Quagmire

That's where boy racers always are when you are in a 3.5 Defender

If it helps on my brand spanking new prop the arrows were one on the yoke, and one by the grease nipple on the shaft. Even on the new shaft they were tricky to pick out right away...

I find that my 90 draws much more exhaust in through the back than my series 2 does- both are ragtops. The only difference is that the series 2 exhaust exits to the side behind the rear drivers side wheel, whilst the 90 exits at a 45degree angle relative to the crossmember, so that the tip is at the corner of the vehicle. I think i remember seeing different exhaust configurations in the Bearmach catalogue- one seemed to direct out to the side "series style" not sure whether that would be a straight swap though (hangers etc in different places?)... ...page 27 of 38 in the Bearmach Defender catalogue.

I have never tried this but have heard (and this was not v8 specific advice) you can keep valves from dropping by removing plugs, feeding string into the pot when at BTDC and then winding it by hand up to TDC. The string will get compressed and hold the valves in place while you do the seals... I guess you then rock the engine back a little to release the string and then pull it out. Job done. I can see how this would work on a straight 4 but not sure how the angle of the cylinders in the 8 will affect the string piling up.

Hear Hear! People tend to forget that the MOT is the minimum safety standard, we should all be aiming to not only pass the MOT, but do so with flying colours. I take pride in the fact that my vehicle is 25 years old and yet still carries me to work and back 70 miles each day with no issues. That isnt through luck, but by being (and i usually hate this management BS word ) proactive with my maintenance. Fix something before it breaks, not after where possible. Not only is it safer, but it can save you money too. Why ruin your discs, when you can change the pads earlier and avoid the expense?? Allowing something critical like brakes to get to such a state knowingly and still not rectify them is suicidal, and the real problem is that when the idiots driving vehicles like this do have an accident then i bet they wont be the one that pays the price. Some innocent bystander will be the one that gets injured/killed. Pat on the back for writing in. B)

I know this is the wrong vehicle i am talking about, but the engines involved are the same. I have an early 90 that had a 2.25 (or 2.3 as they called it) from the factory. I swapped to a 3.5 in October/November last year and have never looked back! Much more relaxing to drive, never need to change gears- and the same fuel economy as before because i dont have to spank the thing to get it up to speed like i did with the 4-cylinder. The v8 is lighter too And it sounds nicer (although i do still love the kind of raspy 2.25 sound) And my heater works better too on cold wet days! I do admit though, i would like to see someone MS a 2.25 just to see what the result was- wasn't someone going to do this with a VW throttle body or something?

I'm not sure whether the R380 is the same as the LT77 in this respect, but for an LT77 box to be used in a Defender and have the levers in the correct position it must be of the "longstick" variety. The shifter turret is further forward. I dont think you can easily swap the shift mechanism over to change a Disco box to Defender, so it may be easier to source another box. Someone else might be able to jump in with a more concrete answer.

Solidworks! Muchos cash though if you pay for it. I used it at Uni

I have just ordered a new prop for my 90 as the splines were too far gone. To test this you need to chock the wheels, release the handbrake (so the transmission is slack and free to move a bit) and see if you get any play on the shaft between each end. I held one end and twisted the other back and forth, you could feel the slop in the splines. If you think its the UJ's then just rock them about instead/as well as and see if you have anything there too. I had a massive vibration on my series 2- that was the UJ's, and not the splines thankfully. Easy enough fix and cheap too That would only vibrate under brisk acceleration but could be avoided if you then lifted off and accelerated more gently.

Dunno about the 4.0 with all the electrickery controlling it- but I have a 3.5 in my 90 and it warms up pretty quick. I would say normal running temp in 3 miles if i leave for work at 06:00 with the weather like it has been. I would assume (and you know what they say about that) that the 4.0 would warm up a little quicker, being slightly larger and probably running a tad leaner than my good old fossil fuel burning SU's...

I got stuck in Bentalls carpark Kingston in my series 2- has just fitted my new canvas roof! The clatter bar *just* touched the roof and to back out would have required 20+ vehicles nehind to back up too... Unfortunately for me my engineering brain kicked in and said "surely there must be some margin in this" i.e that the bar was lower than the actual ceiling. I was wrong and ended up scraping the roof on the first ramp as we climbed. Luckily the car park decks were high enough so i simply pulled over and whipped the canvas off. On the way out the hoops got a little scrape. The other good one was when i went to my local tip to get rid of some soil i had removed from a garden- went in fine under the clatter bar. On the way out you guessed it "BANG!!!" as i had unloaded and the landy was riding a little higher. Schoolboy error

Thanks

Hi, As you may have read in the Defender forum my LT77 is in the throes of dying at the mo- so whilst i'm ordering bits for that i thought i'd get some other stuff so my driveline is completely fresh and clunk free. I have a B-Reg 90- VIN SALLDVAH7AA****** Being AA year Microcat gives me two options of rear prop- FRC8392 and FRC7732. FRC8392 is listed as being for a disc braked rear axle, FRC7732 is listed as drum brakes. I currently have drums, but have a Rangie axle waiting to go on- so which should i go for? FRC7732 is £10 more for some reason. Thanks

Am going to fit the spare box (take thursday and friday off) after changing the seal on it to make sure i don't just end up with another leaky thing! Can then think about reconning mine myself, or save for a nice Ashcroft one.

Good point- and the clutch, fork, rear crank seal should be good- the conversion from 2.25 to 3.5 was only 9 months ago and the engine was rebuilt before it went in. I am now back running around in my series2 again- had forgotten what fun it can be

Seems that the vibration may have been a coincidental failure of the front bearing on my mainbox. I have been getting a leak for a couple of weeks from the front of the box, exiting through the hole for the wading plug. I had planned to either: a) rebuild the spare LT77 i have in the garage with a rebuild kit from Ashcrofts B) save my pennies and get an exchange unit from Ashcrofts. c) if i could find the time to drop the gearbox potentially for nothing i was going to change the bearing and the seal. However time has run out it seems and this morning after momentarily reaching 70 on the M25 the vibration appeared and stayed at all speeds. When i pulled up at work and looked underneath i now have a nice stream of red ATF coming from the bellhousing drain. Not just the odd drip i was getting before. So having not saved nearly enough for a recon unit, what do the panel think are my best options? Do i refurb the box i have spare, or try changing the bearing and seal on the box installed right now? Thanks

Well tests confirm that swapping the wheels front to back has reduced the issue- it now seems i can cruise at 70mph until i hit a bump and then the vibration occurs. It is quite controllable with a firm grip of the wheel and subsides soon enough. Still, i had no vibration at all before the bearing adjustment so want to get it sorted. Confused as to how tightening up the wheel bearing may have caused this?

Guys, So it all started with a slight dragging of my front brakes- but only when steering slightly to the left. The high pitched squeal was driving me nuts on the motorway. Nothing was getting hot, and this coupled with the fact that turning right made it go away led me to think perhaps the wheel bearings were a bit loose. I (perhaps incorrectly) surmised that the bearings being slack would allow the disc to move slightly in relation to the caliper and cause the dragging. So last night i set to correcting this- checked the drivers side first and all appeared fine so left it alone. The passenger side had quite a bit of play, and so i tightened this one up- just until it began to bind and then backed it off a smidgen... Outer bearing was a nice Timken one with no pitting or signs of wear. All good. Drove from my parents back to mine no problem - Travelling at 60... (I like to save fuel ) This morning on the way to work i got a vibration through the steering, but only when i hit 65mph plus (i was late B)) . Further testing shows that it happens everytime i reach this speed or above and gets progresssively worse the faster i go. I have checked for lost wheel weights and all seem there, i have also swapped the passenger side tires over and am about to give that a spin and see if anything changes. I also rechecked for play to see if anything had come loose again. No play in the wheel. Assuming swapping the tyres doesn't fix this, my questions are: -What have i done?????!!?? kidding, real questions below: -Could the loose bearing have been masking a slight vibration before that is now only evident as the wheel can't move about? -Could overtightening the bearing have caused this? I checked after the 33 mile run to work and nothing was warm/hot. -Whats the best method to check the condition of my steering damper (if that may be at fault) -Could it be anything else? Thanks Jamie

Thats when it gets even more fun- if they are deep enough and there is enough water about they give you two channels to aquaplane along for miles!

So i drive from Farnham everyday up to Stockley Park near Heathrow in my 90. This involves heading up the M3, joining the M25 and heading clockwise to 15. Something that has been bothering me though is how bad some of the ruts are that are left by HGV's, i can be quite happily joining a lane when the ruts take hold and the 90 wiggles all over the shop. Can be quite disturbing at 60mph+. They seem especially bad where on the M3 just before the M25 slip, and on the 25 just after. So the question is- how much do they affect your vehicle? To add some info mine is a 1984 ragtop 90, with a 3.5- so not particularly heavy (if weight would even have an effect) and i would consider all my suspension/steering/tires to be in good nick.

V8 cylinders are numbered even on one bank and odd on the other. 1 is by the dizzy, 2 the driver side front, 3 is then the second cylinder back on pass side and so on. Rear 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 Front Well if you've got problems with opposing cylinders from each bank it would seem likely to be the inlet manifold- it attaches to both sides. If you had a head gasket/head/liner issue you would only see cylinders from one side go at a time, and they would likely be next to each other. Either that or you have two head gaskets gone and you have just had the bad luck equivalent of winning the lottery. I mean, what are the chances?? I guess you could check compression on those cylinders in reference to the other "normal" ones as inlet manifold would not affect it like head failure would? I may be wrong on this though... Good luck with it.

With the lucas dizzy you can dislodge the springs on the bobweights if you pull the rotor arm up too hard, i've never been unlucky enough for this to happen so have no idea whats involved in taking the dizzy apart to sort it out. Hopefully someone will be along soon to enlighten us, as i am sure its fairly common. If you get no luck here then try looking here for v8 (mostly Rover) related stuff - V8 forum There are a few LR4x4ers on there i think...

I just sent a copy of my receipt (which consisted of a word document printed by the preivous owner) off to DVLA with V5 and they updated it no problems. The receipt was pretty basic, only a single sentence really but it did contain the engine number, and that it was a 3528cc rover v8. Had the guys contact details on it too. V5 was returned about 2 weeks later.

If its def only one cylinder then i would go with tappet or leaking exhaust fanimold. Can't hurt to doublecheck timing though just to be safe, if it is pinking you wanna put a stop to that ASAP.

Well so far with the closed loop i have got to here, the instructions are next to useless so as Bowie said, you have to go on the wiring diagram alone: (For anyone interested in pointers as to colours, I was using the kit from Tinley ) Lambda bung welded into Y-piece, and lambda fitted. The lambda wires were extended into the battery box by soldering on some nice lengths of the appropriate colour. LPG controller loom slightly rearranged so that the lambda signal connection (green) and box earth (black) remained in the battery box, rest of wiring routed forward to engine bay. Controller box to stay in battery box. Blue and red wires connected to LPG stop solenoid as stipulated in wiring diagram Purple and white wires from LPG control box left unconnected (no TPS or injection emulation stuff) The wiring for the stepper valve comes with a nice connector on the end already, so nothing to do there- just route to the correct location. I then connected the lambda heater wiring up using a relay- i wasnt sure how much current it might draw and when a relay is only £2 from Maplin whats the point in putting strain on any wiring? Using a single pole, normally open 12V 40A relay I connected an ignition switched live to the trigger side and then connected the lambda heater wiring to the switched side, with a 5A fuse inline. This means that the lambda probe is heated (and therefore should resist fouling) whenever the engine is running, and not just when running on LPG. The heater wires are not polarity conscious and so just connect one side to power (from relay) and one to ground. From Googling around, and also with thanks to Fridge Freezer I found that the wiring on my VW/Audi probe was a failry common setup and was like this: White: Heater White: Heater Black: Signal out Grey: Signal ground So the green from the box connected to the black of the probe, and the grey was connected to a good earth (direct to battery terminal). I have not yet put the valve in, but have plugged it in and could see it operating as the system tries to adjust the mixture. I seem to be getting rich on idle, flicking to lean every so often so it must be pretty close already. Couldn't really rev it up and see what i got as i didnt want to pee the neighbours off. Will see what happens tomorrow when i get the valve in, perhaps i will try to get some pictures too when i have tidied the wiring B)