Les Henson

I had a look at a S3 with a Rover SDi 3.5 engine in that rather badly needs the valve stem seals doing in both heads. While it doesn't look too bad to remove the drivers side head with the manifold still attached, the other side looks near impossible. The rear-most exhaust manifol bolt can't be got at due it's low position and proximity to the footwell, the bolts that hold the downpipe to the manifold are extremely close to the top of the chassis rail, so again it doesn't look as if they can be undone either. Have any of you got this engine in your motor and have had to take the heads off with the engine in situ? Also, are the rockers the shim type? I thought they were adjustable, but it appears not by the usual screw and lock-nut method anyway. Thanks in advance. Les.

If your're welding chassis/outriggers/crossmembers (none of which are 3mm except possibly leaf spring mounts) then a 150amp MIG would be ideal. It's not good for a welder to be used close to it's maximum output, so a few amps above what you will actually use is a good thing. As for oxy-acetylene, if you burn holes it's because you have the wrong nozzle on it, or the gas is too high. You can weld a couple of razor blades together with oxy if you know what you're doing. Les.

You have a laptop in your ear?? Jesus, that must hurt! Any chance of a piccy? Les. Just bad! B) B)

You can't say that, you blinking Australian! You have to be a bleedin' cockney like I is innit! Les.

ME, Me, ME !!!! I got a blue tooth thingy, they are sooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo kewel! B) You stick the thingy in yer lug hole, and it automatically connects to your mobile phone when you turn it on. When you get a call, you poke yourself in the ear, and the call gets answered. When you want to end the call you poke yourself in the ear again! How kewel is that? Everyone else thinks you are a tea cup short of a crockery set as you appear to be talking to yourself, but in actual fact you are at the cutting edge of mobile technology. When I go round the chippy or whatever, I poke myself in the ear quite often, just to make the local yoofs jealous, and to make people think I'm either a bit potty, or very popular. The downside is that I think I mght have damaged my hearing through mutiple ear-pokes, but what the heck, I look a cool mutha strutting around the hood. Les. I'm as bad as you can get. B)

You've sparked a very sensible discussion there Mark. I can't help feeling that I should be drinking a cup of tea while reading it. Les.

The 90 exhaust is 60mm diameter and stays on the passenger side all the way to exit at the rear corner. You might only have to fabricate a downpipe to join the transit exhaust to the 90 system. If you keep the thinner exhaust, you will in effect be restricting the power output at higher revs. Les.

It is a bit bland in there, rather like over-cooked spuds. The colour scheme is a bit too much as well, orange and black!! No doubt the site is closing for a while to prepare for the sudden influx of former lre members. I wonder if they'll be disappointed? Les.

Welcome. The fact you are from LRO doesn't matter. The members of this forum don't have a problem with LRO and I'm sure it the same with you. Les.

Well it's finally happened as you all no doubt know. A pity and a shame at the same time from my point of view. A few of us have been there from the beginning and remember a whole heap of problems mostly instigated by Richard Green. We have to at least be grateful that we 'met' on there, and many forum meets, winch challenges, etc etc later, we have a community of sorts. Fortunately we had the time to notify you all of the impending doom of LRE and with any luck you'll all get in here eventually. The restrictions placed on the forum by LRE are no longer a problem, so at some time in the future we'll have to decide what we want to do with regards to funding, stickers, t-shirts, possibly. As for the reason the LRE website shut - well here's the story. The carp that you now read when you try to go in there is exactly that - carp. As payment for being Mods/Admin, we get 'paid' a free subscription to the magazine, junk when the mag cleans the cupboards out, and variable Billing benefits. Last year we were given £15 for every day off of the price of the show, so it only cost Sue and I a fiver a day. This year MikeL said that we might be getting totally free tickets for the show, and as he has always managed to accomplish whatever he's said, we all made plans accordingly. The show got nearer and nearer, no tickets and a deafening silence from MikeL. Then we got a letter from the magazine with a one day free pass! So that was it, MikeL said that he didn't understand why we had only the one day pass and he would sort it out for next year. Anyway, Drongo had booked the ferry etc and had gone to considerable expense and trouble to go to Billing on the understanding that it would be worth it due to the saving he would make on the tickets. The news was very annoying, so he sent an e-mail to Richard Green to complain (no foul language or anything like that, just a complaint). That was it, poor Mr Green didn't like criticism, and ordered the forum to be shut, and here we finally are. In my opinion, Drongo did us a favour, although he didn't know it at the time. If not him, it would eventually be someone else that upset the magazine. Too long have we had Mr Greens knife in out backs, ready to be twisted whenever he wanted. He's never kept it secret that he doesn't approve of the forums, and has several times tried to close it, or at least complain about it. It seems highly unlikely that we'll get the archive material now, your post counts are all lost, and historic threads have also gone. Those that helped set this new forum up are:- Geoff Beaumont for supplying the webspace free of charge, Bigfoot for all his hard work notifying members of the impending forum closure, and a lot of behind the scenes work, Tony Cordell for saving the Tech Archive, and other's, who's work will eventually come to light. All the moderators from LRE are now moderators on here as well, and the same rules apply on here as on there. At present Geoff and Myself are Admin. That's about it for now. If any of you have any suggestions to make regarding this website, then please feel free to post on this thread. There will obviously be changes, and they will almost always be approved by you lot first. I'm sure I speak on behalf of everyone when I say that this website can, and with all your help, still be the best Land Rover website on the net. Technical information, immediate as it can be, is 90% of what we are about. Please enjoy the forums. Les.

Someone is after your cat-waxoyling thread over on LRO. http://threads.lro.com/cgi-bin/wwwthreads/...b=5∂=1&vc=1 Les.

Whereabouts are you? Les.

I only ever use Genuine or Dayco on L/R engines. A couple of quid saved could be very bad economy. Replace tensioner/guide wheels at the same time they may feel ok, but the bearings do fail and the timing belt can be thrown off, yet another false economy . Les.

Christ, it doesn't take long for the trouble makers to get in does it? Les.

I'll be watching that. Thanks Jim. Les.

Christ that looks soooooooo dodgy! Les.

Is that his motor without him in it? There would be a considerable difference between the two, perhaps as much as 75% Les.

What we need to do is to get Dougal in here to advise us on the practicality and efficiency of maybe coating the ground anchors with K l e e n t e c t . I'm sure that the superior finish afforded by K l e e n t e c t would ensure that the anchor would stay rust free, and assist in it's operation. Les.

I've never used a gasket sealant when replacing a head gasket. The machined faces should be good enough to do the job with a new gasket and nothing else. Les.

Les.

You can as a somewhat temporary measure replace the piston rings and then get many more miles out of an otherwise worn-out engine. If your engine is badly worn (to the point of piston slap), then fitting new rings will have very little effect and they may well break within a short time - therefore wrecking your engine. You need to measure the bores, they go egg-shaped with wear. Each bore has to be measured at 4-points - 3,6,9,&12 'o' clock posituions to determine ovality of the bores. A quick view of the state of the bore will be what you can see down the side of the pistons when the head is off and they are halfway down the bore. You can use a piece of old piston ring to remove excessive coke from the ring grooves, so there's really no need to use a fancy tool as long as you're careful. As for the lip at the top of the bore - I would only remove carbon build-up as the lip will help to retain compression in what will still be a worn engine. The Rings - get the next size up, and then use a diamond file, carbon stone, or wet grinder to remove metal until the ring gap is as it should be for new rings. As for de-glazing, I didn't think that with modern fuel you get that problem anymore? Les.

Hey thanks very much. I'm off to get spoilt by my Sister Simone, and hubby Dave and get a bit drunk this weekend. I'll check in a couple of times, but that's all. If my spelling is worse than normal, then you'll know why Les.

Glad you're not bothered about the handling, as they are supposed to be horrendous on the road. Les.

This is unbelievable. I'm quitting work, I'll be better off by far. http://www.thesun.co.uk/article/0,,2-20053...5370301,00.html Les

Or:- Antidisestablishmentarianism. Lipsmackinthirstquenchinacetastingmotivatinggoodbuzzincooltalkingfastlivinevergi encool fizzing- Pepsi! Les