Daan

I am fairly sure the full size and sport rangerovers use identical running gear.

I saw that website on my trawls of Google. Sounds like he uses the same principles on his Jeep that I used on my Land Rover.

Tell me more. Daan

With the exhaust done, it is time to get the body fitted. My brother-in-law came over from Prague with his 2 lads to come and visit Goodwood FOS, so I had 3 bodies at my disposal to lift the tub on: I knew it essentially fits, but a few details need modding: one body mount on the chassis needs to move 30mm forward: The gear tower on the gearbox sits higher and therefore needed a larger hole cutting in the tunnel: This is essentially all it needs to fit the Willys M38 body on to the Mahindra chassis. Further mods were needed as a result of fitting the PAS box and the VW engine. The body mount clashed with the oil filter, solved with a grinder: The PAS box is clashing with the RH front wing. There is a large speed bulge for the battery, and this almost clears the PAS box. I just needed to move the front joggle forwards by 50mm: On the LH side, the PAS pump pully interferes with the wing. I did a big cutout where the reinforcement rib is and made this the location of a step in the vertical portion of the wing. An intended dent is there to avoid the PAS pump feed pipe, and I extended the cut out for the shock absorber: The Willys grille just bolts onto the Mahindra grille mounts, but there is a 3rd mount in the middle on the Willys grille, which the Mahindra chassis does not have, so I made a bracket (no picture). Mounted, it all looks like this: It now looks like a proper car, which is a great motivator. I think the front height looks about right, but the rear sits far too high. Not sure what to do here yet: Thanks for reading!

You cannot get the bushes separately, and they have a larger OD from standard bushes. There is a solution with polybushhes:

That's my kind of back garden: Stonefield 4X4 Forward Control, | eBay

More of the same kicking the can up the road; If you go to the trouble to remove the pistons, you may well be putting in new ones, or you could well be doing the same job again in a few year's time, in which case it is £500 down the drain. Following on from what Fridge is saying, could you do 2 engines at the same time? Perhaps get a good deal on getting 2 blocks re-bored and a better deal on 2 part sets? It would also reduce the build time considerably, as you just do everything twice, as opposed to doing 2 rebuilds separately. Not the thing you want to hear, I know, but I'd say long-term could be worth doing. I bought a new engine in 2000- and I still run it today with very few repairs, apart from new bearing shells and a replacement crank when I put a rock through the sump, which was accidental. The outlay was hard to swallow at the time, but I never regretted it. That said, it was half the price of what Turner's asks for a rebuilt engine now. how times change!

Rebuild your spare engine. Looking at the Turner's website, a rebuild engine looks expensive, but the parts are really cheap. I am telling you what you already know, but as they say advice is what you ask for if you already know the answer, but wish you didn't. Daan

I'd say 4.1 diff ratios would be ideal. As mentioned the standard 4-speed transmission will have its hands full coping with the torque of a TDI, a bigger turbo will only help to accelerate its demise. Daan

You can buy a longer drop arm off the shelf. Alternatively, in Comp safari I have seen people drilling another hole in the drop arm which is part of the swivel housing, to make the arm shorter. Neither I fancy much, as the steering box is already prone to breaking in standard form. Would be good to know how the truw steer compares. Daan

Good to know we have one being tested in our midst, please let us know how you get on. Regards, Daan

They are sand castings, then painted over. The surface is a bit rough, I would like to see the internals. At the price, it is probably Chinese or Indian-made, I suppose someone needs to try one and report to all of us.

I just saw this on the SP site: https://www.sp-4x4.com/QAF500110_POWER_STEERING_BOX_FOR_DEFENDER_p/qaf500110.htm That does not look like a Landrover box, but rather a re-engineered box made to fit a land rover: After a bit of digging I found this: Looks like a Mitsubishi Shogun steering box that has been re-engineered. Looks like a good idea, The landrover box is not the greatest bits of engineering by any standard. Competitive on the pennys as well, anyone knows more? Daan

Read all about it here: The bit that matters:

Incorrect; viscous fan is always better for intercooler temperatures especially at low speeds. This is with the cowling mounted as well, which is a problem here.

This article seems to state mainly factual figures. It does not look bad for EV, but it does say there is not enough data of EV fires, because there are so few EVs, to make a good comparison: Electric Car Fire Risks Look Exaggerated, But More Data Required For Definitive Verdict (forbes.com)

Looks a bargain to me; what classic car do you buy for a hundred quid these days? Edit: Mike, it even had an SVA!

First look at Tesla's new structural battery pack | Electrek

The cells are not that bad on shock though, the packs are usually getting a shaker test and a crash test (50 G impact), after which the pack still needs to function. To be fair, the cells are pretty stable, especially cylindrical cells like the Tesla has. Most packs are bolted solid to the car, Tesla even use the cells as a structural member which is pretty clever I'd say. Most fires start with a bad electrical connection, a bolted connection that has relaxed over time or a bad welded connection. A bad connection gives higher resistance, gets hot and can lead to cells going in thermal runaway.

Sorry to hear about your episode; keep us updated. Daan

Looks very well executed, Mike.

That is not quite true; you could either run them in the wrong direction or flip them like you have. in this configuration, they run exactly the same direction, just upside down. I doubt strength is an issue, with the 2:1 portal box reduction, the diff thinks it runs 18.5" tyres, so I don't think you would ever break the 2.88 diffs. Volvo diffs have a tiny crown wheel, about 7" in diameter, vs the land rover diff, which is 8.5".

The speedo aside, 3.75 is not much of a change, about 6%. I would suggest 4.1 ratios, to make a difference, as the TD5 is not very torquey at the bottom revs.

I saw that in Scotland at the Tay forest challenge a few times, winning one year too.

Daan with double a, because that is my name.