Snagger

sorry, yes, I wasn't thinking straight. However, TD5 bonnets don't take spare wheels and are weaker than earlier bonnets. As long as that doesn't matter, then a swap should be simple. You may have to swap bonnet stay parts about, though.

It is a five bearing engine, meaning it has five main bearings on the crank shaft, but the 12J, 19J, both Tdis, 2.5 petrol and the late 10j and 2.25 petrols were also 5mb.

As above, 19J. I've had a 12J, 19J and 200Tdi and stripped all of them down for rebuild. Unfortunately, the 19J was not worth rebuilding - they have a propensity for cracking their pistons and heads, and mine was no exception; it had big cracks between the valves in each cylinder and all the pistons had cracks right the way across and through the crowns that were wide enough to let light through. Watch its oil consumption, and if it gets high, be careful - the breather starts venting oil straight into the intake and the engine then runs on this oil as a fuel and revs to destruction, the only way to stop it being engaging the highest gear you can and standing on the brakes to stall the engine. Well looked after, the engines could be alright, but most were wrecked and later replaced with Tdis.

They do swap over with minimal changes, but why do it? The new bonnets are much dearer, can't mount a spare wheel on, can't be walked on as easily (if that sort of thing floats your boat) and get stolen far more often to be sold on ebay (usually to the poor sod who's car it came from).

It seems that the UK govt is not happy about the proposals - they state that the UK already exceeds most of the requirements for cars and motorbikes, is pointing out the costs of the scheme and highlighting the fact that much of the benefit is based on unquantified assumptions. One of the recent similar documents (if not this one) also highlights the loss of 28,000 jobs in the UK aftermarket vehicle industry should modifications and accessories be banned. With UKIP's increasing pressure creating so much concern within the Commons, and increasing demands for a referendum that Cameron is trying to avoid, I don't think the govt will let this one go anymore - more pointless bureaucracy that needlessly ends a very popular British hobby, costs a fortune in taxes and puts another 28,000 (minimum) out of work, while also forcing hundreds of thousands of households to lose the use and any value of their vehicles would be electorally suicidal. I just can't see it being adopted now, thank god. Frankly, the EU have much bigger problems to deal with.

Are the vanes not automatic? I had assumed they were spring loaded to a fine position and coarsened as boost pressure increased, trying to maximise turbine rpm at low egt/egv to maximise boost up to the waste gate controlled pressure. I didn't think there was much you could do to them.

I still use the Mud pads regularly on my 109, run through a dash switch. My RRC has factory fitted mirror heating, run from the heated rear screen circuit (also has heated windscreen washer nozzles on the same circuit), and they are again invaluable. Our new TDCI XS has all the bells and whistles you would want in a Defender except these, so I want to it them, and will connect them to the heated rear window circuit. The problem is finding a neat wiring route - the 109's wiring runs along the corner between the bulkhead and wing top, which is fine for that vehicle but not neat enough for the 90. The Mudstuff linked sites, including the Devon one, don't seem to work - the Devon site photos seem to have been removed and the other link has been taken down completely. I'm thinking of running the wiring down the door pillar, through the convoluted rubber tube with the C/L and electric window wiring into the door, which will keep it neat and prevent pinching or chafing, but getting a tidy route from a hole drilled behind the hinge up to the inside hollow of the arm eludes me.

I think you have a short somewhere, possibly in the ign switch.

The 200Tdi is pretty robust, so shouldn't have any trouble with moderate tweaking of the pump and waste gate actuator. A performance intercooler would also help, probably more than the boost increase, as the standard intercooler isn't as thermally efficient and has more of a restriction on airflow than the bigger aftermarket models. Just remember to check with your insurers, as performance mods tend to affect premiums and an undeclared mod would invalidate the policy.

If it's not a rare version or in especially good condition, then I'd break it, but it'd be a shame to beak a vehicle that is in very good condition or has any historical significance - the parts you need aren't rare and can be picked up from shows and forum classifieds, so either scenario has merit, depending on the state of the vehicle.

Injection timing is very important on diesels, and on direct injection or common rail engines it's critical. It not only affects the colour and amount of smoke, but also affects power, torque, fuel efficiency, coking and internal temperatures. Get it badly wrong and it'll damage the engine. Retarded fuel injection gives easy starting (because the engine is turning over more slowly, throwing the fuel in late works better), but once running will reduce performance and gives of white smoke (with a bluish tinge, but not as much as burning oil). Engine temperatures will be cooler than normal because the fuel doesn't have time to fully combust, and you will be washing the bores and head, which will give glazing or increased wear. the engine will seem smooth, though, because combustion is occurring after TDC, jarring the piston less. Advanced timing makes the engine rougher, starting more difficult, degrades performance because the piston is still rising against the premature combustion and gives black smoke. It also elevates running temperatures and can cause coking. Correct timing will give a little black smoke when working hard, accompanied by slight harshness and roughness, more than if retarded, but much less than if advanced. Tdis timing can be set by using the flywheel locking tool (a scrap R380 reverse light works well) and injection pump locking tool (the blunt end of a 9.5mm drill bit is a good substitute). That will get the timing about as close to perfect as is possible, assuming the pump hasn't been incorrectly assembled as happened on my 300Tdi (new pump with the input wheel on the wrong location on the shaft, so timing was impossible). You can try small variations by moving the pump body 1mm at a time in the required direction, but mark the starting position and remember to advance the pump by turning the casing the opposite way to fan rotation or to retard the pump by turning it with fan rotation, taking a test drive after each adjustment. It's doubtful that you'll see much improvement from standard, though. Td5s and TDCIs timing is done electronically from a crank shaft position sensor, so would be done through ECU mapping.

An interesting difference from SIII wiring (I have a 200Tdi SIII, using the same ign switch, solenoid, starter and heater plug system as a Defender, but the original loom has no diode in the dash or fuse box - the alternator diode pack would not be prevented from back-powering the solenoid through the fuse box, where all the white, fused ignition switched live wires converge, including the wire to the alternator charge warning light. This is not a failure mode I had previously considered, so a mod might be in order.

The idea here is that the alternator diode pack voltage may be back powering the fuel solenoid, bypassing the ign switch, so disconnecting the diode pack would prove that whether the ign switch and circuit is functioning correctly. If the fault persists with the diode pack disconnected, you know the fault is not with the alternator. And yes, that is the wire you're after.

Sounds likely - the diode pack should be connected to the ign live circuits in the fuse box, so that with the key on but engine not running, current will flow through the charge warning light from the battery, earthing through the alternator, but when the alternator is providing charge, it should cancel the battery's 14V (the voltage being received by the battery directly from the alternator main windings). If the alternator diode pack is allowing excessive voltage back to the light, it could be earthing in reverse through the solenoid, holding it open. Alternatively, it could be a short on the ign switch. Try disconnecting the battery warning light circuit from the alternator (the thin wire) - if the engine behaves normally having revved it up, then you know it's the alternator. If it continues to run with the key off, it's the ign switch.

My 300 Tdi and R380 now have 200k and the box is fine except for the common 2nd gear glitch. I was under the impression that LT77s do the same thing, but I'm not sure.

I though VNTs were cheaper than that. Oh well, there goes that idea for my Tdi RRC... Since you already have the Tdi in, it seems a better option to maximise its performance rather than start again. I'd be worried about what the Cummins would do to the diffs and shafts. But, it's probably less fun.

Put simply, extend the white wire with the red stripe that used to run to the solenoid mounted on the battery stand to the blade terminal on the new starter motor and run all the brown cables that connected to the battery to the stud terminal on the starter motor, along with a heavy battery lead. The alternator wiring doesn't change, though the terminals may, but the alternators can be swapped over if you want anyway. Your biggest issues are the temperature sender, heater plugs and the fuel solenoid. The temp sender needs to be a SIII type, not the 90/110, otherwise it won't be compatible with the gauge and will always read in the cold arc. The fuel solenoid can be connected by an extension of the coil LT wire, if you had a petrol, or by running a new cable to the appropriate switch terminal using a petrol switch. The heater plugs run from 12V, so don't use the ballast resistor from a SIII diesel. You can either use the timer relay run with a direct battery feed and ign switch control as per a Defender or just fit a heavy duty switch on the dash, whichever you prefer.

Thanks, Task. Red oxide, Schutz and wax were what I was leaning towards for the inner shell. The local blaster I used for steel parts on my 109 rebuild used red oxide and it has stayed perfectly intact on the bull bar, side steps and fuel tanks, wing braces and other exposed steel parts despite racking up nearly 40,000 miles in the seven years since completing it and all the stone chipping that has got past the paint over the oxide. It's not as reliable as galv for rust prevention and interior covering, but at least there won't be any warping or slumps and scum on visible areas to worry about. It's not an easy decision and I am vacillating a bit... The rebuild will be well documented on my blog. I will have to set the site up to avoid confusion, because it is currently set up to reflect the work on my 109 - it has subsections for the various different parts of the vehicle, and another section for each of the RRC and the Lightweight (now gone). I'd want to break the RR rebuild into sections too, which suggests I need to tidy up the 109 subsections under a 109 banner.

£300 for a 200Tdi engine and all ancilliaries, and I don't think the VNT turbos cost the earth. The diffs could probably be done for the cost of the gaskets and oil only (I have a 4.71 Salisbury diff sitting in my garage that I'd give away). No custom mounts, fly wheels, adaptors, prop shafts or blown transmission parts... The only really expensive item would be an underdrive, if you went with that, but I don't think gearing alterations of any sort would be required with the tweaked Tdi anyway. And there's a lot to be said for having a quick and easy installation and easy sourcing of replacement parts in the future, and you know it's going to fit and work well from the outset, with plenty of other peoples' experience in doing it. Just a point of view... But, I do see the attraction of trying something new, just for the challenge of it. It's more of a risk, but could be more satisfying to complete.

If they haven't asked for the new part back and it is otherwise the same as the failed actuator, then you have nothing to lose. I would hope that each of the wores has the same colour coding, but that might not be the case.

Great. Thanks for that, Darren. The Paddocks sills were likely Britpart sourced, so that may speak for itself. The outer rear wheel arches have previously been replaced and are still mint, so that's one job off the list. I also had the forward sill body mounts done recently, so that's another one down. It should all be pretty manageable, and a good friend is an excellent welder, a real artisan in fact, so I'm sure he'd be willing to do that for a little beer money. I only have an arc welder, so would blow holes in the new parts anyway!

At the risk of being a really boring suggestion, have you considered a 200Tdi with tweaked pump, VNT turbo (they bring peak torque down from 1800 to 1400rpm on the 300, so I assume it'd do the same on the 200) running with a little more boost and a big intercooler? That way, you'll have a simple fit with no chopping about, and all standard or off-the-shelf parts. Insurance should be easy and you won't have to worry about blowing or upgrading the transmission. It'll even leave more space and budget for an auxilliary heater like an Eberspacher or Webasto! As a towing vehicle, an underdrive might also help, or fitting an LT230Q from a Discovery with 4.71 diffs from a SIII (the diff swap alone would probably be too low geared)? The latter would be less flexible than the underdrive, permanently lowering the overall gearing and wanting a speedo recallibration, but it'd give plenty of torque and would again use standard parts, making maintenance and repair far easier.

Please don't do a lash up job. I know it's a single and relatively short journey, and that you'll keep the speed down, but a hitch failure could still easily kill someone if it hits them or causes them to swerve to avoid the trailer. It sounds like you have a better plan now, anyway, but no driver should ever consider risking driving an unroadworthy vehicle just because of the inconvenience of waiting for delivery of the correct parts - much better to delay the collection of the trailer than risk others' well being and your livelihood.

That's because Discoverys are much easier and more comfortable to drive, not because of the engine.

There is supposedly no difference in output between the Discovery/RRC version of the 200 and the 300, and only a small degradation of the Def version of the 200, presumably something to do with the manifolds and turbo configuration. The 300 is smoother and quieter, though. It also has a crank driven oil pump that is regarded as far superior, and has the benefit of preventing bearing seizure should you have a timing belt failure, unlike the cam shaft driven 200 pump. That must have saved quite a few crank and cam shafts in the early days where the timing pulleys chewed up the belts. However, it is much more prone to warping or cracking heads if over heated, but at least you can still buy new heads - the more robust 200 heads have been unavailable for quite some time and even the reconditioners won't hold stock, needing your own to rebuild. Personally, as someone with one of each engine, I don't see the point in changing unless the 200 needs a lot of expensive work. My RRC has an R380, which is a nice box, but has one design flaw - they suffer premature wear on the second gear baulk ring, so changing up from 1st to 2nd will crunch if you don't momentarily pause in neutral. It's based on the LT77 and I believe it has the same gear ratios and larger bearings of the LT77S, which is what our Tdi should have (the old 77 units were used behind 12J and 19J engines, I believe). Again, there's little point in changing unless yours is faulty. I think that you would be able to retain your existing tunnel and trim, though - the change in the cabin of the 300Tdi vehicles was probably because the engine and transmission moved (the engine went well forward as they used the standard long bell housing).