=jon=

I've got a 2.5 petrol in my S3 88 - it's significantly quicker than the old 2.25 it replaced (although it was in a bad way). Off road it seems to have plenty low down - I'm not as extreme as you but I've not had any power probs, and it's happy pulling itself from tickover... I'd imagine in an 80" with some mild tuning it would be pretty good

Is this why I passed loads of stripped out S1's on trailers on the M25 earlier?

It's a bit of a grey area, and reasonably dependant on how strict your mot tester is. I know of people who have aftermarket HID kits in their cars, some have passed with no issues, some get a telling off and an advisory for beam pattern, some get failed for not having the proper kit. To be fair to paddock, it does say: "NOTE: This kit is both CE and E approved. However, Xenon Headlights conversion kits are only road legal if used with automatic levelling and headlight washing system." I'm not sure about the paddock kit, but there are several types of H4 HID bulb - ones that have a combo halogen lamp in for high beam (very carp), ones that have a small motor / solenoid to change the position of the bulb to simiulate high/low (carp) and ones that have dual elements in, one for high and one for low (more expensive as you need 2x ignitor per side).. *edit* - just re-read it, the paddock kit has a halogen bulb in there too. In that case it's a very crappy kit and should be avoided... You can get a proper hi/lo kit from ebay - see http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Land-Rover-Defender-90-50W-H4-HID-Conversion-kit-/220636954179?pt=UK_CarsParts_Vehicles_CarParts_SM&hash=item335efcbe43 One thing though, nearly all factory HID kits use projector lights to give a clear beam pattern - the ones with the big glass bubble in the lens - these give a very clear focussed beam with loads of light below and a defined line of darkness above. If you whack a HID kit in a standard reflector lens the light goes all over the place, you will likely dazzle everyone oncoming and get flashed all of the time, especially on something with reasonably high lights like a defender... I had a set for a while (same as the kit in the link above) in my old Hilux and had to take them out as they would blind everyone coming towards me - they were dangerous. I'd personally spend the money on a set of the wipac clear lensed lights (with the shaped reflector for the beam pattern), some decent bulbs (osram nightbreaker or similar) and a relay kit to get the most out of the standard lamps. If that's not enough then some driving lights with HID retrofitted for additional full beam

You could try Serck motorsport in Hayes - they built me an alu one a few years back, not sure if they do copper too.. http://www.serckservices.co.uk/2010/08/23/radiators/

I think you mean traction control, not ABS... ABS will un-apply the brake if the wheel locks, traction control will apply the brake to stop the opposite wheel spinning... Same sensors, different (much later and therefore more rare?) ECU, and possibly a different pump too.... A fiddle brake setup would work out way cheaper and a lot easier to do... (or left foot brake and use more accelerator!) Also - why would you need the ATB diff with the TC? Unless I'm missing something major they will both do the same function: ATBs only operate when there's 'load' on both wheels. So with one wheel in the air it'll act 'open', the unloaded wheel will spin and you'll get nowhere. The TC will use the brakes to lock the opposing wheel, so the loaded wheel gets all the power. If one wheel is locked with the brake, all the power will go through the other wheel, open diff or ATB... I admit, you'll probably get further with an ATB than a plain open diff before the TC kicks in though... Or am I misunderstanding what you are asking?

See how I said it was closed cell foam? It's different to the stuff the others have posted, it's sealed, unlike the open cell foam in a foil wrapper stuff as posted by Jason above - the air is already trapped inside it. The 'reflecttive' layer is also a marketing gimmick - it's basically just the same foam silver coloured, rather than being a proper foil reflective layer. It's also got 'Quecha' emblazened across it every 10" or so, which was the main reason I put it facing inwards! Can't complain for £8!

Does the gearbox/selector have an 'in gear' switch on it anywhere, and if so, is it plumbed into the megasquirt? Usually with standalone engine management you use the switch on the box to tell the ECU that a gear is selected and to change the idle characteristics (add more effort if you are using PWM idle control valve). I've not looked at how the idling is set up on a RV8, but that's how it's done on other cars

Cool - cheers for that. I'll go get some and see how it fares. If the roof lining does start to come away it should be easy enough to stick back up there - it was a spur of the moment thing with stuff laying round, if I'd have planned better I should have got something like that to start with I'm not going to do the whole lot like that though, possibly I'll get a Wright Offroad kit at some point more for noise killing than keeping it warmer... Although - I seem to have bought a cheap defender on the spur of the moment, depending how it goes I may be defecting to the dark side

Also in (just) shot are the £4 each grab handles, so now panicking passengers have something to grab hold of for dear life

You can fix a lot more on a landy with a hammer and an adjustable spanner at the roadside than you can on a newer car That said - being a series mine has an interesting mix of metric, imperial and whitworth which can make finding the right socket a pain

I'd keep an eye out for an older defender that's had a galvanised chassis fitted - it gets rid of one of the biggest issues for the non DIYer which is welding - unless you are very friendly with the garage they will likely charge you a fortune for chassis welding. And as has been said above, I'd also go on condition rather than age/mileage - 100k miles gentle use from someone that's looked after is very different from 50k of neglect axle deep in cow **** from a farmer somewhere I'd also budget on some tools and plan on learning a bit about how it all works - LRs aren't much like a typical modern car that you can leave them alone for 10K between services, they tend to require checking and tinkering fairly regularly, which is all part of the fun

Hi, This weekend, I insulated the roof of the truck cab to try and make it a bit warmer in winter (and stop drips!) As I'm a cheapskate, I used 2 x £4.99 camping bed rolls from Decathlon which are closed cell (so waterproof), silver on one side (thermal barrier) and a reasonably sober grey colour to nicely coordinate with the mud and rust styling details of the rest of the cab... It's hard to show how it looks in a pic as it's very grey! I used glue gun glue and double sided trim tape to stick it on, if I did it again I'd probably use something like sikaflex or silicon sealant as bits of it are starting to drop already. Other than the bodges I made, it looks almost professional! The leftovers have gone into the doors, with some new door cards replacing the missing one / plywood abominations of the previous owner... I'll also do behind / under / around the seats and the bulkhead panels with it when I get a chance.. Cheers Jon

Dingocroft are in High Wycombe which isn't *that* far from you - they are also very knowledgable, helpful (and patient!) if you aren't entirely sure what bits you need. They do sell some britpart though, but should have alternatives if you ask... http://www.dingocroft.co.uk/

Cos it's what the passenger wildly grabs hold of in pure panic when you are going up/down something steep while shouting "Jeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeesus!"

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/221080613443 Cheaper than the mudstuff ones - I bought some to use as door handles on my series, I'll probably get another set for jesus handles

I was told one shot was OK in series UJs as long as you locked the FWH (if fitted) every week or so to fling it round a bit...

We used car body filler on the worst pits of my swivels, applied very thinly then sanded down to be flush with the rest of the ball. It was a temporary measure which so far has held up to two years of usage!

Right, small update. I now have a defender pas box and a RRC one to offer up - ones got a straight drop arm, ones curved. For £15 the pair they were too cheap to pass up! I'm now on the hunt for a defender steering column and the lower part between the bottom of the column and the steering box if anyone has any kicking round...

I think the defender heater box uses flaps to divert air through the matrix for warm air, or to bypass it for cold air though. I've got a series heater box and no control valve wotsit on mine, so the heater runs 'hot' all of the time. You don't get hot air coming out of the vents unless you have the fan on though. For cold air you have to rely on the vent flaps or the inevitable draughts!

Thanks for that - and welcome There's a few threads on here from people that have retrofitted PAS in a variety if different ways Jon

I fitted a 4" bilge blower instead of the original fan on my s3 (it squealed and drove me barmy) - it shifts about twice the amount of air as the original, but it's still pretty pathetic compared to a modern car... I did think of using two of them, or putting them underneath the ducts to the demister vents (in the big empty airbox bit of the dash) but haven't got round to it as yet...

OK - thanks. Things like this should become a bit clearer when I have a box in front of me and can offer it up against the chassis. I don't have the strengthening gussets on the spring hangers which some people look to have had to chop out for clearance. I've got a 2.5 petrol engine out of a defender in it - it's got the dual belt crank pulley, the defender it came out of previously had PAS

Yeah - I've read loads on there, Nicks (snagger?) Land Rover Page, and about 20 different threads on here about how to do it... The trouble is, after a point you just add to your confusion - Defender / Disco 1/2 / RRC / P38 / Toyota steering boxes, inboard or outboard mounting, etc etc etc... At some point I have to say "I'm gonna do it like this" and make my mind up!

Mine? 88"

Looks like a defender / RRC steering box has been acquired for the princely sum of... (drumroll...) £7.50 from the for sale section on here. It's supposedly leaky, but worst case I can use it as an exchange for a replacement one from somewhere like paddocks, and it will do to start working out where things fit on the chassis