Snagger

The amount of friction in a healthy cylinder is negligible compared to the resistance from the pressure plate. If you have a failing second cylinder, and age can be a factor, it makes sense to replace it at the same time, but replacing one cylinder has absolutely no ill-effect on the other; in fact, it'll help the other as you should be replacing the fluid at the end of the job with clean fresh stuff, not contaminated and mildly abrasive old fluid. I have worked that way for twenty yeas with several LRs, and have never had a cylinder fail within several years of replacing the other. Honestly, it is a myth put about by salespeople.

The GKN wouldn't fit with a different ratio transfer box.

I would love to fit one myself, but the prices are high for many f them and I suspect that most professional thieves have jammers. I'm fortunate in having a deterrent - my LR is too old and obsolete to be desirable for most thieves, and is too mucked about with to be desirable to the classic trade. It is also so modified that most of the arts are instantly and uniquely identifiable. It should keep the professionals from taking it.

Open cell foam is more effective than closed cell. The reason that Noise Killer (and some others) use closed cell foam is that open cell is as absorbent to moisture as it is noise. Closed cell is markedly less effective, but it doesn't absorb and hold water. The best sound absorbtion will be in a material with high surface area and soft structure with plenty of mass. Hence my comment about heavy domestic carpet.

The story about needing to replace both clutch cylinders together has a little bit of mechanical basis, but only as far as that if one is worn, then the other probably is too. Other than that, it's myth. There is certainly no difference in pressures from replace a cylinder - the master applies pressure and the slave moves in response. The pressure experienced inside the system is dependent on the spring pressure of the clutch pressure plate resisting the slave movement, given that the diaphragm springs are the item the hydraulic pressure is trying to move. You will only change the hydraulic pressure in the system if you have a stiffer pressure plate or a seized plate or fork. I have often had half pedal issues with LRs, and it has always been trapped air. The one stage missing from the bleeding instructions in all the manuals is to make sure the nose of the car is higher than the tail, so that any air in the slave cylinder rests against the inside of the bleed nipple, not the back of its piston where bleeding will fail to shift it.

While I also prefer the layout of the R380 gate, I agree that frequently selecting reverse by accident on a new LT77 smacks of ham fistedness. Fair enough on a worn out unit with knackered detents or maladjustment, but not a new one fresh from the factory.

The best thing to reduce noise is heavy carpet over the seat base, cab floor and lower bulkhead. If you fasten it with poppers, it'd be easily removable for drying/cleaning. The open nature and high surface area combined with softness will do more to absorb sound than any other individual product on the market. Automotive or marine carpet will do nothing to help. I have Wright Off Road matting in my 109 and it works well and is practical. It doesn't prevent water pooling in the foot wells from small leaks, though, and is less effective than a heavy carpet would be. Its main weakness is the comparative thinness of the bulkhead and seat base sections. Adding closed cell foam like Dynamat under the seat base would help a bit, but I lined the whole of my engine bay with Noise Killer mat and it made no appreciable difference over that the WOR cab matting had already done. Noise Killer or Dynamat is very effective when applied to the sides of the hard top or door panels, though - it's amazing how much low frequency drumming they stop from those points. I used a LaSalle headlining with camping roll mat between it and the roof panels for insulation and noise reduction, and it works very well indeed - lightweight and waterproof, it was easy to apply and doesn't hold condensation.

Remember the brakes discussion. Check that what you have is functioning correctly before you go altering things from standard.

I agree that a V8 should pull that gearing easily. V8s are prone to wearing cam shafts out, so that is one place I'd be looking. Unfortunately, it seems all too common for LR owners to write off poor performance, braking, steering and handling as a characteristic of the vehicle and set about all sorts of alterations when it just needs faults rectifying. Many of these cars are old and hard worked, and seemingly very few are well maintained. The recent discussion about brakes in the Defender section is a good example, and there are countless threads about Series steering. 4.71 ratio diffs would be easily and relatively cheaply sourced from a SIII 109, but they'll be old and you're taking a punt on condition. KAM Differentials do a wide range of ratios for Salisbury and Rover diffs, but they cost a bit more, being new and specialist. As for swapping Salisbury diffs, on paper it is much more complex than swapping a Rover diff, but in practice, it's not much harder. The casing is part oft he axle, unlike the Rover type, so the carrier and pinion come out separately from the casing.. That means a theoretical issue with preloads and mesh. The reality is that LR axle tolerances are good enough that there is very rarely a need to change the shims - you leave the pinion inner bearing outer race and its shims in the casing, and leave the carrier bearings and shims well alone; the cases are all accurate enough and the internals will all fit and mesh correctly, even when swapping pinions and complete carriers from case to case. It is even true if you fit the non-standard ratio KAM pinion and ring gear to the existing carrier - they give instruction on how to set up the mesh and preloads, but go on to say that less than 5% of instances need any alteration. I had no trouble changing from 4.71 to 3.54 and back again. You won't even need the axle spreader to get the carrier out, just a couple of levers and another pair of hands to handle it before it falls out.

Don't buy a new turbo - get a replacement from Turbo Technics in Northampton. It'll cost far less and will be every bit as good as new (they rebuild them for many manufacturers, including JLR). They can also make up VNT turbos for Tdis, if you are willing to spend a bit more (still cheaper than a new unit).

You want a location to be posted online to tell thieves where to look to disable them? Think it out...

Five big screws, the four small screws holding the vent trims in, and don't forget the two small screws in the lower edge roughly in line with the vent flap levers.

Wards are cheap, about half the price of Turner last time I looked. I remember they did the engine (or parts of) for an LRO vehicle (Saville's SI, IIRC), and I think there were some problems. I haven't heard much about them, but after several dealings with Turner, I've always found Richard and Frida very helpful indeed and the work excellent. I'm happy enough to pay the extra because they do make the engines better than LR ever did.

I have previously replaced a windscreen without removing the frame or dash - only the bottom screw in the centre vertical is obstructed, and that can be removed with mole grips and pliers. I then left that screw out on reassembly for ease of future repair (replaced during the big rebuild).

I suspect the light problem is actually a short between wires in the loom to the back of the vehicle, the brake light wire shorting into the warning lamp, or a loose and chafed earth wire from the warning lamp making an incorrect earth and shorting when moving under braking inertia. The brake lights earth directly to the body inside the rear body (inside the internal cover panels behind the rear lights), so shouldn't affect instruments which earth through their senders and through the dash (faulty dash earths do cause instrument problems as many dash components share the.same earths). I think you also need to repair your keyboard, specifically the punctuation keys.

Turner Engineering do exactly what you're after, and no-one does LR engines better. They'll ship a stripped engine to you and have the old one taken back by the courier in exchange, saving time.

Stobbie, contact Trading Standards, which is the UK authority on such matters. They will take the details and investigate and arbitrate. If there are other reports, they will prosecute him.

You will neither either Defender 200Tdi manifolds and turbo or 300Tdi; the existing turbo can be rotated to fit an 88", but not a 109".

I wish you a speedy recovery. It is an unfortunate aspect of road use that an erroneous driver puts others at risk, not just themselves. Drink/drug driving is on the increase again, people driving while unfit to do so, people driving unsafe vehicles, aggressive driving, use of mobile phones and other distractions, speeding - they all kill. I wouldn't care if it was only themselves they harmed, but they ruin others' lives day in, day out. That is why I think the law should be extremely harsh on them. By the way, 175kmh impact equates to 49m/s, not 400 - that's mach 1.3!

Chawton white is a whole vehicle colour. The roof would match. I think the normal white is Arctic white. Im not sure if this is just an old name for Chawton - as far as I know, Arctic is very slightly yellower than the chalky tone of Chawton, but that may be a perception error when seeing white roofs against coloured panels as opposed to a completely white vehicle. The old creamy colour has always been "Limestone", used from SIs to 90s and 110s.

You haven't looked at their prices, Neil!

But it is an easily transferable part - you can fit it to another vehicle if you replace yours, or you can sell it on separately for a large sum. So, yes it's expensive, but it is a life-long investment with good fuel (and ear) saving and a high residual value.

If the back end has already been replaced, and now you have had to get the rotten middle section removed then trust me, the rest is not OK - it's on borrowed time. The repair sections are very vulnerable to rust because they are bare inside and have overlaps with the old steel that prevent coating with wax. It's a fairly temporary measure unless it was butt welded in and the inside cleaned out and waxoiled diligently. Hopefully, you'll get a few years out of it. But be warned that once you start having to replace more than the odd outrigger or the rear cross member, the rot is already well advance inside the entire chassis.

It doesn't take much effort to move the floor braces on the tub, and you would be getting the steel away from corroding aluminium in the process. Moving the chassis hoops would be simple, too - just clamp a bar along the tops of all the hoops, then move one at a time to where you need them, the bar keeping the height alignment.

Sounds like you've been conned. You have spent money on repairing a rotten chassis, other areas of which will need attention very soon, and you will have to replace the whole thing. How is that better than stumping up for the big and long term investment straight away and avoiding the costs of futile repairs of the rotten chassis?