TSD

Ian, your question is not so much 'how long is a piece of string?', but 'how long is that frayed and knotted ball of string?' Everything is a compromise, and every use case is different. The spec numbers don't tell the whole story. The CCA measure doesn't directly mean more cranking amps in real life. The current delivered is limited by the overall resistance (intentionally) of the battery, motor and wiring. If you give a Tdi starter motor unlimited current, it's perfectly capable of doing itself an injury trying to spin up the engine. (I had two motors burst their reduction gears trying to spin over my 2.8 before I twigged what was happening) For the auxiliary battery, you can work out what your typical total load is likely to be between charges. e.g. fridge draws 4A for 12h, but only 'runs' 50% of the time, so 4 * 12 * (50/100) = 24Ah etc. Add up those loads, and try to have aux battery capacity at least twice that value, and preferably more. Deep discharges shorten battery life dramatically. Rule of thumb is to try not to discharge more than ~25% for best value (most Ah life per £), but that's rarely doable, so aim for the best you can. In other words, as everyone has said, just fit the biggest battery you can! If you don't have a properly smart (and expensive) split charger, then I'd keep the start and aux batteries to be the same type, same size and same age. Relay type split chargers always mean joining two batteries with unequal state-of-charge, so one or other (probably both) won't be charged as it would if on it's own. Not a major issue, but it's likely to have some noticeable effect over time. Simple diode splitters don't join the batteries directly, but much the same problem exists - the charging voltage can only be 'perfect' for one battery at most. Having identical batteries in similar condition doesn't solve this, it just tries to keep the difference to a minimum.

Yep, I remember. I think Fridgefreezer is in on the game as well now. Just didn't want to encourage someone I don't know to spend a pile on potentially unsuitable batteries. At least if your's suddenly die, I get to steal them and learn something Best battery I've ever tested was the factory fit part in the D3. When I bought the car it was 8(?) years old and the battery was original, confirmed by date code stamp. So I replaced is as part of the 'new truck' prep, and stuck the old one on the test rig. Amazingly it still exceeded the label spec on Ah capacity! I don't measure cranking amps because it's a pita, but Ah capacity is easy on the bench, especially if you already consider the battery to be scrap and aren't worried about protecting it from deep discharge

About 10 or so years back, we used a lot of Optimas in some mobile equipment, mostly yellow tops. They were used and abused to destruction - rapid charged and then run usually until absolutely flat, on a daily basis. Failures were expected, and when the run time dropped too low, we just swapped them out. Over a few years, the rate of failures definitely increased noticeably, but I don't have access to the data any more. I have measured the Ah capacity of one brand new Optima (yellow top) and found it well below spec. No way to know if that's typical or not. One interesting thing I found is that while you can usually spot a failing battery because of slow cranking when cold, that didn't seem to be the case with red tops - in the Ibex the 2.8 would crank perfectly normally, but if then engine didn't fire straight away, the battery couldn't manage a second attempt. When I measured the 50Ah battery, it was well below 20Ah, but until I needed that second cranking cycle, I had no idea there was an issue. Maybe thats just because the CCA is so high to start with, maybe not. My current fave is the Varta Stop-Start Plus batteries. Ibex has two fitted, and 2Bex is slated to get the same when built. This is just an experiment on my part - Varta suggest they shouldn't be fitted to non stop-start vehicles (presumably they benefit from the smart charging schemes in modern cars), but I've found no downsides so far. (I have one in the D3 as well, but that does have the smart alternator control, even though not stop-start).

The last set I bought were EAC pistons which can be bought here

Measured a new Bearmach AMR1425 sensors today. Also did AMR3321 and ERR2081 since they were handy. Posted here so they don't get lost again. (First column is Temp in C, Second is Resistance in Ohms. Open in a text editor if you don't do spreadsheets.) AMR1425.csv AMR3321.csv ERR2081.csv

Hmm, I cut and pasted the above from my notes files, I should have read it first - I have a second file in my archive with numbers that much more closely match the aulro link that Blanco posted. As a penance, tomorrow I will put the kettle on and measure one....again, and this time I'll try not to lose the test data

Just for completeness, Yuasa has a decent guide on the meaning of the various battery specs and how they compare here. For CCA, that's as much detail as I've seen on the measurement procedure without paying the ransom required to obtain copies of the standards.

The two CCA figures refer to the Cold Cranking Amps figure measured following different standards - SAE being the American standard, and EN the European one. Which one you choose to pay attention to doesn't really matter, as long as you use the same one for each battery you compare. Likewise the Ah figures can be measured at the 20h rate or 100h rate - that is, draw 1/20th of the Ah capacity for 20h, or 1/100th of the capacity for 100h. Because batteries aren't 100% efficient, and get worse at higher currents, the capacity looks a little better measured at 100h rate. You might infer something about the quality of the battery from how close the two number are if you have them both for the same battery, but its never just that simple. For typical lead-acid starter batteries, once you've met the CCA and Ah specs you've chosen, I'd choose the heaviest one in my price range. Lead is expensive, and heavy, and more of it tends to make a better battery. Again, nothing is ever really that simple, but it's a good guide.

AMR1425 Coolant - Disco/RRC/Def 3.9 4.0 4.6 around 96-99 Also 300tdi 'GREEN' sensor Also Td5 RoW Spec 136ohms 'cold' 17 ohms 'hot' CI XTT109 Green 1/8x27NPTF

It sounds like your nanocom reads absolute pressure (so 1bar, 100kPa with no boost or engine not running), where most diesel boost gauges read pressure over ambient, so will read 0 with no boost. Boost gauges for petrol engines read manifold vacuum as well, which is useless on a diesel. I used one though, because even VDO ones were much cheaper than the diesel scaled ones. Mine reads 25psi at the top of the scale, and the TGV has smacked the end stop on overboost so many times that the needle now reads a few psi of vacuum permanently when the engine is off! It doesn't matter of course, I'm not looking for an exact reading, just a useful way to spot problems or a change in behaviour. Like Tanuki, I had a 'stuck mechanism' issue, but mine was stuck at max boost for a couple of miles, until it warmed up and I jumped on and off the throttle a few times. I'm no expert on td5, but I thought the boost level was ecu controlled, so the power can be cut without dropping fuelling?

Sent more info by PM, but an additional timing pin hole was drilled in the flywheel housing for early M&D installations, at least on manual gearbox versions. I presume because the dowel position in the crank is different on the Ford spec engines. (Just below crank centreline, on the opposite side to the starter motor)

Usually, with a D3, even if the fault is a flat tyre, someone will tell you the brake pedal switch is the cause of the problem. But in this case it might actually be true... the engine management may not allow enough diesel to generate much more than tickover power if it thinks you might be braking. Also be aware if you've had the sunroof drains breaking due to rot, rather than just being blocked, on the passenger side the tube often breaks in just the right place to empty the rainwater into the central junction box, where a world of pain awaits if you don't spot it in time.

Out of curiosity, injectors upstream or downstream of the throttle plate? I presume upstream but I can't tell from a brief look at the website. I did TPI on a 3.1L Essex a *very* long time ago. It works well, the engine made probably a little more power, but the driveability was transformed compared to running on carbs. With EDIS6 it was even better again. I used the Chevy TBI as at the time it was the only way to find parts large enough to feed a hungry V6 from only 2 injectors. (Running on carbs it was basically undriveable off-road, as some members of this forum will remember!) PSA used the Bosch TBI on midrange 1.4 and 1.6 engines for a few years. These would have been engines making making a little less than 100hp, and with smaller capacity but higher revs than a typical series, I always thought that could be a very simple setup. Possibly only need mods to the intake manifold to mount the TBI where the carb was. They are also wide and squat, designed to be used downdraught. The injectors were an oddity though in the ones I've seen, much more like the chevy shape and style (possibly even the same), rather than the typical mpi injector most people are used to.

Individual injection throttle bodies seems like would make it drive like a PoS due to loss of fine control at tip-in (where the throttle is just opening). Would be a shame to destroy the engines best characteristic for no reason. There was a guy in N. Hampshire (*) who made injector mount 'spacers' to fit between the standard manifold and head on his 2.25. Seemed to work pretty well, and it meant that playing with injector-valve positioning was easy, just machine new mounts and swap them in. Could even use the standard carb as a throttle body to get things going. I always liked the Bosch dual-plate throttle that VW used around the era of 16V GTIs. Like a staged carb, but one very small plate opening first and a second, larger than usual plate for wide throttle openings. Better control at tip-in, and less restriction at WOT than was sensibly possible with carbs. (*) - this was more than 10 years ago, before I went to the dark and oily side and stopped messing with efi.

If you haven't already, have a read of this thread. I tried a 20W PTC heater inserted in the windscreen vent tube. It did actually work over a tiny area, but you need a lot of airflow to demist a decent amount of screen, 170W hairdryer may not be enough for a decent effect. Typical automotive PTC heaters user for quick demist are over 1000W. It will certainly work to some extent, the question is only if it works well enough to make it worth the time and effort. I'm building another car from the ground up, and I'm not putting a PTC in the (completely custom) heater box.

What's the penalty for this style crime then?

Pretty sure I didn't remove the driveshaft, though it isn't that hard anyway. You'll need a pickle fork type balljoint splitter, and an angle grinder to adjust it to size. One of mine was too large to get in there, and the other burst as the joint is wider than the typical LR one.

Had a rummage this morning and it looks like I chucked the old arms Sorry to raise false hope. It was probably 4-5 years back that I changed them. I can't remember which bushes were in the arms I bought, but probably Lemforder. Don't think I would have bought genuine, and I almost certainly would have chosen Lemforder over Meyle. The bushes had already been changed once by LR dealer under warranty at under 60k, the current ones have done over 60k with no sign of them knocking yet (unlike the ARB bushes at the moment!) Try giving AF a ring and asking them what mandrels they use - as I remember at one time they were pressing a lot of bushes (though into new bare arms, so not needing to remove first) with a largish floorstanding press. Bigger than my puny 10T, but not huge.

The arms for the Armoured D3 are the same as the RRSport arms IIRC. I was lazy and bought a set of arms from Advanced Factors. Their press is (or was) in the hallway next to the coffee machine, if Steve isn't looking you might be able to press the bushes there and then @reb78 I might still have the old arms in the shed - if you're passing the office sometime and want them, I could have a look. Also, make sure you know where you're going for an alignment job before you get started... Turned out the D3 wouldn't fit under the roof of my local place, and I ended up driving to the other side of Salisbury on a very icy day, with the full complement of warning lights and Bong!s, and the TC going nuts on every roundabout

You might get some interest from the Vintage & Military Amateur Radio Society - I've had some great help from them with other radio projects. They might be able to dig up some documentation for you. Alternatively the emergency comms group RAYNET might be interested in it as a general comms trailer project. But I suspect most of the restoration projects of this type, like Vampire 101s, comes from people who had good memories of working on or with them at some point in their former lives. These units werent't widely deployed, and seemingly weren't particularly well liked. To be honest, I had a great time messing about with them as a young engineer for a few sunny months, and even I wouldn't buy one (It was my introduction to Land Rovers too, maybe that's why I remember it fondly!) The Skanti HF radios have come up on ebay a few times over the years (as have the trailers). The HF Modems probably went into the crusher with the crypto. The data terminals probably ended up in a skip, though similar ones are sometimes on ebay at silly prices - I don't recall precisely which types were fitted. The Racal(?) antenna masts probably sold to radio amateurs, but I don't think they were specials for that job.

The GKN hubs replace the axle drive flange, and internally they have a preloaded clutch pack that slips if the torque exceeds a preset value. They were used to protect the CV joints from torque spikes when spinning up big tyres. I don't think they were ever very plentiful, though a few people on this forum used them. I wasn't particularly trying to sell them (despite posting in the wrong board section - too many windows open) I was wondering if anyone still used them or has more info, hopefully someone has some setup instructions for instance?

ISTR that Fridgefreezer plumbed his 109 entirely in SS flexi without any problems at all. My biggest objection would be that SS flexi is heavy and floppy, so it needs a lot of fixing down. It can quickly rub through just about anything it comes into contact with if there's any relative motion. Years ago I had a quick 'bodge' repair done on a Citroen with the high pressure hydraulic suspension using a short SS flexi. It contained the pressure ok, but caused a failure in another pipe that no-one noticed was touching at one point. I've got the same flaring tool as MR-HIPPO. It made it easy to replace all the rear brake pipes on my D3 in situ - which is the only way for a car with that many hoses pipes and wires running around

Rummaging in the back of the shed at the weekend I found a pair of these that I bought s/hand but barely used many years ago. The original owner put them on an overland 130 but found they slipped too much and took them off again. Very possibly they were never adjusted out of the box. I know they are rare, but does anyone still use them? I haven't seen any in use since Jules backflipped his 90! EDIT : MODS Sorry, this wasn't aimed at the for sale, it was supposed to go into International - please move!

This link adds some more detail - https://www.radiomuseum.co.uk/hdrs.html

NCRS = National Command Radio System. Also known as HDRS - Home Defence Radio System. Developed in the 80s, it was a text based radio comms network to keep the country regional government going if the bomb dropped. It had 250W Skanti HF transceivers, adaptive HF radio modems, crypto, and no room to swing the proverbial cat with two squaddies and all the kit inside. Leave it parked in the rain with the brakes on and you'll need to drag it violently round the carpark with a 101 until they release Not much fun to tow behind a 2.5 NA 90. Allegedly once gave rise to the radio message "I've turned the national command rover over, over"