Soren Frimodt

Seems so yes Got the fair-lead mount buttoned up. Then bent up a piece of Ali to act as a heatshield to protect the Plasma12. When under load it will get nowhere near the manifolds, but when spooling up with no load, who knows what a winch-rope does! made it so I can still get to the sparkplugs without having to remove it, pretty sure I'll appreciate that at some point

Indeed, was my original intention to just make something myself, in fact I wanted to make it just like the front of the Single-Seater with one big HD mesh and the lights behind it. But then I had this dream of using the S1 grille, just for kicks. But if I can't use that everything is an option really.. But please keep the ideas coming, sometimes you stare yourself blind

Hmm might look a bit odd? Did consider that, but I need tp bend it quite a lot to follow the curveture of the front, and I don't think I can bend the plastic one that much. So the SIIA version would be perfect but they don't actually hang from the trees.. That said though, my Dad has one on his 109" so I could just make a copy, doesn't have to be original for this project

If you've been wondering why there was no update yesterday, its because I've run into my first real crisis on this project No matter which configuration Series grilles and paneling I try I just can't seem to find a design of front end that I like.. This was, I think the one with the most potential but I just don't have any depth where the lights go because of the radiator so not even my quite slim LEDs look nice. And without lights a grille with cutouts for them, or a 'T' shaped grille for that matter, is rather pointless. But anyway today I moved on to fairlead mounting, and here's how that's going to be: Sits rather high, but I knew I had to do that because of the shape of the chassis/spring mount. Will work fine I'm sure, it's just that the lower it is the easier it is for the winch to drag the vehicle over the top of a hill. But it was equally high up on the single-seater with the 8274 and that worked fine

Oh no even JLR has fully embraced the PimpFender movement.. Sad days.. Seems that fewer and fewer actually remembers what the intended purpose for the Defender is/was, now even the factory has forgotten! It is truly remarkable what Money can do to people, in the Words of Arnold in Red Heat: "Capitalism"

Yeah I always try to do that as well! And a Range Rover too I see

Hehe yeah I know, I was able to pick it up for Pennies, so had to have it. Besides I've trimmed the one on my 80" a fair bit to fit the PAS, so its nice to have an unmolested one, even though its older than mine, it has the T-grille as its a '52

Not without either cutting all the back of it off or moving the radiator to the back as I want the front really short

So then, finally my parts from Gigglepin arrived, which meant I could refurb the winch with new bearings / seals and therefore begin on the front end as I need to know where to route the winch rope, and to do this I need to fit the rope Didn't take any pictures of the refurb, too boring I reckon, but here's a picture of the new Albright and the sticker to prove I've been there Now, onto the front end, I have a little teaser for you guys as I've been to my most holy stash to collect something: As you know by now I'm no rivet counter, this doesn't mean however, that I'm going to be cutting this nice original front bulkhead into pieces. I'm only going to be using the grille and emblem. And these won't be cut or modified in any way. I just thought that for such an honorable old Race cars second life, something extra special is needed And seeing as I've made it 88" another Series part will only make it cooler

Something you could do, is add some oil restoring additive, then it should be no problem running for another year when it isn't dirty. But on the other hand if you wan't to get as much of the life that's left out of the cam, you should change it

Good on ya! Quite a coincidence its the same year as LR's 70 year anniversary

Haha yeah I noticed it completely ruins the sound in the video So on to this weekends update then! More paneling has been done, and it was on its very first little test drive down to my Brothers house And just before I quit for the day, I scrounged together some gaiters for the levers and fitted a couple of cup-holders and a reversing mirror so that I can better see past the spare. Oh and a video as usual:

Oh boy has this been an busy afternoon! We'll start with the result of the rockershaft inspection; A bit of visible wear on, primarily the underside as suspected, but nothing deep enough that I could feel it or catch my nail on it. So decided that was okay for now. Then I assembled, and assembled... No pictures as I was so keen on getting it started! Had to make sure every system was setup perfectly for the engine to fire up immediately, and be able to run for 20 mins at 2000rpm, which it did and ran smooth for the entire period. But it is rather nerve-wrecking to have an engine you just assembled scream along right next to you But I had hooked up both the water temp and the oil pressure gauge so I could keep a good eye on everything. I did make a little video of it running a little while after the break in: Runs nice and smooth, with a much stronger idle and a more crisp throttle response. And as you can see a good solid oil pressure of just over 2 bars at driving temp. at first start up it was almost 4 bars for a long period and didn't drop below 3 bars during the break-in. So all is fine and dandy so far

Great stuff Guys, it got me thinking whether this could be related to another problem I've encountered on 2 occasions. The rockershaft breaking. It happened to me once and I just thought it was because I was abusing an already well worn old engine, but then it happened to my mate on his 4,6 as well and I got intrigued. The Internet told me it was a rather common problem when running at high RPM for a prolonged period of time, and you can even get some supports for the shaft. But if its worn thin at some point, it'll of course break even easier?

No I must admit I have not, I only checked the usual spots for wear (where the tip of the valvestem rides and the socket for the pushrod) Didn't know that was a problem, but sounds obvious now that you mention it. But I can still check that no problem Coming to think about it those pieces of old cam and follower can be embedded many places throughout the engine really

Hahaa that is also how I use to do it, but seeing as I had the time I decided to make a nice little guide, I don't know if its necessary per say, but it does make it more stable when running the drill at full tilt Oh and on the thinking bit, I don't do that, I just act..

Finally my Piper cam arrived! And if you are anything like me, you can't stop yourself from comparing the Piper/Progress 87 cam, which is sort of a "stage1 +20bhp" deal with a stock 3,9 cam, right? And as I suspected there is no differences in profile, base diameter or lobe separation. The only difference I could measure is 0,5mm more lift on the Piper cam. Now this is nothing to be ashamed of, that will help the engine breath a lot better. But knowing what I do now, if I had to pay for a new cam, I would choose the stock 3,9. At around 1/5th the cost it really is a good bargain! Anyway got it fitted and the oil pump primed, which took forever for it to pick up the oil, but it does on these V8's that's why its so important to do: And this is how far I got before I called it a night:

I have a hard time believing its the same one TBH, the chassis looks just as old, and the panels much more straight than the one in the field. Besides weren't the early ones with galved chassis from the factory?

Exactly my thoughts! That thing has character and looks like it has a story to tell, unlike the restored ones

Okay, I watched this one.. This is entertainingly stupid! The fact that this guy can't see that by hollowing out the halfshaft THIS MUCH makes it no stronger than a slice of bread really is beyond me! How can people, who still has the abilities he has for machining, material knowledge etc not realize this?? What is up with the world?

Still waiting on my cam to arrive I can get some other small jobs sorted.. Tonight I made a quick and dirty oil pump priming tool, took about 15 mins Then I did some paneling again. Got the two small triangles made (one for each side) And one of the big rectangular ones for the 'seatbox':

Haven't whatced the vid and won't bother having read the 'reviews' Can however share some experience in welding shafts together, as I've tried that quite a lot in various situations. And to give you the short version: If you get the weld just right, not too much heat, but still decent penetration and slooow cooling it is comparable to a 10 spline in strength, just.

Today I got the brakelights done, Wipac NAS Fog lights was the choice:

That's sure be a good wiper system! Always found the RR/Disco mechanism 100 times better than the sloppy Series/Defender version

Today was wiring day! Started out by deciding where to put the instrument panel, and then making it: As you can see the vital instruments are just in my POV, and the old rocker switch fitted beneath the panel is getting removed, it was just temporary Then came the Spaghetti: At this point you just cross your fingers you remembered everything and made the wires long enough Thankfully everything was okay, here's the grommet they exit from, and next to it I fitted the Solenoid for the front locker. Next to that lays two black wires, these are auxiliary from a toggle switch in the panel that I don't have any use for right now. Just thought it would be nice for the future to have the wires already terminating in the engine compartment.