Snagger

Get the head redone by Turner Engineering - they reckon on an 11% performance increase, if I remember correctly. As for the intercooler, size is only part of the equation; it has to allow free flow internally and externally to be effective.

I am still confident that the claims of Defender's demise being due to legislation are lies. The same engine is used on the Transit with no problem, and the Jeep Wrangler has a similar bumper and roof integrity with no sales ban anywhere in Europe. LR killed it because the profit margins weren't big enough and because it didn't have enough bling to fit in with the rest of the footballer/drug dealer stable they produce.

I have oil pressure, oil temperature and voltmeter. None of them are really of benefit and only serve to cause worry when you see a deviation from standard readings, usually a short term reaction to some external factor. Fair enough if you're using them to fill dash holes, but only the clock will be any use.

Same with the Discovery 200 tube and stick, if I remember correctly. The snag is that the tubes route differently to clear the differing manifolds, and the Discovery 200 tube is secured tot he induction manifold, so you'd have to make up a bracket. The top of the 300 tube bolts to the front of the block, so if that bolt hole is the same on the 200 block, then it may work, but since the sump and oil pump are very different on the 300, and the 300 doesn't have the ladder frame between block and sump, I'd be wary of using the 300 stick and tube on the 200 block.

Keep the 88o stat - it's much better for the engine and for the cab heater! Tdis should run a little warmer than the old 2.25 engines, so as long as you have matched sender and gauge, the needle should stabilise with its left edge on the top left corner of the "N", about two thirds of the way up the normal range sector. I can't see a boost gauge being very useful except in the initial fitting, since you suspect the waste gate has been tampered with.

That's for a square. pie x the square of the radius gives a circular sectional area. But yes, the point is that the area increases as a function of the square, so the gains are more significant than initially imagined. Simon is absolutely right that circular pipe has less drag than any other section, especially those with corners - corners cause interference drag, which is why aircraft have radiused fairings where their fins and wings meet the fuselage. So, all the fancy new cars with funky shaped exhaust pipes suffer reduced performance just because of the aesthetics of that exhaust pipe. As for putting vortex generators into the induction pipes (like Hyclone), they create even more drag. They are snake oil products that misrepresent aerodynamic principles to deceive buyers. The smoother the bore and gentler the bends, the better.

Ah, so the viscous hub works with centrifugal bits inside?

I used the Defendemister as per the initial post on my 109. The trouble with that is that despite having a Defender heater and blower, I still have the SIII vents in the dash top which are a different size to Defenders, and that seems to prevent the aftermarket parts doing their job. I'm not sure if it's because they are more difficult to align with the mismatched SIII vents or because the smaller old vents restrict airflow. They're anything but pretty, though. I think that blocking up some of the upwards vents would deflect more air along the side tubes, now that I have heated front screens. Frankly, I'd recommend the dedicated hose systems that others have done, the way LR did it for winterised MoD Defenders, or would use the electric heaters on dedicated power feeds to make them work efficiently (they are next to useless if you use their full length leads and cigarette lighter plugs).

If you are fitting the later dash tot he Puma bulkhead, rather than fitting the Tdi/TD5 era dash with swapped brackets and fixings, I'd upgrade to the newer heater and blower - it is incredibly effective, and well worth the effort.

Diesels run smoother when injection is retarded. I suspect that's why it's only doing 40 mph.

Touch screen is no good if strong sunlight is shining on it/reflection off it, and if the screen fails, then you lose everything it controls, whereas a single switch failure is rarely more than a nuisance. As you said, modular is key so that hard tops, soft tops and such can be interchanged. Flat interior surfaces make for better equipment and storage installations. LR designed in so many rust traps that it can't be hard to improve on corrosion resistance. It would also be useful if the underside and engine bay were configured in a relatively open way that allows easy drainage and pressure washing, and simple maintenance without having to remove huge amounts to get at something that should be simple to swap (D3 clutch and belts come to mind).

Sounds like a brilliant upgrade, Boydie, but by "centrifugal fan", do you mean viscous fan? Centrifugal fans are like those used in SIII, Defender and RRC/Discover heater blowers, where as most radiator fans are axial flow. Did you replace the fan with a large centrifugal one? I haven't seen one, but if they exist, I'd be curious to know how well they work compared to conventional axial fans.

I used one of those extending red and grey plastic mop handles (Vileda, I think) from Tesco, with marks made on the telescoping section.

Yep, sure. By the time you fit the viscous hub, there isn't enough room left for the fan itself. I tried, but had to settle for an electric fan, even though my rad is in front of the cross member.

Worse than that - with the rad in the standard Series position, there isn't enough space between the water pump and rad face for the fan. Even if you mount the rad over the cross member, the fan will hit the cross member.

The spacer for the lift pump is only used if the operating lever (internal, that impinges on the cam shaft) is too long - these lift pumps can be used on a variety of engines, and there are many versions of pump too. Compare the length of arm on the old and new pumps to determine if it's needed.

If you heat the rod to straighten it, it will also anneal it to relieve stresses that may want to bend it again. Then heat it red hot again and throw it in a bucket of cold water or oil to quench it - that'll make it hard so that it won't bend. As for why it isn't standard length, it'll be because the difference in level between the slave cylinder mounting point and the flywheel will be different from the 4-pot.

There are differences, but I believe they're just brackets.

I don't think car manufacturer is important - they probably come from only one or two fan manufacturers. The important thing is to get the biggest that will fit the radiator, and having the sides of the fan exceed the sides and bottom of the rad is no problem - you can make baffle sheets to fill the gaps, but the bigger diameter would include more of the corners of the rad, so it really is a case of biggest is best. Alternatively, for a smaller fan, you can make a cowl that runs as a square from the edge of the rad, a flat sheet at the back with a circular hole for the fan which ensures that the fan sucks air through the corners of the rad, not just the circle prescribed by the fan rotor. Ideally, the back panel would be bevelled, but as long as there is an air gap between it and the rad surface, it'll work.

Glad to hear it's all working well! They do go nicely with a Tdi if you've been used to a 2.25 or a 2.5 nad of one type or another. At least the noise of this engine is nothing new to you, except the turbo sound. The modern engines are designed to run a little warmer than Series' engines. That said, your intercooler and oil cooler may be a bit restrictive fore the rad. You have plenty of space above the steering relay for the oil cooler if this turns out to be the case, but I found the temperature needle would sit with its left edge against the top left corner of the N letter, so if yours is roughly similar, then I reckon you're ok. The fan is important, though.

Properly reconditioned should do the same. The problem is that most reconditioners skimp by using borderline parts and pattern parts. But any LR specialist should be able to source one through Gen Parts; I got a SIII transmission that way (which had been incorrectly assembled and had a failure after 10,000 miles).

It looks like a length of rubber hose over the plastic hose, either for protection or to pack out the Jubilee clip.

From what I understand, the old 12J 2.5NAD is quite good in that application as it has high compression, so doesn't need the revs a Tdi needs to get the turbo spun up. With a propane injection system, that should do very well, and would be very easy to surce, very cheap, and the only non-standard part would be the propane system, so insurance and maintenance should be simple.

Don't go for option 3 as it has plenty of negative long term implications for you and could see your costs rocket. I would point out that the work was unsatisfactory and that you had to rectify what they couldn't sort out, and that they misdiagnosed the poor performance, and then negotiate a price from there.

There is a residual stiffness in the viscous hub, but the fan should spin by hand (though it will stop quickly). If you can't turn it by hand, then it has seized. They tend to fail completely when they do go, either fully seized or full free (very easy to spin with minimal residual resistance), so as long as you can spin it but it swiftly stops, it's fine.