110Matty wrote:

I think if i was towing a 1.3 would have interested me also, but for my use (cruising mainly / longer trips) the 1.2 with mild tune / remap was recommended.

My Ashcroft unit has arrived and will be fitted next week. I'll be sure to report back as soon as it's fitted.

So, yes, I have gone for it, but yet to be able to confirm. I've also gone for a rev counter, so I will try to record some speeds / revs, before and after, as well as report on driveability, hills, pulling away etc.

This is something I want to get right....I will await 110Mattys report

rustandoil wrote:

110Matty wrote:

I think if i was towing a 1.3 would have interested me also, but for my use (cruising mainly / longer trips) the 1.2 with mild tune / remap was recommended.

My Ashcroft unit has arrived and will be fitted next week. I'll be sure to report back as soon as it's fitted.

So, yes, I have gone for it, but yet to be able to confirm. I've also gone for a rev counter, so I will try to record some speeds / revs, before and after, as well as report on driveability, hills, pulling away etc.

This is something I want to get right....I will await 110Mattys report

rustandoil wrote:

Did you go for the 1.2 transfer box?

How are you getting on with it?

I've been advised 1.3 is the sweet spot and I don't know what to do

rustandoil wrote:

Well, I've gone for a Ashcroft 1.3 transfer box.... I needed to make a decision and get the car back on the road.

Looking forward to hearing of your experience with the 1.3

Linds Hanson wrote:

A tuned 90 TD5 will happily run a V8 5th gear and 1.2 transfer gearing as we have proved many times but 110's are much happier with a 1.3 we just exchanged a 1.2 for 1.3 in a hardtop 110 last week. The owner complained of too much gear changing on rural roads in Cornwall. Now V8's of the Rover variety we find work much better with a 1.4 ratio even on smaller tyres and any capacity up to 5.2 supercharged. Tdi's pull the higher gearing better than either TD5 or V8 at low engine speeds particularly with a VNT turbo but the 1.3 is still a better all rounder on a 110 particularly combined with a overdrive.

110Matty wrote:

rustandoil wrote:

110Matty wrote:

I think if i was towing a 1.3 would have interested me also, but for my use (cruising mainly / longer trips) the 1.2 with mild tune / remap was recommended.

My Ashcroft unit has arrived and will be fitted next week. I'll be sure to report back as soon as it's fitted.

So, yes, I have gone for it, but yet to be able to confirm. I've also gone for a rev counter, so I will try to record some speeds / revs, before and after, as well as report on driveability, hills, pulling away etc.

This is something I want to get right....I will await 110Mattys report

So, now I have the rev counter fitted, so the info might prove interesting to some or maybe it will pose further questions or discussion.

Two things to note - firstly I don’t want to question or slag off the original gearing. After all it’s more utility than comfortable cruiser from the factory. Secondly, my 90 is fitted with 17 inch alloys and chunky Cooper Discoverer STT Pro tyres, so current road speeds will be slightly screwed.

I find that 1st quickly becomes 2nd and 3rd also soon after. I can happily be in 3rd at 15 to 20 mph, 4th at 25-30 and 5th as low as 35 mph. That’s my personal reason for trying a 1.2 transfer box (with mid remap). I recorded speedo and tacho as follows (all 5th gear, steady A road):
40 mph - 1900 rpm
45 mph - 2100 rpm
50 - 55 mph - c. 2500 rpm (didn’t note it down)
65 mph - 3000 rpm
67 mph - 3100 rpm and getting pretty loud.

Speedo checked against wife’s car in front on cruise control and her 70 showed mine at 65 ish, maybe 67 tops. This didn’t shock me.


This may or may not be interesting. I should be able to report the ‘after’ in the next couple of days.

So, first impressions - it's excellent. Just drove it for 30-40 mins, mixture of town, country lanes and A303. No negatives to report. Could tell the difference immediately in terms of lower revs and less urgency to change up so quickly. Plenty of power compensating for the higher gear ratio. It's as the guy who recommended it said, the remap and 1.2 initially feels pretty well spot on for me. Much quieter at speed, no need to change gear all the time at lower speeds (either up or down), drives nicely, feels well balanced to be honest. No weight on board except me and the old 1.4 box, so still plenty to assess in the coming days, weeks and months, under different conditions / circumstances.

For comparison, here are the road speeds / revs (again 5th, steady speed, flatish road):

47 - 1850
56 - 2200
62 - 2400
65 - 2500
68 - 2600
72 - 2750
75 - 2900
79 - 3000

Bearing in mind the larger wheels and tyre sizes and the speedo therefore under reading by a few MPH, it's basically added about 15% to 20% higher MPH for the same revs as before, which seems to make sense.

It could easily gone further still, but I don't intend to do those speeds again for safety reasons as much as anything else (aerodynamics, brakes, suspension, etc etc - we all know speed isn't everything and is obviously not the main reasoning for Defender ownership). The difference between 60 before and 60 now is significant and is what I was hoping for / expecting, without any known drawbacks.

Big thumbs up from me