Raumer

I play with Hillman imps quite a bit and we have lots of issues with radiators and mounting them at the wrong end! One trick that has been done is to run with 2 radiators. Either one auxillary rad to give a bit of extra cooling or use one small one in the normal position as a large header tank. Heater matrix's make good auxillary rads and are normally fairly easy to fit in. As has already been said oil coolers make a big difference, just make sure that there is some flow past it! (common mistake on imps!!) One option that was done on one of the race cars was to mount the radiator horizontal with ducting to give a good air flow in. This meant that it could stay cool on the start line without the need for a fan. Good ducting for any position of radiator can make a huge difference. Although on the landies there isn't that much room and you don't want to end up with just a big container for mud! HTH Ed

Has he tried the tracks over tyres trick? Only ever seen it done a couple of times and it was very impressive! And an awful lot of work to fit them!! For the best party trick the 6x6 pioneer could climb up walls! Ed

Constructor was available in two main formats. First was for road haulage - pickfords, wynns etc........ Then there were also off-road versions. Quite a few used by the army and raf as heavy equipment transporters. Some were used as artic units and some as ballast backed. Off road ability was reasonably good although not in the same league as the earlier explorer. The road ones were very similar and there is a famous photo of one of the road ones on test by commercial motor (IIRC) with one of the front wheels about 2 ft up a bank with the other 5 firmly on the ground. All constructors were 6x6. One other one to add is that there was an off-road heavy recovery based on the super constructor, not sure if it went into production or if it was a one-off. The front axle looks like an explorer style one but the back is completely different. If viewed from above the rear layout of an explorer looks like an H with the wheels at the ends of the two vertical lines and parrallel with them. If anyone can follow that!!! HTH Ed

The constructors were built as heavy hauliers for use both on road and off-road. They did not have the same ability as the previous explorer and pioneer but were still very good. The pioneer and explorer used walking beams at the back and as such only had one diff and one 'axle'. Looks a very interesting machine and a lot of work put in. With a bit of space, money etc.... I would have been very tempted! HTH Ed

Hybrids still need almost the same amount of steel etc.... for the normal car bits (engine etc....). Also there is a lot of additional control circuitry that goes with it. Of possibly more interest are the hybrids that are under development using hydraulics or flywheel. The flywheel style is probably going to make an appearance in F1 in the next 2 years. New rules mean they will have to have some form of regenerative braking. Flywheel system would have the advantage of not having high nickel content etc.... If you want to make your landie enviromentally friendly you can always try using a kinetic energy rope for all your trips. Then you'd only need to drive there and take the handbrake off to return!

One thing that gets missed in all the press coverage of the hybrids are their battery packs. These use a lot of resources to make and at present need to be replaced about every 5 years. An article a while back in one of the national papers pointed out that the most enviromentally friendly car over about 5 years average useage was a Jeep Wrangler. The Prius was miles down the list and even the range rover sport was quite a bit further up! Ed

Unusual for a TDI pipe to break, they are under very low pressure compared with the common rail system on the new defender. The pipe looks like it was damaged already, as you said! If it had burst due to pressure it will go as a hairline crack that can be difficult to spot by the naked eye. As most people have said above it is probably due to the clamp being missing at some point. Parent's 2.5D had the same problem, the engine came out of a vehicle that had been on fire and the clamp between the lines had melted so didn't know that there should have been one. At work we burst pipes on a fairly regular basis but we run much higher pressures than normal and do a lot of things that you shouldn't on an engine! Burst pipes on a TDI aren't a major issue, other than the stink of diesel , on a common rail or smilar high pressure system it is a much bigger concern. It is very unlikely to happen but if it does switch engine off and run walk calmly away. Ed

Thanks guys. I should be going down for old sodbury so will try and get a diesel pickup there. Another small job to add to the long list!!! Thanks Ed

It was a petrol before. It may be the first time it has run this low. When we picked it up it was reading zero but we only travelled a few hundred yards downhill to get to the petrol station. The gauge at the time seemed to have only two settings - zero or full! Now it seems to be reading a bit more accurately. Managed to limp it around to the nearest petrol station last night. Tried to stall on me twice but managed to keep it running by dipping the clutch and flooring the accelerator. Checked Jim's idea of blocked breather by taking it off when it happened, no whoosh of air. Filled it up and it behaved perfectly the whole way home! Brought it in this morning and touch wood it's behaving itself. So I'm guessing at it being either muck in the fuel or it doesn't like the fuel going that low. When I get a spare weekend I'll take the tank out and give it a clean. In the meantime I'll make sure never to let it go below half a tank! Thanks Ed

Thanks for the ideas, hadn't thought of the filler cap one. There was a funny whoosh type sound when I was driving along at one point (before this happened) but I put it down to the air brakes on the truck in front. First thing I did when I got into work was order a new fuel filter! Also my boss has a spare truck filter & mounting lying around. So will probably fit that at some point in the future. Thanks Ed

Morning all, Just got into work after a little bit of hassle with the Landrover. It's a 1983 110 fitted with a discovery 200tdi. Driving along at about 40mph the engine suddenly started to lose power and as I slowed down to a stop it cut out. It wouldn't restart immediately but after about a minutes wait it started with a bit of a struggle - held the starter in for quite a while and pumped the accelerator. Drove off fine and then repeated the fault about 3/4 mile later. In total it did this 3 times on the way in. Any ideas? The fuel level is low and I wondered if it might be muck in the tank or pipe. Cheers Ed

A friend works for a company that's sole business is going after insurance companies to get correct payouts. If you want I can find out the name of his company. I know he really enjoys chasing up things like this! HTH Ed

Very interesting thread. In some areas of motorsport the costs have risen when the rules have been tightened too far. Innovation can cost a lot less in terms of money, although more time, and isn't guaranteed to work. More innovation on vehicles can mean that they are less reliable until the bugs are found and fixed. New ideas and radical thinking need to be encouraged and so far that seems to be pointing at a category that has only the basic safety limitations and a few boundaries. There still needs to be a succession of categories to allow anybody to come out and play and work their way up. If I start to take my landie out (when it's eventually finished, well started first! ) then I will want a simple and relatively easy category where I can learn the basics and get some confidence. I wouldn't want to be up against some of the exceptionally good machines and drivers I've seen on here. Although I'd still like to be able to see them at the same event so I can learn and encourage everybody to improve and progress. As an engineer I am fascinated to see the modifications being done and what these vehicles can achieve. Ed

Can anyone tell me the size of the bolts for the rear shackles on a 110? Mine are missing and I'm in the process of fitting a dixon bates tow hitch. Thanks Ed

I think he's decided to go for the simplicity of a diesel now. Shame as the 960 lump is a bit special, not 204 bhp but a bit over the 300+ mark! Lovely lightweight engine but too many electronics and it is very long! All info much appreciated. Spoke to my brother last night and he was very impressed at the speed of answers and help on this forum. Ed

Photos would be superb. The other thought my brother had was to try the 3 litre straight six that they fitted to the 960 and I think the C303? Very powerful with a few tweaks but it is a bit long and runs on some funny fuel that needs a spark! Plan will be to take the body off and start a long restoration! Wife wants him to get the house done up as well!

Volvo diesels are incredibly difficult to find! Any details on fitting the 200/300tdi's? My brother is confident of refabricating mountings etc... just helps if someone has already been there and can give us some pointers! Not sure what type the gearbox is, although we do have a workshop manual for it so will check up. Thanks Ed

Hi all, My brother is soon going to be acquiring my dad's Volvo C202. It's in need of quite a bit of work but is generally solid. One bit that needs doing is replacing the engine as the present one is seized and is a bit on the small side. Think it's only an 1800 cc petrol car lump! So does anyone know of any other engines that have been fitted into C202's or Laplanders or possibly C303's maybe the same. We know that the 2.3 volvo lump will fit in without any mods but were wondering about something like an Isuzu 2.8 or daihatsu etc....... The vehicle will be used for a bit of towing and off-road playing. Ed

Patience does pay off. Took us about 2 months before we got our 110 (Francesca in members vehicles). Partly because I was being picky, OH told me off a few times for wanting the impossible! Main thing is be prepared to travel and keep clear in your mind what you are after. At the moment 110 CSW seem to be in demand and sellers want a lot of money for them. I would say that a 200tdi is going to set you back around the £4k mark for a good one. We were lucky and got our 110 for £3.2k but it does need tidying inside etc.... Will let you know if I hear of anything suitable. Ed

I'm with Moglite on this one. I always strap the four wheels or onto the axles and then strap the body down if needs be. Strapping by just the body means that you will end up with some movement and I've seen this loosen straps before. Especially with the weight of a landrover. I've heard very good things about the stabilizers that are built into the tow hitch. One of my colleagues does a lot of towing with his caravan (1.5 ton) and has found this type of stabilizer to be far better than the older sprung arm type. Ed

Oops! It was late at night, tired etc............! Bush65 is completely correct and I'll go and hide under a bush for a bit! Ed

Higher feed pressure will help keep the system primed and will prevent air pockets. This will improve the system performance if there is already a problem. With a well set-up system there shouldn't be any problem and with the relatively low demands and output pressure you should only need a slight head to prevent this. Cavitation is caused by the collapse of pockets within the fluid. Very destructive, plucks material away from the surface. HTH Ed

Increasing the feed pressure won't affect when cavitation occurs. It's down to things like gear speed, shape of internal parts etc........ Have lots of problems with cavitation on the stuff I work on just at higher pressure (2500 bar plus!). Smoothing out sharp edges and basically improving the flow path will help. All of our important parts are honed to achieve this. HTH Ed

Latest news: …SAYS A JAGUAR, LAND ROVER SALE IS LIKELY. Ford Motor Co. says it was pleased with preliminary bids it received last week for its iconic Jaguar and Land Rover brands and believes a sale of those units is “probable.” Ford contacted at least six bidders this week to invite them to review the brands’ finances and operations next month, according to the Financial Times. Bidders are believed to include Indian automakers Mahindra & Mahindra and Tata Motors, as well as private equity firms Cerberus Capital Management, One Equity Partners, Ripplewood Holdings and TPG Capital. Ford is expected to seek binding offers by September so that a deal could be finished by year-end, the FT says.

We've just had the change of vehicle you are thinking about. From a 300tdi RR to a 200tdi 110. Budget was up to £3500 and there aren't many 200 or 300 tdi CSW's at that sort of price. In the end we turned up a 200tdi 110 crewcab with a new chassis, needs a fair amount of tidying but should be a good tow vehicle. We had a look around at 90's, 110's and 130's. Decided against the 90 due to not enough space, some of the things we want to transport will not fit. Also we occasionally look after my parents dog and a reasonable size dog in the back of a SWB takes up most of the space! The 110 isn't that big when it comes to parking in supermarkets etc.... and is reasonably good off road. For up to 3' of water I'd say they are about the same and the biggest difference is driver. The crew cab is a nice option and leaves space for people/dogs and then any load you need to carry. Great for doing tip runs or moving welders etc......! We have found that the 110 has a lot more useable space than the range rover and sadly my other half likes driving it! She didn't like the range rover so I got to drive it all the time!