Snagger

Of the two, I prefer the proportions of the 110, just without the silly coloured square on the side windows. I still don’t like either. But with the older vehicles, I also preferred the aesthetics of the LWB station wagons too, be it the 109s or 110s. I only preferred the SWB looks on the Series I. Horses for courses. 🙂

How bad is the perishing? If it’s only just getting started, some tyre shine products will help by blocking the UV (primary cause) and may make the rubber a little more supple again.

Hammerite Underbody Shield has worked well for me. Part bitumen, part waxoil. It’s messy to put on and is initially a little tacky, but eventually dries properly. Not easy to clean cosmetically, but mud clumps will wash off easily enough. Doesn’t chip or flake at all and has reasonable anti corrosion properties.

Where is your intake now? Some photos of the engine bay would help. The 19J/200Tdi intake on the left is the same design as the later intakes on the right wing, just reversed and perhaps with a different diameter outlet and hose. You could fit those on your existing wing with a snorkel if you make a template of where the hole is from a standard vehicle. You could fit a replacement left outer wing panel if you want the joggled edges of the aperture for the snorkel flange to recess into - all the skins have the same profiles and fixings measurements, the variations being the indicator repeater holes and the thickness of the sheet used in production (invisible when fitted).

Unlike Ashcroft or Quaife, Trutracs are tailored for front or rear only. All ATBs tend to cause a bit of understeer and stronger self centre when fitted in the front, but not so much as you seem to have. Is the new diff definitely meant for a front axle?

Those sorts of hinges will always have some movement, a the pin and bottom but aren’t tight against the hinges but have a spring in compression to create a little flex. There shouldn’t be too much easy slop laterally, though. It may be that the bronze ball is undersized. It seems unlikely that the steel hinge halves would wear their cups when the ball is so much softer.

A replacement set of bearings with the same numbers from the same manufacturer should work, but there are different spec bearings that fit the same internal and external diameters which may have different depths, and I wouldn’t be sure that the same bearing numbers from different manufacturers are identical. But as I said, you’d need to check the pinion depth on completion to be sure.

Correct to my understanding. I suspect that you could also renew the pinion bearings with the same spec and it’d be within tolerances, but you’d need to check the depth afterward just in case.

If you look at the condition of most vehicles in the developing world and the “creative engineering” that goes into keeping them going, then EU vehicles with things like airbags and ABS parts removed are a lot safer and less polluting. It’s all relative.

You do have the clutch plate for an LT77 rather than the series box, I take it? Different splines on each. It’d be an easy mistake to make.

Not really, but what does work is to pull the neck of the gaiter up to the narrowest part of the swivel housing and push it to one side. It is very awkward to get the bolts in with the gaiters on, though - they’re really meant to be fitted to an assembled axle. It would be a handy comment at the beginning of the instructions.

Yes, Bailcast. I have them on my RRC. I think they’re pretty good,

It’ll only affect the level if you fit the shims with the right side mounting nuts tight. If you slacken the nuts off and wiggle the transmission and engine with the weight supported by a hoist or jack, they will settle again in the middle of the V formed by the chassis brackets, you have just narrowed the V (forcing the transmission higher) and moved its centre a little to one side with the shims.

It’s under the passenger seat, I think, though that may be just the ABS unit and plug. The SRC ECU is under the centre console cubby box, so if you remove the centre console, you’ll be able to trace the wiring. The console is removed by lifting away the gear lever gaiters and the flat area matting and pulling off the window switch surround. Undo the two screws near the front of the console and in the cubby box, and remove the screws from the window switch panel. Once the window switch cluster is out of the way, with the car chocked or in gear (both if on a slope), release the hand brake to remove the clip and cotter pin securing the handle to the Bowden cable so that the lever can be raised up for the console to be lifted up. You don’t need to worry about the cigarette lighter wiring if you’re just lifting the console to ding the SRS plug.

Land Rover stopped using it in the 90s too. Might be because of toxic or environmentally hazardous substances involved, but more likely the bean counters making them cheaper. That’s why Defender wing tops are always full of elbow dents, softer than the 90/110 wings that coped with elbows but sagged below squaddies’ boots, and Series wing tops managed the boots without much harm.

Add some shims made of flat plate to the left engine and transmission mounts, between the brackets and the rubbers. That will move them up and to the right and will give you the clearance you need. There are no differences between standard and MoD spec chassis that would cause or avoid this fouling. You could try new mounting rubbers, just in case yours have squashed as they aged. That would have allowed the whole assembly to sit low on the chassis.

Looks like “Streethawk”!

Lightweights use completely different hinges to the standard bodied models. You’ll need the right parts for the job. Dunsfold Land Rover and PA Blanchard are your best bet for decent (genuine) new hinges.

Without having seen one up close, I wouldn’t want to make a guess as to whether that was for airflow reasons or for clearance from other engine ancillaries like the bigger VNT and any pumps or accessories that may have been moved from the 300Tdi positions. Certainly, the big step inside the manifold inlet, under the badge, is going to cause disruption to the airflow. It may be that the disruption has positive effects on the engine running by causing a sudden drop in air velocity, which would increase air pressure.

In this neck of the woods, my tyre pressure can go from 32 psi when I first get into the car to 38psi during a moderate drive on the motorway in the early afternoon. That will have a big effect. Then, as you said, the atmospheric conditions make a big difference to engine performance and a measurable effect on drag on the vehicle. Add in different transmission temperatures affecting oil viscosities and bearing preloads, there is an awful lot that can affect driving tests on different dates or even just different times of the same day.

It’s a fair point! Like I said, it could be a matter of how far things protrude, how deformable they are when they wallop a pedestrian, or just a load of misinformation that I took as true... 🤔

No, I’m not. There are a multitude of products in all fields, not just automotive, that rely on placebo effect, contrary to claims by their manufacturer, but their users swear by them. Homeopathy and alternative medicine is a good example. A lot of people swore how well the wire pyramid of their razor kept the blade sharp for longer. The malpractice is everywhere, and I’m not having a pop at any single person over it. For what it’s worth, a few people have told me that the fuel pump spacer ring you installed works well for smother engine running at higher rpm. I can see how that works, and it was fitted by Bosch on similar pumps for other vehicles. I have no reason to doubt that your engine may be smoother than before. I just doubt it’s because of the manifold, but I’m not saying that is impossible, just that I doubt it.

I’ve seen a few here now on the motorways. Contrary to what some said, I still think it’s as ugly in the flesh as on screen. I haven’t seen the interior first hand yet, but that’s the bit I generally don’t mind.

I don’t know how it works from a regs point of view. It may be that once road users has been granted to a vehicle, it can’t be revoked (like not being retrospective about seat belts, lighting or emissions), it might be that the MoD got a further exemption from the C&U regs to be able to sell the vehicles, or it may be that the story I heard in the first place was wrong. I don’t know. I think it’d just be worth double checking before cutting any panel work. I have read on a few forums remarks about side mounted Jeryycan holders being illegal, too, so it might all be related to not having protrusions beyond a specific distance from the side of the body.

Because proper testing produces quantifiable data that undermines placebo effect and BS sales claims!