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Grenadier



Member Since: 23 Jul 2014
Location: The foot of Mont Blanc...
Posts: 5765

France 2011 Defender 110 Puma 2.4 DCPU Corris Grey
Re: Front Grill - Mesh Chaff Guard
Procta wrote:
LandRoverAnorak wrote:
Whilst I had the front apart and was waiting for paint to dry, I added a mesh chaff guard to the grill. Chaff guards were a relatively common and inexpensive genuine accessory, at one time. These days though, they're both less common and stupidly expensive. I therefore decided to make my own using some black coated, aluminium mesh bought from eBay.

Fitting was really straightforward - remove the grill from the surround and cut the mesh to fit inside the recess that runs around the perimeter of the opening. It's also necessary to form a couple of holes for the bottom fixing bolts to the grill. The mesh is easy to cut with tin snips or side cutters. Once it's in place, refit the grill, which traps the mesh between the two parts:


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Once everything is back together, the difference is subtle:


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I also took the opportunity to replace all of the fixing bolts to both the main and lower grills with flanged, button head, stainless, black ones because, well why not?


i like the mesh grill look, i did this with my rover metros.


LRA, do you have a link to where you bought the mesh. I like this idea. Lots of gravel and small stones/rocks in these parts. Thumbs Up Monsieur Le Grenadier

I've not been everywhere, but it's on my list.....

2011 Puma 110DC - Corris Grey
Post #901437 5th May 2021 5:19am
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LandRoverAnorak



Member Since: 17 Jul 2011
Location: Surrey
Posts: 11240

United Kingdom 2013 Defender 110 Puma 2.2 USW Orkney Grey
It came from eBay. Unfortunately, the one that I bought isn't listed anymore but there are plenty of listings for the exact same thing. Search for 'black grill mesh aluminium'. This is the very first one that came up:

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/313442939341?ha...Sw-Exe4uIy Darren

110 USW BUILD THREAD - EXPEDITION TRAILER - 200tdi 90 BUILD THREAD - SANKEY TRAILER - IG@landroveranorak

"You came in that thing? You're braver than I thought!" - Princess Leia
Post #901441 5th May 2021 5:38am
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Grenadier



Member Since: 23 Jul 2014
Location: The foot of Mont Blanc...
Posts: 5765

France 2011 Defender 110 Puma 2.4 DCPU Corris Grey
Too kind sir. Ta. Thumbs Up Monsieur Le Grenadier

I've not been everywhere, but it's on my list.....

2011 Puma 110DC - Corris Grey
Post #901443 5th May 2021 5:43am
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LandRoverAnorak



Member Since: 17 Jul 2011
Location: Surrey
Posts: 11240

United Kingdom 2013 Defender 110 Puma 2.2 USW Orkney Grey
Wheel Spacers
Yesterdays task was to fit a set of wheel spacers, partly for the improved turning circle but also partly for the look, if I'm honest about it. I had a set of spacers on my previous TD5 110 a few years ago and despite having 265 tyres, it could out turn my wife's Discovery 2 at the time, which was very handy. There are lots of claims of these things improving handling too, but whilst that may be true for a low road car, I suspect that the gains for a Land Rover are marginal, at best.

Following recommendations on here, I planned to fit spacers from Rakeway. However, having failed to illicit any response by email or phone, I abandoned that idea Rolling Eyes I then cast around for alternatives and found there to be lots of options that are all, on paper at least, identical. They all claim to be made from the same flavour of aluminium and all use the same 10.9 wheel studs. With very little else to go on, I chose a set from Terrafirma on the basis that it's a recognisable name, although I strongly suspect that they're all made in the same factory somewhere. Anyway, here they are, in a natty anodised black finish:


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These came from Maltings Off Road via eBay as they were the most economic. The exact same Terrafirma product is available from lots of different places but the prices vary wildly, up to 50% more expensive from some.

Before fitting, I gave the back of each spacer a thin coat of copper grease to hopefully prevent it sticking to the steel hub:


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And the first one bolted in place:


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As always seems to be the case with this sort of stuff, there were no instructions so I chose to torque the supplied steel wheel nuts to 170Nm, which is the standard value for steel wheels. The nuts for the alloy wheels were then torqued to their standard of 133Nm. I umm'd and ahh'd about using thread lock on the spacers but decided against it as it really shouldn't be necessary if everything is torqued correctly. Time will tell if I'm right...

With all four wheels back on, it was time for some photos. This one shows that with standard wheels and tyres, the difference isn't dramatic and the tyres are still comfortably under the arches:


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Whilst I'm not a fan of very wide wheels and tyres, I'm very pleased with the stance that these spacers provide:


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 Darren

110 USW BUILD THREAD - EXPEDITION TRAILER - 200tdi 90 BUILD THREAD - SANKEY TRAILER - IG@landroveranorak

"You came in that thing? You're braver than I thought!" - Princess Leia
Post #906625 6th Jun 2021 9:14am
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LandRoverAnorak



Member Since: 17 Jul 2011
Location: Surrey
Posts: 11240

United Kingdom 2013 Defender 110 Puma 2.2 USW Orkney Grey
Axle Retaining Brackets - second time lucky
With the front off side wheel removed to fit a spacer, I also finally got around to fitting the axle retaining bracket to that side following the abortive attempt last August. As I'd already had the mounting nuts off then, it was all straightforward this time around:


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 Darren

110 USW BUILD THREAD - EXPEDITION TRAILER - 200tdi 90 BUILD THREAD - SANKEY TRAILER - IG@landroveranorak

"You came in that thing? You're braver than I thought!" - Princess Leia
Post #906628 6th Jun 2021 9:25am
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LandRoverAnorak



Member Since: 17 Jul 2011
Location: Surrey
Posts: 11240

United Kingdom 2013 Defender 110 Puma 2.2 USW Orkney Grey
Brake Hoses
Another little recent job, that I've had done by somebody else this time, was replacing the flexible brake hoses with braided stainless versions from Goodrich. When it went in for its last service, I also had the brake fluid changed and it was the ideal time to have this little upgrade done, too.


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Afterwards, there was no noticeable difference if I'm honest, which suggests that the original hoses were still in good condition. It's reassuring to know that they've been done, though. Darren

110 USW BUILD THREAD - EXPEDITION TRAILER - 200tdi 90 BUILD THREAD - SANKEY TRAILER - IG@landroveranorak

"You came in that thing? You're braver than I thought!" - Princess Leia
Post #906631 6th Jun 2021 9:41am
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LandRoverAnorak



Member Since: 17 Jul 2011
Location: Surrey
Posts: 11240

United Kingdom 2013 Defender 110 Puma 2.2 USW Orkney Grey
Front Wing Alignment
I had a bit of tinkering time yesterday so tackled a job that I meant to do when I had the front end in pieces a little while ago but ran out of time, namely attending to the droopy front wings. This is a common problem affecting vehicles with factory air con, whereby the combination of bracketry results in the spacing of the front wings being wider at the top than at the bottom, resulting in their characteristic droopy appearance. On mine the difference was only about 10mm but it was still enough to be noticeable. Fortunately, the fix is relatively easy.

With the front grill removed, the bolt securing the lower, inner face of each wing can be seen tucked away behind the bottom of the air con condenser frame (already removed in this picture). It's an 8mm bolt with a 10mm head on this end and a 13mm nut with captive washer, which is easily accessible by reaching up from beneath the bumper:


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With the bolt removed, the wing can be levered away from the chassis bracket with a long screwdriver. It's quite tight and does require a bit of force to open up the required gap.

The object of the exercise is to introduce spacers between the wings and chassis to even up the distance between the wings with that at the top. In my case, that would have been 5mm but I couldn't open up the gap that wide without undoing more bolts so I settled for two 3mm spacers cut from plastic sheet. I drilled a 10mm hole towards one end of each to allow a bit of tolerance:


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Each spacer was wedged into the gap and the hole centralised by passing a screwdriver through and pulling it in and out until it matched the existing holes. The original bolts were then reinstalled and tightened up.


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When all back together, and even though the spacers weren't quite as thick as I'd have liked, they do make a subtle but noticeable difference:


Click image to enlarge
 Darren

110 USW BUILD THREAD - EXPEDITION TRAILER - 200tdi 90 BUILD THREAD - SANKEY TRAILER - IG@landroveranorak

"You came in that thing? You're braver than I thought!" - Princess Leia
Post #911932 11th Jul 2021 4:38pm
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LandRoverAnorak



Member Since: 17 Jul 2011
Location: Surrey
Posts: 11240

United Kingdom 2013 Defender 110 Puma 2.2 USW Orkney Grey
Rear Work Lights
Three years ago (almost to the day) I installed a pair of 18w LED work lights above the the rear door of my 110. They were very cheap eBay specials and worked really well. However, I recently noticed that they looked decidedly crusty as the coating was bubbling and flaking off:


Click image to enlarge

For less than £16 for the pair they haven't done badly, and they still work perfectly, but it was time for something new.

Inspired by db950's excellent pop-top camper build and the lights he'd fitted, I bought a pair of 20w scene lights from Wilderness Lighting. No where near as cheap but not exorbitant either, these are very nice and very compact units:


Click image to enlarge

With the old lights removed, I fitted the brackets for the new lights to the same holes:


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The mounting bolts for the old lights had a penny washer behind them but I'd still noted quite a lot of flex in the aluminium panel they were fixed to. Whilst the new lights are much smaller, so are their brackets and so I made some more substantial spreader plates from 3mm ali sheet:


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The holes are off-centre due to the proximity of the cable gland and it wasn't worth the effort of cutting around them:


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The lights come fitted with very smart Deutsch connectors, which I unfortunately had to cut off as they wouldn't fit through the cable gland Rolling Eyes

And all fitted, they're not as bulky as the old lights, which I really like:


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In terms of performance, they're no brighter than the old ones but these are scene lights rather than flood and so the spread and evenness of the light is much better:


Click image to enlarge
 Darren

110 USW BUILD THREAD - EXPEDITION TRAILER - 200tdi 90 BUILD THREAD - SANKEY TRAILER - IG@landroveranorak

"You came in that thing? You're braver than I thought!" - Princess Leia


Last edited by LandRoverAnorak on 12th Jul 2021 9:22am. Edited 3 times in total
Post #911959 11th Jul 2021 8:21pm
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LandRoverAnorak



Member Since: 17 Jul 2011
Location: Surrey
Posts: 11240

United Kingdom 2013 Defender 110 Puma 2.2 USW Orkney Grey
Rear Washer Jet
Whilst I had all of the trim apart to replace the work lights, I also took the opportunity to replace the rear washer jet with this fine aluminium example from Design & Development Engineering:


Click image to enlarge

Fitting is as straightforward as unbolting the old one and fitting the new to the same hole, although the nut sizes are different. I also took the opportunity to deburr the hole Rolling Eyes


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I've got one for the front too, but fitting that is going to have to wait until I take the dash apart for another project! Darren

110 USW BUILD THREAD - EXPEDITION TRAILER - 200tdi 90 BUILD THREAD - SANKEY TRAILER - IG@landroveranorak

"You came in that thing? You're braver than I thought!" - Princess Leia
Post #911961 11th Jul 2021 8:30pm
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db950



Member Since: 01 Feb 2012
Location: Lincoln
Posts: 556

United Kingdom 1997 Defender 110 300 Tdi HT Nato Green
Thanks Darren appreciated.

The lights and the washer jet look great Thumbs Up
The lights seem a good middle ground between the cheap ebay ones and the likes of Lazer, time will tell how they hold up I guess! 1997 Ex-MOD 110, Pop Top Camper
2014 Discovery 4 SE Tech
Instagram @the110camper
Post #911986 12th Jul 2021 8:09am
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LandRoverAnorak



Member Since: 17 Jul 2011
Location: Surrey
Posts: 11240

United Kingdom 2013 Defender 110 Puma 2.2 USW Orkney Grey
Yeah, Lazer make some nice lights but it's hard to believe that being two or three times more expensive will make them two or three times better. Darren

110 USW BUILD THREAD - EXPEDITION TRAILER - 200tdi 90 BUILD THREAD - SANKEY TRAILER - IG@landroveranorak

"You came in that thing? You're braver than I thought!" - Princess Leia
Post #912093 12th Jul 2021 8:12pm
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L110CDL



Member Since: 31 Oct 2015
Location: Devon
Posts: 10427

England 
Yes those lights look much better Darren and the light coming from them look good as well, nice change Thumbs Up 1996 Golf Blue 300Tdi 110 Pick up. Keeper.


Clayton.
Post #912263 13th Jul 2021 8:24pm
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LandRoverAnorak



Member Since: 17 Jul 2011
Location: Surrey
Posts: 11240

United Kingdom 2013 Defender 110 Puma 2.2 USW Orkney Grey
Hit a minor milestone today and had to stop and take a picture, as you do. My daughter, who was with me at the time, was very restrained and didn't roll her eyes at me, which I'm taking as a win Laughing


Click image to enlarge
 Darren

110 USW BUILD THREAD - EXPEDITION TRAILER - 200tdi 90 BUILD THREAD - SANKEY TRAILER - IG@landroveranorak

"You came in that thing? You're braver than I thought!" - Princess Leia
Post #918023 20th Aug 2021 4:06pm
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MussEd



Member Since: 20 Feb 2013
Location: East Lothian
Posts: 345

Scotland 2013 Defender 110 Puma 2.2 USW Baltic Blue
Cool. Shows how much of an amateur I am, as recently I got back home to realise I’d just passed the 30k mark amd hadn’t noticed to stop and get a picture. (Which I definitely would have, had I twigged)
Post #918044 20th Aug 2021 5:46pm
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LandRoverAnorak



Member Since: 17 Jul 2011
Location: Surrey
Posts: 11240

United Kingdom 2013 Defender 110 Puma 2.2 USW Orkney Grey
Fuel Filter Guard Refurbishment
I recently bought a galvanised fuel filter guard and spent a good amount of time prepping and painting it. When I came to fit it though, I discovered that the one on the vehicle was a slightly different design Rolling Eyes I'd also bought a stainless replacement mounting screw from YRM but was pleasantly surprised to find that the original is some sort of non-ferrous alloy and was in perfect condition.


Click image to enlarge

I decided to keep the original but as I already had it on the bench, I thought I'd clean it up before re-fitting. I sanded it down to remove the worst of the rust (which wasn't really that bad), treated what remained with Fertan and then applied various coats of etch primer, primer, satin black and clear lacquer in a bid to preserve it:


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Before re-fitting, I also cleaned up the mounting points and applied some Dinitrol to the mating surfaces.

And very smart it looks too, especially for something that isn't generally seen Laughing


Click image to enlarge
 Darren

110 USW BUILD THREAD - EXPEDITION TRAILER - 200tdi 90 BUILD THREAD - SANKEY TRAILER - IG@landroveranorak

"You came in that thing? You're braver than I thought!" - Princess Leia
Post #918242 22nd Aug 2021 8:34pm
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