mickeyw

Have a read of Sterling Power's facts and figures page about the diode system, it's quite well explained. Yes there is a SMALL voltage loss, but it's not that significant. If you use a split charge diode, it's a very simple setup. One alternator feeding it, and multiple batteries charging from it. Each battery is totally isolated from the others, so there's no need for any further relays. The only other thing you may choose to add is a safety isolator switch between the battery and the device running from it (winch, fridge or other). I have no connection with this company, just happened upon their products myself a year or so back when I was researching dual battery setups.

Never use MM4x4 but I'm a regular buyer from Paddocks. Occasionally they fall foul due to the legendary S41tpart quality issues. Take for example a V8 oil pump drive gear I ordered along with a pile of othe bits. It took me a while to figure out why I couldn't assemble this gear in the pump housing. It turned out that the gear was badly pressed onto the shaft and was not concentric! Chinese manufacturing eh! The good thing was that when I phoned Paddocks about returning the part for a refund (I had purchased a replacement locally on a Friday afternoon) I met no resistance at all. Just 'please post it to us and we'll refund the item and the postage'. That's the kind of service I want. Now if they could sort out the quality of the parts to begin with.......

This split charge diode will manage 3 batteries, keeps them completely isolated. The 3 output version is about £80. All down to how much you wish to spend...

I thought the same and opened all the underside holes up. In reality the larger holes just seem to let even more mud n crud in there. The gearbox x-member looks like it's packed solid. This now takes even longer to wash out I've just bought a drain jetting hose to go on my pressure washer to try and clean the chassis out. Just need the hose pipe to thaw out so I can use it.

Hmmm! Just entered the VIN from my 1986 Ninety into that site. It came back telling me it's a 1980 model! It did at least say it's a Landrover...

Landrovers and water leaks - such a well known problem that LR even created a manual about it. Have a read of this Water Ingress Manual in the tech archive.

I have had a pair of Ring Phazer spot lamps on my Ninety for many years, but now the reflectors are pretty knackered. When new these came with 100w bulbs are were effing bright and lit up everything, and only cost around £25 a pair in Halfrauds! As I can't find anywhere selling these any more I am looking for alternative budget priced lamps that give good performance. Not too much to ask is it? What can anyone recommend? Cheers

Well I am 5 mins from Gatwick and I used to work at a place where we did have a vertical saw with integrated blade welder. Alas the company no longer exists, not much help to you I know, sorry. Keep tigging, and anneal. Practice n all that...

You need to anneal the join area after welding to stop the joint fracturing. After welding the blade will be very brittle whatever type of welding process you use. Clean up any excess weld with a dremmel or similar to ensure the weld is no wider than the rest of the blade. Then using a small flame (oxy torch or small pencil gas torch) locally apply gentle heat to the blade at the join, just until it begins to blue. If it still snaps you need to anneal the blade a little more. You may find this article useful reading.

If the laptop has bluetooth why not use the Holox GPS receiver? I use the Holox with my phone to run Tom Tom, but it works really well with the laptop and mapping software too. It's more accurate and has better battery life than my Garman Emap, which is still an excellent bit of kit.

BFG MTs need plenty of care on snowy roads

How about this? As it says on the tin

This is a back road of Crawley industrial estate half an hour ago. Not that exiting really. The car park full on a normal day - extreme weather my a**e... Took me five minutes longer to get to work, I was following a plod van that was doing 15mph most of the way, no other traffic about

I sold my SII 88" V8 a few years ago having had tons of fun with it. I fitted a 3.5 carb engine to a SIII box and used the series clutch too, also fitted 3.54:1 diffs. I drove this for 9 years, on and off-road, with no clutch or gearbox problems. As said above, shoe size makes all the difference to the transmission life as well as fuel consumption. There was enough go in that engine to still get mega acceleration in 3rd and 4th. I reckon it was quicker than the 3.9 90 I have now, a lot less weight too with it being a soft top and no toolboxes. I always got out of it with a huge grin. I never really looked at fuel figures, I'm quite glad of that, might not have had such a big grin. Engineeringy wise, I kept the gearbox in standard position, used a home-made adapter ring (or you can buy one purpose made) and fabricated my engine mounts to bolt straight on to the 4 cyl mounts on the chassis. The engine was mounted level, i.e. you could still see the crank nut through the starting handle hole in the chassis. This was dead handy when the starter motor packed up. The foot wells needed some reshaping both sides to clear the exhausts. The exhaust system came from Jake Wright who sell off the shelf pipes for this application. Nice and easy to fit, following the original series routing. I also had to move the series radiator forward a couple of inches to clear the water pump nose. This involved minor surgery to the front cross member as well as the front panel. (I think I found the V8 90 water pump had the shortest nose of all the V8 pumps). Fan was a 16" blower in front of the rad. This setup always kept it cool. Remember that with all the extra horses you ought to look a bigger brakes. I uprated just the front ones to 6 cyl LWB drums. IIRC they are the largest of the shelf ones. I also used to servo assisted dual circuit master cylinder. Good luck with your conversion, I would certainly recommend it. Please feel free to ask more if you need to. Cheers,

I shall be going auto with my V8 90 soon. It's currently a 3.9 with LT85 main box and LT230 transfer. It came out of the factory with a V8 so the tunnel is already huge. My research so far leads me to believe that the 4 speed auto from the RRC is the same length as the LT85. This should mean that the engine can stay where it is, as can the LT230. Therefore propshaft lengths are not an issue. I'm not sure if there will be a problem with the diameter of the front prop, some auto RRCs had a rather skinny prop to clear the auto box I believe. More research required here. I am initially planning to use the RRC bog brush transmission oil cooler and see if it's up to the job for off-roading, and the pipes if they're the right length. Shifter also from RRC with some kind of home made mounting arrangement, there are quite a few write ups on here showing the efforts of others. There's also a very shiny and rather expensive centre console option here. For engine cooling I am already using a 90 TD rad with integral engine oil cooler. It seems to keeep things cool when not bunged up with mud.

V8 exhaust manifold extended bolts (with an extra long tapped head for holding the starter motor heat shield), around £8 each + VAT from Gatwick LR. They seem to be as soft as poop compared to the standard UNC bolt. Guess this is why they snapped so easily.

You can either lengthen or shorten the original efi pump pickup pipe. I had to do this when I put RRC pump into the tank on my 90. The screw holes were the same number and position.

I once looked at a used 110 CSW for sale on the forcourt of Harwoods LR at Coulsdon. That was fitted with Disco steel wheels. I guess that constitutes LR approval!

Rog, Had a think about what you said re 5th gear and realised you are right. 1st gear as I said would be not so good Rattle gun is OK with engine out of car, with engine in the front cross member gets in the way on RRC.

Thanks for all the suggestions guys. GKP - I'd have to remove the starter motor to use flywheel teeth, an ar5e of a job on its own on a RRC. Rog, I would have tried 1st low box rather than 5th with a manual... Rangey Rover, I did it your way [without singing]. Removed the cover plate in the bottom of the bell housing and stuck a stout lever in there and found a suitable position for it to lock against. Big socket plus bollo**ing back on the crank pulley and result! Nice 'n' easy when you know how

Hi All, I am struggling to remove the crank pulley nut from a V8 coupled to an auto box. How can the engine be prevented from rotating so I can get some oomph into a big socket on the crank nut? All I am managing to do so far is turn the engine over and over Thanks,

A three position switch is normally for a carb engine. The efi should have a two position switch. Although most efi setups start on petrol it is possible to start on gas, the way of doing this varies. Both my systems can start on gas by switching the ignition on with the changeover switch set to gas, flick switch to petrol, then back to gas and it will start on gas. Otherwise if you were out of petrol but had plenty of gas you would be a bit stuck! Maybe the button you mention has something to do with starting on gas... Not all systems have a thermal switch controlling the change over, neither of mine do. Have you checked the vapouriser is not icing up? If there's an air lock or insufficient coolant in the cooling system this could be happening, check the water pipes to the vapouriser are getting warm. You mention the vehicle is not used very often. If the ignition system is a little old and has got damp it might cause poor running, which improves once the engine bay has warmed up. Hope this helps...

LR 90 V8 with winch, A bar, LPG is with the NFU. Been with them for years. I'm 37, full no claims & clean license. TPFT cover for any driver over 25 including business use, no mileage limit. Last renewal was around £240 IIRC.

Hi, Firstly I'll apologise for mentioning the name above and mention that this is not my winch. Honest (Oi stop laughing!) I am fitting an Albright to the above winch and have found the motor has less terminals than expected. Warn motors have A, F1 & F2, however this motor has just 2 connections. I'm assuming it must get a ground through its casing. I do not have the original wiring to refer to, so, does anyone have experience of wiring up 2-terminal winch motors? Your help is needed. Thanks in advance.

Been using genuine leads and cap for some time now (3.9V8 90). The electrics have never given me cause for concern near water, they seem to handle the splashing remarkably well. I should add that I don't go wading as deep as the Megasquirt boys, up to the top of the seatbox is enough for me