mickeyw

Good for you writing in and giving them some well deserved flak. Some mags are well known for writing a load of @#4P. I gave up reading LRO a number of years ago when I read a techie 'how to' article that even I knew was way off the mark. It is worrying that a huge number of owners will read these features and take them as gospel. When I was a new LR owner I learned a lot from the mags, but I think the quality was somewhat better 20 years ago These days I read LRE, I appreciate James Taylor's in depth historical knowledge. I'm sure he has made mistakes too but I think he could be classed as an enthusiast, so I'll let him off.

I am keen to object to this TRO. The route is one of my local ones, the last time I went to drive it was during the snow we had earlier this year, and that was when I found the lane was closed. What sort of reasons should I be citing in my letter? Regards,

I'll be there, not sure what day though.

Ugh!!!!!!!!!

Billing for me.

Hmmm, interesting colour scheme, not quite my cup of tea. Didn't they learn about that horrible front end with the 60th?

Could you not have applied LR content to this post?

^^^ Same here, although mine was a 3.5.

^^^ My thoughts exactly

Made my laugh ........... at the pettiness that's come out of the situation

I have nets from the roof of a Discovery above my front seats. They're a great size for maps, also phone chargers, sunglasses, sun cream and more. They fix with self tap screws from behind the headlining and into the plastic frame, so not the easiest to install but definitely look good

Not too difficult to mod the old type lock in fact. I started off adding a lever which involved taking the lock apart, but in the end I made use of the hole originally used for the internal lock operating pin. Works rather well too

Bluddy parents! What do they know? Isn't Swindon just a short hop up the road from Eastnor? Hope you're still taking to them. I had a good day there yesterday despite getting half drowned. Picked up quite a few bits in the auto jumble to keep me busy for many weekends more. Most traders I spoke to were remarkably upbeat despite an obvious lack of visitors on the showground. Had a good look round the owners club displays, most people were huddled under tents and gazebos. The series one club had a superb turnout, also nice to see a collection of 1 ton 109s including a nice original looking recovery truck. Hopefully today will be better weather. It's been sunny between showers down here in Surrey.

For heated door handles??

If you currently have 5mm to spare, add the thickness of the cage upright (no more than 1/4" thick I wouldn't have thought) plus a decent washer to go under the nyloc nut. You may get away with 190 long but with 200 you can always add an extra washer or two . Remember to buy high tensile bolts for this application.

I'm pretty sure there is an LR oil cooler setup for the LT77. You just need to source the parts, bolt them on an add a little extra oil. Definitely agree with the synthetic oil idea. I know people who report much smoother gearchanges when using the oils that Difflock sell. I would expect temperatures to be lower too. Sorry I can't give more specific details.

Just thought I'd mention that when I recently replaced my rear wheel bearings I thought I'd pop down my local bearing suppliers and buy them cheaper by quoting a Timken number rather than LR part number; and I was disappointed. In the end Paddocks could supply Timken boxed items for less that I could buy from Simply Bearings, Bearing Boys or any of my local places, even taking delivery into account. May be of help, I dunno...

Although the Santana is a heavy duty box, perhaps it could do with an oil cooler added on as you are obviously working it pretty hard before taking the engine's extra torque into account. I know these are available for other LR gearboxes, hopefully someone can dig up some part numbers if there's one for the LT85.

Have to agree with what Ali said above. I bought mine second hand probably 15 years ago for just £200. It had been fitted to a Hilux previously, and before that a Lada Niva for many years. How many Chinese winches would have lasted that long? I mostly use it as you are planning, the odd bit of laning and play days. It has performed perfectly well since I replaced the drum brake clutch bearings when I first got it. It's such an early model that Warn no longer held spares of this part. However my local bearing supplier was able to help out, just a standard of-the-shelf bearing to them Two things I'll recommend to ensure it works when you want it to - fit an Albright solenoid, the standard ones (four of 'em) don't like infrequent use and WILL let you down. Four Warn solenoids cost a lot more than one (you only need one) Albright. Secondly, if you do give it a good dunking at a play day it's worth pulling the whole thing apart once in a while for a good clean out, 'cos as nas90 says, it's not at all waterproof. They are very easy winches to work on. There are few things that you can abuse off road and expect to fit and forget about, hopefully you would still maintain/service the rest of your Landy, so why not spare your winch some thought?

Is the 4.2 a serpentine engine? If it is, a Defender 50th cowling should fit. That is what I am usiung with a TD rad.

Just spotted this thread bit late in the day but I feel so strongly about the subject that I thought I'd reiterate what most of you have already said. UGLY, UGLY! The most UGLY thing I have seen from LR. I was killing time waiting in my local dealership the other day so I gave their 60th a once over. Never mind it being so UGLY, the build quality was disgraceful. It had not even been registered for the road and it has rust in at least 3 places that I could see easily. Screws not done up tight enough to clamp the washers tight, interior trim skew-wiff or missing. The bikini top didn't seem to fit very well either. Spotted all that in just 5 minutes, I'd hate to have bought it I drove a Puma 90 HT when they were fairly new and liked the low interior noise levels and the willing engine. But I wouldn't want one with all that UGLY plastic bolted to it. The 60th edition Defender should have been an object of desire, yes with a V8, maybe auto too, but NO hideous plastic. The rest of the truck wouldn't be too bad if they could put it together properly. Oh errr, rant over, sorry.

Dan, I am using the same compressor, but fitted to a serp V8. I'm taking air from behind the brake pedal box. I have a length of 10mm I.D. poly pipe with a small K&N filter on the end. I also have a home made manifold to replace the standard one as the ports interfered with my oil cooler pipes. Ports were tapped 1/4" BSPT and stainless push fit connections used. Lubrication is currently limited to the occassional squirt of oil down the inlet pipe. Not had any problems so far, fingers crossed. Ought to sort out something proper one day though...

Hi and welcome, If you already have a non commercial automatic Disco, why not convert it? The commercial version is not the different from the standard one. Remove the rear seats and fit a false floor and bulkhead/dog guard. The windows can be blanked out with adhesive privacy film, or with body coloured adhesive vinyl if you wish. Most graphics companies could cut film to suit. I think this is how many five door factory variants were done, especially series 2 Disco and on. A recent edition of Landrover Enthusiast featured Discovery commercial variants from UK and other European markets. The commercial parts do crop up at auto jumbles from time to time, or you could make your own from ply wood. Just my thoughts...

Rich Regarding your comment about the LT85 sounding like a bag of hammers, these boxes are renowned for the bearings becoming a little noisy after a time. Even when healthy they are agricultural when compared with an R380. However the LT85 is a good strong box, ideally suited for the rigors of life behind a V8. I rebuilt my LT85 with new bearings and it quietened it down a fair bit but the noise returned after a few years. The main and layshaft bearings are huge, and despite getting a bit rumbly I can't see them falling apart. I remember seeing inside an LT77 once and couldn't believe how small everything was. Obviously yours must be pretty noisy if you can't live with it. Have you thought about rebuilding the box? Not that expensive a job, but does require a few specialist tools such as a good bearing puller. At the time I had no puller but made up tools for doing specific operations as per the green bible. If you're not up for a DIY rebuild, Ashcrofts charge £550 (plus VAT?) for an exchange box. Expensive as that may sound it could work out less time and hassle than an auto conversion. Good luck which ever route do decide upon.

Hattymender, I have just done this exact same job. Yes the LT85 (I believe only 1 size of bell housing exists) is exactly the same length as the 4sp auto from a RRC, or Disco 1. If you stick with your LT230 transfer box you won't even need to change the prop shafts. The Borg Warner transfer however will need a shorter front prop. Depending on what engine you started with before your V8 conversion you'll need to resculpt or change the tunnel. The LT85 hi-lo stick is much further forward than all the 4 cyl variants so the tunnel opening will be in the wrong place. I shall be using a R380 tunnel as used on 300Tdi and Td5. 200Tdi tunnel is much smaller. As LittleBlue88 has said all the parts you need can be found on a RRC. I will add the transmission oil cooler to the list, forget that and you'll most likely cook the box. All that's needed loom-wise for the box is the 4 wires, 2 for reverse lights and 2 for start inhibit. As Bishbosh has advised, it's much easier to have a whole car to rob for bits as you think of them. 3 spd auto is stronger than a 4 speeder but will rob you of more power, is not so readily available these days either. Stick with the 4 spd, absolutely nothing wrong with it. If you have any other questions feel free to ask while it's fresh in my mind. Cheers,