steve b

Good to hear when you do get out exploring take plenty of pic's for us to see cheers Steveb

...for garlic bulbs ? ok that's shallot for now hat, coat ...gone Steveb

put up a pic of the wiring to the back of the gauge , there may be something there that you haven't spotted ? Unlikely but worth a try . The earth should only be for the backlight bulb usually , the gauge itself goes to earth via the sensor - more/less pressure = more/less resistance at the sensor = needle rise/fall . The fact that the needle is going to full deflection with only the ign on suggests no resistance on the sensor side , ie the circuit is made to earth so try it with no earth at the dash end and the wiring connected to the sensor cheers Steveb

The White wire that was plugged into the +ve side of the coil goes to the fuel stop solenoid The glow plug relay is pretty easy too , if you have the relay socket with the wires in it , the heavy brown goes to the battery , the heavy black/yellow goes to the HP's , the small black/yellow goes to the choke warning light wire , the white goes to the ignition live - you can use the same one as the IP stop solenoid and the black is earth . hth Steveb

What about some like Daan's got on his truck ? nice and retro but wide enough for modern tyre sizes finished in metallic black? Cheers Steveb

Of course check all the trackrod's /susp. bushes/kingpin's/rear axle balljoint and all the nut's and bolts that hole these parts together and the tracking too - I'd do all this regardless of any problem's or not with a new to me vehicle . A good set of matching tyres will still be needed after this imho for predictable , safe handling. Keep us updated as you get on , it will be interesting to hear how the investigations go cheers Steveb

The collets give a much more accurate run out tolerance/repeatablility gripping the workpiece better than even the best 3 jaw chuck , and will hold tight without marking the surface too. With good tight bed and cross-slide ways internal/external cylindrical grinding (with the appropriate head attachment) can be carried out too A nice bit of kit Nige , worth the wait cheers Steveb

...I should have left it at the suppliers.....a new OEM def front prop in a bag with Britpart label on , this was to replace one that was 18 months old that the client had fitted himself that had thrown all the needles out of both uj's in 4k miles . The one I took off had the same irrelevant QC passed sticker on it so can only assume it was from the same source . I replaced the grease nipples with long ones that the grease gun actually fits and bolted up . I then greased up only to see grease coming out round the circlip on one cup , the end has split away from the rest of the cup ...........I mean ffs it's not rocket science is it ? It's clear to me that Britpart have no engineering or manufacturing standards at all , I know what I'd like to do with it , but I'll just take it off and return it . The client still has the original genuine LR one with slight spline wear so I'll be fitting Hardy Spicer uj's to it and fitting that . Never again , utter carp cheers Steveb

7.50's on the front and 235's on the back ? even if they are all radial ply it would still have an effect on handling , and if they are mixed construction then you are probably lucky to not have had a major off are the wheels all the same ? mixing offset's side to side is not good either . Sort the tyres out first . As for checks , I'd start with kingpin slack and/or ineffective steering damper , but really on a 4 yr old road used Defender none of these mechanical things should have failed . cheers Steveb

Too much clearance between the contactors ? is the locating lug in the same place as the old one ? cheers Steveb

.....if any of it happens I'd be amazed .......it's elections in May so tis the season of wondrous promises of ££££'s on roads / healthcare/ education/ net immigration reduction and so on and so on and what will happen ? bu66er all ...not cynical in anyway Steveb

there is someone advertising on eblag making new 86/88/107/109 S1 bulkheads and from the pics they look pretty good in , zintec too The 80" BH was originally pressed/welded steel , then for a brief period ( around 1950/1) they made them from angle iron for the main frame and riveted ally panels infilling - this was due to sheet steel being in short supply I seem to remember reading somewhere years ago . They do look a bit hand made but that's what they were . When sheet steel became more available they went back to the original style Not sure of the availability of 107" chassis , as above , I'd join the S1 club as a start and maybe try Richards or Marsland Chassis? Some pics of them would be nice to see too cheers Steveb

We use nitrogen and helium iirc for stainless and aluminium , I'll have a look at the mix ratio's when I'm in later cheers Steveb

Have you thought about using oxygen instead of air ? this will improve the cut quality considerably , it's what we use on the Esprit HD at work . cheers Steveb

under the bonnet ... ..well in my LandRover anyway , and what about your very own Victoria Falls on the right knee when it's been/is raining ....maybe that's what climate control means ? but I do love it Steveb

There's a lot of slag on there compared to my experience's of gasless MIG , but that's probably down to the brand of wire . The weld itself looks to me like too much wire feed and not enough power , with that type of joint edge I'd be aiming for almost a fusion weld of the edges of the parent metal so low wire speed to give almost spray transfer rather than the higher end of dip transfer - what you have now Also , with that much slag at every stop , you really need to clean the slag away to continue Shield gas will transform things , we only use gasless if outside in the wind , or 20m up in a manbasket cheers Steveb

It's definitely worth the time to practice it , you should find stainless MIG pretty easy , not much different to steel I'll try and remember to take some pics over the next few weeks of any stainless or Al MIG and share cheers Steveb

I didn't use u rollers and haven't since on other Al MIG welds , but can see the point A tips relate to the rate of expansion of Al to steel at arc temp - roughly 4x more iirc for the tip temp - a 0.8A tip is nearly 1.0 dia in reality as for design and manufacture , hohum will it ever be integrated ?? patience is a virtue/frustration depending on if I've had enough or too much coffee , I'd keep trying Al MIG as when you do get a nice weld it sure does feel satisfying , you do need much more power than you would for the same given size in clean steel , another good tip is for thinner section's to have a good heatsink behind the weld such as a lump of brass plate , yeah I know who has that under the bench .. a chunk of steel with a thin layer of brass on it will work too the main thing with Al MIG is practice , it can be fruitful cheers Steveb

did you re-set the drive roller pressure ? the test is to load the wire , feed it thru the torch lead and holding the torch about 50mm from a hard (unearthed!) surface the drive wheel pressure should be low enough to slip when the wire feeds out and hits the surface perpendicularly . Also use an A spec contact tip so for 0.8mm is 0.8A Keeping the torch lead in as straight a run as poss is good too , and clean ,clean, clean matl too , but I'm pretty sure you will have done that The rigid tube between the inner side of the euro torch socket and the drive rollers needs to be right up against the output side of the drive rollers too That's about all I can think of right now my brain is a bit fried after a long day deciphering badly drawn CAD drawings of building steels......I just love CAD done by someone that has never been in a Fab shop...........50 odd steels total 8tonnes for del thurs next week........ cheers Steveb

did you use a plastic torch liner Robert ? the steel std one will not work with alum wire . Not sure what grade of wire I used as it was in the store cupboard in a plastic bag and acquired at a sale in a job lot ... With ally MIG you do need more power than you would normally use for similar thickness steel and more of a spray transfer than dip ime hence thinner wire to get a good spray cheers Steveb

Hi Ian I would just change the oil for new in the main gearbox and see how it is before rushing into changing out the clutch . Doing one thing at a time and then assessing the improvement- if any -is the best way forward cheers Steveb

Yes , with Argon shield gas - the problems begin with running thin (0.6mm) wire usually with wire that thin a spool on the torch is needed . I've welded 3mm ally with mig and 0.8mm wire but for ultimate weld strength and neatness I'd say TIG for the matl thickness of tailgates ...or get creative with ally strengthening plates and some pop rivets cheers Steveb

I'm sure you can find a local fabricating business that'll be able to TIG it up for you If you put an approx. location on your ID someone on here may be able to sort it for you cheers Steveb

If the whirring noise goes away when you push the clutch pedal it'll be noisy layshaft bearings , which they all seem to do to a lesser or greater extent . An Oil change would be a good idea , at least you will see the state of the old oil and will know the quality of what goes in . The tapping noise may be backlash in the fifth gear train , does it go away when in fifth ? My LT77 has been doing both these things for the last 90k miles and continues to select and drive fine cheers Steveb

.....the application of a magnet will tell you if it's steel or ally , tailgates are all ally as far as I know with a steel cap and maybe inner galved steel liner ? hope that's of use Steveb