Off Road SHO

Jerry, On the S-1 the brake pedal is enclosed in the footwell and only sticks out at the fulcrum point, a total of about 3/8". So unless I can loose about 40 years, to be able to crawl into the footwell, I going to have to stay in the engine compartment. Thanks though. Tom

X Thanks, that is what I'll probably do. I don't know what the thread pitch is though, probably metric, eh? Tom

Any S-1 owners ever replace that little micro switch they use to actuate the brake lights. Mine (while under the previous owner's rule) gave out and caused the incandescent bulbs to melt the sockets of the Land Rover Defender tail lights that they used in our cars. I've replaced the lights with LED versions, and the defective lever arm micro switch with a new one but due to the design, it is an extremely fine line between on all the time and now a dead battery, and not coming on when I hit the brake pedal. I'd like to put in a regular hydraulic pressure switch like everybody else uses. Have any other S-1 owners changed out their car's brake light switch? Tom

Big Dog, did you just buy a lot of periods on sale somewhere? It seems. as though. you use them. a lot. Just messin with ya. Tom

Wow, that is a lot of area under that torque curve, that is what you want. Good torque down low is what rockets you out of the corners. Great job. Tom

Speed, Thanks but I already have that link and there is no wiring diagram in it. I have the assembly manual also and all it has is a diagram of the harness with plug ends, no colors or logic. My specific problem lies in the brake /tail light system and more specifically the 3 wires that go to the brake light switch at the pedal. I don't know why there would be 3 wires and 3 positions on a brake light switch, you just need 2, in and out. My headlights don't have high low switching either. It would be nice to have the wiring diagram. Tom

Xcar, Thanks for the link. If my S-1 didn't have indents in the fenders for the "double bubble" light holders that they used, I think those are exactly what I need. I'm going to take my light holders (what the heck are these things called anyway??) down to a motorcycle supply and see if they have any 3" stop/tail lights with LEDs. Those bike riders want to be seen about as much as we do on the street. Tom

Anyone have one? Thanks. Tom

Damn I am so pissed. Finally got the new lights and they don't *%#&@in fit! The escutcheon that the lights screw to (that converts the angle of the fenders to vertical for the lights) is too shallow near the bottom, a quarter inch too shallow. They also missed on the hole alignment at the back of the escutcheon and fender. I sure don't feel like grinding bigger holes in fiberglass to make a shitty light fit in a poorly designed mount. I think I will find some surface mount amber and red LED lights. Anybody want to buy some brand new Land Rover lights and LED 1157 bulbs to go with them? Tom

And make sure the recorder is set to High Definition and pointing backwards so we can see what the parts are as they come off. Just kidding. Great find. Enjoy. Tom

Another AZ car! Yay! Tom

They use the T-9's too? Can those still be re-built? I have one out of a Merkur XR4Ti that I would like to tear into but I need a re-build manual and a source for parts. Anybody ever tackle one of these? Tom

X, Yes, without a doubt. We would smell fumes sometimes after we came to a stop, but I attributed it to a poor gas cap seal. We were very lucky. Oh yeah, another thing I found: The ground wire to the fuel level sending unit was disconnected. Plugged it back on and voila' I have a working gas gauge. WooHoo! Tom

Fixed the gasoline odor problem and maybe the intermittent fuel pump whine. To get at the wiring for the tail lights (another problem all together), you have to remove the back floor pan, trunk shell and trunk lid. When I did that I found that the hose from the fuel pump to the steel line that runs through the tunnel wasn't clamped together very tightly. When I ran my fingers under that connection, they came back wet with gas. That hose and the one on the other side of the fuel pump were both dry cracked so I replaced them both. I'm also thinking that the cracking was allowing air to get sucked in the hose before the fuel pump which would cause the pump to cavitate, making that noise every once in a while. The pre-filter was a cleanable type (Golan) with a 10 micron secondary filter so I cleaned that also and put new silencer foam rings around the edges of the filter so it wouldn't rattle between the frame and trunk shell. Also found the differential vent to be too short to reach the hole in the floor pan so I put a new longer piece in. This will keep the top side of the floor pan a little cleaner. More as I find them and fix them. Tom

I gave up trying to find a suitable alternative and just ordered 2 new light assemblies fro Land Rover of Scottsdale. They come with the incandescent bulbs but I will get some LED bulbs, I'm not going to go through this again. Tom

Is the rust forming on the top side of the plug that is in a "plug well" of the valve cover? If it is, this is common. When the engine is hot, so is the plug well and therefore surrounded by hot thin air. When it starts to cool down, this thin air creates a small vacuum that sucks in cooler, moist air. The water vapor condenses out of the air and rusts the spark plug. If the spark plug seal at the top of the plug well is a tighter fit than the rubber seal at the bottom of the plug well, the aforementioned vacuum will suck in oil from the valve train area instead of air, leading to a plug well full of oil. If you have a lot of crankcase pressure from excess blow-by or malfunctioning PCV system, the oil will get in there that much quicker. Tom

I can get them from my local Land Rover stealership (part number RTC5523), who in turn gets them from somewhere in cauliflornia but he wants 38.00 apiece, 76.00 per pair! And I end up with the same cheap plastic bulb holder, that transalpian mentioned. I went down to the local Oreily's for just the socket in metal, but they look absolutely cheap too. I will try and go to NAPA tomorrow to see if they have better sockets. On the cheapie factory units, the bulb socket actually protrudes through a big hole in the fiberglass escucheon (sp?) that the socket base is screwed to. If I have to modify anything, I might as well just by some newer style LED lights and be done with it. Tom

Found them in the U.K. They are from the Land Rover Defender 90 and 110 vehicles. http://www.pegasusparts.co.uk/ourshop_90073/prod_2756583-RTC-5523-KIT-StopTail-Lamp-Assembly-September-1973-onwards.html Now if I can just find them here. Tom

Speed, That's the problem, the enclosures as you call them are melted from the old style filament bulbs. The previous owner replaced the bulbs with newer LED bulbs but the enclosures were still the old melted ones. I will try and insert a pic of the melted bulb housings. Tom

Don, It's not the Webcon's coolant temp sensor (the one with two wires) that is bad, it's the temp gauge's sender, the single wire one. Sending units have to matched to the corresponding gauge. I think I might have a Focus gauge sending unit; not sure. My car just passed our emissions inspection here with flying colors so I think the Webcon is happy with its sensor. Bill, I've done the Service Tip 0201 ST already but it still climbs to over 220-230, but doesn't boil over and is about 30-60 hotter than my infrared temp probe reads at the sensor's base. Tom

My lenses are okay so I was hoping to avoid drilling new holes in my S-1, since those don't show how it's mounted to the body. I can't believe the Superformance guys designed and had built their own tail lights, they probably picked something from a car or truck. Tom

Bill, I did on another problem and got the feeling I was keeping them from their higher paying work. I've google image searched and see some that are similar but not the same. Would really like to replace them with some quality units, but that might not be possible in today's China centric manufacturing. Tom

Thanks, I've sent emails to them. We'll see if I get a response back from any. I'm not beyond just replacing the whole assembly, both backing plate/socket/lens and pigtail with something else. I wonder what these tail lights were originally installed on? They kind of look like Land Rover tail lights. Tom

My brake light switch got stuck in the ON position and the heat from the bulbs melted the white plastic socket/lens holders. Would anyone here know where I can get a set in the States? Thanks in advance. Tom

As some may know from Don's thread about his trip from SoCal to Texas, the S-1's have a heat problem. Mine has the same symptoms as Don's; higher readings on the temp gauge but not boiling over, quits after so long but restarts after it cools down. What I've done so far: Replaced the thermostatic fan switch with one that will turn the fan on at a lower, temp, hopefully keeping what coolant is in the radiator at a lower temp so that when the thermostat does open, it will pass cooler coolant into the engine. Fan comes on much more often and stays on for a few minutes after shutting her down. Replaced the 160* thermostat with a new 160* thermostat. Blocked the path of air around the radiator with aluminum tape and foam, so now any air that enters the nose cone can only escape through the radiator and oil cooler. BTW, I don't see a plate welded in the middle of my radiator's driver's side end tanks. Since both the in and out of this radiator is in the same driver's side end tank, there must be a plate separating the top half from the bottom half on that same side; otherwise the coolant will just circulate through that end tank rather than the fins. Maybe it is just welded internally and not visible from the outside. I'm still seeing high temps, 220-240 indicated, but my infrared thermometer says about 172 at the thermostat housing, so this leads me to believe that either my gauge sending unit or the gauge itself is faulty. Do any S-1 owners know what resistance the sending unit should create at different temperatures? Note to self: the thermostat water neck is poorly designed and aimed for this car. Makes it very difficult to get the rubber hose on and off. Also cleaned the K&N air filter; another chore. Tom