Jon W

@Chicken Drumstick I am not into the engineering or science of which a lot of people are arguing, but am also sceptical about the improvement it can provide in term of power. However I do believe in what you are saying about improvement in engine smoothness. When I refined some of the pipe work and fitted a bitter intercooler into my 200tdi disco engined 90, apart from more power, it definitely felt better low down and smoother running. Yes supposedly more turbo lag, but I didn't find this either on this or my vw tdi which I had in a van and put loads more pipework and a silly big intercooler into, and again this smoothed the engine out. The argument about air flow and having to change direction 90 degrees, being a smoother curve is probably better, as in the standard manifold it has enters the plenum and then goes 90 degrees anyway or hit the back of the engine if it reaches it. It would be good to see real world test figures as you say you are hoping to do. Also anything to smooth out a 200tdi in my eyes is a winner Jon

No they were installed correctly. If you drive a normal car with the window open you will hear the same noise when going over bumps

The Britpart yellow shocks I had fitted appeared to At times have no damping at times, but rock the vehicle side to side and they would then start working, or you could hear the gas moving about. And they continued to work fine, only replaced as had to chop the rusted shocks off to change the axles during the rebuild

Certified self contained/visible sticker on outside is what you need to be able to camp anywhere/wild camp. The van we hired had a porta potti to satisfy this requirement but we never used it. I can dig out what we paid for 6week hire in January-Feb if you like. That was South Island travelling to north island on a 1 way trip, for a comparison.

Ah Fair enough, good to know not to bother going down that route. Another bolt in option which didnt seem to expensive were the raptor seat and rails kits, can be had cheap enough (well £350 all in) and then sell on your RX8 seats. Jon

@mad_pete Have you seen these? May save a lot of work for you https://www.edgegarage.co.uk/rx8-seat-conversions#7 May help Jon

The length is probably the most important part hence why people have recommneded the 1Ton shocks as they are longer. I have the standard cheap britpart shocks with parabolics and the ride is awful the shocks constantly top out as only have about an inch of droop, hence why i think a lot of kits come with procomp +2inch shocks with them

Did the range rover beside it survive??

Check the bolt holes haven’t gone oval with wear as this can introduce play to the system.

I used this https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Jenolite-Rust-Converter-Remover-Removal-Spray-Treatment-Primer-Metal-400ml-UK/264144009674?ssPageName=STRK%3AMEBIDX%3AIT&_trksid=p2057872.m2749.l2649 when treating a TD5 steel rear door recently, seemed to apply nicely and give a smooth finish to pain over. Can't comment on how long it lasts as I have only just done it. On the rust proofing side have a look the the Built Hamber range of product they are very good and easy to apply Hope that helps Jon

Just to throw this into the fire and add to the flames, it was suggested to me that a remanufactured defender chassis such as Shielder and Richards are not strictly legal.... Series chassis are legal and fine Defender chassis illegal Why?? Well a series chassis is constructed as land rover originally did, whereas the defender chassis are not as land rover made them e.g. they are now 4 bits of flat plate welded together and not 2 C sections put together and hence would perform differently in a crash. Will see what arguments that brings out. Doesn't bother me either way as I have already put a Richards chassis under mine Jon

Just needs some 285/75/16 to really set it off now

@Simon_CSKCan you send me a msg with more details on this. I would possibly be interested as a whole vehicle. Just waiting to see if I am going to have to get another vehicle to tow a horse box around of if I will be allowed to use a work pickup. Gave up looking at discos as chassis were a nightmare Thanks

Could be a wheel bearing seizing up. If the seal is gone or muck has got in they have a tendancy to weld themselves to the stub axle and can lock the wheel up until it frees itself off again and the bearing rips apart. Can cause the brakes to feel spongey as well, Im sure a good garage will work out what it is

The disco engine mounts you have are far superior to the defender type, so I would keep those but try new genuine discovery mounts. If you have ordered Glencoyne engines mounts use a pair of these on the gearbox. My 200tdi rattled like crazy then i put glencoyne on the engine and gearbox mounts. It so much better. The steering wheel used to wobble about Another thing to try after the idle speed and timing. Is lift the engine with a hoist to take the weight, loosen the bolts and retighten, just to check nothing is hitting on the mounts Hope that helps Jon

Have a read of this, i was trying to remember where I had seen the info before. https://www.web-rover.co.uk/my_td5.html?n=2 That goes through how someone else has done it without changing seat box etc I think

🤣🤣🤣says the guy who is building a vehicle which is completely over engineered for any of the type of off roading he is likely to do 🤪

Bringing this back up. I haven't had a problem with MOTing my series however i now find it only really gets used twice a year and so £50 a year for an MOT makes it rather expensive for the few miles it does and i forget when the MOT is due. I have a 1960 Series 2 which I believe could be argued that it is MOT exempt. It has a Rover V8 in it which is the only substantial change but has taken place in the last 5 years. Although this a more cylinders and a higher cubic capacity than standard. I believe the following could be argued: "Engine – alternative cubic capacities of the same basic engine and alternative original equipment engines (if the number of cylinders in an engine is different from the original it is unlikely to be alternative original equipment). " "Changes of a type that have been made when the type of vehicle was in production or in general use (within ten years of the end of production)." Could it be Argued that a Stage 1 had the V8 engine? Thoughts welcomed Thanks Jon

Yer I think the the lack of response was a hint of what was to come! Oh well hopefully by autumn we can get back out and do something. Meanwhile lockdown means more time to finish jobs off and a bit more disposable income to spend on parts rather than fuel and other things!

Thanks for the pictures. I had a price for a set of brackets off Devon 4x4 who could supply them but would have cost be £195 for 2 bits of metal. Having seen the brackets now, it looks quite easy to get some knocked up as they aren't as big or substantial as I thought they would be. I thought they would be like roll cage brackets and be a U shape channel which bolts over the top of the chassis. @Maverik was looking at getting some of these brackets for his 90 I think to tie in with his cage Thanks Jon

I have the same bar in mine, I picked it up second hand and can’t fault it. Did yours come with chassis mounts? and if so have you got any pictures of these? Mine were missing when I got it, but they want a lot of money just for 2 simple brackets Thanks

Yer having searched actually Terrafirma do a bolt on kit which fits with the rear tub on. It was the king suspension and Devon 4x4 kit I was thinking of which didn’t fit unless you had a tray back

On a simple note at Land Rover level and not competition My thoughts are, good shocks, progressive springs to try and avoid springs becoming coil bound, and hydraulic bumpstops. The bumpstops being the cause of the hard bangs when hitting bumps at a faster pace. I know mine crashes over bumps as big tyres on standard height suspension means the extended bumpstops hit. So if these could cushion that would help. coil over shocks being long and progressive absorb the bigger bumps better. Well that’s what I think would like to get hydraulic bumpstops to fit without having to modify the rear tub on a 90

Probably cheaper to buy second hand rubber matting for a Td5. That’s what I did. Cost about £50 for the bulkhead piece transmission tunnel and seat box or if you really want to spend then the Wright off road sound deadening will sort it Jon

Definitely buy a run around. It is likely to take 3 times as long as you think and cost twice what you imagine. I did my 90 bulkhead and chassis on my own at a friends workshop which granted was 50miles away so could only do weekends on it. I tried to do as much as I could and said to myself 4months. In reality life gets in the way and fatigue. So it was nice to not have to spend every spare moment on it. Just under 1 year later I finished. Granted if I was better at electrics it would probably have been done sooner.