steve_a

If it works out and Fi gets a nice new trialer I demand acknowledgement, if however it all goes pear shaped I was never here....

think of it as a cristi-tunity turn it into a trialer, you won't suffer any guilt about the expense and buy another disco too. at least that would be how I'd sell it to my SWMBO

Now I know this might sound stupid, but I had a weird rattle/mettalic noise coming from centre/underneath as you describe. It turned out the starter motor was loose, I only found out when it wouldn't restart and found the starter held by afew threads of the last bolt. May be worth a look even though it seems daft. Does it happen when you brake and accelerate? or just hard acceleration? Is the front prop binding? and have the UJ's been checked changed?

Perhaps I am being stupid, but why isn't there a bead locking rim on both sides of the wheel? or is that just not shown? I would have thought a bead lock on both sides of the rim would be needed...

Fully agree about the RA forum, seems to be full of people complaining about the countryside being full of, well, countryside type things. I looked the other day and the complaints were about: - farm animals such as cows - dogs (walkers dogs and also farmers dogs) - cyclists - horse riders - plowing - shooting & hunting - 4x4 (of course!) - bikes (of course!) Basically it appeared that the countryside would be alright if the people who lived there would only do it when the RA didn't plan on walking... REF CRAG, I read the post because I thought it might have been a more militant access group being formed. I think GLASS and LARA and TRF and ... have all been too nice in trying to obtain our ends (i.e. to keep our current level of access to the countryside for motorised vehicles). It was all very well trying that in the beginning, but it looks like we jut kept beating our heads on the wall till now it is almost too late. This recent NERC bill has given me the right hump, and I can't help but feel that RA and Gov are laughing about our continued attempts for good 'PR'. The RA likes to show pictures of torn up ground and blame bikes and trucks, well fine, counter it by showing footpaths that could easily be used as BOATs and start talking about making use of them instead, if we had access to more than 5% (or 2% after NERC it looks like) then surely such 'damage' would be spread out over much more lanes, meaning much less 'damage'. I don't think having more lanes would mean more people would go out on them, those that do are those that are and will, I can't see a massive influx of shiny volvos and BMW's going out laning because we have access to 10% instead of 5%... When it comes down to it, after NERC I shall have to make a decision on whether I legally green lane or illegally green lane, and once hung for a lamb(or is that sheep?).. there are some good looking footpaths out there.....

I can confirm that if the water splashes the bulb pops. I found this out while driving my S3 down a dark green lane on the way home (it's a short cut) as first one and then the other went out. Took a few moment for me to realise that the water sitting happily at the bottom of the lens had been bashed around and hit the hot bulb on the bumps. It was the same ford I'd been through as well, will I never learn? I just dropped the whole headlamp unit as I was refitting it, it didn't bounce on the garage floor..... On top of finding that a 3 month old bearing has gone duff (I blame the sand at Long moor training ground) and that both swivels have play in them a broken headlamp was just annoying. My truck has been sent to bankrupt me

At least yours was natural causes, I dropped my light when emptying the water out today. So now the trucks off the road as I have no spare Why can't I resist the ford near me, every time I have to empty the lights, I might go back to sealed beams and see if they are as bad as I remember. feeling really clumsy today.....

Oh well Nige, looks like your kids aren't as pleasant as the ones we get. In our current house and our last one it we had/have some decent kids near us so it was alright having them knock as you knew thier parents were with them and recognised them. thankfully the toe rags have kept clear tonight, might have been the chat I had with one of them a few weeks ago fingers crossed, touching wood, preparing iron bar and jerry can w/ matches

doh, that's what I get for posting so late and tired.... Yep, the lack of serpentine belt is a big factor, I guess the water pump is one of the 200 disco and defender differences, I thought they were the same, hence why I thought 300. The air bin is the V8 one, I had one in the garage until recently, knew I recognised it, bloody huge thing.

Looks like a 300TDi to me. Turbo position is first thing, then water pump and finally alternator. I don't think the 300TDi disco and defender engines are any different. Not sure what you need to fit to snorkel it, a 200TDi air filter might be a good start as a guess, but you should be able to use that one, unless it is a disco 300tdi filter, which may have sucked from the wing originally. good luck at sodbury oh and I think the oil breather pipe should be connected to air filter and the oil/air seperator on left of engine as you picture it - black thing below feul filter in picture. hope that helps and I'm right

I don't think there is anything wrong with the tank, but a good inspection takes place this weekend. As ever though only filling it to the brim will show if there is a problem like the porus rust effect I had with brother RR (of course after £55 worth of petrol had got put in). Wiring loom is going outside - zip or p clips, what ever I come across at the right price so it looks like leave the rad as well. First job is convincing the mate to clear some of his gash from the garage so we can get the truck in, then remove the hardtop to get it in (stupidly low garage door). After that it will be working in relative warmth hopefully - much better than the refurb of the RR which my brother made us do in December... cold cold flooooor. I'm mainly excited at seeing the old girl back on the road, I've got a real love for the Series 3's, I like my 90, but the S3 is the very essence of land rover IMHO.

Well after 6 months of not owning a series (switched to a 90 and sold the old S3 truck cab) I have rejoined the fold and bought a S3 with a mate. The chassis looks mint, the bulkhead is clean (apart from a bit down near bottom passenger door), the doors aren't rotten. The bad points are: new tyres and probably wheels needed all round wiring seems rubbish - so going to do a rewire engine is probably duff, but a spare 2.5 N/A came with it which is a "good unit" I'm just gonna rip out the old loom and put a new one in, we will be having a lot of it apart anyway, but is there any bits to watch out for? I was thinking the instrument panel is about the only bit that needs some care, the rest is just wires. I was going to relay all the lights as well, I know my last indicator stalk was a pig for suffering from excess current going through it. Also it came with a defender fuel tank, is there any reason to use this for the conversion? I was just going to stick with the series one and the sender etc. The radiator - is this good enough for a 2.5 or would we be better sourcing a 2.5 rad to fit? Finally what about the fuel filter - is the series one OK will I need to look at sodbury for the 2.5 mount for one?

When I was doing this I think I had the rings you have already put on and then the bottom ring had a kind of simple wavy band that went in it. I assumed it was to distribute the oil rather than actually do any scraping. However, thinking back the 2 pistons didn't have the final ring, I used the ones from the ring kit I had bought. At least I think so. sorry can't help much more, I don't have any photo's of the work to reference against.

Hey Nige, I am happy to marshal and help with setting out (yes, I am an HBRO member). I could also be interested in competing, however I would need to pass the truck through scrutineering first and fix the things raised, I already expect a couple of things. By Feb they may be fixed. Are you planning on roving marshals with each team again? If so I'd really be up for that, got stuck on a special section last year which got a bit tiresome towards the end of the day. Glad to see it is still on, I mentioned to Neil Tomlinson that there were a number of people happy to help but hadn't contacted you because of the doubt on date and place etc. Finally a cool sticker on the new 90 Steve

mm4x4 do a 200tdi defender rad for ~£100. There's one in my garage along with the other 'spares'. Are you allowed to use the phrase spares for things that shoudl actually have been fitted for broken things rather than for when something brakes?

Nasty, I had my S3 apart for a similar reason and found 2 pistons with broken rings, one had done the same thing as yours, but not so serious - the head was fine. Looks like it might be expensive, one or more cylinders has been rebored is my guess from the numbers, mine were marked with RTCxxxx A or B the +1 and new markings make me thinks that's the case. it's pointless just putting a new piston in and hoping, you will probably have to take it to a good garage who can check the sizes accurately and advise, the head will need to be skimmed to be safe with the dents and as you said new valve. The cylinder with the knackered piston might need a rebore or at least a hone since the ring will have made it's way up there, then you are best taking the other pistons out and checking them and putting new rings on since you are in there and so on and so on It's really clean - did you do that or was it that way when you opened it up? even after loads of cleaning mine was still dirty looking Might be worth considering sourcing another engine all considered. I can get some pictures of my piston marking this week if it would help. Steve

A big thank you to Shires club members who ran the event. Me and my team mates had a great time, this was my first competition (not even tyro or rtv before) and we had a ball. I did see some cheating, there was a punch that was taped off from one side in a small enclosed area, one team just took the tape off and reversed up to it while we were there. A real shame because another truck came the proper way, got stuck on the sandy bank and broke a drive shaft doing it that way. That punch on the mound next to the mud - were you really supposed to approach from the water then? when we had a look the tape looked like it stopped you coming from that direction and you had to reverse up from the other side. I thought there was a punch on the bank in the water (in fact I went in and looked for it) which you were supposed to get. We managed to get 39 punches in the Standard class (I'm sure it should have been novice class as none of us had done one before) and didn't break out the winches. I'm already looking out for another one to take part in.

My 90 already has a bracket that bolts into the diff which stops too much flex in the track rod. I bent all the previous rods while that wasn't fitted. I didn't bend my already slightly bent rod at Bunny lane this weekend, so I am thinking that the bracket helps a lot. AFAIK the protector is a standard item, I'd look on the EPC but I'm lazy BTW glad to see it's not just me who is tight

First time I heard that Nige, not about the steering rods, just generally! I've been trying to get some sumo bars from Kinglsey 4x4 but had no success, in the meantime I have found that threaded rod screws down inside a standard 90 track rod and is just about the right length, filling the main length. Threaded rod cost me about £6, a new track rod to fill it will cost me about £18. Sumo bars are about £70. I'm not sure the material used in the threaded bar is ideal, however I'm willing to give it a go on price vs strength basis, especially since I have seen sumo bars bent too. The internal diameter of my old series 3 rod however is not the right size to fit, so a new made rod might be needed. In fact my series 3 rod is thicker internally and externally than the craddocks rod I bent the hell out of going over a bump. I've also found that box section is just (well maybe just, I failed on Saturday and ended up with a mess of metal) big enough to go over the track rod externally, which would add a box section strength to it. B&Q £5 stuff, unfortunately i was trying it on an already bent bar which had loads of rust and the box section started to distort as I smashed it with the mallet I might try again after trying the interior bar approach.

I ran Colway MT's on my Series 3. Always found them fine on the road, no moments etc. May have been a bit noisy, but with a S3 I couldn't tell :-) Of course off road they seemed good, never seemed to lack for grip. Shame they don't do them in a decent size, 31" ish is the biggest.

I'll be there, probably looking for dan bars and other random items. Probably come home with a bunch of spares I end up letting someone else use Shall we start bets on how *WET* it will be this year, last year was so bad I came home with gills and trench foot.

Don't know about the Track Rod ends, but the thread is the same for the track rod on series and defender. The taper etc might be different which might mean that the TRE is not compatible, not sure how you could safely tell that though?

It may be be a pain, but consider disconnecting all the drag link ball joints and checking that all the joints are free to move. My series steering went very heavy because of a siezed ball joint. I was *very* lucky in that I decided to fix it and it on axle stands working the wheel when the ball joint thread snapped. It would have been a disaster if it had gone while driving. The steering felt stiff and springy, but easier at some points, the ball joint was turning in the taper on the hub, rather than the socket.