Best places for parts

Hi,
After my recent trip to Germany with my girlfriend I noticed there's been a huge influx of Defenders over there (a lot were imported from here, was told by her Dad that Germans love them), even slap bang in the middle of Hamburg! Saw a beautiful brand new TD4 110" black, rear blacked out windows with every extra imaginable while still looking stock. But anyway my question is wha'ts the best makes of parts in particular exhausts, suspension, high performance breaks etc? All of it has to be solid for offroading and still good on road. Looking a JE Engineering for tuning, Britpart for suspension, Strathearn Engineering for chassis, Twisted Performance for exhaust and maybe tuning and engine bits, Brembo for brakes. Also I can't find any decent extra wide offroad wheels .

Looking for a stainless steel twin rear exit sports exhaust for a TD5 90" (want a lovely sound & performance) so we can get a really well tuned engine.

Looking for a 2" or 3" (any tips) heavy duty offroad lift kit that wouldn't be bad onroad either - it wont be a every day run about but I want to be able to cruise about and burn some people at the lights then go across a field or a mountain or something when I'm bored.

Best ideal brakes for a highly tuned diesel TD5, would Brembo be good for offroad too?

Best engine tuning? Will need uprated intercooler, pipes, proper remap, turbo etc etc.

Also I'm not very knowledgable yet in the world of Landrover I'm still learning but would an LT85 gear box be what I expect to find in a 2000 - 2007 Defender and would the LT85 be able to handle the extra power (200BHP or so). Where's the best place to get refurbed or new gear boxes/diffs etc?

Sorry for all the questions...
Thanks
~stu

You seem to going for everything no matter what the cost is, so if I was to do the same this is where I would start:

Performance upgrades/ Turbo/ Intercooler/ Brakes/ Exhaust
Alive Tuning - Real Land Rover Performance for TDi, TD4, TD5, TD6, TDV6, TDV8, TDCi, Puma

Chassis
Richards Chassis

Suspension
Accessories and Performance Upgrades for Land Rover Vehicles | Terrafirma Serious 4x4 Accessories

If you want to uprate the Axels/ Diffs/ CV's/ Gearbox
Ashcroft Transmissions

Roll Cage
Protection & Performance Ltd - Rollcages

Tyres (unfortunatly the one I would go for I can only find at Devon4x4 which means they are expensive)
Simex Extreme Trekker 31/10.50/15

If you are getting all this you may as well get a winch or two so
Gigglepin GP84 Winch - Gigglepin4x4 - Home of the Twinmotor winch

You won't get a LT85 box in a TD5 Defender it will be a R380 which are much stronger.

Oh and remember it's still a 2 ton motor shapped like the broad side of a barn and if you lift it, it will roll in corners even more than normal.

Thanks for all that minidod!!! Yeh just done a little reading about the gear boxes and realised the R380 is the newest one and the LT77 was Leylands and the stronger LT85 was Santana's.
Yeh your right this wont be cheap and there's noway I could afford this while being a broke student but me and my Dad plan on doing this so it will be 90% his money and it will be done over several years and we've been wanting to have a project for some time and decided a Defender would be the most fun and practical especially after all the harsh winters we've had up here.
How is the R380 without a sixth gear? Will it be OK for cruising at around 60 - 80?
We wont be driving it like a racecar more in straight lines and over lots of bumpy stuff . Just want it to have some serious power and torque so I'm not struggling to get up to speed but rather race up hills while towing a battleship .
~stu

It will be fine 60-80 it's the same one that is in my Disco and it does fine crusing on the motorways at 70, had the trailer behind it on Sunday going to Glamis for the vintage car show with 2 ton of Austin Champ and it sat fine at 60 all the way.

The mods I've done to mine are below, for me there fine they make the car much nicer to drive just can't justify going for the intercooler and boost controller.

britpart = ****part..

Nice, ah so your down in the borders I see. Yeh it's not going to be a no cost spared build, more an if it's justifiable we can get it. Like we're building it to last hence the galvanised chassis and solidly built parts, still unsure on the suspension setup yet as we will be doing plenty of on and offroad driving - gets quite rough out here. Going to have it looking like a beast though, gloss black with powder coated roll cage and bumper etc, rear blacked out windows, snorkel, huge beefy offroad tyres with massive 6 piston brakes. But it wont look too different to stock. There's no way we could afford that winch, maybe one of the Champion whinches. Do you know of any dual exit exhausts for a TD5? Like one either side?
~stu

gas said:

britpart = ****part..

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Cant say many great things about britpart tbh, had many **** parts from them tbh

thats because you only by cheap,britpart also do cheapest genuine parts ,by those instead

SCOLANATOR said:

Nice, ah so your down in the borders I see. Yeh it's not going to be a no cost spared build, more an if it's justifiable we can get it. Like we're building it to last hence the galvanised chassis and solidly built parts, still unsure on the suspension setup yet as we will be doing plenty of on and offroad driving - gets quite rough out here. Going to have it looking like a beast though, gloss black with powder coated roll cage and bumper etc, rear blacked out windows, snorkel, huge beefy offroad tyres with massive 6 piston brakes. But it wont look too different to stock. There's no way we could afford that winch, maybe one of the Champion whinches. Do you know of any dual exit exhausts for a TD5? Like one either side?
~stu

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keep a single exhaust as you need some back pressure to run the turbo properly , and cool the exhaust on the turbo. I think there were comments about 2 months ago bye i do believe it was Shiffty

you dont want back pressure for turbo ,you want as low a pressure as possible to keep velocity high at turbo

SCOLANATOR said:

How is the R380 without a sixth gear? Will it be OK for cruising at around 60 - 80?

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You could always put a transfer box in from a Discovery, as this will give you " longer legs " when driving, and " low range " is the same ratio as the Defender box. ( for offroading ).

Its a straight swap, and you can pick them up quite cheap.

Del.

john winsemius said:

keep a single exhaust as you need some back pressure to run the turbo properly , and cool the exhaust on the turbo. I think there were comments about 2 months ago bye i do believe it was Shiffty

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jamesmartin said:

you dont want back pressure for turbo ,you want as low a pressure as possible to keep velocity high at turbo

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You want a compromise between the two, if there's too much back pressure like James say's you will slow the Turbo, but on the other hand if you open the exhaust too much the Turbo will over speed and right it's self off.

You can run a TD5 with a stright pipe with no boxes and it sounds great, but don't open the diameter of the pipe any more than 2 1/2" (I think this is right but I would check with Gary at Alive Tuning he explained it all to me)

OK so single stainless steel sports exhaust will probably be the best option then, yeh but with a straight pipe I would have a hard job getting through an MOT.
I like the idea about the disco gear box but tbh I'm we're not going to use this as an every day vehicle, just for fun, Sundays, bad weather and when I feel like tarmacs too soft.
If I had the TD5 engine refurbished + refurbished gears and diffs and then tuned to around 200BHP with the help of a larger intercooler, sports exhaust, good air filter, new turbo and remap what sort of performance could I expect? Would this whole setup be reliable, especially offroad?
Currently this is what I am looking at (baring in mind this is at least a three year build which would start next summer.

-90" SW 2002 - 2008 TD5/Puma
-Refurbished engine TD5(Most likely)/Puma
-Bigger turbo, perhaps Garrett VGT
-Bigger intercooler
-Remap - Alive Tuning
-Stainless steel sports exhaust + manifold
-New bushes
-Toughened steering arms etc
-Refurbished gears & diffs - Ashcroft Transmissions
-Professional respray - gloss black
-Galvanised chassis - probably Richards Chassis
-Heavy Duty offroad suspension +2" - no idea which to get?
-6 Piston front, 4 piston rear brakes (black callipers)
-Powder black front roll cage
-Black bull bars + lights
-Black side steps
-Full under body protection
-18" wheels (boost look) extra wide (flared arches)
-Basic interior, only Recaro sports seats

Yeh I guess it sounds flashy but this Defender has to sound, perform and last as good as it will look! Plus it's a fairly long build and will spend plenty of time locked up in the garage.
~stu

jamesmartin said:

you dont want back pressure for turbo ,you want as low a pressure as possible to keep velocity high at turbo

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some and low, same meaning just different country's