The last bits arrived on Monday for my back brakes and as the retest runs out tomorrow, this evening I....

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I always have a read of Rave before doing anything to the car, but I didn't today, how difficult can the shoes be to replace! Yeh, right. I'm sure Rave would have made my life a lot easier giving a decent order to assemble the parts (hand brake, adjuster, springs etc). I did though remember LZ advice to take photos of the setup - which came in handy as I realised I didn't know which way up the adjuster should go in. Any how I did the passenger side first - all came apart well and gave the backing plate a good clean up - the bolts and pipe came off the cylinder no problems and new cylinder on OK. The reassembly of the shoes is a bit like a Krypton Factor challenge, but eventually got it all together an new drum on.

It was very late by this point, but I decided to do the drivers side as well - would be a lot quicker having solved the Krypton Factor challenge. Got the old stuff off, cleaned up the backing plate, loosened the bolts for the cylinder... then went to loosen the brake pipe to the cylinder and got that horrible feeling as the spanner rounded on the nut - bugger.

So I tidied up, dosed the nut (or what ever its called) in WD40 and called it a day - shall get back to it tomorrow. Fingers crossed can get it off.

I also couldn't find a bit on my 1-man-bleeding kit. So I've been unable to bleed the new cylinder. I just know that by the time I do it tomorrow, all that air will have worked it way right up through the system and I'll have a full blown bleeding to do. I've made sure the reservoir is maxed full - but I don't suppose that matters much though!

@Nodge68 - I got the AllMakes drums and they're just steel - not painted - presumably they'll rust so I'll need to paint them?
Sounds like a good time for a brake fluid flush. ;)
Can't believe you got the bolts off the cylinder, mine were a rusty blob when I went to do them.
 
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In the middle of having a new thermostat fitted and the fuel pump rebuilt I hope to get it back tomorrow I don't think I am flavour of the month with my so in law
 
Here’s what I’ve done over the past week!

Replaced sun roof (one was missing!)
Replaced wiper/light stalks (they were snapped)
Replace steering wheel
Replaced both headlights (clear type)
Replaced side indicators (clear type )
Fitted spare wheel cover
Removed carpets (off use)
Fitted LR boot liner
Resprayed bonnet
Resprayed alloys
Removed air filter fitted universal one —
Made snorkel from gutter pipes and universal air box

Been busy really now to find lift kit and tyres!!

So from this
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To this

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What supports that pipe on the A pillar?
 
Sounds like a good time for a brake fluid flush. ;)
Can't believe you got the bolts off the cylinder, mine were a rusty blob when I went to do them.
lol, Kiwi conditions, or rather Kiwi councils cos we get more and heavier frosts here than we did in the UK but they still don't stick salt down on the roads.

The bolts cracked with a spanner, heads in good condition and then undid by fingers. Reused the same bolts, in till finger tight then only needed a turn on the spanner.

The pipe nut that "rounded" yesterday cracked easy as anything today :) I couldn't believe it! Its was late and dark yesterday, I might not have had the spanner on properly, or maybe the quick squirt of WD40 I gave it freed it up, but I was not looking forward to fighting with it this evening - however, it gave in easier than Anthony Joshua will do when he comes up against Joseph Parker!

Anyway, all back brakes reassembled, bled a bottle of Dot4 through them and they appear to work OK - the car stops good and straight. Hand brake felt nice and progressive and held against a lifting clutch well. I suppose though it needs to get on the WOF station rollers to really see how its behaving.

I did have a concern as to whether I could swap the brake pipe and bleed nipple over between the 2 ports on the cylinder - but I've done that and it all appears to function OK.

https://www.landyzone.co.uk/land-rover/drum-brake-cylinder.325335/
 
Day spent out on the drive today tinkering with the Freelander. Gave it a service in readiness for another South Island tour coming up, so oil and air filters and 5L of Shell Helix that was conveniently on 1/2 price at Supercheap. I cleaned out the plenum chamber of soot build up about 18 months ago and the manifold/EGR gasket went back in a couple of pieces, and the intercooler hose was split at the jubilee clip, so today I finally got round to replacing them. Hopefully it won't smoke so much on acceleration now.

All-in-all a good day, however, I'm a bit concerned at the amount of oil that was in the intercooler hose. The hose itself had a fair bit of oil in it and the intercooler output was quite oily. There was also a small puddle in the plenum itself (as in pic). Generally more than I remember last time I had the bits in pieces. Hope my turbo isn't on the way out!

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Are Shell Helix that is my prefered oil too...As for your oil in intercooler, Mine was the same and I too am thinking that turbo could be the next to go:(. A year ago I replaced my vac pipes this had the effect of boosting the hippos performance (power!!!) But with that extra gained power other things are starting to break.:D But I'm kinda expecting it at 140k milage.
 
The turbo will always throw an amount of oil out. The oil is under higher pressure than the air in the compressor housing, so some seepage past the seal is to be expected. You only need to worry if the oil comes out in a deluge. If you get visible blue smoke under acceleration, then it's time to investigate. Sometimes the turbo seal just fails, dumping lots of oil onto the induction system. If that happens, the engine can run on the oil (diesel runaway). The only way to stop that is to block the turbo air intake, or cut a boost pipe, both done quickly.
 
Finally got round to taking the Freelander for another WOF (MOT). Last time it failed with a rear brake imbalance of 130/190 (dunno what units - just what's written on the form). This test had 200/200 and a park brake reading of 150/150 - quality - jobs a good 'un, very chuffed and and got my warrant for the next 6 months :)

Thanks to all those that gave advice.
 
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And things were going so well! :(
Today when I got home (50 mile round trip commute) the Hippo was making a new noise.
A quick listen in the engine compartment leads me to think it's the alternator.
Tomorrow I'll pull the engine cover off the V6 and give it a close look.
 
And things were going so well! :(
Today when I got home (50 mile round trip commute) the Hippo was making a new noise.
A quick listen in the engine compartment leads me to think it's the alternator.
Tomorrow I'll pull the engine cover off the V6 and give it a close look.

What sort of noise? They are know to whine on occasion. They still work fine, except for the whine.
 
For today's project I started to build an adjustable environmental FBH contoller. This will enable me to choose what temperature the FBH starts to assist the heater. It will also incorporate an external temperature display, which is sadly lacking on the FL1. The display and control switchs for the FBH controller will be housed in a modified MGF rear view mirror.

More on this when I've got time to finish the project.
 
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What sort of noise? They are know to whine on occasion. They still work fine, except for the whine.
It's not a whine, more of a rubbing noise, almost like a worn bearing or bushing. It seems to be coming from the area of the alternator but there is a lot going on there on the V6,
alternator, power steering pump, cam belt and it's tensioner and idler pulleys, and the pulleys for the serpentine belt. I have taken off the engine cover but there is no obvious location
the sound is coming from, even using a stethoscope. The serpentine belt does seem very tight but that is controlled by the tensioner. It may be another one of those things that I will have to leave alone until it gets bad enough that the source is obvious. I took a video but there is so much background noise it's hard to make out.
 
It's not a whine, more of a rubbing noise, almost like a worn bearing or bushing. It seems to be coming from the area of the alternator but there is a lot going on there on the V6,
alternator, power steering pump, cam belt and it's tensioner and idler pulleys, and the pulleys for the serpentine belt. I have taken off the engine cover but there is no obvious location
the sound is coming from, even using a stethoscope. The serpentine belt does seem very tight but that is controlled by the tensioner. It may be another one of those things that I will have to leave alone until it gets bad enough that the source is obvious. I took a video but there is so much background noise it's hard to make out.
I was sure my cambelt was just about to go bang on my L Series a couple of years ago. There was an ominous sound coming from that area. Nobody else in the family could hear it - just me. I took it to a garage, they couldn't hear anything. Took it to another garage, they couldn't hear anything either - but I still got them to change the belts :) We'll never know if I was right or wrong to get them changed but the sound went... to be replaced by another wierd sound!
 
It's not a whine, more of a rubbing noise, almost like a worn bearing or bushing. It seems to be coming from the area of the alternator but there is a lot going on there on the V6,
alternator, power steering pump, cam belt and it's tensioner and idler pulleys, and the pulleys for the serpentine belt. I have taken off the engine cover but there is no obvious location
the sound is coming from, even using a stethoscope. The serpentine belt does seem very tight but that is controlled by the tensioner. It may be another one of those things that I will have to leave alone until it gets bad enough that the source is obvious. I took a video but there is so much background noise it's hard to make out.

Check the drive belt tensioner roller for play and noise. Same for the idler pulley. They can go rumbly after a while.
 
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Been busy with work over the past few weeks but yesterday I,managed to do a few jobs on my hippo
changed the fuel sensor and wiring loom which has made it seem better on tickover
took the EGR valve off and replaced it with one of the Allisport kits completer with new intercooler hoses that came with the kit
and finally got round to changing my wheels and tyres after having them in the garage for the past few weeks, got some 16" alloys with Insa Turbo Dakar on them yes thay are loud but as they are all the same size and tread depth the vibration from the mismatched old tyres has gone
 

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