Snagger

I'd bond them into their channels with silicone - it'll stop them moving about as you move the roof panel about to line the bolt holes up.

Tell me about it! Apart from a spare wheel, my bonnet also mounts a shovel and pick handle and the underside is fully clad in Noise Killer blanketing. It has the intermediate type of Defender stay that is rigid and clips up aft along the bonnet frame, which is quite a reach while holding the bonnet one handed. Fine for me, but the mechanic struggled on the MoT.

Take a look at a new lock - it could eb that yours is worn or faulty in allowing so much latch protrosion.

I had exactly your fault. It's the earth connection on the engine side of the driver's foot well top slope. It's a bolt sticking up through the sheet steel with a bunch of earth wires with ring terminals - you need to make sure there is clean metal on the foot well panel for the terminals and bolt to touch.

Do you have the spreader that goes between the nut and the back face of the chassis bracket? The pivot would move if missing...

Did you use gen parts? I've never had the circlip come off, and it sounds like there's a fault with either the groove or the clip on yours for it to do that. It's not a perfect solution, putting a fair amount of strain on that pivot and its bracket, but mine is pretty stationary, and even with the 3.54 diffs, which are supposed to need a bigger transmission brake, the original brake holds the car on very steep slopes without a groan or shudder, so yours should too.

Construction of a car in the 1990s took about three times the energy that the car would consume in its service life. Modern cars have so many extras and electronics now that you could safely estimate that a typical car built in 2013 used four time the energy in its construction than the 1990s car consumed in fuel (maybe 5 times what itself would consume, given improved engine efficiencies). For the Toyota Pious (that is a much better spelling, considering the nature of their drivers), the batteries alone mean that the vehicle must cost about 7 times that 1990 in-service fuel consumption. It's life is shortened by the lack of longevity of its LiIon batteries - we all know how laptop and phone batteries, using the same technology, die after a few years, and that will happen to the Pious. Scrapping will be an environmental nightmare because of their toxic and hazardous nature. In other words, modern cars are consuming vastly more energy and resources than older vehicles over their entire life. Still, it's supported by the automotive industry, obviously, as they are making money from the con, and it's supported by politicians who are benifitting from the increased tax revenues on car sales and the employment by the car manufacturers. Incidentally, I met someone who builds wind turbines. He said that they also cost more energy than they produce...

Oh don't be so cruel - you know someone will try it! Mikey, have you got a longitudinal tie rod between the chassis cross member and bell housing (optional equipment catalogue, as fitted to MoD vehicles)? It makes a huge difference. Checking the condition of the linkage pivot could be revealing - if the pivot is worn, rusted or wobbling on the chassis, you'll lose a lot of lever input force there. Drilling the drum once every 90 degrees with a drain hole could help, as long as you do it without weakening it.

Door seals (one piece, too), interior linings, an improved heater, a Hotstart, and twin-loop heated seats. Mmmm. You don't have to suffer in a Series! Actually, I rather like that - I'll have to use it as a signature...

ANd check that the door seal isn't pressing too hard against the door...

I used to think that way too, but it's wrong. Try pushing a door open near its handle and try again near its hinges. Your shoulder muscles are just as strong and the door just as heavy, but the leverage (ie gear ratio) is markedly higher - your fingers are working much harder if you push near the hinge line, even though their required movement is less, just like increased gearing in a transmission. If the transmission isn't strong enough, it'll break under the resistance - ask a person with arthritis or osteoporosis to push a door open that way and see the look they give you! That's what happened to my third gear, which was perfectly happy with the Tdi and overdrive, but the addition of the taller diffs killed it.

Have a look at the rad installation this fellow did on a RHD 109. You can see that it would eb feasible to mount the rad all the way to the right on a LHD vehicle because you con't have any steering parts there, and a 300 Tdi intercooler should fit in front of the left side of the rad, staggered so that the air hose connections run between the rad and the steering. It'll need trimming of the left side of the existing rad mounting of the front panel, but should work.

The Roverdrive lever pivot is really designed with LHD in mind. While the Fairey lever is cranked towards the driver, whichever side they are on, by having a bend in the lever rod that can be rotated in the vertical pivot hole to suit driver position and locked in with the locknut against the pivot top, the lean on the Roverdrive lever is done by having a straight rod and an inclined receiver on the top of the pivot. For LHD orientation, the lever leans left and the bottom of the receiver is welded to the right hand end of the pivot centre tube, clear of the tunnel, but for RHD you need to fit the pivot assembly the other way around for the lever to lean right, and that puts the base of the lever receiver inside the edge of the tunnel, causing clearance issues with their gaiter and retaining ring and any carpet or matting. The lever and pivot assembly are one area where the earlier design is superior.

Bloody hell, Fridge!

Possibly, by maybe they were factory fitted, especially if they all share the same key. All the SIIs and SIIIs I have seen had a key barrel in the driver's door and back door only. It might be an optional extras issue or specification for different markets.

That's fine then - photos taken while the work is still under way can be misleading, but you are clearly satisfied with the workmanship. I didn't know you are already familiar with the vehicle!

All the Series gear boxes had comparable gearings, with 4th always being a lock-up between the input pinion and main shaft (ie no gears at all), so any Series transmission with any non-1-Ton or V8 transfer box (the latter is integrated in the LT85 anyway) will give you the same output to the prop shaft, from the earliest SI to the last of the SIIIs or Santana units. So, unless you have a modified or non-standard transmission, all your problems will best be solved by 750 or 235/85 tyres and an overdrive, but 3.54 diffs will be bad unless you keep cookie cutter wheels and tyres. Importantly, the speedo will be thrown out of calibration by changing diffs (35% under-read) or tyre size (approx 10% under-read). Only fitting an overdrive avoids the need for recalibration. Using a speedo built for a 109 and use with 7.50s is a simple way to ensure accuracy, overdrive or not, but using 3.54s will need recalibration by a company like speedycables or JDO1 - I used the latter and have been pleased with their work and service.

Series doors typically only have locks on the driver's door and rear door of hard tops. Soft tops have a rear tailgate with no locks, and I wouldn't be surprised if the driver's door had no lock either. The passenger door is only lockable from inside using a knurled knob - it has no external key barrel.

That's the common method on RHD vehicles, but there may be issues with the intercooler bottom hose fouling the steering relay and arm on LHD vehicles, hence the suggestion to use an intercooler in front of the rad rather than staggered alongside it. As long as the pipe work and steering are clear, though, then your proposal would be ideal.

A voltage sensitive relay would be ideal, cutting power when the alternator is not charging the system but providing power whenever the alternator does. Fitted in conjunction with a relay that will cut power when the headlights are switched on (to prevent blinding others at night), it should work fine. Failing that, a standard relay controlled by the charge warning light wire from the alternator (the small one) would do the same job.

I'd suggest Ashtree would be worth a look. They're probably cheaper than genuine new doors, despite being galvanised so you don't need to worry about doing it again. There have been adverse comments on the forum about some other after-market new doors, though that seemd limited to issues over cracking of rear doors around the spare wheel mount.

As I said, I have had very few issues (arguably none at all) caused by the Tdi, and nor do the majority of Tdi or V8 users as long as they don't drive with binary pedal use (ie sharp on-off movements). I think my gear box 3td gear failure was entirely down to my misuse oft he transmission - I was using the overdrive in 3rd as 4th is too high with 3.54 diffs for 30mph, and that much torque resistance combined with the Tdi output nailed the gear. It's like a velodrome cyclist breaking the bike chain through having very high wheel resistance from tall gears and massive torque input on the pedals - a smaller input or lower gearing will reduce the load on the chain. So, any gearing alteration will have toque load effects on every component in the system, including the engine crank shaft, con rods, gudgeon pins and pistons. Increase the gearing and everything upstream of the alteration is under more strain while everything downstream under less; decrease the gearing and everything upstream will be eased while everything downstream loaded higher. Consequently, I refit the 4.71 rear diff, hated the noise and refit the 3.54 again, restricting high range use of the overdrive to 4th gear to protect the rest of the gear box. Low range with overdrive should not create any overload. The thermal oil issues are significant with higher loadings. That's why it's helpful to use 4th as much as possible, because it locks the input pinion and main shaft, the gears being loaded only with idling forces.

It could be good - it looks straight and the engine bay conversion appears neat. Photos don't show detail of chassis or mechanical condition, though. It doesn't have mud shields under the front wings and the bolt holes in the foot wells are letting water in. If they haven't been fitted, with their importance in protecting the heater and pedal boxes, what else is missing? Fine if it's a job being completed, but if the car is being run like that routinely, I wouldn't go for it because the approach of leaving off protective panels is a worrying indicator. I'd have to know what was going on there to make a guess on the condition of the innards of the vehicle and the care taken over it, as a fresh lick of paint for sale says nothing.

The engine isn't geared, and all LR 4-pot diesels are limited to the same 4200ish RPM. But the engine is important in that it needs to have enough torque to pull the higher gears otherwise speed and fuel economy will suffer. Having small diameter tyres reduces overall gearing considerably, and so running 6.00s with 3.54 diffs would not be such a massive step up as with7.50s, but is effectively a little more than half the effect of an overdrive with standard gears and 7.50s. An 88 will have no trouble on the 6.00s and 3.54s, and a 109 only a hint of performance decrease over standard, but have you ever seen a 109 on 6.00s? If you're going from 4.71 and 6.00s to 3.54s and 7.50s simultaneously, you are increasing the axle gearing by approximately 45%, and will be in for a big shock at how badly the car drives on a 12J.

The thing is that the pro warming/weirding climatologists are being extremely unscientific in being so selective/manipulative about historical data and looking at the Earth in isolation. Apart from ignoring fact like extensive vine and olive groves in middle-age England, and the 10 degree temperature drop in the early-mid 17thC that allowed bubonic plague to travel so easily on a mushrooming rat population, and the sea level drop indicator of the village where the Romans landed in Kent in 72AD being 5 miles inland, they are not considering the recently increased storm activity on all of Sol's planets or the ice cap recession on Mars to be relevant to Earth's alleged climate change. I would argue that if Earth's climate is changing, and it is a big if, then it has very little to do with mankind and a great deal more to do with received solar radiation, which can be the only explanation after all for the other planets' changes (as much as the media would wish to portray the effects of three all-wheel drive Rovers for Mars' storms and ice cap). And so, shouldn't the money being used to tiddle into wind and stop the inevitable be spent on mitigation of climate change, like developing better GM crops to grow in the new climate, building more resilient infrastructure and creating reserves? We have three Rovers in the household, but given that I drive jets for a living, anti-4wd sentiment is just one facet. The airline industry is equally vilified, but what long range travel mechanism is more environmentally friendly? How many thousands of tonnes does a train weigh, and how many hundreds of thousand a cruise ship? Compare that to a fully loaded 747 set for a maximum-range flight weighing in at about 400T, which is going to take the most fuel to shift? And which system needs the least physical infrastructure? How many millions of miles of tarmac do roads make up, or millions of miles or rail track with all that environmental damage of grading the land, laying the ballast and smelting millions of tons of steel track? An aeroplane just needs a mile to a mile and a half runway and a parking spot! Any warming effect that jets have by CO2 emissions are more than offset by the insolation reduction caused by the reflective quality of the contrails they emit. But hey, why would the media or politicians let the truth get in the way of "A Convenient Lie"? The reality is that politicians, media organisations and many industries like car and domestic appliance manufacturers, energy companies, transport companies, food, entertainment, home improvement and other businesses are all making money from this scam. The pro change climatologists are all on the payroll of beneficiaries of the climate change hysteria, and those who oppose the theory are treated as heretics, consigning their scientific careers to the dustbin, so how balanced can the scientific argument be? Now, what if all this is really a cover story for the fact that oil is running out faster than admitted, with the collapse of society and civilisation coming sooner if alternative energies aren't found? It could simply be an attempt to prevent panic and hoarding on vast, corporate scales.