Offroad-Express

Just to follow on from the last installment, the existing clutch was fine, actually it was brand new, just the pressure plate hadn't been torqued down evenly when the previous owner had the new gearbox fitted.

As a result the extra mid range grunt caused it to slip. It was holding on maybe 2/3 of the pressure plate.

New clutch fitted anyway, and its been fine since. New found off idle acceleration is GREAT

As some on you know, I had a slight miss-hap with the truck at easter ( ok a couple ).

First was the engine oil cooler line that came loose and blew off, which dumped 3.5 L of oil out in a matter of seconds No one else to blame other than the dude (me) that refitted the radiator following a cambelt replacement a month or so earlier

Next up ooops, was when I skillfully manouvered the center of the front axle into the only boulder around in an other wise flat area.

This little oops bent both the steering drag link and the panhard rod in one go, so when my wheels were pointed straight ahead, the stering wheel was out by about half a turn. Woops.

So I saved my pennys and ordered some BLING from www.landroverspares.co.nz

They got for me a nice alloy steering guard, so the next time a boulder decides to randomly pop up under the front of my truck and bend my shit, it will have to get through 10mm of alloy plate first



The Bent bits. This is after winching them back closer to straight to make it driveable


I also got a chequer plate kit to hide some of the more un-glamourous aspects of the old girl. The wing tops were a bit ripply, the driver side sill was a bit bent and ugly, and the passengers side rear qaurter was suffering from an insurance companys bodge job. The kit sorted all of that out in an instant





Thanks again to www.landroverspares.co.nz for looking after me!!!!!!!

good to see you managed to get the lawns mowed

The bash plate looks the goods. B)

What sort of bucks was the chequer plate?

Thats looking awesome, and i've seen many a defender with the chequer plating but didn't realise it was available in a kit form, that is very cool

Man i Love defenders.....

Thats nice

just wanted to know, do those snorkels have a pod filter in them?? (nice truck by the way)

Been getting out and about in it as much as we recently!!

Its got a whine from one of the diffs at 100K's and the rear door is cracking again, but other than that its hanging in there, motor included

Love this pic

The time has come to shift the spare wheel off the rear door and onto a swing away carrier.

Its cracking the reinforcing plates I fitted when I first got it, and at $1600 for a new door, I thought I better sort some thing out!!

As usual, I flicked an email to www.landroverspares.co.nz to see what they could get. They could get me a nice swing away carrier that was the buisness!

I almost ordered one when a dirty old Pivlock carrier popped up on tardme. With out thinkin g to much about it, the Buynow was hit and it was on its way up from Wellington

When it showed up it was heaps beter than I expected, but still needed some attention!!!

Working out where it's supposed to mount:


It goes on here some how, had to remove the light guard (needs modding??), and relocate the fog light by the looks of it.


Time to rip the old mount out of the door.

The factory spare mount hardware


Inside door with carrier removed:


Gotta hide this mess



A bit of wiggling round, marked the holes, drilled and first test fit:



Fitted spare for a look:


Looks like it will be fine, there's some movement in the lock mechanism thats standard with these, so I decided to have a crack at making an adjustable rubber bump stop for it.

Picked this up from Wholesale Idustrial. Dunno what it is exactly, but looks like it will work




Sooooo, tapped a hole in the carrier, and the welded a nut on as well co's I like burning wire

The bolts just temporary for welding


It also need a stud replaced, so went and got a bolt that matched the thread on the wheel nuts and welded that in:



Gotta wait until tomorrow to fit it up test it out, paints still wet


So while the paint was drying it was time to hide the big square on the back door. I had some rather dirty used chequer plate lying around, so that was the obvious choice.


Co's I always make the hell mess with silicone sealant and RTV, I decided to try automotive trim tape as a way of seal around the plate:


Not to shabby


Finish it of when the paint has dried

Oh, and while I had the spare off, which is the factory tire it would have rolled out of the assembly plant wearing, I cracked the problem I have with the speedo reading 10K's out.

This the factory Michelin 7.50 16


next to the Pirelli Scorpion 235/85 R16


You go on the net and the 235/85 R16 is supposed to be the equivalent of the 7.50 16. What do ya reckon??



Think I have found out why my speedo is out

WTF .
I'd put the 7.50 on and do a measured comparison underload .
Found the same inconsistancys investigating metric equivalents of the 6.00x16.

It looks like its all worked out

After the paint had dried, it was time to fit it up and make the final adjustments to everything.

I moved the fog light up by about 20mm, and modified the light guard to fit around the carrier.

You can see the light guard in this pic, lying on the floor under the truck.



A bit of a trim up.......


A quick test fit....


A quick blast with a spray can.....


All done and it even clears the carrier, which is good


Here's my attempt at an adjustable bump stop to adjust the wobble out of it. It needs more rubber depth to squish up properly I think. Will have a crack at that next time round.


The finished result

Carrier open:


Carrier closed:


I sat there for AGE'S wondering how I could get the Defender wheel cover to centralise on the wheel, but in the end I just gotta go Boy Racer stylz and have it Hangin

nice form on the swing away carrier guy..

as for the adjustable foot. its normally for benches etc.. if ya go into steel and tube or bnt or something similar, you should be able to find one that has a more rubbery compound for your purpose.. i think i've seen them around, just cant remember where..

lookin insta bling though guy.. woot..

Nice truck. Nissan Terrano wheel carriers have nice rubber stops. Exactly what you want I think

kbjj wrote:Nice truck. Nissan Terrano wheel carriers have nice rubber stops. Exactly what you want I think

Sweet, cheers for the heads up, I just went to the wreckers and scored one for $5.

Different thread to the nut I welded on, so whats there will do for the weekends 4 day mission around the Nat park

I have finally had a guts full of nervously watching the oil pressure and nannering it up hills, so seeing as the Safari has sold, I thought it was time to fix the problem.

The old girls done LOOOOOOOOTS of K's. Like getting close to halfway round!!!!

A good bugger I know offered me a few options, one of which was a nice running motor in a crashed disco. We went and inspected it, it was in great condition with a new head and good hot oil pressure but due to some minor details such as the Discoveries having a electronic fuel pump like the 1KZ -te Surfs (eh UBZ ) and persuasion from the father in law, we left it alone in favour of working on the current engine.

So I went shopping at my favourite place again, http://www.landroverspares.co.nz, who promptly got a package of goodies to my door step. 90% mechanical, with a couple of much need interior enhancements thrown in for good measure.

Full bottom gasket and seal set, oil pump gear set, big end bearing set, main bearing set, rear main seal, manifold gasket set:


So Friday night Sarah brought it into the work shop, I went and picked up Dave and his tools from his work shop, and we got stuck in.


Dave thought I might need more tools than what I have in my two draw box


Anyhow, fluids were dumped, stuff removed left right and center, and then it was time to put it up on the hoist to attack the nuts on the Turbo dump flange.



Friday night, weekend mission, the odds were definitely against us for getting those nuts off the Turbo flange with out a snapped stud!!!! Dave went digging in his monster tool box and produced a 1.5m long extension. That should do it he reckoned. Apparently its handy on 4x4 Chev Ambulances?? I was more impressed with the fact that someone could fit a 1.5m extension inside their tool box to start with!!!!



So with the flange sorted and no broken studs, it was time to hook it out of the hole. Its actually a fairly big unit when you see it dangling in mid air!!!





I rekon you could fit a 401 C.I Chev in here!!!


I'm not sure what happened to the next lot of pic's, today was a blur, but it got mounted to an engine stand, injectors pump and turbo removed to be reconditioned, crank removed etc etc

At the end of play today, it looked like this:


Rolled the race cars back in and it was time to go help Mudslut drop the motor back into the the Paj:


I roped the father in law in, and he lent his expertise and tools and measured all the crank shaft journals for me. All well with in spec. That's great on one hand, but bad on the other, were was my hot oil pressure going I wonder??


The next place to look was to crack open the timing cover and have a measure of the oil pump gears.

MEASURING NOT REQUIRED!!!!!!

The wear was immediately obvious.

Old pump on left, new on the right.



Can you see it?? Can you see the big steps worn in it??


Old pump gear tooth section:


New Pump gear tooth:



Its a good feeling when you find something wrong like that!!!!

So its the big clean up and more clean up, clean, prep, clean, clean, cleeeean, prep, and then start putting it back together tomorrow.

Maybe. Dumb Man Flu

Cheers for ya help this arvo mate,fark me the pics of the pump show the damage up better on here than on the camera,she was rooted ,

Turbos facing the other way do my head in

DieselBoy wrote:I rekon you could fit a 401 C.I Chev in here!!!

Mmmmm...maybe get a 385 in there... i have one you could try!!

disco with a 385 in it would be bad ass!!!

sweet set up 'workshop' pete.. perks aye..?

peace of mind is a big thing for me when i'm pedallin.. as it would be for you too i can imagine, what with family onboard etc.. sellin the safari is a nice bonus for these upgrades guy.. whats next me thinks? road trip?

niblik wrote:sweet set up 'workshop' pete.. perks aye..?

peace of mind is a big thing for me when i'm pedallin.. as it would be for you too i can imagine, what with family onboard etc.. sellin the safari is a nice bonus for these upgrades guy.. whats next me thinks? road trip?

Yeah, I'm, usually sick of the site of the place by the weekend, but its useful when ya need a nice clean place to do open heart surgery!!

I needed to get in there and sort the oil pressure issue before it did damage was my thinking. A spun big end in the middle of know where would be right up there on the list of crap ideas

Besides, need it sorted ready for next Sth Is mission, we have been busting to get to certain Bay for a couple of years, hint hint, so game on

More progress today.

Massive clean up mission, scrubbing years worth of grime off housings both inside and out. Scraping off gaskets and just generally getting stuff uber CLEAN!!!!!

Sez busy at work on the block, Bobbly busy learning how to make his hands work


I was busy with the water blaster, de-greaser and parts wash gun cleaning up various grubby housings:


Then it was time to get serious. The parts stash ready for more cleaning and eventual assembly:


The crank looking all blingy and prepped ready to go, in the back ground the timing cover also ready to go:


The result of Sez's work. Nice clean and dry surfaces ready to receive the new bearings. I tried to get a photo of the hone marks still clearly visable on the bore's, but it didn't work.


The bearings and caps were all fitted, and then the ugly rear main. Who the F#k dreamed up the seal arrangement on that!!! I created another Land Rover Special Service Tool to help guide the seal and cap in. Introducing LRT -12-035, bodge stylz:


Once that was sorted ( don't think the seals tore??) we fitted the new oil pump to the timing cover and installed the timing cover. Starting to look like a motor. A nice clean motor


Forgot to get a pic of the rotating assembly all together before we rolled the engine over on the stand, so here's an attempt from underneath:


So here it sits waiting for some reconditioned parts. Dropping those in tomorrow, so figers crossed they will be back before the end of the week


Bit of a mission I tell ya, very pleased to have the tech support of the Bro and Father in law that's for sure

What do you do while your waiting for parts??

You clean stuff

Shame its all gonna get dirty again.

The wait was finally over today. The new fan pulley idler bearing has been installed in the timing cover, the new Turbo arrived, and the injectors got the big tick.

5 O'clock takes for ever to come round when your trucks on the hoist and you have a box of new bits sitting there waiting to be fitted

But when it did finally arrive, first up was to stick the new Turbo on


That meant the intake manifold could go back on, then off the stand so the bell housing adapter, rear main seal fly wheel and starter could go on:


Front timing cover all back together, and lots of fiddeling round with braided oil hoses onto the turbo by the looks of the photo:


On this side, new vacuum pump, lift pump and blingy injector pump. All looking pretty:


So its pretty much ready to go. Hopefully swing it back into the hole tomorrow night, bleed the injectors, prime the Turbo and then kick it in the guts. Fingers crossed, I hate first time starts after engine work!!!

Massive thanks to www.landroverspares.co.nz, not only has the parts and service been awesome, I even managed to squeeze a couple of tech questions into the mix!!!!


So its been a long week, working on the truck untill about 9pm then trecking home for a feed, shower and bed. I've had enough, and I think Zuki is even more sick of it than I am

just so you know, if you sell this one I'll kick you and your whole clan off ore for ever your other trucks were cool, but this is the best by far

get this finished so you can get back to the zuk!!!

wheres the BOW DOWN WE NOT WORTHY emoticon?

Can I start bidding on it now?

badnuz wrote:
wheres the BOW DOWN WE NOT WORTHY emoticon?

I do believe it would look like this cos that's almost what I do when reading DB's thread and looking at DB's pics...... Lovin the read for sure

DieselBoy wrote:More progress today...

Does nobody else see this is why DB gets his builds done so fast!!!

This man has an amazing support crew!!!!

I'm doing something wrong, I'm constantly trying to sneak out to the shed... without the other half knowing.

Nice work DB I'm fully impressed at the lengths you go to ensure trucks are mechanically 100%

Hi PETE,great looking rig you got there and a lot of work going on.I have driven one of these occasionally and quite liked it. Just one thing I dont know if you have checked the alternator bearings.I was driving thru the mackley when the alternator seized and stalled the engine. No warning noises or other warning of imenent failure.Luckily managed to contact stockton mine on radio and get someone to come and get me. If anything driven by the large belt seizes you cannot start the motor.
cheers Flag.

Friday night was a big one!!!

1am I believe

Dave brought his tool box down again, just in case. NZhunter thought that we might need more gear than what was in Dave's tool box, so he brought his down too. NZhunters tool box even has a crane!!!!!!


Things progressing slowly:


Left over bolts. Where the hell do they go??


We got their eventually!!!!


It wasn't with out the usual hitches, coolent leaks, lift pump plumbed up the wrong round, just dumb stuff.

Unfortunatly though, at about 12:30pm, rather than celebrating, we were standing around under the truck while it was running up on the hoist trying to work out why we had oil pooring out of the rear of the motor.

Talk about going home on a downer!!!!!

Saturday morning I bounced out of bed at 6am, surfed every single Land Rover forum google could dig up for rear main and bearing cap oil leaks, made the decision to pull the gearbox out and arranged to steal the Trans jack.

Also put an emergency call through to www.landroverspares.co.nz to get another rear main seal and two sets of number 5 bearing cap "T" seals. Also greesed up to Sez to make a trip up LRS to pick them up for me

I don't think I even had breakfast I was on such a mission. I got to the work shop, made another coffee and thought about how things unfolded with the oil leak the night before.

It was then it dawned on me.

The oil leak hadn't been there from the start. It happened after it had been running for a few minutes.

I put down my untouched coffee, lifted it back up on the hoist, hit the area where it was leaking from with brake clean, started it up and stood underneath with a torch and watched..........and waited.........and waited..........

Then It happened. A little seep at first, then a steady stream accompanied with a bit of oil vapor.

It was coming out of the back of the sump!!!!!

A quick few phone calls to Sarah, L.R.S and of course Dave and Dan to let them know the good news!!

You can see the leak to the left of the center bolt:


You can see the leak also on the bearing cap:


A quick clean up and a very liberal dose of sealant!!! I reckon its the stubs of the "T" seals that are stopping the sump sealing properly though.:


Spent the rest of the Saturday doing carefull road tests, checking, adjusting, re - sealing, topping up, bleeding that sort of boring stuff

So here it is, I managed to do about 300K's in it today with not much more than a leaking intercooler hose and a weeping banjo fitting on the turbo oil feed!!!