No its not broken its just an ongoing resoration project )

[Jabba]

Nick, If Richard doesn't want your swing away, I might be interested. Is it one that opens with the door? or opens separately?

[Zedman]

The offer is apperciated but I will pass as I think i am gonna mount it on the bulkhead, more usable space in the back.

On another note, I was stunned today when I bought some door trim clips, £17 for 24 bits of plastic, robbing *******. The new oil filler cap and the wheel stud were a few quid and seemed reasonable, so heres a tip if you ever need to repalce defender door lock barrels

Drill a 10mm hole through the inside of the door liner and the metal plate behind it, get the new lock ready preferably with an assistant, kid or wife will do its not that technical, using a posi drive screwdriver unscrew the single bolt holding it in place, keep presure on the bolt so it does not move, get your assistant to simply withdraw the old barrel, push the little pin that releases it from the alloy extender, push in the new barrel into the extender and re-insert it in the door and you re-tighten the screw, job done. PS a set of barrels and keys is only about £10.

The saga continues in the next post, it seems what ever I do to my landy it fights me at every opertunity (

[Matthews]

The other trick is to use a trim clip remover and do it in summer when the plastic's not as brittle. (I waited 6 months to sort a minor irritation out on the Disco for that very reason)
Matthew

[Zedman]

Now you tell me, next time I will probably use self tappers ( but thats tricks of the trade for you )

Even the Nato hitch threw in a minor quibble, seems with high tensile cap head screws and washer the thing fouls on the bolt heads, washers removed, the thing now rotates.

And now a warning, don't buy he same diff guards I bought (I will link the site when i get the info from work)

Pics below

The first 2 pics show the 2 parts not aligning, hence on the front diff i welded in a bit of bar so I could bolt the 2 together, on the rear one I just used an extra bar to join them NB the 2 bolt holes are supposed to overlap.

The third pic is where i have removed the 90 degree right angle bend in the guard that would just stop dead agains a rock and instead put in a nice 45 degree ramp before I_ and after \

The long seam welds you can see are because I didn't have any suitable plate so I used 3 pieces of bar welded together

[Bo]

And now a warning, don't buy he same diff guards I bought (I will link the site when i get the info from work)

Are you sure you ordered one for a Rover diff and not a Salisbury?

[Zedman]

No Idea, i didnt even know there were different diffs, could be a case of my ignorance or the bitsa striking again )

Seems the Green Oval learing curve just got a bit steeper )

[kingsonlim]

Richard...your rear diff is a standard rover type...not a salisbury diff....

[tecnick]

I ordered mine from Scrapiron racing 'as was' and had very similar problems but instead of doing all the cutting and fabricating and adding bits I just didnt fit it I now dont have a rear diff guard. I should have done it your way

Cheers Nick

[Zedman]

I spent several hours trying to figure out where I could mount the farm Jack inside the cab, its such a long awkward piece of kit and I wanted an elegent solution that didnt take up any useful space, I couldnt find anything online that would allow me to fit the spare wheel inside and the jack.

Below is my solution made from nothing more that 370 cm of 6x40mm flat bar and 1xM12 nut and bolt and a 16mm washer per mount.

If anyone want to make a pair please let me know and I will post the details of construction.

Ohh and the bungy cord is just there to stop the red bits rattling

[Zedman]

My heater is now fixed, I changed the thermostat, and due to the shape of the engine and the fact that the designers couldnt make everything inaccesible, it seems some component must end up being on the outside at the top, it was the thermostat, 2 bolts, pop the old one out and shove the new one in, easy )

Now the temp needle goes to half way after about 10 mins and stays there, the heater blows out warm air (as opposed to cold prevoiusly) from what I have read and heard hot air was a bit much to ask for ).

Any suggestions and tips for wringing for more heat out of the heater would be appreciated but at least I dont have to stop every 10 miles now and scrape the ice of the inside and pull ice build up off the wipers.

Next purchase for winter is a perspex divider so I just heat the cab and not the cargo space at the rear, I will post costs and supplier if I manage to get one.

[tecnick]

Dont series motors with rag backs have fume curtains behind cab? if so one of those would mean you could still get to back if you needed to.

Cheers Nick

[Bo]

The best way of staying warm in a 90 is to fit a V8, its the only motor I have had where you drive about with the windows down in the winter!

[Zedman]

I'm Sticking with the tdi, fuel consumtion seems okay atm, worked out at 22mpg that included a blast to kingsoms at motorway speeds, and the last event + snow driving + comuting to work in traffic, so 30 mpg might be possible on the open road at sensible speeds.

Summer project could possibly entail fitting an additional heater matrix (with fan) inside the cab

[Jabba]

My tdi now gets hot enough to have to turn the heater down even in the cold weather at the moment.

You could try removing the viscous fan and keeping it handy in case you need to put it back on.

[Bo]

All breeds of defenders suffer from air leaks once the foam that seals around the matrix decays. This allows air to bypass the core which stops the air getting hot. A second problem is air leaks where the case fits on to the bulkhead again allowing cold air to be sucked in and reducing efficiency. It may be that all you need to do is clean of the matrix and fit new foam seals.