110 defender rebuild project and v8 conversion

farmershort said:

The trouble with browsing the ashcroft website is the pain I will later feel explaining to my mrs why I bought XXX new wizzy gizmo! In the 30 seconds I just gave it, I found an r380 oil cooler... sounds like a must-have to me!! ha!

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Amen!! "But darling, I really, really do need this new whizzy gizmo" - go on, you know you want to !!

the oil cooler is going to be more or less essential in your application - with all that grunt from that rather nice V8 - take it from an expert (me - ha ha!!)

seriously, before you buy a cooler - have a look here....

http://www.alutec.co.uk/?page=main

made me a custom cooler for my auto upgrade for about £160.... ( I.E:- cheaper than a new standard size one )

Disco1BFG said:

Amen!! "But darling, I really, really do need this new whizzy gizmo" - go on, you know you want to !!

the oil cooler is going to be more or less essential in your application - with all that grunt from that rather nice V8 - take it from an expert (me - ha ha!!)

seriously, before you buy a cooler - have a look here....

http://www.alutec.co.uk/?page=main

made me a custom cooler for my auto upgrade for about £160.... ( I.E:- cheaper than a new standard size one )

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I'm waiting for a call back from Dave to discuss what I need for the fitting (the bellhousing bolts show different part numbers and quantities in the parts manual for tdi vs v8.... I thought they would be the same). What I really like about ashcrofts is that Dave doesn't seem to be in a hurry to sell you anything you dont need. the front diff for example, it's had a refurb, but it was very clear that my application didn't warrant "pegging", as I'm not doing serious off road stuff. Similar story with the g-box. I opted for the HD bearing upgrade, but it was very 50/50 from Dave's PoV given my application.

Yep, my experience is the same.

Dave called me back - nice chap - he confirmed that from the box/bellhousing joint, assume it's a 3.9 efi.. Ergo disco.

Bit more a tidy up this evening... I got the gearbox xmember fitted finally (what a horrible job!). Now that Brown has educated me on the workings of a bottle jack, I realised I didn't have to buy a new one (thanks chap!). I first got the 2 highest bolts in... One on either side, then move the jack and used the first bolts as a pivot. Lots of creaking, and seeing the chassis move when I released the jack at the end was horrible.

Some pics:



Then the front:



I used m8 x 100mm bolts for the 6 which go through the chassis, and I've currently got m10 x 20mm bolts through the bigger holes at the front... It looks OK to me, but does anything else need to attach to those front bolts? Do I need more thread length?


I also finished the front shocks... Had to take the turret tops off to be able to put all my weight on the shock to get the lower nut to bite. Note to other noobs: front shock needs lower nut fitted first.

having a look at the front of the engine last night, I started thinking about bits I need ready to belt it up.... Alternator being the main thing. I checked the one that came with the donor engine - A127l-100... I take that to mean it's a standard A127 but the 100 amp version? That seems like it'd be powerful enough to cope with a fridge and a lesiure battery.

The one from my old 300tdi is a fair bit smaller in size, and is 70A.

seems to be about £65 for a new A127-100. I'm tempted to use the old one, but I'm in 2 minds if I'm honest... any thoughts?

EDIT: oddly enough there seem to be 2 part numbers. The number on the one I have from the donor is: AMR3107, but the number on paddocks et al is: AMR4247... both seem t be an a127-100

replacement steering box arived today (see my thread from today praising paddocks), as well as the replacement shock, Thanfully the part numbers match, so I only need to replace the one side.

I've also ordered just over £200 of stuff from craddocks which falls into the category of "mounting the gearbox".... clutch slave cyl, fork, bits-and-bobs, bell housing bolts, r380 mounting brackets (£50 for one of them!!!). I've also ordered some Hedman Hedder exhaust manifolds from Real Steel... page 10 here:

http://www.realsteel.co.uk/section1.pdf

RPi are flogging them for £345, which is over £100 more expensive. admittedly the real steel ones state they're for RRC fitment, but the chaps at real steel think they're the same as on the RPi ebay shop (NAS 50th anni defender). Worst case is that the collector at the bottom end needs modifying, in which was I'll turn them into a 4-2-1 system, instead of 4-1.... it's all mild.... and I have a welding machine I still have yet to use!

All of that should be with me by friday, so I hope to have some joyful fettling over the weekend. I may even have a bulkhead back by then! Speaking of which, I really need to strip the rest of the donor landy so that I can see how the brake lines and fuel lines are run. I think I'll need to complete those before attempting anything with the bulkhead.

I'll also need to rig up some sort of spray painting area.... and work up the courage to test my new compressor!!!! I know... what a wimp!

farmershort said:

having a look at the front of the engine last night, I started thinking about bits I need ready to belt it up.... Alternator being the main thing. I checked the one that came with the donor engine - A127l-100... I take that to mean it's a standard A127 but the 100 amp version? That seems like it'd be powerful enough to cope with a fridge and a lesiure battery.

The one from my old 300tdi is a fair bit smaller in size, and is 70A.

seems to be about £65 for a new A127-100. I'm tempted to use the old one, but I'm in 2 minds if I'm honest... any thoughts?

EDIT: oddly enough there seem to be 2 part numbers. The number on the one I have from the donor is: AMR3107, but the number on paddocks et al is: AMR4247... both seem t be an a127-100

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I'd use the old one, until it "lets the smoke out", as you say, they are not expensive, and available next day by courier, even when you are on holiday in the middle of nowhere ( ask me how I know ) . ( edited to add:- in my experience they tend to last about 100K ish, subject to wading etc. ).

In terms of size - I suppose you could work out how much electricity you will need, but for simplicity I might be inclined to think that the inertia of the two alternators will be essentially the same *, so, I would fit the larger one on the basis that what will do a lot will do a little - and I would suggest that the converse is not the case at all !!

* The may actually be identical, but obviously the larger one will take a bit more fuel at full load - not that you will notice the difference on that V8

Thanks for the alternator advice disco!

In other news:

In the words of noddy holder... It's chriiiiiistmaaaaaaaaaaaaas!

Test fitting:



They're close to the chassis rails, but not touching. My only real concern is the proximity of the o/s collector to the front prop shaft.

I hope to fit the gbox at the weekend, so I can get a more accurate picture then.

Might be worth looking into thermal wrap for the parts near the chassis rails, otherwise the lovely paint finish may be damaged.

I'd love to hear it running with just the collectors on - awesome!

zeaphod said:

Might be worth looking into thermal wrap for the parts near the chassis rails, otherwise the lovely paint finish may be damaged.

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Agreed. Everything I've read online about fancy manifolds on an rv8 says that thermal wrap is a must.

zeaphod said:

I'd love to hear it running with just the collectors on - awesome!

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Haha... I dream of that day! I'll try and post a video when we eventually get there. Oil cooler is going to take 3 weeks at least, from allisport, so it's a while off yet.

farmershort said:

Agreed. Everything I've read online about fancy manifolds on an rv8 says that thermal wrap is a must.

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I disagree and say thermal wrap is a salt trap.
Not essential either, but you could have them ceramic coated.

couple of quick updates:

Gearbox mounting stuff arrived today from craddocks - so that's my weekend sorted
I've discovered I need rubber bush/mounts for this sodding fuel tank, so I have asked a question about that on my v8 fuel tank thread
Ashtree have delivered my bulkhead back, and seat box complete with galv trays. I'll give the bulkhead a trial fit at some point.
I now need to learn to paint!
I need to get the brake lines and fuel line run from the back before I think about the bulkhead - which means I need to mount the tank....

hmmm. the order of things is starting to do my head in...
gearbox fitting
t box fitting
fuel tank fitting
rear brake lines and fuel lines
then... bulkhead


then at some point, I'll have my rad and oil cooler from allisport and can work on engine-ish bits (3 week lead time, order not yet fully placed)..

that is all

I know it's a month too late but I did exactly this when fitting by swivel balls. I got around it by holding an 8mm nut over what was left of the bolt, welding it on which then melted the thread lock. Fit a spanner and wound it back out. Ordered New bolts the next day and gave myself a slap!

Just figured out 2 things:

1) you need to fix the tbox to the gbox to get both mounting points... I stupidly thought they were both on the gbox.

2) I have all of the slave cylinder/ bearing/ fork type parts on my bench... And I've suddenly realised I have no clue what I'm doing!!! I've never done anything inside a bell housing!

Oh well... Back to the Internet...

Are the diagrams not in Rave ???

Disco1BFG said:

Are the diagrams not in Rave ???

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Yeah they are, well, I'm using the workshop manual and online US parts catalogue. It's just the first thing I've come to that I don't inherently know how it works... The clutch release bearing seems to held onto the fork by nothing but a plastic staple... Looks flaky to me... And I can't make the link in my head between the operation of the pushrod, and the clutch itself, for engaging drive from the engine... I wonder if I'm missing some parts...

The flywheel, clutch, and cover plate came ready bolted to the engine.

It's just a learning curve, like anything.

Oh, i remember that plastic staple - and I think we share an opinion on it too (!!)

If you have any doubts about the layout, post some pics up, and I am sure the forum massive will be able to reassure you.
I am SO impressed with your work on this - its gonna be a hell of a beast when done - and you're not far away from driveable - bulkhead and steering, then seat base, seats and some wiring and ..... brum brum BRUM