Don Del

Thanks.

Western thank you for the link. But does it do what it says on the tin? Del

I recently came across an advertisement for a steering column lock protector manufactured by Britpart. Any comments on the quality and usefulness this device would be appreciated. Cheers, Del

Thanks again Neil. The next time I'm in the UK I will get a complete unit to bring back. Cheers, Del

Neil, Thank you for the information. Del

I have been thinking about simple things that could cause me grief in the middle of nowhere and started to think about the water pump vee belt tensioner bearing. Checking on the John Craddock site they are offering a replacement bearing for £82.42 ex vat and a complete tensioner unit for £44.78 also ex vat, make of that what you will. The price for the bearing seems a little excessive to put it mildly! I was wondering if anybody out there happens to know what the bearing part number is from a supplier such as Timken or SKF? I know the LR part number is 614154 but that doesn't get me far and I don't feel like stripping out the tensioner to find out either!! According to the JC site the same tensioner is fitted to the 200Tdi engine. Any assistance gratefully received. Cheers, Del

I knew it would be something bl***y obvious, duhhh! Thanks ballcock.

I need to remove the front section of the headlining on my Defender 110. How do I remove the rear view mirror?

Ralph, many thanks!

I am having difficulty sourcing Castrol Syntrax 75W/90 oil for the LT230TE transfer box on my '99 Defender here in Bolivia. Any suggestions for suitable alternatives? Products from Amalie appear to be readily available. Cheers, Del

Thanks Mo. I had just motivated myself to go and check! Del

Mo/Maverik, Thanks for the feed back. I will get the gas removed from the unit next week and give it a go. Just a quick question Mo, which side of the footwell are the pipe connections, cab or engine bay. Cheers, Del

After only working on max speed and making self pitying screeches on start up for the last five years the blower fitted to the under dash air conditioning unit fitted to my '99 LWB Station Wagon has finally given given up the ghost. Which means that I am now faced with two options, the first being to say who needs air conditioning anyway when you have got bulkhead flaps and windows that wind down and the second being to make a brave attempt at sorting out the problem. As I live in South America and having a working air conditioner has been a real blessing on more than one of my trips I have decided to go for the second option - though I might come to regret it! I have done a bit of a search but I haven't been able to find anything about how to get at the blower unit or the resistor pack. Can anybody help me out and point me in the right direction? The VIN is post the XA159807 change point. Cheers, Del

Thanks to everybody who has responded to my query. I have stripped and modified a spare distributor I had and fitted the resulting "dumpy dizzy" yesterday without problems. Many thanks again! Del

You assume correctly. Cheers, Del

Great! Ian/BBC's post is good stuff. Pity about the photos though. Perhaps if he comes across this thread he may still have them (I should be so lucky!!) Cheers, Del

Mods very much as I thought they would be. As far as the photos go let's see how this thread develops. Cheers, Del

I installed a Megajolt system on my V8 Defender over two years ago and rate it as the best modification that I have done to the vehicle so far. I am now toying around with replacing the distributor with a Dinky (Dumpy) Dizzy. While these are readily available in the UK I happen to be living in La Paz, Bolivia, so by the time approximately 100% is added to the purchase price to cover shipping and duties together with the fact it would be difficult to part exchange my existing distributor this becomes a very expensive option! I have been scouring the internet but haven't been able to come across any write ups on modifying the existing distributor to a cut down version. I have got a spare distributor and intend dismantling later this week with a view to cutting it down. The necessary machining work does not present a problem. If there is anybody out there who could give any pointers, recommendations, drawings or photos I would be obliged. Cheers, Del

That is exactly what I used to think! However in reality it is not the case. Quoting from this article on SU carbs at http://www.sw-em.com/su_carbs.htm :- The SU carburetter is of a constant Velocity, variable choke design...that is, by varying the position of the Dashpot as a function of the volume of air the engine draws, the cross-sectional area of the throat of the carb is varied, which keeps the velocity at the venturi point constant...and by keeping the velocity constant, it is fairly simple to meter the fuel for a given volume of air induced, although this leads to somewhat of an oversimplification in fuel metering, since the fuel should be metered as a function of mass of the air being ingested and not just volume (as density of the air, which can vary due to things like weather, season and altitude, is not compensated for). That is why I like to adjust the mixture for summer and winter. Other than that, they seem to thrive on neglect, I honestly don't understand why some owners seem to continuously need to fiddle with them! The article is well worth a read as well! Cheeers, Del

The problem is that at 3,600 metres a given volume of air still contains 21% oxygen but the actual amount of oxygen is only 66% of the amount of oxygen in the same volume at sea level due to the reduction in barometric pressure. This means that the amount of petrol required to give a stoichiometric mix is reduced.

I haven't discounted the possible use of a narrow band sensor and they do have certain plus points. At the moment I am in the process of getting hold of as much information as I can before moving forward.

The reason I am considering installing a wide band sensor is to cope with the tuning need of changes in elevation of +/- 2000 metres on a routine basis. Though having said that, I know the mixture setting for sea level and 3,600 metres which means that all I need to do is confirm the mixture setting for a couple of intermediate elevations, say 1,000 and 2,000 metres and I should be good to go. All I have to make sure is that when transitioning the mixture is set slightly rich rather than lean. The inaccurate reading when submerged doesn't worry me as long as it gets back to normal after the experience rather than going phutttt!!!

I have checked out the 14Point7 range and if I go ahead with the project I would certainly consider buying from them.

I am running a V8 Defender in La Paz at 3,600 metres above sea level. The air at this level contains 66% of the oxygen at sea level The carbs, SU's, are set up correctly with the exhaust gas checking out where it should be. When I go down to sea level I turn the mixture screws in one and three quarter turns to provide more fuel for the increased oxygen available. This setting a while back by checking the spark plug colouring and subsequently did a round trip of 15,000km to Tierra del Fuego with no problems.I have recently come back from a trip where the elevation changed from 350 metres to 1,850 metres above sea level one day and from 1,850 metres to 4,020 metres and back down to 3,600 metres the next. While at 350 metres I was running with the mixture screws one and three quarter turns in and one turn in at 1,850 meters. As this recent trip was by no means unusual in terms of changes in elevation I have been considering taking the trial and error out of things and installing a wide band sensor to monitor the air to fuel ratio. I have checked a couple of threads and they seem to be heavily panned because of their inability to withstand immersion in water when wading. Looking at the Bosch site I can see that this would have been definitely the case with their earlier LSU 4.2 sensors but is it also the case with their redesigned LSU 4.9 unit? Any advice gratefully received!!

The replacements I have are rubber so hopefully not a problem! The fact that the earlier versions were cork explains the need for adhesive.Many thanks for the help. Cheers, Del