Steve's Land Raft

Pretty much they are plastic top pieces that fit in place of the original covers, but they have a second piece which attaches to the first and covers the cross member ends.

Dauphproto said:

Pretty much they are plastic top pieces that fit in place of the original covers, but they have a second piece which attaches to the first and covers the cross member ends.

Click to expand...

Many thanks, so basically what I have already done with my piece of conveyor belt.

I forgot about the Slick shift. I have been debating this for months and eventually decided to do it. I have driven cars with quick shifts fitted that made them feel notchy and easy to get lost in a box full of neutrals. The kit was easy to fit and in my opinion is just right. It is more precise, but not over the top. Much easier to live with. Feels great.

Today I remembered to get a pin for my Military front Bumper. A quick check in Angus and Perthshire Bearings, our local Bearings, nut and bolt shop and Agrifactors found a Vapormatic pin for the princely sum of 4 quid plus vat. That'll do me.

Ordered a Swing away wheel carrier for the next project. Watch this space...

Winter has brought Activities to a near standstill. I had noticed that there was a fault code logged for heater plugs on my Wife's Duster, so I got a set for it and fitted them just before it got cold. Good job 2 were open circuit, explaining the fault code. Then the Sister in law says her Qashqai won't start, same motor, same plugs, but a bit of a bitch to get the inlet pipe out of the way. 3 open circuit. Whilst getting them I got 4 for the Landy, which are physically bigger, but cheaper, our local factor keeps Bosch and at 8 quid a go I thought it was ok. Now back when I got this there was a sort of tick, like tappets which came and went a bit, it turned out to be a bad injector seal on no.3 and after changing them it was a quieter motor at idle. Guess what the glowplugs were unbranded and not terribly old, but no.3 wasn't tight see pic



No.4 on left to 1 on right.
It has obviously been leaking, although I couldn't see or hear anything. The good news is it is a smoother motor now. I am fancying a Motor refresh and some upgrades for 2025, then I'll look at the gearing , plus there's the body to finish off . Never a Dull moment...

As I keep picking away at silly little things, which need doing, the latest of which was a new battery, as the one fitted was very small and after a 20 mile drive on the Dual carriageway with the sidelights on, I left it outside the Engineering firm I was visiting with the sidelights on for no more than 5-10 mins and it nearly didn't start.... After a bit of reading on here I found a 663 case was the biggest that fits in the space, so did that and what an improvement. Even the recent -8 morning was no issue.
I also got a swing away wheel carrier , went for the SP Panels Galv version. All worked as it was supposed to. The only thing I did was run an M12 Reamer through the Nylon bushes, as the bolts were Effin tight. I wonder if the Galv had reduced the diameter of the Eyes the bushes are pressed into closing up the bolt holes a little. It works great though and makes the internal loadspace much more useable. I had got a High lift Jack in Rally Design's sale which is now fitted across the rear of the Tub bulkhead on a couple of brackets for a CJ7 jeep, so if i'm unlucky enough to get a puncture, I'll be able to deal with it without having to resort to rolling around on the ground, I hope
Pics for information






I'm going to hibernate for a bit
I'll say compliments of the season to you all and hope 2025 is a good year for all.

Happy Hibernation.
If you need some more leaves and twigs, I have a full builders bag (or two).

Thanks, but a bit too itchy scratchy for me.....

Will it ever warm up???? I suppose the last 2 days haven't been too bad, my blood must be getting thin. I have a short list of things to do and a couple of days would do it.
I've got a front anti-roll bar to fit and a straight through silencer in Stainless to fit, which makes the whole system Stainless.
I have fitted a set of Recon injectors which have made it a good bit smoother on hot tickover, it's also smoother to drive and have reduced a cold smoke thing that happens at around 1200 rpm stone cold only, by a large amount, looks like I'll have to send the pump away for refurbishment also.
I would like to ask the community if anyone has any opinion on the Allisport/ Turbo Technics VGT turbo. Mine is a bit tired (original) and I would like to upgrade a bit if possible, something to make it feel a little more modern, more boost earlier to give it a bit more bottom and middle.
Any/all wisdom gratefully received...

The Sun did pop out by lunchtime, so I bit the bullet and fitted my front anti-roll bar and Straight through silencer.



This was made up from a Stainless Link pipe and a Straight through Stainless silencer welded together to fit with all the original mounts.



It won't win a beauty contest, but it's mechanically strong and won't rust.
On the road it only becomes a bit boomy above 3/4 throttle. On normal driving and cruising it sounds standard, that'll do me.

The front end has always felt a bit sharp to me, so I have fitted a Front anti-roll bar only. The mix is now Britpart -1" springs, Bilstein B6 shocks and a Bilstein steering damper , The Front bar is a standard item.
On the road it feels great Firm, but supple, rides the bumps well, is quiet and now on an undulating twisty back road at 50 effortless and comfortable. I'm impressed with it. Well worth the effort, compared to how it was originally.



The quest continues...

In the recent nicer weather I got round to fitting my rear Sumobar and new TRE's. I had to fit a new TRE to the front bar for the MOT and noticed the rears were looking a bit perished and needed renewing.
All went easy enough and I will need to do the final tracking alignment, it's been set parallel with a long steel bar, which is close, but needs doing properly.
Anyone got any advice on a final figure. I'm leaning towards a mil or two toe in, but as its a driven axle it could be the same toe out. Do you split the difference and set it parallel?????
Last Tuesday I had an afternoon out and went to visit @miktdish, enjoyed his hospitality and had a run in his very nice 90. The object being to see what the Turbo Technics VGT was like as my old turbo is a bit tired. The problem here is that he has several desirable upgrades on his 90, maybe I should have stayed at home. I never liked having money anyway.
As I was having a look underneath I noticed the Sumobars and commented about not being able to fit the protector bracket under the diff due to the increased diameter of the new bar.
Once back home I had a Look at the bracket and decided with a trim it could be refitted....





You also need to slot the mountings to let it move back about 5mm. I'll get a pic of it underneath when it stops Raining ..........

In other news





More Soon ..............
Remember the tracking Info if you have it...... or opinions on it.

OH. Can anyone tell me if a sealer should be used on the iron manifold pieces, where the slip together. I know the Manifold gasket is to be clean and dry, but is there any magic potion to be applied to the Bull horns..

Dauphproto said:

Will it ever warm up???? I suppose the last 2 days haven't been too bad, my blood must be getting thin. I have a short list of things to do and a couple of days would do it.
I've got a front anti-roll bar to fit and a straight through silencer in Stainless to fit, which makes the whole system Stainless.
I have fitted a set of Recon injectors which have made it a good bit smoother on hot tickover, it's also smoother to drive and have reduced a cold smoke thing that happens at around 1200 rpm stone cold only, by a large amount, looks like I'll have to send the pump away for refurbishment also.
I would like to ask the community if anyone has any opinion on the Allisport/ Turbo Technics VGT turbo. Mine is a bit tired (original) and I would like to upgrade a bit if possible, something to make it feel a little more modern, more boost earlier to give it a bit more bottom and middle.
Any/all wisdom gratefully received...

Click to expand...

I can see you have the turbo now, I was just going to say that Andrew at Allisport is a mine of information (fairly obvious) and a dang nice & helpful bloke. You won’t go wrong with anything with their brand on (or associated with).

It looks like you have a cracker of a 90 there, but show us a picture of the steering wheel (unless I have missed it).

Dauphproto said:

OH. Can anyone tell me if a sealer should be used on the iron manifold pieces, where the slip together. I know the Manifold gasket is to be clean and dry, but is there any magic potion to be applied to the Bull horns..

Click to expand...

Mine went on dry ...

Re-fitting the Protector piece to the axle meant longer bolts reqd. I had a casual look at them and thought Oh, yeah. Defenders are metric, except the bits that aren't. These are one of these bits then. A troll through the Bolts dept yielded some 3/8 unf setscrews, dandy. Or so I thought.



Nope that won't fit.. Ok it's Definitely 3/8, not unf, unc, so that leaves yes you guessed it..



3/8 BSF!! not seen since the War... That was a lucky find in the Tap and Die box .



Luckily being 3/8 you can take 20 thou off the shank of an M10 bolt and thread it. Those holes in the axle must be a hangover from the last ice age..

Loafer61 said:

I can see you have the turbo now, I was just going to say that Andrew at Allisport is a mine of information (fairly obvious) and a dang nice & helpful bloke. You won’t go wrong with anything with their brand on (or associated with).

It looks like you have a cracker of a 90 there, but show us a picture of the steering wheel (unless I have missed it).

Click to expand...

Here is a picture of the wheel, a Bolt on bits special from eBay. Used them for a few bits and pieces.

More elbow room.

I went the whole hog and bought a Momo for my Disco. More room is essential, I think that looks fine!

Some pics of the re positioned Track rod protector thing.
I could lose the washers and make a proper Alloy spacer plate, or, I could have just thrown it all in the bin... You Decide...





I also have fitted a cheap Alternator triggered Tacho and will need to calibrate it, my mate had the adaptor for his Snap on timing light that listened for the injection pulse when checking dynamic timing on Diesels. I should be able to use that to set it up.
More Soon...

When I e-mailed Allisport about the VGT turbo they said they were waiting on Stock which would be around 3 weeks, so I put myself down to be informed when they were available. Then Exmoor trim were doing the Defeater barrier mat system with around £60 off. I had been turning this over in my mind for some time, as my interior is pretty good, but the original rubber bits have gone brittle with age and are falling apart, So I spent some of the turbo money and ordered/fitted it. Nothing to say really it does exactly what it is supposed to do. It is Quieter, it looks fantastic. Expensive,but it works.
Then out of the Blue Allisport Email,and your turbo's ready..... That 3 weeks ended up more like 4 days.
I got new Bullhorns and Silicone hoses as well and got stuck into it today.
First up Oil and filter change.
Strip all the old bits out



The old Garrett out



The new, with old for comparison

Fitting was remarkably dull and straightforward



I disconnected the stop solenoid and got a friend to crank it until I got a small glassful of oil out of the Turbo feed pipe, then I connected it and cranked it until I got oil pressure without starting it, seemed the easiest way to me.



Connected it up and lit it up, so far, so good, let it idle and check for leaks, I could hear and feel a slight blow on the down-pipe gasket.



Nipped up the flange and went for a short road test.
Wow, what a difference, a slight prod gives 15 psi and we're off, it rips through the gears in Jig time.
When I drove @miktdish 's 90 it was the same, but another push saw the boost climb to 19psi, but his vehicle has a few other tasty bits fitted to it.
I need to live with it and sort through things, I tried adjusting the boost fuelling a while ago, but all I got was smoke, so I put it back as it was. I noticed from tonight's short test that there was no smoke visible and the EGT is basically as before, meaning I can up the ante and see what happens next.
If it goes Bang, I'll sweep up the bits and re-build it, meaner... Seriously I need to get the FIP overhauled, this has been done on Mike's and probably has something to do with the higher boost numbers.
To be Continued.............

Been living with the current set up for a week. Much better and fuel consumption about the same which for the increased performance is a real bonus.
Boost levels are in quicker and stay higher than before even on light cruising load. The seal is off the back of the pump, so I have to assume it has been meddled with, but how much I have no idea. 15 psi is what I am getting, an added bonus is that EGT's are down 50-100 degrees depending on conditions,and there is basically no smoke at all so I should have another go at the boost fuelling to see what difference it makes, while I save my pennies for a pump overhaul.

Interesting video on YouTube by Alive tuning on a 300 TDI which made impressive numbers on the rollers when adjusted. I messaged to ask if some adjustment details had been omitted from the video and received a prompt reply to say that this was the case. I understand that as a tuning company they will not divulge all the details as that's what you are paying for. It ended up at around 270 lbs/ft which is a lot of gain . A near 30% power increase.
More soon