Snagger

I wish I could say I was surprised, Dave, but I'm just disappointed. Companies like Britpart undercut and then kill off the competition, leaving us with no choice but their rubbish, just like this case where they seem to be the only SS piston supplier now that Zeus stopped. I really wish people would spend that little bit more, get decent quality stuff and support the manufacturers and suppliers who enable us to obtain decent parts, but at this rate, Britpart will be the only parts supplier for older LRs and we'll all be screwed.

The logical explanation is that bigger torque converters need bigger oil pumps to drive them, and going too large on the TC results in the oil flow inside being too slow for the TC to do its job efficiently. So, LR may have found that the vehicle performed better or had better fuel efficiency with the medium sized TC instead of the large.

If it only happens at idle after braking, and only once hot, then as I said, it is something with a very specific frequency. Cold idle is a little slower, which is why I said that slightl throttle application may replicate it. Otherwise, you need to look at something that is expanding with heat and allowing movement, which is most likely to be to be the exhaust or heater matrix.

It's electronic.

Check the back of the existing shells for size, just in case they're non standard, but with that condition, you won't need a crank regrind. The shells are good enough to go back in, but as the others said, if you don't mind spending on a new set, then new would be better still. I'd say the big end shells are in better condition than the main bearing you removed, so if you only do one set, do the mains.

No, Neil, the point was that many Lightweights will be registered as SII or SIII SWB, 88 or some other identifier, but not as a Land Rover 1/2 Ton and not as "Lightweight", which is an enthusiast term and was never an official or even technically appropriate name, so that site will drastically underestimate the number of them still around.

I'm looking at the state that original pistons end up in on Land Rovers after just a couple of years of road use - my wife's 90 needed new pistons at 4 years and 35,000 miles never having gone off tarmac.

Genuine pistons are chromed, but that doesn't stop them rusting within three years in this hemisphere.

I have a late RRC rear view mirror (with map lights and auto-dimming) in my 109 and it gives a wider field of view, wider than the three windows in the back end (I can keep an eye on the kids easily with it).

I would say the cover plate depends on the clutch. Using a SIII clutch system and bell housing allows the Tdi cover plate with a SIII friction plate. But the different clutch system of a SII or IIA could require the older cover plate, and that in turn limits the friction plate choice. If that is true, then use the HD friction plate, which I think is 9" for the SII.

Cutting the sills will cause more work than it saves. The body cross member between the door pillars tends to rust badly, so removing the floors is going to be beneficial in exposing that cross member and allowing it to be repaired or replaced. The Defender sills are identical to 109 sills, and I'm pretty sure the cross member is too. The cross member can be bought from YRM if you need one. They might do the sills too.

It seems likely that it'll take a lot of flushes to remove the old oil from the cooling system - there are lots of nooks and crannies that the hot oil will rise into that aren't subject to full coolant flow, sheltering these oil pockets. It'll come out with enough flushes if you use an additive which will also act as a detergent. I'm not sure what you could use, though.

That has come out very well. Well done!

Most vehicle manufacturers give a range of pressures for different loads. LR may have done so, but that may be missing from the Haynes manuals. It certainly still applies. Your pressures may need to be higher than standard because of the extra tyre width - standard pressures would probably allow the centre of the tread to deflect upwards, riding on the shoulders. Higher pressure combined with larger cross section is going to be more jarring a ride - you have both increased "p"si and increased "i", so the tyres can't respond as supply as normal size and pressure tyres.

You have probably lost the brake lights too - they all run off the same fuse, if I remember correctly, only two fuses being used on the SIII (you may have some inline original fuses for hazard lights and perhaps the heater fan). My guess would be that the seat collapse damaged the fuel tank sender wire, causing a fuel gauge short that blew the fuse.

RRC electric seats had a reputation for doing the same, which is a real risk if the driver's seat moves while the car is in motion. As I understand it, the automatic transmission RRCs only had driver's seat power with the transmission in P (and maybe N) for that very reason. My 95 RC has manual transmission and manual seats. I don't know if electric seats were available with the manual transmission; I suspect they'd be powered through the hand brake warning light switch if they were available. It's worth on retrofits having a push button isolation switch that only allows power to the driver's seat while the button is held down for that purpose.

Shocking isn't it! It's crazy enough hearing that advice in the UK, but down here? Then again, most of the garage staff are completely unskilled and untrained labourers under the direction of a single person who may or may not have any real technical ability.

I wonder what their quality is like. Hard to totally screw up such a simple part, I'd like to think. The Zeus pistons were polished so they looked chromed - the Zues guys said wit wasn't necessary, but just something they chose to do. I see that these Britpart pistons aren't similarly polished. I wonder if that has any effect at all on their longevity or that of the seals.

Standard LR cooling systems are invariably well up to the job if well maintained. A member of the local UAE group was asking about why his TDCI Defender aircon wasn't working brilliantly and the engine temperature running slightly warm this summer - it transpired a local garage had advised him to remove the main fan for performance and economy reasons. Amazing that the system coped at all in heavy traffic in 50oC with no main fan, just the aircon boosters. Arguably, had it been an old vehicle with scaled or sludged up rad with missing fins, it could have been a different story, but he had no damage.

No-one is making stainless pistons anymore? I'm surprised. The Zeus pistons I put in my 109 and RRC are brilliant. I never did understand why people would buy replacement calipers rather than rebuild the old ones with a stainless kit - the new calipers would only last a few years, but stainless pistons will last the life of the vehicle, and the caliper bores seldom pose a problem.

Like Mav said, this is a good principle but REALLY bad idea in the detail. Use rice or even desicated coconut,but don't put salt anywhere near it as you'll lose the foot wells, sills and door pillars.

It's a nice idea in theory to have an automatic off road levelling suspension that would enable the tackling of steeper side slopes, but imagine if it had a malfunction and reversed its levelling commands, or even just burst the extended downslope airbags - that could cause a far more violent roll over than would normally be the case with standard EAS. I suspect that's why it isn't already done.

I think one of the most underutilised voids in a 109 or 110's body is behind the rear right wheel. The opposite side sports a locker on 109s and some 110s, and fuel can lockers are a popular storage addition in front of the wheel arch, but the rear tank filler neck makes utilisation of that void difficult. This is the sort of item that could make very effective use of the space.

I doubt you'll be changing air pressure so frequently that the cost and effort would be justified. A good electric tyre pump would be quite sufficient and arguably more flexible and more useful amongst the group and at home.

I very much doubt you will have any problems from using the symmetrical springs. As long as they are for the correct end of the same wheelbase vehicle, I really don't think there will be much difference. I did this when replacing the rear springs on a Lightweight as genuine 7-leaf springs were rare and the supplier didn't have the springs for one side, so I used two left side springs with no ill effect. Parabolic springs for the Series vehicles aren't sided, either, and I have never seen that cause any problem in the 18 years they have been on my vehicle or heard of issues on others' cars. At worst, you might have a very small lean, but you'd get that with the vehicle having an odd number of occupants anyway.