steve200TDi

Nice work! This is on my to do list too! I just used some angle and box section to make a quick fold last time, but that looks nice and simple! I thought using the plates that came with the press was a neat solution too! Steve

One foot plate added for the co driver! I even managed to use my new press to fold it too! Just a quick fold with some angle and box section! Round 2 is back at Tilmanstone, as Plurenden is waterlogged. I fancy a change of scenery, so I'm going off roading in the 90 at Slindon this weekend! I need to re-seat the gasket on the autobox sump as it's leaking, but apart from that I'm ready for round 3! Steve

Yes, its rather annoying when you get mud or water on the lens! So the sticky mounts do stick then, haha.

Thanks Mike, I'll definitely give the manually changing a go at the next round as well as just Drive and report back. Awesome video too! I want to get some shots like that too! So just over a week to go and the exhaust is repaired and back on, just the co drivers seat to adjust and a kick plate fitting. Steve

Mike - I'm racing in D. Bowie - Thanks! Dover was good! I was trying to lift off instead of brake over some of the bumps as it makes some of them bumpier if you do brake. Also on some of the wash board sections, flooring it made it slightly smoother. Yes, I'm in the process of making a little foot plate for Nix!

So as the kick down cable was now jammed I thought I had better replace it. I had done lots of research and found a few websites which had photos etc. So I thought I would take the plunge and get it done! I printed off one of the photos that had all the bolts you had to remove too. So I drained the oil, removed the sump. Removed the filter and kept as I had only just done an oil and filter change. And carefully removed all the crucial bolts and drew a rough layout. The bolts aren't all the same length! Then this came off, fairly heavy, but manageable. Unhook the kick down cable off here and pull the cable out from above. It had a few tight bends in it and the inner white tube had broken up as you could feel it catching as you pulled it each way. The new one runs so freely!! The hardest part was feeding the plastic end into the gearbox as it was difficult to get a grip on it to push it in, but I got there in the end. The valve for the kick down is on the valve block which I removed, so when you operate the kick down cable (pull it) you don't feel the extra detente at the end because that is the valve moving! I thought something wasn't right, but all was well when I reinstalled the valve block. I torqued all the bolts up, refitted the filter and sump, added oil and it seems to move forwards and backwards! So all is good! I tried to be as clean as I could, as you don't want dirt in it! Steve

I'm probably alright for projects at the mo Mo! , but it looks a good one! Steve

Our fastest lap! Steve

After setting out early we were over at Tilmanstone quarry near Dover in good time (even though we did think we would spend the whole day stuck on the M2 because of a car fire and the traffic not moving at all!) We passed scrutineering and were ready for the off. The first lap was a bit slow on not flowing at all because we were constanlty searching for were to go next, that's probably why we ended up here! I thought it was a bit out of character for the course! And yes were were truely stuck up to the tree sliders! Fortunately it wasn't just us who had a mishap on the first lap and so we waited until the over turned car was rescued first. In the process of trying to get out I had managed to get the kickdown cable stuck in the 'IN' position and so I had to lift the bonnet and pull the cable out so I had some accelerator pedal travel to limp back to the pits. Once two vehicles pulled me out backwards over the ridge I could access the damaged, if any. All mud flaps were still intact and after a closer look at the kick down cable it was now in the fully 'OUT' position. As I hadn't even completed a lap (well I completed 80% of the lap!) I thought it was all going to go pear shaped and we would be going home early. As the cable appeared to be stuck I decided to go and do one lap and see how I got on and what the gearbox was and wasn't doing as I hadn't got anything to loose! The engine was revving higher in gear and was still changing up, so all was good! After one more lap of getting my bearing I started to get in the zone and the course became more flowing and I was able to think more about where to not break and where I could go faster rather than worrying about if it was left or right! We ended up doing 4 lap stints with our times constantly coming down from 9:26 to our fastest of 8:43. The fastest time was set by this thing powered by a Chevy LS engine with independent suspension. I quite liked it So after a not so good start it turned out better than expected! A small list of to do thing: I suspect I will need to swap out the kickdown cable now its jammed! There's a little slack in the wipers mainly down to the spindle adapters being loose. The exhaust came loose due to some of the mounts shearing off, so that will need to be remounted. There will be a video uploaded soon of my fastest lap, but for the next round I'm going to remount the GoPro and use the open housing to get some more engine noise in the video! Steve

Slindon was fun and everything worked, wheel arches were fine too. So onto the last few things that needed to be done before the start of the 2018 SCOR Comp Safari season. I had bought a discovery TD5 washer bottle with the associated pumps and had done a quick flow test and found there not to be a difference between the windscreen washer and headlight washer pump. So I now have two pumps feeding the two washer jets running through washer tubing of the 3mm variety rather than hose pipe that was on there before! I refitted the mudflaps and checked it over. I had a leaky rear hub seal and the bearing needed tightening, so I ordered a new seal and set too sorting it out........Oh so the inner bearing has collapsed or disintergrated leaving the inner part still on the stub axle when I removed the hub. So cut a long story short I have now fitted two new sub axles, two new disks and four new bearings! I tightened the front wheel bearings up and replaced one of the rear prop-shaft ujs. Topped up all the fluids, added fuel and we were ready to go! Also I adjusted the kickdown cable to its tightest setting and it does kick down now, so I look forward to seeing how it performs at the race. Report to follow Steve

Cool! And good boot space for all the land rover parts! Hope you don't get too attached! Steve

This looks good and different. https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Landrover-Defender-Project/112874676482?hash=item1a47dae102:g:sPAAAOSwD4larTbv

A view of his workshop at the start of the video.......all steamed up!

Nice work Mo! Steve

Not a problem, glad to help! Steve

Check my build thread out Mike in my signature. Half way down page 4. Steve

Have a look in my build thread here: I used a cable grommet with the plastic trunking. At the moment I've literally cut a 20mm hole through each side of the dash and poked it through. I did see those plastic finishers...they could work and direct the air a bit better than mine! Steve

This looks good! https://www.stakesys.co.uk/bead-formers-jennys/manual-machines/br460x1e-e-range-bead-former Steve

So how did it go? Did everyone have fun? I've seen a few photos on the Shire Facebook page. Steve

I've been doing a bit of research lately regarding 4HP-22's. The 3 digit serial number stamped in the box on the little plate on the side seems to refer to a particular model year and vehicle. I cannot find anything else online regarding this apart from this little snippit from this website: http://roverlanders.bc.ca/roverforum/viewtopic.php?f=5&t=8590 Someone also said that each variant is slightly different, but I have no info to back this up! I also know that you can get different torque converters and this can change how the box reacts, but I need more info to understand the effects! On the Ashcrofts website for the torque converters they say it is very important to install the converter properly and getting the right depth etc. http://www.ashcroft-transmissions.co.uk/miscellaneous/torque-converters/torque-converter.html Hope this helps. (I'm trying to diagnose a kick down fault (here: and so I might be swapping out my gearbox too, but I need to find one I know works before going through the effort of fitting one to find it doesn;t work!) )

Hi, I need to get to the bottom of my autobox problems on my Comp Safari Racer which you may have been following here: I would like to use a bit of land, be it a field or tarmac surface etc to test out my auto box in a straight line (to reduce the churning of the field, if any). The testing would be used to determine why my box isn't shifting where it should and if I need to replace it! I may come back again to test the improvements. If anyone does have or know of a suitable location in the Sussex area, then please get in contact with me on here or my DM The build thread should outline the problems I have had with the kick down cable, but basically I have adjusted it to the max and its not kicking down and changing gear above 3000rpm. Regards Steve

For revision 1 of the rear wheel arches I have used some 34mm OD 2.5mm wall tube. I bought a hole saw to do the notching. Although Abracs was down the cheaper end of the hole cutters, it mentions it can cut stainless steel and has the pin locking system on the arbor so the hole saw saw is easy to remove. It all cam in at £10.40 and the arbor is the big one and goes up to 150 odd mm hole size. It cut the two notches I needed perfectly. And so with the help of a load of wood clamped to the back of the chassis as a sort of jig to rest the tube on I came up with this. I also plated the chassis too. Just need to add the big tyres and some paint and I'm pretty much ready for Slindon at the weekend. Steve

I've heard about disco TD5 headlight washer jet pumps, but didn't know they fitted into standard washer bottle holes. Good to know! Steve

A quick video:

Over Christmas I've been busy with Christmassy things and windscreen wiper things! I also got a 10 ton press for Xmas, so will be building that and playing with it soon! I could replace all the wiper boxes and motor and drive rod at nearly £100 or take two disco wiper assembly's from newbury for £5 and make a wiper system that hopefully wipes better. I mulled it over in my head and came up with a plan! This! I drilled the spot weld out of the motor bracket and trimmed it down. And made a mock up in the vice using some timber. Amazingly one of the linkages was the correct length, the other one I have to shorten. Using a bit of 50mm box section, I spaced it away from the windscreen the correct amount. I quick do with the multimeter and it was all wired up. There's a quick video which I will upload soon. Windscreen and wipers are all fitted and just need to look at the washer jets to man them up a bit! Now onto the rear wheel arch supports, I have employed so thicker wall tubing and you should see some results this week! Steve