Henry Webster

I've done this on my Discovery rally car (std 3.9). It is a lot louder, but not as bad as I expected - fine for a competition car, would be a nightmare as a daily driver. I removed the centre box for a couple of reasons - I kept bending the silencer, by making contact with the ground, I wanted to help improve flow and hopefully release a bit of power and I wanted it to be bit noiser to stop spectators stepping out in front of me! I have been pleasantly surprised with the difference - throttle response feels a bit crisper, mid range it feels like it has more pull - but it could all be an illusion, I haven't had it on a rolling road and can't really quantify. It does pop and bang a bit more now too.

Braid do a nice beadlock/split rim range of wheels which have found favour in the off road racing world. I believe that they are cast alloy centres with spun aluminium outers and look like they were the inspiration for Matt's beadlockers. For the first time they are now being officially imported into the country by the guys who import Silverstone Tyres. I believe Milners and Tomcat Motorsport are dealers too. Not cheap, but very strong and look nicely engineered. H

JE Developments certainly did do supercharged. I know Tim Marsh, Robin Rymell and John Cockburn have run variously sized JE supercharged units over the years in the Hillrally/ Comp Safari scene. H

I should flog the V8 box, because they are rarer and worth something and buy a Tdi box because the are ten-a-penny. H

In typical LR style, I think the answer is yes and no. Some LT77s can be swapped and others can't! Unfortunately I don't know the details of which are compatible with which. I do know that there are some fundamental differences between earlier LT77s and late ones. Hopefully someone with more specific knowledge will be along soon! However if you've got some lying about then I would suggest some trial and error. I bought a few gearboxes with this swap in mind (actually the other way round) and found two of them to be incompatible. H

Definitely have a look at the eight spokes. I've seen at least two different offsets on otherwise identical rims.

Spot on Si, different strokes for different folks. It is the same in speed events some people buy all the toys, the latest shiny shocks, fancy rims strengthened drive train and lots of bolt on go faster bits and others shun the 'bling' and build a no-nonsense car and rely on solid engineering and good driving to compete. There's room for both, but I'm firmly in the inverse snobbery school - I spend less money, but go just as fast! I am thinking about splashing out on some shiny shocks though!

That explains it - I was wondering, I couldn't believe that you were running out of brakes with solid rear discs. I don't suffer brake fade with my Discovery despite its weight and regular braking from high speeds and its solid all round. I guess that might explain why vented rears are difficult to find. I think you might be into modification or fabrication time! H