Steve King

Hereford of all places!! Herefordshire is the 2nd most rural county in England - lots of farmers who have good reason to use 4x4s!! I would have expected a little more tolerance in Hereford!!

A friend used to be an Environmental Health Officer for the local council. According to her, during the 80s the majority of patients with testicular cancer worked as car mechanics. Apparently, the most significant problem is with used engine oil, as it is highly carcinogenic. The message is use gloves!!

Any progress with your search for a Defender for £3K Landybear? My brother has finally decided to buy a Defender & seems to have set himself a £3K budget as well. So far I have been out to see: (1) a low mileage turbo diesel with a shot bulkhead, and non functioning power steering, (2) a 200 TDI 110 hardtop "no expense spared" (according to the advert) 110 with deep puddles in each footwell and perforated bulkhead, (3) 200 TDI 90 pickup that was converted into a hardtop - newish rear crosmember, rest of chassis good, bulkhead in good nick, but blowing an oilslick down the engine from the oil filler cap, (4) 110 pickup with Ifor Williams cover, unknown non original diesel engine, jumps out of reverse and needs a bit of welding in the footwell. Not bad for the price, but as as my brother's final choice of vehicle will see a lot of use on forest tracks and low speed manouvering between trees I persuaded him that power steering was a good idea!! The search continues....

Clean up the battery terminals with a wire brush or sand paper and lightly coat them with vaseline. Buy or borrow a decent multi meter - preferably one designed for use with cars. Read the instructions and check the voltage across the battery terminals with the engine running, this should tell you if the alternator is on the blink or not. If the meter has a "battery condition" or "battery aging" setting give this a try as well once the battery has been on charge for at least 12 hours. Don't worry about the clicking sound it is just a solenoid. Do you know how old the battery is? What car does your mate have? Steve

I think the trouble is that cows belch methane not fart it!

BBC

I'd ask him to either stump up for a new spare wheel carrier. If you go through insurance it won't do your NCB much good & then there's the excess to think of. As wheel carriers are not that expensive it hardly seems worth making a claim. Incidentally my Defender was reversed into by a doddery old git the other weekend! The guy had a huge Merc and could barely see over the steering wheel! He had two wheels on the pavement from having reversed at a strange angle and then over straightened. He hit the car in front and then confidently reversed into my front bumper! There are a couple of streaks of Merc paint here and there on my bumper but nothing to bother about! The back of his Merc had loads of dents on it - I suspect he may park by ear! What does bother me though, is that this guy might cause a serious accident! I really feel that it is time for him to hang up his driving gloves!

My brother has finally decided to follow my example and buy a Land Rover. We had a look at a low mileage 110 yesterday and the main problem was rot at the top of the bulkhead in the corners just under the windscreen. It looks like it can be fixed with repair sections. The seller seems willing to lower his price accordingly - but seeing as neither I or my brother can weld what do you reckon a garage would charge to fit them? Also could anyone recommend a decent LR specialist in the East Sussex or Kent area that could carry out the work to a decent standard? Thanks Steve

What annoys me? Well seeing as SWMBO doesn't drive:- Plonkers who park ½" from the rear door of my Defender (really great when you are trying to load camping gear/fishing tackle and/or shopping!!) People who let their dogs cr@p in the road! I do not have a garage & trying to service my Landy in the road is bad enough without dog plop! Apart from that trying to load up via the rear door can be a nightmare if there is a steaming pile of dog's eggs!!! Steve

Oh well, looks like that Mr Green will not be booking Kelmarsh for 2008 then!... According to the LRE Website: It all seems a bit silly as most of us would have ben interested in a change of venue from Billing - having two shows on the same weekend could never have worked. I have no particular fondness for LRE or Mr Green but in a way it is a pity that we won't now know how Kelmarsh would have worked out (or not)

I donate a few quid each year - I'm never sure if it is the right amount. I do appreciate that the board is free and donations are voluntary but could the mods suggest a recommended minimum donation each year in order to cover costs?

Nice to see you around again Fi! Careful Fi, a Mod might decide on a change of title!! Steve

The rival to the Kelly Ketle is the Storm Kettle I think the Kelly Kettle became quite popular in the UK because of Chris Yates & Bob James using one in the tv series "A Passion for Angling" some years ago. Mind you I was lucky enough to win a day with Bob James in 2004 and was both disappointed and amused to see that he used a Camping Gaz stove to boil the kettle! I did pull his leg a bit, but he reckons the Kelly Kettles are slower than gas stoves! Personally I use a Coleman Sportster Stove that runs on unleaded petrol - really quick and you can fill up anywhere! B) Steve

Good grief! What a bling-mobile! Any longer and they'd have to articulate it in the middle like a bendy bus!! The inside looks like a 70's nightclub and it's all in the best possible taste (not!)

I found this on another website and thought that the members here might be keen to sign up? Apologies if it's already been on here. There are already 265,000 signatures on this petition - all of you who are fed up with being ripped off, please take one minute to sign up, and pass the details on. Ta. The government's proposal to introduce road pricing will mean you having to purchase a tracking device for your car and paying a monthly bill to use it. The tracking device will cost about £200 and in a recent study by the BBC, the lowest monthly bill was £28 for a rural florist and £194 for a delivery driver. A non working Mum who used the car to take the kids to school paid £86 in one month. On top of this massive increase in tax, you will be tracked. Somebody will know where you are at all times. They will also know how fast you have been going, so even if you accidentally creep over a speed limit you can expect a NIP with your monthly bill. If you care about our freedoms and stopping the constant bashing of the car driver, please sign the petition on No 10's new website. sign_here

"Bin it "is of course the PC answer as mentioned before by others. It is quite amazing though the repairs that the some of the skilled Turkish tyre repairers (called Lastikçi) can do!! However whether the repair would get you through the British MOT and whether I would actually entrust my life to the repaired tyres is a totally different matter...!!! Steve

Stratstones are pathetic & I will never use them again. Their staff are just plain ignorant!! Last year I called in to the parts desk at lunchtime and waited and waited. Staff were bustling around at other desks and I eventually butted in at the service desk and asked if there was any chance of being served? The guy said that the parts desk was closed until 2.00pm. I pointed out that a "closed for lunch sign" might be an idea and asked why nobody at the desks had thought to tell me that the parts desk was closed. "Sorry Sir I didn't see you!" was the reply. I walked off muttering about not being $$&k*ng invisible! I wrote a suitable snotogram to Stratstone Head Office and got a barely literate apology of sorts with a promise of trade prices in the future. I haven't taken them up on that though... I agree with HFH Harwoods in Guildford are really helpful and friendly, unfortunately my mate no longer lives near them! Steve

Holiday Greetings to Everyone I wanted to send some sort of holiday greeting to my friends and co-workers, but it is so difficult in today's "PC" world to know exactly what to say without offending someone. So, on the advice of my solicitor, I wish to say the following: Please accept with no obligation, implied or implicit, my best wishes for an environmentally conscious, socially responsible, low stress, non-addictive, gender neutral celebration of the Winter Solstice holiday, practiced with the most enjoyable traditions of religious persuasion or secular practices of your choice with respect for the religious/secular persuasions and/or traditions of others, or their choice not to practice religious or secular traditions at all. I also wish you a fiscally successful, personally fulfilling and medically uncomplicated recognition of the onset of the generally accepted calendar year 2007, but not without due respect for the calendars of choice of other cultures whose contributions to society have helped make this country great (not to imply that Great Britain is necessarily greater than any other country) and without regard to the race, creed, colour, age, physical ability, religious faith or sexual preference of the wishee. By accepting this greeting, you are accepting these terms: This greeting is subject to clarification or withdrawal. It is freely transferable with no alteration to the original greeting. It implies no promise by the wisher to actually implement any of the wishes for her/himself or others and is void where prohibited by law, and is revocable at the sole discretion of the wisher. This wish is warranted to perform as expected within the usual application of good tidings for a period of one year or until the issuance of a subsequent holiday greeting, whichever comes first, and warranty is limited to replacement of this wish or issuance of a new wish at the sole discretion of the wisher. Disclaimer: No trees were harmed in the sending of this message; however, a significant number of electrons were slightly inconvenienced. Steve

Personally I'd sort out the heater rather than start sawing up plywood! I've no complaints about my Defender's heater (after the engine is properly warmed up that is!). In fact I keep turning the heater down as I dislike being too hot whilst driving! SWMBO however complains about being cold, so I bought her an electrically heated seat cover from Woolworths for a tenner! Result less frosty missus! Steve

Definately change it now rather than later! These things have a habit of blowing in the most inconvenient places (like for example Camden one-way system in the middle of rush hour!!). Genuine M/Cs are better than the cheapos but are not brilliant.

Silence of the Lambs maybe...?

"live & let live" indeed, but you can't help but laugh sometimes...! You don't see many of them admittedly, but the ones that really make me chuckle are the "around town" Defenders with immaculate gleaming paintwork, acres of shiny chequer plate, nice winch, snorkel etc, but strictly on-road tyres! Steve

I downloaded IE7 a few weeks ago. I like the tabbed browsing, but hey it's not so different from having a couple of instances of IE running at the same time! What does cheese me off though is that IE7 does not like the Favorites toolbar if (like me!) you are running a rather more sedate ("ancient" or as I prefer to call it fewer bells and whistles) version of MS Office! I don't want to copy every Favourite to the desktop so now rather opening IE to the site I want so now I have to go via my homepage! Steve

It was stuck on 147 - I think I have at least 3 posts that say 147. Hmm started working again! Steve

I thought it was just me, but after snooping around it looks like everybody's post count is stuck! Steve