Builds My LC 80 thread.

[Dave 2000]

A friends Land Rover Discovery failed the inspection this week, after 13 years an inspector just noticed it has the two extra 'dickie' seats at the rear, I explained that the vehicle was constructed with them, it was failed anyway as the vehicle did not match what was on the paperwork. It also failed on the snorkel as that was not on the papers either, but a constructive discussion with the boss of the station let it go for this year only. Another legal and yet illegal car on the roads of Spain. So as he needed a vehicle on the quick just for a day I let him borrow my Land Cruiser and ........he loved it! A bit on the large size for him but he loved the extra power and in his words 'tough feel' of the car. I doubt 'we' can convert him but might be worth a try.

regards

Dave

EDIT: Land Rover UK confirmed the vehicle was constructed with SEVEN seats, too late we had unbolted them and re tested it with 5. All passed....for another year.

 

[Dave 2000]

Finally got around to draining both the GB and TB and putting in a 75/90W GL4 synthetic gear oil, the oil is designed for:

'manual gearboxes and transmissions and for use in mid severity conditions in light commercials and some cars, not for use in differentials using hypoid gears'.

First impressions...............not happy! Might be too early to tell at the moment but, I got the feeling that the gearbox internals were still spinning when trying to change 1 -2 and 2-3, this made changes lengthy, having to pause and apply some pressure to complete the shift, something the synchromesh should have coped with...unless they (the synchromesh) do not work well with such a slippery oil that, is also light enough allowing the internals to spin so freely when cold? To add credence to that 'feeling' is that from cold I had to select reverse and it 'crunched' as it went in, something it has never done before. Where I park in the underground garage I always have to reverse out of the parking space, so this is something I would have noticed before over the last couple of weeks, I accept there may be no synchromesh on reverse but this is a new thing. I will leave it for a couple of weeks but the 80/90 dino oil was better......definitely. So depending on a few miles down the road I may go back to a typical 80/90 mineral GL4 which should be easy to obtain, I bet my gearbox insides are cleaner than yours!!

regards

Dave

 

[Dave 2000]

Done the first 'proper' run today since the GB and TB were installed.

Imperial gallon = 4.54 litres

Brimmed and covered 366 miles and used 71.28 litres of diesel = 23.31 MPG

Brimmed again and covered 283 miles and used 51.82 Litres = 24.80 MPG

Combined this shows 23.93 MPG No getting jealous and sending me all those 'dagger' thoughts

Of note, journey was the same roads there and back, steady speed most of the time around 80 MPH, there were times on the way back (no passengers) that the speedometer (allegedly) showed 100+ MPH but this was only done on the odd occasion to clear traffic and get out of the way of following Mercedes and BMW drivers who preferred to go a lot faster than me. The car was 'rocked' during filling to get air out of the tank and plenty of time allowed for the level to settle before topping off, these can be considered pretty accurate figures with original differential ratios and stock size A/T tyres. Maximum altitude seen 1000 metres.

I have little doubt that if I removed the lead boot and stuck to the 75 MPH limit I reckon 26 MPG would be easily attainable, even if we settle on 25 MPG a 95 litre tank is going to take you 522 miles.

It will be all local runs now for Xmas parties (designated driver), and I will wait until the next refill to see what miles I get simply running around the village and local town, I will post those figures up when I refill.


regards

Dave

 

[Dave 2000]

I plan to make my cooling system fully pressurised, anyone done this before? I know how to do it but I am looking for a good header tank that might sit in the stock position or elsewhere under the bonnet?

regards

Dave

 

[Dave 2000]

Bump. No one has altered their cooling system to a full pressurised type? What are you using for leak detection for example a hose letting go........steam coming from under the bonnet is NOT an acceptable answer!

regards

Dave

 

[Dave 2000]

Well great result, a contributor over on Land Cruiser Club Net has come up with this link.

http://www.demon-tweeks.co.uk/motorsport/fan-controllers-thermostats/cartek-coolant-level-alarm

Cannot see any drawbacks, Jon (Admin same site) has tested one a couple of years back so hope to hear from him with his conclusion.

regards

Dave

 

[Dave 2000]

Before I go out tonight with friends I would like to say Happy New Year to you and yours.

Many thanks for keeping an eye on my LC 80 thread.

regards

Dave

 

[Dave 2000]

Change of plans, I still want to get rid of the third row seats and fit a drawer system, I have found that I can get the paperwork to allow this but, have decided to keep them and have a custom built 'removable' drawer system, I get to keep the authorities happy, I save around 300 euros and get to be the local taxi.

Has anyone seen anything like this that I can get some ideas from? Obviously to save emptying the drawers each time, they would need to be able to be slid out, and lifted away to lower the overall weight so some kind of release mechanism, or perhaps stackable drawers? I am thinking two drawers on the right and one on the left with the fridge on top. I am not going to be purchasing a system but have a good friend who is a 'chippy', he will kill me for that as he is actually a 'cabinet maker', so a bit like calling a cordwainer a cobbler. Fridge is easy as 'undo straps and lift out', so not worrying in that area.

Any thoughts/ideas/tips?

TIA

regards

Dave

 

[Dave 2000]

Slowly getting a few miles on the gearbox, difficult to evaluate how good the rebuild is due to the area I live/travel in as use of the lower gears is quite rare on a typical journey. Selection of first at all times even when rolling is smooth and easy, 1 - 2 occasional hesitation as the synchro catches up, reverse started 'crunching' when the fully synthetic oil was put in and then this suddenly stopped, as I have to reverse out of my parking space this gets checked every time I use the car, all other gears are smooth up and down the box. Of note is how easy it is to move from the 3 -4 slot over to the 5 - R slot, moving the lever over to the 1 - 2 slot is not difficult but at least three times harder than in the opposite direction, when driving I have to make a conscious note not to move from 3 to reverse, I am sure this is wrong and never was an issue on my old gearbox. I did throw it out on a UK forum but no real conclusion why this is, I was told that both springs in the housing where the gearstick fixes in are believed to be the same, by some stroke of luck I have the old housing, the springs are definitely different, one is a soft easy to press in with the thumb, the other very difficult even leaving a depression in your skin when you have released the plunger.

I plan to pull the mount off the recon box and check the spring positions, it is possible the builder put them in the wrong positions? Another anomaly was the clutch pedal became very stiff for a short while as if the servo was not assisting? This happened on a couple of occasions over a couple of days, has not done it lately and the problem has disappeared as quick as it came so...........

Interior lamps have stopped operating when the doors are opened, fan belts have a little squeal when the second battery engages so the belts need a tweak, A/C not as cold as it should be, at idle I would accept that as I have removed the engine cooling fan but once on the move it should start to cool but alas no, must have some refrigerant as the compressor is engaging, will get it checked when I get an hour.

Other than that all seems to be well, still looking for some kind of removable storage system design...to shamelessly copy or at least gets some ideas

regards

Dave

 

[Dave 2000]

Anyone have a good pair of these park lights they want to sell and send to Spain? Or do you know anywhere I can get a pair new but cheaper than 77 USD each?

In Europe we have to have white front sidelights (park lights to you), I prefer the all orange type but alas have to make do with the clear with the orange side marker. I am also looking for a pair of red side markers for the rear of the car.

Anyone have some spares they want to sell?

regards

Dave

 

[IanB]

Anyone have a good pair of these park lights they want to sell and send to Spain? Or do you know anywhere I can get a pair new but cheaper than 77 USD each?

View attachment 1025296


View attachment 1025297


In Europe we have to have white front sidelights (park lights to you), I prefer the all orange type but alas have to make do with the clear with the orange side marker. I am also looking for a pair of red side markers for the rear of the car.

Anyone have some spares they want to sell?

regards

Dave

Those look like LX450 corner lights? I have a brand new set for sale, PM if interested. I have a FS ad in the classifieds.

 

[Dave 2000]

Those look like LX450 corner lights? I have a brand new set for sale, PM if interested. I have a FS ad in the classifieds.

PM sent,

regards

Dave

 

[NLXTACY]

I'm shocked no one has been giving this thread love. Some interesting musings in here. Dave, keep at it

 

[Dave 2000]

I'm shocked no one has been giving this thread love. Some interesting musings in here. Dave, keep at it

Thanks mate, I did drop out for awhile as there was a couple of 'undesirables' about, all the good forums have them unfortunately. It was during this period that the transfer box packed up so I gave it all a rest. Moving house and health issues along with poor parts availability here, delayed getting things moving again but now the 'ol girl' is back on the road and I am starting to pick up the slack again.

Thanks again

regards

Dave

 

[Dave 2000]

A minor and yet a strange issue the other day. The LC has IMO a very small windscreen washer bottle, and with 4 jets at the front and two at the rear it is not unusual to find it empty when you need it most. So I knew I was going on a long journey and had checked everything was OK tyres/fluids et al were all good. As I was driving at night the bugs get attracted to the headlights and it is not long before the windscreen resembles a killing field.

A couple of squirts and all was nice and clear, an hour or so and another clean needed......and there was no water hitting the screen? I could not have used up the container already, I checked the rear washer and it worked for a second then that too stopped. So next stop in the garage which typically in Spain could be another two hours away as 24/7 is still pretty rare when not on a motorway.

Eventually found a garage and checked the water and it was more or less full....hmmm.

It could not be jets blocked because they all stopped at the same time, so I washed the screen with the hose and picked up a couple of bottles of water from the shop and finished the journey.

Yesterday I went to the garage to check it out, the pumps were running ok so it must be the filters in the pumps, bearing in mind the car had stood for over a year so I guessed they might be blocked with some kind of nasty growth. The bottle looked clean inside as I do not use additives just plain tap water, to get the pumps out you have to move the fuse box out of the way, out come the pumps and there are no filters, water flowed out and the bottle emptied. It turns out that the tubes leading to the jets were blocked, right from the jets (front and rear) back up the tubes around three inches, WTF!

All jets were working fine one minute and then seemingly in an hour the whole system became blocked! It was all calcium and took nearly three hours to clear the tubes and jets out, no sooner had I thought they were clear that a few seconds later they blocked again

Eventually the fronts and rears flowed OK, I went to the mall and picked up a gallon of screen wash, pumped some of that through just to make sure the system was clean. This might not seem to be a big deal and we all are familiar with one jet blocking and giving it a clean with a pin and all is well but to lose all SIX jets at the same time is IME very unusual, you work with cars for years and you think you are quite savvy around them, and then along comes something as odd as this to catch you out.

regards

Dave

 

[Dave 2000]

Electric fan install continued.

As per a few posts back I installed the electric cooling fan on a temporary basis, very basic switch thru relay to the low speed of the Lincoln VIII fan, how many times have I needed the fan since the install NONE! I actually got to the point where I wanted to need it! So on a long journey I came off the motorway for a break, and rather than pull up and switch off, I let it idle so there would be some heat soak coming through after non stop speed limits for an hour or more. The temperature took awhile but eventually went up to the middle of the gauge I still did not switch off the engine just clicked in the fan switch and immediately the temps came down, so it can be said thus far that no fan for around three months has not been an issue, of course we are in winter so I have to reserve comment until the summer 35-40 degrees C comes around.

I have made up a wiring diagram but have a couple of things I wanted to incorporate, this is a simple enough multiple relay system but instead of purchasing the materials and building it myself I have purchased a relay kit, it was a no brainer from a cost/versus time point of view, also a new fan plug and an adaptor tube to accept THREE different temperature switches, I also have purchased the pig tails for the A/C control as per an ex MUD members idea, unsure if they will work the trinary switch in the way I hope it will but will give it a go, the electric fan is only on when the A/C calls for it as opposed to coming on and off with the compressor.

Way back in this thread I split the batteries and I have sorted the 12v starting, I now have the ability to jump start myself, the batteries can be monitored accurately something that cannot be done with the 24v system, I also have the 150 amp alternator mod along with the heavier wiring, there has been many debates about electric fans and there are pro's and cons, I have used them on pretty much every vehicle I have owned with no issues, I hope this mod will go the same way.

As an asides I will be replacing ALL rubber hoses on the engine, fingers crossed the parts should arrive over the next couple of weeks, watch this space.

regards

Dave

 

[Dave 2000]

Just a FYI, this was originally posted on another thread on a UK forum but thought I would keep it here for future reference and may be of some use to other readers.

Today I had to move some bags of cement in the LC, I decided to measure the suspension movement before and after the bags were loaded. My car is totally stock in the suspension/wheel areas. If in the near future if I were to replace/upgrade anything I have a good reference point.

Before

Top of wheel rim to lowest point of wheel arch so tyre crush is not in the equation, figures in cm,

Right rear 31.5
Left rear 30.5

Right front 26.5
Left front 26.0

Loaded 250 kg across the space where the rear seats would normally be (removed at the moment), I have added a couple of pictures so the position of the load can be seen, I added some other fun pictures I mean you did not expect me to carry the bags up the steps did you?

Right rear 27.5
Left rear 26.5

Front right 26.5
Front left 26.0

I thought the 1 cm difference was for the driver (RHD) and then remembered the fuel tank was close to empty. Later in the afternoon I filled to the brim and it took 80.66 litres

Right rear 30
Left rear 30

Right front 26
Left front 26

regards

Dave

 

[Qball]

Looks great!

 

[LS1FJ40]

A minor and yet a strange issue the other day. The LC has IMO a very small windscreen washer bottle, and with 4 jets at the front and two at the rear it is not unusual to find it empty when you need it most. So I knew I was going on a long journey and had checked everything was OK tyres/fluids et al were all good. As I was driving at night the bugs get attracted to the headlights and it is not long before the windscreen resembles a killing field.

A couple of squirts and all was nice and clear, an hour or so and another clean needed......and there was no water hitting the screen? I could not have used up the container already, I checked the rear washer and it worked for a second then that too stopped. So next stop in the garage which typically in Spain could be another two hours away as 24/7 is still pretty rare when not on a motorway.

Eventually found a garage and checked the water and it was more or less full....hmmm.

It could not be jets blocked because they all stopped at the same time, so I washed the screen with the hose and picked up a couple of bottles of water from the shop and finished the journey.

Yesterday I went to the garage to check it out, the pumps were running ok so it must be the filters in the pumps, bearing in mind the car had stood for over a year so I guessed they might be blocked with some kind of nasty growth. The bottle looked clean inside as I do not use additives just plain tap water, to get the pumps out you have to move the fuse box out of the way, out come the pumps and there are no filters, water flowed out and the bottle emptied. It turns out that the tubes leading to the jets were blocked, right from the jets (front and rear) back up the tubes around three inches, WTF!

All jets were working fine one minute and then seemingly in an hour the whole system became blocked! It was all calcium and took nearly three hours to clear the tubes and jets out, no sooner had I thought they were clear that a few seconds later they blocked again

Eventually the fronts and rears flowed OK, I went to the mall and picked up a gallon of screen wash, pumped some of that through just to make sure the system was clean. This might not seem to be a big deal and we all are familiar with one jet blocking and giving it a clean with a pin and all is well but to lose all SIX jets at the same time is IME very unusual, you work with cars for years and you think you are quite savvy around them, and then along comes something as odd as this to catch you out.

regards

Dave

I'm enjoying reading your build.

I had a similar thing with my water jets. Only I went to the expense of replacing both pumps before disconnecting the hoses from the Jets and blowing air through. Tap water has a lot of mineral deposits in it. Maybe try using distiller water instead. Like you would in a radiator.

I look forward to you documenting further. Thanks.

 

[Dave 2000]

I'm enjoying reading your build.

I had a similar thing with my water jets. Only I went to the expense of replacing both pumps before disconnecting the hoses from the Jets and blowing air through. Tap water has a lot of mineral deposits in it. Maybe try using distiller water instead. Like you would in a radiator.

I look forward to you documenting further. Thanks.

Many thanks, sorry you had spent money finding the problem. Re the water, I usually do just use the plain water from the garage supply where you check tyres and so forth. Never had a problem, also the garage gets it's supply AFAIK from the desalination plant soooooooo?

Funny you should mention the radiator water, when you purchase antifreeze here in Spain it comes already pre- mixed, you simply choose the temperature protection you require and of course the colour to match what is in the header tank.

Thanks again,

regards

Dave