V8 Freak

Doh.. Thanks... Brain clearly not engaged on my part. Great to read your comments. I'll have a play with the spark map over the weekend an post up again for all to comment on. I've already changed the rev spacing to give more cells in the cruise areas so will go for a drive and record the cells in cruise more accurately then amend the spark based on the above. I'll probably not go as far as 45 degrees on early attempts! Will also smudge the AFR table for tuning but not deviate much from 14.7:1 until I'm happy with the spark map.... Thanks so far.. Any more comments for me to consider people ? Neil

I don't have an oil cooler. Engine running a little cool at moment and in the summer "week" it's bang on 88 degrees. I do have an ali rad which I hope helps somewhat, but don't have a temperature problem. Oil changes every 3k and jobs a goodun. Neil

I've had a set on my truck for about 9 months now and still performing well. Didn't get them fom Mud, just found a seller on Eblag and from memory, around £10 each. Worthwhile investment. Neil

Hi.... I now have a 1:1.003 transfer box installed (Thanks to Fridge for the box and Les for the skills...) and I'm looking to set up the spark map for balanced driving including crawling, general loud stuff on playful roads and cruise @ 60 MPH for the longer journeys. For reference it's a 4.6 with standard bottom end and cam, 45mm shortened plenum trumpets and ported inlet manifold, ported heads with oversized valves (Double sprung), matched exhaust ports through 3.9 4-2-1 stock manifolds and custom exhaust system.. I went out for a drive the other night and recorded the drive to see where the KPA was at various speeds/revs on various pieces of road. Upshot is that the truck now cruises admirably at 60 at around 1800 RPM I've got pretty good crawling / low speed control now with the lower revs mapped out pretty flat.. Works well. Looking at the journey I've played with a map showing the key areas I'm keen to map. Looking into the "How To" thread that has grown up in this forum, a very knowledgable person once wrote... So, the big question.... Do I try the map I've got, auto tuning and allowing a lot of control to the ECU to see how it goes? Based on the quote above, should I get more adventurous and go for 35 - 44 degrees in the 60MPH cruise area ? Do I dare lean the AFR off slightly from 14.7 target to 14.4 say for the added touch of economy ? (Cruise area only) I'm not often up at or past the 4000RPM area so I could re-do the map with less fields / columns in the higher revs to give more programmable boxes in the range between 1400 - 2500 RPM for extra control and less extrapolation for the ECU. The truck now finds a natural balance of power/weight/air resistance at around 80MPH in 5th.... To go faster I drop a few more gallons in the top, drop a gear and off she goes.... What should I try spark wise at 2500 RPM / 95 KPA to see if I can overcome this wall/limit and get the truck to pull faster in 5th if I so desire ? (All this will be on Private Roads of course...) More advance? Any advice welcome.... What shall I try ? Neil

I thought you should avoid hard braking on new brake pads when intially fitted and assumed this would be the same when new pads and disks were fitted. Is this suggesting that fitting new pads and disk together will benefit from the procedure above? When just fitting new brake pads, go for the same proceedure or avoid harsh braking? Can anyone clear this up for future reference? Neil

I was wondering if they thought it would make us feel better to pretend our Defenders were travelling over 100MPH !!

I wired by Speedo up at the weekend and was lucky enough to received a nice blue box with my transducer as well!!! Looked back online and the supplier didn't say it wasn't Britpart so my bad for not checking and insisting on the genuine article. Anyways, thought I'd complete the installation and hope that I was the lucky one with the Britpart transducer that worked... Clearly I was not the chosen one..... At least the supplier isn't disputing that it's faulty!! Neil (Mr Wabbit... I have a speedo in need of your attention...)

It sounds like the panhard rod moving slightly on the bolts / bush. Get someone else to look under while you move the steering wheel... I had similar recently.. Just tightened the bolts and it pinched everything up just a little bit and stopped hte noise. Maybe another bush of course, but sounds similar to my old issue. Neil

Looking good JU... (null)

Exactly James... Well spotted. All in one pump and sender for the V8:) Thanks for the link. Just what I need. Cheers Neil

Been looking around online for a few days and can't find anywhere selling a plug that would fit into the socket shown in the picture below. If you can supply a lnk or part number I'd be very grateful Thanks in advance. Neil

Does it sound speed related?? Is it 4th and 5th at any speed or only above a certain speed? Have you done the basics.. Wheel nuts, prop UJ's, wheel balancing..?

Steve, Where you say glycerine, will the likes of Vaseline do the same.. I had the same issue last year and pulled a door handle off trying to open the passenger door when it was frozen shut!! Neil

James.. Put me down for the job.. See you soon matey Neil

James.. Will it collapse to fit into a BMW 520 Touring (Estate)?? Let me know... Neil

I will when my replacement credit cards arrive and linked to PayPal... Neil

2x white internal then please matey.... Neil

Nige, 2 x large white internal if possible please. Will sort the money when you confirm availability. Neil

Or.... If the wires are as long as they should be and long enough to reach the right part of the loom, remove the small panel just inside the back of the vehicle (on top of wheel arch) to reveal lots more wires.. These should be bullet connections. It may be they were replaced previously but the previous owner may not have traced the wires back up the loom far enough. You will need to feed the wires from the new light up through the grommit in the wheel arch etc., but may be worth doing this as it means less connections etc. Neil

Actually could do with some more myself Nige.... Changed rear windows and lost my bling... Neil

I love that roll cage.....

I actually like it for the new shape, probably going to be fuel efficient etc. and it's got to be different to meet safety guidelines cost efficient to build. They are doing what they need to do to get the majority buying their product. It's not a Milner Race car or a Whitbread challenge truck... It's going to be a mass produced eurobox type vehicle.... We are not it's target audience... What do they care that 20,000 or so enthusiasts in the UK won't be ordering one if several million people around the planet are prepared to? As we die and are replaced, others will carry the flag for the old Defender but when off-road is restricted to parking on your drive or driving across your own land at some point in the future people will only need these sorts of cars! There will always be an alternative to traverse Australia or the freeways of America and those entering into competition will make their own vehicles with Force 9 axles (Or whatever is available then) and they will still be unique machines, generally one-offs! So I guess we continue to plough stupid amount of money into our old trucks to keep them alive and doing what we do.. Laugh when we see one of these new cars slow down at the entrance to a Green Lane and then move on quickly just in case.... Neil

I'll bid at £10.00 Mo.... Neil (But you gotta bring along your thing that you used so skillfully to make big holes in my rear end.......) Those NAS lights on the back of my truck are excellent...

I'm gonna email myself a file and have a looksee at this ! I think planning ahead on any screen is harder because of the scale... Neil (Hell yeah.. It works !! Nice.. Thanks guys !!)

I use MM on iPhone and iPad.... Not all of what you get on a PC but very useable. Chris, how did you get on in Wales with MM? I stayed with PC for the trip to share routes on the day etc. Can you import routes from email or is it still tied to PC and iTunes for that ? Neil