Running Report, May 2010

I thought I’d make a small update on how the vehicle is running generally, since most posts are detailed modification or repair issues.

Fuel consumption on a “combined cycle” commute to work (26 miles each way with 23 roundabouts, numerous cross roads and T-junctions, several long, steep hills and an even split between town and A-road driving) returns an average of 23mpg on the usual Tesco diesel (very local and convenient for me, and I use the 5p per litre off vouchers) or 25mpg on Shell diesel.  Not as much as many Tdi conversions claim, but since that is with so much town driving and dealing with so many hills and junctions, plus with the extra weights and drag from the various mods and accessories, I’m quite satisfied.

The transmission is working well.  The gear box still seems to “sweat” through the selector seals, leaving a slight trail of moistness from the selectors down to the drain plug. This results in an occasional drip from the outside of the drain plug onto the ground, but it’s rare (a drop every few days), but the transmission is otherwise leak-free.  The oil levels in the transmission don’t seem to vary, and I haven’t needed to top it up in a few months (the dipsticks make checking a doddle and were well worth fitting).

The engine oil consumption seems to have stopped.  I now fill the sump to the “low” mark on the dipstick, which is level with the sump’s top flange and the bottom of the block ladder frame.  I suspect the dipstick under-reads, given that filling to the “max” mark was over-filling the sump to the bottom of the block itself (immersing the ladder frame), which probably resulted in the big ends and crank balancing masses whipping up the oil and causing heavy breathing and bore splashing, leading to burning of the oil mist caused by this splashing until the oil level stabilised at the low mark.  I think the cause may be my straightening out of the Discovery dip stick’s outer tube (to fit around the Defender manifolds and the snorkel ducting), causing the dip stick to be lifted higher than its correct level and the subsequent under-reading.  With roughly 15,000 miles on the rebuilt engine, I think the rings and bores have now settled in, which may also be a factor.  I have a new pair of Genuine Parts 12J/19J/Tdi engine mountings to replace the pattern SIII diesel mounts, which I hope will reduce the amount of vibration transmitted to the vehicle – pattern mounts are notorious for their harder compounds and harsher vibration transmission.

I had a lucky escape with the cooling system.  While connecting my T-Max tyre compressor to the aux battery shut-off switch in the engine bay (it uses 30A, so can’t be connected to a cigarette lighter type socket), I saw that the Jubilee clip on the thermostat housing end of the radiator top hose had cracked through where its fixed end meets the tightening screw housing.  I have no idea how long that clip had been failed, but amazingly the hose was still secure and leak free.  Needless to say, a new stainless steel clip has been fitted.

I had the spring bolt holes in the left dumb iron welded up and re-drilled to match the position of the right dumb iron (6mm down and 5mm forward) so the front axle is now parallel to the rear axle and has equal space between bump stops and axle on each side.  This has eliminated the left pull on the steering that I have been trying to remedy since the rebuild was first completed (having again rebuilt the suspension and steering, swapped the springs, replaced the bushes and built up new swivel housings).  At the same time as that work was being undertaken, a minor issue was pointed out by the Rogers service manager which I had never spotted: I had been running the 7×16″ 8-spokes for many years before the rebuild, with one standard rim for the spare (hidden under a wheel cover), but during the rebuild, I bought another two 7×16″ 8spokes for the two spares.  Unbeknownst to me, despite buying the same brand and size wheels as the older units, the offsets were less, with the spoked section of the wheel some 15-20mm closer to the outboard rim than the old wheels.  Both of these new wheels were fitted to the rear axle, but I had always put the narrower track down to the slightly shorter nature of the rear axle (a turning circle and directional stability design feature) rather than any difference in the wheels’ offset.  Had they been fitted to different axles, I’m sure I would have seen the difference in track from side to side and found the variation in the wheels.  Since the front tyres (on the old wheels) were already showing some shoulder wear from the steering, I decided to swap the wheels from front to rear to maximise the tyre life and also to fit the less offset rims to the front as an experiment.  I expected the steering loads to be slightly reduced, just as when I removed the wheel spacers, but the difference in steering wheel forces was significant.  I now suspect that with standard offset rims (to be fitted to the new axles, once that project is complete), my power steering plan will be unnecessary.

I had been debating for some time what sort of standard Land Rover wheels to buy.  The choices were 127/130 rims (similar to standard 109/110 rims, but 1″ wider for the 235 tyres), TUM,HD (Wolf) rims, or alloys.  I had been leaning towards the steel rims for cost, because alloys look a bit out of place on a SIII (not so much on a Defender),  and because fitting alloys over the thicker drive flange and protrusive plastic cap on drum braked Salisbury hubs can be problematic.  However, I was a little concerned (I know…) about the aesthetics of  the Salisbury flanges on the rear axle and the domed Discovery flanges on the front looking mismatched, and I’m bored of frequently respraying the hubs to deal with the rust that invariably reappears.  When a set of five Range Rover Classic LSE rims (my favourite LR alloy design) came up for a reasonable price (complete with new tyres that I can save for my RRC), I decided to bite the bullet and get them.  They need repainting, due both to a little corrosion and  their spoked centres being Ardennes Green.  I just need to decide whether to repaint them in plain silver, or whether to have the rims silver and the centres colour coded (in gloss black).  Would the latter be just a bit too much for a 109?