ajh

I've heard of people being given a hassle because their pedals were bare (oddly including some Series vehicle where covers were not fitted standard) and I am investigating machining up pedal covers specifically for the Defender and I want to make sure that they comply with any relevant UK regulations as well as my local rules (which are basically, if it's considered safe then go ahead). They would be bolt-on and require drilling 4 holes to ensure a proper secure fit vs. all those aftermarket ones that just don't quite fit and bolt on using retaining bars etc. I'm also wondering what other vehicles share brake/clutch/accel pedal design with the Defenders (I only have two at the moment a 1992 and a 1993 and those are both the same) as it would be nice to have them work with the widest range of vehicles possible. They'll probably also be slightly wider than the stock ones, probably another inch or so, and come up a bit more as well as I find the stock locations to be set quite low. Any help with the regulatory issue, comments, or requests for contact when they're ready are entirely welcome. Thanks.

Something I learned is that there really should be several stainless steel studs welded to the chassis where the ground points are going to be, then galvanized and the zinc stripped and a die run down them to provide a solid, corrosion proof, easy grounding point for the chassis. Came across this doing research on ground up chassis building. Would be nice to see it done on the replacement ones as standard.

The idea of a wedge is that the box is slanted as well so the amount of lost headroom diminishes as you go backwards. As for the seatbox digging into legs, not with the 3" extra room I need, right now I'm rapidly developing tendinitis in my left knee to add to MT climbers elbow and crampon ankle (oddly all on my left side only) so getting my legs out past 90 degrees is pretty important. I'll mock up something quickly that is a combo of slotting the rear and extending using angle steel to get things at least where I need then before fabbing up something more pretty.

I had a simple 1" spacer added when using the stock seats, with the Exmoor Trim Elite's one thing they don't tell you is that instead of using better foam they make them thicker which messes everything up. (they really need to learn from Corbin) What I may try though is a wedge shaped spacer that only raises things at the back and keeps the front low, this may be enough.

Thanks to Ashcroft getting me the case quite quickly it is now in place (though I get the new front diff on Wednesday and still need to stretch the front shaft and balance both) vibration is significantly reduced and the shift points are where I'd expect now with about 110kph in 4th and 120kph in 5th. Loads less noise and it doesn't feel like the drivetrain is on the edge of blowing up on the highway anymore. Overall I am very happy with the change. I can now continue to tune things and get the top and up a bit as well. Maintaining 125kph on a 8% grade would make me really happy.

You seem to have mis-read. I don't have room to raise the seat at all, so I need to move it backwards without raising it. Also I need to make clearance so it can recline fully for those sleep-in-the-seat trips. So cutting is going to be required no matter what, what I'm curious about is how people cosmetically dealt with it, and how they kept things like the seat-belts attached to full-strength anchor points etc.

I am curious what others have done to increase legroom (110 csw) buy without losing headroom. What I am envisioning is a wide bracket that fastens where the seatbelt attachment points are and then cutting down the seam to allow the seat rails to be mounted about 2-3" furthur back.

Just hope you made sure the new one has the cross drilled input gear.

So the new 110's all break shafts on the road with 32" tires? I'd have figured that'd be an issue.

Yes it is, but is it too weak for the application? I can re-use the sals when I do a 100" offroader on big tires next year easily enough and cutting what, near 200lbs from the unsprung rear weight couldn't be a bad thing. Has anyone had problems with the 4-pin rear breaking with 32" tires at all even?

On an expedition 110 is there any compelling reason not to fit the lighter 4-pin HD Rover rear axle in favour of the Salisbury? 32" tires, lots of highway use and the new rear would be one with discs etc already vs converting the Salisbury.

Thanks for all the opinions, I've decided to go for the 1.2 in a q-suffix from Ashcroft as my real worry is highway driving and expedition where there is always low-range and I am unlikely to tow often and then the heaviest thing is likely to be another 110.

It has not been a particularly fun week. At least next week I'll have time to take things apart and get them setup as well as possible given any wear/damage. All of the advice has been helpful and is appreciated.

If you can find a decent lt230 in Canada for 50 quid I will take 10. I will be dyno testing, hopefully I can do it next week (this week I am stuck running a major international conference so not a lot of time to do more than discuss things. ) I will do the ratio calc based on a variety of ratio and r&p combinations and see how it works out. If I got 10% taller gearing in 1-4 it would probably be ideal, if 5th was 30% higher which leads me to think that perhaps 1.2 and 3.75r&p might work. I was just hoping to chat with people who have sorted things. Right now power is great off the line but 1st is shorter than ideal but starting in 2nd is too tall by roughly the same amount. Then at about 90kph things slow dramatically and changing to 5th doesn't really help that much as power is still best about 1000rpm lower.

Even at 150-160bhp? The problem right now is by the time I get to 125 the torque curve has collapsed. Are you guessing or have you tried?

Mutter, mobile client double posted.

Really? Nobody? Doing this is not cheap and having some feedback would be nice. There just are not enough people with tdi around here to get any kind of real-world opinions locally. I suppose going 1.2 and then if it ends up too high it could be "adjusted" at the diff.

Over here I might as well be driving a Veyron given the attention the 110 attracts. Any time I stop and am anywhere near the vehicle someone comes up to chat. Easily happens 3-5 times a day.

I get people doing this almost every day I go out if I stop anywhere.

If real it has discharge papers, just ask for a copy.

I am wondering if anyone who has fitted a 1.2:1 transfer case to a tuned 200TDi (say 130-140bhp) regret making the swap when used mostly for highway / long-distance driving (so 32" tyres). I know my front diff needs replacement and my rear needs rebuilding, and my TC is likely ready for rebuild as well (some movement but it has 260,000mi on it so just replacing everything with Ashcroft units seems sensible now. I am currently at over 3000rpm at 125kph and I am thinking I am running way too far from peak power. That and it's pretty loud.

Re-shimmed the diff, I think I need to pull out the thinnest one and it'll be good, however the transfer case output is also moving (probably due to the D2 flange differing from the D110 one I suspect, is shimming this up the same process and the same shims?

After a test run I am pretty sure it's too tight. Off to see the Guy who set it up to see if he pilfered my thinner shims as the one from the 90 that was already out only had a single thick one too. There has got to be a better way to do this kind of thing.

OK, I had two of the thick shims in place, removed one and now it's tight, possibly a bit too much but I can still turn the pinion with one hand with everything but the prop still attached so I figure it'll work until I can get some more selection and do a proper bench-setting. I ran into another issue though, I was feeling some free-play in my steering and I tracked it down to where the HD track rod attaches to the bracket that then bolts to the drop-arm, the thread was allowing movement. I'd have thought that there would be a jam nut at that end but I don't seem to have received one. Happen to know what thread that is so I can get a nut without taking things apart first Should be the same as the one on the TREs. Once this is sorted the steering should be tight and precise (no, not for a Defender but for any vehicle ) now I just need to correct the castor to make sure that it gains back some self-centering, precision without self-centering just encourages over-correction.

I am exhausted and stuck running an event this week away from manuals etc. Please correct me if I am wrong but pinion height shims require removing the diff but bearing preload shims can in theory be done in-situ after removal of the flange and seal?