New Rumour on Series LR

On or around Mon, 24 Dec 2007 10:53:11 -0000, "Lee_D" enlightened us thusly:

"their" engine is an Iveco...

They had the chance to go coil-sprung when LR did in the 80s, and decided that it was too expensive to rebuild the factory, instead they went off into what was effectively a series IIIa, which became the PS10. What would be better would be for LR to buy the body from Santana... and fit a decent engine. Although the 2.4 ford ought to be more reliable by now, if it's not, then Ford have been unusually lax.

On or around Mon, 24 Dec 2007 14:51:16 +0000, Ian Rawlings enlightened us thusly:

round here, there are a lot of double cab pickups from the land of the rising sun, but there are a goodly number of landies as well, mostly 90s, discos and the odd rangie.

Leave the Iveco in there - it's a bloody good engine.

I see we are all up early on AFL then. Morning, chaps, and compliments of the whatsit.

What did we all get in our stockings, then?

I'm starting "Horse's Arse" in about 5 minutes, as soon as I've had my shower.

It's a far better engine than the Td5 ever was.

Alex

Well chunky!

I was going to compliment you on your early rising, managing to fit a set of tyres before I had even had breakfast, then I remembered where you were.

Yeah - 30 minutes until boxing day starts. I'm sat here, glass of Laguvalin in hand waiting for family in the UK to call then it's bedtime.

On or around Tue, 25 Dec 2007 22:00:14 +1300, EMB enlightened us thusly:

I agree, and I reckon it's better than the duratorq. However, LR don't fit it. I was advocating LR's 110 chassis with santana's one-piece body with the wider doors etc, and a decent engine, possibly the Iveco.

The 110 chassis and suspension is pretty damned good.

I have to say I've seen a number of double-cab 110s recently, and they are rapidly becoming an object of lust so I think I may have to get one when mine gives up the ghost. Shame mine's so healthy!

On or around Tue, 25 Dec 2007 22:55:03 +0000, Ian Rawlings enlightened us thusly:

It's a great pity that LR didn't make that sooner - would've been a piece of piss for them to do, the way the LR body is put together. That should've been a model in the line-up from early in the 110 days. As it is, they missed the boat, and allowed Isuzu, Mitsubishi etc. to dominate the market.

Then they could without much more effort have offered a 130 double-cab pickup, with a bigger pickup capacity, as an option.

Well what I like about classic series landies is that they do not compromise for design.

Everything 4WD since the 80's has curves and design and all sorts of crap you will weep over if it gets dented out of shape or corrodes, but an old landie only grows with it's battle scars and mine has plenty.

I think the aesthetic of my landie is far superior to any designer crap. My landie is totally individual, quite like no other and that is the way it should be, can you do that with anything from the 80's onwards.

It maybe true that the recent Defenders and Dicos with there gizmatronics and coil springs might get to the summit of Ben Nevis before I could (though a Tin Lizzie would put us all to shame) but there is durability to be considered and for all the faults of old age if I had all the money in the world I would not spend it on a new Defender.

Notwithstanding I would not mind a decent heater and power steering, but that is as far as I would go.

Well, I'd put a 300TDi defender into that category, mine was a hard top with no gizmos at all, no ECU, no nothing, most complicated electronics on it is the clock, and I had to fit that myself. It starts on the button in the freezing cold, far better than my modern Audi, only the pinzgauer starts as well in the cold but while the pinz starts on the button no matter what the weather, unlike my 300TDi Defender it runs like a dog for the first 15 mins, with much choke fiddling. The Defender just starts and drives, no drama at all, ever.

I don't think I'd say the same about a modern Defender, but the traction control I reckon would be a real boon, I'd be tempted to go for hydraulic diff locks though for simplicity and reliability over electronics or even pneumatic ones. Not sure if hydraulics are more reliable than pneumatics but they'd seem that way, and no compressor involved.

I've been out with a few series trucks laning, and have seen them getting their springs caught from time to time, not seen any bent ones but have been told it happens. The springs are in just the right place to catch on the rut edges. I'd not entirely trust the engines either, getting older carburetted engines to run in extreme weather can be a PITA.

Having said that, I went on a steep but mostly flat rock-surface climb recently with an old series 3 SWB on ropey tyres, my pinz, and a well-equipped D90, the SWB shot up it without pause, I ground to a halt halfway up in 6 wheel drive mode and had to engage the rear diff locks, and the D90 was spinning its fat tyres like mad and almost started going backwards! The SWB did fail on a rutted mud run earlier though, springs hit the ground.

Still "first time" though...

That's still pretty good, my audi cranks for that long in the cold on proper fuel with a young battery. Sub-zero temperatures makes my defender go chug chug chug rattle, then it's off, rather than the normal chug chug rattle. The pinz goes chug whine and it's off, but does need some tickling to keep it going at first.

The battery in the defender's been in there since I bought it too, that's about 6 years, not bad! No idea how long it had been in there before I got it.