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Facom or Stahlwille if you want something that will last.

I recently towed a boy-racer skoda belonging to a neighbour. The car was in a yard, but was blocked from entering the street by a pile of snow deposited across the gate by the snow plow clearing the street. The car was painted some hideous color and had a plastic aftermarket front fitted that gave it a clearance of maybe 2 inches and blocked access to any towing point on the actual car. However the car had a trailer hitch. So I backed the 90" through the pile of snow into the yard, connected boy-racer and 90" rear-to-rear with a strap and pulled the boy-racer backwards in a circle and out through the gate rear end first.

Not all old Defenders are expensive. I've seen the typical fleet owned 10 years old 130" cchcpu and the like go on sale for very little money, and upon close inspection I've found that it deserved the price tag, because it had seen little maintenance apart from what was absolutely necessary to pass the MOT and keep it running. Rusted out footwells, rusted out chassis, engine in a poor state, transmission and steering worn out etc. all due to careless use & driving by company employees and lack of maintenance. At the same time there are lots of 20 year old 90" and 110" on sale for 3-5 times as much money and deservedly so, because they have been owned and used by people who cared for them. They have had regular oil changes, their footwells and chassis have been cleaned out and allowed to dry after muddy work, they have had parts changed or serviced as that started to wear etc.

Are you looking into 2. hand vehicles or new ones? Is cost of transportation to your location a big issue that will affect vehicle choice? If you are looking for 2. hand vehicles consider the older members of the Hagglunds family like the BV202, they are becoming available as military surplus for reasonable money. Also look into the Volvo C303 family, for maximum carrying capacity consider the the three axle version.

I ran a 2,5 n/a for two years a couple years ago. Mine was old & worn but not terminally so. I found it fine for what it is designed for, towing trailers over rough and/or muddy terrain in low range, driving around on farmland and in forests, towing heavy trailers on the road at a slow pace, and general run-about on rural and city roads. It was also fine for Land Rover club events, which over here is mostly low-range driving in knee deep mud and the occasional sand-pit or steep gradient. However for driving long distances at high speed on the road you should consider getting a Discovery or maybe even an Audi or something like that. But you asked about the 2,5 n/a so I assume this sort of driving is not what you intend to use the LR for most of the time. That being said I now drive a 2,5 TD which is an improvement over the 2,5 n/a. Below 1500 rpm it feels just the same as the 2,5 n/a, the same level of torque from low down. However between 1500 and 2500 rpm there is quite a bit extra power available. This makes it possible to keep up with traffic on 80 km/h roads while towing a moderate trailer, and it can be an advantage in deep mud.

I've seen this on my own engines, once it was a cracked injector leaking diesel the other it was a problem with the sealing washers between injector and head.

In Lapland you can expect parking lots to be outfitted with electric outlets for block heaters. You will indeed want to change the fluids for some that are suitable for the expected temperatures. For winter tyres I have had good experiences with Nokian Hakkapeliitta and Michelin 4x4 Alpin both in 16" fitted to a 90" Also don't drive without bringing proper extra clothes, cold weather sleeping bags, etc. for everyone in the car to stay in the car for a night if need be. Those temperatures are lethal if not paid proper respect.

235/85R16 is roughly the same diameter as 7.5x16, so in a pinch you can use some of that size for replacements , and that's a very common size as well. So I should think your choice of tire dimension is just about perfect with regard to replacement availability around the world.

Do a cackshifter tells you. The indicated resistance should indeed be approx 1 ohm when measured as he describe. My 2,5 TD had trouble starting recently. Turned out 2 of the 4 glowplugs were dead. With new ones fitted it starts perfectly even in tonights freezing weather. The failed glowplugs were only approx. 3 years old, and no they did not come in a blue box.

It does indeed sound like the clutch is the culprit. Try some extra clutch fluid - it can be hard to see and gauge the fluid level in the reservoir.

Looks like you had tons of fun, I wish I could have participated. It's been quite a while since I have dipped the 90" TD in any serious mud, we have been preoccupied with building, stacking and transporting the rocket HEAT-1X.

Michelin XZL is available in 7,5x16. I used to run these for offroading myself, they are good in the mud. http://www.google.dk/search?q=michelin+xzl They are often available in this size as NewTakeOff from LR dealers and the usual parts places, since they seems to be factory fitted to eg, the Defender 130" and become surplus to requirements when the customer wants something else. Bought this way they will most likely be mounted on new Wolf rims. which can be sold on if you want to keep your present rims.

I used to drive a rather knackered old 90" with a 2,5 n/a. It ran around or even a bit over 65 mph on level roads when properly warmed up. The slightest incline or headwind and the speed dropped.

My 90" LHD has a worn out 6-bolt PAS steering box. Will a 4-bolt or a 3-bolt be a strait fit? The issue is that my 90" is a LHD, and the reconditioned 6-bolt PAS boxes I can find are all RHD, while I can get LHD 4 and 3 bolt boxes. What if any differences are there between the 3/4/6 bolt PAS steering boxes with regard to hose&pipe threads, location of the hose connections etc.? The parts catalogue offers no information on this issue. Are there any differences in the mechanical mountings, brackets, thread size etc.? The parts catalogue makes me believe there isn't any. Can anyone who has had a chance to compare the units confirm or deny this?

There are plenty of cabins for hire. Often owned by private landovners. Price&quality vary wildly. Buy the roadmap "Cappelens Kart" covering your area at the first petrol station, it is very accurate with regards to cabins for hire, small mountain and toll roads - "bomveg". It has become trendy for private landovners and and local governments to turn scenic gravel roads in the countryside into toll roads. Keep plenty of money at hand to pay for these. They are all over the place. On the big roads you have to pay as well, tunnels, bridges or regular highways are often toll roads. In general the diesel is expensive and you spend as much on tollroads, tunnels and bridges as you do on diesel. Food is even more expensive. The only reason people accept the prices is that the fjords are the most beautiful place on the planet with the mountains not far behind. Drive Aurlandsvegen and road 306, do visit Undredal and Rjukan, make sure you spend a great many days in the fjord area between Hardanger and Bergen. You will find the norwegian Land Rover Club web forum of use: http://www.lrforum.com/forum/

The part number is 346849, it's on page N140 in the parts catalogue.

Exactly

If you don't mind spending money I can recommend the Stahlville Manoskop series of torque wrenches. http://www.stahlwille-online.de/index.php?amac=03030002000e&sid=e8a4ab8ca42d9f3efe0edc2aad90a8f0&lid=2&mid=2&shid=&scmd=rlist&pcid=4893 They have the advantage that you do not have to reset after use. You can leave them set at whatever torque you want forever without causing any damage. This is because the spring is not under tension while the wrench is not used. Only when you turn a nut using the wrench is the spring under tension. In this thread are pictures of the mechanism http://www.garagejournal.com/forum/showthread.php?t=36219 They come in a great number of models. Fixed or removable ratchet, models that takes rectangular inserts, so you can have a ring or fork at the end instead of a ratchet, many different torque intervals etc. In general the quality is second to none. Over here it common to walk into a mechanics shop and see they have brought all their handtools from one manufactor, with one exception their Stahlville torque wrenches.

Using Firefox 3.6.8 on OpenSuse 11.3 the drop downs for gearbox etc. are empty.

I've used Fabseal too. Has kept the canvas waterproof for two years now.

I've got two 4 1/2" green bosch grinders that I inherited quite some years ago, have no good idea of their actual age, but they keep on trucking. With regard to Bosch, keep in mind their green items are ment for DIY while the blue items are ment for daily use. The prices are a bit different too. Within the blue range there are both heavy duty and light duty items, again at rather different price points.

I use two methods for properly stuck gasket material. One is a set of gasket removal scrapers made by Facom. They are made from metal, looks a bit like a woodworking chisel but are thinner, rather bendy and are ground in a different way. I've removed lots of gaskets swiftly and with no damage to the gasketting surface - just like it said on the box. Method two, for really nasty stuff, is a rotating plastic "wire wheel" for an electric drill. They are made by 3M for the purpose of removing gaskets. The material looks like a sponge with big holes, but is stiff to the touch. Don't use any random old plastic "wire wheel", make sure you get one made for the job.

We have one on our 1988 90" heater intake. It has lowered the noise and increased the temperature quite a lot. This is the simple cheap approx. £10 model from Paddocks.

Soaking them the night before will often do the trick, but be prepared to use an angle grinder or hacksaw on the bolts.