jerboa

Yeah, I think Diff is right : / That said, I'm thinking about how I've done mine now!

Thank you Snagger..! 👍

That's what I'm guessing too. The export market will continue be valuable for a tough, durable machinery. Monocoque bodies, independent suspension, lithium batteries etc. will of course last their time, but you won't see them trundling up and down bumpy back roads in the Hulu 20+ years after they've been sold off by the NGO's that bought them. The other, big element is the charging infrastructure required for electric vehicles in under developed regions. These aren't going to appear over night, not even in ten years in place which are looking at small, cheap off-grid energy systems rather that rolling out massive electrical grids across entire countries. I'll be interested to see what they produce. But an earlier poster commented that at sub-£20K new, a isuzu pickup, with a proven drivetrain could be the ticket for many - both here and abroad. They will have their work cut out.

Quick question re: the p38 steering box conversions. In using a defender steering column, does this mean there's no way the original steering wheel can be used? I rather like the Series wheel, and feel a defender one could look out of place in a series - although an early defender wheel would be OK I suppose... Thanks,

What's the consensus on sourcing engines from BMW in the power-train? 20+ years ago this would have been a good thing, the engines they used to make were capable of high mileage and strong performance. Now though... There's a sort of cult understanding that BMW engines are not made for the long haul, just google it. I'll put it like this. Remeber that BMW is/used to be regarded as a premium qulioty brand? When they partnered up with Toyota to produce R&D the new Z4/Supra, much development was shared in terms of chassis, suspension, etc. It was agreed between the two manufacturers that they would use BMW's current 3.0L inline Six turbo-charged engine. Fine said Toyota, but we're going to make some revisions to the engine for use in the Supra. Toyota TOTALLY revised almost everything about the engine, except the block, head and only a handful of other bits. It says a lot about the poor quality of BMW engines that Touyota had to do that - even Toyota engines are not what they used to be! Perhaps IVECO for a diesel? This is a utility vehicle, we don't need the last word in refinement. Just rugged, torquey durability. Just my 2p...

Yeah that's my point/question. Think they'd have to be open minded. Perhaps an option would be to get the new chassis to rolling chassis point and get it to them so they could piut it together on to that. Its the cost of doing so that I'm more or less trying to avoid. Plus I would quite enjoy that phase of the build...

Good afternoon/evening Everybody, Long-time user/lurker and occasional poster here. Based in North Nottinghamshire. 1981 Series Three 109" Station Wagon. 200TDi converted, from petrol. I have some questions about my strategy regarding the restoration I'm shortly going to embark on with above mentioned vehicle. It's been 10+ years or so that I've owned my station wagon, I've used it a fair bit but its been laid up for several years now. In the time I've owned it, it's value has increased markedly (we all know this about our vehicles I guess). The vehicle has non-original paint, and a 200TDI engine - I have a low-mileage 2.5petrol engine I might put back in. I have long wished to return it to its original paint colour, and would like to do this as part of a ground-up restoration. It is worth investing some money in to it. I am relatively mechanically capable. Rebuilt engines, axles etc. And so dismantling and rebuilding I'm not worried about. But heck, reconditioning bodywork is not my thing - neither is it a skill I'm that enthused about learning for various reasons such as space+time. Question is this: if I was to dismantle the vehicle, do you think there would be any restorers that I could ship all elements of the body to, to include, rear tub, floors, side-frames, bulkhead, wings, roof and bonnet to, for them to restore and paint up? It would involve them preparing and painting up each component individually in order for me to then rebuild everything on to a newly rebuilt chassis complete with running gear etc. I have a complete set of newly galvanized cappings etc for it. Does anyone know of anyone/company who would engage on such terms? Thanks in advance, Jerboa

I picked up on this comment - I installed some Rocky Mountain Parabolics a few years ago. Supplied as part of a set, to include Pro Comp 3000 Series Shock’s, they may have been 9000 series shock. Whilst I could tell the difference within a metre of driving it, I went on to have exactly the same thoughts. After having been in my mates truck cab, ex-mil 109" with coil-spring smooth ride (which is what convinced me to buy them in the first place) I was mildly disappointed in the outcome of my venture. Now, when I spoke to my mate about it - he said that is what he thought about his springs when he put them on. He put it down to the shocks - and swapped them out for standard range rover shocks - albeit by modifying the shock mounts. Solved the problem for him. I have not done mine as my LR has been laid up for various reasons. I did not get chance to try to put some miles on either. Incidentally, the price of the complete set of springs, shocks etc from Rocky Mountain has more than doubled in the time that I've had them. Also, I loaded my 109" Station Wagon up with about 330kg of sandbags prior to tightening the bolts. To set the bushes about half way between laden and unladen. Not sure looking back if that was the right thing to do...

Serious Series, Those drawings would be handy if you still have them knocking about? Thanks, Alec

Hi there, Rather than start a new thread I thought I'd post my question on here so I don't clog the forum. I have a 200TDi converted, 1981 SIII 109" Station wagon. Standard 4 speed with overdrive. I have sitting in my shed an Aeroparts MKII capstan winch - 4,000Lbs I think. The problem I have is: I have no linkage for it, not even the UJ... If i did have a linkage, it wouldn't fit the longer pulley and cam belt casing on the front of the 200TDi engine in the now shorter space So, how do I drive the winch? I don't intend for it to be recovering me during Camel Trophy-esque off roading events. Green-laning is my thing. I don't want to fit the winch for aesthetic purposes; if it's fitted, it must work. I therefore have to come up with some different drive options, and I'd like to achieve broadly similar performance in terms of line pull. I'm considering a few options: Electric motor re-power. I may be able to fabricate a simple bracket to mount the motor - the motor would sit in the PTO hole in the front cross-member Hydraulic re-power. A hydraulic motor linked to the winch in the same way as mentioned above, but with an over-drive I'm limited to running a pump on the engine. There's no PAS on the vehicle, so there's a spare 'space' to re-fit a PAS pump off a disco. But is it man enough? Perhaps a larger pump can be fitted? I then need some means of bypass, control etc. I could also fit a pup in the space on top of the IP. With those nice M10 bolt holes to use. But then I need to drive it... Get rid of the Aeroparts winch and put a 'period' electric one on. If any one can steer me toward one... There's no possibility of g'box PTO winches. Cheers, Alec

I have an old Lister CS diesel engine and it did the same thing on one occasion. I traced it to a blocked fuel line. I appreciate it's not a 12J engine, but it's a diesel - so I concur with LaRoNut!! There could be some restriction somewhere, especially if you ran it low and it sucked up some gunk - straight in to your new filter..!

This is an interesting thread. I have rocky mountain paras on my 109" SW, and I was shocked to find how the ride was a stiff as it was - but I also have the pro-comp 9000 explorer shocks - which could explain it. It is however far better than standard. I have Michelin XZL 235/85's on WOLF rims, currently at 32 PSI on each corner. I will lower them on the back of this thread and see what the effect is. Interestingly, a good friend of mine has a set of range rover shocks on his parabolic sprung 109" truck cab. His really does ride almost like a coil sprung vehicle. I suppose range rover shocks will give you the travel you want as well..?? He did have to modify the lower spring mounts to do that though, but then he's a dab hand at that kind of thing. I might consider the change soon, though it seems a shame to essentially bin what are relatively new pro-comp shocks to do that. There will be people reading this in the future. I can personally vouch for the upgrade, I'd say the vehicle handles better, is safer and rides (a little bit) better. But if you get the rocky mountain stuff, beware - I had problems with the bushes. The front ones were too big (by a few thou' and the rear ones are too small (agin, by a few thou'). Consequently the front ones were a nightmare to fit (i've done a few before) and the rears are loose!!

Afternoon, I have a very quick question about swapping out the wheel studs on my landy ('81 LWB Series Station Wagon). I'm swapping out the standard studs to the longer 60mm FRC7577 items, due to my intention to fit a set of WOLF rims that I have obtained recently. My question is this: do I need to remove the hubs in order to press out the old studs and then press the longer ones in with a massive vice I have access to..? Or can I get away with tapping the old ones out (i.e. is there enough room behind the hub/front of the brake plate to allow them to come out?) and then sliding in the new (longer!) ones from behind then pulling them through with a nut? Many thanks...

I just thought I'd lend my two pence worth. I did a 200TDi conversion into a SIII 109" Station Wagon. To do this properly and without chopping the LWB chassis to fit the turbo you have to fit a 300TDI manifold to the engine which is easy enough. I can't weld (or couldnt at the time) so bodging pipe together wasn't an option, I decided to go for the Steve Parker version. To be honest I didn't expect it to fit without some tweaking and sure enough it did - but you have to bear in mind the changes made to the 109" chassis throughout it's production run, so I didn't. Genereally the fit was quite good, though it did take a differant path underneath and consequently needed some mounts welding on! I totally concur with Snagger though - steve parker's are NOT a good company to deal with. The tweak I speak of involved me having to send a part back to them to re-jig it. And they charged ME for the privilege. In summary, I WON'T be dealing with them again, unless I do another conversion - the pipe did the trick and was certainly more convenient.. Unless you can weld well, I wouldn't bother trying to cobble one together...

I concur with Snagger on this one, get everything he wants on paper, right down to the last detail. Then draw it up into a contract, so there's no scope for argumant/disagreemnet as the project progresses. I have thought about this kind of thiing long and hard. I really want a nice defender 110" CSW. But by the time I can afford to buy a brand new one that I can look after forever, land rover will have replaced the defender with a DC100 crappy freelander cast off. I reckon for the same money as a new one, I could get one of those companies to build from the ground up a last forever land rovern - better than a Solihull job too, Galv chassis/bulkhead/other metal bits, OME suspension, ARB diffs, Salisbury F+R axles, 2.8 TGV engine, LT85 box, PTO winch. I could go on....!

You may possibly find that you have a problem with fitting Stage 1 V8 to a SWB landy, apparently they can snatch. I'm not totally sure, but parabolic springs can help. I never knew how much bigger they were though..!

I have to agree with you there, my dealings with the company have been similar regarding returns etc. I will try a different series sender, and see what it does.. Thanks!

It supposedly is a SIII sender..?

I have a few questions about this. I've done a 200TDi ensgine conversion into my '81 109" SW, it replaced a 2.25 petrol engine. Old engine ran fine, temp needle always sat slap bang in the middle. I installed this when I did the conversion: http://www.steveparkers.com/conversions/200-tdi-discovery-series/200-tdi-discovery-conversion-adaptor-fine-thread-late-s2a-s3.html Which i think is the sender that Serious Series talks about. When I run my engine the needle sits pretty much against the red part of the gauge, now this is pretty un-nerving - I have rebuilt this engine, it has has a new OE water pump and thermostat, I have also re-cored the radiator. UYou can't help that feeling of paranoia. "Is it going to explode...?" Is that the needle position I can expect then?? Thanks..!

If I remember rightly there is a way/method to find out the address that a vehicle is registered to. You have to go to a DVLA office and fill out a form with the registration number you want to find, after that you have to declare that the reason for locating the vehicle is not malicious etc. Either that or bribe a cop. Which isn't happening in the UK, thank god.. Hope this helps..

I've actually managed to get insured with Peter James, £126 fully comp. Very impressed! Spongie, I suggest you give them a shout - they're quite open-minded. Unusual for an insurance company! Thanks everyone for advice et al, was a great help!

I've actually managed to get insured with Peter James, £126 fully comp. Very impressed! Spongie, I suggest you give them a shout - they're quite open-minded. Unusual for an insurance company! Thanks everyone for advice et al, was a great help!

When I phoned up, the chap I spoke to just said he couldn't give me a quote. I think its due to me having to keep it on the road. There was one thing on here that I've not mentioned, that was having a car stolen in Nov 2010. I lost 2 yrs NCB because of that! Still have 2 left though - clean history other than that..

Brilliant. Not heard of Peter James, Academy or A-Plan. Will try them all.. Adrian Flux wouldn't provide a quote!! Thanks..

For years I've insured my Land Rovers with Lancaster, I've never really been that impressed with them but they have always given quite a good price. I have a 1981 SIII 109" Station Wagon which I've just put a 200TDI engine in. I checked with the company to see if they would insure the modified vehicle prior to carrying out the work, they said they would (admittedly a few months ago). Now though as the policy comes up for renewal they're telling me they can't - they no longer work with the same underwriter.. The pertinent points for me are the following: - 27Years old (me, not the land rover, that's older still) - 200TDi engine - I'm not a farmer - I have to keep it on the road, in Worksop, Notts.. - I only want a limited miles policy These all seem nail-in-coffin points. Does anyone know of any open-minded insurers they can recommend who may see past these points??