ThreePointFive

It's out! After faffing around, with limited options available I decided to take qwakers' suggestion and got a 90 degree angled drill adapter and swung the wheel the other way so that it was below the column, which offered slightly more room (the angle into the column still limited access). I had hoped the easy-outs would work better with some power behind them but they only served to (slowly) mill out the head and be useless as both an extractor and a drill bit, so I resorted to good old fashioned drill bits instead. So, now I have cruise control, and am in desperate need of a new bolt. Turns out Land Rover are only too happy to sell me one for £600, though it does come with a free steering wheel. Thanks to everyone for the suggestions, even though I didn't use all of them they were still valuable to know what I could do if each option didn't work.

Reb, thank you so much for the offer but I'm in Somerset, will be a bit of a trek! The garage is my best bet, it's not a problem. If there's any problems then I'll be going the route of breaking it, I'll email the guy you suggest if it's going that badly.

Thanks to you all for the replies, yet again this forum comes through for ideas. Taking on board what some of you said, I went to screwfix and got an easy out set - but even at the smallest size it's not able to get a bite on the metal without the pilot hole and I can't get enough gap between the wheel and binnacle to tap them (or any other tool) in either. I can't use any form of heat because it will just wreck the wheel on the side I cannot afford to ruin and knowing a bit about airbags, I don't really fancy it. I am tempted to pull off the cover as it wouldn't be too difficult with one screw already out, though I'd need a replacement in my hands before I do it, so for the moment I need to hold off. I need the cruise in the car so I'm going to ask a my local friendly garage for them to use a right-angle drill on it, the screw is scrap anyway so this seems the next least destructive way forward. If that fails I'll have to consider the other suggestions.

I have done some pretty stupid things during my time as a member of this forum, but today I've done a big one. I am trying to fit cruise control onto a Discovery 2, as per the instructions below: http://www.discovery2.co.uk/cruise_install.html There are two Torx head bolts on the rear of the steering wheel that hold the cover on. In attempting to remove this I somehow forgot that going anti-clockwise on a bolt that is facing you is actually tightening it. Subsequently I have rounded out the head. Words would not adequately describe how ****ed off I am with myself. So, I have a rounded out head in a recess that is approx 1.5" deep x .5" wide, with the instrument binnacle about 5" behind it, meaning very little access. I've tried putting an allen key on it but this just stripped out what was left. I can't cut a slot in the head to get a flat screwdriver on it due to the depth, I can't hammer anything into it as there's no room to get force behind it, I can't heat it up as it's right next to an airbag. I would appreciate any help right now, because I am royally ****ed. I'll post a picture tomorrow if that helps describe the issue.

Thanks for the advice all, I did try tinning the pins and wires, but I clearly didn't get it right - probably not enough solder. I thenadded solder over the join while heating the two to compensate but I think this made the joints too large. That said, the thickness of the wire vs the pins is quite big anyway, it's going to be fiddly no matter what I do. I'll have to try again with the other plug, as I think this one is now ruined thanks to the overheated pin.

I have a 40w iron with flux cored solder.

I'm trying to wire the 37 pin PCB plug but having major issues. Having just turned it around to do the earths, half the wires I had done snapped off. I just don't seem to be able to get a clean, strong joint. Adding more solder to get a proper join just means the heatshrink doesn't fit, or worse still, the solder joins separate pins. Also having tried to get the joins properly seated I overheated a pin and it's moved in the plastic to almost the other side of the plug... Clearly I'm doing it wrong - I realise the fault is me and not the plug. Is there any advice on how to actually solder something so small and fiddly? I'm not throwing in the towel but I need to know what I can do to make this work, clearly I'm the only one having this problem.

They didn't buy it until they had sent payment, you hadn't sold it until you received payment. It depends on how clear you were between an agreement to buy and actual purchase. Either way, what is stopping them from putting in a bid?

The P38 mounts are very different from standard defender ones, if yours are the type with two bolts on each mount. They would make the engine sit much higher unless you dropped them down on the chassis side, but they are also over complicated and far harder to change. For simplicity and ease, I would go with standard V8 defender mounts chassis and engine, that way they're a known quantity in that car and you're not inadvertently guinea pigging your setup.

I've wired in the plug as indicated by the diagrams it all makes sense, though I won't know for sure if I had the correct colour to colour interpretations until I start it up. Going to the EDIS side and trying to make a start on that end, I'm looking at this: The wires I want to use are wrapped in this tape with what looks to be a bare large diameter cable looped inside it (silver object protruding from tape). Is this something I should leave alone or am I free to take it apart? I am concerned it's something intentional that I am about to cut up and destroy, so confirmation would be welcomed. It just looks a bit deliberate - if not odd - to me. Additionally an earth wire with ring connector was cable tied to the harness, not sure what purpose this has as it's not going to feed into the EDIS with that connection... is it?

Hardly worth the risk of buying Britpart.

I one hundred and millionty thousand times agree with this. Having had my 90 rebuild "up the road" for the last 3 or 4 years (at an extremely generous mate's workshop) I was setting aside two week slots of leave to get things done, and while that worked it did also mean nothing was done for up to several months at a stretch. It just isn't possible, with all the desire to finish the project you can muster, to make use of every spare bit of time when you have to travel there. And that is why my car has been there for 3 or 4 years. But on the first weekend of this month it moved to my own property, which means I can start to get things done as and when. Also hitting a problem and then coming indoors to look it up online rather than having to down tools for the day is unbelievably useful - some will note an increase in my post count these last few weeks. Not having to compete with lock up times is another bonus. The best thing is that suddenly you don't have to optimise your time as you do when traveling, you can have one job in mind, even if it's just to solder a wire, then anything extra you do is all bonus. Otherwise you have to plan out a series of jobs, buy all the bits, get all the tools, read the 'how to's and then upon arrival immediately shear the first bolt you come to and throw the whole plan out the window, coming away feeling like you've achieved nothing. The downside is that your neighbours find out just how large your vocabulary of rude words is when said bolt shears at home.

Elbekko, Huge, huge thanks for that, you've gone way beyond the call there! I think I've got my head around it so tomorrow I'll be getting this part sorted. I couldn't do this without the help of the members of this forum.

I had exactly this issue, though my engine would cut out more than lose power, in so much as the only reason it was still firing was the momentum of the vehicle in gear, if I put the clutch in then that was it. http://forums.lr4x4.com/index.php?showtopic=64678&hl= There may be a few ideas for you to look into there. In the end I've decided to rebuild my engine because of general age and mileage, though hopefully you won't need to.

Thanks Elbekko, I'm downloading it now but I went out and drew this up before I saw your post: So I'm unsure how that will translate to the 1-2-3 1-2-3 wiring of the ford packs, hopefully Rave will tell me something different.

I've used Ashtree, they were brilliant. Yes you pay for it, but they took on the job - I gave them my bulkhead and they had it returned to me in a few weeks. Very professional, very helpful and a great company to deal with. All the holes were drilled, all the rivnuts fitted, no work for me to do. The finish of the surface...well, it's galvanised. If you don't want a galvanised finish, don't galvanise it. The actual panels on mine seem fine, very little distortion. To cap it all off, this bulkhead had been galvanised by a local one for £100 prior to Ashtree being given it - basically a total **** up by that firm who said they knew best despite my advice on bracing it, the prep, etc. Came back in a condition I can't believe they charged me for, and they covered themselves by telling me it could be a bad job prior to dipping it - didn't mean they had to make it a bad job though. Lesson learnt, if you want it done properly then get someone who knows what they're doing, either a good galvaniser who you trust and have SEEN examples of their work, or I recommend Ashtree 100%.

I've stripped the plug from the original loom (someone will now tell me it's worth many thousands on ebay no doubt) and it's difficult to tell which wire relates to which coil because they run unsighted beneath the lot of them. However, there are five of them so I'm hopeful I can just match them up after a bit of poking around and then connect as if I'd done it the 'normal' way.

I was hoping you wouldn't say that, my build is quite similar to yours - same engine type from the same donor vehicles so I've been reading with interest.

I guess that now my build is almost entirely on the MS I should really start getting the info I need. So I've roughly routed the injector wiring, I'm now looking at the coils. On the 4.0 they're nicely situated at the rear with a plug socket ready to go. I've trawled other threads but all seem to be using the coils supplied with the MS, with 3 holes each side for the wires to neatly connect up, as per Steve's thread here: http://forums.lr4x4.com/index.php?showtopic=87607# But I don't have anything like this, so how can I connect up my coils? (ignore the connection in the foreground, it's just to hold the wire in place while I routed them) Do I need to cut each of the wires and solder in the MS or is there a way to configure the correct type of plug to work instead? Starting to feel like this is beyond me.

I couldn't give my money to them about a year ago, tried to get a radiator made up for the 4.0 project (something like £800 quids' worth) and they just didn't want to know.

Well, pleased to announce - it's off! With a steel bar through the starter hole and applying a little force on the breaker bar, came off with very little resistance. I would never have got it off with the transmission locked, just too much slack in everything but I wouldn't want to try it with big loads put through the bar, I can see that screwing the bell housing easily as you suggest, Idris. Getting it back together will be interesting as I won't be using the same method - I'll have to rig up something to lock the pulley. This forum yet again comes through for me, thank you all.

Actually there are two holes in the pulley which could be used, I was trying to find something to put through them braced against the chassis front but didn't have anything small enough to fit into the holes yet strong enough to withstand the forces. A length of steel shaped and bolted through would stop the pulley turning once it hit a chassis leg, it would also allow the pulley to be torqued up properly on refitting... I'll have to look into that. Thanks for the suggestion.

I get how that would work, but in this case the starter is already out, no power to the vehicle of any sort at the moment. I had looked at the higher gear/less rotation idea but because of the clutch situation I can't seem to get anything above second, it just won't engage. I don't have access to any airlines so that's not an option. It looks like I'll have to try getting a wedge into the ring gear and finding the longest breaker bar I can to give a shock load. Thanks for the suggestions, I will post up when I give it another go.

This is the stupidest question I have asked in a long time, but I know I'm missing something obvious and looking/poking around hasn't changed the result so I have to ask here. First - the engine is a 4.0 V8 with LT85, sitting in a rolling chassis - no pedals, nothing plumbed in, just engine, gearbox, props and axles/wheels. The crank pulley needs to come off so I can fit the MS trigger wheel. I've put the car in gear, I've cable tied the handbrake in the 'on' position (as the cable isn't fitted) and I've chocked the wheels. I'm turning the crank pulley nut anti-clockwise as I've learned it's a standard thread, but the engine won't get to a point where it's locked for me to exert any pressure on it - it just spins and spins. So, could it be that the clutch is not able to lock the engine and gearbox without the rest of the system plumbed in? It's a new clutch, fitted a few weeks ago by someone who knew what they are doing, and the car will move on rotating the crank without the handbrake on. Is there something completely different I've overlooked? I'm not going to pretend I have much of a clue what I'm doing, but that's the point of learning.

I'm not certain but I think that's been for sale before, very recently, it may even have appeared in this thread.