Hi Andrew many thanks for this. I am actually in London now until Sunday so won’t be able to post until Monday is this going to be ok?

Driven it, and fell in love again with it. Needs a few little things sorting but overall a great time.

Durite Mechanical Vacuum/Boost Gauge. Part Number 0-533-02 Purchased and not used so still in box with all parts, only opened for photos. Looking for £30 delivered to UK. Cheapest I can find is £44 on Ebay.

It passed the MOT :) I will be honest and due to life rushing by me at the moment I haven't had chance to give it a really good run, so far it hasn't overheated. I am off this week so am planning on giving it a good run and I will see from there. Thank you for asking :D

Yes mine is a “defender” (90) but I think it is the limited mileage that helps.

3 Years NCB, fully comp, all mods declared (Wheels, winch, roll cage, interior changes, engine swap, upgraded brakes). £134 per year. £12K agreed value on a 3000 mile limited policy.

Thank you.

Well a sad day. . . . . . . . . . . England lost the rugby :( . . . . . Then the landy failed me with a split pipe from the injector spill off and caused it to fail the MOT. 2 minutes in the garage forecourt cut the split hose down refitted and retested with a pass. 14 long and hard months and...

Taking it for its MOT, hope I have put it all back together correctly

Durite Water Temperature Gauge with 12' Capillary on eBay. All in good condition working condition, selling due as have swapped to a TIM one while sorting a heating issue. https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/163920362444

+ 1 for L R Direct

The head gasket is a 3 hole Elring one and looked spot on when fitted. The water seems to be flowing around the system fine. It is booked I for an MOT next Saturday so should be able to give it a proper run providing it passes. We will sort this one way or another, thank you all for your help...

Booked it in for an MOT and 4 new tyres next weekend. No pressure to ensure it is ready.

All the help is most appreciated, believe me I am going mad with this one. The hottest I have had it is 105 using the IR temp gauge then I have turned it off, always tested with the header cap on.

Water runs around the system no problem, had a hose on the heater hose and flushed it through no problems, so I wouldn't think a waterway was blocked.

The engine turns over fine with no problems at all with binding, this is using the crank nut. I am just going to get the MOT on it (hopefully it will pass), and then try running it and see what happens.

I have tried without the thermostat and it is the same, tested with an IR thermometer and it reads the same as the gauge, can't hold on to any of the hoses as too hot.

No is is sitting on the drive at the moment, but prior to replacing the chassis you could see the temp drop on the gauge when it got to 88 degrees, now it just keeps rising until I turn it of at 100 degrees.

There is a thread all about the joys I am having. It is a no to both of those ☹️

I am going to try and get an mot on it at the weekend and see how it runs. Nothing else to lose.