simonr

I bet it has drink holders as standard!

It's worth doing a destructive test. The wire should break before the crimp lets go!

Brake pipes? Brakes run at about 100 Bar. I've never seen it used like this either - but if the pipe is suitably rated, I can't see an issue with it. Just found this on Hydraquip's site: Looks like it could be good for about 90 Bar. https://hydraquip.co.uk/product/metric-copper-tubing-annealed-to-bs-en12449-c106-soft/

If you're going to use crimp terminals, I recommend you use glue-filled, heat shrink type, of a decent brand (some on eBay / Amazon are shocking!). Once you've shrunk the sleeve, it largely waterproofs the crimp and gives some strain relief. I've had very good long term results with them. https://gtse.co.uk/blue-heat-shrink-male-bullet You need a specific crimp tool for them, which doesn't damage the sleeving. I bought one from https://gtse.co.uk/heat-shrink-terminal-crimping-tool and it's pretty good!

I'd be happy to assist with designing / making something as a replacement. I've made a couple of replacement slam-latches out of laser (or Plasma) cut & folded stainless, for other things.

Years ago, before I decided to build my own, I visited a camper conversion shop. They mostly converted medium sized panel vans. I was appailed by the fit & finish of their 'show van'. It was made from cheap chipboard & MDF with edging which didn't quite fit (the groove into which the edging slots was not straight). The electrical cupboard was a mess with bargain basement components. I asked how much a van like that would cost and the answer was £50k + VAT and the customer had to supply the van. My conclusion was that people have low expectations for camper conversions.

A bit more explanation! Sulfonation occurs in batteries when they are stored at less than 100% charge, when they are overcharged, when the temperature is high and when you use a battery as normal. Charging reverses this process & converts the Lead Sulphate back to metalic lead, Sulphuric Acid & Oxygen. If you fully charge a lead acid battery, then keep it on trickle charge such that the charge rate accurately matches it's self discharge rate - it will be fine. Unfortunately, this is rarely the case. It's put on trickle charge at less than 100% and often never quite gets there. When the charge current is too low, there isn't enough energy to reverse the Sulphonation reaction & restore the battery. If it's trickle charging and ends up hovering below 100%, the trickle charge will often make the situation worse. When you start the car, it's close enough to 100% that there isn't time for the high current from the Alternator to reverse the Sulphonation process. It just builds up over time until it's non reversable. Lettinng the battery self discharge over a few days, then giving it a high current charge is more likely to reverse the reaction, even if the average state of charge is slightly below 100%. I would avoid simple Solar & Trickle chargers & instead use a properly managed charger - or a less managed charger on a timeswitch. At work we use red tops, dozens of them for powering stuff. We use Noco Genius 10 chargers - and just charge them all periodically. They seem to last pretty well. When they die, it's usually through physical damage rather than Sulphonation!

This sounds like oil in the injector harness. Land Rover used badly sealed connectors on the injector electrical harness which allows oil from the rocker cover to wick along the wires, until it reaches the ECU. The ECU is measuring small voltages between the wires & oil with carbon deposits is slightly conductive. That results in incorrect readings & lumpy running. You can replace the harness - but it will happen again eventually. A better, cheap, long term solution is to remove the connector (the red one) from the ECU. I bet it will be full of oil! Clean it and the socket with solvent, then electrical contact cleaner. Some people say to do the same to the ECU, but on mine, at least, oil had not made it inside. I would try just the plug & socket first. If it doesn't work, clean the ECU too. Then pack the inside of both the plug & socket with as much Petrolium Jelly as will go in. When you push the two halves together, you want to see it being extruded through the seals on the wires as they go into the plug. This doesn't stop the oil getting to the plug - but when it gets there, it has nowhere to go & cannot bridge between the pins. I did this maybe 15 years ago - and never looked at it again.

Continuous trickle charging is a great way to kill batteries! But, wait a minute, some battery manufacturers sell trickle chargers? Hmmm....who stands to gain if you buy a product which gradually kills the battery over a year or two? Best option is a regular battery charger on a time switch. Set it to charge for 30 mins every 7 days (adjust this as needed). The batteries benefit from a strong current flowing through them, kind of like blowing the cobwebs out of them.

Optima Yellow & Blue are (were, at least) OK. Red were just a cheap version that were pretty rubbish from the start. The problem with them (all of them) is you need to take care of them - they are sensitive to under / over charging. When they were first launched, it was almost impossible to find a battery with as high a discharge current. However, that changed quickly. Hawker Odyssey batteries still are great - but like Optima they are sensitive to abuse. Numax on the other hand will just eat up abuse. They are way cheaper than either of the above and perform better under most conditions. The only negative is they are a flooded (wet) cell battery which will leak if you turn it upside down. For most applications, Numax wins! Where it doesn't, these days I'd use LiFePO4 batteries.

I don't think there's any 'sadly' about it 🙂 Rubber bungs is a great idea! Being able to buy them off the shelf, better still.

I have 4 of these: https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B000VH8040/ref=pe_27063361_485629781_TE_item Most of the (red coloured) magnetic squares are worthless. These have proper strong magnets. More similar to what you've posted, I have several of these: Known as Flanged Squares. https://www.toolsense.co.uk/catalogsearch/result/?q=flanged+square#p=2&q=flanged+square They are surprisingly hard to find at a decent price!

The D5, Faults & Fixes forum is a Horror Show! https://disco5.co.uk/forum/faults-and-fixes-vf10.html

This is for a Defender Prop Shaft:

I think, for some people, building trucks like that is a displacement activity. Most of them won't or more commonly can't go off driving around the world due to commitments & responsibilities. Funneling their desire to actually go overlanding into a truck that could do it is better than getting depressed because you feel trapped by your life. I love building stuff - and for me, the eventual 'purpose' of what I'm building is secondary, almost an excuse for all the time & money that goes in to it. I'll probably try whatever the purpose was a couple of times, then move on to another project! Anyone who tells me I'm wasting my time and I should just.....(put a mettress in the back of a sprinter, for example 🤣) better have thick skin! From my point of view, I can appreciate the work that has gone into something as the whole of the thing. Whatever the intended purpose was, barely matters so long as the builder / owner is happy.

For next year - there's another nice pub in Ardingly village within walking distance but with a car-park opposite plus a bakery & Chinese take away. In the opposite direction, North towards Turners Hill, there's one of the best Indian Resteraunts in the region. Hopefully it's won't coincide with one of their Elvis Impersonator evenings - that was quite disturbing The Gardeners is a nice pub - I've been there a couple of times. Very friendly, lots of Parking. Food is decent & not expensive.

I would consider going on one of the DBORC days: https://www.4x4adventures.co.uk/_main/dborc_driving_course_and_social_mornings.htm I attended one many years ago - and it was great! Despite turning up in quite a capable vehicle - I still didn't manage to complete everything & got stuck a couple of times! I think my belief in my own abilities exceeded my actual abilities! Many of the people attending were quite new to off roading & they received lots of attention, guidance & assistance where needed. I'd like to go back one day! Si

That was a licky escape (for us) then! We were going to eat there, but were put off by the excessive prices. We went to the pub over the road (The Gardeners) for lunch instead!

The advertising was non existent - I only found out by word of mouth.

http://landroversocial.co.uk/ I visited the show today - since it's only a few miles from home. It was pretty small, but for a first event, it had the makings of a much bigger show. I'd heard that this year is the last LRO Show at Peterborough, as the site is going to be developed for housing - maybe Live Events hope this will be, in part, a replacement? Probably, mainly due to the small size, it had a nice feel about it - like Eastnor in the olden days. I saw lots of old friends (we are all getting on a bit these days!) Too late for most of you this year - but maybe worth considering next. I'll be there! Si

£3.50 is a bargain - doesn't matter too much if the pipe perishes! If you want to be creative, you could replace the spout with a bit of copper brake line, soldered to the brass fittings from the plastic one? Mine doesn't suck right down to the bottom of the can either - I think it's a feature!

If it were brake fluid, it would be coming out from the inner lip of the drum. Since it's apparently coming out between the drum & the wheel - it can only be oil. That was my thought process.

That's had a lick of the ugly brush!

It's most likely EP90 oil, from inside the axle. Based on where it's coming out, it's probably the paper gasket inbetween the drive flange (on the end of the drive shaft) and the hub. 15 in the diagram. Take the wheel off & make sure the five bolts on the hub are tight. If not, tighten them - that will probably fix the leak. If they are tight, remove them, withdraw the shaft & replace the gasket. You can easily make your own gasket out of thin card / thick paper. In the mean time, it's OK to drive IMHO. Si

I suspect they're there more because they look good. The weight saving by adding holes in the ribs, compared to the outer shell is trivial. I find that if you add loads of holes to something, people assume it's technical & it makes it look like you know what you're doing. I add lots of holes to things to make it look like I know what I'm doing! 😉