[Competition Time - Name the New Product - Winner gets a set !]

if you are doing a kit for the rear, R S wipe (rear screen wipe obviously)

[Why do today......]

can sympathise with that one, went to defrost the newish 2007 vw yesterday morning, to find the fan didn't work at all. Fuse I thought, so opened the boot to get a screwdriver to open one of 4 or 5 fuse boxes, only to find the boot wheel well swimming with an entire bottle of undiluted screenwash.

All the fuses were good so used the heated screen to clear the frost, and go shopping. Got back and started fault finding/drying out. Several hours and scraped knuckles later the motor/ controller behind the glovebox has packed in and a new one is £200 and the car isn't much use until i get the bits.

Have a beer or three Jeff, I'm sure there are better days ahead

Pete

[Suggestion on price]

depends on many factors such as chassis condition and how it runs/drives, i.e what someone is willing to pay you for it. £3k bottom end up to £4k if its pristine. £2.6k for a tatty example which yours isn't.

Just going by what is out there and what you can get for you money i.e a 2.5n/a and a 1.6667 transfer box won't be everyones cup of tea (58 flat out) however your military paint etc finish is good and hasn't been bazzed up.

The military market has taken a bit of a battering as the number of shows and events has suffered of late, so not so many people have spare cash for a second weekend toy. On the flip side the range rover classics have done well and with winter maybe on the cards again 4x4 values may go up across the board slightly.

p.s try it on milweb.net or emlra ......etc

[to wave or not to wave perchance]

You know you have landed when you get flashed from the other side of the motorway by some of the proper Army in convoy in real wolfs/wmiks/DAF's. I did have all the WALT/spotter kit fitted that day on the way back from a show. The only thing that let it down was the civvy plates, pink jumper and massive grin.

Flashing back wise I draw the line after P38's/Disco2's or anything extremely bazzed up which is overly clean.

[300Tdi - strange cooling issue]

No I don't think it sounds too unusual? I had a think about it. Engine warms up with thermostat closed and warms to 80 ish (sender is on thermostat housing) then at 82-85 stat opens up circulating water into rest of system rad etc which drops the temp of the water again.

once water is circulating in full system viscous fan is cooling to 70 or less on a cold day unless the stat closes again. when closes again water will be warmer close to engine.

The luxury you have over mine is a gauge which works I have boggo lr part which always sits around upper 2/3rds offull deflection

edit: if it doesn't always goes to 85 first then drop to 70 then I'd go with mav with a stick thermostat, although i'd go with sticking open, which isn't as bad as sticking closed.

[Erm....HFH DIY Bench Wire Wheel "Machine" - A H&S special]

Please don't wear gloves if you insist on using that, other than nitrile which will tear off if you get too close, welding/riggers gloves will suck you in Glasses or goggles plus a full faceshield would be a plus. Or the ultimate in safety would be cutting the plug off

[Land Rover related saloon as everyday car?]

If you are pondering a late run BL Austin car to convert, what about a Montego/Maestro they has the same self recycling rust characteristics as the SD1. The perkins lump was probably the last bit left of the car as it was covered in oil continually. It found it's way into several land rovers via Steve parkers kits. So why not go the other way and create a montego 4x4 with lt77 etc

[The Rover V8. Why bother ?]

As time and tech moves on I'd like to see the possibility of raiding the jaguar stables, for the 4.4 and the 4.2 supercharged lumps gearboxes etc. There is already a kit for the tdv6/8 so megasquirt the jag lumps?

It should keep the emissions lot happy as well

[110 rear prop]

depending on your engine gearbox combo, you may have the wrong rear prop. When I did mine from a 2.5na and lt77 to a 300tdi/r380 the prop was around 1-2 inches too short. It's worth checking you have the right part.

is it a 200tdi or a 300? and which gearbox have you got?

[Headlights don't work]

sounds like the stalk switch common has failed, i.e not sending the flash to the high beam or sending the same to the relay in the other position for prolonged operation. Could you link it out to prove it? i.e push 12v at the main beam relay

[300tdi battery warning light]

make 1 good out of 2 bad? i.e see which one spins well and swap the reg packs over? or are they both duff?

[300tdi battery warning light]

You can always put it on charge if poss or put another battery in place of yours to get you home. Being a diesel only needs the glowplugs starter (briefly) then enough juice to hold the stop solenoid open. Lights and wipers only if it is dark/wet.

[300tdi battery warning light]

check the aux belt is in good order and with that off give the alternator a spin by hand to check the bearings haven't colapsed. Other than that the brushes and the pack as you say, should be 14.2-14.4v when charging and 12.2-12.9v when switched off.

I did mine a few years ago when the bearing had partially collapsed stalling the alternator and the belt was chafing, this caused the light to flicker more as the bearing got worse till it stayed on when it failed.

There are two lengths of aux belt for the 300tdi, an early and a late, worth checking your engine no. before ordering. I keep a spare under my seat now as you can change it with a 15mm? spanner, if you haven't got aircon fitted (another belt to take off first)

[Back in the club with a 110 2.5 n/a]

when i had the 2.5n/a i ditched the viscous and put an electric fan on the rad and found it warmed up quicker in the winter and saved a few pennies on the diesel.

[Range Rover P38 mystery – no power when put into gear]

If the engine starts and revs freely in Neutral and oil levels and coolant look ok I would suspect the auto box. If you ring Ashcrofts they may be nice enough to advise you if so.

David is a top bloke and spent 10 minutes on phone with me describing first a vcu fail then months later when auto box had no real power until it had warmed up. Both were run of the mill faults for him and his diagnosis was spot on. Needless to say we got the parts from him for transferbox then gave the work to them to fit a new autobox.

No links apart from a happy customer twice over.

[Tech Tips!]

Struggling to fill an autobox/gearbox or tricky axle. Use a modern schrader type fire extinguisher. Wreck the bite valve bit in the end of the rubber extinguishser hose and extend the length of the hose using a length of flexy fish tubing or beer tubing tube pushed over the end of the squirt bit secure with cable ties.

Apply goggles.

Clean and dry the innards then fill a litre or so more than you need (to reach the pickup tube.

Then top ext up with air from tyre compressor or foot pump until the extinguisher gauge is in the green. Keep upright at all times filling and emptying.

stand upright next to rover then be amazed as you squeeze to add fluid without spilling every where.

[What a plonker!]

may have damaged either battery? warped the plates or damaged the post to plate braid? see what the voltage looks like to see if a cell has shorted.

[Replacing the 110 escape hatch]

Silastic black windscreen sealant rings a bell from the old BL Austin Rover days. Used it to glue up leaky sunroofs and mini windscreens for years. Now made by DOW Corning

[Collectable?]

It might be if it includes the number plates to match to drive round with , I'd be taking the listing down if it was me

[Seems new Defenders get spline wear to.]

if you put it back in and rev it to death with the brakes on won't it friction weld it? problem solved

It looks like the adaptor is an adaptor itself, so why not make from one piece of suitable material, or peg it with a shear pin?

[Winter is coming!]

depending on how old your 90 is it's worth also checking the 3 wire multiplug by the heater motor box, I helped repair one with chock block professionally, where the pins had actually corroded and melted inside the multiplug housing.

[Wiring loom gone up in smoke... So how to proceed...]

If you didn't get as far as switching on the main beams then you may be lucky and get away with the red sidelight circuits. if your side/lights still work front and rear, then whip the fuses out and get the clocks out.

Mine went in the same place just after I bought it. I recon it was a dodgy bulb on the clock illumination as you say there are no fuses. I think it had shorted to ground and done a good job of the red wire getting v hot. This in turn turned it into a hot knife cutting into several other colours at the back of the dash. Just check where the melty bits are haven't cut into the rest of the loom then cut out the ofending wire and replace with 5a? cable, you could add a 3-5a fuse for good measure?

[HELP! I'm in love but is this all but a dream?]

Also bear in mind a standard 90/110 wont go into your standard car garage (but neither will a mondeo estate) on height alone. If you stray into 101 country, then think I might get a DAF MJ/MK all your car tools suddenly look a bit underpowered and need replacing , i.e trolley jack, axle stands, that selection of 3/4" sockets and a mac tool box.

All depends on your licence as well, you can only load it up till it reaches 3.5 tonnes on a post 1997 licence, not sure of the kerb weight of a defender 110 close to 2.5t maybe? disco3 hse is around 2.7t

I thought about a mj/mk for a while then thought errrm no.

[2.5 NA Cold start mechanism not working ?]

I didn't know the 2.5 n/a throttle operation (either by hand or foot) affected the glowplug operation as its a mechanical fuel pump etc? on my 86 ex mil you only had ignition position 1 then a springy bit (glowplug manual) then pos 2 for starter to kick over. Once started it springs back to position1. The only electrical connection on the fuel pump is the stop solenoid.

It may be worth changing the glowplugs though, they are small/cheap enough to have shipped if you can't find them locally. You can check my switch theory by clipping a 12v bulb and flylead one side to any of the glowplugs and the other side to the engine block (earth).

HTH

Pete

[MIG or TIG lovely item wot I has bought]

Obviously it doesn't work on ally ...... however is it strong enough to stick to some 1 or 2mm ally with a bit of steel behind it? Just curious.....

No, strange that. ;-) I was going to take my eclipse swarf pickup stick back to MM till I had a "moment" when I realised I'd been drilling/sawing ally. It wont pick up brass either, what a con.

Elbekko the magnet is the same arrangement as the mag vices and dti stands, which work when you twist the poles into alignment via twisting the knob 90 degrees which creates the magnet, very handy for removing the swarf which has lodged itself on the magnet.