ChrisM_110

When I started making a new dash cluster from spares, I polished the old style cluster to get some scratches out, and removed the white legends. It looks OK, and is perfectly visible. It a cheapo Td5 looky-likely thingy. I feel a bit barry now.

Rusty steel + aluminium = thermite. Nasty. A good reason to keep cutting/grinding discs seperate for steel and ally.

In contrast I've found LRSeries very good. Postage can be slow, as they don't keep everything they list, and it takes a while to build an order. I've phoned them (number on their website) and got missing items by return of post. Pasted from their website for coastguard: L. R. Series Unit 3 Brookfield Business Park Clay Lane Shiptonthorpe York YO43 3PU [b]Telephone us[/b] 01430 871590 [b]Fax us[/b] 01430 803433

Seconded (or 3rdeded) for Navigator, excellent software. TomTom for Pocket PC is also handy, in conjunction with MemoryMap off-road. You can also run it on a normal PC, but you require a PocketPC emulator.

If you cut the big inner flanges of before bending them they will bend with the aid of a heat gun. I can imagine how you'll get them to look half decent without some kind of former to hold their shape as they cool though.

Try this for their ebay shop. Little bit more expensive now by the looks of things.

Just one look at their website tells you all you need to know. Reminds you of the 1980's molybdenum peddlars. Quentin 'I'll do anything for a quid' Wilson says it's great however. Snake oil, with a helping of placebo effect. For a notoriously threatening and litigious bunch they are unintentionally hilarious in defense of their 'product'. There was a great rant/exploration of the worth of their 'product' on Pistonheads, but in defense of their 'product' Ametech tend to threaten legal action/accuse individuals of slander & libel and the thread was removed. I don't think you need any further proof if it can only be defended with litigation, and not independent empirical evidence. This is their standard copy paste response to the snake oil comment on any forum [Pistonheads/alfagtv6/gtr]with a query: Oh, and if you don't keep using it, the effect disappears. Brilliant marketing. Nanotech copper/silver/lead my arse.

Cappings I got new take off from Hobsons via ebay. Full length 110 3 door £50 a pair. Brand new take off, with minor marks. Much better than pattern parts or main dealer prices.

^^Good point. Mines like that too Mike, a 3-door hard top, that's on the log book as a CSW following SV (or someone for the CEGB) conversion. My insurance peeps were not worried, but they do like to be told everything. Don't give them any excuse to sleaze their way out of a payout.

Have you tried a local stealer? SV parts have to be ordered with your VIN so he should be able to tell you what you've actually got from SV. Some of the stuff that went through Special Vehicles is quite odd. All early commercial Freelander variants, my bog standard poverty spec '89 110 [had a PTO winch for Electricity company], commercial discos, all the G4's. Stuff that looks like it could be done on the line often wasn't, so it may be you've got some slightly odd options.

I always use Seascrew for my stainless, much better value than buying a kit, especially for low multiples of bolts. No relation/business links etc, just good quick service. For example the twelve bolts nuts and washers for the rear door (in allen headed Button) came to £12.86. I am VAT registered though, so stuff like this should be £14.79 in real life. Still a shedload cheaper than the kits, if you're prepared to go through Microcat, and get the bolt length/type yourself. Obviously even cheaper for bulk buys. Chandlers in general are a great source for stainless kit.

If you've got a mushroom top the snow spins out of the top (if you're going fast enough, I have no idea what speed you need for the cyclonic effect to kick in), if you've got a ram point it backwards. Job done. On mine the standard 300tdi inline flap valve (at the lowest point between snorkel and airbox) is left in place but sealed with DumDum, that way if I'm ever worried that there's snow/rain/fog/rains of kippers getting in I can pop the valve open and just stick it back down.

The added load on the swivels and bearings wouldn't be good either. It does seem a bit Barryish given all the problems you will get with cheap spacers.

I got a fleabay special, made my own rubber gaskets, and sealed with waterproof non-setting mastic and DumDum(I hate silicone, because of problems with removal and painting). As ^^ my air filter box had lots of seam pin holes which needed more sealing than the snorkel. Don't forget other entry points for water, like the fanny (dump) valve on the air box, and the inline flap valve on standard Tdi air inlet piping.

I use an isolator for security, but have run a seperate feed for cigar lighter, stereo memory, alarm and interior lights. It runs via a second fusebox (but you could just use an inline fuse) fed straight off the battery positive before the isolator, natch.

Otchie, Bearmach will supply to you direct if you're near a retail shop. The nearest to you is: Kent Bearmach Plc, South East t: 01622 717525 e: seshop@bearmach.com My local Abergavenny Bearmach shop is usually excellent.

Just replace the spot welds with flanged head rivets for strength. A local boat yard will probably have some skilled ally workers, you may find someone willing to reweld if you prefer. If you're not that close to the coast, that's probably not much help.

Experience shows that the Td5 is a great engine if well serviced. Received wisdom is that it's a bit scary with electronics. There were a few well publicised problems such as oil seepage down to the ECU, and a few other issues. Other than that it's apparently very reliable. There is a possibility it's less easy to fix at home, but if well looked after there's not much to fail. The 300Tdi is much the same, bombproof if serviced regularly, but without the electronics. I'd get a Td5 with a good service history if I was in the market today, you'll get more for your money. Whether it's true or not people seem to value Tdi trucks more.

As Aragorn says ^^ Because of the skewed 300tdi popularity you'll get more Td5 for your money, at least in my neck of the woods anyway.

Yeah, thanks for that jbs. Most people will know that Britpart also supply genuine LR and other branded parts. I was just surprised at the quality of the seatbelts I got. They were the same Securon type as Bearmach, a fiver cheaper each, and excellent value. I would avoid certain Britpart branded items (bearings, wheelboxes) but other items are often genuine at a good price. My local Britpart blokey does GKN UJs and Timken bearing at very good prices for example, and their outrigger replacement panels were excellent. Don't be so blinkered and closed minded, you may miss out.

The side panels split from the body cappings with four (one at each corner) special flanged connectors and a few bolts along the sides. The roof to side panels connect with nuts and bolts. It's all fairly lego technic to dismantle. The rear quarters are held in by rivets through the cappings, and some spot welds to the wheel arch boxes. I've never seen spot welds in the same place on more than one truck, so I guess they're done by hand at the factory. You'll need a drill for the rivets, and a proper spot weld drill bit for the spot welds makes it pretty easy. A scrap chisel or ground down (thinned) blunt cold chisel to split the panels is useful, but be gentle with the ally. Replace the rivets with some aluminium closed (aka top-hat) rivets for water ingress prevention.

The ti series are the thermal monitored ones, I think that's what the OP wants. That XD is very similar without the motor temp monitoring. Nice winch though, and a 50% duty cycle.

That's an old model I believe, a 9500 ti is their current equivalent. Any of Warn's disties will get you a decent price, although they prefer to give deals when sold with a nice expensive winch bumper. A quick google will get you a decent deal. A 9500ti is designed for semi-continuous use and will be near a grand, one of their cheaper Tabor or XP range may be more sanely priced?

I had to get a pair of belts in an MOT rush type way, local Britpart dealer sourced ones were excellent. I couldn't believe that they were a fiver cheaper than Bearmach and the same kit.

You need a decent etch primer for ally. Hammerite special metals primer [the red one] works OK, I use a high zinc primer from Screwfix, or a BiltHamber one for panels which will take top coat. You don't have to key the chequer plate too much as the primer will do all the work.