I spotted this Freelander 2 Mantec Fuel Tank Guard on ebay yesterday - http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/121107207621?_tr..._177wt_997

I did think there’s some mounting brackets missing from these pictures and that guard is definitely not going to fit a FL2 as easily as described without them……..

For info in case anyone is thinking of bidding on this item I did e-mail the seller to ask if he had the mounting brackets that would be required to fit this guard and he just e-mailed me back saying that the Land Rover Experience Centre he bought it from had told him it did not need brackets to fit this – I did e-mail him back saying that in order to fit these Mantec Tank guards you definitely require mounting brackets that connect the rear of the guard to the vehicles rear suspension mounts and although not cheap Mantec do sell them as spares.

Again in case anyone here is interested and thinking of bidding I now know through personal experience Mantec do sell the fitting kits which is mainly these brackets for these Tank guards for £55 delivered so if you allow for this then this Tank guard could be a bargain depending on what price the bidding goes to or where the seller has set his reserve.

Be interesting to see if he modifies the listing or not as I would not be pleased as a buyer if I bought this guard as he has described it to then only discover after I got it that I needed £55 worth of brackets in order to fit it and then found out the seller knew about this and stayed stum in order to get a better price……..

Looks like all four brackets are missing. Look out for the rear brackets of which there are two types depending on the model year.

Please be careful with buying any second-hand Mantec tank guard. Although they could look OK in a picture they only have to have been twisted a little to make fitting extremely difficult or impossible.

A friend of mine bought one second-hand and although it did fit in the end it always looked wrong under the car and fouled the exhaust pipe.

If you can get a good one they are a wonderful piece of equipment and saved my F2 from considerable damage - although it ruined the guard and although it still looked good it was only fit for scrap. mole

Hi! I bid on the guard but it didn't meet the reserve. Just messaged the seller and the reserve is £90. Just not worth it with the £55 cost of new mountings.

If anyone happens to have a Mantec sump and tank guard please let me know.


Andrew

Your judgement was indeed correct. I went to view it yesterday with all the intent of buying however it has had a big bump. All four corners where the bolts attach are at different angles and the entire unit skewed.

Am sure you shall see it re-listed during this coming week....


Andrew

Jeepers the mounts aren't cheap!

There is a guy in the midlands selling loads of LRE bits that i got the one for my L322 from for £90 and then £15 from mantec for the fitting kit and the guard was 3 times the size of the FL2 one  FL2 work pilot!

An update on this guard, it was re listed, starting at 99p, & after mailing the guy, asking about the brackets, he told me the same story, about how he bought it from LRE, & that was all there was when he purchased it.
So I bid the 99p which obviously didn't meet the reserve, & someone outbid me to £1.04.
When the listing ended, I mailed him again, he told me his reserve was £50, & that he had paid £100 for it.
So I did the honourable thing, & offered him £40 for it, & now it's mine.
Yea it has a small deflection in it, but it's not that bad, & given I run a small fabrication business, I will be able to straighten it out, but will still need to fabricate some brackets for it, which shouldn't be too difficult.
However, if someone out there has a set that they could lend me to copy off, then that would be great, & I will pay the carriage for them to be delivered each way.

why not copy the guard?

they seem popular.

Well, after viewing the guard and turning it down due to it being in no shape for use, I imagine he had a go at trying to get it in some form of saleable state.

After you collected the item I received a very graphic and offensive e-mail from the seller stating what he thought of me as he had sold it despite me "turning my nose up" at it.

I was slightly concerned as in his eBay listing he stated he had sold his Freelander however when I arrived he got out of it in front of his house.

Anyway, if you do happen to get a production run going of a reinforced tank guard I would be very much interested in purchasing one.


Andrew

Hi Andrew, sorry for the delay in responding to your post.
I have straightened out the tank guard, so now it is flat & level as it would have been originally. If you are interested in a new tank guard, of a similar design to the mantec guard, please PM me, & we can discuss your requirements.
I am still in need of someone who can temporarily loan me the mounting brackets, so I can fabricate these too.
Cheers