need4speed

Lol I'm sure you said you were doing it out of stainless. Makes no odds. It's well machined and fits to a tee..

Just a little update on this. Vulcan Bomber very kindly turned me a custom stainless pulley for my Bosch alternator. He has made this suitable to accept a 13mm v-belt. Not only does it look stonking, but I'm hoping that by being able to utilise a 13mm belt rather than the 10mm, the extra surface area traction will help me a little seeing as my alternator is 120A.. And I've just checked it against the Dayco 13mm belt I have for the power steering pump and it fits perfectly!

Which is exactly the reason I can't understand how the front axle of a defender seems to provide so little tractive effort? I'm not arguing with the folk that claim the front axle of a defender hardly does anything, I'm just trying to understand the reasons..

I can understand that theory whilst accelerating heavily off-road or even on road, but not while crawling off-road where acceleration forces are more or less non existent? For instance last year we had very heavy snow. Out of our cul-de-sac is a bit of an incline. Every RWD merc and BMW became instantly stuck whilst all the FWD mondeo, insignia, passat etc etc just plugged on through...

That's very interesting Lewis.. I've never experienced a defender in FWD mode only but you would think the front axle would provide at least 50% of the traction due to the bulk of the engine/transmission weight being over that axle? Edit: I'm enjoying this thread immensely so far.

Thanks for that Ash. It looks like I'm as well just getting a length of heater hose and making something up to length. As Ralph says I've got a bit of a mongrel whereby I have the new style metal coolant pipes from heater but don't have the new style radiator or front cover..

Yep that's the washer thing I'm missing. Why someone would have removed that is beyond me. Looks like it would actually be quite tricky to do without destroying it.. If I could find a new one that would be ideal but no part number listed. A blob of weld looks favourite then..

Yeah il have a look a look at motor factors etc. As you say the pipes I have wont have been for the v-belt front cover I'm using. Would be interesting to know where that pipe goes on a serpentine front cover. Cheers Ralph

Mongrel!? I beg your pardon Ralph but he's a thoroughbred.... None of the hoses in your diagram look like they will be the right shape. I had thought about just getting a length of heater hose but I was concerned that the resulting 'S' shape the hose needs to take would cause an airlock? Maybe this won't be a problem as long as the 'S' isn't too tight?

I got a genuine heater for chip money a while back. The only thing that appears to be wrong with it is the arm on the top of the heater that the control cable connects to has come off the shaft. Looking at the parts book there are no separate parts listed for this except that mine appears to be missing what looks like some kind of washer that goes on top. Should I just get someone to spot weld the arm onto the shaft? Pic below isn't mine but shows the arm I'm talking about..

I have recently bought parts 6, 7 and 22 on the image below. Both the pipes connect to the heater matrix. But I'm looking for the part number for the hose that connects onto the other end of pipe 22. It connects to the rear of my waterpump but considering pipe 22 points straight down, there must be a weird shaped hose available that isn't shown..

No worries Jon. Thanks for letting me know

Deciding to add MS will be one of the best mods you could do. But it will hike the cost of the build up somewhat. The cost of the MS system was twice what it cost me to build the engine... Oh and can you reply to my previous post and let me know if your going to bid on the engine I linked to.

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Rover-V8-4-6-Complete-Engine-Range-Rover-Landrover-TR8-or-Project-Car-/271978813735?hash=item3f53335927 Might be worth a punt also Edit: Let me know if your not interested as I might have it to build something special one day if I can get a bargain..

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Range-rover-p38-4-6-thor-breaking-all-parts-wheel-nut-/251701962820?hash=item3a9a9b2844 For the win...

Nah I reckon the gearbox would take it.. Aren't the autos supposed to be a bit over engineered anyways?

Can't comment on difference between 3.5 and 3.9, but I can say there is quite a difference between the 3.9 and 4.6. I had the opportunity of driving both flavours (both in a defender) and that's what inspired me to build the 4.6. It was awesome. Mind you it was slightly breathed on compared to the 3.9 but nothing too hard core. Just a cam If memory serves..

As stated above. Size matters! But then it's like everything else, how deep do your pockets go just now? You can make a 4.6 out of a 3.9 block surprisingly cheaply. Or there are plenty of old P38 RR's about being broken..

Nope. Just 2 colours now...

I would also give it a miss. I think for that kind of money you could find yourself a more "honest" example. There's something about that one I don't like. Maybe because it's been built out of several vehicles. But then so has mine.... I can't put my finger on it but I wouldn't bother.

The supplied lube is fine. I can't remember how much I torqued up to, but I know it wasn't as high as what ARP recommended. I asked Ray at v8 developments. Someone with a better memory than me will be along shortly Edit: my apologies. I used v8 developments own head bolts. Think I'm suffering from early Alzheimer's..

Lol wasn't aware of that Steve.. I've done my own rust proofing, and will in the future but it was just an option for the OP but it sounds like he's sorted..

There is a guy over on defender2 that offers a full dinitrol service. His name escapes me right now but if memory serves he started a thread on it. I remember reading it a while back and thinking it was a lot of work. I could imagine it taking quite a while to complete properly. Hearing from folk that have used him he does a very thorough job of it.

Gentlemen lest we forget, this thread is for a V8. What works for a coal burner is probably miles away from what the V8 needs...

While they are still a lot of money compared to conventional, I like the fact that they draw far less current which can only be good for the harnesses/light switch..