Snagger

Good tips! If anyone else has more, please speak up! I plan to remove the transmission to overhaul that too, so all the work in shoving it forwards won't be wasted if it comes to that. I had considered removing the engine mounts to lower it down a little, but the timing case on the 300Tdi is not far from the PAS box, and I don't know if I'll get much drop. As for removing the wheels to lower the body for craning the engine out over the rad panel, it's possible, as long as the axle doesn't end up blocking the front wheels and legs of the crane...

As I said, the design was probably altered after testing, with all production heads "sealed up" to ensure more even cooling. It's easy to alter the machining process in the head, but expensive to change the casting tooling of the block or punch tools for the gaskets, so those were left as per the original design, the head alteration being sufficient by itself. It's a guess, but seem logical.

I have removed everything from inside the boot space (save for the head lining), the side steps, sill covers, front bumper, grille, bonnet, scuttle panel, rear corners and rear wings, all lighting, lower tail gate ad the right front wing. The boot floor is actually not that bad - it's the edges that have gone where the spot welded flanges let water into the lap joint. The same is true of the rear body cross member, which seems sound but has blown the spot welded flange behind each wheel (it's still good inboard of the wheels). The rear wheel arches need a fair bit of patching around the rear inner wing joints, C pillar bases and sills. The right side sill is bad at the back end and is holed on its side under the B pillar flange. The bulkhead is pretty good, but needs a patch in front of the upper door hinge, where the inner wing box section is welded to it. The front right wheel arch needs new sheet metal welding in around its outboard edges where they meet the side, but it otherwise seems OK. The space under the windscreen that was hidden by the scuttle panel was rust free, which was a very pleasant surprise. The tailgate and bonnet have been completely stripped in preparation for acid bathing and e-coating, and I may get the original rear corners (that the lights screw into) done with them - I'm sure the body shop will have no trouble dealing with the exposed sections that went rusty along the seam, and the acid and e-coat will get rid of the rust and prevent it from ever coming back. I'm trying to keep the car as original as possible and there's no point in replacing them if they don't need it, and with new corners costing about £130 each, this seems as reasonable approach. If you want to see any photos, they're on the Range Rover section of my blog - I'll be periodically updating that as the restoration progresses. In the mean time, I need to remove the engine for rebuild. Does anyone know how to do it? Access to the bell housing bolts seems awfully restricted and the crane will have to lift the engine terribly high to clear the rad panel (which is spot welded in, unlike older RRCs which had bolt--in panels between the head light mounts. I am wondering about disconnecting the prop shafts and hand brake cable and undoing the transmission mounts to slide the whole lot forward to get at the upper bell housing bolts, and may have to drill the spot welds of the rad panel to remove that (I might replace the head light mountings anyway).

Their brake components have always had a questionable quality reputation, but this quality control has to be the finest example of why to go for respectable brands. What are their QC inspectors actually looking for if their hoses are solid?

To fit LR alloys on older 90s and 110s with the thick hubs and drive flanges, you can either use spacers (with the incumbent increase in wheel bearing, stub axle and steering component wear that they bring, and a marked increase in steering forces on non-PAS models), you can turn the inside of the wheel on a lathe to increase hub clearance, or you can use a thin spacer and, if desired, longer studs. Regarding the latter, my 109 has a 110 rear axle which I converted to discs using (amongst other parts) 110 front hubs. These don't allow the alloys to fit on - the inside of the wheel centre fouls on the bevelled edge of the hub between the drive flange bolt holes. A 1/4 spacer, made from the centre of a scrap brake drum, sorted that clearance out with minimal track increase (6mm vs normal spacers' 30mm). However, I was concerned about the amount of thread engagement on the studs. Wolf studs are 1/2" (12mm) longer, so I used these. That produced another obstacle - the alloy nuts ran out of internal thread 2-3 mm before pulling up on the wheels. Rather than cutting the studs down and damaging their hardening or heat treatment with the heat generated by grinding, I just used a tap to extend the threads inside the nuts and no more problem. I don't know if replacing the studs like that would be essential, but I'd rather have 6mm more engagement than 6mm less.

You can only fit after-market alloys with open centres which expose the hub - LR alloys won't fit over the Series hubs.

That's what I thought, though I thought some LSDs might be OK. That's why the RRC handles icy roads better than my wife's Defender; the Borg Warner unit keeps both axles driving without causing skidding in the turns. Snow chains are a pain because they need to be removed for most roads and make a mess in the boot. It's also a nuisance to keep removing and refitting them. Winter tyres are excellent, I know, but my tyres are winter rated anyway. BFG ATs are also snow rated. They're good in those conditions, but a little extra help can never be a bad thing. I'll look at fitting the DII system.

I have Hankook ATs on it at the moment, but only because they were relatively unused on the RRC CSK/LSE alloys I bought for the 109. I normally use BFG AT/KOs, which seem very good on the RR and on the 109 on snowy roads. It's just when trying to do things like climb a kerb to clear the road in the snow that can be a problem - the rear will climb up happily because of the ETC, but not the front, and I was hoping for a very quick and simple fix using an ECU from a vehicle being broken. It's not worth the cost of LSDs or other diff locks just for that.

Ha! This RR doesn't go off roading. What I'd like is better front grip on snowy or icy roads. It's good, but if it can be easily converted, it'd be worth it.

Does anyone know if it's possible to upgrade the late Classic's ABS system, which has ETC on the rear, to have ETC up front too? Is it an ECU issue? Does the Discovery II have all round ETC, and can it's system or relevant parts be transplanted?

I thought TD5s had thinner oil than that, though I've never run one so am far from sure, but local temperatures may demand something thicker. I'd check the specified oil and go for a synthetic oil of the correct grade, rather than a cheap mineral oil of thicker grade.

Thanks guys. I'll look at the brake and I'll pull the prop shaft to check the UJs by hand (not just check for play, but also binding or roughness, which can't be done fitted). The rear brakes squeal a little as the brakes are released gently, despite thorough cleaning, so I'll replace the pads too. I'll post the results of what I find once I do the work - it'll have to be done next week at the earliest.

Also visit the workshops to see their working conditions and look around their stock. One well known rebuild specialist not far from Solihul has panels and other parts piled high outdoors and the mankiest, messiest workshops you can imagine. That is highly indicative of disorganisation and an utter lack of care or interest in quality. A few of their resale vehicles that were being sold on again by owners a few years after they had been rebuilt by this specialist did not seem to be faring as well as I'd have expected for their prices, and when I pushed them on how they do their hard top conversions for windows, seating and trim, the answers I got regarding structural elements of the seats, restraints and side panel reinforcing suggested to me that they had absolutely no idea of what they were doing, and I felt their conversions to be dangerous. My friend said the look on my face while their workshop manager talked through their mods was hilarious - I don't have much of a poker face, and my friend had to disappear behind a few cars as he couldn't hold his laughter at my reaction any longer! Know what you want, find out how it should be done properly and the TEST the companies by pretending to be completely void of all technical understanding and ask them to go through what they do and how. The rogues will show their colours pretty quickly as they'll talk you into unwanted work and will not give suitable detail on the highly technical issues.

I had worn CVs that clicked years ago. I replaced them with Britpart ones and was surprised that the did 90,000 miles bfore one of them let go and clicked badly. The bell cracked through in two places all the way through - you could see daylight through the cracks. The cause remains unknown, but the other side was perfect with no apparent wear. CVs are one component that Britpart do well, and at just over £30, at a very good price. Even shcroft Transmissions rate them highly, with BP CVs coming second best in destructive testing, outperformed only by a Gucci aftermarket, very expensive uprated alternative. While avoiding high throttle positions may nurse the CVs a little, it's tight cornering and off roading that will kill them - cornering will reuire the viscous coupling to slip, and you've seen how much torque needs to be applied to it through the diffs and cv joints for that to happen, and off roading will shock load them as the wheels slip or spin and then find grip.

Hi folks. I'm not really familiar with the Puma transmissions, so could do with a hand identifying a noise in the rear transmission. When the engine is producing minimal torque, like coasting, or under engine braking, the rear end makes a repetitive noise like a damped rattle. I had initially thought it could be the rear door lock rattling until I spotted the pattern relating to engine output. It seems particularly noticeable after a medium to long drive where everything has warmed up, and then crawling at low speed gives a regular knock. The car makes an odd "chucka-chucka" noise on start up and shut down, which I believe to be the dual mass flywheel (first one I've had use of). It could be related, but then again might not, but it's a similar noise to what we hear as this driving noise, and with the added background noise of wind, suspension movement and tyre roll, could possibly be the same noise. My list of candidates are: rear brakes; rear prop shaft UJs binding; transmission bounce of the dual mass flywheel (I gather the clutch and flywheel aren't that reliable on the model). All suggestions welcome!

Try the convoluted rubber gaiters - they stop the stones from chipping the chrome in the first place, so water never gets to contact the steel.

I'd hazard a guess, but it's only that: the original development engines may have had the coolant holes in the head aswell, but with relatively unrestricted flow through the front of the block into the front of the head and back to the rad, the flow through the back of the engine may have been poor, so the head apertures were closed up but there was no need to do so on the block or gasket. Just a hunch...

The sliding low range gear on the transfer box output shaft is very loose on its splines and tends to wobble unless under load, so that could be a cause of the vibration. Other causes could be lumps of debris on the hand brake drum or binding of the hand brake shoes on the drum. You will certainly get much more noise from the transfer box when testing - with the transfer box in neutral, my main box is relatively quiet in all gears, but with the transfer box engages (props off), the chattering at idle is unpleasant in third and horrifying in fourth. I thinks it's a characteristic of the design, and not necessarily a fault - my transfer box has been rebuilt and runs flawlessly, despite the racket.

I think Discovery arches will fit - as far as I know, the arches have identical profiles. The only issue might be the body panel creases, which differ between the two models.

I think it's mostly body work corrosion - late 300Tdis and TD5s seem to have the worst corrosion rates of the body panels, except for the newer doors.

You have bet several push rods. Hopefully, the cam followers, valves and rockers are undamaged, but there are no guarantees. Remove the rocker cover and the rocker shaft to replace the push rods. It's probably best to replace them all as some might have a very slight bend which could be missed but will worsen in use. Once the rods have been replaced, slacken all the tappets and refit the rocker shaft. Reset the tappets and the cover, and it should run fine.

I think I read a post recently saying that the TD5 fork is identical to the SIII. If true, then it's bullet proof - the SIII fork is a perfect example of engineering a product for life-time service, not cost engineering.

Wow - I'm surprised at a V8 having single circuit brakes.

You will need the 2.6/V8 master cylinder that goes with those slave units. A single circuit master would be dire. You will need servo assistance, so if you previously had single circuit brakes, you also need the pedal box assembly, servo and vacuum system from a donor vehicle (any 109 or servo assisted 88, not specific to 2.6/V8). The dual line systems have a Pressure Differential Warning Actuator (PWDA), which is a chassis mounted shuttle valve with hydraulic pressure from one circuit on each side of the shuttle. The idea is that any leaks in a circuit will lead to a pressure loss in that side under braking, allowing the shuttle to slide over towards that circuit and trigger a dash warning light. They're expensive and failure prone, and cause trouble when bleeding the system. A better and simple alternative is to use the reservoir cap from a Discover, RRC or Defender that has a float sensor, and wire that up to the dash warning light. That way, even a very slow leak that is too small to trigger even a perfect PWDA valve will still show up before you lose the brakes, and you won;t have so much cost or trouble with bleeding.

A good TD5 is better than an average Tdi, and a good Tdi better than an average TD5! Other than choosing a specific wheel base and body type, you're better off not worrying about engine and gear box combinations - buy on condition of the vehicle. A TD5 is probably the most pokey Defender without mods, but few people buy a Defender for street racing and the difference in performance, economy and driving comfort is not big enough to be a big consideration. If you were a DIY mechanic, then the Tdis could be better for you as they are simpler engines, but since you are not, then it makes little difference.