same factory as Numax with the additional smaller terminals but a longer warranty than the Numax equivalent they also sell.

Brilliant, thank you for the quick responses! I'll let him know. Harry

Can any of v8 gurus on here advise please? I was talking to a colleague the other day and he was asking whether his 3.5 Efi V8 would have an unleaded head or should he keep putting lead additive in the tank which he has been doing since the death of 4-star in UK? My understanding was that all UK spec Discoverys had unleaded heads however this one is ROW spec, would that make a difference? The vehicle is a very original LHD 3 door Discovery however he bought it 2nd hand in Kuwait circa 1994 then drove it to UK and registered it so the exact production date is a bit of a mystery. It has 200tdi spec lights and we know it's an early one because the brake caliper bolts on the axles are imperial and the engine is on V belts, at a guess it's late 1989 or early 1990. The engine number starts 24D14_ _ _ D which according to the Rimmer Bro's website is either 1990 efi Discovery or 86 onwards RRC manual. https://www.rimmerbros.co.uk/content--name-Rover-V8-Engine-Numbers Thanks, Harry