What have you done to your Freelander today

jamesmartin said:

must have been tight for space, i cant get everything in the back of the disco when we go camping

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Yeh, its difficult the couple of times we've been without a trailer. Tables, chairs etc went on the roof rails and we had to leave the BBQ at home, but the fridge and all other mod-cons were packed in

Once we got the boat, everything went in there, except the tent - it is so heavy, I felt it safer to put it in the boot. You can see how big the packed up tent is - it virtually fills the Freelander's boot.

GrumpyGel said:

Yeh, its difficult the couple of times we've been without a trailer. Tables, chairs etc went on the roof rails and we had to leave the BBQ at home, but the fridge and all other mod-cons were packed in

Once we got the boat, everything went in there, except the tent - it is so heavy, I felt it safer to put it in the boot. You can see how big the packed up tent is - it virtually fills the Freelander's boot.

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we use the boat too as a trailer,but like you put the heavy stuff in the car, i remember as a kid standing in queues of cars trying to get into wales with what i suppose was their whole gear strapped to a roof rack under plastic

I went to view the new to us one, on my way home.
Currently without wheels suspended on a four post.
Disks are ok on the front, still no sign of rest.
Considering getting new callipers, rather than a refurb.

Fitted a TPMS that I purchased off AliExpress £49. You can see I moved the mirror adjusting whatsit and put the TPMS in its place, it's easier to see it there. I had to extend the wiring for the mirror whatsit across the top of the air vent duct - all good.

htr said:

Fitted a TPMS that I purchased off AliExpress £49. You can see I moved the mirror adjusting whatsit and put the TPMS in its place, it's easier to see it there. I had to extend the wiring for the mirror whatsit across the top of the air vent duct - all good.

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Cool You'll have to keep us informed on whether its reliable - at £49 its a decent price for peace of mind.

got another 2 years MOT - just have to adjust the handbrake a bit - 1 side is a bit lazy

GrumpyGel said:

Cool You'll have to keep us informed on whether its reliable - at £49 its a decent price for peace of mind.

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+1

When fitted the tyre tech pumped my tyres to 32lb [2.2 bar] which I feel is to hard - good for economy but not tyre life. I run mine at 28lb [1.93 bar]. According to the TPMS they are 28 when cold and warm up to 31. So I guess that when 32 cold they would be 35 to 36 [about 2.48 bar] warm. I my opinion that's way to hard for a 1450kg vehicle that's carrying a light load and going at legal speeds. Thoughts please. tyre size - Bridgestone Dueller 697 - 205 70 15

That TPMS low pressure warning is 26lb [ 1.79 bar] that's the lowest it can be set. Highest is 99b! [ 6.82 bar] IIRC the lowest high pressure warning is 44b [ 3.03 bar] - hmm. Tyre temp warning is 65ºC.

That's a good place to put the TPMS readout.

I've had mine on for a few months now, and initially was worried that some scallywag would pinch the sensors on the wheels. But on these vehicles they really don't seem to be an obvious addition. And with some dirt on the wheels, just seem to blend in now.

I've been running my Scorpion STRs at 30PSI at cold, and which increase to 32-33 at motorway speeds. Due to do a tyre rotation shortly, so will have a look at the wear when I swap the wheels over.

Jim

After much messing about with tyre pressures, I found 30psi when cold is the best compromise, for ride quality and fuel economy. That's on 215 65 R16 wet weather biased, directional tyres.
Mike

Skinny Mike said:

After much messing about with tyre pressures, I found 30psi when cold is the best compromise, for ride quality and fuel economy. That's on 215 65 R16 wet weather biased, directional tyres.
Mike

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I also find that 30Psi is a good compromise. Keeping in mind that the TD4 auto is quite a few Kgs more than a manual L series. I used to run my V6 at 32Psi but that is the heaviest Freelander 1 made at over 1600Kgs.

Fitted a DAB Radio Aerial.

Most DAB Radio Aerials I coud see either needed a 15mm square or a 19mm circular hole to accommodate the base. The Freelander however has a ~10mm circular hole and smaller 4mm locating hole. I didn't fancy cutting a new hole into the roof, so after some looking around found an DAB aerial that was almost perfect for the job. It has a model number CT27UV71, and the packet says "connects2.com". I bought mine from dabonwheels.

The holes lined up perfectly, but the 10mm hole was a bit tight and after measuring actually it is only 9.9mm. So rather than force it in taking off the paintwork and creating a risk for rust to appear, I drilled out the existing hole to 10.5mm, repainted it, and the base went in nicely without the paint scratching effort.


I now just need to route the new cable in properly behind the headlining. The existing cable is staying in situ. It seems to be taped to the loom of other wires that run up to the roof, (for the light, and a box I think must be something to do with the alarm? (on the bracket in front of the courtesy light (3 door)). I've taken the A-pillar trim off and there is plenty of space to accommodate it.

I started changing the intake manifold gaskets on the KV6 today. You sure do have to remove a lot of bits and pieces to get at them!
I made fairly good progress with no major disasters or surprises. It's now at the stage where the manifolds are back in place and the fuel rail is installed.
Of the whole job so far the most difficult bit was reinstalling the securing clip on the front injector of the rear bank (#1 cyl?) It's one of those tasks that calls for long double-jointed ET-like fingers. I ended up installing the injectors and clips on the rail then installing it as a unit-much easier although it wasn't easy to get the injectors
out of the head. Tomorrow I will finish buttoning it up and see if it runs.
BTW: MY water leak was caused by intake manifold gasket failure on the front head at one of the water passages. Turns out it wasn't a factory gasket.
The new ones are.

Rich in Vancouver said:

I started changing the intake manifold gaskets on the KV6 today. You sure do have to remove a lot of bits and pieces to get at them!
I made fairly good progress with no major disasters or surprises. It's now at the stage where the manifolds are back in place and the fuel rail is installed.
Of the whole job so far the most difficult bit was reinstalling the securing clip on the front injector of the rear bank (#1 cyl?) It's one of those tasks that calls for long double-jointed ET-like fingers. I ended up installing the injectors and clips on the rail then installing it as a unit-much easier although it wasn't easy to get the injectors
out of the head. Tomorrow I will finish buttoning it up and see if it runs.
BTW: MY water leak was caused by intake manifold gasket failure on the front head at one of the water passages. Turns out it wasn't a factory gasket.
The new ones are.

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A tip for next time. Don't remove the fuel rails from the injectors. There's no need as the whole inlet manifold, injectors and rail come off as one unit.
The correct gaskets have a thin elastopolymer bead around the sealing area. I've seen aftermarket gaskets that don't, which suffer the failure you described.
Glad to hear that it's nothing serious.

That makes sense Nodge although the injectors were stuck in the head pretty good and needed to be pried out.
I cleaned things up and lubricated the O-rings before reassembling. I wish I had done all six but didn't have any issues with the front head so those injectors
stayed put. The aftermarket gaskets had an elastomer bead but it didn't look as robust as the one on the factory gaskets.

Here is a pic of a piece of the front manifold gasket. Obviously not factory. You can see the spot where it failed, to the right of the coolant passage in the pic. (Which as installed is at the lower edge of the gasket.)

altered the air-intake ducting a week back ..
( see intake mod. link in sig. for info )
had some niggles securing the lot
hence extra bits of 'padding' and cable ties galore
though it did prove to be a functional benefit to engine performance

except that the alloy tubing got quite hot from engine bay heat ..
( so having an effect on the air-intake-temp reading )

today .. installed and tested the insulated version ..
( 10mm thick closed cell foam ..
( plus some heat reflective tape ..

worked fine getting a.i.temps down ..
and down quicker after *situations that cause a.i. temps to rise*

*i.e. slow or static vehicle .. engine running .. or parked up engine 'off' for an hour after a long run
the heat buildup causes initial sluggish ( comparatively ) acceleration when getting on the move again ..
( an issue for me .. when weather gets hot ..
( the standard intake ducting was effected by it ..
( as was the non-insulated intake mod .. but to a slightly lesser extent
the insulation has done away with that detrimental heat buildup effect

the part giving off the highest surface temp. reading .. taken at 15 min post engine shutdown after a 30 mile run ..
was the a.i.temp sensor plastic housing .. at 50c ..
( metal intake manifold tubes read nearly 60c .. )

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Good work getting the intake temperature down. This is something that I have been thinking about recently too. It's amazing just how hot the intake air can become from heat soak from the engine bay pipework. Added to this is the intake temperature increase caused by pressurising to 32Psi, so anything that can be done to reduce it is bonus.
I did a similar thing to the intake housing on my V6.
The best insulation is a reflective silvery outer cover with a thick insulation material below.
If it's work correctly, you'll see slower temperature rise and faster fall off as air flow increase. This is what you are getting, so good work.

both front driveshafts, new calipers, discs and pads 198k miles l-series

Nodge68 said:

Good work getting the intake temperature down. This is something that I have been thinking about recently too. It's amazing just how hot the intake air can become from heat soak from the engine bay pipework. Added to this is the intake temperature increase caused by pressurising to 32Psi, so anything that can be done to reduce it is bonus.
I did a similar thing to the intake housing on my V6.
The best insulation is a reflective silvery outer cover with a thick insulation material below.
If it's work correctly, you'll see slower temperature rise and faster fall off as air flow increase. This is what you are getting, so good work.

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Hi Nodge mate - I presume (32Psi) you must mean 'Gauge' ref 'Absolute' yikes .
Also, I would question the cooling ability / or heating effect if you will - of intake temps. IF you use a lot of metal pipes then it is likely that the bay temps / airflow - would 'possibly' offer some unwanted HEATING effect to the pressurised air from the engine bay .. not good.
Actually covering the pipes with heat insulating material would - in theory - only try to rectify a totally user created issue that should never be there !!. (due to the metal pipework ABSORBING heat from the engine bay at low speeds whereas 'normal' pipework does not.)
If the pipework is all 'silicone' (actually a hybrid as very few (if any) places supply pure silicone hoses )- then I can see absolutely - utterly - no increase or decrease in performance over the standard 'automotive type' hose.- period ! - apart from it looking nicer and lasting longer (possibly but - highly debatable and unlikely !)) - the heat transfer one way or the other of 'non metallic' hoses is extremely limited and more influenced (by FAR) via the inter-cooler and the compressor limit PSI.
So, as the OP has found out - apart from looking pretty, the metal / hose combo is actually worse - a detriment to performance !- unless covered. - even then it is absolutely no better than the original. ! - no objective gain at all. !
I think the moral here is to stick with the factory fitment - or aftermarket WITHOUT any metal tubes. They only look 'cool' in piccies' and even then not too much.. also, they are under the bonnet (hood for foreigners ) and no begger sees them anyway lol
It is all simple utter 'bling' as far as I am concerned.
And - offer absolutely no benefit at all. - Even the 'britpart' (Yikes !!) replacement hoses for boost are absolutely fine and ridiculously cheap.

To recap - apart from the 'bling' / 'chav' value there IS NO absolute benefit at all - indeed - negative issues. sorry but

Also, I can in no way see any way that the hose 'mods' pictured above can in ANY way be better than the factory spec hoses ? - just not possible - unless of course you are running HUGE boost increases, and even then - I would doubt that ANY difference would be measurable - let alone 'noticeable'
I think this is a case of 'it looks cool therefore it is better' - without ANY data to back it up.
Don't get me wrong - cool looks are great... I just shudder when someone quotes ANY noticeable benefit....... err nope - in most cases (>90%!)
Per quote "though it did prove to be a functional benefit to engine performance"
Sorry mate - but not a chance really - I just cannot see how ? - mind over matter -


Joe