sean f

A capstan winch is not suitable for self recovery. It can be done, I have done it in the past, but since you have to stand in front (or to the side) of the vehicle to work the rope if you get unstuck suddenly you may end up having to dive out the way to avoid getting run over by your own vehicle. For recovering others or general working they are fine but with the cost and ease of use of electric winches now that realy has to be the way to go. A second battery and split charge system is generally recommended but for only occasional use not realy worth it.

That would be my guess as well. As a quick check try connecting a jump lead from the negative of the battery to the engine. If that stops the smoke then time to check the power and earth leads again. If you can find the source of the smoke thats probable the problem. It's possible (but not that likely!) that the starter is not making a clean electrical connection to the bell housing. If possible connect the jump lead direct to the starter mounting flange.

Most are red or yellow as they are supposed to be warning for the winch line so people can see it and not acdentally walk or drive into it especially if it runs across tracks as well as dampers if the line reaks

If you have a forward facing intake point it to the inside or back on leafy lanes as well. My engine nearly stalled when a big leaf sucked onto it and with a few other managed a pretty good seal, I though I had broken something on the engine till I work out were the whisling was coming from!. If you are driving any lanes down Devon way make sure the snorkel is inside the vehicle line as any that stick out the side or top aren't going to be there very long down most of our lanes, I am sure this applies to other areas as well. Managed to collect 4 snorkel tops down one lane a while ago.

Jericho's description is spot on for the starter wiring. The click is probable the solinoid working. There should be 2 big electrical connectors on the back of the solinoid and a smaller spade terminal. The spade terminal will be the small wire back to the ignition switch, this would seem to work as you are getting a click. The two big terminals are battery in and out to the actual motor of the starter. The feed in is probable good as you are getting a click, although if it is there but not very good it is possible it is not letting enough though to turn the motor over. The out to the motor shouldn't need touching but worth a look just to make sure it is tight, not always very good access with the starter motor in situ. On some vehicles they are sealed inside the starter but not on any land rover ones I have seen. As a test you can short out between the 2 big terminal and the engine SHOULD turnover (but not start unless ignition is also on). If you can confirm the second big terminal is going live when you turn the ignition and the engine still doesn't turn over then you may have a bad earth from the engine to the chassis and back to the battery. If this is in a 90 then the connection from the battery to the chassis can get loose, give it a check. You say you have already run an extra wire from the starter to the chassis so I assume this will be good but another check wouldn't hurt. Alternatively you may have a flat battery !!!!.

A few more pictures of the event. If any one wants the full resolution images PM me and I can send them out but they are to big to post on here.

Be carefull about pulling the front of the box off depending on where you want to go for a new box. Ashcroft site says they only accept sealed units as exchange. I assume this is so they don't just get complete basket cases or ones with bits missing that other people have already fiddled with.

The calculation for circumfrence is pye x d or pye x 2r. Where pye is 3.14 (plus lots more decimals if you need to be very accurate) and r is the radius. If you want a reasonable accurate value (calibrating an aftermarket speedo?) the best way is to park on level ground check you tyre pressures are correct then meaure from the centre of the hub to the ground for a value for r. It will vary for the same tyre depending on tyre pressure / wear / rotation speed etc so high precision is not normally needed.

Brookwells in Bovey Tracey. Tend to have most normal items in stock and can get other stuff at short notice normally. Good prices and knowledgeable staff, when you ask for the bit that holds the thingamee to the whatdoyoucallit they can generally sort it out. If you take the old bits in they can often match it, with the variations in land rovers over the years parts lists often don't tell the whole story. I have just finished a bulkhead replacement and have a few odds and sods left over if you are after any thing specific.

I have run them in Swamper LTB tyres for a while now. They do work and have the benifit of ajusting to lumps of rubber missing , mud in the tyre /rim etc automatically. You can feel them adjust some times as mud comes off the tyres, you get a wobble for a while then sorts it self out. They are not perfect however, my understanding is they provide a "static" balance not a "dynamic" balance, effectively although the wheel would balance level if it was placed horizontally with a pivot through the centre of the hub (you can't actually do this with beads as the tyre needs to be driven for them to work!) it may not balance vertically, if you have an inbalance on one side of the tyre only it will not fully compensate for that. This is why the tyre balance machines tell the operator which side of the rimm to put the weights on.

Had a look at there bulkheads at the Eastnor Show. Looked pretty good, they are repaired bulkheads which have then been galvanised but the quality of the repairs was good and only visable in areas you wouldn't normally see once installed. Talking to them they can do high quality work with no visable repairs for a show vehicle at extra cost. I expect they could galvanise (or arrange for galvanising) of a brand new bulkhead if you wanted. Seemed very nice a helpfully when I was talking to them about a series 1 bulkhead.

Another good source for an air tank would be the one from an air sprung range rover. Due to problems with the air suspension lots of people have converted P38's to coils, the origional air tanks are often still in place (inside the chassis below the drivers seat on a P38). These can be easily removed and even have mounts attached.

I Know the road you mean drove it a few years ago on a normal high tide and start to get seriously worried at one point, fortunately the tide was dropping so waited a while then drove through easily. The ford on the East Portlemouth road opposite Salcombe can get pretty deep as well but is only short, I had to tow a metro out several years ago that had tried to drive through before discovering it was 4 ft deep!. I sent the driver back into to tie the tow rope on then stalled towing it out because I was laughing so much. Car had totally filled with water and weighed a lot towing it till I opened the door, driver then had to run aound recovering all the bits that washed out.

The main "road" I can see would be hedge cutting or grass cutting when a significant amount of the time would be on public roads. In that case white diesel would be needed. A neighbour did hedge cutting for the council a while ago and used to drive the tractor home, it was fully road regestered I think as PLG. Used to upset the neighbour over the road no end as he always parked it in front of her house (she also regularly complained about the land rover or any older vehicle "lowering the tone"), she called the police several time who confirmed that since it had road tax there was nothing they could do. Not certain but I am sure I heard something a while back about phasing out red diesel.

I agree looks like just the seal but..... Before you start check the swivel bearings for play. Jack the wheel off the ground and try to rock it from top to bottom. If there is any disernable movement then the bearing in the swivel housing will either need to be reshimmed to tighten the preload on replaced, just follow the instructions on the links above. If there is to much play the seal can move laterally relative to the chrome ball and cause a leak.

They close them by technically making it illegal to use them. I say technically as AM and SSB sets have always been illegal in the UK (unless you have a HAM radio license, which is a whole different thing). but have been widely used. Also legally you should have a CB license to use a set, so few people have bothered its not enforced. You will be able to carry on using the old frequencies but won't be able to buy new equipment so as old sets die the frequencies will become redundant till every one is using the new ones, hence the long run in period.

I have the MTA 211 (from MTA!) and got excelent service from them with delivery just days after I ordered it which bearing in mind the weight of one of these is quite impressive. To be honest I am not a good enough welder to really get the best from it but a friend who does weld a lot on big expensive welders at work came down to use it to weld a lot of 6mm plate and was impressed, never managed to exceed the duty cycle and it kept going with no problem for several hours of almost constant welding (used up most of a 5kg roll of wire). Having tried this with a cheap welder in the past I spent more time waiting for it to cool down than actually welding, it particularly annoying when it cuts out in the middle of the weld, never happened yet with this one.

Very unlikely for the diff guard to fit as the P38 uses different diffs than a Disco (same as a late 110). The front axle guard is also unlikely to fit depending on the type as again it is a different type of diff and also the diff is on the other side of the vehicle. I expect with a bit of work they could be made to fit but it would probable be best to sell them and get something custom made. I am not aware of much stuff being available off the shelf (for sensible money!) for P38's as frankly not many are used off road in any serious way. The most common wheels for them are 16" alloys the 18" alloys are "posher", you can generally pick up secondhand 16" alloys pretty cheap with tyres, I doubt you will be able to increase tyre size much and still have clearance when it drops to access level on the suspension unless you start doing some serious body mods.

I have a set mounted on the back of the hard top (only place they fitted) which are run at 140psi of the on board air system. Look a bit strange but no way any one is not going to notice them, any one who has heard them will testify now loud they are. I have had to refit the standard horn for normal use after the MOT tester tested them last year and one of the other mechanics nearly amputated his finger he jumped so much!.

One of the problems with many car alarms is that although they may go off and make a lot of noise no one is likely to actually pay any attention. I can remember a TV programme a few years ago were they put a car in a busy road and then got two "actors" to start braking into it whilst monitoring the police line for calls. They triggered the alarm earlu on and no calls, it wasn't until they smashed the window and started smashing the steering lock off that the first call came in and thats with lots of people walking past. The best solution I have seen was a friend a few years ago who after his car had been broken into several time (they never actually managed to get past the imobiliser and steal it) modified his alarm. Rather than just the standard siren he wired in a smoke bomb as well (legal and not toxic !!), no one notices and alarm but a car with orange smoke pouring out does get noticed!. As far as I remember the smoke bomb was designed for testing chimneys etc, not sure where he got them but they were from the building trades somewhere. The testing of the alarm was certainly interesting.

Others have covered joining the engine and gearbox. Bear in mind the LT77 is several inches shorter than the R380 box this engine was normally paired with in a 90 so the engine will sit closer to the bulkhead. You will also need to make new engine mounts or a new exhaust downpipe. The 2.5 mounts will bolt to the side of the engine and should all line up when you sit the engine in but the turbo exhaust output is then directly above the engine mount so a tightly bent piece of exhaust would be required. If you have the entire disco to play with and are happy welding then cutting of the engine mounts from the disco chassis and fitting them to the 90 is probably easier. As far as I am aware all 300tdi engines are basically the same. The standard 90 exhaust wont fit due to the engine sitting further back but would only need a bit of shortening (if you use the disco engine mounts). If the engine still has an EGR valve and associated electronics throw them away, all the rest of the wiring should join up relatively painlessly. Fan shouldn't hit the PAS box if the LT77 gearbox is used but will sit a long way back from the engine so either a cowling is needed or electric fans. The Disco radiator and intercooler with a bit of modification to the mounting frame will sit in place of the existing radiator, new pipes will need to be made up to connect it all together. The PAS pump is needed on the engine for the drive belt or an idle would need to be made up and fitted in it place, if you don't already have PAS (not all early 90's did) the solution is to take all this from the discovery as well, it will just bolt in place. Axles should just bolt underneath with no problems apart from the duel line brakes which you have already identified, for normal use the easiest fix is to T the two lines of the caliper together and run them from the normal brake line already fitted to the 90, you lose the duel line redundancy but an old 90 doesn't have this any way.

I know what you mean about a lot of the kit being overkill BUT. I have lockers and a winch fitted mostly for greenlaning, the reason I have it is due to work commitments I generally go out on my own mid week. (I know there are risks but if it looks dodgy I just don't do it). My theory is that if I get to the point of needing lockers or using the winch I have made a mistake and its for getting out only and its time to turn around if possible. In many lanes round here turning round is not an option due to solid (generally granite) walls on either side and only being 6 ft wide. I have only needed the winch on a lane a few times and most of those has been to rescue other people, the other was when driving a lane I had driven many times and suddenly finding forestry tractors had dug huge (3ft+) ruts in it which I stupidly tried to drive over before I realised how deep they were.

Shrek, Give me a call if you go out and I will come along if I am home. Should be flying in this evening provided the gearbox stays in one piece!. Then home tomorrow for the weekend. Don't know much out round Bovey way know more in the Totnes, Cornworthy direction. Sean

It will but it not easy, the difference in force required compared to blue band is quite surprising. Shrek borrowed mine to adjust a few bits of pipe, the bends were very good but quite a lot of swearing was involved at times.

I fitted the North Off Road ones and found them a good fit with only minor fettling required, probable due to Land Rover tolerances. The North Off Road ones also came complete made up and with front panels and wing skins. The P&P ones I have seen are kit form and need to be notched and cut to lenght, Shrek (Milemarker Type S) has just fitted some and it needed a lot of work to get it all right. For simple fit the North Off Road ones, if you are after a specific fit for some reason then the kit form from P&P would allow more flexability and tailoring to your specific requirements. I suspect if you ask you will be able to get the North Off Road wings in kit form or the P&P ones pre made up but thats not the versions I have seen. As far as the quality of the parts / tubing I very much doubt you would get any problem from either company. If one is close enough for you to personally visit then thats probable the thing to do then take it from there.