RPR

So, in the Spring cleaning motif, I opened up the battery box under the driver's seat and to my utter amazement, one of the batteries was a minimum of 10 years old and the other possibly 15. It's absolutely amazing that they were still running at all. The 15 year old deep cycle battery was still alive, barely, but the other was kaput, unsurprisingly. As I understand it the 14CUX system is unhappy with voltage irregularities. I have had issues with an uneven idle hunting between 800 and 900 rpm and had turned down the IAV to near choking to keep idle under 1000 rpm. Why it never dawned on me to check the batteries is beyond me, but there you go. Quite ridiculous. Replaced the batteries, opened up the idle air valve a fair bit and I've got steady idle at @775rpm. Seems much happier. Still socked in with heavy snow above 8,000 feet, so it will be a while before I can get up high and see if that makes any difference. But seems a happier little V8 down here at a mile high.

There seems to be some confusion. The Gulf Spec tune resistor was used for engines without Cats or lambda sensors. So,while my 0.4 litre smaller block is not right for the 3.9 too end, there were lots of Land Rivers sold with 14CUX EFI and no Cats or Lambda sensors and that is one of the maps in the EPROM. Do I want to add complexity to the Tonka? No. Do I care about mpg or efficiency? No. Are there some benefits to running rich? Yes. So what I will probably do, based on past experience, is cogitate and waffle on an adjustable fuel pressure regulator for a couple of years while doing nothing. That has saved me a lot of time and money in the past But thanks for your patience and good advice. I understand that Megasquirt has an established track record of succes, but what I want is simplicity. If I could get good off-road performance with one, I might well go back to a carb...

Thanks. May not be the answer that I want, but it's a clear answer. I'm on the Gulf Spec open loop, no lambda sensors. It's stinky rich at 5,000 feet. At above 10,000 I think it's choking the bloody engine. I have the Rovergauge and there's no fault code for coolant sensor. Is there such a thing as a manually adjustable fuel pressure regulator? Again,.my apologies for my ignorance, but ideally it would have a second lower pressure setting for high altitude and when I hit 10k or so, I hit a switch and it drops a few psi. Probably not, right?

If you assume I have a pre-school level of knowledge in this subject (and many others), you won't be far off. I have a 3.5 block (1982 Range Rover) with a U.S. NAS Defender 3.9 top end and 14CUX EFI fitted with the yellow " Saudi - no Cat" tune resistor in my Series III. I am trying to find out the basic characteristics of the four (or five with the U.S. no-resistor) tune resistor selected fuel maps in the 14 CUX ECU. To clarify, I would like to understand the relative profile of each tune's fuel map. My engine runs quite rich. How much of this is about a fuel map for a 3.9 running in a 3.5 vs the fueling selected in the "no Cats/no O2 sensors Saudi" tune, I don't know. I know the "with Cats" tune fuel maps are said to run rich to help keep the Cats from frying. I'm in Colorado, living at 5,000 feet and most of our trails are in the 8,000 to 12,000 feet range. While I understand that the Hotwire system adjusts for air-fuel mixture as Oxygen diminishes, mine runs extremely rich and I wonder whether another of the non-Cat tunes would be better in this respect. So, does anyone know the differences between the non-Cat, non lamda sensors tunes and whether one might tend to be a bit leaner than others? I have tried to read up on the subject in some of the TVR fora, but they are all on about re-chipping and mapping. Pointing me in the right direction would be helpful. Thanks very much.

Based on the numbers run in the Ashcroft calculator, with the 1.03 HR LT230, there should be no need for an Overdrive.

Thanks very much!! Wish I'd known about the Ashcroft calculator first; that thing is fabulous. Luckily, I have a line on an LT230 with the 1.003 gears in it, and that is definitely what I want. That will make high range much more pleasant and means I don't need another Overdrive. First low crawl goes from from 64:1 to 73:1, which borders on silly slow. Mind you, loss of the Overdrive as a gear splitter will hurt. It was nice having 64:1 or 46:1 First low. I had been toying with 1100x16 tyres, but I think I'll stick with the little old Swampers.

Sadly, after 20 years, 12 of which were behind the 3.5/3.9 V8 in my Series III, the Series transmission has given up the ghost. Multiple gear and shaft breaks, lots of metal shards. Would require a complete rebuild or new reconditioned box and, for the money, may as well go R380 and LT230. My Volvo portal axles are CV front joints, so full time 4WD is fine. I'm trying to figure out gear ratios and need some serious rivet counting and math help please. Currently: 5.99 axle (diff and reduction boxes), 1.15 t-case high range, Roamerdrive OD (x 0.28) and 35.5" tires, for: 4th OD: 4.59:1total ratio or 0.828 transmission ratio ; 60 mph @ 2823 rpm 3rd OD: 7.44:1 ; 30 mph @ 2112 rpm With early RRC LT230 that I understand to be 1.03:1 high range. Question 1, is that the correct ratio? 5.99, 1.03, Suffix J R380 (5th 0.73:1 and 3rd 1.39:1), 35.5" tires for: 5th: 4.50:1 ratio or .0.752 transmission ratio ; 60 mph @ 2558 rpm 3rd: 8.57:1 ratio and 1.432 transmission ratio ; 30 mph @ 2436 rpm With later V8 LT230 1.22:1 High range (is that correct ratio?) 5th: 5.33:1 ratio 0.891 transmission ratio ; 60 mph @ 3031 rpm 3rd 10.16:1 ratio or 1.695 transmission ratio for 30 mph @ 2883 rpm So, the Tonka is not a daily driver, nor does it do highway miles, but on the county roads, it needs to do 60 - 65 mph. With the 1.22:1 high range LT230 that's 3000 - 3200 rpm. That seems pretty high rpms; higher than 4th OD with the Series box. Whereas with the early RRC ratio of 1.03:1 High Range, 5th gear is delivering 60 - 65 mph at 2558 - 2771 rpm. That's super comfortable. Fourth gear would be 40 - 50 mph at 2300 - 2900 rpm. It really seems that that 1.03:1 High Range ratio is perfect. So, questions: Have I got the ratios right in the LT230 and gears right in the J Suffix V8 R380? Have I got the math right (using this rpm calculator: https://www.crawlpedia.com/rpm_gear_calculator.htm ) Am I missing something? Appreciate your help on this. Thanks very much.

Is this the 14CUX system or a later Bosch or GEMS? If it’s 14CUX, the only sensor is MAF, so pull it and clean it. If it’s not that, it’s probably injectors. Do you run an injector cleaner through the tank from time to time? If it’s GEMS or Bosch, I’m of even less use, but the Throttle Position Sensor and Vehicle Speed Sensor would be candidates, as would gunky or faulty injectors.

Super Swampers in Q78/16 (36x11) Just sayin' 😝

I have RRC cast iron manifolds on my SIII 3.5/3.9 hybrid. I treated them with some ceramic coating that I had to get a special permission or exemption from the EPA because it's like a mixture of Roundup and Plutonium or something, but it did marginally diminish heat in the engine bay, a constant problem. I also have a big marine extractor fan in the passenger (RH on mine) wheel arch. It's still like the boiler room on the SS Hades in there...

I have an SIII with a 3.5/3.9 hybrid and parabolics and extended shackles. On portals. As per the advice given above. First, bump it around a field quite a bit. They will definitely settle a little bit. Second,also as noted above, there are such things as "degree wedges", steel wedges that fit at the spring perch to angle the pinion nose slightly up to correct for the lift. I had some years ago but cannot for the life of me recall from where I got them, sorry. Finally, years ago when I was an early guinea pig for Nigel's "Gone2Far" suspension set up, I had a narrow diameter wide yolk prop shaft made in the UK by a place that was then called (but may have changed name?) "The Propshaft Clinic". It was very well made and is still on my rig. This allows you to avoid scalloping the crossmember. Hope this is helpful.

Next day, Ophir Pass, a piddling 12,000 ft. And down into Telluride before heading home on Last Dollar:

Imogene Pass, 13,000 feet. Felt like I was down to about 10 BHP! Very poor cooling at altitude and my oil pressure gage dropped through the floor above 11,000 ft and back up as we descended. It was nippy at the top.

Every year, my local club, The Solihull Society, organizes the “National Rally”. Big year in Moab, off-year in Colorado somewhere. This year was Ouray-Telluride in the San Juan Mountains. I only made it for Thursday-Saturday and lost the Thursday having to repair the passenger side windscreen. Something went through it on the highway while it was on the trailer. Weird. Interesting that it was tempered glass. Do we think that was a cost savings for export models to third world markets or that Farmer Abdul used tempered rather than laminated to replace at some point? Did Imogene Pass on Friday. 13,000 ft and it was the first day open as the county had only bulldozed the 10 foot snow drifts at the top the day before. Telluride side was closed with a 300 yard section just shy of the top wiped out by avalanche and landslide. They’ll spend the rest of the year rebuilding it - just in time for Winter closure 😉 Did Ophir Pass, a mere 12,000 feet, Saturday, down to Telluride for lunch, then Last Dollar road and Pass back to Ridgway and Ouray.

So, the reset wasn’t a long term solution. I replaced the stepper motor and gave the housing a good cleaning. After thrashing the carp out of it at the LR National Rally this weekend, it has settled down at 700 rpm. Getting up Imogene Pass to 13,000 feet was a thrash! The county had opened the Ouray side, plowing through some 10ft drifts earlier in the week. But the Telluride side wasn’t open because a 300 yard section just shy of the top was wiped out by avalanche! The first pics are of Ophir Pass, a mere 12,000 ft, the last one is Imogene at 13,000.