Daan

It is perfectly possible to make your own exhaust if you have the time and skills. I made my own (see my build thread link in my signature). I did this myself, because the design of my car and routing of the exhaust is completely different from anything standard. But if your car is standard, there is little point, as there is so much out there already in stainless, pretty much exactly what you want. Or you can at least base your exhaust on a standard version. This thread is running in the series forum about exactly this: Daan

Have to ask though, has an IBEX ever been stolen? Daan

Chaps we are going of in a tangent here. we are talking about the best engine, and all we talk about is power curves. How do the fuel consumption figures compare between all the mentioned Land rover engines, as this does potentially decides what is best for you. So the title should really say best engine you can afford to run.

No that is exhaust emissions. Fuel efficiency is tells us how often it needs filling up. Your wallet basically. But being dutch, you know that.

What has happened to fuel consumption? Does that not matter to anyone?

This looks hard to beat: https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Land-Rover-Series-3-88-2-25-Petrol-Double-SS-Stainless-Steel-Exhaust-System/322121399541?hash=item4affee7cf5:g:fCUAAOSwPb9ak~EL Daan

To be fair to them, that is pretty much how I would be attempting it. The rear axle looks pretty ok to me from the picture, perhaps with a sleeved casing, even the alu portal should be ok if they did it machined from solid out of aluminium 7075 T6. Also, the rover diff will be plenty with a 1:2 reduction upstream, so a Salisbury axle is pretty much pointless. but I want to see the front: the closed knuckle is not really designed to take these loads, and the Volvo axle has an open knuckle with the bearings about a foot apart. So the question is are they using the standard knuckle or have they redesigned this into something stronger? It's easy to criticize, but there comes a point were we can't find any more Volvo axles and then how we move forward? Daan

are you in the wrong gear?

Well the best engine is the one that works best for your application. But, the original application for a land rover is for it to be a versatile working vehicle. So you need torque low down the rev range, low fuel consumption, easy to fix in the field and reliable. It's got to be the TDI. Any engine needing electronics to run can be removed from the list for the above requirements. More power from td5 or tdci is nice on the road, and a V8 sounds lovely, but was a land rover designed to drive on the road? No, it can do it, as it is a versatile vehicle, but for the original design brief, the TDI ticks all the boxes. But that is just an opinion. Daan

Hammer form as mike described works, I had to do the fold for the rain gutter this way when I lowered my roof. Daan

That looks beautiful, well done. How long did it take you to get to this point? I won't be asking the other question.... Daan

Well, it has a roll cage, and now a winch, so it is clearly ready to do a winch challenge. Daan

This subject has been done to death, here are a few snipets from the past, the first on being the most important. One of the things to keep in mind is that Land rover did fit LED headlights to at least one version of the Defender. So this means, that if you have this brand of headlight, it is factory spec, and therefore legal. For other versions, it is a bit more grey, but I think that if it gives a proper pattern which you can adjust to the right height, they are E-marked and are bright enough, there is no reason why it should not pass. Here, from the most informative Land rover forum: Have fun reading this lot! Daan

drop in the locking pin (or a 9mm drill bit) when the woodruff key on the crank points up. I don't have the hole in the bell house to lock the crank, but I have done more cambelt changes on my landy than I care to remember, so it is no issue. Daan