Cynic-al

The newer version of mine are square instead of round for this reason. You could always put a ground bar at the back with liner bearings to lock it straight I guess. Pull the bar out if you want to tilt or turn.

The trucks have to take a 45 minute break every 4.5 hours so that't the target. If they're a tramper 11 hours a day as well. Delivery vans are usually stop start, low speed, short distance so lower energy consumption than hammering at 70 down the motorway for hours on end and parked at the depot overnight so should work in cities, maybe not so well on rural runs, but the cities have the worst congestion / smog so the greatest benefit. The scalextrix idea and the wireless charging have both been trialled but I'm not sure how they went, I think they're still at the mad idea stage. India trialled compressed air powered taxis, very energy inefficient but good for the smog. Don't know how that went either. I think it's chicken and egg, the company can only buy what's put infront of them, and it has to be practical and cost effective, the manufacturer will only put up serious money if they are likely to make money, just changing legislation tends to lead to just fudging around to make do, and they won't put in the charging infrastructure unless there is customer demand to cover the cost. I wonder how the self driving heathrow car park taxi things charge? It's a good test bed for the technology I guess.

If you have the means to do a nice restoration you won't lose money.

We have insurance to move cars with the forklift if they obstruct out gate, I think that would be a way of solving cars in the charging bays

I don't see why they couldn't tow. Cooling might be a problem due to the prolonged high demand and obviously you'll spend more time strapping the load down then you will driving between charges but I'm sure it'll come, I expect it's just not high up their priority list. They're more concerned with cutting weight to increase range which doesn't go hand in hand with towing.

I think someone watches too much channel 5.

A good few years ago a company did a fleet of electric DAF 7.5 tonners for a delivery company to trial. The reason they chose the 7.5 tonne base over the 3.5 tonne base was the weight of the batteries cut into the payload of the vehicle too much on a 3.5 tonne base. The problem was as soon as you go over 3.5 tonne your into o-license, cat C1 license drivers who require higher pay than a cat B license holder, tacho, 6 weekly inspections, it's more difficult to manoeuvre and the range and charge problems made them local day runs only. There was talk of the government allowing electric vans to run upto 4.5 tonne without tacho but I'm not sure if it ever happened. There are lots of electric vans coming out and even an electric pickup but the range is still terrible. Probably ok for city deliveries where your distance travelled in 8 hours is small and saving smog and congestion charge is good but I don't think there are many individuals or companies who can replace their fleet with electric yet.

Nice haul what are you planning on making? I've got one of those 3 in 1 things, I've done 1mm stainless. at about 150mm long. I had to get the guilotine blade on mine re-ground and to do it I had to make a jig to hold it flat as the first time they tried it it ended up like a banana. It's flipping heavy so I made a little trolley with casters on.

Taxis and delivery vans are the vehicles they should be using to refine the technology. A taxi is driving around a city constantly so is the best one to target to reduce city smog, its usually low speed and lots of stopping which maximises the run time from a battery and gives the best benefit over petrol, they don't need to appeal on an aesthetic level like a personal car does so it doesn't need the development or manufacturing budget of a big car maker, it can be boxier and have a hard wearing interior, making it a better market for smaller companies and it parks in a defined area so you can put charging points etc there. OK they cost more but if there are lower running costs and government incentives (ie "green" loans) it's easier for a business to justify.

The problem with these conversions, apart from the cost, if getting the paperwork to match so that you can benefit from the reduced tax, congestion zones etc etc.

Don't knock them, my daily drives have been leaf sprung for the last 15 years and they ride fine loaded or empty... once your used to it...

When my throttle cable snapped I stripped a bit of electrical cable out of someone's elses wiring loom and threaded it through the existing throttle cable sheath. Worked a treat I drove my offroader for months without brakes so a bodge is a step up on my usual level of effort

the obvious answer is scalectrix rails in the road, it helps the power and self driving problems Teslas latest self driving system is currently banned in the EU due to safety When you plug in an EV to a charger now it identifies itself to the charger, it displays your numberplate, I'm sure that could be done wirelessly or just report consumption via a mobile network and you get a bill. And I'm sure someone will hack it for free charging https://www.express.co.uk/life-style/cars/990524/Wireless-charging-roads-electric-cars-UK https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2018/apr/12/worlds-first-electrified-road-for-charging-vehicles-opens-in-sweden All interesting, but not there yet for me.

They are proposing smart chargers which communicate with the grid. The charge rate is set by available supply, there was even talk of discharging plugged in cars to balance renewable production. Not that I have a huge amount of faith in these things working, we've been trying to get northern grid to remove an illegally placed meter on our land and give us a reliable power supply for many years at work and it's still in process. 5 powercuts in the last 2 weeks with a total off time of 48 seconds. Each power cut creates me 2 hours of work to get everything going again. That's if nothing dies in the power cut. This is what I don't understand about the proposed wireless in road charging, how much current would need to flow down the M1 for that to work?

The new vw electrics - which are a ground up electric not a retrofit, are going to be compatible with the new high speed chargers, we just don't have any chargers yet. Obviously at home my house has a 100A 230v supply, but at home speed isn't so much of an issue, out and about they can do higher voltage charging, and the car communicates with the charger and sets the rate so that can be got around so long as they can make it idiot proof levels of safety. Electric is much more efficient than a fuel engine so you don't need as much energy in the battery as the fuel but it's still a lot of battery per litre of petrol. Thats why the retrofits don't really work so well. I had a go in a golf electric and it was obviously built to suit the production line, ie drop an engine / gearbox combo in one, drop a packaged motor / gearbox / drive in the next. There was still a full size engine starting battery, I get why you don't want to rely on the traction batteries as you still want other systems to work when they go flat but is that really the best solution or just the most convenient? Then the batteries were just shoved anywhere, where the spare wheel should be, under the seats, and they still only got a range of 80-100 miles. Performance wise it drove very much like a 1.6 petrol, obviously no gear change so it can react a bit quicker, a eternity quicker than an automatic, although you do live your life trying to keep the power needle in the low consumption range when running and the regen range when slowing. Completely changes your driving style. I'm not against EV but I wouldn't buy one yet.

I don't think there are any special tools, it's a very simple thing. I would do oil pressure and compression tests before taking it out, that should give you some idea of what's worn. There are some good manuals in the technical section on here, I had one of the dealer workshop manuals too which was excellent. The timing marks aren't always that great so check where TDC is before you take it apart. If the guys used to working on engines I doubt he will struggle with this. Does anyone remember the 4x4 is born series with Mark the vet on? Whatever you think of the vehicle I'm sure there were a couple of episodes on that which touched on the v8 rebuild if it's available online?

Tesla are doing an electric pickup too which is going to be better than a 911 on road and better than an F150 offroad and cost less than $50k. apparently... We have a new shape jimny at work, great fun, reminds me of my old SJ with the socket head screws holding the clocks on (although I think they're fake on this one), the two little vents on the bonnet and the view out the flat little rectangular window with the tiny wipers and square bonnet. It's great fun, infact possibly the most fun you can have on road at under 50mph as it really doesn't want to go any faster I'm not allowed to take it to a play day for some reason

You need air suspension... like the new defender will have

If its not the original engine then I guess it comes down to how good the other one you have is then. If you know it's history if its a £100 ebay special

If its a long term keeper stick the spare engine in to keep it running and rebuild that engine to go back in. Keeps your engine numbers right if its something that's likely to become a classic and you can make sure everything is right for a long lasting engine?

What you have to be careful of is it's not just +8" tyre = +4" lift. Unless you extend the bump stops more than 4" (as they're inboard so in a flex situation they need to be more than 4" to limit the wheel by 4") then the axle will still come up to the point that it would pre lift meaning you still have to take 4" of bodywork away. Unless the shocks limit it which usually ends in breaking them or you put heavy duty springs on where the vehicle isn't heavy enough to compress them. The discovery in the photo above looks like the axles are pretty level, for whatever reason it's lifting a wheel so it's hard to tell how much upward flex the guy can get with the bodywork as it is. A photo from the other side or one with it a bit further forwards would probably show more. Then there's the front and back of the wheel, which also stick out 4" more. On the D2 the rear doors get in the way at the back. You could move the axle back instead of hacking it to bits but that means longer arms, props, moving springs etc which put me off. Same on the front, the front footwell gets in the way, you've either got to limit flex or steering or get a big hammer on it. Or leave the suspension stock as your getting a good lift out the tyres anyway and lift the body. For clearance which is usually what stops you I'd rather have it in the suspension but I guess the body lift keeps the chassis / engine / gearbox weight lower down. No idea how easy a body lift would be on a D2 but I'm sure people will do it.

You can get tote boxes in all sort of sizes, the metal ones are very sturdy so all you would need would be some angle iron runners. They also stack so you could even just stack them on the shelf. Mine has an open stand a bit like yours and I put big stuff like oil, cutting fluid, lumps of metal I use as parallels or sacrificial supports etc there and bought a cheap roller tool box for everything else. Top draw has all the tools needed, second draw the cutters, next draw the collet sets, bigger fly cutters, drawbars etc etc. It's suprising how much stuff you accumulate, I haven't filled the roller tool box bit there it isn't empty either. Things like the clamp set, vice, rotary table etc sit on the top or its a handy place to put drawings / sketches etc when your working... and you mug of tea!

I prefer a side opening door, it makes for easier forklift loading or lifting heavy things in, your not trying to reach over the tailgate, everyone who's done a course will tell you that's not right . It's one of the things I liked about the discovery 1 - 4 and is one of the things I miss on modern pickups, you can no longer fold the tailgate flat as the rear bumpers are too big. The only one I know of is the pleb spec Mercedes, the higher spec ones have the more stylish bumpers so your back to not being able to fold it. Although I appreciate the big doors are less convenient in a car park, even when your parking the little Jimny at work you have to decide if you need to be in the boot before you park it. Luckily it doesn't have a boot so it's not usually a problem. I guess it comes down to your market for the vehicle.

I thought the same about wheel travel when I saw the pictures but then I always think if you forget about play days and competitions how much do you really need? The video also helps promote it as the vehicle of choice for American business men / women and gives a strong residual value amongst African poachers. I wonder if it will have a rifle rack as an optional extra? The video could do with a few shots with a roarding V8

I had tyres on a classic that measured a bit less than 37". I had a spring lift, don't really know how much, I had bearmach soft offroad springs all around but when I bobtailed it the back ended up high due to the reduced weight so I put rear bearmach soft offroad springs on the front too which levelled it up. So maybe 3" or 4" lift worst case? I had +5" shocks that I never pulled the ends off or bent, corrected arms, wide angle joints etc. It worked well offroad but was too soft for on road really. Needed double shocks at the back or adjustable ones or whatever. I had to cut the rear inner arches out and weld them in higher up, about 5" as a guess, this included cutting the rear doors and welding an in fill panel in to tie the inner and outer door back together. Also making new panel work for the inner arch where the door would shut as some of that disappeared. The outer rear quarter panels had to be hacked a lot and became a bit flimsy so had to be supported. The front inner arches had to be hacked about, easy enough at the top and front but a bit of a pain at the back as that's your foot well and body mount. On the classic there's maybe a 20mm square that runs the length of the inner wing, don't know if this is on the discovery but my aim was not to hack that. Then Just the front wing to hack and some arches to try make. I just used a bit of panel trim for the sharp edge then a bit of conveyor belt to cover the tyre for MOT but it depends if you want it to look nice or not. You could do a bigger suspension lift or a body lift but I don't like either, I think your just making it more likely to fall over. Alternatively you could extend your bump stops a lot to stop upwards movement, again I wouldn't as your limiting flex but it depends what you want to do with it. I agree with what Fridge says, I had to take it easy on the axles with 31" tyres on so a big aggressive tyre like that will require a lot of caution. I put Toyota axles on mine and didn't break them even when I rammed it from forwards to reverse without dropping the revs when stuck in a muddy bog and all the lockers in but others say they can break them too so I guess it depends what you want to do with the car. Comparing a 31" to whatever they measured, a smidge over 36" I think Shows the rear door hack needed. Bear in mind they'd already been hacked once for the 31" tyres. Poor thing was a bit battered by the time I'd finished with her. Good luck!