deep

It does sound like it's either running too lean or sucking air. It could be as simple as a vacuum connection not, um, connected on your manifold. Failing that, if the carb has been off and dry for some time, there could be a little corrosion in a jet.

I have done this twice (well, got a mate to do it for me the second time...). We left enough aluminium to fold around the steel so that, when finished, the top lined up with the rest of the bodywork and it still looked neat. A galvanised capping would be very posh! With the middle hinge, they remained side-opening. Both times this was done to accommodate a soft top conversion and worked just fine, though it's debatable if it was ever worth the effort as second hand tailgates come up from time to time at quite modest prices. Ironically, my 110 started life as a soft top and now has a hard top and full door. I often wonder about converting it to a tailgate and top flap but there are other priorities. Sadly.

So different in different countries. Here in New Zealand the rule is you multiply the number of seats by 68Kg (~150lbs I guess). If that's more than half the payload, it's a car. If it's less, it's a goods vehicle. However, when I got my two door, two seat 110 hard top through a vehicle inspection last week, the principle tester randomly decided to call it a station wagon and that's what it will stay, for now! (I just learned this rule last week - I'm sure most vehicle testers haven't a clue...)

Crazy tyre! Too road orientated for me though. tacr2man: Thanks for the insight. If I've measured things right, standard old 7.50s measure out at 32" diameter (one inch more than the maths suggests!), while 285/75s measure out at 33". One inch more diameter is only half an inch more lift, though it is a very useful half inch... I'm running my 255/85s on 5.5 inch rims - one was actually fitted by the safety nazis who failed my wof inspection and they said it's perfectly safe. Certainly the tyres sit naturally with no obvious deformity. That would be very similar to running 285s on 6.5 inch rims, surely?

I haven't come across them in NZ. Actually, I have never even heard of a red letter version! Could have a look. Meanwhile, the tyre hunt is on pause. A mere six months and 2,200km after sailing through the mega-tough must-be-like-a-new-car vehicle inspection test to get the beast legal, it has failed a warrant of fitness because it got tested by a paranoid Neanderf__k who failed it on his interpretation of the regs (a classic NZ issue - find a tester you get on with and never change is the golden rule!). So now I am faced with working out where to put the stereo/speakers where I can hear them and re-maching the injector pump so it doesn't weep a tiny bit of diesel. Grumble grump. Mumble mutter. Had enough....

Try bleeding the injector pump before you even try to start it and see if starting behaviour changes. If your lift pump is good, that's not hard to do but pump for a while because air in the line may not show up immediately (i.e. if the leak isn't in the injector pump, it will initially just pump out fuel, not air). If you do that, and it starts easily and continues to run, look for that air leak. If priming proves difficult in the first place, look for a problem with the lift pump or even a partially blocked intake line from the tank. I had terrible problems for a long time, finally traced to a bit of teflon tape in the selector valve (I have two fuel tanks).

Some people are good at finding cheap shipping. I'm not one of them! I'll give it a go. NZ has it's plusses but it's awfully isolated. Even Australia is a very expensive boat ride away, if you want to take your Land Rover. Forget Africa or anywhere more exotic! The country is rapidly getting locked up too, thanks to the hordes of over-tyred Jap imports, driven by lead-footed Neanderf__ks, wrecking every track (and man, how they wreck them!). Most of the countryside that isn't vertical is in private ownership, with no public access, and that's just getting worse as corporate land owners hide behind increasingly ridiculous "health and safety" legislation. Vehicle legislation is, likewise, becoming oppressive. In the last ten years or so, most Series Land Rovers have been taken off the road, though a few diehards persist with them. Further, there is a perception that NZ is somehow pure and sparkling. Thank goodness they've stopped pushing the "clean, green" lie - environmentally, we are in big trouble (I work as an ecologist, so I should know). Having said all that, if you are in the know, there are still some excellent off-road and back track opportunities and places with stunning scenery! I have keys to some of those locked gates, which helps a lot...

Thanks Mike. I appreciate that wrong width rims can be used (as in the tyre won't actually fall off!) and I think the success depends on understanding the consequences in terms of tyre performance and on factors around the tyre/vehicle/use. I think, in my low-stress usage, 6.5 inches may well work. Of course, finding wolf rims in New Zealand might not be easy! Or cheap. It may actually be cheaper to go to slightly more vulnerable alloys - I'll keep sniffing. The warrant of fitness (~m.o.t.) is on Monday. If it passes that, I have a few months breathing space.

Ooh...

Sifting through the helpful comments above (thank you everyone!), it seems a 7 inch rim would work (as I expected). Is the "Wolf" rim a 7"? I'd imagine that's a standard factory offset but is the extra width to the inside or outside? Just to put it in perspective, the best prices I've found ($NZ) for 255/85s are $483 BFG KM2 or $421 Maxxis 762. For 285/75s, I can get Goodride KM2 copies for $189 (plus fitting). Crazy difference. I know you get what you pay for but, if they only lasted half as long, they'd be cheaper and for the speed, mileage and terrain I cover they'd be fine.

I've used BFG 255/85x16 Mud Terrain tyres on my Land Rovers for years and consider them perfect for my use. Sadly, the current KM versions on my NA diesel110 are getting old and are no longer obtainable. KM2s are eye-wateringly expensive and I note the only other options I can find in New Zealand are Coopers, which are even more expensive, and Maxis 762s which are okay but barely cheaper. On the other hand, there is a vast choice of 285/75 rubber, some of which is much, much cheaper. I have one of these cheap types (in a different size) on my work car and am more than impressed. However, I've already pushed the standard rims a lot to have 255s and believe 285s will be too wide. I absolutely don't want to do any sort of lift (apart from anything else, clearance into my garage is tight!). Can anyone provide first hand experience of using this size rubber on a 110? If it worked okay, what rims did you use and what offset? I had wider rims but the offset was too much even with the 255s and they snagged with any decent articulation. Please don't suggest 235/85s or 265/75s. I don't want to lose the diameter, for two very good reasons. Thanks in advance.

How much do you think the postage to New Zealand would be? Kidding, obviously, but just the cost of wheel nuts here would send me broke!

One lukewarm tyre?

Just a guess but I'd think it's the pressure release valve working.

Interesting. I have a 1987 ex-military 110 diesel and it had exactly those symptoms. When I replaced the servo, I looked into the old one and was amazed at the size of the broken plastic bits inside! The new servo is great. In fact, the whole braking system (disc/drums, like the original poster) is powerful and progressive and very even. Just good maintenance really.

That's terrible. I hope your recovery goes trouble-free. A workmate died in a similar situation (though they thought, in that case, that the driver had suffered a heart attack). I'm very prone to getting drowsy at the wheel. So much so that I carry a bottle of Mountain Dew (full of caffeine and sugar) and a jar of nuts in the car. Sipping and chewing usually work well to keep me awake but, if they don't, I'm quite used to pulling over for a quick nap!

Flip, I thought I had read this properly. I completely missed the part where you had used a flexible, wooden chassis! I just got in from work. I guess 1,150Kg. How did I do?

Ha! While I agree in theory, I tend to bolt rusty old stuff onto shiny new stuff - 'cos once I've paid for shiny new stuff, I have to make do with whatever is in the shed.

That's the middle of a freezing NZ winter. Sounds like a great plan!

I was up that way just before "the wet" some years ago. Temperatures around 43-45 degrees Centigrade with reasonable humidity - it just saps the life out of you. It's amazing how much water you need to drink. Still, I absolutely loved it! My biggest regret was being a bit pushed for time and by-passing Wolf's Creek. A good reason to head back, I suppose?

I bought a really, really cheap ($NZ20 brand new) "HD" video dashcam, mainly because it was really, really cheap. It's how I work. As mentioned above, 1080 really isn't 1080 and the resolution is appalling. For all that, I find it wonderful anyway. Just having that video to recall the cool bits of a drive is almost good enough. Despite the cheapness, it is remarkably steady too, not a given with all cameras by any means. Having said all that, I'd still recommend getting the best you can afford, following the good advice above.

As soon as I saw the Tdi sticker I thought the same thing! My ex-Singapore military 110 has lots of holes and fittings not found on civilian vehicles. There's just nothing on there that sets it apart from a civilian 110, though one photo is very little to go on!

Good to see another Land Rover part being pressed into service...

I mentioned the power adaptor because I fitted one, permanently plugged in via my main power supply, and found it interfered with the radio signal. That main power supply goes through an isolator switch, which is off when I'm not driving, while the radio and internal light have an independent connection to the battery (it is intended as a camper). If the radio is on and I turn on the "main" switch, the radio picks up a strong signal from the USB outlet thingy. Therefore, I concluded, it must be using a bit of power even when nothing is plugged in or turned on.

The real problem, I believe, is that the handbrake just pulls the engine/gearbox against the ageing rubber mounts and takes most of the effectiveness out if everything isn't perfect. The brake itself is plenty strong enough. I'd imagine getting the Defender cable setup to fit would provide enough of a solution, though I've never tried it personally!