SOA 93

Thanks for that, not much more than a realistic Tomcat then, much more Streetable than a Tomcat aswell. If any one does have a brochure that would be nice. Andy

I was at Donnington on Sunday and was impressed to say the least, should have asked but didn't think at the time. Not thinking of buying one yet! Not this year any way. Anyone have any details. http://www.northoffroad.co.uk/vehicles.asp Dose not tell you alot ,the pictures aren't even clicky

I would only call your opinion biased if you recommended someone elses bushes, which you clearly don't Lots of people go back to standard bushes for those very reasons, others stick with poly just because they are easier to replace, and some people get on great with them. Andy

I was there for an hour or so, only spoke to Rakeway, I thought the standard of finish on the 3M racer on there stand was superb, BMW M3 power. I walked past Lama and X- eng stand a couple of times very busy, I dare not look at X-Eng's stand incase I saw a set of his new Radius arms, I was determined to to keep my wallet in my pocket. One thing I did notice, QT arms, front and back, are everywhere!! Seem to have been universally accepted as the things to have It was good to see North Offroad's Freelander in the flesh very impressive. I like seeing the offroad racers as a change to the usual Land Rover shows. Andy

I bought a Bearmech bushing set from Devon 4x4 last year they were on special offer for around £60, I’d read on their forum that these were actually Superpro bushes packaged Bearmech, they certainly look the same. Later on a visit to Rakeway, who are Superpro dealers, I showed them one of the bushes to compare with a genuine Superpro bush, I left it with them and they duly quizzed the rep. Apparently the rep seemed to think that they were copies and not as good as genuine Superpro. Fast forward a few months to the Donnington 4x4 show where Superpro had a stall, I asked about the Bearmech bushes and was told that yes they were the same bushes, however Bearmech supply there own metal parts in the kit and I think they may source there own grease also. He was not certain if this would carry on much longer. At the moment Devon are selling theses Bearmech kits for around £90, I asked at the show how much the Superpro kits were £150ish, Still a fair saving. Thought this might be useful to anyone who is about to buy bushes, to any of you to whom this is old hat, apologies. Andy

Spoke to Alan Allard today about the turbo, can't tell from the outside if it is a hybrid or not, the serial number might indicate but not certain, however if it has a water cooled centre and braided oil pipe etc it seems unlikely that someone would have gone to this much trouble for a standard turbo. Apparently they machine the back of the compressor housing a little to make it a little bigger and use a larger compressor wheel, at least that's as I understood it , I assume they use a better bearing also. Andy

I could find a home for it if it is unwanted I have a good spare turbo for part exchange aswell

I know this is an option on hybrid turbo's sold by allards. Andy

Sorry, slight thread hijack, anyone know what gearbox options came with these engines? Cheers Andy

If things get complicated or congested I find a modelling or templating it out of timber or MDF make it easier for me to understand or see if it fits Jez, I'm just a builder with an interest in suspension, I only suggested the woblink as an alternative to a watts, all the stuff I've read on watts suggest that the links should be parallel, which of course on the D2 they are not, I can't see why they need to be parallel, just equal in angle and length I would of thought. The inverted woblink does have some fabrication hurdles but I'm way out of my depth for those kind of questions. Regarding the watts linkage is there any reason it could not be mounted to the top of the axle so the pivot moved front to back rather than up and down, you'd get your roll centre above your axle again then. A couple more pictures of the inverted woblink with it at extended and compressed, the short link is 150mm long and gives about 200mm travel before it binds up on my model but I would think it would be better to say the travel is probably equal th the length of the short link. The floating link could be a lot shorter which would help with your strength issues, and of course the links could be made longer, as far as I know as long as you follow the formula in your posted picture you should be ok. By the way the picture you posted is scanned from ' Race and Rally car source book' by Alan Staniforth its where I got the idea from originally. Extended Compressed

Ok here are some pics off my mock up of a woblink. First is the standard woblink. Same but articulating. Now we have the same but inverted, the axle and the chassis swap roles( ), the links are now mounted to the chassis and the axle just has a single pivot. Its just a complicated panhard rod really, with no arc of movement, wherever you choose to mount the axle pivot is where your roll centre will be. Land Rovers roll centre is the is the ball joint on the rear axle and where the panhard rod crosses the centre of the vehicle on the front axle, if you raise your vehicle by fitting longer springs or spacers you raise the front roll center by half your lift automatically. Lastly, inverted but articulating, the links don't need to be parallel, you could have them parallel at say, full bump then they stay up out of the way in normal running. Disadvantage of this system is the amount of pivots, but no worse than a watts linkage. Rakeway are using some bushes/joints on there racer they are off a RR sport or D3, Lem Forder or something, very well sealed and about £25 each I believe.

Before ruling it out completely bear in mind the design as I said was used for lowering the role centre, however the very reason I mocked it up was to see if it run upside down, and it does, you can also mount the links to the chassis not the axle as in the pictures, you could then have your roll centre 4" above your axle if you wanted and the links would come from one side of the chassis and be up out of the way. Or look at the picture and try to imagine the point identified as the chassis point is actually the where the axle is connected. I'll post pics later.... a thousand words and all that. Andy

Can I throw some more logs on the fire, what about a 'woblink' does the same as watts linkage but I think it has better packaging, especially with the offset diff of a Land Rover. Originally designed to keep the roll centre very low ie. ground level but can be turned upside down etc the links would then be up out of harms way and you can dial the roll centre in any where you like. I've built a mock up in MDF down the garage I can take a photo later if require, just type woblink into Google. Andy

Allards built a 2.25 with a Shorrock (vane) supercharger back in the 70's, it was fitted in a lightweight and was used quite successfully in stage rallies. I used to have the book on turbo/supercharging by Allards but lent it to someone I think it used a SU in a suck through system, there's a fair bit of custom machining to be done, also need to work out pulley ratios so you get the boost you want when you want it, I don't think it is a cheap way to get HP, not in this country anyway, and not as a one off. Theres a few good books on the subject and I'd read one before buying anything.

Cheaper Ceboras are not that highly rated, butters are trading on their name at the low end, both are made down to a price, as Jez says older is better. Portamig are made to order, they come with a heavy duty wire drive, copper wound transformers (not banks of capicitors) high duty cycles, and if you by from Weldequipe 2 years warranty(on everything) , quality regulator and quality 4m torch. Downside is you have a 2 week wait. Don't underestimate Clarke in your price range, Many of the big names in this price range are just that 'big names', don't be fooled. If you are thinking of fabbing things like winch plates ie. 6mm or 8mm plate etc. then you really need 200A. I'll no doubt be strung up by the welding police for the above heresy I'd take Jez up on his offer, borrow their spare see how you get on, then have a good look around before you decide.

To add to the above, there is a point of diminishing returns when adding intercoolers, while a good intercooler may drop the boost temperature from say 200C to 120C it then takes a very good efficient intercooler to drop this a further say 20C. Land Rover did a pretty good job of siting the standard intercooler (IMHO), no obstructions and short inlet tracts, Allard do a 2 stage intercooler set up, in addition to the full width kit they use a charge cooler and modify the Inlet manifold so that it actually houses the charge cooler, very trick, very neat and very ££££££...... However looking at the power claims for this set up it certainly don't give power in proportion to what it costs. When () I've fitted my new intercooler and got it sorted I'm going to look at water injection for any further improvements its pretty efficient. Cannot find much info relating to TD's but it is suitable, the nice thing about H20 injection is works all the time ie. it does not rely on air flow, Ideal for offroad I'd of though. A kit is about the same price as an aftermarket intercooler kit. Anyway the bottom line is you won't know until you try 2 intercoolers, they sell a similar set up for air con vehicles but again the intercooler is mounted up front.

I think this is what Al is refering to http://snip.awardspace.com/ I keep it on my favourites

Rakeway take the balls apart then machine them for clearance, they use them on their own comp safari independant racer. As far as I know they use the ones with most travel to start with, before modifying them. They were due to make some more, might be worth giving them call. http://www.rakeway.co.uk/ Andy

I had these made a while back, still unfitted they are made from 1.5" ally bar and give a 1.5" lift, I had the recess tuned into one end so that they locate over the standard mounts, I figured it would be a pain in A@%$ to keep them from moving when trying to locate the body back on. If you've still got your viscous fan then you need to keep the rad in position with the chassis and blank off the gap at the top, if electric then you make some spacer tubes for underneath your rad.

Glad your ok, give your mate with the camera a slap though, tell him to concentrate on what he's doing

A few months ago one of the mags had them in the 'New products' pages these were intercooler and top and bottom radiator hoses made by Samco I think, may have been just for the disco 200tdi, it was Merlin Motorsport http://www.merlinmotorsport.co.uk/ however I couldn't find the kits on the website when I looked before maybe give them a call. Andy

Personally I think they should of chased them, however what they say is not without grounds, last year or year before my ex brother-in-law was cycling home from work, Ford's foundry in Leamington spa to Warwick, he was hit from behind by a motorcyclist being chased by the police, Phil had to have his leg amputated and has no use of his left arm now, the Police wanted to stop the motorcyclist because of his Tax I think, motorcyclist died at the scene, all a bit unneccesary. To me all this Bulls*@%t is part of the Health and safety carp that has taken over this country, but adds adds nothing to its financial welfare its just a financial sponge. 'B-liar's Britain' is living in fear of being sued, I cant believe the changes that have happened in industry in the last 10 years, crazy.

Ok not an experienced view. The important bit on that helmet looks identical to an ESAB who just happen to be Swiss also. Maybe the same optics with a different sheild. All the same features aswell. I've just bought a new 9-13 version of the ESAB, very pleased. Andy Edited: The Guy I bought mine from was doing the ESAB 5-13 inc VAT and delivery for £215 IIRC.

I'm doing a welding course at my local college (Warwickshire Colledge), should have been a 'Post beginners course', but they changed it at the last minute to City and Guilds level 2 welding, I'm doing TIG but others are doing Arc or Gas, strangely no ones doing Mig Although you do get a qualification with this course it was £690, the post beginners was going to be £220 for 10 weeks. Its this forum's fault I enrolled at college, bloody 'Welding Police' I don't need a welding qualification, with hindsight my money would have been better spent towards a nice Tig welder. Too much health and safety taught and not enough tech, colleges have changed since I went over 20 years ago As Bush65 said it is interesting to do destructive testing on your welds, some of the guys on the course are welding all day at work and it was interesting to see their welds get criticised by the tutor when they were sawn through, welds looked ok on the outside, this was at the start of the course. When I asked the tutor about a good book to get he told me to get 'Science and practice of welding' I think its been the welding standard fo many many years, the book has been split into 2 now so they can get twice as much money off you. I've just bought a new ESAB 9-13 helmet for about £150 tried the tutors Speedglas, not certain what model it is, but it is new, sorry I can't see the huge difference everyone else see's, very happy with my ESAB huge difference between it and my auto helmet from Billing. How about some of you guys doing a tutorial thread about tips on welding. Some of the stuff you know can seem very basic to you, however some of these little tips could make a huge difference to us hobby welders, like Dolly's 'tip dip' tip, I didn't know there was such a thing. Maybe some good and bad weld pictures on different thickness material, that kind of thing. I know this is LR forum not a welding forum but its also a very tech forum. This http://www.mig-welding.co.uk/ is a good forum/site for a starter. Andy