Swapping a BMW M57 into my Defender - episode 7

Añadido: 2026-05-15

[00:00:00]Over the last few months, we've been swapping an M57, into my Land Rover Defender, along with a really modern 8-speed automatic gearbox, aka the 8HP.

[00:00:09]And the reason that we're doing this is the engine that it came with from factory, the TD5, was super slow and just a bit exhausting to drive with the sloppy manual gearbox. So, we wanted to hit it with a big upgrade. We're six episodes deep into this now, and the last episode, we basically finished the build with it appearing to run and drive amazing. So, without any proper testing or fine-tuning, I thought it'd be a good idea to grab Alli and take this on a 1,000 plus mile road trip to Scotland because I'm an idiot. So, literally the morning after we finished the last few bits off, we are on our way to Scotland and this thing is cruising Scotland.

[00:00:55]Unfortunately though, we got a few hours in and the first problem reared its head.

[00:01:00]>> We've done like how many miles? 200 miles >> is >> flawless and then we just lost like the the shifter just wouldn't go into it wouldn't change gear.

[00:01:11]>> The drive's not working.

[00:01:13]>> Yeah, it's not changing gear. I can change manually.

[00:01:18]I'm a bit worried. I'll pull over. We'll I'll figure out something. So, with standard drive mode not working properly, we pulled off from the motorway into the services to have a look.

[00:01:28]>> Oh, man. You did so good.

[00:01:29]>> It's so good.

[00:01:31]>> All right. No idea what it's doing.

[00:01:32]Alli's going to drive it for her first time and I'm going to do some logging and see what's happening in real time.

[00:01:38]But other than that, it's doing really well. First time driving it whilst it's playing up.

[00:01:44]>> It's D.

[00:01:48]>> It just goes. Did you just say >> it feels really good?

[00:01:53]>> It's still just like we're in fifth gear. It normally would be in like eighth by now. I think I found it.

[00:02:02]Brake switch active. Alli's foot is not on the brake. So, I reckon if it thinks you're braking, it won't shift up for you cuz it thinks you're trying to slow down. Brake lights are on.

[00:02:14]How weird. So, I went into the engine bay and just had a little play around with the wires that we teed into to get the brake signal. I redid the connections and gave that a go.

[00:02:23]>> Tap it on and off.

[00:02:26]I've got it to work again. At least I know what the problem is. If it does it again, I'll do a proper fix when we get to camp. But for now, God, I thought the gearbox was playing up.

[00:02:37]>> Yay!

[00:02:38]>> Buzzing.

[00:02:39]>> Let's go.

[00:02:42]>> That's how it should drive. That's good.

[00:02:44]>> Isn't that really nice?

[00:02:45]>> That is really nice.

[00:02:47]>> Right, that's fixed. Let's go to Scotland.

[00:02:50]>> We are in Scotland, aren't we?

[00:02:52]>> Let's go more into Scotland.

[00:02:54]>> Let's go into the depths. So, with a cheeky little road beer, we set off deeper into Scotland. And this is where the scenery started, you know? Well, it just felt like Scotland. It was getting way prettier, way cooler. Alli was doing the driving, loving not having to change gear. We did another little stint and pulled into services cuz we were hungry.

[00:03:12]And that is where another big problem happened and we fully broke down.

[00:03:17]>> What's going on ladder?

[00:03:20]>> My life sucks.

[00:03:23]>> Well, we just gone to get back in the car and start it and we've got no 12vt switch. So, if I hold it there, it works. But as soon as I let go, it all dies.

[00:03:34]And I've checked at the fuse box and the power is not there. So, it's nothing to do with my wiring for the engine swap.

[00:03:42]We're thinking it's key ignition barrel has failed, which is a completely unrelated problem. And now I'm in a wet, rainy car park in the middle of Scotland.

[00:03:50]>> Yeah, it's just you there, isn't it?

[00:03:52]>> We're in a wet rainy car in the middle of Scotland and I'm taking ignition barrel apart and I I just don't know what to do anymore.

[00:04:01]>> We're kind of losing the world.

[00:04:02]>> Yeah. I mean, I was kind of over working on this last night, and now I'm back to stripping apart in the dark.

[00:04:17]>> Right.

[00:04:18]>> See, >> you just like come off the key and it just >> That was really sad.

[00:04:24]>> All right. Who's got a Land Rover Defender ignition barrel in >> Where are we?

[00:04:30]>> We're at Ken Lodge services. It's like such classic cars, isn't it? Just >> I don't know.

[00:04:34]>> You do a million things and a million dodgy wiring things and the dodgy wires that packs up is a just stock Land Rover thing. So, we were stranded, fully broken down, not being able to get the Defender started. So, we decided to sleep there cuz we didn't have any other choice. And I woke up in the morning with a plan. I'd spoken to a few mates.

[00:04:55]I put a message on Instagram and we managed to find someone about an hour away who had an ignition barrel in stock. So I set about basically trying to hotwire the Defender. The ignition switch that we've got was still getting full to our vaults, but it just wasn't switching it to the different positions.

[00:05:10]So I basically just had to tee into that and jump it basically. So the truck was always on. It was super fiddly back behind the dash and not very fun doing it in a wet car park, but we managed to do it. We're getting somewhere.

[00:05:24]I'm just going to run this to a WGO and then when we need to turn the truck off, I'm just going to have to disconnect the WGO. And then we're going to try and see if we can get that part there where all those wires come out. That's your ignition switch.

[00:05:40]I'm over this car park. I want to get out.

[00:05:44]>> Oh my god.

[00:05:47]Who's your daddy?

[00:05:49]>> And then when we need to stop, we're just going to have to pull that out. Ah, okay.

[00:05:54]>> We're alive.

[00:05:56]Got a little hot wire wuego down there.

[00:06:01]>> Oh, we're moving.

[00:06:04]>> Hell yeah. Oh my god.

[00:06:06]>> That was a night.

[00:06:08]>> Slept right though.

[00:06:09]>> Yeah.

[00:06:10]>> Let's go and try and find some parts and then get to Scotland. Proper Scotland.

[00:06:14]The Scotland we want to get to.

[00:06:16]>> So, we headed for Glasgow and I was ringing loads of parts companies, loads of Land Rover places. No one had an ignition barrel in stock. But my mate messaged me and told me to message a guy called John, who is one of the drifters from up here. And apparently he works at a Land Rover place, so I messaged him and he said he actually had a couple in stock. So we headed there very excited that we could get this part sorted cuz the hot wire was dodgy. And when we turned up, the car park was full of Defenders. So I knew we were in the right place. This is 4x4 Adventures.

[00:06:45]They do Land Rover Defender adventures all over Scotland. And John works for them. What we doing?

[00:06:51]>> We're down at 4x4 Adventures cuz Rory said that this guy might be able to help and he's got an ignition barrel in stock.

[00:07:00]>> Hell yeah.

[00:07:01]>> So that was like an hour drive from where we broke down. So I'm just unh hotwiring the car and we're putting a new ignition barrel in. At this point I was just so overwork on the car. So he just took over and did it all for me. So at my wit's end I was very stoked about that. And then he also gave us a little tour. He's got this lovely S14 with an SR20 in it that he drifts. So, we obviously paid them for the part that we bought off them and then I also chucked him some beers just for saying thanks.

[00:07:27]So, absolutely buzzing. Huge shout out to John for getting us back on the road and we are now cruising on our way north. We've got about 5 6 hours of driving to get to the island of Sky cuz that is where we're headed today and the Defender is back working. That gearbox issue keeps popping up and I haven't had time to fix it or figure out what's going on. So, it's a bit stressful. I'm on high alert waiting for something to go wrong, but the scenery is very pretty and we're getting excited, so it's all good.

[00:08:07]Ah, >> feel like we're in Scotland now.

[00:08:10]>> Yeah, >> Ali's taking over. I'm being passive princess. We are just coming up to Gleno, I think, at Fort William.

[00:08:19]>> So that's why it's starting to look cool. How's it drive?

[00:08:22]>> Really well.

[00:08:22]>> It's actually working.

[00:08:24]>> It's what?

[00:08:25]>> It's working.

[00:08:26]>> It's working.

[00:08:27]>> And yeah, having an auto box like in the twisty turny roads where you got to slow down and speed up constantly is just >> game changer.

[00:08:35]>> Welcome to the highlands.

[00:08:38]>> That's Lord of the Ringsesque. I feel like I'm in a mixture of Lord of the Rings, Alien, Interstellar, Horror Line, some road snacks. So, we headed from 4x4 Adventures to the aisle of sky, which is 184 mi of super twisty roads, but they look like this. We got mountains with snow on it. The roads are absolutely insane. And honestly, 5 hours just flew by cuz we're just constantly staring out the window. We originally planned to go over the bridge to the aisle of sky, but John told us to dip left and head for the ferry which goes up and over a mountain pass and then drops down into the, you know, the little bay. But when we got there, we were not expecting something this small.

[00:09:20]That is bloody nuts.

[00:09:23]That's a pallet on the sea.

[00:09:25]>> Keep that until this thing gets >> We're on a shack that's flowing.

[00:09:33]This just doesn't look right.

[00:09:35]I was expecting like a massive ferry.

[00:09:38]They say it is a rock.

[00:09:40]>> This is literally a rock. This is like a gear challenge.

[00:09:47]So f to the aisle of sky.

[00:09:52]>> We just saw an eagle. A >> eagle.

[00:09:54]>> I'll put the clip on my phone.

[00:10:17]It was so cool. It was in massive.

[00:10:20]>> It was so big.

[00:10:21]>> That's the first eagle I've ever seen in the UK.

[00:10:23]>> I thought it was like genuinely thought it was a seagull. And I saw eagle go past and I was like, "Nope, that's a dragon in comparison."

[00:10:28]>> And then it ate the seagull.

[00:10:30]>> Now it picked something up. Did you see it up a bit twice and dropped it?

[00:10:34]>> I thought I just didn't like it. It's been a fussy ear.

[00:10:43]>> It's the only other car we got on us.

[00:10:44]Look at the size difference.

[00:10:51]>> That was short. That was well quick. Any whales about?

[00:10:58]Any orcers? Yeah.

[00:11:03]S.

[00:11:04]>> Sorry, Sue.

[00:11:06]>> Oh my god, we're on the out of the sky.

[00:11:12]>> Cheers.

[00:11:13]>> Cheers.

[00:11:22]>> So, we're on Isle of Sky.

[00:11:24]This is our first morning. We camped last night, but it was a bit weak of a spot, so we didn't film anything. Look at this.

[00:11:30]Do you >> want to tell them what happened before we camped?

[00:11:33]>> We wrote down again. It was the same problem. The ignition thingy, ignition barrel, the power wire going to it. I put a WGO on it cuz I was just being Well, I don't think the wires were in properly and it literally melted.

[00:11:50]>> So, we just lost power of everything.

[00:11:52]Uh, so I fixed that. And then we got invited around to someone someone's house cuz they were like, "Oh, do you need a hand? Do you need somewhere to stay?" And we were like, "Oh, I think I can fix it."

[00:11:59]>> Honestly, shout out Izzy if you're watching this. She invites us in for Apple Crumble.

[00:12:05]>> Invited us to stay the night.

[00:12:07]>> Invited us to stay the night. Wrote us a list of like amazing places and things to do on Sky. So yeah, people on Sky are just so fun.

[00:12:14]>> Yeah, literally like 10 people said they can stay. We can stay at theirs, but I got it fixed. So, but yeah, little morning coffee bundberg and a toasty and then we're going to head to the north of the aisle of sky.

[00:12:26]>> Mhm.

[00:12:26]>> Mhm.

[00:12:27]>> Mhm.

[00:12:32]>> So, that is the that is it, isn't it?

[00:12:34]>> Yeah.

[00:12:35]>> The old man store >> and apparently they're filming the new Highlander film there. So, we it's like all blocked of tourist access, but apparently he Henry Caval's in town and >> Russell Crow.

[00:12:46]>> Russell Crowe.

[00:12:48]Yeah, they're filming the Highlander film. Nuts.

[00:12:53]Look at that.

[00:12:54]A tourist as well.

[00:13:00]Yeah, this is where they filmed that one scene in Prometheus as well. And apparently they're filming the whole of the Highlander film up there. We just tried to pull into a layby down there and there was loads of production crew.

[00:13:11]And apparently Henry Caval's just in pubs in the EYE OF SKY.

[00:13:14]>> OH GOD. SO COOL.

[00:13:17]>> I want to go there. There's also a massive puddle. I might just soak these tourists.

[00:13:22]>> That is sick.

[00:13:23]>> That is insane.

[00:13:25]>> We cruised up one of the main roads of the aisle of sky and there's basically just something to look at everywhere you go. We pulled over at this place which is Kilt Rock and it's like a 90 m cliff that was formed like millions of years ago. So I definitely smell some dinosaur stuff going on around here. Look at this.

[00:13:43]says dinosaur footprints on the island sky.

[00:13:50]So, being little dinosaur nerds that me and Alli are, we found out there's like a little fossil museum, like dinosaur thing just up the road. So, obviously going to stop at that.

[00:13:59]>> Dinosaurs.

[00:14:06]This is >> sick. Look at this.

[00:14:11]See >> nerding out. Little dinosaur nerd.

[00:14:15]>> To be fair, I am as well. We both grew up on Walking with Dinosaurs.

[00:14:18]>> Yeah.

[00:14:18]>> So, this is like a baby T-Rex. Not a T-Rex, but >> it's like a little bird.

[00:14:23]>> Yeah.

[00:14:24]>> Fangirling.

[00:14:25]>> Oh my god. Look, a photo.

[00:14:28]>> God, who took that?

[00:14:29]>> Who took that?

[00:14:29]>> There. There you go. So, look, one of them.

[00:14:32]>> This is the world's oldest recorded Stegosaurus fossil by 5 million years.

[00:14:38]>> Dang.

[00:14:42]Looks like a >> This is episode one of Walking with Dinosaurs if any of you grew up watching this.

[00:14:48]called it. That's pretty cool.

[00:14:52]Pretty cool.

[00:14:53]>> That's pretty sweet.

[00:14:55]>> They're just watching us go to a museum, look at rocks. Hey, we were into this when we were kids. All right. I know a load of you are going to comment being like, "Oh, looking at rocks in your 30s."

[00:15:03]>> I'm sorry. We all have our own brand of tism.

[00:15:06]>> We do. Yeah. What did we find out ages ago as well? We both grew up with pet pets >> pet pets and toy dinosaurs. Mine was an an animatronic T-Rex.

[00:15:15]>> And mine was a rubber T-Rex that had like a hole in his mouth. He'd feed it stuff and I just stuffed it full of random Yeah. My >> bet you did.

[00:15:24]>> My tiny little baby dick.

[00:15:25]>> Easy little packer.

[00:15:27]>> After that and after two pretty stressful days traveling, we decided to book ourselves into the Floody Hotel, however you say it. So, it's a really nice hotel, like on the top end of the aisle of sky. We just thought we needed a little break. So, we pulled up to this place and it looked lush. Thought we had a few stressful days with the Defender breaking. So, uh >> yeah, we got a hotel just to like, you know, shower, calm down, have some Wi-Fi, watch film, eat some food.

[00:16:00]>> Look at the view.

[00:16:02]God, >> that see >> so nice. I do love sleeping in the defendant, don't get me wrong.

[00:16:09]>> I do love like a nice bougie hotel in the middle though.

[00:16:12]>> But it's a shower.

[00:16:14]>> Oh my god, that view as well.

[00:16:21]>> That's the view.

[00:16:23]Easy.

[00:16:24]>> This is a very comfy bed.

[00:16:26]>> Is it nice?

[00:16:26]>> Yeah. So, after a lovely night's sleep in the hotel and some Scottish salmon for breakfast, I thought I'd pop out into the car park and try and fix a few issues with the Defender. Basically, I think a lot of our problems are down to an earth. I reckon our battery earth, like the main earth, is actually like not great. I put it on the the gearbox mount and I was like, I need to change that and I forgot. We keep getting the brake signal active, which makes the gearbox not work. And I think that could be a dodgy earth because the headlights flicker at the same time, which would explain it. And the throttle is now cutting out on cold starts. I'm outside the hotel. Alli's at the bar getting a drink. Look at this scenery. It's just mental. And I'm in the car park. And I'm just going to get on my back and redo the earth strap.

[00:17:24]All right, that one's there and it goes to there as well. So, we've now grounded to the chassis and to the transfer box.

[00:17:35]Cut my hands. I had to pre-drill a hole for the set of tapper to earth it. And people just walking past really posh hotel and I'm just drilling. Once they see a Land Rover, they just kind of expect it. But that is done. Let's see if it starts.

[00:17:51]Sweet.

[00:17:57]I know we've had a few little hiccups, but honestly, this thing is driving so well. Autobox is nuts. Having that extra speed and power is like insane. Like going up a hill, the TD5 used to just be like screaming. You could tell it was real struggling. This thing just doesn't even break a sweat. In hindsight, was pretty sketchy coming up to Scotland. I mean, we're on the aisle of Sky, so we're like the furthest point basically almost. But yeah, over 600 miles down that we've done. So, not a bad little test. All right, we're headed to the beach that the dinosaur fossils are on.

[00:18:28]>> There's a footprint that's like apparently iconic that's been left behind, which is really cool.

[00:18:34]>> Very cool.

[00:18:34]>> We might be able to find some fossils.

[00:18:36]>> This is crazy.

[00:18:39]>> This is so windy.

[00:18:40]>> Like faceless weather. Oh my god.

[00:18:42]>> I'm going to lose my hat.

[00:18:46]Oh my god.

[00:18:55]>> Thank That's it, isn't it?

[00:19:16]>> That's a dinosaur footprint.

[00:19:26]>> A Megalosaurus footprint right there.

[00:19:28]>> That's so cool.

[00:19:29]>> That's sick.

[00:19:36]Come on. That took a turn. Jeez. At least I found the footprint.

[00:19:43]>> We found a dinosaur footprint.

[00:19:46]>> Megosaurus.

[00:19:48]>> That rain was like it was actually like bullets.

[00:19:51]>> I don't mind rain at all. Like I think it's quite nice and refreshing, but that hurt the side of my face.

[00:19:57]>> Right, we need fuel. I've only done a tank and 3/4 so far.

[00:20:02]>> New bad, >> which is near bad. I'll get the full MPG calculation at the end of the trip for the M57. I definitely think it's better than TD5 though.

[00:20:12]>> We headed back down the road past the old man store back down some of the unbelievable driving roads and pulled into portry and the first thing we saw was this Coast Guard boat doing some strange ritual.

[00:20:25]Why are you doing this?

[00:20:32]£1 91 a liter.

[00:20:37]>> Oh, 1.92.

[00:20:40]>> Damn.

[00:20:45]>> We didn't really have a big plan for this trip. It was more just wanting to put some miles on the M57. And also, I just felt like I was a little bit burnt out from just, you know, smashing this build out. So, I kind of struggled to film lots on this trip. But that being said, we still have some stuff we wanted to do. Next on the list was go visit a whiskey distillery, which I hate. I absolutely hate whiskey.

[00:21:10]I'm actually like a little bit nervous for like to try some cuz I hate it that much. You like whiskey, don't you?

[00:21:16]>> I don't love it, but I'll drink it.

[00:21:19]>> You know, why are we here?

[00:21:21]>> Cuz I got to.

[00:21:23]>> Yeah. This is like a cliche tourist thingy.

[00:21:33]All right, time to throw up. I can smell it and I already feel sick. Right, we got Talisa Sky and then Talaska Storm.

[00:21:42]>> What's the deal with >> um witchcraft?

[00:21:52]>> Cheers.

[00:21:54]Shot it.

[00:22:08]Okay.

[00:22:10]>> Not a fan.

[00:22:11]>> It's not bad.

[00:22:12]>> It's getting better. Do you want change palette?

[00:22:15]>> Oh, yeah.

[00:22:18]>> Oh my god. Get me a pint of beer.

[00:22:22]That is the worst thing I've ever tasted. All right. This is the other one. The smokier one.

[00:22:28]>> That one's easier to drink.

[00:22:42]>> Pop off, sis. Oh my god.

[00:22:49]>> Well done.

[00:22:49]>> Thanks.

[00:22:51]>> I know. And it makes you like my eyes like It made my eye twitch.

[00:22:59]>> Cool place, isn't it?

[00:23:01]>> I do not know how people do that. Look at the absolute state of this.

[00:23:13]>> I don't even feel like that should be Scotland.

[00:23:15]>> No. Feel like we're in um Yeah. Like >> Yeah. Nepal, Tibet, whatever.

[00:23:19]>> Yeah. Literally every corner you turn around is just another mental road with a mountain view.

[00:23:39]See that little path?

[00:23:41]That's where we're going to the fairy pools.

[00:23:45]>> Yeah.

[00:24:06]I see that it's so blue and green.

[00:24:17]Not that cold.

[00:24:18]>> It's not >> like it's cold, but it's so fine.

[00:24:25]>> Complete it.

[00:24:26]>> Complete it.

[00:24:28]>> The thing we actually really liked about the Isis of Sky was it was just super like conquerable compared to the rest of Scotland. We've done Scotland before and it can feel really vast. Whereas the is of Sky, you can get from one end to the other in like an hour and a half. So that's exactly what we're doing. We've sampled the goods at the north side of the island and we thought we'd go to the south side of the island to just explore a little bit more and also find a camp spot for the night.

[00:24:52]Right, we found a spot maybe potential that's like not even that busy of a road cuz this goes nowhere and it's like a little pull in. We got that. Let me turn this off.

[00:25:06]Look at the view.

[00:25:10]Little private beach. some mountains in the background. Yeah, good spot. Also, the fan isn't running cuz the engine's getting hot. It's just cuz I've got that thermostat set a little bit too high.

[00:25:19]It's actually been unreal today. Ever since I did that um ground fix, like the the chassis earth, we've had touchwood, no issues. So, the brake gearbox issue is fixed and the throttle pedal is fixed.

[00:25:41]Yeah, >> good spot.

[00:25:42]>> Very good spot.

[00:26:00]>> Your camp is ready, madame.

[00:26:02]>> Thank you, my sir.

[00:26:34]Look at this.

[00:26:41]What'd you find?

[00:26:42]>> How nice is that? I think there's a couple of shells, >> so pretty.

[00:26:49]>> You nice and warm in that fleece.

[00:26:51]>> I'm so warm. I wonder where I got it from.

[00:26:53]>> Oh, this is insane.

[00:26:58]Our own Scottish beach.

[00:27:01]>> One day this will all be ours, >> right? Let's cook some dinner.

[00:27:07]>> Hell yeah.

[00:27:07]>> The funny thing is in all the uh confusion and chaos, this is our gas bar. It's got loads of gas. I completely forgot to bring the stove. Went into a little camping shop and got this bad boy because it uses the same gas as the Jet Boil. Um so I needed more gas for that.

[00:27:22]Anyway, look at this. This thing absolutely rips.

[00:27:27]That's not even max speed.

[00:27:31]Yeah. So, we're going to have to one pan this. We're going to make pesto pasta cuz that's our go-to easy meal, isn't it?

[00:27:36]>> Yep.

[00:27:36]>> Fridge doing absolute wonders. What have we got?

[00:27:40]>> Got actually so much left.

[00:27:44]>> Look at this little ripper.

[00:27:49]Be careful now. Those knives are >> They're so sharp.

[00:27:52]>> Deadly. Do you know what? It's so nice cooking outside.

[00:27:56]>> Oh my god. I know.

[00:27:57]>> Like even if it's a little bit cold, it's just like Yeah, that is a vibe.

[00:28:04]Oh, >> nice chopping.

[00:28:06]>> Some pine nuts.

[00:28:07]>> Toasted pine nuts.

[00:28:09]>> I got a hot pan.

[00:28:13]>> All of them.

[00:28:13]>> Jesus. Yeah. it.

[00:28:16]it. The pasta is done. I've poured the water out. So, we're just going to keep that in that pan. Should we just pour the pesto in?

[00:28:22]>> Let's do it.

[00:28:22]>> Jar of pesto. This is like um our easy camp meal, isn't it? But also so good.

[00:28:28]>> Pesto in the pan. Give that a stir.

[00:28:36]All right, they're done. Pop them to the side.

[00:28:40]Nice. Look at that.

[00:28:45]>> All right, tomatoes.

[00:28:46]>> Yep. Throw them in.

[00:28:54]>> Pesto back on. Onions, tomatoes going in.

[00:29:01]camping washing up and then pine nuts. Chuck a couple of lemon in >> couple hundred >> and then a big stir.

[00:29:11]That's really good for no effort.

[00:29:14]>> Lemons would be unreal.

[00:29:16]>> Lemons would be great. We did forget.

[00:29:17]Basil.

[00:29:18]>> Basil.

[00:29:18]>> Basil.

[00:29:24]Nice.

[00:29:27]Huge wedge of parmesan. Great. Put that in there.

[00:29:33]Loads of cheese in there.

[00:29:34]>> Yeah.

[00:29:35]>> Big stir. Melt it all in.

[00:29:38]Become one with the pasta.

[00:29:41]>> These thoughts are going through your head.

[00:29:42]>> Literally. Yeah.

[00:29:43]>> Coke.

[00:29:45]>> And then a little we sprinkle some basil more salt >> always.

[00:29:56]And that is a bowl of pesto pasta. I can't really see what this looks like cuz it's super dark. But >> it smells great.

[00:30:02]>> But it smells great and it tastes great.

[00:30:04]Oh yeah. Look at that.

[00:30:05]>> Yeah, that smells insane.

[00:30:07]>> No. Is that banged?

[00:30:08]>> Yeah.

[00:30:09]>> Yeah.

[00:30:09]>> That was so easy.

[00:30:10]>> That was so good.

[00:30:15]>> He covenant pesto pasta.

[00:30:17]>> Life is good.

[00:30:18]>> Life is very good. Good night.

[00:30:22]>> That was easily the best night's sleep we had during the whole trip. our favorite spot. In Scotland, there's no green lanes, so you can't really find anywhere off the beaten track, so it's actually like not that easy to find a good spot, but we managed it. We fancy a little bit of reading in the morning and we did actually have a little bit of sun come out. We were tempted to go for a swim as well, but then I didn't want to be covered in salt water for the rest of the trip, so skipped that. I made some eggs and some toast and brekie. And then we decided to get off the aisle of sky.

[00:30:49]So, we went back over the bridge this time and that was our experience of Isle of Sky. Very good. would recommend.

[00:30:58]>> That's a bloody big castle. We actually had this on the list, didn't we?

[00:31:01]>> It was. It was originally on the list >> and we just accidentally drove past it.

[00:31:09]>> How do you say it? Eileen. Eileen Dolmond.

[00:31:11]>> Eileen.

[00:31:12]>> God, I love castles. Do you like castles?

[00:31:16]>> I don't not like them.

[00:31:18]>> You're not like, "Oh, >> I'm like I really appreciate them. From afar, I don't have the urge to go inside and learn about when it was built.

[00:31:29]>> But yeah, take that off. Scottish castle being inside. Done.

[00:31:40]After the castle, we kind of just wanted to drive around and explore all the roads and mountains and all that sort of stuff. And also, you know, the aim of this whole trip, even though we're only doing it in four days, was to just smash some miles on the M57. Basically, a speedrun of all the teething issues and just seeing if it's capable and can handle it. But yeah, what better place to do it than Scotland.

[00:32:04]Oh man, this thing is driving so good.

[00:32:09]I don't want to don't want to jinx it.

[00:32:11]We're over 700 miles in now. So yeah, the 8-speed on these roads, like when you got to change gear constantly, I don't even have to think about it.

[00:32:20]Unreal.

[00:32:21]>> Oh my god, honey.

[00:32:23]>> Look at that big one there.

[00:32:25]>> Oh my god.

[00:32:28]Stag.

[00:32:32]>> Oh, >> did you get that?

[00:32:34]>> Yeah.

[00:32:35]>> He like proper looked at you.

[00:32:36]>> I know.

[00:32:37]>> What's the difference between a snag and a deer? I don't know. I don't know what that was. That was cool, though.

[00:32:51]We drove all day and ended up finding a pretty mid camp spot. So, didn't film anything. And then we woke up the next day and it was time to head back. So, like I said, I didn't film a lot on this trip just cuz it was kind of a holiday as well as just really finding it hard to focus on filming along with, you know, keeping the Defender alive and just loads of driving. So yeah, there was lots we didn't film. It was a great trip, but headed home, I spotted we had another problem and I suspected that would happen.

[00:33:24]That column joiner has melted and snapped.

[00:33:29]So almost home. Well, still about 200 miles to go, but that's gone. So, I'm going to have to try and loop that to the block and bypass the heaters.

[00:33:47]Right, that's looped. But it is so close to the belt. So, I've had to like put a jubilee clamp there and zip tie it to pull it out the way. This is so sketchy.

[00:34:10]Bodgege fix done. We've got no heaters, but it's not that cold anyway. So, we finished the rest of the 200 miles and we made it home safe and sound, which I really didn't think we'd do at one point, but proud of the Defender. That trip was amazing. And just as a little bonus, here are some of Alli's photos of the trip.

[00:34:54]All right, made it back. Just about managed to limp it home.

[00:34:59]So, we ended up doing 1,255 mi, four full tanks of fuel almost and I worked it out and we did about 25 MPG. So, when I last did Scotland, the TD5 did 26 MPG and I was definitely driving this faster. So, I'd say they're about the same, which is really good considering you get triple the power and it's way quieter and yeah, just way better. So, we're back in.

[00:35:28]Andy's here sunbathing.

[00:35:29]>> It's summer, baby.

[00:35:30]>> It is. I'm actually pretty stoked. Like, we had a few breakdowns and it was definitely a little bit nerve-wracking to drive just cuz I was like constantly on edge just waiting for stuff to happen. But in the grand scheme of things, two of the breakdowns were just the ignition barrel, which was nothing we touched. So, I didn't have anything to do with that. That was just a standard Land Rover part failing. Then we had the coolant pipe melt and like snap that little joiner, which I kind of thought would happen. Anyway, the only other thing that was causing a little bit of mayhem was the earth strap from the battery to the chassis that was causing basically the lighting system to like earth itself. I don't know. It was doing some weird stuff. So, it was basically thinking the brake light was constantly on, which then made the gearbox think you're slowing down. So, it would never change up gear. And we were also getting like headlights flickering and the throttle pedal coming on and off. Soon as I fixed that, it went away. So, out of the whole swap, the only thing that was dodgy for that whole trip was just a battery earth. So, I didn't really film as much as I wanted to. So, I thought we'd film the rest of the video fixing a bunch of stuff. And the first thing I want to fix, or not even fix, but get sorted. The exhaust isn't actually that loud, but Andy's ordered a couple of silencers because he's been up at Luke's getting a full exhaust made for his and he's ordered a couple. So Luke is coming down today and he's going to weld a silencer in Andes.

[00:36:47]And I was like, "Do you reckon you could put one in mine, too?" It's not actually that loud, but there's a certain revs like when it's in like eighth gear and it's sort of like chugging along, it does resonate a little bit. And also like the hissing high pitched idle sound I just hate. So Luke's going to be here in a minute and we're going to get some exhaust stuff welded and then we'll go on and fix everything that went wrong in Scotland. So, we've got this pretty cheap 50 quid silencer from eBay, and I reckon getting this welded in somewhere along the exhaust will completely remove all of that weird high-pitched hitting sound coming out the back of the exhaust. So, fingers crossed. Right, let's give you a before clip.

[00:37:41]That'll take a lot out, won't it?

[00:37:44]Do your thing, Luke.

[00:38:12]precision.

[00:38:23]>> That's pretty good.

[00:38:41]And away we go.

[00:38:46]Very nice.

[00:38:57]baby.

[00:38:57]>> That was I I could film this live time.

[00:39:00]>> Yeah.

[00:39:01]>> No. a live stream.

[00:39:04]>> Two minute live stream. That's it.

[00:39:07]>> Yeah.

[00:39:08]>> Up.

[00:39:23]Light work.

[00:39:29]Right. Let's see if it Let's see if it does anything.

[00:39:42]>> Not me. Not on it.

[00:39:50]>> Actually looks kind of sick.

[00:39:51]>> Yeah, it does. It's not the biggest, but >> it's what you do with it.

[00:39:55]>> It's what you do with it. Exactly. Amen.

[00:39:57]>> There you go. Quick silencer welded in.

[00:39:59]Thanks to Luke for his TIG skills and coming down and helping out with that.

[00:40:03]Let's see if it makes a difference.

[00:40:14]I think it sounds better. That has done.

[00:40:19]That's done the world. Cheers, Luke.

[00:40:23]That sound what?

[00:40:25]That's exactly what it needed.

[00:40:29]Come and stand here. You actually hear a bit of grumble now.

[00:40:34]Love that. Take it for a lap.

[00:40:57]Yeah, it sounds sick, >> man. This thing >> so much better.

[00:40:59]>> I haven't driven it. I have driven it, but like this and like everything. This truck drives so nice. doesn't it?

[00:41:17]That difference is nuts.

[00:41:22]>> Look who's back.

[00:41:24]>> 3 weeks. 3 weeks away, weren't you?

[00:41:25]>> Basically. Yeah. 3 weeks away.

[00:41:27]>> That's 3 weeks of our lives.

[00:41:29]>> Man. Hey, come on, mate. The camera never got clicked.

[00:41:33]>> Someone was like, "Where's the food gone?" And I was like, "Well, we can't film food without George." Anyway, George is back, so we got a film again.

[00:41:39]So, you might have noticed that me and Andy were just solo filming. Uh, anyway, if you want to see what £100 in a box looks like, this it's this. It's an absolute ripoff. I didn't tell you, but my indicators went on the way home from Scotland, which it's one of those things. Doesn't sound that bad, but when you're on like the M6 and there's lries and like super busy traffic on the motorway and you're trying to like pull out with no indicators, I always like arm out the window. So basically I think what happened is like the hazard switch went and the hazard switch controls your indicators.

[00:42:07]>> It's cuz he installed a BM engine so it became a BM so you didn't have to indicate.

[00:42:10]>> That's true. Yeah. But yeah I was like oh I'll buy a new hazard switch. What's that? 15 quid. No £100.

[00:42:17]>> I can't believe that.

[00:42:18]>> So let's fit this and see if my indicators work. If not I'll um cry.

[00:42:31]Right. Hazards.

[00:42:34]>> I don't know why, but my Can you see the trailer light just flashing?

[00:42:38]>> But thank God >> that works. And that's nice.

[00:42:44]Indicators. Right. That's that job fixed. £99 later, that 3D printed joiner melted on the way home and snapped. So, I basically did this. So, we've got no heaters. So, we need to reconnect these back up. So, basically, I just ordered this, which is the same thing, but just brass. So, this isn't going to bend and melt and snap.

[00:43:10]>> Yeah, please.

[00:43:11]>> Nice tight fit. And then that's going to go back in. And we're just going to recreate what we had.

[00:43:17]>> Just like warped. It was actually super lucky that like I could um loop this.

[00:43:24]>> Yeah, >> cuz like that that pipe goes to your heaters. Mhm. And then it returns into the block, but luckily it was long enough so that I could actually just feed it back into the block and just bypass the heaters. So, we went about taking apart all the old pipes and we had to drain a bunch of the coolant and simply refit that brass fitting into where it used to be, do all the lines back up with new Jubilees and fill it with coolant. So, that is all done now.

[00:43:48]I know it's not going to melt. It's not going to bend. It's not going to strand me on the M6 services anywhere. And the cooling system for the M57 is all done.

[00:43:56]Now, on to the next fix.

[00:43:58]>> So, another problem B uh requested is we put this dead in the center.

[00:44:04]>> Mhm.

[00:44:05]>> We just measured this out and we're like, "Right, put it in the middle." But obviously, it's a bit close to the dash.

[00:44:09]Look.

[00:44:10]>> Oh, yeah.

[00:44:10]>> And you want it to be be like back of it. Like there's nice cuz it's in the middle. But yeah, >> stretching for it.

[00:44:15]>> It wants to be back of it. So, I think we're just going to take this out and then just remake the top thing. Oh, there we go.

[00:44:23]>> Yeah, that comes out of there.

[00:44:38]That's on there like that. So, I suppose we could just move it back to wherever he wants it.

[00:44:59]Lovely.

[00:44:59]>> I want to get rid of these.

[00:45:02]So, I'm going to wrap it. Well, I'm just going to rewrap this one. We're going to wrap that and then we'll be done and it will look much better.

[00:45:14]All right, rewrapped. No screw holes.

[00:45:38]Let's have a look what that looks.

[00:45:40]>> Exactly the same. There's no screw holes.

[00:45:43]Should the same one just rewrap?

[00:45:47]>> Oh, that's so much better.

[00:45:51]>> Damn, that's a beauty.

[00:45:53]>> Oh, that's so much more reachable.

[00:45:55]That's lush.

[00:45:55]>> Nice.

[00:45:56]>> That's perfect.

[00:45:57]>> Perfect.

[00:45:58]>> Yeah. Before you were like full arm stretch and then reverse hit the roof lights.

[00:46:13]There we go. Defender made it to Scotland. We fixed all the stuff from Scotland and a few things that I just noticed were, you know, bothering me.

[00:46:22]So, yeah, over 1,000 mi done. Literally the day after we got the swap finished.

[00:46:27]So, pretty stoked with that. Pretty stoked on how simple the the problems were. Like, we managed to fix them on the road or just a quick simple fix when we got back. So, I'm very proud. We're not done yet. In the next episode, this thing is going on the dyno. We are going 4 hours to Dark Side Developments to get this thing mapped and on the dyno and see what power it does and see if we've tripled the power of the TD5 and a bunch of other little bits and bobs. So, we're not quite done, but I'm pretty stoked with where we're at. So, I know this video was kind of all over the place cuz, you know, that's the nature of the game. Sometimes when you're hectic, it becomes really hard to film. But good trip, good truck, good engine swap, good gearbox swap. I'm buzzing with it. It drives unbelievable. Thank you very much for watching. I hope you enjoyed. I'll see you in the next one. Goodbye.