steve200TDi

Well worth fitting! Use cable ties like I did!

It's working fine at the moment! If the forum wants to sponsor a Megasquirt install then I'm not stopping you! I've spent all my money on shocks! More progress with those this week hopefully. Steve

Whoop! Let the progress continue! Nice hat Dave! Steve

The silicone hoses turned up last week and so with a bit of pondering I came up with a plan and set too with the stanley knife and I came up with this: Just need to make some brackets for the snorkel and finish the end off as it will go across the roof, but apart from a bit of paint and jubilee clips that job is DONE! Now I can sort out the front shock hoops and get them welded into position. I've also been playing with a plasma cutter I borrowed as that's for the lower shock mounts. The tube for the rear shock mounts has arrived and I've also received another parcel too.........it's got FOX on the box Steve

I'm about to update my Racer build thread with my intake progression. I found a 70mm hose fitted the intake, but your quite right, you can't get 135 degree reducers and there's limited 90 reducers as I found out! It a bit of trial and error and find the best combinations of reducing bends and straights! Steve

Thanks! It's tidier than expected, just got a few silicone hoses on order and I will be able to compete the installation! Yes, 2.8TD, so being off a boost engine I thought the air flow requirements would be about right! Time will tell I guess! Steve

Right, more progress made, but I'm still chopping bits off and dismantling! After a lengthy chat with Paul from Tomcat Motorsport, who was very helpful and knowledgeable, two tubular shock hoops arrived! After a little bit more grinding they fitted perfectly on the front. However this wasn't going to be the case for the rear as the rear roll cage stays were in the way. I've come up with a plane for this and some 38.1mm tube arrived today....... With the shocks ordered I decided to concentrate on the new air intake system. The previous system was very long, very long! So I removed the 4m of ali pipe and thought about what I wanted to do. There was a convenient space in front of the passenger foot well for an air box. My plan was (in reverse) to have it come out of the engine through the MAF sensor into an air box and up the windscreen and across the roof. I thought about making an air box, but it's very time consuming, the likes of Ali sport could probably make something, but I haven't got the money for that! So I thought about finding an existing air box that I could modify. I would have to be the right size and I could get by with changing the in and out's with welding or fiberglass. So looking on ebay for a while I came up with an air box from a Mitsubishi Pajero, I inquired about size and it seemed to be about right! So this turned up! So I trimmed the brackets off and removed the rubber hose (which later would come in handy!) and offered it up. I had a position in mind, but rotating it round I managed to find a position where I wouldn't need to modify the air box at all. The only modification I needed to do was to rotate the outlet pipe 180 degrees which just involved drilling the spot welds out. It's an all metal construction air box which takes a flat oval air filter costing around £10. And trimmed the rubber hose to utilise for the snorkel. As you can see, yet more bonnet modification will be needed for the air box as well as the shock turrets. I'm going to stick with it and look into making a new bonnet at the end of the season. Am I still on schedule for the first SCOR race on the 12 March.......Hmmmm I don't think so , but it'll be done when it's done. Next target is race in April! Steve

Whoop it's going to be fun! It's tomorrow! And it may snow!! Steve

Just to clear up the weight issue! The 1770kg did include two people at 140kg combined and one battery! So vehicle weight is 1530kg. Yes the underbody skid plates at relatively easy to remove so I might run the first couple of events with them off to see what cooling is like around the fuel tank. Regarding all the other bits and pieces, I'm grateful for all your suggestions, but it seems a lot of effort for little gain. So I will do the easy fixes and go racing! This is not going to be in the garage all year! On another note I have some shiney shock hoops arriving on Monday Steve

Very true - I probably don't need two batteries! And yes the silencer is a little bigger than I wanted, but it was cheap! And running a straight pipe is a little loud for my ears! I may end up looking into a different box. I was thinking of relocating the box to the back and using a rear box off a 200tdi 90 as the in and out are on the same side. Yes, front recovery points may not be needed, but I still would like to pop to slindon on the odd occasion and so still being able to fit a winch and be able to use it is still on my list of requirements. Regarding the snorkel, it was more the worry about water splashing in if I go through a puddle at speed. If I had the air intake at the front, where there's loads of space, it could be vulnerable. So I thought an air box in the nearside area with a pipe going up and over the windscreen would suit. So I've been thinking about the weight problem and here's a few thoughts: - The weight doesn't include all the central skid plates! - The fuel tank is made of rather thick material! - Standard 4.2 rover V8 with tubular exhaust manifolds onto a 4 speed auto and borg warner transfer box. - Standard internal rover axles. - Radius arms, standard wide on front, thin on rear with speed holes. - Range rover chassis with steel rollcage of unknown thickness. - Aluminium body panels. - Discovery steel wheels which are heavy yet robust. Apart from that its just seats, wiring, radiators and dash! Steve

Thank you for all your comments so far. So I'm sensing that it could be a bit on the heavy side! It is true that for comp safari racing you don't need all this underbody protection, so I could remove all the central stuff and replace with just a small bar that runs down the middle over the gearbox and transfer box. Regarding the fuel tank, yes I can move it, but I don't have the facilities to modify it and at this early stage it's quite a work up. As it did a few winch challenges in the past it has grown slightly, so yes i could remove the wheel spacers, but I still like the tree sliders! I could change the panhard rod castings for something more racy, but that is probably a job for once everything else is done! Regarding ride height I could lower it a bit as it does appear to sit quite high (gap between bump stop and axle) compared to my 90. I did also work out that the boot and bonnet weight roughly 30kg and 25kg respectively. Right, any thoughts about air intake! Steve

Well today I've been mostly weighing!! The front upper shock mounts are 4kg each, 8kg in total The rear upper shock mounts are 3kg each, 6kg in total The old shocks are 2.25kg each, 17kg in total The 4m of aluminium snorkel with some silicone bends was 3Kg So 34kg removed so far! I will obviously weigh the new shock mounts and new shocks when they arrive! I've also done the corner weights of the vehicle too to send off for the shocks to be built up. Weights are as follows with all existing body work, two people and some fuel: NSF: 458kg OSF: 462kg NSR: 352kg OSR: 386kg Total weight: 1770 So the front is very evenly distributed, but the rear is slightly different. Only thing I can see is the rear diff being slightly nearer the OSR as there isn't any particular 'thing' in that corner making it heavier. Jobs for tomorrow is further investigating/thinking of a new home for the air intake as I want a filter housing in the nearside area just in front of the footwell and behind the road wheel with a snorkel pipe going up the windscreen. I had thought about retrofitting/modifying a suitable donor, making my own using an off the shelf filter or buying a new truck air box..... And looking at the exhaust and maybe raising the fuel tank up slightly to try and get rid of the some of the heat. Even adding some extra heat shielding as the fuel tank still gets mighty hot even though it stays running all day. Cooler fuel is always better and I may even get a few horsepowers back! Steve

Haha, yes, only a few cracks! So far the panhard rod set up is working well, but it's the only set up I've ever had, so I don't know any different. All I know is it is smoother driving over flat muddy ground compared to my defender 90!

Good progress has been made over the last couple of days! All 8 shocks have been reomved. The fuel system has been removed ready for chopping out the upper shock mounts in the rear and doing a a small chassis repair too. And in the front the steering system has been removed to gain access to remove the front upper shock mounts. I also had to remove the brake pedal and steering column as a crack has formed and needs repair. So with a bit of tidying up and a bit of welding it will be ready to offer up the new shock mounts when they arrive It's going to be really light now the amount of stuff I've chopped off! Steve

A flavour of the site! See you there! Steve

Good spot Jon! Yes they were a mixture of truck arch and rubber matting. But don't worry I already have a set of truck arches (which are massive and probably can use one for all four corners) in stock which I previously procured! I'm ring round Milners, Prolinx and Tomcat motorsport this week to get the best deals! Steve

To briefly update this, I went off roading over Christmas and a noisy annoying rattle was with us all day! The next weekend I narrowed it down to the back box rattling. I found a replacement of a slightly larger size and have roughly fitted it for now, but will weld it up once the new upgrades are underway. Now the upgrades can be planned for this season! I've been looking into new shocks as the existing pin/pin shocks do overheat and by mid afternoon you can feel every bump around the course! So after a few phone calls to Milners and Prolinx I have narrowed it down to a set of 2.5 Fox remote reservoir shocks. I've started stripping the vehicle down so that i can start the repairs and mods and also start measuring up for the new shock hoops. Arches No arches! I also need to work out what length shocks I need, so I'll have a look at that once all the old stuff is chopped off. Hopefully more progress next weekend! Steve

I also got some art from my girlfriend at Christmas. It's in the MUD WUN Racing colours too! This will be going up in the house too. Steve

The racer - Fit new shocks (either remote reservoir or coilovers) - Improver wipers - Improve body work - Sort out god awful exhaust rattle!! - (Maybe fit D2 axles) The 90 - Fit heated winscreeen (with associated wiring) - Make it quieter - Sort out gearbox noise! - Sort out bodywork, add paint and re-sticker We'll see how much of this actually gets done this time next year!! (Here's hoping some of it gets done) Steve

I think they are interchangeable, but remember the 110 hi cap only has 2 doors and the 130 hi cap has 4 doors. So the length difference is the second row of seats. Steve Steve

It's interesting you say they get bent as I've heard a few people comment about this. Are they actually weaker? So maybe worth adding some bracing to them if I decided to use them for comp safari!

Yes I was going to mention D2 axles, but I too don't know much about them and haven't really found any info on the net which sways me towards them. I was thinking of fitting them to my Racer as the track is wider, but I'll have to change my wheels. Also I would modify the chassis too, so if anything hapens to the axle casing I can just swap one out! As at the moment I have a custom rear axle casing as I have front hockey sticks on the rear with a panhard rod. Steve

Yes it is, but unfortunately I don't know any history of the engine. Steve

So yes, it was good: I cleaned up the rocker covers so at least they were a dull silvery colour instead of a dirty brown colour! I've renewed all the injector plugs where needed, so tomorrow I can get it all back together with two good second hand injectors and hopefully it'll be back to normal! Steve