Jon W

Ask Tim on here to post pics of the auto box in the hybrid, this had a discovery or defender console in and it fitted pretty well, not sure if it was Jon Staff who made if fit initial or the owner before him. Jon

Oh I might be able to coincide that with coming back from a holiday in newquay, but it would make it a very long day. I will let you know. Cheers Jon

I have a slipping clutch at the moment, and I suspect it is oil on the clutch from the gearbox, as when the engine went in a year ago the rear crankshaft seal was changed. Does anyone know what is involved in doing it? If it is as eas yas the rear of the transfer box I will be happy, but if I have to disturb bearing pre loads etc. then I will leave it till I have a little more time on my hands. Thanks Jon

All done now thanks, was just a case of putting it together bit by bit, doing it wrong a few times as the header rail was the only problem but got there in the end. Will post pics of the finished product sometime tomorrow when it's day light. Cheers Jon

I Know this should probably be in the Defender forum but it will get more views in here, and we are due rain tonight so it would be good if I got get it done by then. I have got the bikini soft top kit from exmoor trim and the instructions that come with it are some what vague. I have had a play around with it and can't seem to get the bolt holes to line up very well. So anyone got any picture of how the windscreen header rail fits or diagrams of it for a Defender 90. Cheers Jon

I have had the problem with the over wrapping of plasma and it's the only thing I don't like about the 8274, so now I just pay out as much cable as I think i need then walk off to the anchor point. If its tooo much it spools in quick enought anyway, if to short you can find a good place to stand and pull more off the drum. Otherwise I can't help with any of your questions sorry Jon

Well, just to go against the grain, there certainly are cheap!. My boss uses them on his 130 tipper, which is always heavily loaded with wood chip or logs, and normally towing a chipper. He loves them, they are very heavy duty due to the ply rating of the sidewalls so may not flex that well off road. But he has had no problems on road with them, only thing he has said is he would like them a bit wider as when loaded up with a ton in the back it can sink quite easily. If he could get them here for 45 euros he would stock pile them. Myself I use BFG's and they wear really well. Jon

It's likely to be a front half shaft as these are supposed to be the weaker link and break before the diff. It's hard to tell which one it is likely to be. Short ones normally break first, but last time I stripped down the short side and it turned out to be the long so ended up replacing both as the otherone had a twist in it so was likely to break soon anyway. Jon

I kept losing woodruff keys for my winch like this, and then got a standard but of wood ruff key length and chopped it down to size, sorry i don't know what size it is but any engineering shop should be able to help. Jon

As you have done the disco engine into the 90 before everything is ready for it to be done, for you to drop the new disco engine in. I would just swap the engine out and then keep the old one to strip down and have a look at and learn how it works. Sell parts of the disco you break. £300 for a disco is a good price and you should make money back on it. Jon

I normally run mine at 30 - 32psi which seems to be fine and has given good wear on them. Jon

My mantec one hold a 33" ok, but beware the bigger and wider you go the more depature angle is reduced. I bent my mantec one by coming down a steep drop and it caught. Also another possible problem depending on what type of recover point or tow hitch you use, as my nato hitch mounted to the crossmember is very tight, so a 35" would need the hitch to be swivelled. Hope that helps a bit. Jon

Don't laugh, but I have done the same thing on the same sized trunk but this obviously had more established roots as was quite and old bush but I needed to get the root ball and roots out. Just thought I would give it a tug out as the winch wasn't working at the time. I did it in reverse so I could see what was going on. Gave it a couple of goes, but wasn't doing too much, dug it out more repeated, still nothing, dug some more, gave it a few little snatches and then an almighty bang, got out to see what had happened, just thinking it was the shackles and jate rings hitting the chassis as the tension was taken up. Tried again but this time one of the back wheels was on the brick driveway started to spin (very nice rubbery sound). Gave it another go and the trunk snapped. Gave up put stuff away and returned to the road to drive home, hmm no drive without difflock engaged. Yup I had snapped a front shaft by being a bit reckless I should have known really to wait, as it took my mate 5 mins to do with a stump grinder, rather quicker than it took to rebuild my front axle which also had a twisted shaft the otherside. Well they had done 130k and had some abuse so did probably need new ones just the old engine had never had the torque to snap choclate like the new one does. No pictures I am afraid, was rather busy at the time and feeling a little defeated. Lesson learnt spent a little time getting the winch working instead of being a rough arse! Jon

Having driven my 2ootdi with out the turbo connected up, you will find it very flat, soon runnig out of puff and unenjoyable to drive. It was even slower than my knackered 2.5 petrol. Why bother buying an expensive engine and then not using half of it. You may as well just put a 2.5D in as they are cheap and meant to be run without a turbo so may have more power. Just my thoughts Jon

I know this is a completely different engine, but in my old 2.5 petrol i had a ticking which sounded tappety which i thought was the tappets had them adjusted. Turned out the exhaust manifold had worked loose and needed tightening and the manifold gasket replacing. Jon

I have a rover 45 with the 1.8 k series engine. Its a W reg so 1999 i think. It has 62k on it and the head gasket is one the way out, or has been for the last 10k as darth dicky dicky has just kept topping the water up on it and keeping an eye on it. Currently have oil in the water but no mayo in the oil cap. Now the car is in my hands I am hoping that it will last for a couple of thousand miles, at least until June when i will have time to do the head gasket. Is the multilayer gasket avaliable for all k series engines of is it just a land rover mod. Any other things I should do for now or things too look out for when i eventually do the job. Cheers Jon

If you like what you have already then there is not need to alter it and a cheap way of getting more travel would be to add. Longer shocks and dislocation cones such as the gywn lewis system uses. Many places sell dislocation cones. This way you maintain ride height and the handling characteristics but gain more travel. Then in time you feel like a lift or harder spring then you can just change the springs, when you want. You don't need to spend mega bucks on extreme travel. With your budget of £2k I would do a few suspension mods, then cage and then see if you have money for a winch or a rear diff lock and shaft. As this wil lgive you a nice all round combination. As there is a limit as to how far extreme travel will get you and although it may look impressive a diff lock in the rear axle will improve thing a lot more especially in the mud. Just my opinions on what I would do, if i had to start my truck from scratch again. Jon

Have put some chemical metal in the keyway and fitted the cam belt and hopefully set the timing correctly. All I have left to do now it put the new pulley on tomorrow when it arrives reattach the alternator and power steering pump and hope it all runs correctly. Thanks for all of your help, I would not have known where to begin or what to do without this forum. So a big thumbs up from me. Cheers Jon

My 200tdi was doing 30ish in the summer when I was doing longer runs and depending how I was driving. 26 on shorter trips and blasting round the lanes. Then all I have manged recently was 23mpg but that was because it was running badly as the timing was up the creek and smoking badly. Hoping by next week when it is fixed I will get 30ish again Jon

Right. I went to the local Land rover independent and they had the Keys in stock. So have set about puttin g it back together. I replaced both Keys as it turned out the one most inner to the engine had warn as was thinner and hence the timing was moving all over the show. But the keyway was undamaged luckily. So new keys and new bottom pulley on. it is all on and a nice tight fit, requireing land rover tool no.1 to tap it into place. Only dilema I have is now do I use chemical metal to fill the small bit of damage to the crank, and risk the bottom pulley becoming stuck to the crank for every making further maintainence hard as Jim has shown. or go for the simple option of leaving it as it is and doing the crank bolt up to F***ing tight and with thread lock. I am replacing the Pulley damper as this is badly damaged and want everything done properly so another £40 to the overall cost was worth it, but I have to wait for it to arrive on wednesday. But can hopefully set timing and do everything else while I wait. Opinions please!

I am changing the front crank seal and the timing case seal. Where did you get the keys from?? And then I will put a new key in with some chemical metal, any recoomendations on what is best. Am just fiddling on other jobs, cleaning bits up for new gaskets while I wait from replies. Thanks Jon

Right well made a good start all came apart easily as had change the cam belt about 8 months before. The pulley came off easily and may want replacing. I need to replace the front woodruff key as it is very bent allowing the timing to change which what was hopefully causing my bad runnig problems. Where do I get a replacement key from?? Landrover parts shop? Or what size does it need to be as I do have a piece of material that I got extra when making wood ruff keys for my PTO winch. Only thing I need to read up on is how to retime the whole thing. What I first saw Damaged Crank Damaged pulley Remains of the key Damage to keyway on the crank Wood ruff key I have and can cut down. Thanks Jon

Good thread, I have the enjoyment of doing the same tomorrow and then setting the timing on mine as that seems to have gone up the creek too. Jon

Depending on what skills you have, you could go down the route of lowering the profile of the roof. Daan on this forum has done this, and has been able to maintain the shape of the roof and you have to look twice to notice it. Jon

I haven't read the whole thread, so sorry if this sounds stupid or teaching anyone to suck eggs. But my new clutch started to slip when floored in 4th or 5th and this had happened previously on a clutch of known age before I swapped the engine. So I figured it couldnt be the clutch again. But the adjustment of the pedal as it was biting near the top of the travel, so adjusted the pedal movement and the problem was solved, so obviously it had been adjusted in the past, so was a case of adjusting it back again. Jon