Snagger

The type that wraps around the top to be a simple "bolt-on" won't fit a LHD vehicle because its top would foul the Panhard rod. This type is used for LHD models and also Series vehicles (where the guard needs to stop low to prevent fouling the Series' front mounted track rods) - I have one on my 109. The set up is done as per your second photo, though on my 109 the bottom of the guard is parallel to the flat of the diff housing. Perhaps the housing is larger on the Defender, but I doubt it as the crown wheel of a 3.54 would be slightly smaller than that of a series' 4.71 diff. Alternatively, the back end of the guard may have been malformed and needs a couple of washers to drop it down away from the diff nose a tad to help with front end alignment?

The air must be drawn from the front side of the rad through to the engine. "Puller" fans, mounted behind the rad, are more efficient than "pusher" fans (fitted in front of the rad). Be very careful to check your fan - I bought a puller from a LR after market supplier. The packaging and instructions were all for a puller, but on opening it up, I saw the fan was on backwards (so the hollow sides of the curved blades were facing the rad) in the pusher configuration. I reversed the fan and fitted it, thinking no more of it. The engine was fine until driving up the Alpine passes, at which point it got pretty hot. Of course, the wiring polarity was also set for a pusher fan and had to be reversed. After that, the engine temperatures were fine. My point is that you must check the fan orientation and airflow direction during installation and not rely on the packaging and labelling. One question - why replace the engine driven fan? It's more powerful, more effective, more efficient and far more reliable than any electric fan. Don't believe any of the advertising for electric fans with figures on the power sapped by engine driven fans - they're all for engines at max rpm on a bench, not engines idling or at medium rpm on a moving vehicle. They're so false that I regard them as fraud. The sole advantage of an electric fan is that you can switch it off to avoid drenching a petrol engine's ignition system when wading. The only reason I have an electric fan is that the original fan wouldn't fit behind the chassis after fitting the Discovery engine to a 109. That is the same reason that car manufacturers use electric fans - they always use engine driven wherever possible and only use electric where the engine or rad position don't allow a mechanical fan.

Which side to fit a reverse light to is usually dictated by the position of the fog light, which must be central or on the driver's side of the vehicle (for overtaking vehicles' benefit) - by and large, most vehicles have one reverse and one rear fog light, so if the reverse light is not central, it'll be in the light cluster on the right hand side in the UK, Ireland, Japan, Aus and NZ, with the reverse light in the same position on the left side. I believe it is perfectly acceptable to fit the reverse light anywhere you want it, and the above consideration is mostly cosmetic and cost related by the manufacturers. I fitted symmetrical reverse lights on my 109 (same body shape and dimensions as 110) using NAS lights. I also fitted twin NAS fogs. In such circumstances, it's best to fit the fogs outboard and the reverse lights inboard (or above or below) the fogs so that the fog lights display the width of the vehicle as fully as possible, but I don't think there is a legislative issue there as otherwise single fog lights would not be permitted on new vehicles.

I have very little fogging in my 109, and the Defender heater clears it very fast. I'll just wait the 10-15 seconds it takes to clear in the rare circumstances the screen has fogged up and keep them clear when sitting in the car with the engine off by opening the window a few mm. Heated screens are great for most drivers - I retro-fitted one to my RRC and was very pleased with it. However, about 30% of drivers suffer problems with them at night as the vertical elements cause visual illusions or distortions. My wife is one of those people, and the screen made it impossible for her to gauge rate of closure with other vehicles and develop tunnel vision at night on unlit roads, even though she has good eye health and has no problems with other cars or with the RR since we refit an standard screen. I'd advise anyone considering heated screens to try a vehicle fitted with them at night in all road conditions first before splashing out. (By the way, that 30% figure came from the windscreen fitters who replaced the screen for us - they seemed completely unsurprised when I mentioned the issue, which had seemed very unusual to me previously).

I copied the original set up on the assumption that it was mainly hydraulic pressure in the front circuit that pressed the rear circuit's piston forward, with the intermediate spring there as a back-up to transfer pedal pressure if the front circuit sprung a leak. From the sectional diagrams of the MC, it appeared as if the front end of the MC had a smaller volume capacity than the servo end, but these diagrams aren't always well scaled.

Mine was built by LR with the pipes crossing over, so the back end of the MC (nearest the servo) does the front brakes and the front end of the MC operates the rear brakes. The cross-over happened on exiting the PWDA valve on the chassis. I copied the system when I rebuilt the vehicle and it works perfectly with very effective braking. I don't know which configuration is normal, though.

I had the same problem, and replaced the belt, cleaned all the pulleys immaculately, replaced the tensioner bearing (twice) and ultimately the whole tensioner, but none of it made any difference. Just like in your case, though, it disappeared after a few minutes of starting, once the engine temperature reached about half way between its cold and normal position. I reasoned that it had to be the water pump, even though the pump turned smoothly by hand and had no leaks or weeps. Despite insistent advice to the contrary from several professionals and forum members, I fitted a new pump (using the old pulley and belt). It has not made a single squeak since. I got my OEM pump cheaply from Dunsfold Land Rover.

I used the genuine Perei lights.

I would look for unused connectors in the battery tray - I would expect LR to have used a standard loom with a plug-in sub-harness to the seats. My late RRC had the electrics for heated seats and heated front screen (and most of the aircon wiring) despite being only a Vogue, not an SE, and not fitted with the actual units.

I would imagine you have a fault in the injector or its feed pipe, possibly a crack or fracture but hopefully just a bad seal at a union, that is causing the diesel to leak out onto the block (hence the steam as the engine warms up) which is allowing the diesel level to drain back down when the engine is off, needing purging on start up. I'd replace the pipe first, and if you have no joy, replace the injector. I'd expect it's the no.3 or 4 that is causing the trouble, given the location of the steam.

I have a mixture of standard Defender and NAS lights on the back of my 109 and the NAS ones are much better - they don't get condensation and the consequent flora and fungi that the standard lenses collect and seem to disperse the light over a wider viewing angle while being brighter. Why LR continue with the older design in Europe I don't know...

I used to use NFU, but it transpired I wasn't covered off road at all. They also failed to acknowledge the modifications in writing despite numerous prompts by me to do so, leaving me doubtful over whether the policy was actually valid. Flux on the other hand have been excellent. I questioned the off road cover as the policy booklet says it's not covered, but they got the underwriters to send a headed letter making it explicitly clear that all non-competitive off road use was covered in full (laning, pay and play sites, expeditions and so on, but not trialling or racing). they also requested a full list of all modifications and alterations, so I know that it has been done correctly. They were excellent on both occasions where I had to claim, with no messing about, procrastination or haggling. They are not quite as cheap as NFU, but are very reasonably priced compared to everyone else and seem to have the best cover and service that I have yet experienced in 20 years of LR ownership.

It's due to the clatter of the unladen main shaft gears - the idling speed of the input pinion and lay shaft are the same, but the main shaft speed varies with gear selection. The lay shaft gears are integrated with the lay shaft so can't clatter, but the main shaft gears are free to rotate on their shaft unless engaged and their baulk rings are relatively loose. I had never heard of the SII 109 hand brake damper, though. It may have been to reduce engine and transmission vibration in much the same way as the Discovery II's mass damper on the back of its LT230.

Seeing the way the leaves were bowed and splayed in the first pictures, I thought you were on a fool's errand trying to refurbish those springs, but I was clearly wrong. It's a very instructive post - not so much the "how" but more the illustration of what can be achieved with what would appear to have been irretrievably aged springs. I'll be needing to do the same on Helena's Lightweight rear springs - they look pretty new but one is sagging more than the other (it might be poor quality steel and thus irreparable) and there is often a loud crack when pulling away; I think one of them has partially seized and a rebuild would be much cheaper and effective than replacing with another pair which would likely seize quickly too.

Making sure the groove is spotless (all traces of surface rust removed) is crucial to success.

I have heard the same before now too. Let us know how you get on and please post up the part numbers or details of which year and engine type of Transit they're for - there are loads to choose from and most won't fit. Another similar thread also says that Glencoyne's mounts cure the problem. I spoke to Richard and he says they are the higher of the two quality levels from Bearmach, but both parts are for the same application. He found them to be noticeably softer than everything else he tried. My genuine mounts seem no better than any of the pattern ones, so I'll be giving his a go.

The SIII Club sells lengths of purpose made black plastic channel and they usually have a barrel full of the stuff at the big shows - I'm sure you could pick some up at Billing or Stoneleigh.

I see where you're coming from, now, and that makes perfect sense. As long as you are very gentle with the throttle and avoid use of more than 1/2 throttle with engine upgrades, things should be fine. It's a matter of using as little torque as required by the load rather than using the torque available from the engine.

There is an optimum ratio in any chemical reaction to use all the atoms or molecules in the reaction, but diesel engines don't work like that - they only try to burn all the oxygen at full throttle. Like I said, you don't control the amount of air entering a diesel engine, just the amount of fuel. If you richen the mixture, the engine will accelerate. If you weaken the mixture, it'll slow down. Stick a turbo on it and the higher the egt, the more the induction pressure will increase, forcing more air in and the fuel pump will automatically compensate, but the egt rise follows the input of more fuel from the throttle movement, so again, the engine rpm control is down to the fuel metering and richness.

Yep - take the front prop off the output flange, remove the output flange and undo the six bolts securing the bearing housing to the front of the 4wd housing. Putting the new bearing in the freezer for a few hours and warming the aluminium housing in the oven at 100oC for 20 minutes immediately prior to refitting will make pressing the new bearing in a doddle.

I have found that SIII gear boxes chatter progressively more loudly the higher the gear selected (including 4th) at idle with the transfer box in neutral. This is both on my older boxes and the 109's box immediately after a full and painstaking rebuild (£400 just on parts). I find it less pronounced but still evident when driving at very low rpm (<1000rpm).

Yep - petrol engines with carburettors have a specific mixture and the amount of air entering the engine is controlled, not just the fuel. Diesels don't have any air control; it's the amount of fuel delivery only that controls engine output. Black smoke from a diesel is a sign of incomplete fuel burn, either through having too much injected to burn with the available oxygen, but that only happens with full throttle operation (otherwise the engine will just accelerate to even out the fuel/oxy mix), poor spray pattern or advanced timing (fuel injected before the peak compression pressure and temperature are reached, allowing fuel to condense on the bore and only burn its surface).

The front end is where the height is lost - the diff sits further outboard on the later axles and the beginning of the swell of the diff housing is above the right spring. This, combined with the position of the track rod over the leaf springs, requires taller saddles, raising the axle further above the top of the springs. The same might be true of the rear axle on 88" conversions, given that the rear springs on an 88" are under the chassis rails like the front - I'm working on a 109 which has rear springs outboard of the chassis, so has no spring/diff separation issues.

If he did not specify that before the sale, then as the sale was conducted at his business premises, it was a business sale. He sounds like a rogue and you should go to trading standards. Time to name and shame...

Lower gears do produce more torque at the wheels, and thus through the entire transmission - that's the whole point of having low gears. If you're very light on the throttle, then the engine will be producing very little torque and so the step up through the gearing will still be well within the rear transmission's capacity, which is what I suspect you're trying to say. My point is, as I said above, that most people don't consider FWH for that application; they consider them for improved performance or economy and the FWH simply don't provide either. For most people, the negatives outweigh the positives.