Anglo-Frenchman

I assume therefor that there is not a particular fan 'kit' from Kenlow or Pacet for the Land Rover that will bolt-on and that some 'adaptation' is required. Presumably there is a switch wire from the thermostat to trigger the motor but where is best place to take the power from?

Sorry for my ignorance, but what is the 'x-eng mod'?

Thanks very much guys. Out of interest, how hard is it to fit a Kenlow or Pacet fan?

I thought I might try removing the viscous fan from the front of the water pump to reduce the drag on the 200Tdi. I have been advised that this engine will work quite happily without the fan but as the temperature in France can often reach mid 40s during summer I wondered if this might not be such a good idea? Perhaps it could go on in summer and be removed in winter? Ged

I laughed until the tears roled down my cheek. We sat on our sofa and rocked with toe-cringing embarrasment for the poor in-bred locals who displayed their crass stupidity and ignorance. I lived in LA in the early 90s and can honestly concur with JC about the state of the States - mind you the UK is going the same way which is why I choose to live here! Top quality entertainment that is not afraid to challenge the borders of taste and political correctness. Long live Top Gear!

Yes, I know a guy in Cornwall who has one with a RR engine. Sadly its a complete rotting wreck and unlikely ever to be restored

Does anyone know the easiest way to access the heater controls on a 1993 Defender with aircon? I fitted a new set of speakers into the front speaker openings last month and because they are deeper than the original efforts, I made spacer boxes so that they would not foul at the back. None the less, the magnet on the RH one got stuck to the metal air flap thingy which directs the air either to the screen of the cab and when I used the shift lever, I think that the cable got pulled out because not the flap will not operate at all. Is it a case of removing the entire lower dash? Ta, Ged PS - The new speakers which cost 16,00EUR are SO much better than the original OEM ones that you have to wonder what little extra it would cost LR to fit decent ones in the first place!

Here's another of his: 'Last night I came home drunk and accidentially tried to open the door to my appartment with my ignition key. I'd driven two blocks beofre I realsied! A cop pulled me over and told me I was doing more than 55 mph, bit I said I'd only been driving for 30 minutes so it was OK!'. Talk about surreal!

I seem to remember reading in one of Jeremy Clarkson's books about a scheme put forward by an eminent scientist to reintroduce wolves to the British Isles. I remember that the thinking behind this was to reduce the number of car accidents caused by deer wandering in front of speeding vehicles which if my memory serves me correctly was around about a thousand a year. It seems that the principal downside of this particular scheme was that good old Homo sapiens seem to feature quite highly upon the 'must have' menu of your average wolf with all that that implies. Wolves, being smart and ecolgically-minded creatures would probably complain bitterly about the pointless packaging surrounding your average rambler comprising mainly as it does of luminescent polypropylene, a gnarly walking stick with some sort of dodgy effigy carved on to the top and a faint hint of beard!

As an addition to my earlier post, I have also been on the other end of this particular type of incident when in Iraq in 2003 on vehicle checkpoints. I recall being stationed on a section of road west of Basra which was rather like that piece of road from the advertising posters of the film Close Encounters which disappeared into vanishing point. We used to stand on the road watching the huge trucks lumbering towards us through the heat haze from the horizon and which sometimes took about 10 minutes to reach us belching oil smoke and other vital fluids. One of us would stand on the road and hold their hand up to try and get the thing to stop whilst another trained a well greased in GPMG at it from the safety of a sanger. Many was the time that the driver's cat-like (?) reflexes coupled with the appalling absence of brakes nearly resulted in a significant amount of firepower being emptied to the windscreen! Happy days!

Yes, more than likely the squaddie was checking you out through the SUSAT but not particurly good for PR purpose - just be grateful that he didn't drag a stinger across the road and burst your tyres as well! For the truely anal amongst you, the BFA not only catches the debirs from the spent round but also creates the compression from the gases to permit the loading of the next round from the magazine which enables fully automatic fire. It is surprising how much damage can be caused (at close range) with a blank round though!

Brilliant - thanks very much all.

Can anyone remind me of the make/name of those brilliant camping kettles that you build the fire inside and have a water jacket around the outside and a chimney on the side - all I can think of is Nomad or somesuch.

MOT or Control Technique in France only every 2 years. I have to say that it works well and there are no great number of wrecks on the road - Oh yes, and just to cheer you all up, there no road tax either!!

I could not agree more and my post was meant more as a pont of interest than taking any sort of moral highground. From a personal perspective I find it highly irritating when those living in the developed world criticise those who not enjoy our standard of living from improving their lot.

Slightly O/T but on an environmental note, China is currently pouring more concrete than the rest of the world combined as it increases its infrastructure and construction program. The production of the raw materials in concrete is incredibly damaging on the environment. Just my two cents.......

Thanks Ralph. I managed to get the wire back on (its a white with a red stripe) but its a real fiddle and not very accessible. The only way is to squeeze your arm between the chassis rail and the exhaust from underneath so definately one for when the engine's cold! I might have a go at squeezing the connector but again, its so hard to get any tool in there and actually see what you are doing.

I was wondering if there were likely to be any negative consequences in removing the belt driving the airco compressor during the cold months when not being used. It seems pretty pointmess whizzing around for no reason for 6 months of the year! Also I had a slight glitch with the 110 today when it wouldn't start. Turns out to be a loose wire on the back of the starter motor which has to be puyshed back onto the terminal. Due to to poor access this has to be done by 'feel'. Is this a common problem with 110s? I have been told that this wire is frequently too short and pops off for a passtime altohugh its the first time its done it in the past 30,000kms.

I flew back from Iraq on an RAF VC10 and was very concerned to find out that the plane was older than me!

Thanks guys for all the comments that you've made and I feel thoroughly ashamed of myself that I am so nervous about carrying out this particular job. It's entirely irrational because I have stripped and rebuilt engines, taken out and refitted gearboxes, converted my old V8 from manual to automatic transmission without even a second thought. If I were to go down the route of fitting the belt myself, what is the best kind of puller that I could get off the shelf (bear in mind that most of these types of tools I tend to buy mail-order from the UK) to get the crank pulley off? Also with regard to the torque wrench, where can I get a decent dial type from? Thanks again for all the advice-I feel almost ready to go out and do the job now! (At least I would if it wasn't minus three centigrade)

It's that time when I have to think about replacing the timing belt on my 200 TDI defender. I'm quite happy to attempt most things on the CSW but this is an area where I get extremely nervous and my palms become sweaty! As a consequence I have been searching through my local French garages for someone to undertake the replacement of this vital piece of elastic band technology and more importantly someone who appears to have done this or that were previously on a Land Rover. I have obtained all the parts by post from the UK and I have now had four quotes for labour only to replace the belt and they are as follows in ascending order: €125: A local garage run by a couple who looked like contenders for the 'duelling banjo' award for inbreeding but who did have a range Rover TDI up on the ramps when I arrived so clearly have some knowledge of the vehicle. €185: Another local garage, a very high-tech outfit who service and repair all the main French vehicle types but who struggled to find the technical data on the cam belt replacement for a Land Rover. €355: Garage located about 30 km away independent that specialise in British vehicles including MG, Land Rover, Mini and Jags. €570: Land Rover main dealer who will not fit my parts so their figure includes supplying parts themselves. I am in a total quandary now of which of these garages to go to and wonder what the general opinion is about this kind of thing. I feel such an idiot because at the end of the day it's just a car but because I spend such a lot of time in it and working on it myself, I feel very protective about it and want to make sure that whoever starts tinkering about under the bonnet has some idea of what they're actually doing. I expect there will be those of you who probably think I ought to do the timing belt change myself and in all seriousness I probably should. It's just that I once had a rather bad experience doing one of these on a naturally aspirated diesel which went horribly wrong and I just can't bear the thought of that happening again.

I was also looking to increase the cruising speed of my 110 CSW and had a quote of £345 + exchange old unit for a recon LT230 1:222 ratio transfer box from these people www.freewebs.com/tmtransmissions/ which is a bit more competitive than a GKN but perhaps not so flexible. You pays your money and takes your choice. Unfortunately for me living in France, the cost of shipping the old unit back to the UK makes the whole deal cost about 1,000EUR so not really worth it.

Thanks Les. From your picture and description it appears that I have been knocking the seal in too far.

Thanks very much for the info. I'll check out the breather and also I've ordered a new seal so I'll give that another go as well. Regarding the installation of the new seal, I have been using my hub box spanner as a tool to knock in the seal but find that the round chassis strut is positioned perfectly to get in the way of swinging a hammer. Is there an easier way of pushing this seal in and also how far should it go in? Until it stops or before that point is reached? Thanks

Thank Les, I' ll have a look at the breather. I'm pretty certain its the output seal beacuse when I first changed it it cured the problem for about 1000km then it started again. How fool-proof are the seals? Also what about the little felt washer under the retaining nut? Can this let oil pass by? Thanks again, Ged