oneandtwo

Had this before - the connections in the headlamp switch are not soldered but rivetted from memory. When the switch was flicked to on the moving part of the switch makes contact with a brass contact which is rivetted through the PCB. With age it lifts the contact slightly breaking the connection. The flash part of the system is on a different circuit so not affected by the on/off switch hence that side of it still works okay. I soldered the contact to the pcb as a temporory repair and still works now as far as I'm aware.

You need to look carefully at the other 90 rot spots. The underside of the front dumbirons above the jacking points (nearly always rotted out even on otherwise good chassis in my experience), the downward curves of the chassis , the top of the chassis around the Aframe crossmember. I think you will find you have either a lot of welding to do or a new chassis to buy.

Can anyone tell me the correct union for R380 clutch hose to slave - Bought a replacement clutch slave cylinder for my R380 box a while ago. Came to fit it to box with new hose and not sure about the union - the hose has no flare to the end - just a flat surface wheras the cylinder has a flared union. I thought I'd got the wrong slave cylinder so ordered a Lucas TRW one for R380 and still the same problem. Have I got the wrong clutch hose fitted? THanks

If you are fitting an r380 then the gearstick is going to be too far back as you've fitted the 300tdi in the 200tdi position. The r380 crossmember fits about 6" further back than the lt77 crossmember and will not fit and work with the engine in your current position.

I have been away for a while. Last few ones I have done have been converting good disco boxes to defender spec using worn out / water damaged defender boxes as spares donors. To do this swap everyone will tell you the box needs to be stripped down totally to swap FTC4588 involving hunreds of pounds of labour. It can however be done in about 30 mins from start to finish. Drain the box, remove the bellhousing (six bolts), and top shifter mechanism. Remove the bolts holding the alloy rear housing and cast iron front housing to the mid plate and remove both housings. You are now left with all the gears and shifter forks held in one large cluster around the centre plate. To remove the shifter rail locate the shift pins and measure the depth of protrusion through the shift rail using a vernier. Invert the gear clusters, position the shiftrail so that the shifter pins can be drifted out individually - they are an interference fit and the shift rail will need to be supported, easier with a helper to position the cluster while you drift the pins out; I support the rail around the pin using an old socket. Once the pins have been remove the old shift rail can be pushed through the forks and the new defender one fitted, making sure the detent doesnt fall out. Refit the shifter pins to the correct protrusion measured earlier. Reassemble box fitting defender shift quadrant instead of disco one and defender shifter mechanism. I have seen disco boxes with the end of an LT77 shift rod with quadrant welded to the disco shift in situ and using the lt77 shift mech.

I have done this a couple of times. A disco box can be swapped to a defender spec box in under half an hour with minimal dismantling and a but of ingenuity Shifter housing removed, the only difference between the two boxes is the length of the main shifter rail and the shifter yolk on the end of it. I am in a rush today but if I get time later I will write up how to do the swap. Yes you can use bits of a LT77 combined with an new shifter rail to convert a disco box to defender.

My experience of Simmonites is they are 1/3 more expensive than anywhere else regardless of what you buy! Although unfortunatly they make the headliings themselves so you cant get them from elsewhere

Remove your pas pulley and rough it up with some sandpaper, when I had 200tdis many years ago this would often happen going through a sharp left hand turn which always had a puddle on it. When I got my first 300tdi 90 it did exactly the same thing, the pulley is worn perfectly smooth and the belt can't grip. I used to put them in my bead blasting cabinet and give them a once over and always cured them problem

Yes it is a rare and suaght after short bellhousing R380. Ignoire everything I said about 300tdi being easier to fit - If i was in your position I would be looking for a proper Defender 200TDi engine and get everything with it. It will save lots of time and messing about, welding, cutting and extending pipework/exhausts etc. I have sold two this last year on ebay for £800 each with everything you need. With a proper defender 200TDi and short R380 you will have a very good setup.

Amazingly the choke symbol remained until 1996 when later 300tdis got a glow plug symbol

OE AL Mg5 rods, got them ages ago for alloy with magnesium content. take really well to landrover alloy, used with Lorch/esab acdc machine

As you have a 1994 special order petrol with R380, you may have a much easier job than you think to fit a 300TDI (and also makes it very difficult to fit a 200TDi!) What does your gearbox tunnel look like, is it alloy or fibreglass? If it is fibreglass your engine/gearbox is already in the right position for the 300TDi meaning you don't have to mess around with special conversion parts, you just need a standard exhaust and intercooler pipework, and you already have a gearbox designed to work with the 300. UK shipping should be no more than £100 for a pallet to a UK port

Ive had an old 90 smooth roof down the side of my workshop for ages, (removed it to fit a truckcab) I was going to chuck it as it had a few holes drilled in it for aerial mounting and wires but thought I'd get my TIG out and repair it as i haven't used it for ages. Might be of use to other people with the same problem to show it can be repaired neatly and properly instead of rivetting a patch on top as is often seen. Sorry lack of photos I forgot to take a before shot! Hole enlarged to just come in contact with the underside reinforcing rib - this will help support the patch while tacking it up. Luckily the two holes are right on the rib which will make it a whole lot easier to weld as the reinforcing will stop a lot of the heat distortion. Next step to cut a piece of alloy the same thickness to be an exact fit as the material is so thin; I took it from an old scrap wingtop. Photo shows another peice of wingtop used as a practice piece to set up the welder Tack in place then seam weld up. Sorry I got carried away and sanded it back before I had taken a photo. Photo below shows finished repair ready for the slightest skim of filler, I hate using it but unavoidable on something so thin. I have used panel beating hammer and dolly to just ease down slight distortion to the left of the repair. Roof now ready for skim, prime and repaint. Took 30 mins to get to this stage.

Drill the rivets out, you will also need a very thin blade as the steel ribs are bonded to the alloy frame although with age and use it often comes unstuck anyway.

It wouldn't be converted to a station wagon, just to a county spec hardtop, ie swap the roof for one with sunroof and alpines, refit the carpets, body colour wheel arches and alloys. I might just sell it as is and sell the posh bits separately.

I currently have 2x 300tdi 90s, and am going to sell one in the near future; what spec sells best? It is currently a proper basic 300tdi 90 hardtop on wolf rims, although I do have an entire county hardtop interior, roof, alloys, glass etc which could go in it or is it best to leave it as is and sell the county stuff separately? I have fitted all new front and back doors to it, a galvanised bulkhead, the chassis is like new, "before and aftered" from new and never patched, crossmember is as new, 110k, every panel is straight with no rot or chequer plate anywhere. would £4500 be reasonable asking price? (not an advert - I still need it for a few months!)

Buy the cheapest one, they are all basically the same anyway and rot in the same way if not waxoyled internally If you are hanging a spare wheel on the rear door chop off your old triangulation braces and weld them onto the new door.

The seat box change was actually at the lt85 point, the 300tdi / td5 just carried on using the lt85 tunnel/seat box, hence the td5 bulkhead being a straight fit to a factory v8. The late td5 bulkheads (the ones that were £160 new) do not have the removable tunnel diaphragm panel, not a problem for v8 / 300tdi / td5 but for fitting to older vehicles need the tunnel cut away to allow the lt77 panel to fit.

You can get complete refurb kits on eBay, search defender truck cab glass. My truckcab rattled from almost new

I want to remove a couple of defender sunroofs, one is the current type with rotating knob, the other is the 200tdi type pop up one. Any pointers before I do it? How does the inner velvet finishing piece come off? I am going to refit them into different undamaged roofs - do I need new seals for them? At the moment neither of them leak.

As regards the 110 conversion - I did this with my 110 V8 Hicap. Defender LT77 bolts straight to the chassis using LT77 mounts, It moves the gearsticb back by about an inch compared to the LT85 - I had to cut the fibreglass tunnel cover and move the shifter aperture back by about an inch from memory. No problems with the bulkhead etc. The V8 mounts are different from the 200 TDI and will need changing on the chassis. Personally I would go the 300TDI/R380 route. You will need the R380 gearbox crossmember - Disco one will bolt to chassis with very slight modification to the crossmember. 300TDI engine mounts cut off donor vehicle and weld to chassis, along with mid exhaust mount. You have the distinct advantage of having the LT85 seatbox/tunnel/bulkhead/floorpanels which are all but identical to the 300TDI ones so no messing around there cutting and trying to obtain all these parts which can often be more expensive than you will pay for a 300tdi engine.

Disco LT77 has a much longer bellhousing and input shaft than Defender LT77, gearstick is in totally the wrong place. Disco R380 is the same as Defedner R380 lengthwise, only difference is the shifter housing and shiftrod/yoke - You can quite easily and cheaply convert a disco R380 to defender gearstick position, despite what others say, by replacing the shift rod and using a few bits out of a dead defender LT77.

another answer - mildly tuned 300TDI, and thats from someone who has had both!

I bought a 300tdi britpart one last year and it is all brass, not a bit of plastic anywhere on it.

Thanks. It looks like it is amr3124 "harness hrw 94 on" only £19 too.