deep

I read this thread with interest. Over the years, I had come to the conclusion that the Series IIA box was stronger and I see I was wrong. Or was I? It seems Series III boxes are very prone to popping out of first or reverse, either under load or on the overrun, when the mileage gets up, while Series IIA boxes seem to soldier on. Popping out of gear is worse than being weak, in my eyes... Either way, in line with what was said above, I really believe transmissions do much better with sensitive drivers and pretty much any Land Rover gearbox can take a certain amount of work. None of them are actually made of putty, are they?

I haven't been able to go on Facebook in the last week or so without this video showing up. Might have plucked some moisture out of one of my eyes too...

A spigot bush can cause drag if it's too tight or got damaged during installation (there is another recent thread here in which someone had that problem). Other causes of drag can a warped or sticking friction plate; or damaged pressure plate which no longer has even spring tension (less of an issue in the modern era with diaphragm springs). Has the clutch been bled properly so it's getting full travel? If you're on smooth, level ground, handbrake off and foot brakes off and plenty of air in the tyres, and put it into first or reverse (with clutch pedal depressed normally), does the car move slightly or give a little jerk? If so, there is drag and it needs investigation. It's possible to get a lot of things slightly wrong when installing a new clutch!

Not a bad idea. I just put a 60amp push button ("momentary on") direct from brown to glow plugs, using a mental timer. A fuse before the button would be a good plan...

I'm rewiring a 1987 110 at the moment and can confirm that the brown wire is unfused. In fact, it seems that the brown is a code for permanent live and all fuses are downstream from there! Which is reasonable if the wiring is nicely tucked up and not rubbing anywhere but, as soon as you start fiddling, you become vulnerable. You could put a heavy duty fuse on the starter solenoid connection (or wherever you take your feed from) but it's not likely you'd do that until the line met the bulkhead anyway.

Sounds like my kind of holiday! I worked out that, if I actually do finish my 110 build one day, I could go from one end of New Zealand to the other, or very close to it, on one fill of diesel. This country is too small for someone with an adventurous spirit!

Oh yes. I can't get over how much glass gets thrown around down at the river, where heaps of people, especially kids, go swimming. Real maggot brains.

Good idea about filling in your ruts. Though I can't see the majority of NZ 4WD drivers doing that, I'll make a point of it myself. As for the human waste stuff, the river access near my house has been a Mecca for people from the nearest big town over the January, which was nice and warm. It got cold again so I took my dog down for a walk while the place was quiet. I was amazed at how many poo tickets etc. were sitting under every bush. Yuk! In 2004 I camped a night at Merte Merte (in Oz). A few nights later I happened to head back that way and thought I'd see if the dingo stories were true. Yup, all dug up and gone! That's why I started burning my paper before I filled in the hole...

I made spacers using the tubes off a couple of dynabolts and some large washers. It took a little fiddling to get the dimensions right but they're nice and tight and you can't tell by looking.

If I have this right, the belt should be connecting via the v-section (sides), which it can't do if the flat centre part is sitting on the centre of the pulley. I hope that makes sense. I have just looked at mine and realised I need a much bigger pulley on the alternator and corresponging belt to match the crank pulley. How did I not see that before?? The belt is right on the alternator but no gap at all on the crank.

I read this with interest. I am putting together an ex-Singapore Air Force 110 diesel which originally had a huge 24volt generator. I had a good 100 Amp alternator off a 3.9 Discovery already, so it was natural to fit that. However, the military set-up is quite unusual, with a separate V-belt just for the generator. As this means the belt wraps right around the pulley (contact area being an important consideration), I am hoping it won't give problems. So far, so good but I see I will have to be very careful once that winch is in use! Thanks for the information. By the way, serpentine just isn't going to happen on my motor - I'll find another way if I have to.

As long as there is a good earth from battery to chassis and another from chassis to engine/gearbox, I think just a good earth on the bulkhead should be enough. Should...

I'm sure your first problem is an earth fault. I had very similar symptoms on my Stage One, plus I also noticed the fuel and temperature gauges read a little higher when the lights were on. I pulled the dash off three times and tightened the faulty connection (the little serrated nut holding the speedo bracket in place, which also pinches an earth terminal) but it never stayed tight. When that happened, it would earth back through the high beam light, which is disconcerting. It's possible yours is earthing slightly through the charge light?

Love it!

I ended up just wiring in a 60 amp starter button ("momentary on"), direct from live to the glow plugs. It works a treat. In fact, I drove the vehicle across the yard and back yesterday, just 'cos I could. There's incentive in that!

I put up a post thanking Tanuki but it's vanished. I did appreciate your insight. Roverdrive: the isolator came with the car, which is ex Singapore Air Force. The seat box it is mounted to wasn't even in the car when I bought it so who knows how it was connected? It does have a blade connector on it as well as the big screw on terminals. I don't think its' what you are referring to, though, because it's just a mechanical switch. The fuel pump is mechanical, pulling out of two tanks via a mechanical tap which also switches the fuel gauge wiring. I'll go through my pile of wiring diagrammes looking for a diode. I don't recall seeing one before but that doesn't mean much!

Just to extend this topic a little: I finally got my 2.5 diesel 110 project running off the key yesterday but was very surprised when turning the key off didn't stop the engine. (It has a solenoid on the injector pump, like all the later diesels, running off a modified petrol wiring loom.) When I disconnected the wire which leads from the alternator to the charge light, which doesn't work, the engine starts and stops correctly using the key. Should I expect this to work properly when I eventually get the charge light working (I need some new dash parts)? I should point out that there is a battery isolator fitted and the engine kept running even with that turned off. I hate the thought that a bulb failure would prevent me being able to turn my engine off! Surely that can't be right? I do plan to convert to a mechanical shut-off at some stage but it's not the priority at the moment.

It will be interesting to see how you get on. Another chance to learn something! I am just about to head into the shed and connect up my newly mounted alternator (had to modify the huge generator bracket to take the relatively small alternator, a fairly straightforward job using a valve guide as a sleeve). No point worrying about the output too much until I've got the ignition light to magically work...

I've already displayed my ignorance in another alternator thread but I am curious here. Those figures don't actually seem low in themselves but I wonder if the voltage goes up again after you've revved it and let it go back down to an idle for a minute or two? To follow up on Western's comment re a thicker cable: I am rewiring a diesel 110 at the moment (well, trying to make sense of what the previous owner supplied). One of the original wires still fitted to this ex-military 24v was a huge cable which ran from the generator to the battery isolator. It's like a starter cable! However, it seemed to be a good idea to use it for the 100 amp alternator I am fitting, even if it looks like overkill. The sparkies I have talked to reckon it's a good plan and will help when the winch is running and the alternator is working hard.

I've learned something new. Most grateful, thanks. I'll have to fit a warning light, just to see the difference!

One option, thanks, but I'll steer away from a timer and just go manual. I like simplicity, to the extent I am very bothered the fuel shut-off is electric and not manual!

I finally achieved some clarity today! It turns out that the wiring loom supplied with the vehicle exactly matches the one for a four cylinder petrol model in the service manual. That explains why the wires going to the ignition switch didn't match any of the diagrams I had been looking at. I had worked out the outputs all wrong. The main confusion came from the wire from the starter relay to solenoid on the petrol model being the same colour (and maybe thickness?) as the wire which feeds the glow plugs on a diesel. Once I realised my mistake... It appears, then, that I need to make my own circuit for the glow plugs, which should be simple enough. I could either try to find a diesel ignition switch or just find a sprung toggle or rocker switch and try to mount it fairly neatly. The frightening lack of funds points to the latter. Meanwhile, if anyone is able to point me towards a clear photo of a normally aspirated diesel bulkhead (engine side) which shows the general layout of the loom along the bulkhead, that would also be very helpful as I don't even know if the main part should go left or right from where it goes through the bulkhead. I really am working blind here. I have been quietly going nuts with this whole bulkhead/wiring fiasco but hoping like crazy everything else become more straightforward once I am past that. Yeah right! The fundamentals of the car are in such good condition I am sure it will be worth the strain.

I have exactly the same issue with my Holden-powered Series IIa, except it has an ammeter instead of an ignition light, which is much more informative. It needs a hefty blip of throttle to show a charge but works impeccably thereafter. The wiring on that vehicle is blessedly simple so tracing an issue is not hard. In this case, the alternator has a brush pack with included rectifier and it seems that is where the problem lurks. I was quoted $45 for a new brush pack (roughly 25 pounds in Brit money) but have more urgent priorities for my limited vehicle funds. If you are worried, take the alternator to a sparky and get it tested. The fix is cheap enough?

My Land Rover is definitely military (ex 24v) but I had assumed the loom came from something civilian (12v), which included three relays behind the fusebox. One of those relays would seem to feed the glow plugs and I'll check to see that it's not a timer in disguise. The "ignition" switch that came with the car possibly isn't the original but I'll check the positions on that. The wire colours on the chart supplied above seem to match my switch, from memory, but I can't check until after work (which is where I should be now!).

Very helpful! Thank you people.