Thanks.

Have had it off road a little and thus far pleased with the results.

I should have filmed a bit longer, but you can see there where some bits of ground stopping a 90, even a TCS equipped on until the TCS kicks in. The 88 mostly drove round no problem.

Any chance of some close up pictures of the new door tops?

Sorry, didn't take any of the door tops. I think there are pictures on Rocky Mountains site. Will try and snap some at some point.

Some more poser shots.

Finally got chance to really test the suspension this weekend. Spent most of Saturday setting up an RTV event for Chiltern Vale Land Rover Club, at the Brickhill site.



This gave great opportunity to test it out thoroughly. And not just the suspension.



The Tdi performed flawlessly as did the p38a power steering.





The vehicle now feels extremely capable and didn't really suffer from traction at all during the setup.





It's still not an 'extreme' setup and I believe just some longer shackles would likely improve the suspensions articulation even more, although run the risk of prop binding and pinion angle issues.



But I think anyone with a stock leafer, or even a coil 90 would have to agree, it flexes pretty good for what it is.











































And although a few people have commented on the exhaust looking like it hangs low, I can attest and say it didn't get hung up on anything all day either. So quite pleased with this.

wow those parabolics sure makes the vehicle a lot more capable, just look at the flex, as for the pipe work, i think that is ok there.

At last got round to fitting my X-Brake about 10 days back.

Fairly straight forward, although took many hours as there is quite a bit to do. The instructions were a little vague at times and the kit was missing 2 bolts. But all fitted and working. And I can report it's effectiveness. And highly recommend.


I also temporarily swapped my 7.50 16 Diamonds for some very rare 8.25 16 XZL's. An 8.25 is a mid way size between the more common 7.50 and 9.00. They are just over 33" tall and compared to a 7.50 XZL are a good 2" or so taller.

Also have been working on repairing the dashboard. Some in progress pics, it's now painted and back in the vehicle.




Parked up next to my Uncles new this year Puma.




CB radio also fitted (Thunderpole T-1000). And took the 88 to a local classic car show (Classics in the Walled Garden at Luton Hoo, for those that know the area). It seemed to a get positive responsive for the most part, despite being rather less shiny than the majority of the 500+ cars that attend the show.

Last weekend spent 4 days green laning in Wales. Did 440 miles in 4 days.

The Series went very well. Very impressed with the fuel consumption, best I've ever had from a Tdi, so much so I didn't believe it at first and had to work the figures out 3 times before I would accept it.

36mpg on the way there. And 30mpg combined for the entire trip.


There were 5 us in the group, a 1953 V8 Series 1, two Tdi Ninety's and a Tdi Defender 90.




Did a mix of lanes (sorry not many pics of mine). Including the famed Strata Florida.









The 8.25 tyres helped a bit on the road, but cruising speed really is limited to 50-52mph. Anymore and the revs are just too high for continual driving.

Over drives do seem appealing, but at £1500 are not on the cards at the moment. Think I'll try a pair of 3.54:1 diffs first and see how I get on.

Nice! Those tyres look good

New steering wheel finally fitted. Much nicer than the old Disco one I was using.

First issue encountered last week.

Heard an unusual clonk going over an off road section, to be presented with this on jumping out of the vehicle:



Fortunately, all that had happened, was the split pin that retains the bottom shock mount had come out or broken (suspect fallen out, due to me not opening it enough ).

The rubber bush also vanished, along with the washer. Ordered some washers and new split pins off ebay. And a big thumbs up to David @ Llama4x4 who sent me out some replacement bushes. (they are a slightly odd bush, being that they are small to fit the eye of the Rough Country shocks, which is much smaller than a standard Landy shock, but with a 3/4" hole in it for the Series mounting pin).

All parts arrived promptly which meant just reassembling it. Getting the shock back on was somewhat of a challenge however, in other words it was a complete b*itch!

When I fitted them originally, I had no wings or engine on the chassis, so loads of room, and you could simply lean on the shock to compress it.

No chance with an assembled vehicle and I just wasn't strong enough to compress the shock with the bodywork in the way.

The shock is also longer than the max axle droop, which is good, as I'm not bottoming out the shocks and shows that if I fit the Mil spec leaf hangers, I will get more flex. But this was of no help when trying to fit it back on.

After much swearing, head scratching and two cups of tea. I used a combination of 3 jacks to lift the chassis with the axle dropped and then raised the bottom of the shock to the mount!

I guess if I'd had a suitable strap I could have compressed it off the vehicle, but I didn't really have anything to hand. And as the mounting pins face different directions, it probably wouldn't have worked anyhow.

Split pins now very well opened up!

I mentioned previously about fitting 3.54 diffs. Well the timetable has been moved up on doing this... the front diff has just gone bang! In somewhat spectacular fashion.

So spent the day swapping the diffs today.





Pulled the front diff and was expecting a real mess. But turns out it was just the pinion bearing that had failed and collapsed.




I knew the front diff had a leaked pinion seal when I fitted this diff last year. I suspect it must have either been knackered then or soon after. It was no long after fitting this diff that I took the vehicle off the road for the rebuild. So I hadn't done a huge amount of mileage on it.


And the green landing in Wales this year in July involved a lot of deep water, so suspect this sealed the deal really.


3.54:1 diffs now fitted. All went smoothly except on fitting the rear diff it became apparent that my rear axle doesn't have a level/fill plug in it! The font does though. Solution was to pull the shorter rear half shaft and jack the wheel up slightly and fill it from there.


End result is quite pleasing. It now cruises at 60mph happily. Whereas before 50mph seemed like you were pushing it. As a side benefit, I think that busted pinion bearing must have been noisy. As since fitting the Tdi it's been really loud in the cab. I put it down to the engine swap, but it must have largely been that diff! So pleased it has had a real positive effect.

Performance wise, it doesn't feel as peppy as it did, but I think it actually is quicker. Did some experiment runs against my brothers 200Tdi 90 and it compares favourably. And now has legs to top 75mph+ (off the public road).

First gear is noticeably taller, but I don't tow with this, so isn't an issue for me. And 30mph is definitely a 3rd gear affair.

Low range has of course been affected. Low 1st is massively faster. In fact low 1st tick over is about equal (ever so slightly faster) to low 2nd in my brothers 200Tdi 90. This isn't very good for trialling, but I haven't really built the vehicle for that, so it is liveable.


Oh yeah, I am still running the 8.25 x 16 tyres, so dropping down to a 7.50 would probably improve things here. But I like the 8.25's, so will be sticking with them for now.


Overall conclusion: Very pleased and impressed

So I've not updated for a while.



Few things, a week or so after swapping diffs I went to an RTV trial, where sadly I bust the rear diff, partly due to driver error I think. Anyhow, the spider gears shattered. So I've swapped in another 3.54:1 in the rear. I'm still liking the gearing, you do have to remember to not try and rush to get it in 4th gear, as you really need to be doing 40mph for 4th. But it's going very very well.



Got chance to fix my X-Lites at long last, which had been sitting gathering dust. Rear NATO hook is on and steel plate. As a front recovery point, also with a spreader plate.

Also been tiding up some bits, bit more wiring, some hidden orange flashing lights on the front. And a proper mount for my CB mic.




Also added some interior lighting, as now it gets dark earlier, finding the ignition is more of a challenge.

Also started freshening up the body capping, I'll then move on to the roof and eventually the body paint. I've also got some new drivers door hinges to fit.

So I've been making some more lighting upgrades. Not that it needed it. The previous owner had already installed some Wipac (Quadoptics??). And despite running stock 55/60w bulbs, they performed really well.

So I first added my X-Lites, that my brother bought me ages ago. And then I started toying with the idea of a LED light bar. I'm still not completely convinced by the look of them.

But it got me thinking about lights. I then remembered I had some spot lights already. I had a pair on my first Defender way back in 1997... sadly when these were fitted to my Discovery one of them got lost

But it gave me the idea of trying a HID retrofit upgrade. So I installed a 35w HID and trialled the light out (few pics above) and it's truly awesome!!! It's not instant light the first time you turn it on. But it works way better than I thought it would. And the light it puts out is impressive.

While rummaging in the shed I also found a brand new pair of large Ring halogen spot lights I bought years ago and had never used. I haven't yet wired these in, but I will be trying a HID upgrade on them as well.

I also set about upgrading the headlight bulbs, and I've got some XM-L2 LED units in their.

I've also re-fitted the front panel that sits in front of the rad, as it had been missing for years, but makes an ideal spotlight mounting point. As my front chassis legs are slightly different for the front springs, I've had to adapt this panel and the rad grill to fit. But fairly pleased with the end result.



While I was at it, I took the opportunity to relocate the numberplate to a safer position (and replace the tatty old one). And since fitting the NATO hook on the rear, I've had a spare Dixon Bate lying about. The bumper is off of another Series vehicle I own, which must have had some things mounted on the front at some point. The holes matched the Dixon Bate, so took the opportunity to make use of it.

Pretty please with the lighting upgrades so far. Just need to get the large spots operational to see what it can really do








Dip -> Main -> Main + spots:

Setting up an RTV trial next weekend for Chiltern Vale Land Rover Club at Gt Brickhill, near Milton Keynes.

Thought I'd better put on my 'off road' tyres.





Looks like the rims might need some fresh paint however






These are 235/85R16, so a tad shorter than the 825's I've been running. But the Tdi seems to pull them fine, on the road, despite the off road biased tread pattern.

ok, I haven't updated this thread in a while.

So here goes, from the pics above, when setting up a trial I thought I broke another diff. Turned out to only be a rear half shaft in the end.

However I have concluded that Range Rover diffs are NOT the way to go in a Series with a Tdi.

The on-road performance is fine. Not as peppy, but acceleration is still good and cruising ability is great. There is a bit of a gap between 3rd and 4th, but it's quite livable.

No, the issue is low range. Low 1st is just way way too quick for proper technical off roading. You have to keep using the brakes or riding the clutch and are out of the Tdi's power band.

I'm hoping to have solved this however, as through some luck I've aquired a used Fairey Overdirve unit. I hope it works ok as it is in unknown condition. And it's missing the linkage, but I have managed to source a remanufacture one on line. Once installed I will be reverting back to 4.7 diffs. This will return low range back to normal and still retain within 2mph the same cruising ability for road use.


Other things.

Have setup more RTV trials:


And fitted a new larger battery to the seatbox battery tray. Bit of a story here, battery is I think an 83Ah one, bought online for my X-Type Jag, but turned out to be incorrect (way too big physically). However it just fitted in the tray on the 88, so has found a new home. Quite pleased as it was only £65 delivered.



I've also been tidying up the interior, but no photos yet...


However, anyone who has read this thread/blog knows I've been threatening to repaint my 88 for some time. Well I eventually made a good start on it recently.

The original colour was Bronze green, doing some research it seems there are at least 2 shades of this used by Land Rover and maybe even 3. However the price of the paint was not cheap.

I was wanting to do the repaint at home and opted unconventionally to use aerosol spray cans. As they should give a nicer finish than a brush or roller, but require far less prep and masking up than an electric or air spray gun.

LR bronze green was just coming in at way too much money. So I opted for 'Nato Green Gloss' instead, for only a fraction of the price. Likewise with the roof, it would have been nice to have kept it Limestone, but paint prices meant it looked rather too many £££. Out of interest, I do believe that the current MINI colour found on 3rd hatches called 'Chilli White' is either the same or almost identical to LR Limestone. But sadly not much cheaper or easier to buy in a can. In the end I opted for a Grey Beige for the roof and in more of a matte finish.

Fairly pleased with the end result. I still have some of the roof left to paint, due to needing more primer. And I think the wheels need to be painted to match the roof now.









I also replaced the rear Safari door with one in better condition. Still working on getting it to latch correctly however.