Lightning

I fitted Discovery 2 spring isolators in the front of my Defender 110 TD5

Yeah short journeys can cause this. Not sure there’s much you can do about it, but at least it runs OK. lf you use flushing oil or any similar products it could make more problems for you.

I think it’s for a bilge pump when the Land Rover is sold in countries where it rains a lot.

I fitted Puma seats in my 2005 TD5 110 and they are really good, a worthwhile improvement over the TD5 ones. You can get new “take off” Puma “County” seats from Twisted Automotive and they are £700 for a pair. The material doesn’t match the County Cloth of the originals but it still looks fine and l don’t even notice the fact that they are black. l do 12,000 miles per year in the 110 so l really noticed the difference in comfort. Unfortunately you can’t fit Puma rear seats to a TD5 so if you don’t like the mismatch it would be no use to you.

Bilstein are highly regarded, they were fitted as standard equipment on my Ferrari.

Discovery transfer box is a good cheap option, however it does of course raise the overall gearing of the vehicle in every ratio, l had one in my previous 90 TD5 and found that first/second gears were a bit high. But at 1/4 the price of an overdrive it was the only real option. I believe Ashcroft do a 1.3 ratio transfer box internals which may be a good compromise as it’s between the standard Defender 1.4 and Discovery 1.2

That’s a fine job you have done there. Scary to see the corrosion behind those panels but l guess the vehicle is 33 years old. How many cars last 33 years with daily use and are still running? It’s going to be good for another thirty years when you have finished.

I think you can write to the DVLA and they will contact he current owner on your behalf, then it’s up to the owner whether they want to get in touch with you.

I believe the alarm ECU needs to be “told” that central locking has been added. So after fitting the kit you’d need to get it reprogrammed. l wouldn’t bother with CL on a 90, but on the 110 it’s worthwhile making the effort to fit it.

They sent a Nissan one modified to fit a TD5? Why did they just send a TD5 one, or am l missing something?

Looks a great Land Rover.

A rattle in the door is very often caused by the channel that the glass sits on. At the rear (near the door lock) the channel touches the door skin when the window is fully raised. This causes a rattle/banging from the door. The solution is simple, put a cable tie around the end of the channel, it acts as a damper and stops the rattle completely.

Yes you are right. But I was thinking more of once he gets the engine performing as it should. We had a 300tdi and it seemed happiest at 60mph on the motorway. I’m sure it would have done 80 if l’d kept my foot down long enough. Its not just the engine that’s noisy at higher speeds, once you get past 70mph the general din increases significantly. Still not sure why you’d want to do 80mph in an old Land Rover!

Well the best solution is to fit the Roamerdrive overdrive unit, but it’s expensive. l wish l could afford the £1,500 plus fitting.

I’m not sure why you would want to do over 70mph in an old Land Rover. These are basically farm vehicles and not designed for the motorway. Having said that the TD5 isn’t bad at motorway speeds, my mildly remapped 110 SW will easily do over 80 mph (where legal) but at that speed it’s clearly out of its comfort zone. l am happy to sit at 65 mph which seems to be the best speed for this vehicle.

He’s never been back on here since that post. The issue with Defender ABS is that it rarely kicks in under normal use. Even on a wet road it takes some effort to trigger the ABS in ours. This lack of use causes the shuttle valve to stick, try resetting the ABS then go and find some grass/mud/gravel and do a few emergency stops. This cured the recurring “three amigos” on our Defender XS. Obviously check for other faults first, like wheel sensors. And try to use the ABS every so often. Oh, and if that doesn’t cure it the pump can very often be repaired, according to my local LR specialist.

There will be a connector for the BBUS sounder, you can fit one as an alarm upgrade, just plug it in and it will work.

I fitted cruise control to my TD5 110 and it’s transformed the vehicle on longer drives. Get it to 65mph, press the button, and then just steer. Driving up to Scotland (430 miles) was almost a pleasure. lf there’s a way to do it on a 200tdi it’s well worth it.

Those are not serious issues, after all the vehicle is nearly 20 years old. After you buy it you can get these minor issues repaired before you set off on your overland adventure (which sounds fantastic by the way) l would also advise that you get the Land Rover fully serviced/checked over by a specialist in Defenders to make sure there’s nothing else that needs doing.

Just found this old thread, what a great idea to use cable ties to compress the spring before fitting it.

Whoever it was, they jumped ship

This thread promised 280bhp (from a TD5) and then died. I did see a TD5 engine in my local scrap yard with a hole in the side of the block, l wondered if it was connected to this discussion.

The X-Eng pedal lock is very good, it bolts to the floor and hinges up to cover all the pedals. It’s pretty secure and would need some time with an angle grinder to get it off, plus you can’t get to the pedals to cut them like with other pedal locks. Also fit some kind of immobiliser (don’t rely on the factory fitted one) and a tracking device, then if it does get stolen you at least have a chance of getting it back.

Great news that you found the fault, and it was something straightforward.