BogMonster

Is that what they call "variable rate springs" then...?

I like it. It looks as though if you smite it on a tree, you would need to call the Forestry Commission to report a broken tree, and that is good Version 2 in stainless steel to add a bit of bling?

Take the exhaust manifolds off, bolt them back on upside down and put a foot of 3" straight through pipe from each up through the bonnet. Paint a few flames down the side and bob's yer uncle

Neat You put the tyres on the wrong way round though

The models are different from market to market. There isn't a "GS" here it is a "nothing", S, XS, ES. I think maybe for those places like the UK where people aren't happy without a badge on their tailgate it is GS S XS ES or something, not sure. A badge is just something else to clean in this part of the world

The only thing I will say about the EP9 (never having seen one) is that I enquired about one at work, on behalf of a customer. I said to [a certain UK supplier] that I had heard (somebody said it on here I think??) that the gearbox was hard/impossible to waterproof and the guy would be likely to be going through a bit of water and so would need to know if this was going to be a problem, and [a certain UK supplier] said "ah ... erm ... how about an X9 then". So if that point is critical (and I don't know how waterproof they aren't) then it is probably best suited to a rear winch if you are planning on taking a dip often. Other than that I know nothing about it. I hate to admit it (being a hydraulics fan) but if I bought another winch I think I would get a 9.5XP. I don't lower out at all so the fact that it has an in-drum brake doesn't bother me (would be using plasma). I love the hydraulic setups of Nige and BBC Ian but I can't be bothered with that much work and they take up space inside the vehicle which I can't afford to lose because it gets used for other things too.

Don't know about other parts of the world but here the base and S have proper springs all round while the XS and ES have air on the back. Mine is an S with poverty seats because I didn't want either ACE or SLS both of which I decided were something else to go wrong and so far mine has yet to be found flat on the bump stops first thing in the morning I have driven an ACE equipped vehicle and it does improve the handling but 1) I have never found the handling of mine a problem in any way and 2) having driven a vehicle with ACE it seems to make the ride quite fidgety on bumpy roads.

Doesn't need an engine it is so light it just has a big set of pedals Think that is the only vehicle I have ever seen with an approach AND departure angle both about 120 degrees...

I don't know the answer for sure but I should think it will be an M6 as most of those sort of things are - if not an M6 then almost certainly an M8.

Que?

One of those "whoops" moments then

A winch gets you out (usually) A locker doesn't (necessarily) that was my thinking when I was wondering what to spend on what in what order

No I don't really think so Kev. It might be a new variation on the theme but I have seen a lot of spider failures and they either crank or they don't (or they crank without firing, if it is the fuel solenoid circuit that is burned out). I have never seen anything spider related in between working and dead/intermittently dead. I would sooner say it is some sort of fault on either the power or earth circuits to the motor which is causing the problem. Or another dead battery or maybe (I think it has one) a dud starter relay - I saw one once (can't remember what on, think it was a Freelander) where the "very thin wire that went to the relay coil" was broken off but touching just enough to make a connection, but when the relay energised, the coil moved enough to break the touch connection then when it fell back it re-energised again and so on, making the relay "chatter". Just a few ideas anyway - good luck...

You could but if you look underneath a D3 you want about a foot in most places, not 2 to 4 inches I guess the main issue might be for on-road use, because I think the suspension geometry changes on independent suspension as you lift it though I must admit I am not sure whether this specifically affects the D3 as it probably depends on the exact design of the independent suspension setup. But the reason I think it would be a problem is..... There are a lot of "lifted" Mitsubishis here - people wind up the torsion bar tension on the front suspension of those to give a higher setting to fit bigger tyres - and they usually have a "pin toed" look i.e. the wheels are no longer parallel, being closer at the bottom than at the top due to the suspension geometry (i.e. tilted out at the top) when you wind it up by a few inches. Hate to think what it does for tyre wear too..... There might also be problems with running the CVs at high speeds in an offset geometry but that is just guessing - maybe they would be perfectly ok. One of my other reservations about independent is that with a beam axle you can belt it on a rock and it will just chip the paint. I haven't direct experience of this but I suspect that if you belt independent suspension arms fairly hard on a rock (not difficult as they are quite low to the ground) you would probably end up needing a visit to a laser wheel alignment doodah. Having said that Jules has a Freelander that spends a fair bit of its life off the ground, not sure if he has any problems with this or not. Could be me just being a Luddite

Yes I guess so. A set of Td5 injectors costs about the same as a 300Tdi injector pump and a set of 300Tdi injectors, which makes sense when you think about it

No it is a EUI (pronounced "yeeeeeuckspitspew") engine, not common rail in the usual sense though the number of times I have seen it described as such I have lost count of.... though it is "sort of common rail but not really"! In a "proper" common rail engine (Td4 for example) a low pressure pump feeds a single high pressure pump which pressurises the rail to about 100 million bar and then the injectors feed off that, just being electrically actuated to squirt it in. In the EUI system there is a low pressure fuel rail (in a Td5 fed by the in tank pump at about 58psi) which just feeds fuel through drillings in the head to the injectors at the supply pressure, each injector has a high pressure pump built in to it which generates the high injection pressure internally and the injection is electrically actuated by a solenoid. So it has a fuel rail of sorts but it is not really the same thing. And (hard hat on, coat on, door open) given that the Td5 is a bag of spanners to drive and the common rail diesels I have driven (Td4, TDV6...) are really nice, I can't see the advantage of EUI personally

if you can see any gorse in that photo I think you should lay off the hallucinogenic substances The "green gorse" is actually called diddle-dee

Know of a lot of electric aeroplanes do you? The Tdi viscous doesn't seem to do much simply because the engine doesn't produce much heat most of the time so it doesn't lock up. Leave my Discovery idling for a while after a long run on a hot day (4.0 V8 surrounded by lots of bonnet insulation and hot exhaust pipes) open the bonnet and blip the throttle to a couple of thousand revs and the viscous fan produces more wind than Hurricane Katrina! It only needs to run like this for about 10 sec and the rad is down to temp and it unlocks again. The vehicle also has electric fans fitted and when I had a faulty viscous unit they were running almost all the time to cope. I'm not convinced about the power saving thing - if a viscous is unlocked it should be draining very little power (put the nut of the viscous unit in a vice and spin it till it unsticks, then it will spin fairly freely) and when you need cooling, directly using the mechanical energy to spin the fan must surely be more efficient than converting it to electrical energy and then back to mechanical again...? I am still running my Tdi without the viscous to try and persuade it to warm up quicker and it does seem to rev very slightly more freely when absolutely cold, but I don't know that there is much difference.

Eh? Nothing manipulated about that apart from the pixelated bits. It genuinely failed to proceed on something a Fiat Panda could probably have got across! So could this with a run at it but the point is still valid - the suspension travel is cr*p. And so is the ground clearance.

Good job a Td5 doesn't have one then Though you have 5 instead, 1 in each injector, which may not be a better thing in these circumstances

Disco 2 has CV boots on the front as well, open swivels rather than the more conventional leaks-like-a-sieve type

OK here is the impressive wheel travel of a coil spring D3 in action Opposite corner wheels spinning in fact I got out for a look and left the engine idling in gear in 1st low range with wheels spinning Impressed? I was barely able to contain my indifference Can't see too many competing in winch challenges. Go anywhere a Defender will? My @r%e!!!

From 2003 model year (those with the four eyed headlights) the CDL became a factory option and will be fitted to some vehicles, but most other D2's can have it easily retro-fitted, just be wary of some around 2002 (like mine grrrrr) which don't have the bits inside the transfer box, because the ETC just by itself is bluddy b*****cks! You can retro fit it on any of them but you need to get in to the transfer box to fit the selector on ones like mine, better to find one with the spigot on top of the t/box if you can, having said that if you found a really nice D2 at the right price then Ashcrofts will do the job at a reasonable cost I think. I'd go for an 03/04 (better front bumper design, quite a bit more clearance) fit a tank guard and steering guard maybe diff guards if you like, centre diff lock, decent set of tyres (make sure it has 16" rims not 18s) and then spend the rest of the 5 grand on anything else that takes your fancy - depends on exactly what/where you are going to be doing with it I guess Edited to add a reply to your edited comment forget the D3 coiler it has about as much suspension travel as a wheelbarrow. I have a photo somewhere of one that I crossaxled and you wouldn't even know it was twisted up just by looking at the wheels, but it wouldn't move! Swings and roundabouts: with a coiler you don't get terrain interference fitted and less suspension travel, but you do get 17" wheels which you can get MT's for.... and less to go wrong!

Yeah that is the "Land Rover say you must do this and replace everything to maintain your warranty" version though, how they figure that tank and pipes will be beyond re-use is beyond me!!! Nobody in their right mind would take a blind bit of notice unless an insurance company was paying! You'd think in this day and age somebody would have invented round and square pump nozzles and matching filler necks or something truly idiot proof to stop this happening wouldn't you?

D2 and five grands worth of goodies would be my vote. I have no intention of parting with my D2 and it isn't because I can't afford a D3 because I could if I really wanted one, but I don't. Seem to recall seeing an article somewhere about two D3s going to Morocco and both of them had problems! Bing bong shhhhhhhh air suspension flat on the bump stops in the middle of the Sahara wouldn't be my idea of fun. Get a late coil spring non ACE D2 with the centre diff lock fitted, or fit a CDL, and if the warning lights all come on it doesn't really matter as long as the engine still runs