Newbie query about 90 lights

"it's a later Puma bonnet and doesn't have a stay fitted which is becoming a pain in the proverbial."

Is it metal or plastic? The Puma bonnet does not have that horrible vent and anyway, aftermarket or genuine it should be fitted with a stay.
Lets just hope that isn't an example of the skill (or lack of!) of the previous owner.
The photo below shows the underside of a genuine Puma bonnet.

As for bumper mounted lights, I am a great fan of the retro look (despite the rest of the vehicle being fully LED) and have had these Hella Rallye 3000 on my 90 for donkeys years. They have an excellent light output and don't have the corrosion issues of cheaper lights.
The Nolden LED headlights were a bit of a disappointment on Hi-beam but the Hellas fill in the gaps perfectly.




Turboman.
"Tempted to report your earlier post for having Defender badge on your Ninety! But I didn't! "

Also guilty of the Defender badge fraud!
1986 Ninety.

Litch said:

"it's a later Puma bonnet and doesn't have a stay fitted which is becoming a pain in the proverbial."

Is it metal or plastic? The Puma bonnet does not have that horrible vent and anyway, aftermarket or genuine it should be fitted with a stay.
Lets just hope that isn't an example of the skill (or lack of!) of the previous owner.
The photo below shows the underside of a genuine Puma bonnet.

As for bumper mounted lights, I am a great fan of the retro look (despite the rest of the vehicle being fully LED) and have had these Hella Rallye 3000 on my 90 for donkeys years. They have an excellent light output and don't have the corrosion issues of cheaper lights.
The Nolden LED headlights were a bit of a disappointment on Hi-beam but the Hellas fill in the gaps perfectly.

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Turboman.
"Tempted to report your earlier post for having Defender badge on your Ninety! But I didn't! "

Also guilty of the Defender badge fraud!
1986 Ninety.

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Even worse, you appear to have the grille badge off a Series 2a on there as well, which really is heresy!

Edit. I have to agree entirely with your comments about the bonnet stay though.
And also about the vent on the bonnet, which, as far as I know, was never made or fitted on any Landrover by the factory. I think that is a home made special, and it looks horrible.

Thanks for that Litch! I'm probably wrong about the bonnet being Puma, I thought I saw one for sale described as that but it's also very like one Masai sell. Pass! Looking at the matting inside it's fibreglass of some sort. I was convinced there must have been a stay and I just couldn't see it...but unless it's in deep hiding there isn't one! I've been trying to identify possible fixings points to put one and using an old drain rod at a precarious angle in the meantime. I'll have a look at those Hellas too...

Margo Ledbetter said:

Thanks for that Litch! I'm probably wrong about the bonnet being Puma, I thought I saw one for sale described as that but it's also very like one Masai sell. Pass! Looking at the matting inside it's fibreglass of some sort. I was convinced there must have been a stay and I just couldn't see it...but unless it's in deep hiding there isn't one! I've been trying to identify possible fixings points to put one and using an old drain rod at a precarious angle in the meantime. I'll have a look at those Hellas too...

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I used to use a stick on my Ninety, not attached at all, I just carried it in the back.
There are some advantages to doing this, one being that you can move the prop around to ease access to different areas while you are working.
The other being that it enabled me to remove the standard bonnet stay, which was one of the folding metal ones like on a Series, and they always rattle.

Margo Ledbetter said:

Thanks Knappster, are there any particular brands or ranges of lights you'd recommend? So far in terms of similar size I've seen the Cibie Oscar LED ones and the Terrafirma Xenon.

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I’ve got a pair of cheap Chinese ones in my garage to go on my 90 in time. You can pick these up on eBay and Amazon for a good price but be aware that you might not get a long life out of the cheapest. You can get decent ones from the likes of ORE.

Turboman said:

I used to use a stick on my Ninety, not attached at all, I just carried it in the back.
There are some advantages to doing this, one being that you can move the prop around to ease access to different areas while you are working.
The other being that it enabled me to remove the standard bonnet stay, which was one of the folding metal ones like on a Series, and they always rattle.

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I h@ve @ stick in the b@ck

Being mindful of the power Halogen uses I think I'd play safe and stick to LED's, and I can see what you mean about it being a minefield out there of dubious Chinese origin! For £5.98 I suspect I may end up with something akin to some market store GU10's which welded themselves to a kitchen light fitting. There's a seller on eBay selling pairs of Cibie Super Oscars and Machine Mart have Maypole 55w 9" LED driving lights at what looks to be a good price; certainly cheaper than elsewhere (£71.98). Anyone have experience of the Maypole's?

Turboman said:

Even worse, you appear to have the grille badge off a Series 2a on there as well, which really is heresy!

Edit. I have to agree entirely with your comments about the bonnet stay though.
And also about the vent on the bonnet, which, as far as I know, was never made or fitted on any Landrover by the factory. I think that is a home made special, and it looks horrible.

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One again, guilty as charged however in my defence it is a Falon Nameplate badge (clutching at straws here!).
The rear one can't be confused with a Series item so that should be ok? Also I am pleased to say that since I took the photo the plastic one has been consigned to the bin!

Litch said:

One again, guilty as charged however in my defence it is a Falon Nameplate badge (clutching at straws here!).
The rear one can't be confused with a Series item so that should be ok? Also I am pleased to say that since I took the photo the plastic one has been consigned to the bin!

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Let you off, maybe!

I would definitely let you off if you have converted that to Auto, to my mind the two greatest failings of Defenders were no petrol engines, and no auto, in the UK at least.

In the certain knowledge this is highjacking the original post (sorry ) yes, I did convert to auto back in 2017 using an Ashcroft kit.
Best thing I had done to the vehicle in years.

Hoping to keep some relevance in that I believe the OP said his TD5 is also coupled to an auto-box?

Litch said:

In the certain knowledge this is highjacking the original post (sorry ) yes, I did convert to auto back in 2017 using an Ashcroft kit.
Best thing I had done to the vehicle in years.

Hoping to keep some relevance in that I believe the OP said his TD5 is also coupled to an auto-box?

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Auto is undoubtedly better in the modern world, Britain is the only place that "stick-shift", as the Americans call it is found, except on very small cars.

Wouldn't worry too much about relevance, LZ is well known for mission creep.

Also, I could be wrong, but I think the OP is a She, not a He.

pmsl, right on both counts chaps, definitely a she and my bitsa does have an auto box!

Margo Ledbetter said:

pmsl, right on both counts chaps, definitely a she and my bitsa does have an auto box!

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The avatar was a bit of a giveaway, and to be fair, the bonnet on the avatar looks better than the one on yer motor!

Auto, may be a bit more expensive on fuel, but you will save on clutches, and transmission wear, and your skeleton will thank you for it.

Turboman said:

The avatar was a bit of a giveaway, and to be fair, the bonnet on the avatar looks better than the one on yer motor!

Auto, may be a bit more expensive on fuel, but you will save on clutches, and transmission wear, and your skeleton will thank you for it.

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Absolutely, and if I'm not wrestling with the gear stick it means I can continue clinging to the steering wheel for dear life.

Any thoughts on the lights? I think I may have tempted fate by mentioning the Cibie Oscars as the eBay seller has just bumped the price for a pair up by almost £50! I'm intending to be keeping the Landy for a very long time so don't mind spending the money to get things right from the off. A pair of 9" Super Oscars would be just over £245 (£195 last night, bar! humbug!) or a pair of the Maypoles about £144.
One of the roof lights has given up the ghost (it's dripping with water inside) so I need to try and identify that to get a replacement. I haven't managed to locate any names / logos as yet from simply looking at it but hopefully once disconnected there might be a clue.

Margo Ledbetter said:

Absolutely, and if I'm not wrestling with the gear stick it means I can continue clinging to the steering wheel for dear life.

Any thoughts on the lights? I think I may have tempted fate by mentioning the Cibie Oscars as the eBay seller has just bumped the price for a pair up by almost £50! I'm intending to be keeping the Landy for a very long time so don't mind spending the money to get things right from the off. A pair of 9" Super Oscars would be just over £245 (£195 last night, bar! humbug!) or a pair of the Maypoles about £144.
One of the roof lights has given up the ghost (it's dripping with water inside) so I need to try and identify that to get a replacement. I haven't managed to locate any names / logos as yet from simply looking at it but hopefully once disconnected there might be a clue.

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Personally, I would just remove the spotlights.

They are unnecessary. That has probably got the plastic headlight bowls from a Td5 Defender, you can install Wipac crystalights in those, if it hasn't been done already. The crystalights have bulbs, so no changing sealed beam units, and they are plastic, so no rust in the headlight area.
We have this setup on the Series 2a, and they are pretty bright, so much so that people are always flashing us if we leave them on in the day.
My wife had a Td5 Defender until a few years ago, and the standard headlights on that were fine for night driving on and off road.

The light bar at the top might be worth keeping, but they are mostly used by people for illegal lamping, so if that image isn't a problem for you, just remove one, and leave the others on. They will do little harm, because they are LEDs, but shouldn't be used on the road.

I know what you're saying, but I don't live in suburbia. We're pretty rural here, several miles down a single track private road in the middle of several hundred acres (not ours), so at times some extra light would be welcome; particularly at this time of year with a rather bizarre crime wave in full swing amongst our neighbours; everyone here is about an acre apart so with no street lights you can imagine it's a bit isolating. We've had plenty of illegal lampers and hare coursers up here too.

Margo Ledbetter said:

I know what you're saying, but I don't live in suburbia. We're pretty rural here, several miles down a single track private road in the middle of several hundred acres (not ours), so at times some extra light would be welcome; particularly at this time of year with a rather bizarre crime wave in full swing amongst our neighbours; everyone here is about an acre apart so with no street lights you can imagine it's a bit isolating. We've had plenty of illegal lampers and hare coursers up here too.

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I was farming for 32 years. 24 of them on a heavy clay farm up an unmade track a mile long. 8 years before that as a forestry contractor driving on rural roads and forestry trails.
Never needed extra lights at all.

I know your area fairly well, and there is a lot of illegal lamping around there. There is a chap up near March that shoots the headlights out of the lamper's vehicles with a rifle. They don't seem to come back after that.

I didn't say I needed them, I said they'd be welcome.

Margo Ledbetter said:

I didn't say I needed them, I said they'd be welcome.

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Afraid I haven't got the foggiest, as I never use them.

I think @Knappster said earlier in the thread what he has got, so maybe go with that, he seems to know about it.

I cut a 16inch led light bar into the grill. It doesn't affect the cooling, looks neat, doesn't put any more pressure on the wiring being led and lights up our rural roads perfectly. I'd put a pic up if the site weren't broke.