Locked and loaded. After the camping trip a few weeks ago and hitting some somewhat steep hills...l'm ditching the 2.5td. It just doesn't get it done, with its 87 hp and picturing myself in route for Alaska...just didn't set well with my building doubts. So, a 200tdi is on it way to the garage and the Defender is heading there Monday. Hopefully, over Christmas break it will get swapped around. 200tdi is 110 hp and offers some "tweaking" to add a bit more "get-up-and-go". The swap is a pretty direct fit. I'm get nearly the entire assembly for the refit...radiator, inner cooler, fuel filter housing, etc.

l'd just about pulled the trigger on a chevy 250 inline-six swap, but l love the rumble of the little diesel.

 

Out with the old. Replacement showed up today...200tdi.

 

that was quick work

 

Getting there, 200tdi bolted up, just needs a few things sorted.




On the home stretch now.

 

Pulled radiator out, side tank cracked...pretty ugly shape anyway, so it would have been replaced in the near future. Ordered a new rad and inner cooler. Did a few little things tonight, oil/filter change, turbo heat shield, removed rad and inner cooler, adjusted new clutch (what a stupid set up...thank goodness for cheap harbor frieight wrenches and a grinder), added protective shielding to winch cables that run below rad and finished up some detail work on routing of accelerator cable.

l'll start tackling the sleeping compartment and cabinet while waiting for rad/cooler. Still have to assemble the floor panels around the trans tunnel.

 

Cold snap moving in today, so went out early (50°F) and assemled floor and tunnel. It's 31 now and dropping, high of 20 tomorrow. Granted, UPS says the rad and cooler should be here by 9pm.

 

Well, Rovers North came through bigtime. Ordered rad/inner cooler Tuesday morning...arrived today at 11am. Had evening plans, so heading out immediately to the garage. Dropped everything in and headed down the road. WOW, WOW, WOW WE, the 200tdi is like driving a sports car...compared to the 2.5td tractor engine. Sounded pretty awesome listening to the turbo really come on strong.

Took it around the block, five miles, and temp gauge barely moved, probably needs a thremostat. Other than that, she sounds pretty sweet!

 

Changed terminal ends on battery cables, went from post to stud. The previous battery was a marine style (out of our travel trailer), post and stud...which worked out well for adding winch wire connections, but was only 550CCA, Dropped a 1000 CCA battery in, since the other one wasn't enough two mornings ago, 0° F. 2°F this morning, we'll see how she does. Also, tighten the alternator belt, although new when swapped engine, it had really stretched...no wonder the charging lights was hanging around for so long in the morning.

Also made up a storm front cover (covers radiator to help build more heat) that is zip-tied to the grill.

 

Got a light dusting on 12" of snow last night. Dll or Defender? Defender got the nod.




Althought she looked plenty happy where she was.



Think l made the right decision, CDL was needed to get through the 2' drifts. Pretty much the entire drive to the main road was drifted, with very little area to regain momentum...but we made it! Lit a celebratory cigar at the stop sign, slipped it out of CDL and away we went. The good life was short lived, as l was making a lefthand turn, a truck coming up to the stop sign from the direction l was turning overshot the stop, so l had to go wide while turning and got sucked into a 4' drift...which sucked me into the 4' deep ditch. Hmmm, maybe my wife was right when she said l should just stay home...lol. Sat there for a moment...looking at the front bumper wedged into the bottom of the ditch, thinking l'm toast and probably going to be there for a while. Locked the CDL again...and after twenty minutes of wiggling around and some hand digging...the beast crawled out. Had to continue through the ditch and use home owners yard/driveway to get back on the road. The celebratory cigar was re-lit...and away we went.

 

Glad to see it chugging along