Mondo

I received a Private Message through the Forum today and decided I should share the info: The front of the hood slots into top of the windscreen, it's a tongue and groove type arrangement and when you tighten the canvas, it holds in place I think this photo should pretty much sum it up. The parts required are usual for sale on EBay at the criminal prices some Sellers dare to ask due to the four letter word we know as "Wolf" and the suffix known as "XD" camo110 please let me know if this helps at all.. I have plenty of reference photos of the Wolf I once owned

OMG I couldn't believe that is a Disco. Amazing job you've done there and great to see it used in anger too..

Graham, That looks good, all your planning and hard work have paid off. Seeing that makes me wish I had a civvy spec Land Rover... yours is like the dec k of the USS Enterprise compared to my MOD Bare Neccessities special! Seriously scary stuff.. beware if the travellers see all that copper in your dash, they'll swipe your Defender and sell it to a scrap metal dealer just for the copper value...

Yellow, I replied in the "What would you do..." Thread you Posted in the Military Forum

I have been down the Wolf rebuild route both ways.. I bought an XD 110 "Wolf" that was accident damaged for rebuild, the wreck was in slightly better condition that the one in the photos you Posted and I paid £3,250 for it almost 4 years back. What made me buy it was that the following: Low mileage (18,000KMS / 11,250M) Right hand drive Chassis was straight except for a bent F/R outrigger and forklift damage on the underside of the chassis Rollcage was in good condition as the vehicle did not roll over GRP hard top was in good condition too (sadly it got damaged beyond repair after it was removed from the 110) Most of the little "Wolf'esque" brackets like bonnet pioneer tool straps/clips, fire extinguisher holder, wheel chock/toolbag mount were all present Things needed and I battled to find or were just very pricey were: Front axle casing - bespoke part and 6mm thick - criminaly expensive and very hard to find GRP canopy - opted for a soft top in the end Door top fittings for the soft top - hard to find Dampers - and these are still a ballache to source (Experience from both the 110 and 90 XD I currently own) Front Bulkhead - very expensive as it's bespoke (R380 civy bulkheads can be cut up and adapted, but I recommend an original) 24V Headlights - hard to find (these do have raise/tilt motors and breathers that go all the way to the top of the winscreen) 24V wiring diagrams! Battled to source one but was helped out by a REME chap That aside, I learned that a Wolf XD comprises of a lot of common (as in can be found on civilian) Land Rover parts, so we used a lot of over the counter parts like wingtops, windows, door panels etc and you can buy brand new canvas tilts (soft top) from Exmoor trim directly, in time you learn to shop wisely There are also plenty of XD parts going on EBay, you just need to check daily and make sure you're not being ripped off - see this Thread on Wolf Tickets Lastly, I also made the big mistake of entrusting a "specialist" to undetake the rebuild for me. He took over 18 months to get the vehicle 75% completed and in the end it was finished off by someone else at an additional cost. Rebuild cost: £13,500, an unaddable fuel bill for the running around I did and a mass of grey hair from the issues with the waste of space "specialist" I then traded the 110XD for a pre-restored 90 - see my Gallery This is an immaculate rebuild and the vehicle is an absolute head turner. I've been made many offers for it and I am not quite ready to part with it XD wrecks shave become increasingly hard to get hold of as there is a company restoring XDs for the MOD Genuine Wolf rebuilds gain value too and rest assured if you do buy it and start the rebuild you'll want to restore it to it's glory, as the MoD are hanging on the the XDs until 2026! Back to your question: The price is fair and if I had the space and time, I'd take it and restore it myself, even though it is LHD Yellow, if you need any advice on the wreck or rebuild please do not hesitate to contact me through the Personal Message part of this Forum. I'd gladly offer my advice if you plan on purchasing this as a rebuild project. Please let us know your decision - oh, I saw an XD110 wreck sell on Ebay for circa £4.5K last year

I am positive this very subject has been mentioned before on this Forum, I did seach but didn't find anything Anyway if I remember correctly, you get a flat metal plate that has to be bent into shape As for the savings on fuel? Pure snake oil...

I don't believe transplanting an Isuzu lump into any Land Rover is a Panacea for a Defender's fuel consumption or performance. A decent TDi is a proven and very good engine and the TD5 is a very good performance and economy thanks to the use of engine management As for "camblet issues" well, that's just common sense, reasonable maintenance with scheduled cambelt changes will prevent disaster. A timing chain design certainly doesn't cure it.. Isuzu's 2.8TDi is an old design, it's been around forever. I recall how popular they were when I lived in South Africa in the 80-90's Indeed they are bulletproof, rock steady mills and if they can stand up to the abuse that company pick up drivers put them through in the hot Southern African climate, they should stand up to anything a Land Rover owner throws at it IMO the difference in fuel consumption is way beyond engines.. it can be attributed to aerodynamics more than anything else. The Land Rover is a brick, whereas the Isuzu pick up has flowing lines that pushes the air past it reducing fule usage. It certainly does make a significant difference There is a Defender at the Bristol Land Rover Owners' Club with an Isuzu 2.8TDi and performance wise it's no better than the 300TDi in my 90, but I was impressed at how simple the transplant was. No excess plumbing or pasta-like wiring, just a very neat Isuzu lump under the Defender's bonnet with a Kenlow fan keeping the fluids cool at low speeds

What about NATO green?

As long as you take a shovel and plastic bag along and clean up the droppings like dog owners do... by law :¬)

Result! I am pleased to say that today I won a brand new Wolf rim, in factory black with an equally brand new Goodyear G90 tyre fitted for £58 on Ebay. In the era of Wolf centric rip offs, I though this is news worth sharing :¬)

Madcowz, I can relate to that. About a month back I drove my XD90 to our local Quickfit for wheel balancing as I had a new rim and tyre on the front right of the vehicle. The guys did both wheels at the bargain price of £5.80 each, money well worth spending considering there was enough lead (actually zinc in our new enviro nice RoHS world) to sink a small boat fitted to the front wheels Anyway I used the Land Rover in anger this weekend and at 50mph the steering wheel shakes like Jade Goody on a treadmill.. perhaps these guys should have signs stating they are not qualified to work on British made 4x4 vehicles.. Well, another job for Dan to take care of on Monday...

After reading all the helpful replies in this Thread I came to the conclusion there is no convenient drive in, fix if needed and drive out solution to a worn joint induced tracking and camber issue. It's also a job I cannot undertake myself either. I decided to consult the chap I usually use for my Land Rover maintenance. He will attend to any worn parts and get the vehicle over to the people he uses for alignment jobs. Thanks guys, I am now content with my choice of sticking with my self-employed LR qualified specialist who has done various jobs on my XD90 in the past.

Fortunately my daily commutes from Bristol to Aylesbury or Staffordshire is done in my company car, I could never subject my beloved Land Rover to that sort of daily haul as it would kill itI would drive it Aylesbury for an alignment/tracking job though. The G90 tyres are a soft compound and do wear fairly quick, however the tire wear is not even at all, hence my suspicions on the camber issue. If the wear was even, I'd give the string alignment method a go.I realise this is a little more serious than a toe in/out issue, hence the Thread asking for advice on where to send the vehicle to get this looked at by someone reputable and trustworthy.

Thanks, So, if I undrstand correctly, a Defender has a neutral, 0° front track, as in zero toe in and zero toe out If that's the case the string method is easy. What about camber? My comment about ball/steering joints possibly needing replacement were due to the fact I suspect I have a camber issue too, this is brought about by the wear pattern on the front right tyre and also that I often get a "friction" type noise from the front right tyre when turning the steering wheel whilst the vehicle is stationary - unless G90 tires are just noisy?

Hi there, I own an ex MOD Defender XD90 and the tracking (or [front] wheel alignment) needs setting, I believe the front right wheel is slightly out of track. It had ball joints done about a year back, but I believe the front end track most certainly requires attention due to the wear rate on the front right tyre. It may need new steering or ball joints doing but this is not an issue, I am quite prepared to pay to get this done properly as I have neither the time, place or tools to do this type of work at home Here's the hard part, who can I trust to do this? Do I have to refer myself to a Land Rover workshop, or are there any franchises that can do this type of work correctly? Personally I don't trust the generic Kwik-Fit, ATS type of franchises to undertake this task. I believe that a specialist should do this Does anyone know a workshop in the Bristol area, or even the Aylesbury area (which is where I work) that can be trusted to tackle a Defender's front end? Some advice on this matter would be appreciated Thanks in advance Raymond