lo-fi

I'd say the likelyhood of anything like that running this year is about zero, sadly.

Sounds like the carb wants a rebuild. I'd expect some kind of gasket or diaphragm failure, or could be as simple as the float isn't floating as well as it used to and the level is too high in the float chamber. Grab a rebuild kit, strip it down and freshen it up. Should get you going again.

I've not had much luck holding the torch like a MIG torch. Nowhere near enough control. Holding it with hand shaped like a gun with the tungsten running between fore and index finger is my favoured way. A TIG finger is almost essential with this, though, as is a pedal.

For what it's worth, it's a hell of a lot easier with a pedal. You can taper down the amps as you get into the run and the part is heat soaking. Some nice beads, though!

Yep, exactly. Not great engineering decisions. The TDI may be more powerful and a tad more efficient, but heinously noisy and raucous by comparison. I've no great love for devils fueled engines in general, but a TDI would be my last choice in a vehicle with no thought given to NVH that isn't purely a farm vehicle. If you're going to rebuild the TD, look at some way of knocking the compression ratio down a point and fitting an intercooler. No point doing that work for it to melt itself again.

I've done several rebuilds doing this by feel too. You can tell when it's right having set the preload with string and a spring scale on the other sets. Ain't rocket science to extrapolate!

Fantastic. I need to build a five ton version for the railway. If there's a railway left after all this...

Just out of curiosity, is testing on your return a company or government thing?

Clean the pistons and head carefully. I'd bet you'll find cracks that aren't immediately obvious.

https://www.health.com/condition/infectious-diseases/coronavirus/self-test-for-coronavirus More useful info on "self test" misinformation.

Don't waste your time. Been there, done that. Bought the 2.4 and never looked back. You need to be doing some very fine stuff and have considerable skill to make tiny tig rods work. I'll try and find the TFS video where he explains.

What do you do, Gary? I'm heartened to hear this too. We need a bit of "blitz spirit" now more than ever. I stopped my travel a couple of weeks ago now, but luckily IT support is one of those things that's entirely possible to do effectively from home. I've been busy setting people up to work from home left, right and centre.

Dying with scotch left would be a travesty indeed.

In small doses. Not as much as I used to, for sure. I think my tolerance for "character" has diminished as I've aged. I enjoyed that phase. Still a bunch of stuff I could make, but I'm still struggling with the motivation to do so. I've just set my mill up to cut helical gears, so maybe I'll make myself an ATB diff. Possibly manufacture a diff carrier that's not made of cheap cheddar and iron filings. That would be interesting... But doesn't help with the projects! Great approach having a tidy up, diverting to something else, keeping the workshop clear etc. Tried all that! It made space for machine tools... Which I'm quite enjoying, it has to be said.

It's a good point, but sitting on all this stuff hinders my ability to do other things and the more I trip over it, the more sick I get if it. At least one project - the SW - is going for sure. If, once I've recovered some cash, space and head space from that I feel differently, there's a slim chance I might stash the 88 bits. However... One further issue I have is that once I understand something, it's boring. I can competently rebuild an engine or gearbox, fit EFI, restore a bulkhead, rebuild an axle, weld a chassis... But doing so more than once is just the grind of hard work as there's no reward in figuring how to do it. The value in anything to me is in having something to learn from it, and Land Rovers have no more secrets to reveal and no more intellectual challenges to face. It's a genuine curse in many ways! I wish I had the setting that would drive me to slog through because I covet the end result, but that's not how I work. It's the skills I carry with me project to project that are important, not the things themselves. I spent all that time building a winch for the 109, but I've not actually used it once!

I'm looking forward to my isolation. It'll give me time to plant a veg patch in my sankey.

Lol. Yep. I always look at it this way: if you can't do the job on a bench with 1000 lumen lighting, classical music playing, phone off, and after a yoga session, you probably can't TIG it. Justin on TFS does roll cages in situ, but he's a 10,000 hours of practice kinda pro. MIG is going to be king for a hobbyist for years to come yet. What amperage were you running on those tig pieces? Looks like you might have wanted a bit more juice and been able to move a bit faster?

Yes please! My dilemma is actually not whether to break the projects, but whether it's worth assembling them. They're both currently in pieces. I do have pics of the SW as it arrived to me, and can obviously photograph the pieces. But... I'm wondering how attractive a disassembled project is... I'm likely to get the usual flood of vultures looking for the juicy/rare bits anyhow. Don't daily drive the 109, it's purely been a toy/utility thing. I've been through a few steam projects and never regretted putting all the work into something I don't own. The pride seeing it gleaming and alive, the experience, the skills I've managed to soak up and the people I've met pay ten-fold what owning it ever would. I have railway volunteering to thank in part for my skills set that's been so kindly commented on. Also: I don't pay the bills! I've got a few young chaps in my team - 19 and 21 - who are beginning the same journey I did. It's wonderful seeing them grow in skill and confidence. That being said, I do understand that not all volunteers gets treated so well as I have, which is very sad. I worked for years with a chap who actually owned his own loco. He was always super clear that those that help him get to enjoy it the same way he did. It felt like ours, not just his. It's a great shame not everyone gets that same experience. I'll still be around, @Stellaghost! Many interesting projects and talented engineers worth following here

Ah, I don't daily drive it!! I've never understood how anybody copes with a series as a daily. I'd have set fire to it or been bankrupt a long time ago, I'm sure! Lol. I have a nice comfortable, mile eating A4 quattro as a daily. Poor old 109 hadn't been used for months until I took it out last week when the audi had a puncture I couldn't be bothered to fix there and then. 2a, if you know of anything?

Coming from you, that's quite a compliment!

Yep, I hear ya. Rusting tat everywhere!. I'm the tender age of 39. I may yet keep one, but... A mate of mine bought a Ford Ranger recently. Its so useful by comparison, it's quiet, doesn't leak, cheap and doesn't break all the time. Mostly things I think no land rover has ever been, sad as it is to say. Character only gets you so far, so its been the final nail in the coffin for the poor old landy. I'd probably keep the V8 109 with the winch as that's got the most work in it. I'll see how I feel after shifting some stuff. Its heartening to hear I'm not alone struggling for motivation, but really feel for everyone having a hard time. It's really not easy. We've got to be at the top of the market, so it may be as good a time as any to sell up for anyone considering it. Bulkhead is a tricky one. Almost nothing decent around, particularly for a six pot, and a recon will cost as much as I'm likely to get back from the whole project. The other part of the problem is this: Nine months into overhauling it, with a team of eager volunteers beside me. Very hard to get motivated to fiddle with dissolving green oval tin on my own by comparison. That's how I think about it. Hopefully I can find it all good homes.

Thanks all, gives me a bit of clarity. Looks like the path of least resistance is to bolt the SW back together. The sticking point is the bulkhead as its a big pile of rust! Lol. May take some thinking about.

LOL!! It is a shame and I've tried having serious words with myself, but it's just not working. Good points on the not so desirable parts. I guess the bits that won't sell are best scrapped anyhow.

I think it's fair to say I'm over Land Rovers. Tired of the struggle, expense and general carpness. I used to find it charming, but sadly I'm now in a situation where I just find it frustrating, boring and like a chore. Kinda sad, but after two years of trying to get my landy mojo back, I think it's time to call it a day and move on. Hobbies should be enjoyable! I have a 109 with extensive work, and a 109 SW & 88 in pieces. The latter two are definitely going; jury is still out on the first. I'm looking for a little input on the projects really, if I may... Particularly the 109 SW. It arrived to me complete, but very sorry for itself. Its now in pieces. I'm torn between selling the parts, selling the whole project in pieces, or bolting it back together and selling as a unit. As parts is probably the best way financially, but that seems a shame, much as I won't rule it out at this stage. As a whole project, how much more attractive is it in one piece than in bits? The 88 is probably going to be a straight parts sale as its not totally complete, unless there's value in it as a whole? Thanks guys! I'm sure the rose tinted glasses will appear years on and I'll be thinking "wish I still had that landy", but I need to free some funds for other hobbies. Such is life!

... but (as a point of discussion because its interesting if you're an engineering geek like me) with very clever combustion chamber designs and mixing strategies. 9:1 is probably about the sweet spot for a stone-age 2 valve single plug design. Having said that, would be interesting to see how it behaves at 9.5:1. 10:1 you're probably pushing it to get enough advance in to get decent power without detonation. The "pent roof" design of modern 4 or 5 valve high compression chambers needs far less advance as they're only really compensating for flame front speed, not asymmetrical placement of the spark plug and an odd shape to fill. They will ping badly if you go past the sweet spot, not that there's any advantage in doing so. As another point of interest, there are some relatively modern, high output engines which don't use bonkers compression. Some of the Honda I-Vtec engines (civic type R) were a meagre 9.8:1. Turbo?