Retroanaconda

My 88" would do 60mph with a 2.25 petrol - a Tdi would easily achieve it but the problem would be noise. Especially if you don't have much soundproofing. The Tdi will safely rev up to around 3,500-3,800 RPM in theory but in my experience anything over 2,500 RPM sounds horrendous. The result being that it sounds a lot worse than it is.

How short are your journeys? Engine should be up to temperature and producing useable heat in 4-5 miles at the most, so long as you're actually driving along. If sat in town traffic it could be double that as the engine's not working hard enough.

Mine had them, they were a home-made affair I believe. They bolted on to the bulkhead outrigger triangulation bracket at the front, and to the 2nd row footwell outrigger at the back. They sat below the structural sill member which remained, but they replaced the aluminium sill trim piece.

Indeed, changing the fan won't help as the viscous will not be doing anything when cold. It will spin with the engine but not be engaged properly and so move very little air, with the radiator also not being used as above. The engine should be up to temperature within 4-5 miles of normal driving, though if it's all stop-start town traffic it will be longer. For that sort of use a diesel heater is a good option - or put a big trailer on!

Can recommend the Landreizger loom. Very well made and fits perfectly. The cheaper ones (Boomslang etc.) are just the £5 Chinese ones re-boxed, and it shows in the quality and fit. You can buy the bits from any auto electrics place and make it yourself too, and likely for less outlay. But convenience won for me.

Also done today was making up the brackets for the walls. Couldn’t find angled ones locally for sensible money so bought straight ones which are cheap and 30 mins with a gas torch gives me these. After the incident with the previous workshop I’m not taking any chances. Each one will have an M10 stud into the slab and a load of screws into the wall studs. The brackets will go up behind the internal wall sheathing and so will be mostly hidden, save for the ‘foot’ at the bottom.

The two walls against the boundary have been backfilled with gravel and the DPM dressed appropriately. Bulked up the deeper areas with loads of slate to save on gravel - which also avoids needing to get rid of it somehow. I was going to bolt some wall pieces down but had to do some other bits and pieces this morning and there’s now not enough daylight left to avoid rushing, so that’ll happen next weekend all being well

I replaced the battery in my 90 in winter of 2008/2009 when the one it came with died. I went to the local auto electrics place and bought the biggest and heaviest one that would fit in the battery box. 11 years and 230,000 miles later it’s still going strong, so when it does die I’m going to do the same thing! Agricultural suppliers or any decent motor factors should have a range of batteries if no auto electricians nearby.

Framing is pretty quick once you get going - got this up this morning. With the exception of the small section at the front between the large vehicle door and the personnel door, this is as far as I can go around the walls until I get the windows and door sorted, so that’s a priority for the coming weeks. Need to bolt all this down too, got some resin and studding to get it secured properly this weekend. And I’ll stick a couple of diagonals across to stop it going out of shape until the internal boarding goes on at a later date.

There’s no way my bricklaying skills will stretch to that, or the budget for that matter! I’d like to do one in block/brick one day, but this will do for now. Got pretty much all the brickwork done now, just the gap for the side door to finish once I have confirmed the size. Pleased to say the earlier bits survived the frosts. It’s not the finest brickwork in the world but strong and pretty much level - nothing that can’t be taken up in the timber anyway. The opening for the main vehicle door is 2950mm - which will give me 2900mm once the frame trims are on. Plenty wide enough, even taking into account c. 100mm for the door that won’t be able to open beyond 90 degrees. Will get some more timber next week and see about starting framing up some walls while I wait to source a door. It will be 2500mm to the top of the wall plate, so plenty of height inside

Buy genuine though. Aftermarket mirrors are wobbly and horrible.

Just two courses. Quite a frost last night - hopefully it has survived under its blankets!

I will look them up when the time comes. It’ll be a few months yet so should be okay. Got around half the walls done today. Quite a learning curve with the bricklaying but I’m getting there. No closeups of the brickwork though!

Took the covering off today, slab surface seems good. Fairly smooth and pretty level too so I’m pleased with that. The edges aren’t too great where the DPM lapped up over the shuttering, but it’s all strong enough. Got the brickwork bits in this morning and have been setting it out, ready to start laying the bricks tomorrow.

That 110 looks great.