callum

this one looks good, if a bit breezy at the mo. best of all it keeps original roof line and looks quite subtle. i'm sure you could manage to engineer something like this and then get the sewing machine out. here be the website for buildup pics http://www.roverhybrids.com/D100_build_up.html 8.25 xzl's too, mmmmm

who said easier is better tdi is a lot less hassle to put in in the first place and plenty support exists in the aftermarket. parts? all you'll need is an oil filter every 5-10000 and a cam belt every 50... isuzu parts, when needed are extortionate from the dealer (as are landy parts) and not much of an aftermarket exists. milners sell some bits and there are isuzu specialists/breakers who will get you 2nd hand bits. bits are also available from vauxhall dealers as the 2.8 was used in the frontera. i'm led to believe a discount scheme exists at vauxhal parts counters, but i've only bought a filter, and a thermostat. i had to get a 2nd hand thermostat housing when i cracked mine overtightening something, but that was easy to get hold of second hand. above all the engines only cost about £200 second hand, so if yours goes bad big style, throw it away and get another. as said, it goes pretty well, is very robust (doesn't mind overheating too much) and is pretty refined when compared with a tdi. they do big miles too, mine had 273000 on it when i took it out of the rotten carcass of a trooper. given the price of tdi's i reckoned a year or two after doing mine that it was maybe not so much worth the bother. i can recall a few annoying niggles and they took a while to sort, but it did about 150 miles on its first run ok, apart from having to stop to beat some more clearance out of the bonnet with a hammer for it. my spectacles must be getting more rosy with time as i cant recall any major issues which led me to think the above. in summary, if you need to take the engine out on the friday and go to work withthe new engine on the monday, go for the tdi.if its more of a play thing, the isuzu makes more sense as you have time to sort out the little niggles that come with putting an engine where it was not supposed to go. jez said a while back that the 2.8 isn't the perfect engine, but it ticks lots of boxes. in my limited experience i would agree. my armchair offroading excursions through forums have not revealed any engine that ticks more boxes for me. you just need to decide which boxes are on your list and how big a tick you need to put in them.

i think the length of the 1hz 'yota engine will cause you issues as big sixes are a squeeze in the einge bay. its not impossible, just not straightforward and you won't get a conversion kit. you'd be easies getting the engine and box(es) from the landcruiser and then shoving them as far into the bulkhead as possible. might as well have the axles too, by which point you might as well ahve bought a landcruiser in the first place. a reasonable place to start might be the 12h-t from 62 sereis landcruisers, predecesor to the 80 series, but more square and with square lights. this is also a straight six, 3.9l, but a kit existed at some point to stick the 2h into a defender and the 12 h-t shares the same block but is turbo'd, so might make life a bit easier. these things rust badly so it should be possible to pick up a rot box with good transmission...if you can find one. i dont think they were imported in great numbers to the uk, but they do pop up on ebay quite occasionally. more common are 60 series, but these are non turbo. speaking of 3.9's our australian counterparts will sing the praises of the isuzu 4bd1-t. this was standard fit into some aussie 110's and 130's before the tdi became available and because 12 and 19j were so ****. http://www.isuzudieselswapper.com/ some useful bits there and probably some means to hook it up to your 727. check out outerlimits for much more info. 4bd1's areto be found in light trucks in the uk.

i don't think i can put this off much longer, so now it seems i shall have to get a new rear crossmember. from what i have read, the britpart ones should be avoided, but the sip/allmakes ones are ok. i have found designa-chassis also sell some, but i don't know if they are of their own construction or just like the others. i did have a brief look for a custom one, but the devon price of about £450 frightened me off. any other suggestions or recommendations would be appreciated. callum

thanks les, that looks liek what has happened i think the mounts on the chassis will need a little cleaning up before new bumpstops go on, might be interesting getting the remaining metal bits of bumpstop off. callum

how are these attached. i recently noticed one was missing and when i checked the security of the other one today, th ebig rubber chunk came off in my hand. in the rusty mess that was the bumpstops it wasn't clear how they were menat to be attached. i had always assumed u bolts, but this is not the case, looks like the bolt into a bracket which is part of the chassis. just need to make sure i get all the correct bits when i order some new ones. this refers to a 110, not sure if a 90 is any different or not cheers callum

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/LAND-ROVER-DISCOVERY...VQQcmdZViewItem to clarify i mean one of those. if it involves making little L brackets to hold on, then that sounds ok. cheers callum

dont suppose anyone can describe how this is attached to the door. thinking of getting a pair to use on my defender half doors as handles/armrests as they dont have either. not sure how tey're connected though, if its from behind, it might make things difficult. EDIT just to clarify i mean the interior grab handle. cheers callum

pangolin one seems ok and not too expensive http://www.pangolin4x4.com/pangolin4x4/pro...es/hitches.html then just get a drop plate from northern tool or something.

the actuators for the lockers are quite chunky things bolted to the outside of the axle, on top i think (sorry dont have any pics). may help you when looking to see if they have the lockers or not. be careful of jap import 80's, not all of them had lockers, whereas most uk ones will have them

curses, missed a speedo on ebay on sunday because i forgot about it. went for £30 which doesn't seem so bad and the housing for £7.70. (not sure how much the warning lights went for) aaaanyway further little question. what is the makeup of the illuminated heater controls? is it just a hole with a translucent cover and the bulb mounted behind? i like the idea, but i wonder if its worth the bother of having to update the warning lights at the same time and if it might be possible just to cut the approriate holes and get the covers. Of course that then raises the question of do land rover just sell it as a complete unit. thanks callum

for standard electric lockers in you want an 80 series. 70's may have lsd at the back. v6 4runners/surfs might have electric lockers, although i couldn't be sure.

can i ask from where you got the your speedo, been checking ebay every so often, but not found anything.could do withthe whole pod as mine is crumbling away to nothing and rattling. regarding the fuel gauge, red 90 reports on his page http://members.shaw.ca/red90/90.html that the vdo gauge 301-105, 52mm, 240 to 33 Ohm range works with the landie sender. it should be a good match. proabably also worth getting a vdo temp gauge at the same time so you know what actual temp you are getting. www.egauges.com seems to be the place, but you pay more for metric gauges with pictures rather than words. when i next have the dash apart i'll get those pictures of the indicator stalks for you western. the speedo pod thing is now very fragile so i'm trying to minimise the number of times i have it apart. sorry for the delay. callum.

but have they put a decent engine in it???

you could go longfield with that axle http://www.rovertracks.com/products/axles.html quite favourable given the weakness of the dollar at the moment, $660. they come with a lifetime warranty too. does leave your diff as weakest link and if you do bust a cv or shaft (which seems to be not toooo likely), you'll have to wait for your replacement as this set, being toyota derived, is 27 spline at the cv end so you can't just swap in a normal cv in the interim as you oculd with the ashcroft setup. there's a big thread about them on pirate. still lots more expensive than £35 a cv

smaller isuzu's from troopers/bighorns are a good source for alternators with vac pump. 4jb1 or 4jg2, the 2.8's or 3.1's. you'll probably have to bodge the mount though. i think a kit may have been offered in the uk at some stage for the 4bd1, but i dont know who by, maybe someone here will. a few rangies have gone through ebay with this engine, which makes me think that a kit exsted. i could be wrong though. andy at www.engineconversions.co.uk might be one to ask. he took over from milner conversions if i recall correctly.

when i got some a few years ago it was only about £20 for an 8x4 sheet of maybe 1.2 or 1.6, whatever aluminium comes in. probably more expensive now though. try pricing chequerplate, that's expensive stuff and in retrospect not really worth it...i've rather gone off it. mine came from a supplier in glasgow, i dont recall the name though.

this thread has gone off on a fairly cool tangent, beginning to like the sound of the electronic speedo. thanks callum

ralph, i'm about to head out, so i'll cover this in more detail in a few days. the stalks are from a scrap yard metro. being of similar origin to the land rover, most of the wires match up, but its not entirely plug and play. you need some relays too, one for the headlights, run from the left stalk and one so you can have fancy variable intermittant wipe on the front (whilst you're there nick the similar relay for the back window). hazards are a bit odd, i have the old switch still in and working, but the one on top also works, sort of (not fully resolved yet). they've been in for about 3 years now and are much better than the old stalks, nicer feel and generally work a bit better. unfortunately that also means i dont fully remember everything abou the change, but hit me with any questions anyway. lots of fettling required to fit them in the cowling as you can maybe see and lots of fettling to make sure they fit over the column. they're held in place by a jubilee clip on the column, which is a bit ghetto, but is much more secure than the old ones with the inevitably cracked plastic clamp. cowl screws remain mostly the same. i added a few more things about the place, heated rear window, rear wash wipe and moved the fogs switch, all now in the centre bit. my 110 is ex army so it never had these systems in the first place, therefore i had to improvise (rear wnindscreen wiper and washer also froma metro). i imagine yours has most stuff anyway so will be a bit of an easier job, although you'll have to work round things like sorting out your fog light switch. as i say, i have to go, but if you have any questions, please hit me with them. i have some wiring stuff written down. i'm happy with the results, but it wasn't really a quick and easy job. metro haynes manual is handy...i happen to have a spare too. shall sort out a better description and some more pcs when i return in a few days callum

hmm, maybe i can hold off sticking the screw thing in until i've got my plumbing done. i dont really want to go lifting the boost much, if at all over stock really as i dont have an egt gauge and they are tres expensive . thanks for the input on how much you adjusted the pump though. its the same pump design as the tdi, so there's plenty info, but i imagine the settings are a bit different, so its good to hear of isuzu based settings.

sorry, terrible pun, if you can even call it that following on from this intercooler thread http://forums.lr4x4.com/index.php?showtopic=7909 my intercooler has unfortunatley remained for a year now as an engine bay ornament with tesco bags taped over the ends. alas the end of summer holidays crept up quicker than i'd hoped and i had to return for my sixth and final year at uni, thus leaving no time to continue working on it. now i'm freeeeee and have been getting bits and bobs for it over the year to finish it off, still need a few things, but i'll get em sorted. i finally worked out how to wire in the isuzu rev counter (its a black, and a black and red wire coming off the fuel pump, black goes to earth and red goes to the blue of the rev counter) a few weeks ago and it all works fine so i know what revs i'm doing. being slightly short of cash i just used the free one i took out of the trooper when i took its engine. its rather big, but after a bit of black spray paint it looks alright and does the job last week a boost gauge arrived and last night i had a look at it and decided what fittings were required. lo and behold, various pneumatic fittings were lying on the garage floor when i opened the door this afternoon, seems my father must have been in work this morning. so i fitted it and took it for a test run to see how things were. it goes to 0.9 bar at close to 4000rpm. that is 13psi and 675 mmhg. isuzu manual reckons 660 mmhg (0.88 bar, 12.8 psi), so that is ok. the needle on the boost gauge is really fluttery when not really boosting, not by a great deal, but at really high frequency. i don't know if that is an issue. i shall speak to my pneumatics expert (father) when he gets home. its solid when boosting though, so maybe it is ok. next step is installing the boost controller thing. it seems to be basically a screw valve to restrict pressure, beofre allowing it to escape as normal to the wastegate. i bought it to up the boost slightly to compensate for the presence of the intercooler, rather than to try running something like the 20psi allisport run their isuzu 2.8 at. it seems a bit inaccurate (been trying wth a track pump) and my father didn't think much of it. anyone used/using one? after that lots of cutting and joining of pipe has to take place before i face turning the screws on the back of the pump. pics 1 - my chavtastic setup, 2- rev counter, 3 boost gauge 4 - T-ing into the wastegate bit of hose, 5 - som ebits to plumb in the cooler, 6&7 - boost controller thing 8- i dont know how i have managed 8 , i only have 7 photos. EDIT - 7 attachments now, but none in the correct order corresponding to numbers above - probably not too difficult to work out though.

how smooth should an early 110 mechanical speedo be? mine is pretty wobbly up to about 30, a fair waggle of the needle. i replaced the spedo cable last summer after it became incredibly wobbly and then snapped ( i think it was the original). i assumed whatever friction caused the old wobble before it snapped would be cured by the new cable, but it is not and is now annoying me a bit. would it be caused by a dodgy britpart cable or should i be checking the cable run thoroughly to make sure it is free from kinks or sharp turns or something? how smooth can i realistically expect the needle to move?

have a look at a nissan patrol or ask on a patrol forum. i belive you could flick a switch to disconnect it on the gu series.

ahh, that's a 70something series, i think just a 70 series, as said, known more commonly as a prado. noe electric schlockers there, maybe an lsd at the back. it is the lwb of what was mostly konwn in the uk as the landcruiser II, but also confusingly sometimes namer the vx, a name shared with the 80 series cruiser. if it were an 80, it would be worth more, given the good engine and electric lockers. the big 4 door pictured above is a 60 series, leafers with 4.0 n/a 6cyl diesels. they have different, bigger diffs to normal toyotas, landcruisers, hiluxes. if its a 4 door, its an import, i'm almost certain only 2 door models of this sort were sold in the uk (although i stand to be corrected). just read its a 2 door...not really sure there then. uk spec ones also had square ehadlamps in the 90's, maybe late 80's too. i dont really think they're worth that much money to be honest, unlike the 80 series , if not in good condition, not into the 4 figures. ebay's defos the best place to check on prices though

i'm assuming its a 70 something series if its got he 2 litre, probably a 2.4 unless its really rubbish and i dont think the vx as you know it i.e 80 series was realeased until 1990. would be very very early if its an '89. if its an 80 series engine it will be a 1hz or 1hdt is it a leafer or coil front, leaf back? check the track on the axles as well, might be narrower than rover. i think 80 series had wider axles. there was awhite range rover buggy thing on here with 80 axles, owner should be able tot tell you and a yellow IIa with 78 axles, so you should be able to see what it looks like. post up some piccies, that will solve things. best way to check value is ebay completed listings. i dont think that type of cruiser commands much money wise, especially if its a rot box. you never know though.