110 defender rebuild project and v8 conversion

farmershort said:

yeah the defender proj will be getting a gbox oil cooler.... I thought the v8 disco's had one as well - but just the crappy pipe and short section of ally tubing.... I haven't looked yet.

Click to expand...

some had a cooler in the rad on the opposite side to the eng cooler

well having worked with both ATF and MTF94 on the same day now, I can say 2 things:

The disco R380 box was filled with ATF.
After flushing with a fresh load of ATF and doing some miles, I then filled it with MTF94.... my my, they're actually very different aren't they! MTF94 is much much thicker.

That is all...

farmershort said:

well having worked with both ATF and MTF94 on the same day now, I can say 2 things:

The disco R380 box was filled with ATF.
After flushing with a fresh load of ATF and doing some miles, I then filled it with MTF94.... my my, they're actually very different aren't they! MTF94 is much much thicker.

That is all...

Click to expand...

Did it all work?

I've had a look at 'proper' R380 coolers and think that I'm going to make an adaptor and use one of these - I can do an extra one for you if you like? (Probably about 4 weeks because I'm going on holiday shortly).

@crocs - yes it all worked thanks, the gear change and general sound of the box is much improved now it has MTF94 as apposed to the original ATF in it. The horrific noise which I originally thought was the box was actually the alternator being all mannor of worn. I replaced the alternator on the disco with the spare one I had from the donor (for the defender engine). I had to change the belt as well as the alternator I put on was the large pulley type, and the one I removed was the small pulley type. Of course that means the rev counter is out of whack, but it's not doing any harm.

@boguing - thanks very much for that kind offer. I'm afraid the defender it already booked into a metal work shop at the end of this month to have all of the cooling systems made, and the exhaust and manifolds. It makes sense to let that place take care of the whole lot.

No problem. There are moments when I wish that I could hand mine over for that treatment...

For completeness, and because either I forgot to past the link or something else went wrong, here's the cooler I'm going to connect to!

http://www.demon-tweeks.co.uk/motorsport/oil-coolers-accessories/mocal-oil-coolers

boguing said:

No problem. There are moments when I wish that I could hand mine over for that treatment...

For completeness, and because either I forgot to past the link or something else went wrong, here's the cooler I'm going to connect to!

http://www.demon-tweeks.co.uk/motorsport/oil-coolers-accessories/mocal-oil-coolers

Click to expand...

Yes I realise for the more hard-core engineers on here, I have been "cheating" a bit by getting the engine, gbox, diffs, exhaust and cooling systems done by professionals. I just think it's a matter of realising my own experience levels and not wanting to take on so much that it degrades the project as a whole. I've been fortunate enough to have a SWMBO who has patiently allowed me to spend good money on the project thus far, but we've both known for a long time that it can't last forever.... if/when this smallholding goes through (13.5 bloody weeks so far!!!), then our cash-flow takes a serious nose dive for a good many months. I just hope I can get the expensive/complicated bits finished before that happens. We're on track so far, and by the end of August the defender should have shiny manifolds, an exhaust system, rad, oil cooler, and transmission cooler. From that point on, I've got more or less everything I need apart from an age-appropriate roof with alpine windows.

We've delivered the "nuclear option" to the estate agent scumbags.... exchange by close-of-play tomorrow, or we withdraw our offer. Wednesday this week will be 14 weeks since offer!

Adam

In this atmosphere a seller would have to be barking not to do the deal now - hope it works for you.

We exchanged in Wednesday, and completion is agreed for Tuesday 12th! Exchange was 14 weeks, to the hour, since offer!

Well, we completed today! Looks like the project is moving house after all!

I've got a few last things to do to prep the landy for trailering, and I'm hoping one of you knowledgeable folk will know the answer to the latest head scratcher.

I need to fit the new rear tub onto the chassis for transport (space reasons mostly). I ordered the stainless pan-head machine screw kit from yrm over the weekend and they arrived today. The kit only consists of the screws/bolts and washers... no nuts or other female end...

Is it just a nylock on the other side in standard fashion, or some clever labdy captive nut solution?

Thanks

Adam

Good to hear the house move is finally going through bud, ref the tub, you have bought a later tub yes? td5/tdci.
As an earlier one, yours would have the crossmember tabs on the outside of the tub, and then on the other side of the tub is a little plate with 2 nuts welded to it (this is riveted to the tub) so nothing fancy.

The newer ones, they have a removable crossmember bar type thing, this has the captive nuts welded to that and then is mounted behind the rear tub, thus giving you no visible lugs on the rear.

The outside ones can be gotten at easily and can just simply be nut and bolted, if you still have your old tub then the jobs easy and just use the old captive plates for the middle fixings. And hopefully that makes some sense to you

Thanks @aaronmorris - so in terms of my set up, a 300tdi spec chassis with an early puma tub.... I just need to find or make up these bar plates with captive nuts, and then everything is the same as my original tub right? Chassis tabs still on the outside of the tub, even though it's a puma tub? I'm assuming they didn't change the size of the tubs at all.

Thanks

Adam

Yep, that is exactly it Adam, I am using a td5 tub on my 200tdi spec chassis and have done it the exact same way, all the panels are now on and have had no issues with aligning the panels, tub/bulkhead/doors etc..

Life saver @aaronmorris ! Thank you!

Well here it is.... Nigel the v8 disco earning his keep!



Every 5 year old boy that passed us thought it was the most exciting thing in the world!

That's a pretty picture, to be sure. .... and children of all ages, including me, like that very much!

Edited to add:- SWMBO approves too

righto... time to remind folks that this is still a "thing".

The move down to Devon went pretty smoothly, and we've been living here for just over a month. The garage at the house is an ok size, but quite a come-down from what I had previously. We're builing a 30ft x 60ft timber framed barn in a couple of weeks, so one of the 15ft bays in that will be my workshop.

Until that date, I've sent the defender away to the stainless/metals fabrication place mentioned earlier. It should come back with shiny stainless manifolds and exhaust system, plus a cooling system including oil cooler and gbox cooler. Quite excited about seeing that! More so than paying for it, of course!

The barn erection week is currently scheduled for the week of 19th Sept - fingers crossed that should be quite nice timing on the landy being ready to come home. I think this will be the last big-budget "cheat" that I'm allowed on this project this year. I'll have to revert back to standard landy elbow grease and inventiveness to get it finished. I've gone off setting myself major deadlines, but if nothing else, I hope to get cracking on it again once the barn is up.

Picture just in from jek fabrications...

Ooh - I wish I had a bit of budget for some of those!

Very nice