[Steeroid]

From the 4x4xice thread:

Originally Posted by Steeroid

A nice powerful component setup with a good amp should do it. I can mount speakers either on the rear doors or at the bottom of the rear pillars (same level as the doors).

Anyway nothing can be done immediately - the truck is going in for a 4.6 half-block off a Range Rover.

Originally Posted by GTO

When did that happen! Update in your ownership thread please!

Okay here's the update:

Am away for 3 weeks, so we're taking the truck to a friend's garage since the clutch was on its last legs when I bought it and nearly gave up on me yesterday in the desert - some cooling off was all it required for another hour's sand-roving, though.

So when I mentioned the clutch change one of the LR boys in group said "why not change the half-block to a 4.6"?

Turns out this is a very common 'mod' - the 4.6 half block fits in neatly and doesnt require any rewiring or ECU change. You get a longer stroke engine for very little money (old engines and blocks are dirt cheap) and very little effort or 'modifications'. Whats more you can retain the 3.9 throttle body with the "3.9" legend on top so nobody would know - unless they open up the engine and measure the block.

So the truck is off tonite to Ayoub's garage. Headers will be added if possible, else it will be done later. Am happy with the Torque and overall driveability, but some top-whack tweaking would be useful.

In the meanwhile the following changes were made:

1. Lights put on, removed, relocated.

2. Tow-hitch relocated to a higher mount as it was fouling up my departure angle.

3. Foldable rear seats fitted from a Disco.

4. Compressor mounted in battery box under the driver's seat with air-lines fabricated to mount two air outlets inside each front door for quick refills at the push of a button. Works fine but the compressor gets cut off (thermal) after 3 tyres are topped up from 12 psi to 32 because it is in a closed box with little room for the heat to dissipate.

5. Luggage hooks liberally sprinkled around the rear.

6. Simota (oil based) filter replaced with AEM Brute Force conical paper filter.

7. Manual wind-up windows changed to electric with OE arms off ebay and motors off an old Disco.



Truck is doing well off-the-road despite some minor issues (including one blown starter).

Originally Posted by GTO - Touring

Steer, will the 5 series towrings be able to withstand the brute force of amateur towing?

Nice to see another pic. Admit it, getting stuck is a whole lot of fun!

We (i.e., the truck and I) are doing more recovery duty these days - havent been 'stuck' since the first couple of drives. Have already pulled out a host of vehicles from Jeeps, Landcruisers and an FJ - no issues with the 5-series tow-points so far.

[GTO]

So the purposeful mods have already begun! Awesome. Just ensure that you don't lose your low-rpm torque with the new halfblock and headers. Great pic.

[Steeroid]

UPDATE

Originally Posted by GTO

Just ensure that you don't lose your low-rpm torque with the new halfblock and headers. Great pic.

The truck is leaving the garage without a change of block - the garage refused to change the block saying the engine is VERY new and hasnt been opened so far, there is no need for the 'upgrade'.

What sealed the deal was that they opened up the transmission and found that I have been driving in the desert with a clutchless manual. The vehicle had a steel plate instead of a clutch plate - it was worn out beyond belief.

New clutch plate + pressure plate + release bearing + new ignition leads + new distributor (loose cap, timing issues) + new plugs and we're good to go!

[-GT-]

Originally Posted by Steeroid

UPDATE
What sealed the deal was that they opened up the transmission and found that I have been driving in the desert with a clutchless manual. The vehicle had a steel plate instead of a clutch plate - it was worn out beyond belief.

Steer:

What to do you mean that it had a steel plate instead of a clutch plate?
I hope after being fixed, the clutch pedal is much more easy.

Have fun in Wayanad; post a lot of pics for us to envy.

Will see you on 20th Feb

Cheers

[Stratos]

I know I am posting late, but that is one of my favorite off-roaders of all times. Congrats Steeroid. There is absolutely nothing like the Land Rover Defener. Superb taste of vehicles!

[A S H V I N]

@ -GT-

what Steeroid meant was that the clutch was so worn out it pretty much looked liked a steel platter hehe

[Steeroid]

The truck is back after an extended session in the garage - after a few outings in the desert including a nose-dive where I landed on my front bumpers, a few issues cropped up indicating that the vehicle I bought may have been cosmetically perfect, but had a host of small mechanical issues that required looking into.

As reported earlier, the clutch was deep-fried in engine oil and had to be replaced.

The other stuff we found and repaired:

1. Exhaust was choked. As in there was very little coming out of it until you revv really hard, and then it was accompanied by black soot. End can was replaced with a Flow-master and I was stopped by the cops because it was too loud. Fortunately, issue #2 saved the day for me.

2. Headers were cracked in several places and were leaking away - after ever outing in the desert the sounds turned from the original 'hisssss' to louder farts. The final joint where the 4x2 becomes x1 was also cracked. This saved the day for me when I was stopped - I pointed to the leaky headers and joints and told them I was driving to the garage after I cracked my exhaust. Which was true because I was indeed driving to the garage then (for another reason).

3. Engine mounts were shot. Gearbox mounts were, too.

4. The conical filter fitted on the truck was too close to the radiator fan and did not have a heat shield. Air Intake wasnt optimal, then. The Brute Force air filter had a paper element, which went kaput when we did a wadi run - water splashed on the thing and made is soggy.

5. Several of the off-roaders adviced me to do away with the 2-inch lift as the vehicle had plenty of GC even in stock form - the punishing drives in the desert would stress the Universal Joints, according to them. Hence I either needed to do something about the springs or had to work on the driveshafts.

So...

1. Flowmaster End can replaced with OE end can.

2. New headers (also 4x2x1) put in - these are not 'performance' headers, but replacement. Slight increase in diameter, though

3. Engine and Gearbox mounts replaced.

4. Air Intake switched back to original fender-vents though the original piping, Range Rover Classic filter used instead of OE Defender (as the only defender parts available here are for the Diesel).

5. OME lift-kit replaced with uprated OME springs of OE height.

[muneemmk]

If you do mods on your car can you drive it around after you register about the mods carried out at the "muroor" ? or what else can you do to get yourself from being pulled over by the "Shurta" when using a modded car ?
Asking this have seen those extremely crazy mods in Vikid's posts like the Rubicon running on stilts.

[Steeroid]

When I picked up this vehicle, I hadnt bargained for this turning out to be a sort of mini-restoration project.

However it does seem like the previous owner was inordinately bothered about cosmetics and external + internal enhancements than he was with the drive train.

As a result I have spent several weekends at the garage, reverse-engineering several issues. Primary issues were 'a lot of smoke', 'heavy fuel consumption - probably 3 per litre', 'noisy engine' etc.

We finally turned to the dealership/agency as nobody outside had the software or the connectors to read these engines (they arent ODB compliant). Met a genial old sardarji there who is their service manager/supervisor, explained the problems to him and immediately felt comfortable as the guy had a calm look on his face as he tapped his fingers on the fender while looking in.

They took 7 days at the agency - the vehicle showed nothing on the computer, which meant that the connector was loose/badly wired. Once this was done, several fault codes came up showing no input from the following sensors:

1. Lambda (O2) (2 nos)
2. MAF
3. Stepper motor (TDC)
4. Gearbox
5. Transfer case
6. Thermostat
7. Engine tune

In other words - NONE of the sensors were providing any input to the ECU.

They then proceeded to rewire all the sensors to find out which one is kaput, but there were no fault codes after rewiring. Everything worked - all it required was a connection !

Magically all the engine-related issues went away with that (overheating, fuel consumption) and I'm now getting about 5-6 kmpl. The throttle butterfuly mount also had a leak, which lead to the irregular idle (leak was AFTER the MAF).

We have also finished all peripheral issues, got new (replacement) headers, put in a Discovery end-can and the brute is finally giving out a nice steady and muted growl.

This has been a huge learning experience for me - thankfully not too expensive as most of our replacements came from the Land Rover scrap yard (except sensitive stuff). It wasnt expensive, but it was time-consuming as most of it was reverse engineering - old engines arent expensive to maintain, they require TIME. Total expense on all engine related stuff was less than Dhs.2.5k (Rs.30k+)

Still, it was a lot of quality time spent in the garage, after which I now have a mechanically close-to-perfect beast.

Now for the ICE!


PS: Despite all these issues, the vehicle went through a dozen punishing weekend desert trips without too many incidents except the overheating on one occassion.

[GTO]

Originally Posted by Steeroid

When I picked up this vehicle, I hadnt bargained for this turning out to be a sort of mini-restoration project.

For an '02? Little surprising for something so recent.

However it does seem like the previous owner was inordinately bothered about cosmetics and external + internal enhancements than he was with the drive train.

Well, you got it cheap too!

In other words - NONE of the sensors were providing any input to the ECU.

Has she offroaded in deep water anytime?

It wasnt expensive, but it was time-consuming as most of it was reverse engineering - old engines arent expensive to maintain, they require TIME. Total expense on all engine related stuff was less than Dhs.2.5k (Rs.30k+)

Cheap. Agreed on the time part for these old school beasts.

Still, it was a lot of quality time spent in the garage, after which I now have a mechanically close-to-perfect beast.

Not to mention, a better offroader! The engine will pull quicker now that shes in a perfect state of tune.

Now for the ICE!

What about it?

PS: Despite all these issues, the vehicle went through a dozen punishing weekend desert trips without too many incidents except the overheating on one occassion.

More pics?

Do you plan to keep her for long, Steeroid? Where all does your gang offroad, except for sand dunes?

[Steeroid]

Originally Posted by GTO

Do you plan to keep her for long, Steeroid? Where all does your gang offroad, except for sand dunes?

I plan to bring this one back to IND whenever I return (or leave DXB). The Jag will be a pain to maintain as time goes by and it is mostly unknown as I havent opened the bonnet except to top up the washer fluid (not that you can do much because the whole engine bay is practically sealed), but this one I know inside out by now and I think its something I can maintain by myself. Requires very few tools and is now ridiculously easy to connect to the laptop and read the few fault codes that the very simple ECM will show up(Bought Test Book diagnostics off ebay).

There are loads of very large and active LR communities online and troubleshooting is rather easy once you get your hands dirty and take a look under the bonnet. I think I should be able to maintain this for a couple of decades at least quite effortlessly. Once you start living with this thing you realize that it is actually quite forgiving, and the legend that 75% of all Defenders (LR earlier) that rolled out of Solihull still run around somewhere in the world becomes more believable.

[darklord]

Originally Posted by Steeroid

I plan to bring this one back to IND whenever I return (or leave DXB).

But is it still possible to import LHD vehicles to India? Read somewhere that India has banned the import of LHD vehicles. Or are you planning to convert to RHD?

Oh, and by the way, the LR looks brute.