Stirlsilver's Disco Ute Project

[stirlsilver]

Right another weekend down and some more progress. Again thanks goes out to Derrick for helping me out in the workshop. Below are the shots.

The engine was removed. As you can see no love was given to the engine sitting in the engine bay, I was stepping all over it while undoing bolts.
https://www.aulro.com/afvb/images/imported/2015/06/1082.jpg
https://www.aulro.com/afvb/images/imported/2015/06/1083.jpg

And it was finally out.
https://www.aulro.com/afvb/images/imported/2015/06/1084.jpg

Then we moved on to getting the gearbox out, which proved to be a little trickier since the car was sitting so low (no springs). But I managed to get out out via the engine bay.
https://www.aulro.com/afvb/images/imported/2015/06/1085.jpg
[IMG]http://www.stirlsilver.com.au/images/DiscoveryBuild/DSC_0244_zpszdhusjvv.jpg.html][img]

As I mentioned before, the automatic gearbox is ready for delivery, I just need to pull off the transfer case from the original gearbox so that I can send the transmission off as part of the exchange. One thing I am curious about is if I can get away with simply using the transfer case as is. Are these transfer cases known for having issues or should I be pretty safe to simply bolt it on to the new gearbox?

Also, the new engine is ready for delivery, I'm just sorting out purchasing some axles while I'm at it.

Next week will most likely be pressure washing the engine bay and underside of the car followed by modifying the front spring perches to raise them by 2". Then I guess I'll start putting the new engine together!

[Disco Muppet]

Looking good.
Might have missed it but who are you getting the ZF done through and how much are they expecting for the privilege? Are you getting your box strengthened at all?

Sent from my HTC One using AULRO mobile app

[rangieman]

T/case will be fine if its in good nick . Plenty of lt 230`s out there that have ls1 ect infront of them;)

[stirlsilver]

Might have missed it but who are you getting the ZF done through and how much are they expecting for the privilege? Are you getting your box strengthened at all?

I got the transmission built by AB Automatics in Melbourne, they charged $3,850 and that is assuming you send an old 4HP22 core back to them.

Further progress.

The new top hat lined engine arrived from Triumph.
https://www.aulro.com/afvb/images/imported/2015/07/1381.jpg

I pressure washed the transmission in preparation to separate the transfer case off the auto box so that it can be refitted to the 4HP24 box that AB Automatics built for me.
https://www.aulro.com/afvb/images/imported/2015/07/1382.jpg

I temporarily converted the workshop into a washing booth so that I could pressure wash the engine bay. The photo strangely looks like a scene out of the Dexter series!
https://www.aulro.com/afvb/images/imported/2015/07/1383.jpg

All washed down.
https://www.aulro.com/afvb/images/imported/2015/07/1384.jpg

And then I discovered a sinister secret under the paint in the engine bay. Damage from a leaking battery and also leaking break fluid. Also the fact that I used a strong concentration of degreaser didn't help my case...
https://www.aulro.com/afvb/images/imported/2015/07/1385.jpg

https://www.aulro.com/afvb/images/imported/2015/07/1386.jpg

The process of removing all the rust. Looking better. I ended up putting a primer coat of epoxy rust converting paint, but forgot to take the photo.
https://www.aulro.com/afvb/images/imported/2015/07/1387.jpg

https://www.aulro.com/afvb/images/imported/2015/07/1388.jpg

[Corgie Carrier]

Check out the passenger side body mount to see if there is any rust under the rubber. My washer bottle had been leaking and the whole side of the mount was rusted through.

I put the body lift kit in and lowered the body and the mount just folded up. I re welded it and then treated the area and battery box with the full POR15 treatment, so it should last for a fair while now.

Keep up the good work.

[stirlsilver]

Check out the passenger side body mount to see if there is any rust under the rubber. My washer bottle had been leaking and the whole side of the mount was rusted through.

That side is next on my list. Though it is in nowhere near as bad condition!

Spent some time tinkering in Solidworks. Plus putting in a lot of orders for things like:
Oil Coolers
Water proof enclosure & connectors for ECU
Pressure Transmitters
Temperature Senders
And so on...

I've bought a pair of Derale 15800 oil coolers, one will be for the engine and the other for the transmission. Each controlled via the ECU by oil temperature senders. Below is what the unit looks like (It should arrive in the next week or so)
https://www.aulro.com/afvb/images/imported/2015/07/1376.jpg

And below (in blue) is where I plan to mount them. According to my 3D model, they should JUST fit in. I'll find out soon if this is right!
https://www.aulro.com/afvb/images/imported/2015/07/1377.jpg

https://www.aulro.com/afvb/images/imported/2015/07/1378.jpg

I also did some quick exploring on how much modification I'm going to have to do to the bonnet to clear the intercoolers and the fans for them. The answer is... A lot... It's going to be quite a bulge! plus I need to blend in a scoop. Should end up looking pretty agressive I think.

https://www.aulro.com/afvb/images/imported/2015/07/1379.jpg

https://www.aulro.com/afvb/images/imported/2015/07/1380.jpg

Back into playing in the workshop tomorrow!

[Corgie Carrier]

Just let it stick out the bonnet, street machine style :-)

OR you could put a clear cover over it to show off your cool set up :-)

[Disco_Fever]

This is a hell of a build - enjoying following it.

Considering there is a good chance this will spend time fording, is a cowl scoop the way to go?

Sent from my SM-G900I using AULRO mobile app

[stirlsilver]

Just let it stick out the bonnet, street machine style :-)

That would be an interesting look! Though I don't think it is legal??


Considering there is a good chance this will spend time fording, is a cowl scoop the way to go?

I'll definitely want to design the scoop so that it catches the air stream and forces the air over the intercoolers. As for the situation when fording, I'm thinking of including some baffles which will reduce the amount of water that reaches the top of the engine. I need to think about the design some more!!

Ripped into the project some more this weekend making some great progress.

Last week I bought a 2nd hand engine stand but I didn't have bolts long enough to mount it. So that was sorted this weekend :-)
https://www.aulro.com/afvb/images/imported/2015/07/1389.jpg

Another item I forgot to mention in my update from last weekend was that I had made a start of drilling out and removing the vertical panels of the inner guards. The plan is that I will re-bolt these panels back in using bolts so that I have better access to the sides of the engine. With so much stuff hanging off either side of the engine I need as much access as I can get to reach bolts!!
https://www.aulro.com/afvb/images/imported/2015/07/1390.jpg

Right hand guard seam sealed after treating all the rust!
https://www.aulro.com/afvb/images/imported/2015/07/1391.jpg

Here is an action shot of Derrick cutting some parts for me. Again a major help!
https://www.aulro.com/afvb/images/imported/2015/07/1392.jpg

While the seam sealer on the righ hand guard cured and the primer paint on the left hand guard dried, we moved onto the spring perch modifications:
https://www.aulro.com/afvb/images/imported/2015/07/1393.jpg

https://www.aulro.com/afvb/images/imported/2015/07/1394.jpg

https://www.aulro.com/afvb/images/imported/2015/07/1395.jpg

https://www.aulro.com/afvb/images/imported/2015/07/1396.jpg

With all the cold weather going around, it was necessary for me to wrap the guard in an electric blanket which I modified to remove the auto off timer. This is so the primer paint would continue to cure over night.
https://www.aulro.com/afvb/images/imported/2015/07/1397.jpg

Next day, the right hand guard was top coated in a light grey paint and I finished welding up the 50mm extensions to the spring perches.
https://www.aulro.com/afvb/images/imported/2015/07/1398.jpg

https://www.aulro.com/afvb/images/imported/2015/07/1399.jpg

https://www.aulro.com/afvb/images/imported/2015/07/1400.jpg

https://www.aulro.com/afvb/images/imported/2015/07/1401.jpg

And that's all folks!

[Corgie Carrier]

Could you make removable covers or baffles to slip into place from under the bonnet when fording. Sort of like using a water bra on the front of your vehicle or make a bra that extends over the bonnet.

What is the idea behind raising the spring perch?

I have heard of raising the shock towers to use longer travel shocks but never heard of modding spring perch. :confused:

[MR LR]

Could you make removable covers or baffles to slip into place from under the bonnet when fording. Sort of like using a water bra on the front of your vehicle or make a bra that extends over the bonnet.

What is the idea behind raising the spring perch?

I have heard of raising the shock towers to use longer travel shocks but never heard of modding spring perch. :confused:
Raising the perches allows a longer free length coil, which is less likely to dislocate, makes it easier to get a close-to-perfect spring rate and also gives more space in order to avoid coil bind.

There's other reasons it could be desirable, such as shock packaging, but it's all intertwined...

Looking good Stirling, I always enjoy checking your progress. Needs a manual though :wasntme:

[stirlsilver]

Thanks for putting up the explanation on the spring perch mod Will. That's basically why I am doing it :D

Anyway, I've made a fair dent on the overall wiring of the ECU. I purchased 3 x 22 way Delphi connectors thinking I would have loads left over. But in the end it turned out to be JUST enough! Though the current arrangement has a pin for each injector's 12V supply. I could condense that all into 1 pin freeing up 7 pins. I'll see how I go when I do the finishing touches to the wiring diagram.

Oh, I also got a waterproof USB connector to go on the case... The ECU box is going to definitely be rated for being submerged if (when) that does happen.

https://www.aulro.com/afvb/images/imported/2015/07/1402.jpg

[stirlsilver]

Oh... and the Derale Oil Coolers came in :D
https://www.aulro.com/afvb/images/imported/2015/07/1403.jpg

https://www.aulro.com/afvb/images/imported/2015/07/1404.jpg

[disco2hse]

https://www.aulro.com/afvb/images/imported/2015/07/556.jpg

Home Buying for Dummies: Looking at a new job? :p :D

[stirlsilver]

Home Buying for Dummies: Looking at a new job? :p :D
I was wondering if anyone would look closely at that photo to see what books were in the background! That book was from many years ago now! Not overly useful.

So onto progress.

I quickly checked to see if the Oil coolers would in fact fit in the space I found in the 3D model, thankfully they did. After this they were put back in their boxes to be fitted later..

https://www.aulro.com/afvb/images/imported/2015/07/1405.jpg

https://www.aulro.com/afvb/images/imported/2015/07/1406.jpg

I pulled the transfer case off the 4HP22 so that I can send the auto box down to AB Automatics in exchange for my modified box that is waiting for delivery. The transfer case came off pretty easily which was nice.

https://www.aulro.com/afvb/images/imported/2015/07/1407.jpg

https://www.aulro.com/afvb/images/imported/2015/07/1408.jpg

The pallet with the old auto box ready to go.
https://www.aulro.com/afvb/images/imported/2015/07/1409.jpg

Painting of the engine bay and spring perches completed. Time to start putting things into the engine bay :D
https://www.aulro.com/afvb/images/imported/2015/07/1410.jpg

https://www.aulro.com/afvb/images/imported/2015/07/1411.jpg

https://www.aulro.com/afvb/images/imported/2015/07/1412.jpg

I purchased a schneider IP68 electrical enclosure along with 3 sets of Delphi 22 way bulk head connectors and a water proof USB connector.
https://www.aulro.com/afvb/images/imported/2015/07/1413.jpg

https://www.aulro.com/afvb/images/imported/2015/07/1414.jpg

You can't quite make out the connectors, but they look like this.
https://www.aulro.com/afvb/images/imported/2015/07/489.jpg

The sizing of the Schneider enclosure couldn't have been anymore perfect, just a little bit of trimming on the seat base and it slid in nicely.

https://www.aulro.com/afvb/images/imported/2015/07/1415.jpg

https://www.aulro.com/afvb/images/imported/2015/07/1416.jpg

A quick trial fit up of the ECU and injector driver in the box.

https://www.aulro.com/afvb/images/imported/2015/07/1417.jpg

I had to do some modifications to the ECU, a set of wires to enable CAN communication (I need to add on another board for more sensor inputs... I rant out in the ECU!) The other modification was for me to scavenge the last two analogue inputs available on the ECU, I had to put in some resistors and capacitors to condition the signals which is why wires are running all over the place.

https://www.aulro.com/afvb/images/imported/2015/07/1418.jpg

Finally, I bought a 0-0.5MPa oil pressure sensor off ebay, after having to re-tap the thread (it was the wrong thread) I fitted it and then re-wired up the ECU onto the test engine to make sure everything still worked and that my new oil pressure sensor worked!

https://www.aulro.com/afvb/images/imported/2015/07/1419.jpg

https://www.aulro.com/afvb/images/imported/2015/07/1420.jpg

This week I did realise one thing, all the testing I have done is with the test engine without any load. I'm sure there will be a lot of adjustment necessary to the ECU to make the engine run properly in the car with load, and I think constant idling of the new engine while I do the adjustments will glaze the bores quickly ruining it. I think I'll need to temporarily fit the test engine into the car and tune the ECU with it. Then when all is finalized, fit the new engine. I can't think of any other way? Or... does someone have an engine dyno?? :angel:

[stirlsilver]

Well, an interesting week... My laptop was stolen from the boot of my car after I rushed off and forgot to lock the car. So if anyone has an old Surface Pro 2 they don't want anymore, let me know. Thankfully most of my data was backed up onto the cloud, but I've lost my software installations!

Anyway, the gearbox arrived in from AB Automatics.
https://www.aulro.com/afvb/images/imported/2015/07/1421.jpg

All the ancillaries fitted including the transfer case.
https://www.aulro.com/afvb/images/imported/2015/07/1422.jpg

And installed :) There isn't much free space between the big torque converter and the bell housing!
https://www.aulro.com/afvb/images/imported/2015/07/1423.jpg

[stirlsilver]

Progress from the weekend just gone. Basically, the test engine was taken off the stand and fitted into the car. As I mentioned earlier, the reason for this is so that I can tune the ECU and not destroy my new 4.0L engine while trying to get the tuning right. You will also spot in the photos a new heat shield I had to make up to protect the RH engine mount and also the positioning of the power steering reservoir.

https://www.aulro.com/afvb/images/imported/2015/08/977.jpg

https://www.aulro.com/afvb/images/imported/2015/08/978.jpg

https://www.aulro.com/afvb/images/imported/2015/08/979.jpg

https://www.aulro.com/afvb/images/imported/2015/08/980.jpg

https://www.aulro.com/afvb/images/imported/2015/08/981.jpg

[ChimpOnGas]

Hi Stirling,

Your YouTube videos lead me to this forum and I've just registered so I can complement you on your project, absolutely brilliant!

I'm posting from the UK and although I don't have a Land Rover I do have a vehicle running the 4.0 litre Rover V8 on LPG.

My car is a TVR Chimaera that I've converted to dual fuel using the the excellent Canems dual fuel ECU which allows direct mapping of ignition & fuel on both petrol & LPG from a single integrated engine management system. A unique optimal fuel & spark map is built for each fuel type respecting their very different burn characteristics & knock/detonation resistance, no piggyback/slave ECU is required or used with this system.

The Canems dual fuel ECU houses 8 petrol (saturated) injector drivers and 8 LPG peak & hold injector drivers in one watertight composite case with an aluminum heat sink on the back to draw way heat generated at the LPG peak & hold injector drivers. Switching to map two (LPG Map) on the ECU turns off the petrol injectors, activates the peak and hold injectors and energises the LPG solenoids for seamless toggling from petrol to LPG and back again at a flick of a switch.

If you're not familiar with the TVR Chimaera it's a 150mph 1060kg British sports car using TVRs own tubular steel backbone truss chassis with a fiberglass body. The Chimaera used TVR tuned Rover V8s in 4.0, 4.3, 4.6 & 5.0 litre capacities.

Here's my car:

http://thumbsnap.com/JDBA7vi4

I have worked with the ECU designer & engine management expert from Canems to develop the system along with support from Lloyd Specialist Developments here in the UK who run a Range Rover using the same Canems dual fuel system. The objective for the team is to develop the best & most complete vapor LPG conversion for vehicles using the Rover V8 (and other engines).

You can read about my project here:

LPG Chimaera (Follow My Conversion) - PistonHeads (http://www.pistonheads.com/gassing/topic.asp?h=0&f=8&t=1255616&mid=165876&i=0&nmt=LPG+Chimaera+%28Follow+My+Conversion%29&mid=165876)

If I can offer you any guidance based on the many lessons we've learned it would be my pleasure to do so, looking at your excellent project we are somewhat kindred spirits :BigThumb::BigThumb:

Kind regards from the UK, Dave.

[stirlsilver]

Hi Dave, thanks for your message! What you have done in the past would definitely be a massive help with what I have to do next with the tuning. I've tried getting some info from keihin and prins but they have been pretty cagey. Anyway, i'll PM you on that.

Well, on to progress.

I needed a couple of inline oil temperature sensors to control the oil cooler fans and i couldn't find any that were suitable. So... I made my own.
https://www.aulro.com/afvb/images/imported/2015/08/982.jpg

https://www.aulro.com/afvb/images/imported/2015/08/983.jpg

https://www.aulro.com/afvb/images/imported/2015/08/984.jpg

I made up the loom for the EDIS ignition system and installed it.
https://www.aulro.com/afvb/images/imported/2015/08/985.jpg

https://www.aulro.com/afvb/images/imported/2015/08/986.jpg

Finally, because i needed some extra analogue inputs (for the extra oil temperature sensors) i assembled an extra analogue to CAN board for that.

https://www.aulro.com/afvb/images/imported/2015/08/987.jpg

Anyway, that's it. Till next time!

[stirlsilver]

Progress update from the last few days.

As a result of some shopping, my pipe bender kit arrived. This is so I can bend up the oil lines and coolant lines I need.
https://www.aulro.com/afvb/images/imported/2015/08/988.jpg

And I got started doing the Internal loom of the ECU and injector driver. Took a while to figure out which cables to run where!
https://www.aulro.com/afvb/images/imported/2015/08/989.jpg

And putting it all together.
https://www.aulro.com/afvb/images/imported/2015/08/990.jpg

https://www.aulro.com/afvb/images/imported/2015/08/991.jpg

The result is an enclosure that is completely waterproof. In the photos below you can also see the waterproof usb connector and the MAP pipe fitting.
https://www.aulro.com/afvb/images/imported/2015/08/992.jpg

https://www.aulro.com/afvb/images/imported/2015/08/993.jpg

Next up, wiring the ECU to all the components on the car :)

[ChimpOnGas]

Hi Stirling,

I'm just getting used to this forum, hopefully you got my last message?

Can you send me your email address?

This way I can share my maps with you.

In addition to my last message the best advise I can give is you absolutely must use a closed loop strategy, this is essential!!!

You will never get the engine running nicely over a mix of ambient temperatures on an open loop map, you will map it one day and it'll be perfect, then the ambient temps will change slightly on day two and it'll all be out again.

Closed loop with correct AFR targets is definitely the solution as is using LPG temperature & pressure compensation to assist it.

The volume of LPG goes up and down massively even over small temperature changes, and this has a big impact of your AFRs!

Cheers, Dave.

[mrapocalypse]

You are ?. erm?. ah, Well you're the cleverest Land Rover builder I think the internet has ever seen. I mean this build goes beyond?? ANYTHING.

[cookie monster]

I have to agree, just spent the last couple of days going through this build thread and your attention to detail is second to none.
Love the engine build and your sheer determination to get the project running, but not just throw it all together in the final stages, just to say it's finished.
Great job and it makes my build thread look rather lame in comparison !
Cheers Cookie

[stirlsilver]

You are ?. erm?. ah, Well you're the cleverest Land Rover builder I think the internet has ever seen. I mean this build goes beyond?? ANYTHING.


I have to agree, just spent the last couple of days going through this build thread and your attention to detail is second to none.
Love the engine build and your sheer determination to get the project running, but not just throw it all together in the final stages, just to say it's finished.
Great job and it makes my build thread look rather lame in comparison !
Cheers Cookie

Wow, thanks for the complements apocalypse and cookie!

Ok with with progress!

So, i've finally started getting into some aluminium welding. First up the LPG evaporator bracket.
https://www.aulro.com/afvb/images/imported/2015/08/994.jpg

Then, i had to deal with my oversight of the fouling between the brake master and the RH throttle body.
https://www.aulro.com/afvb/images/imported/2015/08/995.jpg

https://www.aulro.com/afvb/images/imported/2015/08/996.jpg

I ended up needing to do some modifications to relocate the throttle cable. I haven't done the same change to the LH throttle body, so there will be a very slight difference in the movement of the two throttle bodies. I don't think it is enough to be concerned over.
https://www.aulro.com/afvb/images/imported/2015/08/997.jpg

https://www.aulro.com/afvb/images/imported/2015/08/998.jpg

The shot below are just a general look over the engine bay.
https://www.aulro.com/afvb/images/imported/2015/08/999.jpg

https://www.aulro.com/afvb/images/imported/2015/08/1000.jpg

Some of the wiring i've been doing. The LPG evaporator solenoid, evaporator temperature, idle valve and boost control solenoid.
https://www.aulro.com/afvb/images/imported/2015/08/1001.jpg

https://www.aulro.com/afvb/images/imported/2015/08/1002.jpg

Some more aluminium welding, thermo fan mounting points.
https://www.aulro.com/afvb/images/imported/2015/08/1003.jpg

https://www.aulro.com/afvb/images/imported/2015/08/1004.jpg

And that's it! Next weekend I'm off on a holiday for a couple of weeks to iceland and germany. I'll try to squeeze in a couple more nights before leaving.

[stirlsilver]

OK, so a few more days spent trying to keep progress moving!

The oil cooler for the engine oil was mounted onto the tray:
https://www.aulro.com/afvb/images/imported/2015/10/1022.jpg

https://www.aulro.com/afvb/images/imported/2015/10/1023.jpg

I got the pressure side of the power steering piping modified to make it suit the oil pump on the engine. Actually, does anybody recognize the power steering pump I have? Is it Land Rover? Because the guys at Pirtek said the fitting for it is an Air Conditioning Fitting?!? Also, I think I may have killed the bearings by running it dry for too long, so I probably need to source a replacement very soon! If anyone has any tips, let me know. Photos below:
https://www.aulro.com/afvb/images/imported/2015/10/1024.jpg

https://www.aulro.com/afvb/images/imported/2015/10/1025.jpg

Here are the modified oil points to send the oil off to the oil cooler and for the return into the oil filter. I just cut and re-welded the pipes and welded some AN-8 fittings on:
https://www.aulro.com/afvb/images/imported/2015/10/1026.jpg

Getting started on making up some of the flexible hose, this one was to go between the oil cooler and temperature sensor:
https://www.aulro.com/afvb/images/imported/2015/10/1027.jpg

Putting my new pipe bender to use by bending up the pipe run from the engine all the way to the tray. I was ambitiously trying to do it in a single run:
https://www.aulro.com/afvb/images/imported/2015/10/1028.jpg

It was particularly tricky to bend up the pipe to stay neat and follow each other, but I got there in the end:
https://www.aulro.com/afvb/images/imported/2015/10/1029.jpg

Making up some of the brackets from sheet steel to hold the pipes in their respective places on the chassis, nothing particularly special...:
https://www.aulro.com/afvb/images/imported/2015/10/1030.jpg

https://www.aulro.com/afvb/images/imported/2015/10/1031.jpg

Here is what the finished product looks like. The flexible pipes running from the oil pump and to the oil filter, they are a bit tight for my liking, so I may need to redo them later. I'll need to see:
https://www.aulro.com/afvb/images/imported/2015/10/1032.jpg

https://www.aulro.com/afvb/images/imported/2015/10/1033.jpg

The mounting of the temperature sensor I made. I needed to weld on a piece of stainless steel so that it could be mounted. Anyway the steel pipes finish just under the cab, and then it is flexible pipes from there to the oil cooler:
https://www.aulro.com/afvb/images/imported/2015/10/1034.jpg

Attachment to the oil cooler:
https://www.aulro.com/afvb/images/imported/2015/10/1035.jpg

And here is the shot of the finished transmission oil pipes, my Girlfriend bent them up for me! The transmission oil cooler lines are way simpler than the engine oil lines, and ended up being far neater!:
https://www.aulro.com/afvb/images/imported/2015/10/1036.jpg

And that's it for the update! Till next time.

[Skiboy]

Power steering pump
Hard to tell from the pic but your power steering pump looks like the Eaton one we gad on the rangie - they are fully rebuild able. Only ones that are.

Mob in bris rebuilt ours for lot less that cost of 'replacement' ones that are really throw away jobs.

These are good units so worth seeing if it is an Eaton.

Somewhere on the rangie ute build site there is a post and pictures re the rebuild.
Skiboy

[stirlsilver]

Thanks for the info Skiboy, it's appreciated.

On to progress.
The automatic transmission oil cooler and oil lines were installed onto the car. I think i'lol need to use a protective plate on the return line on the bottom of the gearbox.
https://www.aulro.com/afvb/images/imported/2015/10/1037.jpg

https://www.aulro.com/afvb/images/imported/2015/10/1038.jpg

https://www.aulro.com/afvb/images/imported/2015/10/1039.jpg

https://www.aulro.com/afvb/images/imported/2015/10/1040.jpg (http://s8.photo-bucket.com/user/stirlsilver/media/Discovery%20Build/DSC_0651_zpsgcq3izx9.jpg.html)

https://www.aulro.com/afvb/images/imported/2015/10/1041.jpg

All the vacuum lines on the plenum were sorted, I drilled and tapped some threads to use push lock pneumatic fittings and 6mm pneumatic pipe. The 16mm LPG value line was fitted, I'll need to swap it out as it's coolant pipe and not rated for LPG. Just need to wait for the right pipe to arrive.
https://www.aulro.com/afvb/images/imported/2015/10/1042.jpg

https://www.aulro.com/afvb/images/imported/2015/10/1043.jpg

The ignition switch wasn't working (no contact) so that was pulled apart and sorted out.
https://www.aulro.com/afvb/images/imported/2015/10/1044.jpg

I sorted out the cables and plugs to hook into the automatic and engine oil temperature sensors.
https://www.aulro.com/afvb/images/imported/2015/10/1045.jpg

Finally, a good dent was made on the power supply wiring of the system, the main system relay and fuse boxes are now setup.
https://www.aulro.com/afvb/images/imported/2015/10/1046.jpg

That's all folks.

[Jock The Rock]

Hey mate will you have a cover of sorts over those coolers? Won't they end up full of mud?

[Skiboy]

Qu - are you putting anything around the pipes/hoses?

Long term you may have some abrading points ? maybe cabletie some water hose offcuts on key points?

The issue with custom design is there is no field testing tosee what happens over time - the more you can foresee the usage-over-timeeffects the better the design.

Also remember that you need access to service - so how hardis it to remove components once complete - often the assembly is done when youhave access that will not be there when fully assembled. eg the point made above re cleaning the coolers.

Skiboy

[stirlsilver]

Hey mate will you have a cover of sorts over those coolers? Won't they end up full of mud?

Hi Jock,
The oil coolers are pretty well protected, they sit above the mud guards and below the tray skin. I'll have a removable panel to gain access from the top.


Qu - are you putting anything around the pipes/hoses?

Long term you may have some abrading points ? maybe cabletie some water hose offcuts on key points?

The issue with custom design is there is no field testing tosee what happens over time - the more you can foresee the usage-over-timeeffects the better the design.

Also remember that you need access to service - so how hardis it to remove components once complete - often the assembly is done when youhave access that will not be there when fully assembled. eg the point made above re cleaning the coolers.

Skiboy


Hi skiboy,
Abrasion will be a problem and I'll need to address that closer to the end, putting sleeves over the steel pipes will be a good way to go. I also need to put a bash plate over the transmission oil return line.

So progress - I have been in the workshop both this weekend and the previous weekend. But all I'm doing is boring wiring,

I was looking at how I was going to get the coolant to the turbos. I really wasn't comfortable using the heater circuit because it would mean very hot water would be delivered at the inlet of the engine water pump (and go through the engine). I really needed the turbos to be supplied with coolant from the outlet of the radiator and discharge into the inlet of the radiator. So... No choice but to go for an auxiliary coolant pump:
https://www.aulro.com/afvb/images/imported/2015/11/1089.jpg

Also, my stainless steel parts arrived for me to weld up the tube run from the turbo outlets to the throttle body inlets. I need to get another gas regulator to be able to back purge the Inside of the pipe during welding:
https://www.aulro.com/afvb/images/imported/2015/11/1090.jpg

I've made a good dent on the wiring. I've got a temporary battery in and wired up to the starter motor and I can now crank the engine. Power is also to the dash as well and to the ECU. About 40% of the connections are now made, I'm testing that sensors work along the way. Also, the ECU is wired to give an oil pressure warning light and engine fault light which is great because they are programmable.
https://www.aulro.com/afvb/images/imported/2015/11/1091.jpg

I'm not far away from being able to start the engine in the car!

[stirlsilver]

The first version of the throttle linkage. The accelerator cable pulls on a sliding plate which in turn pulls the 2 throttle bodies plus the auto kick down cable.

https://www.aulro.com/afvb/images/imported/2015/11/1092.jpg

https://www.aulro.com/afvb/images/imported/2015/11/1093.jpg

[stirlsilver]

Time for the weekly update.

The whole ECU is now wired into the car and the dash is now starting to show signs of life :D
https://www.aulro.com/afvb/images/imported/2015/11/1094.jpg

https://www.aulro.com/afvb/images/imported/2015/11/1095.jpg

After getting creative with an old jam jar and a hot air gun and a thermometer, I calibrated the majority of the temperature sensors on the car over a range of temperatures as the water gradually cooled from 98degC to room temperature. Just in case you were wondering, no I didn't have a kettle on hand.
https://www.aulro.com/afvb/images/imported/2015/11/1096.jpg

The radiator was put in and all the fans were wired up and tested. So I now have the ECU independently controlling fans on:
Engine oil cooler
Transmission oil cooler
Intercooler
Radiator

https://www.aulro.com/afvb/images/imported/2015/11/1097.jpg

95% of the coolant lines were completed. I've decided to install an electric water pump to pump coolant through the turbos in parallel to the engine. There was no way of doing this with the mechanical water pump. So the pump draws from the line connected to the expansion tank and the hot water from the turbos discharges into the outlet pipe on the engine (after the thermostat). The only thing that is pending is for me to weld up a T piece to put in the radiator hose which has a 16mm fitting.

The vast majority of the rubber hose in the engine is temporary. When I go to put in the new engine, the rubber hose will be replaced with hard line and I will also put in an uprated radiator to handle the heat generated from the extra power the engine will produce.

A lot of cable ties, and hose clamps, so not very pretty. Oh and the boost control solenoid was all hooked up to the turbo waste gate actuators.
https://www.aulro.com/afvb/images/imported/2015/11/1097.jpg

https://www.aulro.com/afvb/images/imported/2015/11/1098.jpg

https://www.aulro.com/afvb/images/imported/2015/11/1099.jpg
https://www.aulro.com/afvb/images/imported/2015/11/1100.jpg
https://www.aulro.com/afvb/images/imported/2015/11/1101.jpg

https://www.aulro.com/afvb/images/imported/2015/11/1102.jpg

https://www.aulro.com/afvb/images/imported/2015/11/1103.jpg

[disco2hse]

You know, after this is done, you're going to have to rebuild an Evock into a space ship to top it.

[stirlsilver]

You know, after this is done, you're going to have to rebuild an Evock into a space ship to top it.

Hi Alan,
I think over here they are called the Evoque. Took me a little while to work that one out! If anyone wants to give me an Evoque, i'll give it a go! :D

So the latest developments.
Some more time has been spent in solidworks working out what I am going to do about the throttle. I went through another couple of iterations. The first one below was rejected as it would be too hard to control the spacing of the slides during folding. So I've gone with some purpose made slide holders. Just waiting for them to arrive now!

https://www.aulro.com/afvb/images/imported/2015/11/1104.jpg

https://www.aulro.com/afvb/images/imported/2015/11/1105.jpg

I also indulged a little and came up with an arrangement for the cover to go over the top of the throttle slide assembly to neaten it up a bit.

https://www.aulro.com/afvb/images/imported/2015/11/1106.jpg

https://www.aulro.com/afvb/images/imported/2015/11/1107.jpg

A new toy arrived. A pipe beader, which has come in very handy!

https://www.aulro.com/afvb/images/imported/2015/11/1108.jpg

The last bits and pieces were bolted onto the engine and it was attempted to be started in the car on Saturday. It was running very rough and very hard to start, back firing and everything. Thankfully today I got to the bottom of it and found it was a coil pack wired up the wrong way round.

I spent some time trying to get the engine to idle nicely with closed loop idle control, but that was proving to be very difficult. So I've left it for another time. A nice milestone was reached however with testing the gearbox, it would turn in drive and reverse which was nice!

Anyway, then came making a start on the turbo to throttle body ducting. Lots of bends! I also struggled to neatly weld the stainless steel, even with back purging the piping!

Right hand side partially done.

https://www.aulro.com/afvb/images/imported/2015/11/1109.jpg

Left hand side, basically done, I just need to put in a tapping point for the blow off valve.

https://www.aulro.com/afvb/images/imported/2015/11/1110.jpg

https://www.aulro.com/afvb/images/imported/2015/11/1111.jpg

And that's it for progress!

I have a question
Does anyone have a set of shock absorbers they no longer need? I need a set for me to get from the workshop to the various places when I get the unregistered vehicle permit.

[banarcus]

In addition to your great work on the disco, I'm amazed at your solidworks drawings. I've tried to play with it a number of times but it's so very complex.

[disco2hse]

Hi Alan,
I think over here they are called the Evoque. Took me a little while to work that one out! If anyone wants to give me an Evoque, i'll give it a go! :D


Yeah, it's my little protest against gayism in Landies.

Geddit: choke === evoke; cheque === evoque. que indicates a shortened vowel prior. We don't pronounce cheque as cheek.

[banarcus]

We don't pronounce cheque as cheek.

NZ sounds more like "chick"

[disco2hse]

NZ sounds more like "chick"

chuque ackchully ;)

[stirlsilver]

A quick update:
Blow off valve fitting added to the left hand side.
https://www.aulro.com/afvb/images/imported/2015/11/1112.jpg

Right hand side ducting now done.
https://www.aulro.com/afvb/images/imported/2015/11/1113.jpg

https://www.aulro.com/afvb/images/imported/2015/11/1114.jpg

https://www.aulro.com/afvb/images/imported/2015/11/1115.jpg

https://www.aulro.com/afvb/images/imported/2015/11/1116.jpg

[wrinklearthur]

I also struggled to neatly weld the stainless steel,

https://www.aulro.com/afvb/images/imported/2015/11/24.jpg

Really? I wish I could do stainless welding as tidy as that. :)

[debruiser]

Found your thread via facebook and youtube. WOW! 6years and still no car... THAT is commitment. I would have given up by now.

Puts my build to shame :(


I'll keep checking back on this one!

[stirlsilver]

Really? I wish I could do stainless welding as tidy as that. :)

I did some research on YouTube before doing the other side. It was recommended to avoid using filler and it did improve the look significantly!



Found your thread via facebook and youtube. WOW! 6years and still no car... THAT is commitment. I would have given up by now.

Puts my build to shame :(


I'll keep checking back on this one!

Thanks for dropping by! Though I haven't posted anything on facebook about this build?? That does remind me though that I am due to make up another video because there is probably enough progress to talk about now!

Anyway, I've been dabbling on the build whenever I had time.

Steering shaft has been put in. It JUST clears past the engine oil coolant lines I installed.
https://www.aulro.com/afvb/images/imported/2015/12/1070.jpg

Then I had to deal with the headache which was trying to get the 2" stainless ducting from the front of the engine bay to the inlet on the RH turbo which is at the BACK. By tightly wrapping the 180 deg bend and hugging it to the turbo I could get it all to clear. I'll wrap some heat insulating tape later when I fit the final engine in.

The trimmed down 180deg bend. Not particularly aerodynamic but not too bad.
https://www.aulro.com/afvb/images/imported/2015/12/1071.jpg

Mock up of the straight run from where the air filter is located to the turbo inlet.
https://www.aulro.com/afvb/images/imported/2015/12/1072.jpg

All welded up.
https://www.aulro.com/afvb/images/imported/2015/12/1073.jpg

https://www.aulro.com/afvb/images/imported/2015/12/1074.jpg

Now I need to wait for more 2" elbows to arrive so I can finish the rest of the inlet ducting.

Made a start on the throttle linkage. For the first time ever, I decided to scrap the SolidWorks model I made and simply mock it all up as I went. I chopped original brackets and tack welded the following up. It works very nicely so I'll pull some measurements and get the bits laser cut. I now need to weld on some aluminium strips to the plenum so I can bolt the linkage down.

https://www.aulro.com/afvb/images/imported/2015/12/1075.jpg

https://www.aulro.com/afvb/images/imported/2015/12/1076.jpg

Getting close to moving onto fitting the axles onto the car!

[debruiser]

Thanks for dropping by! Though I haven't posted anything on facebook about this build?? That does remind me though that I am due to make up another video because there is probably enough progress to talk about now!



Sorry I wasn't clear... I watched some shared youtube clip about something, at the end it suggested your video.

[stirlsilver]

Another status update:
I went ahead and ordered 15 3" 90Deg elbows and some 2" to 3" transitions thinking that I would go Snorkle to Filter 3", Filter to Turbo 3" -> 2". However after ordering all the bits I realized how big 3" 90Deg elbows were and that I had no hope of being able to fit 3" stainless steel tube in my already crowded engine bay!! So... I had to order a bunch more 2" elbows which I am waiting to arrive.
https://www.aulro.com/afvb/images/imported/2015/12/1055.jpg

Most of the work this weekend was on the air filters. I had bought two second hand Land Rover canister filters and went about modifying them to suit my needs. I still can't understand how one of these filters was big enough for a 3.5L engine! The photo below shows one of the filters which I had already started modifying (I chopped off the water drain and welded it shut).
https://www.aulro.com/afvb/images/imported/2015/12/1056.jpg

I had to reduce the inlet and the outlet of the filter to suit the 2" elbows, so the chopping started.
https://www.aulro.com/afvb/images/imported/2015/12/1057.jpg

It's nice when bits marry up the way you want! The bell mouth suited the 2" piping almost perfectly which should give nice flow from the filter into the tube which goes to the turbo.
https://www.aulro.com/afvb/images/imported/2015/12/1058.jpg

I grabbed some angle and some stainless rod and welded up the mounts for the air filter. Conveniently there were two holes where the battery used to be which were perfect for bolting to.
https://www.aulro.com/afvb/images/imported/2015/12/1059.jpg

Below is the completed RH air filter. The air inlet to the filter doesn't have a fancy bell mouth unfortunately but should do the trick. According to my calculations 2 x 2" is better than 1 x 3" so hopefully I shouldn't have much pressure drop having two parallel intakes on the engine.
https://www.aulro.com/afvb/images/imported/2015/12/1060.jpg

And the final step, painting.
https://www.aulro.com/afvb/images/imported/2015/12/1061.jpg

https://www.aulro.com/afvb/images/imported/2015/12/1062.jpg

While the paint was drying to got onto the LH filter, below is as far as I got before having enough for the day, as you see it is mounted identically to the RH one.
https://www.aulro.com/afvb/images/imported/2015/12/1063.jpg

As an aside, at one point through the week I ran out of gas. So I made a heat shield which should save the connectors from the heat off the LH turbo.
https://www.aulro.com/afvb/images/imported/2015/12/1064.jpg

[stirlsilver]

Well, I think this is the last bit of progress for 2015. Flying out to Queensland for a 2 week holiday with the family up there and I have social things to attend to between now and then!

Just before I jump into the progress, I received an aluminium elbow from an Ebay supplier with the idea of welding it onto the inlet of the LH turbo. Only to find there casting wasn't the highest quality!!
https://www.aulro.com/afvb/images/imported/2015/12/1065.jpg

Anyway, the LH air filter was prepped and painted.
https://www.aulro.com/afvb/images/imported/2015/12/1066.jpg

https://www.aulro.com/afvb/images/imported/2015/12/1067.jpg

https://www.aulro.com/afvb/images/imported/2015/12/1068.jpg

And I welded on the mounts to hold the throttle linkage onto the plenum. Note the ratty looking linkage is just temporary, I'll get a nice one laser/water cut next year.
https://www.aulro.com/afvb/images/imported/2015/12/1069.jpg

And that's it for 2015!

[stirlsilver]

I thought it would be interesting to look back and see where I was a year ago. And then I realised that a year and 2 days ago I had just moved into the workshop after my move from Melbourne! That's after the car sat in the container for most of 2014!


Hello everyone. I'm back!

Today the car moved into its new home in Annangrove. At long last I managed to find somewhere to keep working on the car!

Prior to loading the car onto the trailer, we needed to pull out one spring that was still mounted in the car. The other side had shot out when the car was bouncing around loose in the container when it was moved from Melbourne to Sydney! Thanks to my buddy Isaac for giving me a hand today!

https://www.aulro.com/afvb/images/imported/2014/12/909.jpg

https://www.aulro.com/afvb/images/imported/2014/12/910.jpg

https://www.aulro.com/afvb/images/imported/2014/12/911.jpg

The new home. A bit smaller than what I had in Melbourne, but workable.

https://www.aulro.com/afvb/images/imported/2014/12/912.jpg

Next step is to get the engine moved into the workshop, and all my tools, benches and so on.

[stirlsilver]

Happy 2016 everyone! I'm back and have already spent some time tinkering in the Workshop.

If you have 23 minutes free check out the next summary video I made of the build :)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tbENDMHp83M

[stirlsilver]

And now for a REAL update:

The inlet ducting from the air filters to the turbos was completed. Because the RH duct runs so close to the turbine, I wrapped it in some heat shield wrap.
https://www.aulro.com/afvb/images/imported/2016/01/997.jpg

https://www.aulro.com/afvb/images/imported/2016/01/998.jpg

https://www.aulro.com/afvb/images/imported/2016/01/999.jpg

https://www.aulro.com/afvb/images/imported/2016/01/1000.jpg

https://www.aulro.com/afvb/images/imported/2016/01/1001.jpg

The axles which I purchased from a wreck had a rear locker, but not a front so I went about swapping the arb locker from another different housing I had. I wanted to fit the toughened drive shafts I had also but I couldn't pull them out of the swivel housing like the guys at TRS suggested. So I'll leave that for some future date when I'm ready to slot the swivels and change the Cvs to toughened ones.
https://www.aulro.com/afvb/images/imported/2016/01/1002.jpg

https://www.aulro.com/afvb/images/imported/2016/01/1003.jpg

Finally, because I need to buy some new suspension bushes, I moved on to mounting the headlights and shrouds I bought. However, I think I might need to modify the shrouds a bit so they align with the light better.
https://www.aulro.com/afvb/images/imported/2016/01/1004.jpg

[stirlsilver]

Slowly coming to life.
https://www.aulro.com/afvb/images/imported/2016/01/1005.jpg

[stirlsilver]

Not a whole lot of progress to show in this update because I didn't end up getting the radius arm bushes so I couldn't install the front axle. Instead I did a variety of bits and pieces.

I tackled the air recirculation problem on the intercooler thermo fans I pointed out in the YouTube video. Below you can see the gap which caused it.
https://www.aulro.com/afvb/images/imported/2016/01/1006.jpg

Using some 5mm closed cell foam I shimmed the perimeter of the thermo fan housing.
https://www.aulro.com/afvb/images/imported/2016/01/1007.jpg

One of those times I wished I had a nice BIG lathe, anyway I made do with the battery drill and sand paper to bring the fan down to a diameter that would fit within the housing.
https://www.aulro.com/afvb/images/imported/2016/01/1008.jpg

The result.
https://www.aulro.com/afvb/images/imported/2016/01/1009.jpg

The first photo below shows the shimmed up fan, the second is unmodified.
https://www.aulro.com/afvb/images/imported/2016/01/1010.jpg

https://www.aulro.com/afvb/images/imported/2016/01/1011.jpg

I tested the performance of the fans after modification. There is a significant increase of flow through the cores, and by using some cotton thread I could observe the flow patterns into the fan. After shimming, some air recirculation still occurs, but only on the very edge (it was over 50% of the fan area before!). The Thermos are working much harder now, hopefully I haven't exceeded the power rating of the motors!

On to other items, aside from tightening up a whole load of loose bolts, I finished the wiring of the side lights and indicators.
https://www.aulro.com/afvb/images/imported/2016/01/1012.jpg

Finally, the second hand set of front shocks were fitted, ready to hook onto the axle.
https://www.aulro.com/afvb/images/imported/2016/01/1013.jpg

That's it for this update.

[CU55TM Disco]

Do the intercooler thermo fans need to run continuously, or is there scope in the future to have them switch on and off in conjunction with B00st?

[stirlsilver]

Do the intercooler thermo fans need to run continuously, or is there scope in the future to have them switch on and off in conjunction with B00st?

The fans don't need to run continuously, they are mostly there to keep the cores cool when there is low/no air flow available through the scoop to prevent heat soak. My plan is to have them turn on/off with respect to speed (i've run the cables now to pick up a shaft speed sensor). Below a certain speed they are on, and above off. But that is for the future as I'm just trying to get this thing on the road!

So for the latest update:
After finally getting hold of some new radius arm bushes, the front axle was ready to go in, but before I get onto that. Does anybody recognize what the plate spacers shown in the 3 photos below are all about? They were on the front axle from the wreck. The car had caster correction bushes, but I can't work out what the parts are supposed to be for??
https://www.aulro.com/afvb/images/imported/2016/01/1014.jpg

https://www.aulro.com/afvb/images/imported/2016/01/1015.jpg

https://www.aulro.com/afvb/images/imported/2016/01/1016.jpg

Anyway, with the bushes in hand, the front axle went in.
https://www.aulro.com/afvb/images/imported/2016/01/1017.jpg

https://www.aulro.com/afvb/images/imported/2016/01/1018.jpg

I bought and fitted a Terrafirma toughened steering rod and track rod kit because the ones I had were bent.
https://www.aulro.com/afvb/images/imported/2016/01/1019.jpg
https://www.aulro.com/afvb/images/imported/2016/01/1020.jpg

https://www.aulro.com/afvb/images/imported/2016/01/1021.jpg

The final preparations were done to at least get the car able to drive on the front axle. The workshop had a pretty serious layer of dirt on the ground by now and I wanted to get in and clean it. Here is Ana giving me a hand fitting a wheel.

https://www.aulro.com/afvb/images/imported/2016/01/1022.jpg

A video was shot of the FIRST time the car moved under its own power in over 6 years. Pretty rough trying to do it with the handbrake only and the fact I couldn't shut the passenger door with the LPG line running into the cabin! Oh, and yes all the squeaks and noises are:
1. Shot water pump bearing
2. The power steering system isn't properly bled.

Here is the video.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AmPt0FcgRLs

A couple of shots with the car outside.
https://www.aulro.com/afvb/images/imported/2016/01/1023.jpg

https://www.aulro.com/afvb/images/imported/2016/01/1024.jpg

https://www.aulro.com/afvb/images/imported/2016/01/1025.jpg

And the workshop clean up began. Before shots. P.S. I did help with the cleaning despite what this photo looks like!!
https://www.aulro.com/afvb/images/imported/2016/01/1026.jpg

https://www.aulro.com/afvb/images/imported/2016/01/1027.jpg

And after.
https://www.aulro.com/afvb/images/imported/2016/01/1028.jpg

https://www.aulro.com/afvb/images/imported/2016/01/1029.jpg

I realized that I no longer need the test stand I built very early on in the build. If anyone wants it, let me know.
https://www.aulro.com/afvb/images/imported/2016/01/1030.jpg

https://www.aulro.com/afvb/images/imported/2016/01/1031.jpg

With the clean up done, the car was put in nose first so that we could get to work on the back.
https://www.aulro.com/afvb/images/imported/2016/01/1032.jpg

The rear diff I got with the locker was a 3 bolt flange and I needed a 4 bolt flange diff. So after a lot of mucking about trying to get the alignment spigot off the 3 bolt flange, we resorted to cutting it off. Anyway, I had planned on simply swapping the flanges between diffs, but then I realized that the 3 bolt flange is longer than the 4 bolt flange internally so that scrapped that idea. I'll need to get the kit and then resume putting in the rear diff.

Below is the shot of the diff with the locker and the cut off input flange.
https://www.aulro.com/afvb/images/imported/2016/01/1033.jpg

That's it for this update! Stay tuned for more.

[Wicks89]

Dr Frankenstein and his shambling monster!! Keep it up Stirling!

[disco2hse]

Dr Frankenstein and his shambling monster!! Keep it up Stirling!

haha just what I was thinking. :D

[Scouse]

The 'spacer' on the differential centre is the bracket for the harmonic damper.

The others on the underside of the swivel are also harmonic/vibration dampers.


Somehow, I don't think you'll notice them missing :).

[stirlsilver]

Hello again everyone, looks like the thread is half way to a quarter of a million! An eighth of a million doesn't quite have the same ring to it!

Anyway, on with the progress.

Many years ago I had cut and rotated the LPG tank brackets and only primer painted them. So finally it was time to sort that out and paint the brackets.
https://www.aulro.com/afvb/images/imported/2016/02/948.jpg

Also, the 3 bolt flange on the rear diff was finally swapped over after getting the correct flange and seal to do the job!!
https://www.aulro.com/afvb/images/imported/2016/02/949.jpg

The rear axle was mounted with a set of front springs and an old set of shock absorbers. I decided to swap the springs from the rear to the front and vice versa, this is because the front is much heavier than the rear.
https://www.aulro.com/afvb/images/imported/2016/02/950.jpg

The rear sway bar brackets were welded in place - the sway bars will be necessary to have if the engineers decide it is necessary to road test the car. I'll have to work out if I put quick disconnects on or not later.
https://www.aulro.com/afvb/images/imported/2016/02/951.jpg

The final rear axle arrangement.
https://www.aulro.com/afvb/images/imported/2016/02/952.jpg

The car sitting on the rear springs and the diff locked rear axle. Still higher at the front of the car. But anyway, I'll have that sorted out when I get the proper springs and shocks for it.
https://www.aulro.com/afvb/images/imported/2016/02/953.jpg

I took the car for another quick test drive. All seems to be going well so far! I just need some brakes now! And a bunch of other things...

[stirlsilver]

I should point out that Ana was in the workshop again with me today being a massive help. Anyway, she snapped this photo saying it looked like I was being eaten by the car - playing on the Frankenstein theme!
https://www.aulro.com/afvb/images/imported/2016/02/954.jpg

[debruiser]

Your pretty lucky that ur other half will come into the shed, not to mention actually helping with stuff! Keep up the good work, it's looking awesome.

[Skiboy]

I can't work out what the parts are supposed to be for??
https://www.aulro.com/afvb/images/imported/2016/02/888.jpg (http://s8.photobucket.com/user/stirlsilver/media/Discovery%20Build/DSC_0843_zpsnjdmfn7v.jpg.html)

Anyway, with the bushes in hand, the front axle went in.

https://www.aulro.com/afvb/images/imported/2016/02/889.jpg (http://s8.photobucket.com/user/stirlsilver/media/Discovery%20Build/DSC_0851_zps7msx86d0.jpg.html)



The fitting on the bottom of the diff centre is for your steering damper and it looks like this car had been modified to take two steering dampers

A common mod is to take the steering damper OFF the track rod (rear rod) and diff and instead make brackets at attach to the drag link (front rod) and chassis like on Defenders. This way your steering damper is up out of harms way

It looks like you might have a mount on the left chassis for the steering damper - hard to tell from the pic

Example attached

[stirlsilver]

Thanks for the suggestion SkiBoy, I'll look into it.

So some more progress. I have a bit of a confusing problem with the speedo cable. I can't understand how it is that I have ended up with a male to male connection on the cable? The transfer case has a short approx 1m long run and I can't remember if there was an adaptor that I removed. Does anyone know what is required to connect this together? What's baffling is that the transfer case is out of the car so it should all connect together?!?
https://www.aulro.com/afvb/images/imported/2016/02/955.jpg

Some of the original panel work has been put back on, the front guards will need to be trimmed later to allow the 35" tyres to fit.
https://www.aulro.com/afvb/images/imported/2016/02/956.jpg

I had hooked up the tacho signal from the ECU to the stock tacho of the car, but found that I wasn't getting a reading. I pulled the gauge cluster out and tried testing it using the sine wave signal from the battery charger (50Hz +-12V). The discovery's take the tacho signal from the alternator (even on the V8's) which is rather unusual since most cars either have a signal from the ECU or take it from the coil. Unfortunately my trial didn't work, however when I tapped the cable on the connector at the back, I could make the needle bounce a little. So some more fiddling is needed to work out what to do.
https://www.aulro.com/afvb/images/imported/2016/02/957.jpg
https://www.aulro.com/afvb/images/imported/2016/02/958.jpg

Some extended brake lines were made up, I got the replacement lines made approximately 100mm longer than standard.
https://www.aulro.com/afvb/images/imported/2016/02/959.jpg

During the process of installing the front right hand brake line I felt the wheel wobble all over the place, and it was at that point that I realized that the wheel bearing was loose. In the course of sorting it out, I discovered some major dodgyness.

One of the drive flange bolts was over torqued, snapped and then GLUED back in place.
https://www.aulro.com/afvb/images/imported/2016/02/960.jpg
https://www.aulro.com/afvb/images/imported/2016/02/961.jpg

Whoever put this together in the past, didn't know what they were doing, they some how managed to stretch nearly all the 10.9 bolts on the drive flange. You can see on the photo below where the bolt stretched...
https://www.aulro.com/afvb/images/imported/2016/02/962.jpg

I eventually got to the culprit. The washer between the two lock nuts was cracked and had turned. The only way I can think that this happened was because the outside nut was WAY overtightened, crushing the washer?? I didn't remove the bearing, I just tightened everything up. It will need to come apart a little later anyway when I overhaul the hubs.
https://www.aulro.com/afvb/images/imported/2016/02/963.jpg

Finally I was able to get back onto the brakes. I came up with a way of bleeding the brake system by myself by butchering an old cap I had from another reservoir and using compressed air at about 20psi. After overcoming the fact that the emergency valve for the rear line had closed, the method worked quite well :)

https://www.aulro.com/afvb/images/imported/2016/02/964.jpg
https://www.aulro.com/afvb/images/imported/2016/02/965.jpg
https://www.aulro.com/afvb/images/imported/2016/02/966.jpg
https://www.aulro.com/afvb/images/imported/2016/02/967.jpg

So... Saturday I should be able to start to do some tuning!! I might try and get some video footage as well!

[disco2hse]

So some more progress. I have a bit of a confusing problem with the speedo cable. I can't understand how it is that I have ended up with a male to male connection on the cable? The transfer case has a short approx 1m long run and I can't remember if there was an adaptor that I removed. Does anyone know what is required to connect this together? What's baffling is that the transfer case is out of the car so it should all connect together?!?
https://www.aulro.com/afvb/images/imported/2016/02/523.jpg (http://s8.photobucket.com/user/stirlsilver/media/Discovery%20Build/DSC_0898_zps5lmm4wuh.jpg.html)


I think I'd get a whole new one made that ran from TC to binnacle (rather than buying a new one or a blue box version).





During the process of installing the front right hand brake line I felt the wheel wobble all over the place, and it was at that point that I realized that the wheel bearing was loose. In the course of sorting it out, I discovered some major dodgyness.

One of the drive flange bolts was over torqued, snapped and then GLUED back in place.
https://www.aulro.com/afvb/images/imported/2016/02/524.jpg (http://s8.photobucket.com/user/stirlsilver/media/Discovery%20Build/DSC_0909_zps9u7zrq92.jpg.html)
https://www.aulro.com/afvb/images/imported/2016/02/525.jpg (http://s8.photobucket.com/user/stirlsilver/media/Discovery%20Build/DSC_0911_zpsesbxl8ne.jpg.html)

Whoever put this together in the past, didn't know what they were doing, they some how managed to stretch nearly all the 10.9 bolts on the drive flange. You can see on the photo below where the bolt stretched...
https://www.aulro.com/afvb/images/imported/2016/02/526.jpg (http://s8.photobucket.com/user/stirlsilver/media/Discovery%20Build/DSC_0910_zpswlhuplgw.jpg.html)

I eventually got to the culprit. The washer between the two lock nuts was cracked and had turned. The only way I can think that this happened was because the outside nut was WAY overtightened, crushing the washer?? I didn't remove the bearing, I just tightened everything up. It will need to come apart a little later anyway when I overhaul the hubs.
https://www.aulro.com/afvb/images/imported/2016/02/527.jpg (http://s8.photobucket.com/user/stirlsilver/media/Discovery%20Build/DSC_0912_zpsxrccqaxd.jpg.html)


Damn scary :no2:

I think I'd be checking the other side.

[stirlsilver]

Hello again everyone, so I had my cousin Angus from Scotland come and give me a hand. He arrived in to Australia last week for a one year holiday and was keen to spend some time working on the car.

We managed to cobble a little bit of video footage before I ran out of battery. But at least you will get the idea!
https://youtu.be/VYpqbTRucl4

The end of the day results, the first time Angus had ever been involved in tuning an engine!
https://www.aulro.com/afvb/images/imported/2016/02/968.jpg

Below is a screen shot of the changes done to the fuelling table. You can see how the tuning process is pulling the fuelling amounts right down. I need to do some extra tweaking to the table since I realized the table isn't setup quite right for the area on boost (manifold pressure greater than 100kPa). Anyway, exciting times!
https://www.aulro.com/afvb/images/imported/2016/02/969.jpg

Despite all the driving around, I found that the engine oil temperature sensor on the oil cooler didn't indicate above 31degC. Thinking that something wasn't right I went to investigate.

I ended up figuring out that I had put the oil fittings on the wrong way around, so the internal passage direct from the pump to the filter wasn't blocked off to force oil to the cooler.

Below is where I had the fitting with the internal oil seal which is wrong because the internal o-ring didn't seal against anything.
https://www.aulro.com/afvb/images/imported/2016/02/970.jpg

Pulling the oil filter off and all was revealed, it was clear where the internal o-ring was supposed to go.
https://www.aulro.com/afvb/images/imported/2016/02/971.jpg

The pipes was cut and the fittings swapped over and finally it should all work as intended now!
https://www.aulro.com/afvb/images/imported/2016/02/972.jpg

https://www.aulro.com/afvb/images/imported/2016/02/973.jpg

[stirlsilver]

Another update on the job.

I got fed up with the squealing power steering bearing (I'm 80% sure it is the power steering pump and not the water pump) so I decided to pull the pump out so that it can be sent off to be re-built. The unit is a Hobourn 5503/8518/24 which after some research looks like it comes from some of the 1985 Range Rover. I think Hobourn is now looked after by Eaton, so hopefully it won't be too difficult to find someone to rebuild the unit.
https://www.aulro.com/afvb/images/imported/2016/02/974.jpg

Anyway, after that I moved on to preparing the bonnet for the intercooler scoop. To my absolute surprise the bonnet without ANY modification... SHUT!
https://www.aulro.com/afvb/images/imported/2016/02/975.jpg

https://www.aulro.com/afvb/images/imported/2016/02/976.jpg

Anyway, even thought everything fits under the bonnet, I need to make some holes. I used foam and some wet rags to mark the edges and center of the fan onto the underside.
https://www.aulro.com/afvb/images/imported/2016/02/977.jpg

Thanks to previous experience, I used the opportunity of a center point to mark circles in 5mm increments (from +10mm radius -10mm radius). That way if I need to go bigger after the first cut, I already have the lines drawn.
https://www.aulro.com/afvb/images/imported/2016/02/978.jpg

And the deed was done, in the end the smallest hole in my opinion suits well enough :D
https://www.aulro.com/afvb/images/imported/2016/02/979.jpg

https://www.aulro.com/afvb/images/imported/2016/02/980.jpg

[debruiser]

Dont you just love when you get a good surprise like that (bonnet closing).

I like the wet rag trick! I'm going to remember that one.

[Toxic_Avenger]

I like the wet rag trick! I'm going to remember that one.

Nice thread, only just got around to reading it!

Another trick I've used in the past is a blob of grease on one surface when there are tight tolerances, or a tower of Blu-Tac and a dab of paint on the top to mark heights / contact points between surfaces.

Keep up the good thread!

[slug_burner]

I hope you centred the holes to be simetrical about the centre line. It will look a bit cockeyed off centre.

[debruiser]

I hope you centred the holes to be simetrical about the centre line. It will look a bit cockeyed off centre.

Woudl be ok if he puts a scoop over the whole lot (as long as the scoop is center)

[dullbird]

Thats what I was thinking

[crash]

Your snorkel looks to be a bit small and flexible!
Very interesting thread, have learned a few new tricks / ideas along the way.

[stirlsilver]

The usual update again everyone. Though this one features some more SolidWorks stuff!

With the design of the air scoop, one thing that is important to me to to position it at a location where it will catch the air stream and thereby flow a lot more air through the intercooler cores. So in order to do that I had to do a Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) analysis. I traced out the profile of the car and used it to do a 2D analysis. I could have done it in 3D but it would have taken ages to solve and not provide that much more information.

Anyway, the GIF below is a nice summary of the results of how the pressure and flow changes as the car travels from 10km/h to 120km/h in 10km/h steps. If the image below doesn't animate you may need to click on it.

http://www.stirlsilver.com.au/images/DiscoveryBuild/Flow%20GIF_zpssmylck86.gif

When looking at the results, keep in mind that what it shows is how the air moves around the centreline of the car.

Here are some clearer snap shots, first one has pressure shown by the colour and the second shows velocity.

40Km/h
https://www.aulro.com/afvb/images/imported/2016/02/981.jpg
https://www.aulro.com/afvb/images/imported/2016/02/982.jpg

60Km/h
https://www.aulro.com/afvb/images/imported/2016/02/983.jpg
https://www.aulro.com/afvb/images/imported/2016/02/984.jpg

80Km/h
https://www.aulro.com/afvb/images/imported/2016/02/985.jpg
https://www.aulro.com/afvb/images/imported/2016/02/986.jpg

100Km/h
https://www.aulro.com/afvb/images/imported/2016/02/987.jpg
https://www.aulro.com/afvb/images/imported/2016/02/988.jpg

120Km/h
https://www.aulro.com/afvb/images/imported/2016/02/989.jpg
https://www.aulro.com/afvb/images/imported/2016/02/990.jpg

So what the above shows is that a ute creates massive amounts of turbulence behind it (surprise, surprise) a long time ago I had come up with a concept of putting a sloping canopy over the tray which should sort that out nicely. Anyway, the second thing is that, there seems to be a nice spot to catch the air flow as it goes over the bonnet and before it separates due to the windshield.

The area I am talking about is here.
https://www.aulro.com/afvb/images/imported/2016/02/991.jpg

So now that I know where is a likely place to catch the air stream, the next thing for me to do is start trialing different scoop designs to see which generates the most pressure across the intercooler cores. That will be something I need to do next.

So on other news. As I mentioned in the previous post, I had the power steering pump re-built due to the squealing bearing. While I had the pump out, I wanted to sort out a proper hose connector for it, as I was using an aluminium air conditioning fitting which sort of worked (it had a slight weep). I took the pump to Pirtek only to discover that they didn't have any fittings to suit. The Range Rover pump has a SAE-9 fitting (I think that is what it was) but it needed to have a male thread and a female flare, which they didn't have...

I gave up on that and simply simply did some modifications the aluminium fitting I had and managed to get it to seal. It's not the right thing to do but I didn't have a choice.

The other item I worked on was trying to seal the gap between the intercooler thermo fans and the holes in the bonnet. A trip down to Clark Rubber and I ended up settling on the hot water insulation tubes which are nice and spongy and I think would be rated for high temperature exposure.
https://www.aulro.com/afvb/images/imported/2016/02/992.jpg

I simply glued them into a doughnut and I was surprised how well it worked!
https://www.aulro.com/afvb/images/imported/2016/02/993.jpg
https://www.aulro.com/afvb/images/imported/2016/02/994.jpg
https://www.aulro.com/afvb/images/imported/2016/02/995.jpg
https://www.aulro.com/afvb/images/imported/2016/02/996.jpg

A bit more road tuning was done on the car, I have shown an extract of the engine log below where I got the manifold pressure to 140kPa (about 6psi of boost). This was achieved at 2500rpm and the throttle only partly open (I haven't dared put my foot to the floor yet).
https://www.aulro.com/afvb/images/imported/2016/02/997.jpg

All in all going well, the air temperature in the manifold didn't go beyond 44degC, but that was just on short runs. It will be interesting to see how well the intercoolers work under constant turbo boost.

Next step is driving the car to get the LPG hooked up (I go through a 9Kg bottle in no time!). You might spot me on the road this week if you live in the NSW hills area :)

[disco2hse]

So what the above shows is that a ute creates massive amounts of turbulence behind it (surprise, surprise) a long time ago I had come up with a concept of putting a sloping canopy over the tray which should sort that out nicely.

Hmm, Bowler Tom Cat ;)

What effect does the open grill have? I think your model assumes the air hits a solid wall on the front. Also, what about bull bar and winch?

Oh, and watch you don't end with an air intake like your old Stage 1 had when you bought it :p

[stirlsilver]

What effect does the open grill have? I think your model assumes the air hits a solid wall on the front. Also, what about bull bar and winch?

These do have an effect, I did model the top bar of the bull bar, but at the end of the day I don't think I need to go to that level of accuracy to determine a reasonable placement of the inlet.

Here is the first design I've come up with. Any suggestions welcomed, I think I will need to push the opening a little further forward to get closer to the front crease on the bonnet.
https://www.aulro.com/afvb/images/imported/2016/03/877.jpg
https://www.aulro.com/afvb/images/imported/2016/03/878.jpg

[stirlsilver]

https://youtu.be/aY0D1tMawpo

[stirlsilver]

Hello from Dubai everyone. I'm on a business trip for the week, which is looking to be rather hectic with a meeting here in Dubai, then one in Germany and then one or two in Austria before going home next weekend.

Anyway, I thought I would share this for those who like getting into the nitty gritty details. The are screen shots from logging I did on Saturday.

The shot below is the area where I was unknowingly reaching some high(ish) levels of boost (9-10psi). It's still difficult to determine how the intercooler is holding up, but so far they seem reasonable. The day I was doing the testing was 32degC ambient and the manifold air temperature didn't go beyond 47degC. The real test however would be sustained boost load, which is hard without a dyno.
https://www.aulro.com/afvb/images/imported/2016/03/879.jpg

After realizing that it is probably rather dumb to be tuning the engine without the boost controller turned on, I enabled it in open loop mode and just relied on the waste gate springs for the boost pressure control. You can see below that the OEM WRX waste gate springs are only set at 5psi, so i'll definitely need to use the closed loop boost control to get to my target of 14psi boost, but that can be later.
https://www.aulro.com/afvb/images/imported/2016/03/880.jpg

[Davo]

Another update on the job.

I got fed up with the squealing power steering bearing (I'm 80% sure it is the power steering pump and not the water pump) so I decided to pull the pump out so that it can be sent off to be re-built. The unit is a Hobourn 5503/8518/24 which after some research looks like it comes from some of the 1985 Range Rover. I think Hobourn is now looked after by Eaton, so hopefully it won't be too difficult to find someone to rebuild the unit.
https://www.aulro.com/afvb/images/imported/2016/04/936.jpg (http://s8.photobucket.com/user/stirlsilver/media/Discovery%20Build/DSC_0920_zpsqmrfhost.jpg.html)

A bit late here as I haven't been on the forum much and haven't had the time to keep up with your (as usual) fascinating thread, but these old-style power steering pumps are easy to do yourself. I've done a few trying to get one to behave. It still leaks slightly, but I seem to recall the design dates back to 1950s-era Chevrolets or similiar so that's no surprise.

Nice work on the rest of the car, to say the least!

[stirlsilver]

A bit late here as I haven't been on the forum much and haven't had the time to keep up with your (as usual) fascinating thread, but these old-style power steering pumps are easy to do yourself. I've done a few trying to get one to behave. It still leaks slightly, but I seem to recall the design dates back to 1950s-era Chevrolets or similiar so that's no surprise.

Nice work on the rest of the car, to say the least!

Thanks Davo, and I appreciate the feedback. Do you have any idea what the outlet pipe fitting is for the pump? I'm struggling to find the right part and currently driving around using an aluminium air conditioning fitting which isn't supposed to be used!!

Anyway, a quick update, last few weeks have been very disruptive with Easter and the trip overseas.

The liquid lines onto the gas tanks were hooked up by a autogas company nearby. So no more need for the 9Kg LPG bottles!
https://www.aulro.com/afvb/

And I took a stab at A) trying to rewind the Odometer back to zero and B)_ get the tacho working using a signal from the ECU.

Regarding A) I can't see any easy way of re-setting the Odometer without pulling the whole mechanism apart. Has anyone tried this?

For B), the Tacho was driven by the Alternator, which as far as I can tell produces a signal at a much higher frequency than the ignition pulses. Looking inside I did find a trim pot which I tried adjusting to see if I could get the needle to work on the signal from the ECU, but no joy yet...
https://www.aulro.com/afvb/images/imported/2016/04/937.jpg

[Homestar]

In a past life I may have wound an odometer or two back... :angel:

Most need the bar that the individual dias runl on removed so you can disengage the dogs on each one and reset them - quite fiddley but if you have some patience (and looking at this build I'm saying a 'yes' to that question, it is doable. If you don't get them all lined up spot on, it will always look like you've fiddled with it, so if you do this, set aside enough time to get it done, put on some Bach, take a deep breath, relax - now start. :D

[Davo]

Thanks Davo, and I appreciate the feedback. Do you have any idea what the outlet pipe fitting is for the pump? I'm struggling to find the right part and currently driving around using an aluminium air conditioning fitting which isn't supposed to be used!!

Anyway, a quick update, last few weeks have been very disruptive with Easter and the trip overseas.

The liquid lines onto the gas tanks were hooked up by a autogas company nearby. So no more need for the 9Kg LPG bottles!
https://www.aulro.com/afvb/ (http://s8.photobucket.com/user/stirlsilver/media/Discovery%20Build/DSC_1106_zpsknb8odha.jpg.html)

And I took a stab at A) trying to rewind the Odometer back to zero and B)_ get the tacho working using a signal from the ECU.

Regarding A) I can't see any easy way of re-setting the Odometer without pulling the whole mechanism apart. Has anyone tried this?

For B), the Tacho was driven by the Alternator, which as far as I can tell produces a signal at a much higher frequency than the ignition pulses. Looking inside I did find a trim pot which I tried adjusting to see if I could get the needle to work on the signal from the ECU, but no joy yet...
https://www.aulro.com/afvb/images/imported/2016/04/772.jpg (http://s8.photobucket.com/user/stirlsilver/media/Discovery%20Build/DSC_1107_zpspb9qrilj.jpg.html)

I had a new hose made up and they re-used that end from the old hose and brazed it on. Have you tried a hydraulics shop yet? Certainly, you'll want to hoard some old Rangie hoses.

During my Range Rover rebuild, where almost the entire drivetrain was replaced, I just got a NOS speedo and that solved the problem! The old one had a fault and needed replacing anyway. Er, no ECU to muck about with, either.

[stirlsilver]

I had a new hose made up and they re-used that end from the old hose and brazed it on. Have you tried a hydraulics shop yet? Certainly, you'll want to hoard some old Rangie hoses.

During my Range Rover rebuild, where almost the entire drivetrain was replaced, I just got a NOS speedo and that solved the problem! The old one had a fault and needed replacing anyway. Er, no ECU to muck about with, either.

I did try a hydraulics shop (Pirtek) and they didn't have the fitting to suit. I think it was a particular type of SAE fitting, one which needed the female taper, but a male thread. If anyone has one of these hoses laying around please let me know because simply using the tail of the hose would solve all my problems!


In a past life I may have wound an odometer or two back... :angel:

Most need the bar that the individual dias runl on removed so you can disengage the dogs on each one and reset them - quite fiddley but if you have some patience (and looking at this build I'm saying a 'yes' to that question, it is doable. If you don't get them all lined up spot on, it will always look like you've fiddled with it, so if you do this, set aside enough time to get it done, put on some Bach, take a deep breath, relax - now start. :D

Thanks for the suggestion Homestar, I had started this process, and this is where I ended up after stumbling upon a different approach:
https://youtu.be/chNjCnKL48I

By my calculations, the 1/10 of Km wheel was spinning around 6,000RPM. Which still ment about an hour and a half to get from 260,000 to 0.

https://www.aulro.com/afvb/images/imported/2016/04/938.jpg
https://www.aulro.com/afvb/images/imported/2016/04/939.jpg
https://www.aulro.com/afvb/images/imported/2016/04/940.jpg

[DieSchnelleKafer]

The liquid lines onto the gas tanks were hooked up by a autogas company nearby. So no more need for the 9Kg LPG bottles!
http://i8.photobucket.com/albums/a16/stirlsilver/Discovery%20Build/DSC_1106_zpsknb8odha.jpg (http://s8.photobucket.com/user/stirlsilver/media/Discovery%20Build/DSC_1106_zpsknb8odha.jpg.html)




Hey mate loving your work like usual, i am curious as to how the two lpg tanks are mated together. I gather from this image that it is just a Y piece from both tank outlets to a single outlet that feed the engine, or is there some sort of line switching wizardry hidden? im just doing some research for a future project
thanks and i am looking forward to seeing the next lot of progress

[stirlsilver]

Hey mate loving your work like usual, i am curious as to how the two lpg tanks are mated together. I gather from this image that it is just a Y piece from both tank outlets to a single outlet that feed the engine, or is there some sort of line switching wizardry hidden? im just doing some research for a future project
thanks and i am looking forward to seeing the next lot of progress

Thank you very much DieSchnelleKafer for the comment! To connect two LPG tanks together you need what is called a hydrostatic valve. As I understand it, it is basically two non return valves (one for each tank). You can see it in the photo towards the front of the tray.

I had a bit of fun today, I changed the ignition map to the one ChimpOnGas gave me and boy oh boy does the car have some poke now!

https://youtu.be/SG7tId6VktA

I do have one problem though. Everytime the car goes into boost, I'm getting the coolant boiling, which I suspect is from the coolant lines that run over the turbo casings. When the turbo's get hot the coolant boils. I'm pretty sure it is due to a combination of the coolant system not pressurizing properly and incorrect placement of the electric auxillary coolant pump - I think it is too high and keeps getting an air lock.

The photo below shows the dry coolant over the air filter.
https://www.aulro.com/afvb/images/imported/2016/04/941.jpg

I think I might be ready to rip out the test engine and prepare the new one?!? The tune is definitely close enough now I think to safely run in the new engine.

[MR LR]

Have you checked the exhaust gas temp? May be running too lean with boost and getting hot that way... piston melty fun!

[stirlsilver]

Have you checked the exhaust gas temp? May be running too lean with boost and getting hot that way... piston melty fun!

I haven't checked the exhaust gas temperatures. However, I have a wide band exhaust oxygen sensor and I haven't noticed the mix leaning out. I'm pretty sure, I simply need to relocate the the electric coolant pump so that it does not run dry on me.

Ana helped me out again this weekend. We got into the interior of the car, because it was an utter mess.
https://www.aulro.com/afvb/images/imported/2016/04/942.jpg

Made a major difference having some of the interior put back in.
https://www.aulro.com/afvb/images/imported/2016/04/943.jpg

After having enough with the interior, I loaded on the latest version of the code into the ECU, I was particularly interested in the update because it allowed me to have a scale-able tacho output. So after setting it to 750% (7.5 times faster than the spark plug firing frequency) I got the needle to work and show the right RPM! Happy days!
https://www.aulro.com/afvb/images/imported/2016/04/944.jpg

The last thing that was necessary was another tuning run :D Some of the photos here appear in the video, just so you are aware.
https://www.aulro.com/afvb/images/imported/2016/04/945.jpg

https://youtu.be/c8yeT1pn8l4

On Wednesday I'm taking the car for a preliminary inspection with an engineer. If that is positive, I'll start pulling out the engine in the coming weekend to start work on the bonnet scoop and new engine. The home stretch!

[Davo]

Ahhh, it must be love . . . :wub: My wife, (while in fiancee mode), once spent a long time helping me tape up the Landie before spraypainting. Mind you, these days she would murder me on the spot if I contemplated painting the Rangie at the moment.

Anyway, though I'm sure you have a plan, I just wanted to mention that when I had the engine out of my Range Rover I put two layers of Dynamat Xtreme on the engine bay side of the bulkhead and one layer on the inside, covered with a layer of Dynaliner. Sooooperb is the only worthwhile description of how this keeps heat and noise out.

[Wicks89]

You have incredibly high standards compared to me, I would just call it done there and keep wearing the ear muffs!

Haha, awesome work

[stirlsilver]

Ahhh, it must be love . . . :wub: My wife, (while in fiancee mode), once spent a long time helping me tape up the Landie before spraypainting. Mind you, these days she would murder me on the spot if I contemplated painting the Rangie at the moment.

Anyway, though I'm sure you have a plan, I just wanted to mention that when I had the engine out of my Range Rover I put two layers of Dynamat Xtreme on the engine bay side of the bulkhead and one layer on the inside, covered with a layer of Dynaliner. Sooooperb is the only worthwhile description of how this keeps heat and noise out.

Believe it or not Ana was again helping me out today! I think she enjoys the challenge of it which is nice :) Thanks for the suggestion on the product, probably something I should have put in when I had the gearbox out! But I'll definitely look the product up when the engine comes out.


You have incredibly high standards compared to me, I would just call it done there and keep wearing the ear muffs!

Haha, awesome work

Thanks Wicks, my standards **** me off sometimes. I do wish I could call the project done, but I never can bring myself to actually do that!

This week I drove the car to the Engineers for the first inspection. Overall the engineer was pretty happy with what he saw. Although there was a lot of deliberation around the tow hitch I welded on. Particularly since it was a part I manufactured very early on when I was very much a hit or miss welder. But we found a way around that that didn't mean having to have the part completely re welded.

The biggest problem is the tyres, given that the discovery from the factory had ~29" tyres and I want to go to 35", that is very difficult since you are only allowed to go 50mm larger than standard. If we put the argument together that defenders and discoveries share the same axle (just with larger brakes), I could get the 50mm taken from the defender standard tyre size. But that only gets me to about 33"... So We'll need to see what can be done there. If anyone has any tips, or if they know if there were some land rovers that used the same early axles on cars with much taller tyres, that would be a great help!

During the inspection the car was weighed:
Front Axle 1,000Kg
Rear Axle 800Kg

So the car is currently weighing in at 1.8 tons! A lot more than I expected, and that was with the fuel tanks empty and no winches. I also need to be careful about the front axle because it is limited to 1,100Kg, so Pretty much the winch will go on and that will be about the load limit when 2 people are in the car!

When the car is finished it will need to go down to a test track for a lane change test at 100km/hr at the rated weight of the car, so I will need to decide how much carrying capacity I want in the tray between now and then.

I was also given a punch list which is as follows:
1. Red rear reflectors
2. Front ADR 6 complying blinkers either on bar or side or headlight surround.
3. Defender vented brake system installed with master cylinder if different.
4. Evidence that axle were even fitted to defender from factory and what tyre size they ran with offsets.
5. Holes drilled in tow bar lower plate for safety chain/s.
6. Blow off valves into air intake.
7. Lifted springs fitted, must keep top of headlight under 1200mm.
8. Labelled glazing installed.
9. Sunvisors
10. Snorkels fitted behind pillars from drivers line of sight.
11. Speedo calibration.
12. Inhibitor switch and illuminated gear indicator.
13. Rear number plate light, must see plate 45 degrees from above and side.
14. Inspection cover over flywheel.
15. Front brake hoses may need attention as to not get caught in coils?
16. When purchasing longer shocks, adjustable items may help stability lane change test.

Anyway, moving onto other items. I've now started the process of dismantling the engine to prepare the new one to go in. Ana helped me out again :)

https://www.aulro.com/afvb/images/imported/2016/05/907.jpg
https://www.aulro.com/afvb/images/imported/2016/05/908.jpg
https://www.aulro.com/afvb/images/imported/2016/05/909.jpg
https://www.aulro.com/afvb/images/imported/2016/05/910.jpg
https://www.aulro.com/afvb/images/imported/2016/05/911.jpg
https://www.aulro.com/afvb/images/imported/2016/05/912.jpg

[stirlsilver]

Oh and one thing I forgot, part way through pulling the engine apart, we were visited by Max, who is owned by the lady I rent the workshop from. I don't think I need to explain what is going on in the photo below ;)
https://www.aulro.com/afvb/images/imported/2016/05/913.jpg

[Homestar]

101's ran 900/16's as standard but convincing an Engineer that those axles were used in later vehicles may be a stretch... :D

Hope you sort something out there.

[disco_ute]

I had the same tyre issues with my engineering so i settled for 33"

LRA are engineering all the builds they do on 35" might be worth a vhar with Andrew and see how he does it.

[Davo]

I see you've got a York aircon compressor converted to pump air - I've got the same thing. Works extremely well.

[MR LR]

Plenty engineered with 35's in NSW...

Stefans D2 is probably the most engineered that I know of and very well documented. Treeve does his work.

[CU55TM Disco]

Ooooh, the N O I S E :D:D:D:D:D

[stirlsilver]

Plenty engineered with 35's in NSW...

Stefans D2 is probably the most engineered that I know of and very well documented. Treeve does his work.

I did a bit of a search and came across a video where Treeve was testing some defenders with 35" tyres. If forwarded them to my engineer to see if that will sway him. Thanks for the suggestion


Ooooh, the N O I S E :D:D:D:D:D

It is nice. Though pretty obnoxiously loud!

Anyway, just a quick update from my hotel room in Italy, I just arrived to go to a meeting tomorrow. I'll be back in Australia on Sunday night.

By the end of last weekend, the engine was basically completely prepped for removal. Just two bell housing bolts hold everything in place.

This is the benefit of running on LPG. Everything stays pretty clean!
https://www.aulro.com/afvb/images/imported/2016/05/914.jpg

My manifolds & dump pipes are well on their way to getting a healthy layer of corrosion. I think I'll resort to getting them ceramic coated, though I would like to find someone that will do it on the inside as well. If anyone has some suggestions, let me know!

https://www.aulro.com/afvb/images/imported/2016/05/915.jpg

https://www.aulro.com/afvb/images/imported/2016/05/916.jpg

https://www.aulro.com/afvb/images/imported/2016/05/917.jpg

https://www.aulro.com/afvb/images/imported/2016/05/918.jpg

Inlet manifold off, and after the photos below, the injectors were removed so that the manifold can be cleaned up.
https://www.aulro.com/afvb/images/imported/2016/05/919.jpg

https://www.aulro.com/afvb/images/imported/2016/05/920.jpg

Timing cover off. I had forgotten that this engine had a rollermaster timing chain and gear set.
https://www.aulro.com/afvb/images/imported/2016/05/921.jpg

This is something I definitely wasn't expecting to find. Some fairly deep gouges onto the oil pump plate, I had a look at the gears and they appear to be installed correctly, I wonder if they are on backwards? Or if it is simply due to the wider chain?
https://www.aulro.com/afvb/images/imported/2016/05/922.jpg

And this is where it was all left.
https://www.aulro.com/afvb/images/imported/2016/05/923.jpg

[stirlsilver]

Oh, by the way, I'm seriously considering grinding off all the hot water passages off the intake manifold and re-building something independent of the manifold to minimize heat transfer. Crazy idea?

[disco_ute]

I know of one other person that had the timing chain issue you have on a 3.9V8 turbo. And it caused a lot of damage to his turbo (all the fine metal). He had to go back to the standard single timing chain :(

[Davo]

That's well known with the Rollmaster chains. You just grind off what's in the way. It's easy to check with Blu Tack or similar. No need to use a single chain.

[stirlsilver]

Hello again everyone, time for another brief update.

So i've been doing some shopping... Turbo blankets, some Jaguar V12 engine mounts and a Davis Craig electric pump - which will hopefully be better than the chinese Bosch knock-off pump I tried before to circulate coolant through the turbo casings.
https://www.aulro.com/afvb/images/imported/2016/05/924.jpg

The engine was extracted.
https://www.aulro.com/afvb/images/imported/2016/05/925.jpg

Over the weekend Derrick swung by for a visit to do some work on his $300 Daihatsu Mira, which by the sounds of things is on a path to donning a turbo charger soon :twisted:

https://www.aulro.com/afvb/images/imported/2016/05/926.jpg

Some shots of the engine after the heads came off. A few cylinders leaking! That may or may not be a result of when I took the car for a drive with no boost control enabled... From memory I got to 20psi of boost or something like that. If anyone wants this block when I'm done, drop me a line.
https://www.aulro.com/afvb/images/imported/2016/05/927.jpg
https://www.aulro.com/afvb/images/imported/2016/05/928.jpg
https://www.aulro.com/afvb/images/imported/2016/05/929.jpg
https://www.aulro.com/afvb/images/imported/2016/05/930.jpg
https://www.aulro.com/afvb/images/imported/2016/05/931.jpg
https://www.aulro.com/afvb/images/imported/2016/05/932.jpg

And then I finished the day with some therapy. Cleaning the old timing cover and sump with oven cleaner. Came up pretty well I think! The sump... well, I got a little too carried away with the high strength oven cleaner and damaged the paint, I don't think I will worry about it though, the last place you find rust on a land rover is on the sump, thanks to the liberal coat of oil it gets over time!!

https://www.aulro.com/afvb/images/imported/2016/05/933.jpg
https://www.aulro.com/afvb/images/imported/2016/05/934.jpg

The cylinder heads are at the moment at an engine re-conditioner to be checked over, overhauled and put together with some higher rate valve springs. If all goes well, the cylinders will be bolted onto the new block this weekend! I'm keen to see what the new block looks like!

[stirlsilver]

More progress on some shiny bits!

Cylinder heads came back after being overhauled.
https://www.aulro.com/afvb/images/imported/2016/05/935.jpg

All the bits to get the heads bolted onto the block :D
https://www.aulro.com/afvb/images/imported/2016/05/936.jpg

The gaskets used were recommended by the guys at Triumph Rover Spares, as you can see it is a multi layer gasket which should hopefully hold up.
https://www.aulro.com/afvb/images/imported/2016/05/937.jpg

And the process of installing the studs, gaskets & heads. All going together pretty easily. I ended up torquing down the heads to 135Nm as per the stud kit instructions (about 100 lb-ft).
https://www.aulro.com/afvb/images/imported/2016/05/938.jpg

https://www.aulro.com/afvb/images/imported/2016/05/939.jpg

https://www.aulro.com/afvb/images/imported/2016/05/940.jpg

https://www.aulro.com/afvb/images/imported/2016/05/941.jpg

https://www.aulro.com/afvb/images/imported/2016/05/942.jpg

https://www.aulro.com/afvb/images/imported/2016/05/943.jpg

https://www.aulro.com/afvb/images/imported/2016/05/944.jpg

https://www.aulro.com/afvb/images/imported/2016/05/945.jpg

Next was cleaning up the rocker assemblies. The shafts didn't have all that much wear on them, but I bought some new shafts anyway. Below is how nicely the water based degreaser cleaned everything up. I quickly ran some 1200 grit sand paper through along the circumference of the rocker bores. I remember reading somewhere that this is important to sand back any embedded stainless steel in the aluminium and allow the shafts to last a little longer.
https://www.aulro.com/afvb/images/imported/2016/05/946.jpg

The rocker assemblies were put back together.
https://www.aulro.com/afvb/images/imported/2016/05/947.jpg

https://www.aulro.com/afvb/images/imported/2016/05/948.jpg

Next step is to check the hydraulic lifter pre-load, I ran out of time so that will be for another day.
https://www.aulro.com/afvb/images/imported/2016/05/949.jpg

In the mean time the exhaust manifolds and turbo dump pipes have been sent off for ceramic coating. I decided to go this way to reduce the corrosion of all the hand made parts. I really don't want to have to build them again... If I do, I will do it out of stainless next time!

[stirlsilver]

Hope no one got flooded with all the rain that went down the east coast this weekend!

I was busy trying to push on with this build.
After completing the rocker shafts it was on to shimming them to ensure I had the right hydraulic lifter clearance. RPi Engineering has excellent article on how to do it here:
RPi Engineering - Specialized Rover Engines - faqs (http://www.v8engines.com/faq-gen.htm)

I ended up needing to shim up the rocker shafts between 1.2 and 1.5mm from the heads to get the preload between 0.02" and 0.06". Some mig wire hit a couple of times was perfect as the 0.02" feeler. And a TIG filler rod served as the 0.06" feeler.
https://www.aulro.com/afvb/images/imported/2016/06/954.jpg

The full set completed and rocker assemblies torqued on.
https://www.aulro.com/afvb/images/imported/2016/06/955.jpg

Timing cover on.
https://www.aulro.com/afvb/images/imported/2016/06/956.jpg

https://www.aulro.com/afvb/images/imported/2016/06/957.jpg

For this engine I am using a timing cover from a 3.9L engine as it was all modified already to hold the York compressor, the large alternator and coil packs. The 4.0L crank is longer than the 3.9L so a bush is needed to hold the crank pulley in position.
https://www.aulro.com/afvb/images/imported/2016/06/958.jpg

https://www.aulro.com/afvb/images/imported/2016/06/959.jpg

Installing my home made cam position sensor with the right phasing to the crank position sensor.
https://www.aulro.com/afvb/images/imported/2016/06/960.jpg

https://www.aulro.com/afvb/images/imported/2016/06/961.jpg

Sump was put on. I opted to install it without a gasket and simply use a gasket compound. These engines notoriously leak from this area so I degreased everything in the hope that I can avoid any weeps later on (I'm not holding my breath though). And yes - I did fit the oil pickup line, in case you were wondering...
https://www.aulro.com/afvb/images/imported/2016/06/962.jpg

https://www.aulro.com/afvb/images/imported/2016/06/963.jpg

After giving the starter motor a light external clean up (trying to avoid getting any water and degreaser into it), it was bolted on.
https://www.aulro.com/afvb/images/imported/2016/06/964.jpg

The intake manifold was cleaned up. I pulled out the 8mm pipe fitting that was on the side. When some barbs arrive I'll drill out the hole to fit a 16mm barb for the LPG evaporator and then fit the 8mm barb onto the side which was the original cabin heater takeoff point.
https://www.aulro.com/afvb/images/imported/2016/06/965.jpg

I've decided to run two crank case breathers, so I'll be welding on a threaded nipple onto the oil filler point of the tappet cover and the photo below is the beginning of modifying the original crank breather. I'll hopefully be able to finish this when the threaded nipples arrive so that I can weld everything up.
https://www.aulro.com/afvb/images/imported/2016/06/966.jpg

Till next time!

[banarcus]

I see a Ford cam sync sensor there.

[stirlsilver]

I see a Ford cam sync sensor there.
Yup! Bottom half is a Rover distributor, top half is a Ford cam synchroniser :D

So there is plenty to report on this week!

Firstly, Christmas came early this year. Or at least, I paid for it to be early! Below are some of the items that came in.

Ashcroft CVs and heavy duty drive flanges:
https://www.aulro.com/afvb/images/imported/2016/06/967.jpg
https://www.aulro.com/afvb/images/imported/2016/06/968.jpg

Some larger defender front brake calipers and brake shoes:
https://www.aulro.com/afvb/images/imported/2016/06/969.jpg

Adjustable panhard rod and a set of wide angle and long yoke drive shafts:
https://www.aulro.com/afvb/images/imported/2016/06/970.jpg

Radiator hoses and some swivel housing rebuild kits:
https://www.aulro.com/afvb/images/imported/2016/06/971.jpg

The ceramic coated manifolds and dump pipes:
https://www.aulro.com/afvb/images/imported/2016/06/972.jpg

As for progress, I finished with the rocker cover breathers. An AN12 fitting on each side, aluminium on one and stainless on the other. You can see how I cut down the original breather down.
https://www.aulro.com/afvb/images/imported/2016/06/973.jpg

I ended up tapping a larger thread into the intake manifold to fit a 3/8"NPT threaded fitting for the hot water takeoff for the LPG evaporator. I actually stuffed up the first time round because the tap filled up with aluminium and ended up destroying the thread as it went. So I had to weld it up and start again... Got there in the end though.
https://www.aulro.com/afvb/images/imported/2016/06/974.jpg

https://www.aulro.com/afvb/images/imported/2016/06/975.jpg

Lots of care was taken with applying sealant over the rocker cover gasket, and then bolting the intake manifold on:
https://www.aulro.com/afvb/images/imported/2016/06/976.jpg

Fitted the Jag V12 engine mounts on. Below you can see the size difference and also how I wrapped the mounts with fibreglass insulating wrap to prevent the rubber being damaged by the heat from the exhaust system:
https://www.aulro.com/afvb/images/imported/2016/06/977.jpg

https://www.aulro.com/afvb/images/imported/2016/06/978.jpg

Next up was modifying the coolant line for the LPG evaporator return. I decided to only run a short way with hard line so I can at least remove the intake manifold without having a clash with the steel pipe. I also re-used the old NPT vent plug housing to allow me to connect the cabin heater if I want to. (The heater was disconnected when I got the car, so I suspect it leaks?)
https://www.aulro.com/afvb/images/imported/2016/06/979.jpg

https://www.aulro.com/afvb/images/imported/2016/06/980.jpg

https://www.aulro.com/afvb/images/imported/2016/06/981.jpg

More brackets going on:
https://www.aulro.com/afvb/images/imported/2016/06/982.jpg

Right hand turbo assembly put on temporarily to ensure everything was fitting the way it should:
https://www.aulro.com/afvb/images/imported/2016/06/983.jpg

https://www.aulro.com/afvb/images/imported/2016/06/984.jpg

My lovely assistant Ana, helped me out for a bit with putting on the intake trumpet assembly onto the engine. You will see the heat insulator going on which I designed:
https://www.aulro.com/afvb/images/imported/2016/06/985.jpg

https://www.aulro.com/afvb/images/imported/2016/06/986.jpg

I gave the York compressor a bit of a scrub with some degreaser and masked it up to give it a new coat of paint. Not sure how long it will hold though. Below is the primer coat:
https://www.aulro.com/afvb/images/imported/2016/06/987.jpg

I've got to remember to take a photo BEFORE turning off the lights. Anyway, this is where it is all at:
https://www.aulro.com/afvb/images/imported/2016/06/988.jpg

Phew!

[MR LR]

I like the shiny bits :D and the extractors came up great!

But before you bolt it all together... I'd honestly suggest taking back anything with Britpart written on it and replacing it with OEM/Genuine.

For all the years of research, development and hard labour you've put into this machine, the last thing you want to be doing is using rubbish parts for important jobs.

[CU55TM Disco]

I saw those blue boxes too Will, I was hoping they were only the swivel hub kits.

[Davo]

I've had Britpart bits on an axle . . . they made the usual leaks look natural by comparison.

[stirlsilver]

This last week hasn't been particularly productive as Thursday-Friday I was in Melbourne again and now I am in Austria to attend a meeting.

With regards to the Britpart stuff. Yes I know they are lower quality, but I have now poured so much cash into this project that I need to try and be economical where I can. I think to date I've spent about $60,000 on this project alone, particularly because I have to rent a workshop for it. So it is all really starting to pinch.

When I was placing the seal kit order I was deliberating between the OEM and the Britpart prices and I chose Britpart because this isn't going to be a daily driver. It will be the occasional weekend car which will probably do 1,000Km per year. That being said, I'll take your advice and look into it again and see how I go.

With what I was able to get done:

The LPG injectors were mounted. I'm going to have to pull them off again however so that I can remove the rocker covers to drill and tap the holes to hold the pipe clams in location.
https://www.aulro.com/afvb/images/imported/2016/06/989.jpg

The York compressor was finish coated and mounted.
https://www.aulro.com/afvb/images/imported/2016/06/990.jpg

Where it is all at.
https://www.aulro.com/afvb/images/imported/2016/06/991.jpg

[DieSchnelleKafer]

Mate your attention to detail is superb. i love how you have still managed to keep the top of the engine clean whilst still incorporating the lpg injectors. You should definitely upload more videos to youtube once its running again, the sound of that v8 spooling down the road is killer.

[stirlsilver]

Mate your attention to detail is superb. i love how you have still managed to keep the top of the engine clean whilst still incorporating the lpg injectors. You should definitely upload more videos to youtube once its running again, the sound of that v8 spooling down the road is killer.
Thanks for the comment :) I'll definitely post up some more videos soon!

I only spent one night on the project this week. I didn't get back until the weekend from Austria, Thursday I am in Melbourne and then over the weekend I am in QLD visiting family. Weekend after that and my 3 week holiday in Japan starts, so it's not going to be a productive few weeks!

Anyway, moving on.

Some more parts came in such as another set of swivel kits (british this time) and some adhesive thermal insulation. Also a high flow thermostat which is set to 77degC. Should definitely help to keep the engine cool enough.
https://www.aulro.com/afvb/images/imported/2016/06/992.jpg

The RH turbo inlet duct was trial fitted on. Next thing I need to do here is run a connection from the duct to the suction side of the compressor. First I need to figure out how to do the adaptor onto the compressor fittings!
https://www.aulro.com/afvb/images/imported/2016/06/993.jpg

The line between the LPG evaporator and filter was mounted. I'm very happy with the way this turned out actually, nothing will rub here!
https://www.aulro.com/afvb/images/imported/2016/06/994.jpg

The LH turbo inlet duct needs a bracket made for it, but I've decided to do that when it is in the car, because I'm not sure if I will make my life difficult if I get the position wrong! Also the plenum/intercooler assembly was put on again. This is after I had to re-tap the NPT fittings which had shrunk to properly install the air temperature sensor.
https://www.aulro.com/afvb/images/imported/2016/06/995.jpg

A few more shots on how it all comes together. I was lucky to get away with being able to fit the 2" inlet duct between the RH turbo and the intercooler!
https://www.aulro.com/afvb/images/imported/2016/06/996.jpg

https://www.aulro.com/afvb/images/imported/2016/06/997.jpg

https://www.aulro.com/afvb/images/imported/2016/06/998.jpg

Finally the oil lines for the turbos were mounted. I'm pretty happy with the way they ended up also, I had to drill and tap one hole into the block to get the P clip you see on the side. I don't think there will be any problems with cracking of the lines with this mounting. But we will have to see.
https://www.aulro.com/afvb/images/imported/2016/06/999.jpg

https://www.aulro.com/afvb/images/imported/2016/06/1000.jpg

Next up, the alternator has to go on after I clean it. And then I need to rebuild and slot the swivels on the front axle. Then it can all go back together.

Till next time.

[stirlsilver]

Hello again everyone, I'm back from the 20 day holiday in Japan with Ana. It was a great trip and a much needed break. Today I managed to spend a few hours in the workshop before getting back into work tomorrow...

The main objective was getting the brackets that support the ends of the intercooler cores made up. I ended up electing to make some brackets out of thin angle aluminium that connect the intercoolers to the rocker covers.

First up, tapping M6 threads into the cast in holes that were already existing on the rocker covers. Amazingly the holes lined up perfectly with where I needed them.
https://www.aulro.com/afvb/images/imported/2016/07/1117.jpg

One side tapped with the M6 bolts trial fitted (the lengths of the bolts were trimmed down later).
https://www.aulro.com/afvb/images/imported/2016/07/1118.jpg

Forming up the bracket between the two points.
https://www.aulro.com/afvb/images/imported/2016/07/1119.jpg

One bracket done, 3 to go.
https://www.aulro.com/afvb/images/imported/2016/07/1120.jpg

All brackets finished.
https://www.aulro.com/afvb/images/imported/2016/07/1121.jpg

https://www.aulro.com/afvb/images/imported/2016/07/1122.jpg

Next up, the rocker covers were pulled off to allow me to tap threads for studs to bolt down the P clamp to hold the LPG lines in position.
https://www.aulro.com/afvb/images/imported/2016/07/1123.jpg

The alternator was cleaned up and the belt fitted.
https://www.aulro.com/afvb/images/imported/2016/07/1124.jpg

There are lots of small miscellaneous bits and pieces yet to do, but I think I can now move onto installing the engine into the car! Which means I need to get the radiator done... and the scoop... and slotting the swivels. A number of weeks yet to go!

Stay tuned.

[stirlsilver]

Another weekend down and another late night update.

With Ana's help, we got the engine into the car after hoisting it up and fitting the flex plate.
https://www.aulro.com/afvb/images/imported/2016/08/1175.jpg

https://www.aulro.com/afvb/images/imported/2016/08/1176.jpg

https://www.aulro.com/afvb/images/imported/2016/08/1177.jpg

https://www.aulro.com/afvb/images/imported/2016/08/1178.jpg

I may have been a little bit happy.
https://www.aulro.com/afvb/images/imported/2016/08/1179.jpg

Once the engine was in and bolted up, we moved onto insulating the intercooler assembly using some adhesive high temperature reflective insulation.
https://www.aulro.com/afvb/images/imported/2016/08/1180.jpg

https://www.aulro.com/afvb/images/imported/2016/08/1181.jpg

https://www.aulro.com/afvb/images/imported/2016/08/1182.jpg

https://www.aulro.com/afvb/images/imported/2016/08/1183.jpg

Then it was on to the manifolds with some help from my mate Will who dropped by for a visit.
https://www.aulro.com/afvb/images/imported/2016/08/1184.jpg

https://www.aulro.com/afvb/images/imported/2016/08/1185.jpg

And some of the wiring and plumbing, it's still a bit messy, but should get neater as I go along and finish all the bits and pieces.
https://www.aulro.com/afvb/images/imported/2016/08/1186.jpg

https://www.aulro.com/afvb/images/imported/2016/08/1187.jpg

https://www.aulro.com/afvb/images/imported/2016/08/1188.jpg

I'm aiming to get the radiator re cored this week. Hopefully that can happen!

Till next time!

[Epic_Dragon]

i have just spent a little bit catching up on your build! wow what a beast!! cannot wait to see a video of it running with the new engine! great to see a fellow lady who loves to be in the shed working on cars too! :)
love how clean and how important al the little details are throughout your project too. it is really awesome!

[stirlsilver]

i have just spent a little bit catching up on your build! wow what a beast!! cannot wait to see a video of it running with the new engine! great to see a fellow lady who loves to be in the shed working on cars too! :)
love how clean and how important al the little details are throughout your project too. it is really awesome!

Thank you very much! Definitely on the home stretch now, so it should be getting fired up real soon!

So as usual, the next round of updates. Through the week I finished all the primary high current wiring from the alternator via the starter motor and then to the battery. I used 0G wire as that is what was required for the 150A alternator. I probably went overboard, but anyway...
https://www.aulro.com/afvb/images/imported/2016/08/1189.jpg

https://www.aulro.com/afvb/images/imported/2016/08/1190.jpg

https://www.aulro.com/afvb/images/imported/2016/08/1191.jpg

Also, I finally go the stainless steel parts in for the throttle linkage. So I could finally throw away the carbon steel mock up and fold up the final part. It looks a little patchy because of the pickling I did, but it should all even up over time.

https://www.aulro.com/afvb/images/imported/2016/08/1192.jpg

Finally, on Saturday, Ana came out and helped me out again. This time to remove and prep all the swivel hubs on the front axle.

https://www.aulro.com/afvb/images/imported/2016/08/1193.jpg

https://www.aulro.com/afvb/images/imported/2016/08/1194.jpg

https://www.aulro.com/afvb/images/imported/2016/08/1195.jpg

At one point, Ana was too tempted by the sun, so she took the opportunity to lie down for a bit in the sun while the parts dried.
https://www.aulro.com/afvb/images/imported/2016/08/1196.jpg

Anyway, one pretty major problem came up. I did a check with the Ashcroft CVs that I bought. It looks like I have ordered the WRONG CV's. Somehow I ended up with the early type CVs (CVE) when I should have ordered the LATE type (CVL)... I can't understand how I stuffed up given that I ordered all the right seals and bearings. Anyway, I'm going to have to call around to see if I can do a swap for a CVL set of CVs. Or send them back to the UK, but that will be a lot of $$s in freight!

Anyway, lets see how things pan out.

[stirlsilver]

Righto another update!

I had to make up a bracket to mount the speedo sensor which is mounted part way along the speedo cable. I'll be hooking the signal into the ECU later so that I can use that signal to turn off the fans on the intercoolers at high speed. I should have positioned the transmitter a bit further down because there is a bit of a tight bend in the speedo cable.

https://www.aulro.com/afvb/images/imported/2016/08/1197.jpg

https://www.aulro.com/afvb/images/imported/2016/08/1198.jpg

I went to Riverstone radiators and I got a 2 bar redback core put into a later model discovery radiator I had. There was an option of going for a 3 bar standard core but on discussing the options with Matt he recommended the redback cores as being superior, though because of the smaller passages they could be little more prone to blocking with mud. So I'll need to keep an eye on that. When I picked up the core, I got talking to Matt and found out that he races the crazy fast speed boats with 5.7L supercharged V8's. His team is Tattoo 666 and they are very successful in competition.

Old radiator vs new radiator. Oh, I also got a couple of take off points to allow me to take coolant for the turbo cooling and return it back to the radiator.
https://www.aulro.com/afvb/images/imported/2016/08/1199.jpg

The radiator in. I realised that the thicker tanks of this radiator (compared to the one I was using for testing in the photo above) caused fouling with my air filters so I'll need to do some trimming to make the air filter housings fit.
https://www.aulro.com/afvb/images/imported/2016/08/1200.jpg

I primed the engine oil pump, I had read that for the crank driven oil pumps all you needed to do was throw oil and crank the engine to get oil to flow. Not quite in my case! I had to feed oil into the pump in reverse to prime. Anyway, I got there in the end and I got it to the point where oil gushed out of the turbo oil feed lines just on cranking.
https://www.aulro.com/afvb/images/imported/2016/08/1201.jpg

The NGK plugs I ordered ended up coming in. I went for two heat ranges colder than standard for the Rover 4.0L (one for being LPG and another for being turbo). These plugs (PFR7G-11) were a little different to what was on the engine!
https://www.aulro.com/afvb/images/imported/2016/08/1202.jpg

Finally, the manifolds were put on, turbos fitted and they were all wrapped up snuggly in their blankets
https://www.aulro.com/afvb/images/imported/2016/08/1203.jpg

https://www.aulro.com/afvb/images/imported/2016/08/1204.jpg

That's as far as I got this week. On Tuesday I am off to the USA for a meeting so that will be all the progress until I get back on Tuesday the following week.

Till then!

[DieSchnelleKafer]

Enjoying the photos as usual. What was the thinking behind platinum plugs? I was recommended iridium NGK units set to 0.8mm for my LPG conversion. They are now what i am running in my disco. also, do you plan on ladder taping the down pipes to further reduce engine bay temperature?

[stirlsilver]

Enjoying the photos as usual. What was the thinking behind platinum plugs? I was recommended iridium NGK units set to 0.8mm for my LPG conversion. They are now what i am running in my disco. also, do you plan on ladder taping the down pipes to further reduce engine bay temperature?

I didn't actually put all that much thought into the plug selection, aside from doing some research on the heat range of the plugs. Basically, I just went to the NGK website and looked up what the recommended plugs were for the 4.0 V8, and they ended up being platinum's. Was a little tricky to source them with the heat range I needed though!

Anyway, back from the USA, finished moving to another suburb and managed to squeeze in some time in the shop.

A bit of effort went into making up the connection for the suction port of the air compressor. Ended up being rather tricky to do, but I got there in the end!
https://www.aulro.com/afvb/images/imported/2016/09/1168.jpg

https://www.aulro.com/afvb/images/imported/2016/09/1169.jpg

https://www.aulro.com/afvb/images/imported/2016/09/1170.jpg

https://www.aulro.com/afvb/images/imported/2016/09/1171.jpg

https://www.aulro.com/afvb/images/imported/2016/09/1172.jpg

Then I have been working on the coolant circuit for the turbos. I mounted the electric water pump underneath the radiator (a nice gap was created by lifting the radiator with the body lift kit. In the photo below you can see the pipe running from the tank on the radiator underneath.
https://www.aulro.com/afvb/images/imported/2016/09/1173.jpg

The bending of the pipes was a real PITA, but I eventually got there.
https://www.aulro.com/afvb/images/imported/2016/09/1174.jpg

https://www.aulro.com/afvb/images/imported/2016/09/1175.jpg

Hopefully by the end of this weekend the pipes will be finished up and mounted!

[LRCounty]

Hats off to you Stirling.
I did a full engine rebuild (top hat liners) and later installed an MS1 with all new hand made wiring harness, EDIS 8, and injection, with a BLOS carb installed for LPG. Just doing that drove me a bit crazy. You have fantastic patience.

A couple of ideas. I'm no expert, and these are from personal stuff ups and suggestions from others that turned out to be worth listening to. Your attention to detail suggests most would have already been considered/addressed.

- make sure your route for the MAP hose to the MS3 has no chance of the hose being kinked or pressed/crushed in any way, hence stopping the real Manifold pressure being read by the MS. Personal experience here.

- after trying a few sealants for the sump, I was told about Permatex The Right Stuff. Never looked back and never had another sump leak.

- I noticed Ana being generous with sealant before bolting the trumpets on :) Someone suggested Loctite 515 flange sealant to me, to prevent so much beading of sealant on the inside of the trumpets. It works a treat.

- might be worth running water wetter in your coolant to help prevent localised boiling when the turbos are on song.

- After installing the same thermostat as you have bought, and also putting in a custom built Aluminium radiator, my coolant temp did not respond as positively as expected. Long story short, with my combination of high flow thermostat and super awesome radiator, the coolant seemed to be travelling through the radiator too quickly, and therefore not spending enough time in there to cool down. The installation of a Tefba coolant filter restricted the flow enough to keep everything happy, even at 46 degrees ambient temp driving across the Nullarbor.

- After your scoop fabrication, it would be interesting to measure the under bonnet air pressure with a Magnehelic meter (is that the right instrument?) to check that the pressure differential is enough at different speeds for the radiator and inter coolers to work effectively.

- And just because I saw the rocker shaft post. The oil holes are pointing down toward the cam? A long investigation of oil light flickering at idle on my previous 110 V8 was solved by pointing the oil holes in the rocker shaft in the right direction :)

Well done mate. Impressive project.

Cheers
Andre

[stirlsilver]

Hats off to you Stirling.
I did a full engine rebuild (top hat liners) and later installed an MS1 with all new hand made wiring harness, EDIS 8, and injection, with a BLOS carb installed for LPG. Just doing that drove me a bit crazy. You have fantastic patience.

Thanks Andre, Sometimes I wish I wasn't so patient!!



A couple of ideas. I'm no expert, and these are from personal stuff ups and suggestions from others that turned out to be worth listening to. Your attention to detail suggests most would have already been considered/addressed.

- make sure your route for the MAP hose to the MS3 has no chance of the hose being kinked or pressed/crushed in any way, hence stopping the real Manifold pressure being read by the MS. Personal experience here.
That would be pretty devistating, especially on a turbo motor leaning out!




- after trying a few sealants for the sump, I was told about Permatex The Right Stuff. Never looked back and never had another sump leak.
Thanks for the suggestion! I'll keep it in mind if I need to pull the sump off!! Which I hope I don't!




- I noticed Ana being generous with sealant before bolting the trumpets on :) Someone suggested Loctite 515 flange sealant to me, to prevent so much beading of sealant on the inside of the trumpets. It works a treat.
Good pick, actually after we put the assembly together I ran a screw driver internally to scrape up a lot of the excesses. Loctite 515 would have definitely been faster!




- might be worth running water wetter in your coolant to help prevent localised boiling when the turbos are on song.
This is an interesting idea. However I did a little research about water wetter and it seems to get mixed results, it seems that while it does reduce localised boiling, it reduces the overall heat capacity of water, making the system run hotter overall?




- After installing the same thermostat as you have bought, and also putting in a custom built Aluminium radiator, my coolant temp did not respond as positively as expected. Long story short, with my combination of high flow thermostat and super awesome radiator, the coolant seemed to be travelling through the radiator too quickly, and therefore not spending enough time in there to cool down. The installation of a Tefba coolant filter restricted the flow enough to keep everything happy, even at 46 degrees ambient temp driving across the Nullarbor.
Good to know! This is something I hadn't considered. Let's see how the temperatures are when it is running.




- After your scoop fabrication, it would be interesting to measure the under bonnet air pressure with a Magnehelic meter (is that the right instrument?) to check that the pressure differential is enough at different speeds for the radiator and inter coolers to work effectively.
Yes, a Magnehelic gauges is correct. While it isn't as much of an issue for me due to the pusher fan arrangement, I will experiment programming megasquirt to shut down the fans at a speed greater than say 80km/hr. Having a gauge like you suggest for testing would be ideal to determine the pressure produced by the scoop though.




- And just because I saw the rocker shaft post. The oil holes are pointing down toward the cam? A long investigation of oil light flickering at idle on my previous 110 V8 was solved by pointing the oil holes in the rocker shaft in the right direction :)
Yes, triple checked that, they are pointing down.




Well done mate. Impressive project.

Cheers
Andre
Thank you very much! and I very much appreciate the input.

[stirlsilver]

Okay, time for some more pictures. Judging by my Photobucket account, i'm now up to 1,400 photos!!

After getting the swivel ball holes slotted by 4deg, I was on my merry way to overhauling the front stub shafts, hubs, swivels and installing the Ashcroft CVL CVs. All was going well until I realised that I had forgotten to buy brake discs.
https://www.aulro.com/afvb/images/imported/2016/09/1176.jpg

https://www.aulro.com/afvb/images/imported/2016/09/1177.jpg

Oh by the way, I ended up going with Timken wheel bearings in the end.

I ended up finishing off the hard lines for the turbo coolant hoses. In the end I was pretty happy with the result. Except I scratched a lot of the paint off in the process of re-installing them...
https://www.aulro.com/afvb/images/imported/2016/09/1178.jpg

https://www.aulro.com/afvb/images/imported/2016/09/1179.jpg

https://www.aulro.com/afvb/images/imported/2016/09/1180.jpg

Oh, and this is a bad photo of where the electric water pump is. Under the radiator drawing water from the cold tank on the radiator and sending it to both turbos.
https://www.aulro.com/afvb/images/imported/2016/09/1181.jpg

Finally, on the nights I wasn't in the workshop, I raided the dinner table and got on with some modifications to the ECU. I added a couple of extra inputs which I intend to use to pick up the air temperatures upstream of the intercoolers. I also added a bluetooth module into the case to allow me to hook into it without a USB cable and finally there were some minor wiring changes.
https://www.aulro.com/afvb/images/imported/2016/09/1182.jpg

That's it for tonight!

[debruiser]

Did I just read that right, you are re-wiring your ECU????????

Mind


Blown.....


wowzers... I thought I was doing well just wiring my 200tdi up... hats off to you, I wish I had the knowhow to build something as awesome as this.

[disco2hse]

Maaate, he built it!

[debruiser]

Maaate, he built it!

NO way.... built a ECU from scratch???? I have flicked through the thread... very impressive but I must have missed the post where he MADE an ECU!

Mind...

Blown.....

Completely....


Stirlsilver, your a legend. I'm not even worthy to comment on this thread

[stirlsilver]

Guys, thanks for the compliments but I probably should clarify. I didn't build the ECU. The ECU is a Megasquirt 3 which is a sort of DIY ECU which you can open up and modify to suit your needs.

I did make a few things though, I had to create a module using a variety of pieces to drive the Injectors and I also needed to add another module to allow me to pick up some extra sensors (because I ran out of sensor inputs!). There were also some other modifications here and there, including the programming and installing of a small bluetooth chip onto the board as well.

Anyway, that's it for me. Till the next progress update. I should get some slotted and dimpled brake disks tomorrow!

[stirlsilver]

Hello again everyone. With interstate travel during the week and only being able to spend a few hours on this project on Saturday this is a pretty short update.

With the brake disks arriving I got straight into finishing the hubs.

It was nice to get some more use out of my dial gauge that had been sitting in a box for ages. I was checking the bearing preload which took quite a lot of fiddling to get right.
https://www.aulro.com/afvb/images/imported/2016/09/1183.jpg

Here is the whole overhauled hubs. Complete with Ashcroft CVs, High Tuff drive shafts, heavy duty drive flanges, slotted & dimpled discs and the larger defender brake calipers. Hopefully I won't have any issues with stopping on 35s now!
https://www.aulro.com/afvb/images/imported/2016/09/1184.jpg

https://www.aulro.com/afvb/images/imported/2016/09/1185.jpg

This gives a bit of an idea of the calliper size difference between the discovery and defender.
https://www.aulro.com/afvb/images/imported/2016/09/1186.jpg

And that's it! I'm off to Queensland tomorrow so no progress next week!

[Hulliemam]

I have been following this tread for at least half a year and the level of detail (and your patience haha) still amazes me! I check the tread for updates at least a couple a times a week, and I signed up at aulro just for a reply here:D. Also I am living in The Netherlands so your work is appreciated worldwide!

I especially like the engine/turbo/LPG work! The LPG tanks in the trayback is a very neat solution. My Rangie runs on LPG aswel and I am thinking about fitting MegaSquirt to it. (wen I can afford it:ninja:)


- And just because I saw the rocker shaft post. The oil holes are pointing down toward the cam? A long investigation of oil light flickering at idle on my previous 110 V8 was solved by pointing the oil holes in the rocker shaft in the right direction :)
My 83? Range Rover Classic has a flickering oil light at idle wen hot. I know the last owner had worked on the engine as it had a lot of spare parts in the back and the engine had some lose ends to fix wen I bought it. So I red this post and I am pretty sure my rocker shaft is the wrong way around! Going to fix this asap so thank you for mentioning it! I think this saves me alot of time searching!

Keep up the good work!
Rob

[stirlsilver]

Hello again everyone, I am alive! Looking now it has been over a month since I posted last. In that time I have been doing bits an pieces continuing with the project, but times have been disruptive. The latest disruption being a week long trip to Oman which I got back from last Tuesday, and now I am in Melbourne for less than 24 hours. Anyway, such is life.


I have been following this tread for at least half a year and the level of detail (and your patience haha) still amazes me! I check the tread for updates at least a couple a times a week, and I signed up at aulro just for a reply here:D. Also I am living in The Netherlands so your work is appreciated worldwide!

I especially like the engine/turbo/LPG work! The LPG tanks in the trayback is a very neat solution. My Rangie runs on LPG aswel and I am thinking about fitting MegaSquirt to it. (wen I can afford it:ninja:)

My 83? Range Rover Classic has a flickering oil light at idle wen hot. I know the last owner had worked on the engine as it had a lot of spare parts in the back and the engine had some lose ends to fix wen I bought it. So I red this post and I am pretty sure my rocker shaft is the wrong way around! Going to fix this asap so thank you for mentioning it! I think this saves me alot of time searching!

Keep up the good work!
Rob

Welkom Rob! Thanks for the message and the feed back. I'm almost at the end and gradually getting there! As for the flickering oil light, it could also be a worn oil pump or a sticking pressure regulator. So you may want to check all 3 areas. If you need any advice on your Megasquirt install feel free to drop me a message, i'm happy to try and help.

Right, so what have I been up to.

I had to spend HEAPS of time troubleshooting a communication fault I was getting from one of the modules I fitted on the ECU. Below is a photo of one of the many nights I had everything apart trying to work out what was going wrong. In the end it ended up being that one of the boards I had purchased had one component that was partially soldered on!! So glad to have gotten to the bottom of that because I was nearly loosing hope.
https://www.aulro.com/afvb/images/imported/2016/10/847.jpg

The rest of the time I was in the workshop doing things that really weren't worth reporting. Fitting hoses, doing some re-wiring and so on. But this weekend, there was some progress, the intake manifold went on, and with plenty of complaining Ana and myself we managed to get those little struts that support the weight of the intercoolers onto the rocker covers. Did I mention that this engine is going to be a NIGHTMARE for maintenance?? Oh well!
https://www.aulro.com/afvb/images/imported/2016/10/848.jpg

https://www.aulro.com/afvb/images/imported/2016/10/849.jpg

https://www.aulro.com/afvb/images/imported/2016/10/850.jpg

You will also see that basically everything is now in the engine bay. I'm very close to firing it up, but I need to bleed brakes, add fluids, fit the new drive shafts, finalise some more of the intake ductwork and I may also mount the winch on the front while I am at it. Then I'll need to find some way to bed in the engine, I'll need to think creatively there.

Here is Ana cutting the 86mm hole into the RH guard to prepare to fit the RH snorkel.
https://www.aulro.com/afvb/images/imported/2016/10/851.jpg

https://www.aulro.com/afvb/images/imported/2016/10/852.jpg

Derrick was also with us in the workshop today. He is in the process of bolting a supercharger onto his Daihatsu Mira, while he was there to took a couple of snaps while we were fitting the coolant bottle. Catching me with my eyes closed.

https://www.aulro.com/afvb/images/imported/2016/10/853.jpg

https://www.aulro.com/afvb/images/imported/2016/10/854.jpg

And that's it! Hopefully i'll get a chance to do some more work next Sunday if all goes well.

[Corgie Carrier]

Great work, mate

Be careful with those black coolant bottles as they have a habit of splitting along the seam. The white ones are the ones to get, or with your talent you could make a cool Ali bottle to match all the other cool stuff in the engine bay. :-)

Waiting with baited breath for the fire up of this monster :-) :-)


Sent from my WL-101GQC using AULRO mobile app

[Davo]

Stirling, you globe-trotting marvel, lovely work as usual. Just two points and two questions:

The Tefba filter mentioned above is not only very good a catching a surprising amount of unexpected rubbish, but being so high it's a perfect place to fill the cooling system and it also makes it very easy to "burp" out air by squeezing the lower hose. As well, the other day I had a weird problem where the reservoir coolant level, (this is on my Rangie, with the older metal type of reservoir from the '70s and '80s), was too high and the radiator was too low. The Tefba allowed me to find out that the top radiator hose was actually empty, which I wouldn't have been able to check otherwise. (I think the problem was an old cracked o-ring on the radiator filler plug, by the way.) Anyway, I can't recommend the Tefba enough.

The other thing is that I've been doing some "highly sophisticated" air flow tests with the engine running and sticks of smokey incense. I've got a viscous clutch fan and found that air was actually being pushed out under the LH side of the radiator and being sucked back in. (You know how there's that big gap betwixt radiator and front cross member.) I've covered it up, but I also found that there are some other weird things the air does around there and with the monster you've created you might need to tidy up the details up front. Both Rangies and Discos appear to have similar air flow where not as much air goes into the radiator as you'd expect, and the crowded engine bays are a disaster as far as the low-pressure and outward air flow you need in that area is concerned.

Finally, do you have a part number for the radiator core? I actually called Redback about it and they only had measurements, which I thought was strange.

And did you have any trouble mounting the front calipers? There was a thread or two on here a few years ago about it, and apparently the bolt size or spacing was a bit off and the calipers could move slightly.

[stirlsilver]

Be careful with those black coolant bottles as they have a habit of splitting along the seam. The white ones are the ones to get, or with your talent you could make a cool Ali bottle to match all the other cool stuff in the engine bay. :-)


Thanks for the heads up! I have a white one that I pulled from the discovery I wrecked but it must have sat exposed to the sun for over a year so I wasn't too confident in it. I'll definitely keep an eye out for any splitting.


The Tefba filter mentioned above is not only very good a catching a surprising amount of unexpected rubbish, but being so high it's a perfect place to fill the cooling system and it also makes it very easy to "burp" out air by squeezing the lower hose. As well, the other day I had a weird problem where the reservoir coolant level, (this is on my Rangie, with the older metal type of reservoir from the '70s and '80s), was too high and the radiator was too low. The Tefba allowed me to find out that the top radiator hose was actually empty, which I wouldn't have been able to check otherwise. (I think the problem was an old cracked o-ring on the radiator filler plug, by the way.) Anyway, I can't recommend the Tefba enough.
Thanks for the tip! It could be a good option a little later down the track.


The other thing is that I've been doing some "highly sophisticated" air flow tests with the engine running and sticks of smokey incense. I've got a viscous clutch fan and found that air was actually being pushed out under the LH side of the radiator and being sucked back in. (You know how there's that big gap betwixt radiator and front cross member.) I've covered it up, but I also found that there are some other weird things the air does around there and with the monster you've created you might need to tidy up the details up front. Both Rangies and Discos appear to have similar air flow where not as much air goes into the radiator as you'd expect, and the crowded engine bays are a disaster as far as the low-pressure and outward air flow you need in that area is concerned.
Interesting observation, it sounds similar to something I found on the intercooler fans where the air was recirculating out the edge of the fan blades and back in. I'm actually using the Ford falcon thermo fans (I think) and I could do a similar test as I did in one of my videos with a cotton thread and see if I find something similar to what you find.


Finally, do you have a part number for the radiator core? I actually called Redback about it and they only had measurements, which I thought was strange.
The radiator shop (riverstone radiators) I used bought a length of core from Redback and then welded it onto the discovery tanks. Redback doesn't sell a complete radiator.


And did you have any trouble mounting the front calipers? There was a thread or two on here a few years ago about it, and apparently the bolt size or spacing was a bit off and the calipers could move slightly.
No, the 130 defender calipers bolted straight on. The only thing you need to choose is whether to go vented or non vented. I went non vented since they don't plug with mud and are more resistant to warping.

Ok for the update... I was hoping to be able to report that I started the engine... But it didn't happen, here is what I got done.

I finished hooking up the air filters with some decent spiral wound ducting and reinstalled the ducts between the turbos and throttle bodies.

https://www.aulro.com/afvb/images/imported/2016/11/985.jpg

https://www.aulro.com/afvb/images/imported/2016/11/986.jpg

https://www.aulro.com/afvb/images/imported/2016/11/987.jpg

https://www.aulro.com/afvb/images/imported/2016/11/988.jpg

https://www.aulro.com/afvb/images/imported/2016/11/989.jpg

Then I moved onto making up the 2" to 3" transitions that the snorkels will ultimately connect onto.

https://www.aulro.com/afvb/images/imported/2016/11/990.jpg

https://www.aulro.com/afvb/images/imported/2016/11/991.jpg

https://www.aulro.com/afvb/images/imported/2016/11/992.jpg

https://www.aulro.com/afvb/images/imported/2016/11/993.jpg

Yes, I know the flexible ducting is a bit too long, I'll fix it later.
https://www.aulro.com/afvb/images/imported/2016/11/994.jpg

https://www.aulro.com/afvb/images/imported/2016/11/995.jpg

https://www.aulro.com/afvb/images/imported/2016/11/996.jpg

This coming weekend it's Ana's birthday and I bought her a flying lesson (which she is freaking out about!) so no playing in the workshop this weekend. Possibly the week after. I'll try to get some gopro's set up to catch the activities. Because, surely something will go wrong on first firing!!

Oh that reminds me, I tested the electric Cooling pump that supplies coolant to the turbos. It works perfectly and it is very very quiet compared with the Chinese knock off pump I tried before.

Oh and another point, maintenance nightmare. I had a lot of fun getting the number 2 ignition lead on the spark plug... This is looking up from the RH when well.
https://www.aulro.com/afvb/images/imported/2016/11/997.jpg

Till next time!

[Davo]

The funny thing I found was back when I had a good used radiator and EL Falcon thermos. I was running back and forth between here and Fitzroy Crossing every week and as the weather heated up the thermos would run while I was on the highway. I thought there would be plenty of outside air rammed into the radiator at 100kmh, but no, not past about 30C ambient. I also had two huge Lightforce lights and they disrupted the airflow too much, and had to go on the top of the bullbar. When I put the original type of viscous fan and shroud back on, the problem was solved.

I'm still exploring this in my primitive way but it seems to be that the bullbar causes a lot of air disruption, plus the engine bay doesn't have low enough pressure - too much air getting into it from underneath, I think. These days I have a later style Fenix radiator and an ED Falcon viscous clutch and ten-blade fan with a shroud I made. The new radiator went in after I put in a new aircon system and the condensor raised the temperatures quite a bit.

So it would seem that with this sort of front end, and the packed engine bay, sucking the air into the radiator works better than ramming into the front at speed. I'll be interested to see how you go with that.

[stirlsilver]

https://youtu.be/5CuwCIcL_hs

[disco2hse]

WOOHOO

:MileStone:

[Toxic_Avenger]

mmmmm
15 minutes of that sweet, sweet V8 sound

[stirlsilver]

The culprit...

https://www.aulro.com/afvb/images/imported/2016/11/998.jpg

[Davo]

That's a shame about the oil leak but there just had to be something, didn't there? What coolant temperature did you get up to? Of course it sounds great, and well done!

Roll up your sleeves though - I thought the video was going to have a different ending there for a minute!

[rangieman]

Well done mate :thumbsup: and very excited you deserve to be even with the standard LR thing of marking it`s territory ;)

[Corgie Carrier]

That is sweet.

Congrats on a successful first start, even if there is a small oil leak

[Walruslike]

Lovely lovely sound. I'm on a commuter train watching on phone and listening with earbuds. I wanted to say yeehaa but a bit constrained here. :)

Well done! Amazing what you have achieved.

[Archangel007]

Great work Stirling, really well done mate!!:BigThumb:

Cheers,
Tricky

[Homestar]

Sweeeeeet!!!!

[stirlsilver]

Thanks for the comments everyone on the first start! I've been away in Oman doing some work on a power station over there. Although that included a very usual time where we were dancing at the power station as part of Oman National day!

https://www.aulro.com/afvb/images/imported/2016/12/998.jpg

Anyway, on to the work that has been achieved so far...

I think I have solved the oil leak problem. The culprit was a dodgy copper washer that I used. While I had everything apart, I decided to instead use a combination of a larger copper washer with an O-ring behind it.
https://www.aulro.com/afvb/images/imported/2016/12/999.jpg
https://www.aulro.com/afvb/images/imported/2016/12/1000.jpg

Also, as I think I had mentioned earlier, I finished the wiring to install two temperature sensors upstream of the intercoolers. These sensors will allow me to detect if there is a problem with one turbo (because there will be temperature difference then).

Running the cables
https://www.aulro.com/afvb/images/imported/2016/12/1001.jpg

Hooking them up to the ECU
https://www.aulro.com/afvb/images/imported/2016/12/1002.jpg

After checking that the sensors read accurately (enough) they were installed
https://www.aulro.com/afvb/images/imported/2016/12/1003.jpg

https://www.aulro.com/afvb/images/imported/2016/12/1004.jpg

All the blow off valves were fitted up
https://www.aulro.com/afvb/images/imported/2016/12/1005.jpg[/URL]

https://www.aulro.com/afvb/images/imported/2016/12/1006.jpg[/URL]

One of the items that was given to me by the last engineering inspection was the obstruction of the bullbar to the indicator. So a few extra lights had to be added.
https://www.aulro.com/afvb/images/imported/2016/12/1007.jpg[/URL]

https://www.aulro.com/afvb/images/imported/2016/12/1008.jpg[/URL]

https://www.aulro.com/afvb/images/imported/2016/12/1009.jpg[/URL]

https://www.aulro.com/afvb/images/imported/2016/12/1010.jpg[/URL]

On one of the weekends, Ana joined me and snapped a couple of photos. One being of a poor frog that had jumped into a tray full of oil and obviously lost it's life. Derrick decided to throw into a jar full of metho to preserve it. One of the fatalities of the workshop I suppose.
https://www.aulro.com/afvb/images/imported/2016/12/1011.jpg[/URL]

https://www.aulro.com/afvb/images/imported/2016/12/1012.jpg[/URL]

https://www.aulro.com/afvb/images/imported/2016/12/1013.jpg[/URL]

Then, it was time to get onto the guards. After fitting the 35" tyres, they definitely fouled with the guards when I took the springs out. So they were chopped back.
https://www.aulro.com/afvb/images/imported/2016/12/1014.jpg[/URL]

https://www.aulro.com/afvb/images/imported/2016/12/1015.jpg[/URL]

https://www.aulro.com/afvb/images/imported/2016/12/1016.jpg[/URL]

Finally, after putting all the suspension back together, I could move on with putting the new front drive shaft which had the wide angle universal joints. You will see there is a fair difference between the original and the new.
https://www.aulro.com/afvb/images/imported/2016/12/1017.jpg[/URL]

https://www.aulro.com/afvb/images/imported/2016/12/1018.jpg[/URL]

If I'm lucky I might be able to take the car out to start bedding in the engine and the new brakes on Sunday! But let's see if anything goes wrong first...

[rar110]

Nice. Longer short shaft is a good idea.

[stirlsilver]

Another milestone today! The car had is first drive!

A photo earlier in the day, Derrick fitting the supercharger onto his Daihatsu, Ana was soldering up a relay delay of circuit for me and I was fitting the replacement rear drive shaft.
https://www.aulro.com/afvb/images/imported/2016/12/1026.jpg

On the first attempt to drive the car, smoke started filling the cabin which made me promptly pull over. There was a leak from a fitting on the power steering pump which I quickly turned around to fix up. After that, no more leaks and my repair on the oil system worked!

I got the lpg tanks filed. They took 173l of gas which I was pretty happy with. The guy at the servo couldn't believe how much gas I was buying and gave me a $6 discount and $6 worth of free chocolates!
https://www.aulro.com/afvb/images/imported/2016/12/1027.jpg

https://www.aulro.com/afvb/images/imported/2016/12/1028.jpg

Starting to get a feel of how high this car ultimately is going to be! ana keeps reminding me to make a step so she can actually get in the passenger side! I think in this photo the front is probably about right, the back is too low.

https://www.aulro.com/afvb/images/imported/2016/12/1029.jpg

https://www.aulro.com/afvb/images/imported/2016/12/1030.jpg

When the car was out of the workshop, we took advantage of the opportunity to do a clean. Which also included chopping up the engine stand - I had tried to give it away but there was no interest.

https://www.aulro.com/afvb/images/imported/2016/12/1031.jpg

And that's it!

Derrick shot a quick video which when I get my hands on I'll post up.

[disco2hse]

For Ana ;)

https://www.aulro.com/afvb/images/imported/2016/12/856.jpg

[Skiboy]

You will find a little ladder also handy for servicing/adjustments now guards and front bar are on.

Did you consider shifting the steering damper to in front of the axle - defender style. Gets it out of the way of rocks etc.

Also with larger tyres you will find over time a decent Bilstien steering damper better than the return to centre/spring ones. Better dampening I recon. I have thrown all the return to centre ones out and upgraded for both my RRC utes.

Skiboy

[Archangel007]

well done Stirling, a big leap forward!

[stirlsilver]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jzj3hk2R0qs

[stirlsilver]

If you look closely near the front LH wheel you can immediately see the leaking power steering fluid! Don't know how I missed it before setting off!

[stirlsilver]

Dropped off the car today to get a 2x2.5" stainless steel exhaust fitted. Wasn't able to be done in a day so I'll have to leave the car there until I get back from Oman in 8 days or so.

Stay tuned.
https://www.aulro.com/afvb/images/imported/2016/12/1025.jpg

[stirlsilver]

Back from Oman and went to collective car, pretty happy :)
https://www.aulro.com/afvb/images/imported/2016/12/1019.jpg

https://www.aulro.com/afvb/images/imported/2016/12/1020.jpg

https://www.aulro.com/afvb/images/imported/2016/12/1021.jpg

https://www.aulro.com/afvb/images/imported/2016/12/1022.jpg

https://www.aulro.com/afvb/images/imported/2016/12/1023.jpg

https://www.aulro.com/afvb/images/imported/2016/12/1024.jpg

Merry Christmas to all! If I have some time I might put up some video footage. Incase you are wondering, it's not that loud:p

[stirlsilver]

https://youtu.be/oVhv3h_J3Wc

[Tombie]

Got to be loving that!!

[rangieman]

SWEET:burnrubber::thumbsup:

[disco2hse]

Happy times indeed :)

[rar110]

Is the noise mostly tyres? Well done.

[Carnut1100]

This thing is awesome........just finished all 66 pages of it!

[stirlsilver]

Happy 2017 everyone!


Is the noise mostly tyres? Well done.
Thanks Rar, Yes the noise is pretty much all the tyres. They are Simex Centipedes. I do want to try and fit a set of 35" mud terrain or all terrain tyres, but as far as I can find, they don't get any thinner than 12.5" which is pretty wide.



This thing is awesome........just finished all 66 pages of it!
Nice work for getting through all of that! There are a lot of photos in there! :)

It hasn't been a very productive month. Yesterday I was able to get in to the workshop and play around. I ended up fitting a relay which I modified with some components to hold it on for about 2mins after the key was turned off. This is so the turbo coolant pump continues to run after the engine shuts down to prevent cooking the oil around the bearings. The first version of the circuit failed on me because I had buried the transistor inside of insulation and cooked it. So a lot of time was spent re-building it.

https://www.aulro.com/afvb/images/imported/2017/01/1131.jpg

Secondly, i've done the design for the ribs of the scoop which I will cut from aluminium sheet. I printed templates for the ribs on an A0 page and will use that as my guide as I cut.

https://www.aulro.com/afvb/images/imported/2017/01/1132.jpg

After that, I took the car out for some more tuning. I really is running very nicely, the engine is smooth to drive and after I finished I checked how much blow by there was coming from the crank breathers, and it was basically zero at idle :D

I should have a chance for some more tinkering on Australia Day following which I fly out to Oman again the next day and then after that on to Spain. I will be away until the 19th of February.

[stirlsilver]

Hello Everyone,
It has been pretty hectic since my last post. One week in Oman, then two weeks in Spain, one night in Perth and now I am currently Peru before heading back to Australia tomorrow. In between all of that, I was able to sneak in a few hours in the workshop on the car the weekend before last.

On of the items that I completed was the wiring to get a digital signal from the speed transducer on the car into the ECU, the main reason for adding this input into the ECU is so that when driving at speed, it can turn off the fans on the intercoolers as I expect there to be enough air flow diverterted by the scoop. Unfortunately, no photos of this.

Just before I left to Oman/Spain, I communicated with Bilstein regarding the shock absorbers I need with the changed weights and shock mount heights. In the end I settled on a set of eye to eye shocks that normally get fitted to the rear of a lifted Nissan GQ/GU. Bilstein revalved the rear and front shocks to suit the weight distribution of the car (Approximately 1,100kg in the front and 1,000kg in the rear).

https://www.aulro.com/afvb/images/imported/2017/03/948.jpg

Below is the configuration I am using:

Front Top - Disco 2 extended shock tower
Front Bottom - Pin to eye adaptor
Rear Top - Standard Disco 1 mount extended
Rear Bottom - Pin to eye adaptor


Because I was using some pin to eye adaptors I did loose some length, but even then, I still have more travel than the original shock absorbers.
https://www.aulro.com/afvb/images/imported/2017/03/949.jpg

I had started on the rear first, but quickly ran into a problem. The top of the rear shock aborber came with the wrong sized bushes. So that stopped that.
https://www.aulro.com/afvb/images/imported/2017/03/950.jpg

Moving onto the front, I realised how difficult it is to get the shock absorber in with the intercooler sitting above it. I got it in, but then realised that I needed to put the tower on first before putting in the shock!! I ended up running out of time so i've left it this way until I get back.
https://www.aulro.com/afvb/images/imported/2017/03/951.jpg

https://www.aulro.com/afvb/images/imported/2017/03/952.jpg

Here is the shock tower that is to be used on the front.
https://www.aulro.com/afvb/images/imported/2017/03/953.jpg

Hopefully I'll be able to find a little more time to do some work on the car when I'm back!!

[rangieman]

Great work as usual Stirling [bigsmile]
Must be very frustrating the time this has taken you so far with work commitments ,
But i guess toys cost lots something has to pay for it[bigwhistle]

[stirlsilver]

Hello again everyone,
It has been some time since the last update. I've been travelling a fair bit so it makes it hard to get into a rythim.

Anyway, I have been able to sneak in some time and get some stuff done at last.

The front shock towers were literally just squeezed in. Particularly on the Right Hand side where it only cleared the throttle body by about 5mm. I got lucky.

https://www.aulro.com/afvb/images/imported/2017/03/939.jpg

https://www.aulro.com/afvb/images/imported/2017/03/940.jpg

https://www.aulro.com/afvb/images/imported/2017/03/941.jpg

https://www.aulro.com/afvb/images/imported/2017/03/942.jpg

https://www.aulro.com/afvb/images/imported/2017/03/943.jpg

https://www.aulro.com/afvb/images/imported/2017/03/944.jpg

Then it was a case of getting into the rear shock absorbers with the pin-eye adaptor. Far easier than dealing with the front!!
https://www.aulro.com/afvb/images/imported/2017/03/945.jpg

Before putting the wheels back on, I decided to test something which I had heard - that you can't run 15" rims with the Defender 130 calipers. After a quick trial, no problem - no fouling. So at least should I want to use 15" rims instead of 16" I can which is nice.

Anyway, moving on. Some time ago, I noticed while test driving the car that the left hand side blow off valve wasn't triggering. I removed the valve and found that it had a tear internally, which confirmed my suspicion that the ebay vendor was just selling a cheap knock off of the OEM valves. You'll notice the Audi logo on the unit! As a replacement I got some aluminium IPF blow off valves which are a direct replacement.
https://www.aulro.com/afvb/images/imported/2017/03/946.jpg

I couldn't resist the temptation of going and doing some more driving with the car with the new shocks in. I must say it drives nice, and the engine is very very smooth, pulls well and no flat spots in the rev range or anything like that. Very pleased. And this is on 5psi of boost, I can't wait for the time when I can start dialing that up a bit :firedevil:. The photo below is after the drive. it was a little muddy, making a bit of a mess particularly in the front guards.
https://www.aulro.com/afvb/images/imported/2017/03/947.jpg

[stirlsilver]

Now, to finish, I got started on cutting out the ribs that will form the bonnet scoop, but ran out of time to cut all of them (4 of the 8 done).
https://www.aulro.com/afvb/images/imported/2017/03/935.jpg

https://www.aulro.com/afvb/images/imported/2017/03/936.jpg

https://www.aulro.com/afvb/images/imported/2017/03/937.jpg

https://www.aulro.com/afvb/images/imported/2017/03/938.jpg

That's it! Till next time!

[Davo]

Once again, great stuff. You do realise, don't you, that an eventual project at this rate will involve building an airplane? [biggrin]

[stirlsilver]

Once again, great stuff. You do realise, don't you, that an eventual project at this rate will involve building an airplane? [biggrin]

Haha, thanks Davo! Yeah, i'm not so sure what will keep me busy after this. Building an aircraft could be possible! Would need to go back through my old Aeronautical Engineering text books!

On with the progress, I had a couple of more sessions in the workshop, below are the photos.

The majority of the ribs were cut out using a jig saw, they needed a bit of cleaning up with a hand file afterwards which was a bit tedious.
https://www.aulro.com/afvb/images/imported/2017/04/1088.jpg

Then I riveted on some tabs which will ultimately allow me to permanently mount the ribs onto the bonnet.
https://www.aulro.com/afvb/images/imported/2017/04/1089.jpg

https://www.aulro.com/afvb/images/imported/2017/04/1090.jpg

https://www.aulro.com/afvb/images/imported/2017/04/1091.jpg

The plan next is to temporarily screw the ribs down onto the bonnet with some wax paper between the two components, clad the outside with something flexible and fill the cavity with self expanding foam. Then remove the scoop and hollow out the foam on the inside. Then glue it onto the bonnet and permanently fasten and fibreglass into position. It's going to take a few sessions!

Till next time!

[Davo]

Well, see, now it looks like you're building a wing. I'm looking forward to how the bonnet turns out - it's a very interesting approach.

[stirlsilver]

Well, see, now it looks like you're building a wing. I'm looking forward to how the bonnet turns out - it's a very interesting approach.

Yes, I suppose it is similar to a wing's construction. But I think it is also a similar approach to the way Boats are built as well! Yes, the approach is a bit of a gamble, but it should work. I hope!

There were some more hours spent in the workshop today, though looking back, it doesn't look like much in terms of what is shown in the photos.

I had to cut out another rib to cover the very leading edge of the scoop. I thought I would be tricky and simply duplicate the 8th rib and attach it with a bend that causes the rib to bend out in the middle (towards the front of the car). Below are all the ribs screwed down onto the bonnet.
https://www.aulro.com/afvb/images/imported/2017/04/1102.jpg

However, there was a suff up when I realised that using that approach the front rib doesn't follow the same profile of the rest of the scoop, I had designed the scoop to gradually slope down the further forward it went. So when I put a ruler over the top, you can see that there is a gap with the 8th rib.
https://www.aulro.com/afvb/images/imported/2017/04/1103.jpg

So after cutting down the front rib, and re-drilling and thinning it down, I ended up with a shape I was happy with.
https://www.aulro.com/afvb/images/imported/2017/04/1104.jpg

https://www.aulro.com/afvb/images/imported/2017/04/1105.jpg

https://www.aulro.com/afvb/images/imported/2017/04/1106.jpg

Next weekend I'll pull the ribs off again, bolt them back onto the bonnet using some wax paper, and get started with the 2 part foam.

[Davo]

Or a boat. I could see you building a boat. [biggrin]

Again, nice work there. Unless a metal-forming expert used something like an English wheel, or you made the scoop in fibreglass, the only other way I could see is what you're doing. Do you think it might increase the engine bay pressure too much? Or just blast out all that hot air?

[Davo]

I just thought you might like to know that I took off the viscous fan on my V8 Range Rover and put the EL Falcon thermos back on, (my third try, by the way!). Fancy high-tech incense smoke testing showed that during idle, hot air was being pushed out from under the front of the bonnet and sucked back into the front of the radiator. This was surprising. A length of left-over door seal fits over the edge of the bonnet and should help - your Disco bonnet might be similar but it should be worth looking at anyway.

[stirlsilver]

I just thought you might like to know that I took off the viscous fan on my V8 Range Rover and put the EL Falcon thermos back on, (my third try, by the way!). Fancy high-tech incense smoke testing showed that during idle, hot air was being pushed out from under the front of the bonnet and sucked back into the front of the radiator. This was surprising. A length of left-over door seal fits over the edge of the bonnet and should help - your Disco bonnet might be similar but it should be worth looking at anyway.

Thanks for that info Davo! It is definitely useful information. I'll do a similar test as well to make sure there is no flow recirculation like what you found. There is a lot of hot air being pushed around in the engine bay, especially with 4 thermo fans pushing air into it (2 on the radiator and 2 on the intercoolers), you can actually feel a lot of hot air rise out of the front wheel arches. More testing to be done!!

Ok, so I want to share some progress from the last couple of weekends of work. my lovely assistant Ana was there to help me out.

We laid down some wax paper, screwed down the ribs onto the bonnet and put a large garbage bag under the ribs which was had the open end of the bag sealed up after putting a small amount of air into it. This is so that it would help maintain a bit of a cavity underneath so we went through a little less foam. After that, some heavy duty cling film was run over the top of the ribs to seal across the top.

https://www.aulro.com/afvb/images/imported/2017/04/1092.jpg

https://www.aulro.com/afvb/images/imported/2017/04/1093.jpg

It took us two attemps to finish injecting the foam. Last weekend, we got about a third of the way before realising we didn't have enough chemicals to finsh the whole job!! So after putting in another order for 2 part foam, we were able to finish the job. The photo below is after we had removed the cling film over the top and we were just doing some localised patches which needed more foam.
https://www.aulro.com/afvb/images/imported/2017/04/1094.jpg

Below is the finished result after removing the wax paper and garbage bag from underneath.
https://www.aulro.com/afvb/images/imported/2017/04/1095.jpg

https://www.aulro.com/afvb/images/imported/2017/04/1096.jpg

https://www.aulro.com/afvb/images/imported/2017/04/1097.jpg

Then after a lot of carving, we managed to get the underside down to the ribs. Pretty happy with the result actually and it is a very solid assembly! I was worried that all the rough handling while we were sawing out the foam would cause a crack, but it held up!
https://www.aulro.com/afvb/images/imported/2017/04/1098.jpg

https://www.aulro.com/afvb/images/imported/2017/04/1099.jpg

After all the carving was finished, it was time for a quick trial back on the bonnet, it gives you an idea of how slender the opening will be above the bonnet which is what I wanted.
https://www.aulro.com/afvb/images/imported/2017/04/1100.jpg

https://www.aulro.com/afvb/images/imported/2017/04/1101.jpg

Next time will be sanding & fibreglassing the underside of the scoop and then after it cures move onto carving the top surface.

Till next time!

P.S. Does anyone else find the new limit of 10 photos per post a pain?!?

[Toxic_Avenger]

First saw it and thought liposuction a'la Fight Club.
Nice work.

Yes 10 pics is a pain... especially when its agnostic to where the image is hosted.

[crash]

Will you be coating the foam with anything prior to laying the fibreglass? I am a bit worried about the resin eating / dissolving the foam.

[mrapocalypse]

I'm a bit worried about him finishing this project and having no more updates. 😀😀😀

[stirlsilver]

Will you be coating the foam with anything prior to laying the fibreglass? I am a bit worried about the resin eating / dissolving the foam.
Hey Crash, I use Epoxy resin rather than Polyeurathane resin. So there is not concern about dissolving the foam thankfully. However, epoxy resin doesn't dissolve the binder in chopped strand mat, which makes it hard to work with! A little more on that below.


I'm a bit worried about him finishing this project and having no more updates. 😀😀😀
I really wish I could finish soon! Progress has really slown down recently. Especially since I now live about 45mins away from where the workshop is located!! If anyone knows of a place I could store the car around Inner West Sydney, that would be a huge help!!

So, I do have some progress to share, though in the grand scheme of things it isn't so much.

I managed to scrounge enough chopped strand mat to coat the underside of the foam. I wanted to do this now because as I carve the top part of the scoop back to the ribs, I was worried that making the foam thin increased the risk of it cracking or detaching from the ribs. So by having a layer of glass on the underside now, it helps hold it all together. Though, the finish wasn't great, because I was using epoxy resin, the chopped strand mat was being difficult to work with. And it wouldn't follow the contours everywhere. So in some places I've ended up with some air bubbles. I'll have to deal with them later...
https://www.aulro.com/afvb/images/imported/2017/05/1095.jpg

While the resin cured, I decided to make a start on mounting the high mount winch, and for that the car needed to be turned around. Because I didn't want to waste the opportunity of taking the car for a quick spin, I did that. I asked Derrick to drive for a bit while I watched the gauges, everything looked good. One thing I noticed was the air temperature out of the turbos was about 51-53 degC under boost. After the intercoolers it was around 35 degC which I'm happy with given that the car was being driven without a bonnet and the intercooler fans were just sucking the hot air rising from the engine/radiator. Anyway, during the drive, I had a problem with the serpentine belt. It had skipped forward a couple of teeth over the power steering pump pulley and cutting off a strip of the belt, which started whipping around in the engine bay. The only thing I can think of a cause is that either the power steering pump isn't mounted square, or the offset of the pulley isn't right? Anyone else experienced this? The photo below shows the situation on the alternator pulley.
https://www.aulro.com/afvb/images/imported/2017/05/1096.jpg

Finally, we managed to get the bullbar off and mount the high mount onto the bullbar with a couple of bolts and put the bullbar back on the car loosely bolted. One thing that was obvious was how much the winch restricts airflow into the radiator!! Unfortunately I didn't get a photo of that, but the ones below are mounting the winch into the bullbar.
https://www.aulro.com/afvb/images/imported/2017/05/1097.jpg

https://www.aulro.com/afvb/images/imported/2017/05/1098.jpg

Anyway, that's it for now and the last progress until somtime in June. I have overseas travel coming up which includes 1 week in Chile for work amongst a few other destinations on the way. In the mean time, if anyone knows of a double bay garage in Sydney's Inner West (Long shot, I know), let me know!!

[Tins]

Wow. I just caught up about six months of this thread. Just doing that was exhausting... Fabulous work, Stirling. This car needs to be shown before you get it too dirty. Utterly mind blowing.

[Davo]

I might have some handy information regarding engine bay airflow by the time you get back, as that's what I'm working on now. Please send a PM if you want to remind me about it. As I mentioned before, with the EL Falcon fans I'm trying not so much to get the air into the radiator as out of the engine bay, which has led to quite a few (okay, a huge amount) of things to learn. Hours of reading so far, and testing should start tomorrow. The funny thing about it is that everything I've read so far has to do with getting small cars to go faster, whereas there's not much at all to do with things shaped like Rangies and Discos. So I've found lots of theory but nothing practical, which means I'll have to figure that out for myself. It should be interesting!

[stirlsilver]

Wow. I just caught up about six months of this thread. Just doing that was exhausting... Fabulous work, Stirling. This car needs to be shown before you get it too dirty. Utterly mind blowing.
Thanks John! I appreciate the comment. As for showing the car, I guess if a place showed interests in the project, I could do something like that. But I am yet to be contacted!


I might have some handy information regarding engine bay airflow by the time you get back, as that's what I'm working on now. Please send a PM if you want to remind me about it. As I mentioned before, with the EL Falcon fans I'm trying not so much to get the air into the radiator as out of the engine bay, which has led to quite a few (okay, a huge amount) of things to learn. Hours of reading so far, and testing should start tomorrow. The funny thing about it is that everything I've read so far has to do with getting small cars to go faster, whereas there's not much at all to do with things shaped like Rangies and Discos. So I've found lots of theory but nothing practical, which means I'll have to figure that out for myself. It should be interesting!

I would love to see your results Davo!

So yes I am back from the trip and a few more hours were spent in the workshop. With the chop strand matt on the underside of the scoop fully solidified, I was able to move on to roughly carving the top of the scoop. Unfortunately the light colour of the foam with the lights meant that not a lot is possible to be seen. Anyway, this is the mess I was making.
https://www.aulro.com/afvb/images/imported/2017/06/610.jpg

https://www.aulro.com/afvb/images/imported/2017/06/611.jpg

After everthing was done, I dropped the roughly shaped scoop onto the bonnet. It's a pretty low profile scoop (despite what it looks like in the photos) so I am pretty happy with it!
https://www.aulro.com/afvb/images/imported/2017/06/612.jpg

https://www.aulro.com/afvb/images/imported/2017/06/613.jpg

https://www.aulro.com/afvb/images/imported/2017/06/614.jpg

Anyway, that's it, not a whole lot of progress unfortunately. Hopefully more to be had this coming weekend!

[stirlsilver]

Hello again everyone! I've had a bit more play time in the workshop this weekend than usual so some progress has been made!

First up. I finished tightening up the bull bar and mounting the winch fairlead. So that's ticked off [bigsmile1]
https://www.aulro.com/afvb/images/imported/2017/06/601.jpg

https://www.aulro.com/afvb/images/imported/2017/06/602.jpg

Then it was back to the bonnet scoop. First up, I had to make a ridge inside to catch any water that would run up inside when driving in the rain at speed. I had an aluminium offcut from when I was cutting out the ribs which was a close enough match. So it was riveted in at a slight angle and sealed with silicone. The idea is that the water will run left or right to the side of the scoop and drain out a hole on either side.
https://www.aulro.com/afvb/images/imported/2017/06/603.jpg

https://www.aulro.com/afvb/images/imported/2017/06/604.jpg

Then there was the process of lining up where to cut the holes. The photos below were taken during that process.
https://www.aulro.com/afvb/images/imported/2017/06/605.jpg

https://www.aulro.com/afvb/images/imported/2017/06/606.jpg

https://www.aulro.com/afvb/images/imported/2017/06/607.jpg

Here you can see the hole that was made, just in front of the rib. The other hole to the left was just an imperfection in the foam. The hole isn't pretty but will be tidied up after fibreglassing.
https://www.aulro.com/afvb/images/imported/2017/06/608.jpg

The foam scoop was then coated with Epoxy in all places where it contacted the bonnet and screws put back into the feet of the ribs to hold it all in position.
https://www.aulro.com/afvb/images/imported/2017/06/609.jpg

[stirlsilver]

Then after that had cured, Ana and I went at the foam one more time with sand paper to try and improve the shape. The profile wasn't perfect, there are some lumps here and there which are going to require quite a bit of effort with bog to get right...
https://www.aulro.com/afvb/images/imported/2017/06/597.jpg

https://www.aulro.com/afvb/images/imported/2017/06/598.jpg

Then the last step was the first layer of glass going over the scoop. It was in this process that I noticed that I was going through much more hardener than epoxy, and then I realised that the instructions said mix the compounds 5:1 by Volume not weight!!! Argh! Oh well, it looked like the stuff I had mixed up to bond the foam to the bonnet set OK, and it was probably not so bad given the low winter temperatures. It's just an annoying mistake and I hope the rest of the glass will cure ok!!
https://www.aulro.com/afvb/images/imported/2017/06/599.jpg

https://www.aulro.com/afvb/images/imported/2017/06/600.jpg

So that is where we are at, I'll check soon if the epoxy set in the end tomorrow or the day after. Fingers crossed! Then some bogging will need to happen, more glass and then the long process of finishing the surface. Stay tuned.

[Tins]

Darn. More time to waste watching someone do something incredible, while not doing it myself.

[stirlsilver]

Darn. More time to waste watching someone do something incredible, while not doing it myself.

Thanks John, though I wouldn't quite say it's incredible. For fibreglass it is pretty ordinary really! You have a project going at the moment too?

I ducked into the workshop today to check how the Epoxy cured. Thankfully it was completely solid! [biggrin] I spent some time cutting off the excess material and I made a start on sanding the uneven areas of the epoxy back. But more time will need to be spent there.
https://www.aulro.com/afvb/images/imported/2017/06/615.jpg

After it got a bit too late to keep making so much noise, I moved on to one of the outstanding items in the engine bay - the windscreen washer bottle. I managed to find a nice small bottle on Ebay that suits some older holdens and it fit a treat.

https://www.aulro.com/afvb/images/imported/2017/06/616.jpg

https://www.aulro.com/afvb/images/imported/2017/06/617.jpg

On testing, I found that the non return valve that was in line was faulty (it squirted water out of the hole) so I tossed that away. It's probably been 8 years since water last flowed through the nozzles and thankfully they worked like a charm!
https://www.aulro.com/afvb/images/imported/2017/06/618.jpg

That's it for a little while, this Friday I am off to Oman and won't be back until the following Wednesday, so hopefully the weekend after I'll have some more time in the workshop. Till next time!

[stirlsilver]

Oh my god, I was about to do an update and I have just discovered that photobucket have just updated their terms of service and want USD399/year for images with external links to be visible!! Argh! Moving means re-linking over 1,500 photos!!

[Davo]

Hmmm, is that why photos have disappeared from all over the place and that notice with the dial has popped up? Bloody hell!

These companies, they get in you and make you comfortable, and only later do you realise they've got you by your short and curlies . . . it will be interesting to see what happens with the company after this.

As for you, you have my sympathies! And you really documented everything very well for the rest of us to see, too.

[disco2hse]

Well that just stinks. :(

Maybe our hosts can write a little script to update your posts with a new link/url, provided you keep the same file names.

What about moving them to something like Dropbox or Google Drive?

[Homestar]

Yes, it's happened to most that used Photobucket now - and all have moved away. $399 a year is plain extortion and they will soon go broke anyway with the attitude they have - take a look at some other forums and the internet in general - thousands are ditching them at the moment. They were in financial trouble so this was their great idea to dig them out.

I - and may others here are in the same boat - 100's of images to relink now - when I find another suitable platform to host them.

[stirlsilver]

When I finally download all the photos (I have 2,500 in my photo bucket account) I think I'll just hire a freelancer to do all the re-linking for me. Provided that ALL my old posts are able to be edited so that the hyperlinks can be changed...

[Homestar]

Editing threads is the drama - they auto lock after 24 or 48 hours. This is being discussed by the Mods at the moment...

[stirlsilver]

Well, while a solution is figured out for how to fix the old links. Here is the most recent progress.

The bonnet was sanded back to remove the huge amounts of epoxy that were left in some places
https://www.aulro.com/afvb/images/imported/2017/07/91.jpg

I spent some time on how to create a guide curve that I can use as a reference when I am bogging and sanding since the current profile ended up being quite lumpy. I ended up using a rod of stainless steel filler and strung it across some flat aluminium plate to act like a bow. That way, as I press the rod down onto the scoop it gives me a nice reference curve to follow.
https://www.aulro.com/afvb/images/imported/2017/07/92.jpg

This is just a photo of the nearly 500g+ of bog that was put on to the scoop in an attempt to get it close to where it needs to be. So much sanding coming up...
https://www.aulro.com/afvb/images/imported/2017/07/93.jpg

https://www.aulro.com/afvb/images/imported/2017/07/94.jpg

Hopefully I'll be able to have another stab at it this coming weekend!

[crash]

Sterling,
Bondo work is great fun - remember 90% of it will end up on the floor.
No too sure how much bondo work you have done in the past but you can get a special course bondo file called a cheese grater, this is used just as the bondo is starting to setup and you can take alot of material off with it fairly quicky forming the rough shape. Then go to town with your course sand paper. Once you are prey sure the shape is right and your last thin coats of bondo are on use a what they call a guide coat - some people lightly mist spray paint over the area and this will help show up any small low spots that can not be felt by hand.
Also remeber to sand in an X pattern.

Scoop is Looking good.

[fitzy]

Bog my friend, we don't use Bondo down here, don't take a fence.
I like Australian vernacular and hate to loose it.

[Tins]

Bog my friend, we don't use Bondo down here, don't take a fence.
I like Australian vernacular and hate to loose it.

Yep, Michael, they sure are weird up Shepp way...

[Homestar]

Bog my friend, we don't use Bondo down here, don't take a fence.
I like Australian vernacular and hate to loose it.

Where would he take a fence too? [biggrin]

[fitzy]

Anywhere you would need a fence.
Some members of our community can not survive without taking fences

[Tins]

Anywhere you would need a fence.
Some members of our community can not survive without taking fences

Don't you start....:bat:

[fitzy]

Homestar you have got me wondering now, where are all the fences that have been taken.
If you read the Herald sun, Watch the nightly news, or listen to talk back radio.
Somewhere there should be a huge pile on Fence's .

[fitzy]

"Crash" don't be put off.
What once were utes are now being called trucks.

[Toxic_Avenger]

Sterling,
Bondo work is great fun


Bog my friend, we don't use Bondo down here

Gentlemen,
Can't we all just get along, and agree to call it 'silly putty'?
[biggrin]

Sterling, looking good, man!

[fitzy]

Silly putty it is then.

[stirlsilver]

Hello again everyone. Sorry for the long silence there. I managed to transfer all the images from this thread onto my own personal server and then got a little script written to update all the links for the 1,500+ photos in this thread. So, about 95% of the photos in this thread are working now finally. There are a few minor ones here and there that are disconnected. There were a few entries I had to do by hand. Looks like AULRO caches photos now which made the re-linking a bit more tricky.

Anyway, i'm also in the process of moving the workshop, I'm downsizing to basically 2 x single bay garages under the apartment I live in. Don't think i'm going to be able to fit all my stuff in but I'll work something out! I'm still working on the bonnet, but I haven't taken any photos. It's just been bogging (silly puttying)/sanding & repeat because in some areas the profile was a loooong way out.

More updates soon [bigsmile1]

[Tins]

Hello again everyone. Sorry for the long silence there. I managed to transfer all the images from this thread onto my own personal server and then got a little script written to update all the links for the 1,500+ photos in this thread. So, about 95% of the photos in this thread are working now finally. There are a few minor ones here and there that are disconnected. There were a few entries I had to do by hand. Looks like AULRO caches photos now which made the re-linking a bit more tricky.

Anyway, i'm also in the process of moving the workshop, I'm downsizing to basically 2 x single bay garages under the apartment I live in. Don't think i'm going to be able to fit all my stuff in but I'll work something out! I'm still working on the bonnet, but I haven't taken any photos. It's just been bogging (silly puttying)/sanding & repeat because in some areas the profile was a loooong way out.

More updates soon [bigsmile1]

Great to have the pix back, Stirling. Massive effort.

[Disco-tastic]

There might be a few on here that could use a script like yours to update their threads too.

I dont really need it but I'm very curious as to how it works :)

Looking forward to the finished bonnet too!

[CU55TM Disco]

Quite possibly a bit late now, but for quicker easier sanding and a lighter finished product I could look at Fairing Compound.
It's a 2 part epoxy style stuff like bog, but sands easier and doesn't weigh as much.
Used in the production and repair of boats!
Otherwise, keep up the good work!

[stirlsilver]

Thanks everyone :)

Just a quick update. The car has now been relocated to it's much more cosy home!! It was NOT fun towing a combined load of 2.8 ton wide load down Parramatta Road today!! But I got there!

https://www.aulro.com/afvb/images/imported/2017/08/136.jpg

https://www.aulro.com/afvb/images/imported/2017/08/137.jpg

[disco2hse]

Hmm. Not enough room to swing a CAT.

[Skiboy]

You must be pretty close to a final push to getting this on the road and out on the trails/camping!

There is nothing like the moment you screw the plates on a project.

Fingers crossed not too much sorting out after that.
Skiboy

[Davo]

Oh your poor neighbours, seeing that thing turn up and sensing the immediate drop in real estate value! [biggrin]

[stirlsilver]

Oh your poor neighbours, seeing that thing turn up and sensing the immediate drop in real estate value! [biggrin]

HAHAHA! It does rattle windows at idle...

[stirlsilver]

[wink11]

Land Rover Twin Turbo V8 Ute Project - First Dyno Tune - YouTube (https://youtu.be/Aje_kjPykwA)

I'll have to explain more later. It's late now and it is still uploading as I post this.

It didn't go bang, it didn't spring a leak and it kept very very cool [biggrin]

[disco2hse]

Looks and sounds fantastic Stirling. We done !! :thumbsup:

[stirlsilver]

Looks and sounds fantastic Stirling. We done !! :thumbsup:

Thanks Alan, don't know about the sound though. You can barely hear it, it's got a pretty quiet exhaust system!

Anyway, this is just a quick update. The final lot of dyno runs were supposed to happen tonight, but it didn't happen. The issue that stopped the tuning of the car was that the turbos were wound up to about 7psi of boost (I had them at 5psi). What we found was that no matter what was done with the injector duty cycles, we couldn't get the fuel into the engine and it constantly would lean out. After a few phone calls, it was indicated that the culprit was possibly the hydrostatic valve that connects the two LPG tanks in the back. Since the valve has a spring inside of it, it can restrict the amount of fuel that flows through the valve. So tomorrow it will be changed to see if we can get enough pressure to the injectors.

Overall the guys at BTA were pretty impressed with the engine, I think it's a bit different to what they normally get in the shop (there is a pulled appart Nissan R35 that they are trying to get 2,000hp out of for example!). In particular, it was mentioned how the engine was keeping so cool despite the power runs, no fluid leaks and very little blow by!

I did identify one other issue while it was on the dyno. The oil pressure was way too low, I changed the oil filter and found it to be completely full of the molly assembly lube which was blocking things up. But despite a brand new oil filter being fitted, I couldn't get more than 200kPa of pressure. According to the specs, the oil pressure should be around 300-350kPa. So, either there is too much restriction in all the oil lines I fitted, or I need to try to push up the oil pressure regulator to deliver more pressure. I'll have to do some experimentation and see. But the take home message is that if you use a molly assembly lube in the engine, change your oil filter ASAP!

Some photos from last week. Hopefully I'll get some more tomorrow evening!
https://www.aulro.com/afvb/images/imported/2017/08/662.jpg

https://www.aulro.com/afvb/images/imported/2017/08/663.jpg

https://www.aulro.com/afvb/images/imported/2017/08/664.jpg

Below you can see on the top blue line how the engine was leaning out towards the end. Also, supposedly due to the car being AWD with a transfer case and the big tyres, the estimate is that the engine is already at approximately 300hp. When I set out to build the engine, I was aiming for 400hp, so I think when the turbos are dialed up to 14psi, that will be achieved.
https://www.aulro.com/afvb/images/imported/2017/08/665.jpg

[Davo]

Apparently you lose 25% of your power with full-time 4WD or AWD. Now, I wonder how cool it's going to be with the bonnet on? These things really trap heat under there. I'm still experimenting with mine. Anyway, nice work and thanks for sharing!

[Toxic_Avenger]

There is so much win in this thread.
I'd like to comment more, but cannot muster a thought smart enough to do justice to the rest of the posts [thumbsupbig]

[stirlsilver]

Hello everyone,
Sorry for the long silence there. Life tends to get in the way. Plus I had a spanner thrown in the works with regards to getting the car sorted out.

The biggest issue which ended up being a show stopper was that when I was looking into the oil pressure issue, I noticed a strange clanging sound coming from the back of the engine when it was idling. After a bit of investigation, I found the source of the problem. The starter ring gear had started to wear into the back of the engine block to the point where it was machining its way in!

https://www.aulro.com/afvb/images/imported/2017/09/163.jpg
https://www.aulro.com/afvb/images/imported/2017/09/164.jpg
https://www.aulro.com/afvb/images/imported/2017/09/165.jpg
https://www.aulro.com/afvb/images/imported/2017/09/166.jpg
https://www.aulro.com/afvb/images/imported/2017/09/167.jpg

After a lot of phone calls talking to Triumph Rover Spares, AB Automatics and a lot of internet searching trying to work out what went wrong. We finally got to the bottom of the problem. I was supplied the Flex Plate assembly of a 4.6L Discovery II when I should have been supplied the assembly of a 4.6L P38 Range Rover. It turns out these assemblies are different, with only the older 4.6L P38 Range Rovers having the large torque converter I used. What I didn't know is there should be a gap between the flex plate and the torque converter when they are assembled. In my case when I assembled the whole thing the flex plate was deformed by a few mm, which has preloaded the crank pushing it forward into the thrust bearing inside.

Below is a comparison of the different flex plate assemblies.

TPD000040 out of a 4.6L Discovery II
129139

ERR5658/FTC3614 out of a 4.6L P38 Range Rover
129140

So anyway, the gearbox has to come out and the flex plate assembly changed, which hopefully will happen next week. While the thrust bearing in the engine has definitely had a hard time, I think I will be able to get away with not doing anything to it at this stage.

Alright so the other issue. So the dodgy LPG installer I used ended up taking a whole bunch of short cuts which is what resulted in the fuel starvation problem. They used 6mm gas lines from the tanks to the LPG converter (despite all parts coming with 8mm fittings) and the hydrostatic valve had a whole lot of sealant inside of it causing one side to be completely blocked off.

https://www.aulro.com/afvb/images/imported/2017/09/168.jpg
https://www.aulro.com/afvb/images/imported/2017/09/169.jpg

Hopefully next week all of these issues will be resolved and the car will be back on the dyno to complete the tuning (Things are a bit sluggish at BTA it seems).

Till next time.

[disco2hse]

Jeez Stirling. That all sucks big ones [bigsad]. After all that hard work only to be let down by people that are supposed to be the actual professionals. I guess there's no point in chasing up for recompense either [bighmmm].

[Davo]

I figured something would give you some trouble, since that's the nature of these things, but WOW you've really landed in it. What is it with LPG installers? Is the industry made up of the people who couldn't figure out how to install garden reticulation??? And as for Land Rover specialists . . . [bigwhistle]

So, I take it you're just going to keep plodding along and get it all sorted out? At least you're not working to some strict deadline.

[Skiboy]

Feel for you but when you custom build a hybrid I guess you expect issues -but frustrating when outsource to 'professionals' and the work is below the standards you impose on yourself.

If box out think about any mods or adjustments that should do at same time including seal. It is a big job that u dont want to redo for 200k kms at least!

Advice based on 2x gearbox changes due to issues.

Keith

[Moony]

Jesus, I've just read through the entire thread and this has just blown my mind. I'm only new to this whole Land Rover world and this is just giving me so many ideas (that I will never have the patience to fulfil) can't wait to see this thing actually plated and legal.

[stirlsilver]

Thanks for the feedback everyone! I find it interesting that the name of the LPG installer I mentioned has been removed, so I can't seem to warn others about the quality of their service?

It's been a bit of a saga over the last couple of weeks trying to get the right flex plate assembly over in my hands. Not because of anything Triumph Rover Spares did, they actually shipped the part very quickly, the problem came from the fact that they shipped the part to my old workshop address. And then when I tried to re-direct the package with TNT, things went haywire. Anyway, long story short - I finally got the part and handed it over to BTA so they can put the car on a hoist they have and pull the gearbox out. I just hope nothing more goes wrong at this next stage. The work should be finished in this coming week and then it goes back on the Dyno.

On another front, I have been chipping away at the bonnet scoop, applying liberal amounts of bog and sanding it back. It is actually really hard to get a decent smooth surface over something that is so large and curved!! Anyway, I thought I was close so we moved on and put another layer of glass. Thing is, the next layer of glass was a bit stiff (I think it had a binder that dissolves with polyester and I was using epoxy), so it ended up introducing more deformations to the surface!! So more sanding to do!!

https://www.aulro.com/afvb/images/imported/2017/09/514.jpg

I'll get there eventually...

[disco2hse]

I wonder if you might tell those people that ask you directly, off the forum?

Your experience is why someone mentioned using fairing balloons, like in boat building. It is much easier to work with than bog. Pretty annoying about the top surface though. You might like to try using a "sanding longboard". Makes it easier to get curves without ending up with small local depressions through over work.

[Homestar]

I find it interesting that the name of the LPG installer I mentioned has been removed, so I can't seem to warn others about the quality of their service?

While I understand your frustration with this, name and shames are strictly forbidden here as per the forum rules - number 4 - please see below link.

https://www.aulro.com/afvb/rules-and-guidelines/165699-aaaaaa-new-users-start-here-conditions-access-etc.html#post1822975

[stirlsilver]

You might like to try using a "sanding longboard". Makes it easier to get curves without ending up with small local depressions through over work.

Excellent suggestion Alan! I made a sanding board using some ply wood and it definitely produced a much more accurate result. After sanding, I had nearlly sanded of ALL of the fibreglass I had laid... Because of the amount of surface imperfection I had. So after hours of sanding, and some more bogging, I was ready for Take Two. This time I armed myself with a fibreglass roller.

https://www.aulro.com/afvb/images/imported/2017/09/968.jpg

https://www.aulro.com/afvb/images/imported/2017/09/969.jpg

https://www.aulro.com/afvb/images/imported/2017/09/970.jpg

The surface isn't perfect, but it is much better. I think after some light sanding and one more layer of a fine fibreglass weave, it shoudl be ready for finishing which is pretty exciting!

On the car front, I was promised by BTA that the gearbox would be pulled out and the flex plate changed, but it hasn't happened yet. So I'll chase them up tomorrow and see how things are going! I told them I wanted to be there when it went back onto the dyno.

Anyway, stay tuned!

[stirlsilver]

Hello everyone,
A quick update, to share this unbelievable run of bad luck I have been having. After getting the replacement flex plate over to the guys to swap out, I was initially promised the work would happen in 2 days. After 3 weeks of houding, we were finally ready for the car to go on the dyno to finish the tuning. I arrived, and watched the car get loaded on to the bed. I decided to have a look underneath to see how they had gone with pulling the gearbox out before trying to put 400hp through. Everything looked fine until I had a look at the flex plate...

It was the SAME flex plate!! They had spent 6 hours pulling the gearbox out. Unbolted the old flex plate, sat the old flex plate next to the new one, and then picked up the old one and bolted it back on!!! Unbelievable. So now I need to wait... Again... For them to do the work again... Absolutely unbelievable. Fingers crossed we can be over this saga by the end of this week...

In other, less interesting news, my relationship with Sand paper and Epoxy continues, more layers of fibreglass and sanding have happened and I've now got the surface pretty close. I think I now need to knuckle down and do the final sanding and then primer paint the bonnet!!

https://www.aulro.com/afvb/images/imported/2017/10/227.jpg

https://www.aulro.com/afvb/images/imported/2017/10/228.jpg

It doesn't look all that different in the photos, but it is a smoother finish now than before!

[rangieman]

Not good new`s on the flex plate :bat:
Hope they don`t slug you extra on the over all job to make up for their stuff up[bighmmm]

[Davo]

Did you happen to notice any greasy knuckle drag marks across the workshop floor at this place? Are the workers dressed in animal skins and spend their spare time painting with their fingers on the walls? Do they get their dinner by hoisting a club over their shoulders and looking for a mammoth?

Bloody hell, I hate dealing with "professionals" because of things like this. I get nervous just buying new tyres - and even then I bring in the wheels on a trailer so I don't have to leave my car with them!

The scoop looks marvellous, though.

[Tyresqueal]

OMG! I feel your pain. Everyone makes mistakes once in a while, but come on, to put the same part back in is just ridiculous! I’ve only entrusted my Disco to one workshop in the 11 years I’ve been in Australia. A simple wheel alignment. The mechanic forgot to tighten the track rod nut and there was no sign of a new split pin. I was wondering why the steering felt floaty on the way home around corners at 100kph on the freeway! You can imagine how white I turned when I discovered the problem. I’m just lucky the nut held onto the last few threads until I stopped.

[stirlsilver]

Well the saga is finally over... The correct flex plate was finally installed and the car got another couple of hours on the dyno.

In the end 18 degrees of advance got taken out of the whole ignition map (the engine was getting real hot when put under constant load!) And we also had to wind up the pressure of the LPG evaporator by 10%. Anyway, we got it to a point where it was good enough to continue being run in with 10psi of boost. I'm sure there are quite a few more ponies left in the engine at 10psi if more time was spent on the ignition map and fuel map. And then even more when we move on to 14psi of boost later.

A youtube video of the runs:
Land Rover Twin Turbo V8 Ute Project - Dyno Tune Continued - YouTube (https://youtu.be/V04LHMiC7xc)

The power & torque curves are below. The torque values are at the dyno rollers, which is not the same as what is at the flywheel of the engine.
https://www.aulro.com/afvb/images/imported/2017/10/320.jpg

On the final run, I datalogged that ECU and there are all sorts of interesting bits of information there about the run.
https://www.aulro.com/afvb/images/imported/2017/10/321.jpg

P.s. the late night post is because I have a 6am flight on Sunday back to the middle east and I'm working myself up to staying up for it...

[stirlsilver]

At last, I reached the 99.99% point!!

Sanding basically done
https://www.aulro.com/afvb/images/imported/2017/10/358.jpg

https://www.aulro.com/afvb/images/imported/2017/10/359.jpg

And after applying some primer filler, I can now really appreciate the shape. I think I'm happy with it! It looks pretty 'factory' to me!

https://www.aulro.com/afvb/images/imported/2017/10/360.jpg

https://www.aulro.com/afvb/images/imported/2017/10/361.jpg

Now for the remaining 0.01%, filling the few locations where I have a bit of porosity that came up after doing all the finishing sanding.

https://www.aulro.com/afvb/images/imported/2017/10/362.jpg

Now time to go and pack and then head off to the airport. I'm looking forward to seeing the bonnet on the car!!

[bblaze]

when working with glas you can get a product called qcell, its a powder you mix with resin and works very easy. Used when finishing off boat hulls etc
cheers
blaze
ps
like your work

[stirlsilver]

when working with glas you can get a product called qcell, its a powder you mix with resin and works very easy. Used when finishing off boat hulls etc
cheers
blaze
ps
like your work

Thanks bblaze, in the end I only had some bog left over so it was really the easiest way for me.

Anyway, after a stint for a week in Oman, I was back for some more light sanding and fixing up here and there. In the end I finally got there. The bonnet was finished.

First up putting some insulation to keep the bottom of the scoop cool so that it doesn't heat the air going into the intercoolers too much.
https://www.aulro.com/afvb/images/imported/2017/10/684.jpg

https://www.aulro.com/afvb/images/imported/2017/10/685.jpg

https://www.aulro.com/afvb/images/imported/2017/10/686.jpg

https://www.aulro.com/afvb/images/imported/2017/10/687.jpg

And then the grand finale!
https://www.aulro.com/afvb/images/imported/2017/10/688.jpg

https://www.aulro.com/afvb/images/imported/2017/10/689.jpg

https://www.aulro.com/afvb/images/imported/2017/10/690.jpg

https://www.aulro.com/afvb/images/imported/2017/10/691.jpg

Next up, the tray, and on Monday I've got someone coming in to look at the rear and side windows! Getting there!

[Skiboy]

Oh no - once this long running build is over what are we going to watch!
I am sure you will enjoy driving your unique vehicle every time you take it out making the effort worthwhile.

[stirlsilver]

Right, so these days after work, I am normally in the workshop trying to finish things up. Here is Ana taking a sneaky photo of me!

https://www.aulro.com/afvb/images/imported/2017/11/203.jpg

A few bits an pieces have happened in the last few weeks. Some good, some not so good.

I FINALLY got around to putting in those crush tubes into the rear winch mount which which Isuzurover suggested I do years ago. So with that done, it could all be painted up.
https://www.aulro.com/afvb/images/imported/2017/11/204.jpg

https://www.aulro.com/afvb/images/imported/2017/11/205.jpg

https://www.aulro.com/afvb/images/imported/2017/11/206.jpg

I got to take the car for a nice long drive (around 60km round trip), the trip was to take the car over to have the tray measured up for the aluminium panels that would be fitted on top. The drive was the first real time I got take the car up to about 90km/hr. And frankly, it hauls! The way it accelerates on boost is a thrill that's for sure! [bigsmile].

On the drive, I datalogged the ECU, and there were a few more things that were interesting to see. For example, when I started the car, the engine oil temperature was 20degC. After 8 minutes of driving it only got to 49 degC, so it does take a very long time to warm everything up with such long oil lines... I need to keep an eye on that because oil pressure suffers on cold thick oil (especially since I'm still running on mineral oil).

A few novelty pictures.
Filling her up. Once again, after putting in 90 or so litres of LPG, the cashier told me to grab two things from the shelf because they were free from me? Not that I was complaining.
https://www.aulro.com/afvb/images/imported/2017/11/207.jpg

Arrived at the sheet metal fabricator.
https://www.aulro.com/afvb/images/imported/2017/11/208.jpg

Anyway, now for the bad news, I left the car parked in the sun for the day, and the scoop must have gotten too hot. Because it deformed on some of the edges. The places were deformation happened is where the fibreglass was thinnest, when sanding it was hard not to take off too much from these areas. So... Before painiting, the bonnet has to come off and bogging + fibreglass + sanding all over again...
https://www.aulro.com/afvb/images/imported/2017/11/209.jpg

https://www.aulro.com/afvb/images/imported/2017/11/210.jpg

Having said that, the scoop and intercooler seem to be working well. On the long drive, intake air temperatures never went above 40degC despite the turbo outlet temperatures reaching up to 80degC! Also, when you compare the intake temperatures when the engine is idling with the bonnet open or closed, there is about a 5degC temperature difference!

Lastly, TRS sent me a set of knock sensor studs, so I was finally able to install the knock sensors, now I need to wire them into the cabin to a connector so I can hook them onto a laptop and record the signal and also listen for any detonation with a pair of headphones.
https://www.aulro.com/afvb/images/imported/2017/11/211.jpg

https://www.aulro.com/afvb/images/imported/2017/11/212.jpg

That's it! more to come later [bigsmile1]

[Davo]

Thanks for the update. How are the radiator fans going? On and off as you'd expect, or running quite a bit? I ask because you've got that, (now sadly deformed!), bonnet scoop which I thought might pressurise the engine bay a bit. I think you'll need a decent 40-minute or so run on a highway to start checking that.

I'm still fumbling along with that testing I mentioned here months ago. I sealed up the bonnet gap and put a deflector under the bullbar, and took the two bonnet scoops I had facing forward and reinstalled them facing in reverse instead. Testing off the car with liquid smoke heated up with a soldering iron showed that airflow over these things would suck air out of the engine bay. Of course the opposite happened once they were on the car! So I must have a hell of a low pressure area in the engine bay. I'm still trying to work out how to measure that and get some idea of what the radiator airflow is. It never ends!!!

[stirlsilver]

Thanks for the update. How are the radiator fans going? On and off as you'd expect, or running quite a bit? I ask because you've got that, (now sadly deformed!), bonnet scoop which I thought might pressurise the engine bay a bit. I think you'll need a decent 40-minute or so run on a highway to start checking that.

I'm still fumbling along with that testing I mentioned here months ago. I sealed up the bonnet gap and put a deflector under the bullbar, and took the two bonnet scoops I had facing forward and reinstalled them facing in reverse instead. Testing off the car with liquid smoke heated up with a soldering iron showed that airflow over these things would suck air out of the engine bay. Of course the opposite happened once they were on the car! So I must have a hell of a low pressure area in the engine bay. I'm still trying to work out how to measure that and get some idea of what the radiator airflow is. It never ends!!!

Hi Davo,
So far the car is keeping cool, i've driven out a few times in stop-start traffic and also at 90-100km/hr. Earlier today when I was driving it at high speed, the coolant temperature was sitting at 78degC. So it doesn't seem like I am having trouble keeping the engine cool. However having said that today, for the drive it was abour 22degC outside. As for the bonnet scoops, some older muscle cars used rear facing bonnet scoops so that they would pick up pressure from the high pressure zone at the base of the windshield. That's the reason why all cabin air vents take their air from that location as well.

Ok, for another update.

The knock sensor wiring went in, below are the connectors being put on to some nice shielded cable. The cable was run into the cabin to some RCA connectors which I will use later when the headphone amplifier arrives. It will be important when the boost starts being dialed up on the engine later.
https://www.aulro.com/afvb/images/imported/2017/11/664.jpg

https://www.aulro.com/afvb/images/imported/2017/11/665.jpg

Another one of the engineer's requirements were ticked off. Fitment of reflectors to the back of the car.
https://www.aulro.com/afvb/images/imported/2017/11/666.jpg

I mounted a magnehelic gauge which measures the dP across the intercooler core to test how well the scoop is capturing the air. In the end the gauge is for too high a pressure range for being useful. But early tests indicate that the scoop is capturing additional pressure at 90Km/hr but it should be higher. It is possible the engine bay is pressurising as Davo mentioned. I need to do more tests to work that one out.
https://www.aulro.com/afvb/images/imported/2017/11/667.jpg

The trailer electrical plug was fitted, so the car is ready to tow something.
https://www.aulro.com/afvb/images/imported/2017/11/668.jpg

And finally, earlier today I went round to collect the aluminium panels for the tray. Now I need to fasten them down onto the frame.
https://www.aulro.com/afvb/images/imported/2017/11/669.jpg

Getting close now! Springs need to be done soon!

[stirlsilver]

The process of building the bonnet scoop.


https://youtu.be/42ltGJ80-k4

[stirlsilver]

Just a quick update on progress:
Rear winch is now mounted [bigsmile1] not yet wired up though.
https://www.aulro.com/afvb/images/imported/2017/11/937.jpg

https://www.aulro.com/afvb/images/imported/2017/11/938.jpg

Also I improvised a way to address the Engineer's concern about the possibility of the long brake lines getting crushed in the front coils. I would have preferred to do it in a single spring but this is the best I could do!
https://www.aulro.com/afvb/images/imported/2017/11/939.jpg

Finally a short clip from when I headed out in the rain to get some final measurements taken from the car and then pick up the finished tray.


https://youtu.be/s6XT3TcInNg

[budg]

Very nice work.

[Davo]

Hi Davo,
So far the car is keeping cool, i've driven out a few times in stop-start traffic and also at 90-100km/hr. Earlier today when I was driving it at high speed, the coolant temperature was sitting at 78degC. So it doesn't seem like I am having trouble keeping the engine cool. However having said that today, for the drive it was abour 22degC outside. As for the bonnet scoops, some older muscle cars used rear facing bonnet scoops so that they would pick up pressure from the high pressure zone at the base of the windshield. That's the reason why all cabin air vents take their air from that location as well.



22C! Oh come on, I'd need a parka for that sort of weather. Let's see what happens when it gets into the mid-30s! My humble V8 stays at around 80C-ish when it's in the high 30s here, which is actually why I'm so picky about the airflow since I don't have much room for error. My scoops are far enough forward not to be influenced by that high pressure zone you mention, so it would appear I've somehow managed to get that engine bay low pressure I was hoping for. One way I tested them when I realised what was going on was to sprinkle line-marking dust, (that stuff you put on string - just because that's what I had handy), and watched it being sucked into the scoops as I accelerated. Later on I could see how it had been spread forward across the batteries and then down towards the back of the radiator. I hate to think what's been happening with the airflow down there! You're right on the money with that Magnahelic gauge, something I've been meaning to get for ages now. I have to get more scientific about finding out what's really happening.

[stirlsilver]

Another update on activities over the last week or so:
The tray panels were glued on, starting to make it look like a proper car!
https://www.aulro.com/afvb/images/imported/2017/12/182.jpg

https://www.aulro.com/afvb/images/imported/2017/12/183.jpg

https://www.aulro.com/afvb/images/imported/2017/12/184.jpg

When the ratchet rivet nut tool arrived, I got straight to inserting some closed M6 threaded inserts into the tray frame to hold the panels in position.
https://www.aulro.com/afvb/images/imported/2017/12/185.jpg

Finally I took the car up to the engineer's. Mostly so that it can be weighed for the selection of the right spring sets for the car.
https://www.aulro.com/afvb/images/imported/2017/12/186.jpg

https://www.aulro.com/afvb/images/imported/2017/12/187.jpg

So issues from the engineering inspection:

The indicators I fitted on the sides to address the bullbar blocking issue weren't ADR approved.
The noise levels are too high - mostly because the exhaust finishes in front of the diff meaning the noise meter gets placed under the car where all the noise is reflected. I'll need to run the pipe out to the back of the car
The front axle is overloaded. The V8 discovery has a front axle load limit of 1,100Kg. Strangely the 300tdi discoveries have a limit of 1,200Kg. I need to somehow prove that the axles between the two cars (or even to a defender) are identical which is proving tricky.

[disco2hse]

Do the tray edges curve up at the sides? If they do, how will you get water out?

For the axles, aren't part numbers enough?

[stirlsilver]

Do the tray edges curve up at the sides? If they do, how will you get water out?
There are plenty of places for water to leak out, but I'll drill some drainage holes out the back as well.


For the axles, aren't part numbers enough?
I wish they could! I was scratching around the internet earlier and as far as I could tell, there is a different axle part number between the V8, the 4Cyl Petrol (Which I didn't even know existed until yesterday!!) and the 300tdi. With the 300tdi sharing the same axle with the Defender 90:
FRC4307 - Defender 90, Defender 110 (axle code 20L, 21L, 22L, 23L)
FTC2223 - D1 4Cyl Petrol, D1 300tdi, Defender 90 (axle code 61S)
FTC4413 - D1 4Cyl Petrol, D1 300tdi, Defender 90 (axle code 61S, 63L, 64L)
FTC825 - D1 300tdi
FTC2509 - D1 V8
FTC4417 - D1 V8
FTC823 - D1 V8

Then I decided to look up what axle code I currently have fitted to the car (because I bought the axles from TRS) which is 73L. A 300tdi would be 71L or 72L:
FRONT AXLES
10 L A R/ROVER RHS RANGE ROVER
11 L A R/ROVER LHS RANGE ROVER
12 L A F.AXLE V8 RHS TO 1987 RANGE ROVER
13 L A F.AXLE V8 LHS TO 1987 RANGE ROVER
14 L A F.AXLE DIESEL RHS TO 1987 RANGE ROVER
15 L A F.AXLE DIESEL LHS TO 1987 RANGE ROVER
16 L A R/ROVER RHS ABS KESTREL PET. RANGE ROVER
17 L A R/ROVER LHS ABS KESTREL PET. RANGE ROVER
18 L A F.AXLE RHS V8 NON-VENTED RANGE ROVER
18 L B/C F.AXLE V8 RHS NON-VENTED DISCOVERY
19 L A F.AXLE V8 LHS NON-VENTED RANGE ROVER
19 L B/C F.AXLE V8 LHS NON-VENTED DISCOVERY
20 L A > F.AXLE RHS 110" LAND ROVER
21 L A > F.AXLE LHS 110" LAND ROVER
22 L A F.AXLE RHS 90" LAND ROVER
23 L A F.AXLE LHS 90" LAND ROVER
24 L F.AXLE RHS HEAVY DUTY 110" 3.54 RATIO LAND ROVER
25 L F.AXLE LHS HEAVY DUTY 110" 3.54 RATIO LAND ROVER
26 L F.AXLE RHS HEAVY DUTY 110" 4.7 RATIO LAND ROVER
27 L F.AXLE LHS HEAVY DUTY 110" 4.7 RATIO LAND ROVER
28 L NOT DEFINED
29 L F.AXLE LHS SWISS 110" 4.7 RATIO OERLIKON LAND ROVER
30 L L/ROVER LLAMA RHS LAND ROVER F/CONT.
31 L L/ROVER LLAMA LHS LAND ROVER F/CONT.
32 L NOT DEFINED
33 L NOT DEFINED
34 L F.AXLE RHS DIESEL NON ABS NON-VENT RANGE ROVER
34 L B/C F.AXLE DIESEL RHS NON ABS NON VENTED DISCOVERY
35 L A F.AXLE LHS DIESEL NON ABS NON-VENT RANGE ROVER
35 L B/C F.AXLE DIESEL LHS NON ABS NON VENTED DISCOVERY
36 L R/ROVER ABS KESTREL DIESEL RHS RANGE ROVER
37 L R/ROVER ABS KESTREL DIESEL LHS RANGE ROVER
38 L F.AXLE RHS V8 ASBESTOS FREE VENTED NON ABS RANGE ROVER
39 L F.AXLE LHS V8 ASBESTOS FREE VENTED NON ABS RANGE ROVER
40 L F.AXLE RHS ABS V8 PETROL RANGE ROVER
41 L F.AXLE LHS ABS V8 PETROL RANGE ROVER
42 L F.AXLE RHS DIESEL ASBESTOS FREE VENTED NON ABS DISCOVERY
42 L F.AXLE RHS DIESEL ASBESTOS FREE VENTED NON ABS RANGE ROVER
43 L F.AXLE LHS DIESEL ASBESTOS FREE VENTED NON ABS DISCOVERY
43 L F.AXLE LHS DIESEL ASBESTOS FREE VENTED NON ABS RANGE ROVER
44 L F.AXLE RHS ABS DIESEL RANGE ROVER
45 L F.AXLE LHS ABS DIESEL RANGE ROVER
46 L A F.AXLE V8 RHS NON-ABS 1991 MY RANGE ROVER
47 L A F.AXLE V8 LHS NON-ABS 1991 MY RANGE ROVER
48 L A F.AXLE V8 RHS ABS 1991 MY RANGE ROVER
49 L A F.AXLE V8 LHS ABS 1991 MY RANGE ROVER
50 L A F.AXLE DIESEL RHS NON-ABS 1991MY RANGE ROVER
51 L A F.AXLE DIESEL LHS NON-ABS 1991MY RANGE ROVER
52 L A F.AXLE DIESEL RHS ABS 1991MY RANGE ROVER
53 L A F.AXLE DIESEL LHS ABS 1991MY RANGE ROVER
54 L A F.AXLE V8 RHS NON ABS - A/S AIR SUSPENSION 1993MY RANGE ROVER
55 L A F.AXLE V8 LHS NON ABS - A/S AIR SUSPENSION 1993MY RANGE ROVER
56 L A F.AXLE V8 RHS ABS - A/S AIR SUSPENSION 1993MY RANGE ROVER
57 L A F.AXLE V8 LHS ABS - A/S AIR SUSPENSION 1993MY RANGE ROVER
58 L A NOT DEFINED
59 L A NOT DEFINED
60 L A NOT DEFINED
61 L A F.AXLE 90" SOLID DISK RH 1994MY> 4 CYL DEFENDER
62 L A F.AXLE 90" SOLID DISK LH 1994MY> 4 CYL DEFENDER
63 L A F.AXLE H/D VENTED DISK RH 1994MY> DEFENDER
64 L A F.AXLE H/D VENTED DISK LH 1994MY> DEFENDER
65 L A F.AXLE HEAVY DUTY RH 1994MY> DEFENDER
66 L A F.AXLE HEAVY DUTY LH 1994MY> DEFENDER
71 L A F.AXLE TDi/T16 RHS 1995MY> DISCOVERY
72 L A F.AXLE TDi/T16 LHS 1995MY> DISCOVERY
73 L A F.AXLE V8 PI RHS 1995MY> DISCOVERY
74 L A F.AXLE V8 PI LHS 1995MY> DISCOVERY
75 L A F.AXLE TDi/T16 ABS RHS 1995MY> DISCOVERY
76 L A F.AXLE TDi/T16 ABS LHS 1995MY> DISCOVERY
77 L A F.AXLE V8 PI ABS RHS 1995MY> DISCOVERY
78 L A F.AXLE V8 PI ABS LHS 1995MY> DISCOVERY
79 L A F.AXLE RHS AIR SUSP. G3 RANGE ROVER
80 L A F.AXLE LHS AIR SUSP. G3 RANGE ROVER
81 L A F.AXLE RHD AIR SUSP. ABS G3 RANGE ROVER
82 L A F.AXLE LHD AIR SUSP. ABS G3 RANGE ROVER
83 L A NOT DEFINED
84 L A NOT DEFINED
85 L A AX280 (MODULE)
86 L A NOT DEFINED
87 L A NOT DEFINED
88 L A NOT DEFINED
89 L A NOT DEFINED
90 L A F.AXLE V8 PI RHS 1995> NEW RANGE ROVER
91 L A F.AXLE NAS/JAPAN 90" LHD 1997 MY> DEFENDER
92 L A F.AXLE RHS DISCOVERY 2 DISCOVERY 2
93 L A F. AXLE LHS DISCOVERY 2 DISCOVERY 2
94 L A F.AXLE 1998 MY RANGE ROVER
95 L A F.AXLE 2 PIN 1999 MY RANGE ROVER
96 L A F.AXLE 4 PIN 1999 MY RANGE ROVER
97 L A V8 4.0 DEFENDER AUTO DEFENDER
98 L A RHD 4.0 V8 DEFENDER AUTO DEFENDER
10 M A FRONT AXLE DEFENDER 1999 MY 1999 MY DEFENDER
11 M A FRONT AXLE DEFENDER 1999 MY 1999 MY DEFENDER
12 M A FRONT AXLE DEFENDER 1999 MY ABS 1999 MY DEFENDER
13 M A FRONT AXLE DEFENDER 1999 MY ABS 1999 MY DEFENDER
14 M A FRONT AXLE DEFENDER 1999 MY 1999 MY DEFENDER
15 M A FRONT AXLE DEFENDER 1999 MY 1999 MY DEFENDER
16 M A FRONT AXLE DEFENDER 1999 MY 1999 MY DEFENDER
17 M A FRONT AXLE DEFENDER 1999 MY 1999 MY DEFENDER
18 M A FRONT AXLE DEFENDER 1999 MY 1999 MY DEFENDER
19 M A FRONT AXLE DEFENDER 1999 MY 1999 MY DEFENDER
241 F.AXLE RHS SERIES 2A 88" LAND ROVER
244 F.AXLE LHS SERIES 2A 88" LAND ROVER
251 F.AXLE RHS SERIES 2A 109" LAND ROVER
254 F.AXLE LHS SERIES 2A 109" LAND ROVER
355 A F.AXLE V8 RHS RANGE ROVER
358 A F.AXLE V8 LHS RANGE ROVER
881 F.AXLE V8 RHS 109" SERIES 3 LAND ROVER
884 F.AXLE V8 LHS 109" SERIES 3 LAND ROVER

So I'm hoping there isn't a physical difference between the 300tdi axles (I read it was just the springs that were different). But so far the part numbers are saying they are actually different parts. I really don't want to have to pull the axles out and source a 300tdi axle. That would be a pain in the arse...

[Skiboy]

Is it worth and email to Land Rover?

Or one of the recognized official clubs?

Anything you can remove from the front/make lighter?

[discoRRc]

Only Ian seems to have a problem with front axle weights... I recommend Young engineering in South windsor.

[rangieman]

A mate had the same issue when engineering a RRC ute chop and Ls1 conversion .
The engineer was happy if he removed the B/Bar and winch and put a standard bumper on[wink11]
I know it is not what you wanted to hear as by sounds of it you want it all legit from the word go so as it does not come back to Bite you[bighmmm]
Im sure there are plenty of 4wd`s getting around that would tip the scales but maybe not as modified as your`s that would be waiving a red flag[bigwhistle]

[stirlsilver]

Hello everyone! Happy new year! And I'm still alive.

A few loose ends - on the Axle front, I think Ian will accept the fact that the V8 and Tdi axles are the same, given the fact that they have the same offroad load ratings. So it should just pass when I load the winch with the Dynema rope. Thanks for the advice everyone.

On other fronts, things are a bit chaotic because I'm getting married in a couple of weeks! So there has been a bunch of planning going into that. I had hoped to have the car finished in time, but it wasn't possible. I am chipping away at a few things at the moment though. The car is currently at Allsprings, to have some custom coils made up, Aldo wasn't 100% sure he would be able to help, because he thinks it is going to need long variable rate coils for the front and back. Let's see what he says.

In other areas, I'm in the process of chopping out the small side indicators I fitted on the front to address the bullbar obstructing the main indicator. I had fitted non compliant lights before, so I've had to swap them out:
https://www.aulro.com/afvb/images/imported/2018/01/844.jpg

I'm also in the process of addressing the crack that developed on the back of the body between where the Fibreglass joined the steel wall. A little bit of corrosion got in causing a crack to form. I'm also dealing with the deformation on the scoop as well. None of this is finished, i'll have to get back on to it when the car is back and I'm married!
https://www.aulro.com/afvb/images/imported/2018/01/845.jpg

https://www.aulro.com/afvb/images/imported/2018/01/846.jpg

Till next time.

[101RRS]

Since you posted you issues about your scoop for some reason I have been looking at about just every car that passes me with a scoop - what many seem to he integral with the bonnet - many seem to have big bolt on scoops and aftermarket scoops - would it be easier to cut your losses [bigsad] on what you have done as in realtity the problem might come back and just get a big after market one - some look pretty good.

I know this sounds very pessimistic but I am not wanting it to be as I appreciate the huge amount of work that has gone into your scoop.

Also - would it not be better to get the get the car passed without winch etc and put them on after you have he car on the road? One or two less things to worry about at the cerification stage.

I love your work - is coming along really well. [bigsmile1]

Garry

[stirlsilver]

I suppose it is appropriate that I share something I wrote in our blog here. Since it basically is about this project!!
A short story of a crazy hobby obsession – Hobby Society (https://blog.hobbysociety.com/a-short-story-of-a-crazy-hobby-obsession-69762d14b866)

[stirlsilver]

Since you posted you issues about your scoop for some reason I have been looking at about just every car that passes me with a scoop - what many seem to he integral with the bonnet - many seem to have big bolt on scoops and aftermarket scoops - would it be easier to cut your losses [bigsad] on what you have done as in realtity the problem might come back and just get a big after market one - some look pretty good.

I know this sounds very pessimistic but I am not wanting it to be as I appreciate the huge amount of work that has gone into your scoop.

Thanks for the suggestion Garry. I'm not quite ready to give up on the arrangement yet. But it is something I'll need to keep in mind. I'm currently going over the areas that have deformed with some Evercoat Gold which is very easy to work with. Eventually the scoop with take a final shape, the other day when I drove to Allsprings when it was ~36deg outside, some more deformation happened. It will eventually stop after enough exposure to heat. At that point I can fix it up. Also, I'm considering spraying the entire car in bed liner (rather than the usual spray paint) which will give a durable finish and one that will mask these small imperfections. Something like this:
LineX Australia (http://www.linexcoatings.com.au/utelinersandvehicles.php)



Also - would it not be better to get the get the car passed without winch etc and put them on after you have he car on the road? One or two less things to worry about at the cerification stage.
I could, but then I just run the risk of having the car defected if it is weighed later. I'm trying to keep the process above board, and I think I can make it happen with where the weights are currently. Ian (the engineer) did tell me that he can't understand why the load rating on the front axle is so low, it's even lower than a Hilux! I think he will let it through based on the last chat I had with


I love your work - is coming along really well. [bigsmile1]

Thanks! Nearly there!

[Davo]

Congratulations!!! (On getting married, that is, though the car is coming along nicely as well.) I thought she was a keeper!

[crash]

another option to line is to use Raptor Liner. You can get it tinted in any color you wish and can be applied either brush, roll or spray gun to achieve the texture you want.

[stirlsilver]

Thanks Davo :)

And thanks Crash for the useful tip. I'll look into it.

So another milestone down. The car has the new springs fitted. I got it set a bit higher in the back because when you put some load in the back it will sit down, but looking at it now, I think the front needs to go up a touch more!! Either way it's frikken high! with the 33's on, the tray is at the height of my chest and I am 183cm high!

Anyway, Aldo from Allsprings advice was to drive it for a bit and see how it settles, and then adjustments can be done again since it is a bit of an iterative process.

https://www.aulro.com/afvb/images/imported/2018/01/905.jpg

https://www.aulro.com/afvb/images/imported/2018/01/906.jpg

Now I need to get the glass sorted!!

[rar110]

Air springs are the answer.
Good work.

[disco2hse]

It's a bit hard to tell because the photos are at an angle, but it appears to me that the chassis line looks about level and maybe slightly up on the rear. I would live with that for the reason you stated.

[stirlsilver]

A quick update everyone.

I measured the spring lengths on the car, the rear is 25mm higher than what I wanted and the front is 25mm lower. So I'll take it back to Allsprings and get them to give me another inch on the front. That will need to be later in the month when I have some time.

On another area. The rear license plate mount is done. It clips onto the rear winch fairlead using some Maglite wall clips, very sturdy clips!!
https://www.aulro.com/afvb/images/imported/2018/02/99.jpg

https://www.aulro.com/afvb/images/imported/2018/02/100.jpg

https://www.aulro.com/afvb/images/imported/2018/02/101.jpg

Till next time[bigsmile1]

[Vern]

Whats the height of the springs? Perch to perch.