Dave W

The steering column splines are the same on 3 bolt and 4 bolt. The only problem you will have is that the power steering pipes are different - the 3 bolt is always imperial fittings and the 4 bolt are normally metric (there are some imperial 4 bolt boxes but they are rare). You'll also need to use the correct bolts as, again, 3 bolt boxes use imperial bolts through the chassis and 4 bolt boxes usually use metric. A Discovery 4 bolt box would almost certainly be metric. For the return pipe (which is low pressure) you can use the Discovery one if you have it. For the pressure pipe you'll either have to fit the metric power steering pump and use the Discovery pipe or have a "hybrid" pipe made up - your average agricultural hydraulics place will be able to sort one out for you if you take the ends off the pump and the box with you - just make sure you know the length of pipe you need and the orientation of the ends relative to each other as there's not much room for flex in a hydraulic pipe.

Assuming they are the Britpart ones then they are very good, probably the best on the market IMV. I've used Dan bars, Sumos, home made sleeves and Britpart HD and the Britpart HD ones are the best I've tried.

Any iOS 3.2 onwards device with a WiFi facility will be able to run it. As above, an iPod touch would do although I'm sure with the release of the iPhone 4S there will be a glut of "cheap" iPhone 3G and 3GS on your favourite auction site that may be cheaper than an iPod Touch. If you're looking at a second hand iPod Touch I'd hang out for a fourth generation one. The main downside of the iPod Touch over an iPhone 3GS or better is the lack of a proper GPS facility, the next release version and the current test version of MobiSquirt have the option of adding lat/long/speed/acc/dec information to the log file and will, when I finish it, have the ability to display the route and logged position when you play a log file back on the device. Mainly because I find it useful to analyse the log around a particular point in my journey. The iPod Touch uses WiFi hotspots to "calculate" your position whereas the iPhone has a built in GPS unit so is far more accurate - especially the iPhone 4.

This project has reached somewhat of a milestone now. The first version of the app has passed the review process and is available to download now from the app store. This version has been tested pretty thoroughly with MS1-Extra firmware versions and has had some limited testing against MS1 firmware versions. The next test and then release versions will target MS2-Extra firmware versions. More details and the user manual are available at the project web site - http://mobisquirt.org/ The user manual is a revision behind at the moment but I'll bring it up to date over the next few days.

Autos fit no problem without a different bell housing, remember the main gear shift is cable operated anyway so you can mount it anywhere, within reason. Having said that, the most comfortable place for it IMV is immediately at the side of the driver's seat towards the front. The standard auto/LT230 mechanical difflock/ratio gearstick pops up through the hole in the Defender gearbox tunnel.

http://www.ordnancesurvey.co.uk/oswebsite/gi/nationalgrid/nghelp1.html Should be what you're after

Sorry, should have added about the timing marks. Whenever I set up an engine that I don't know I put my own timing marks on the crank pulley at TDC and at 90 degree intervals having checked TDC through number 1 spark plug hole. You can never fully trust the factory timing marks on an RV8 anyway. I then set the cranking advance to 0 and put a timing light on each coil in order while cranking the engine over (fuel pump disconnected or off) and make sure that the appropriate timing mark looks to be at the pointer/reference mark. It doesn't have to be 100% accurate at that point but it's the easiest way of confirming that it's somewhere in the right ballpark and that you haven't stumbled upon one of the "bad" trigger wheel settings that causes MS to fire erratically. You can fine tune a more precise angle once you have the engine running. Don't forget though that timing guns with adjustable advance don't work correctly on wasted spark and have to be set to 0 degrees.

From what I remember the 60 degree point is at the first tooth after the gap but the MS starts counting at the first missing tooth. I have an MS1-Extra msq file for a Thor V8 using OEM crank sensor if it'll help. In the back of my mind I have a vague feeling that I had to do something a bit odd to get it all to work - something like offsetting the coil firing order but it's 3 years + since I did my last Thor MS install. On an MS1-Extra the settings are: 60 teeth missing -2 Trig positions are: 2 17 32 47 60 degree timing angle An assistant and a timing light are your best friend

If you've not done so already I'd bypass the original filter altogether, even if it means putting the return form the fuel cooler into a jerry can as a temporary test. There shouldn't be any real pressure at all on the return system - any pressure there will just mess up the regulator. In fact in your situation I'd probably try running the engine from a jerry can with the pump and the return both picking up from the jerry can. That way you're sure you're not trying to pick up fuel or return it through a one way valve in the original pump and filter assemblies. You would expect the pressure to drop when the pump isn't running as there is no none return valve.

The ECU pics look OK, I don't think it's anything unusual or worth worrying about.

Given it was working before you modified the fuel system and stopped working immediately after I'd be extremely surprised if it was an ECU problem. I guess the ultimate test of that is to put the fuel system back to how it was and see if it will run... I wouldn't do that until you've investigated all the other options though ! Just to be sure, the official procedure (or at least the one I know of !) for purging the air is... Turn the ignition off for at least 15 seconds as this makes sure the ECU resets. Turn the ignition key to position 2 and wait 3 minutes (this purges any air from the fuel rail) Push the throttle to the floor and crank the engine keeping the throttle wide open (it needs to be more than 90% throttle or the purging ceases) and you need to crank continuously as stopping cranking will also stop the purging. Max cranking time is 30 seconds, if it doesn't start after 30 seconds you have to repeat. If you do have air in the system it will be between the regulator and the injectors and the above steps will "tell" the ECU that it needs to open the injectors for a longer period than normal so the air has a chance to bleed through. Because of that though, using it when there isn't air in the system can flood the cylinder with too much fuel making it difficult to start.

Just to be sure, when you say "normal bleeding procedure" what exactly are you doing ? Is the original filter still in the return circuit or have you moved it into the HP side ? If it's in the return are you sure you've blocked off the correct ports as blocking off the wrong one will result in the fuel regulator not working ? Is the additional filter on the pickup or output side of the new pump ? It sounds as if you've checked the fuel return has fuel coming back to it from the regulator, is that correct ?

My '98 had it but it cost an extra £2000 and was a factory fit option only. As has been said already, anything is possible but I don't think I'd fancy the job !

There are specialist pre-filters available which I'd choose over the one you linked although I can't really see any reason that wouldn't be OK as a pre-filter. I'd keep the fuel cooler inline with the regulator return just as it is now and take it's output direct to the tank return. Potentially you could also use the existing filter and it's water sensor/drain in the return line by connecting the LP input and output of the filter together BUT you cannot rely on it as a fuel filter as, without the LP stage, you need to supply a filter before and after the high pressure pump. I wouldn't worry too much about the flow rate, that pump feeds my 5.7 litre V8 engine at 6000 rpm without any problem, pretty sure it will cope with the demands of a 2.5 litre 5 cylinder diesel I'm not sure how tolerant the regulator would be of too high a pressure, it might be possible that too high a pressure would overwhelm it and result in too high a fuel rail pressure... on the other hand it may cope with it without any problem. The ECM doesn't control the fuel pump as such on a TD5, all it does is activate a relay to supply power to the pump. You just need to power the new pump from the same circuit the existing one is powered from (purple/white wire at the existing pump) with the other side of the pump connected to ground. You shouldn't need to purge air from the new system, it will self prime through to the existing regulator. Priming the fuel rail itself if you were to run out of fuel would be the same as you would do now using the 90%+ throttle technique to tell the ECM to purge the fuel rail. Can you get parts from the US reasonably easily ? The Bosch units (including pre and post filters) are easily available there.

The pump I'm going to use is a Bosch 0 580 254 910 as that's the pump I use on my V8 and it's done the job admirably - it also means I can buy a pump as a spare for either vehicle. I'll be using it in the same configuration as my petrol V8, a pre-filter between the pump and the tank and a normal filter after the pump with the engine's regulator return going back to the tank. I would try and get hold of the replacement sender unit for your tank, if nothing else you should then be able to sell your original in tank pump on and more than cover the cost of conversion by the sounds of it ! I think Off Road Toad is correct in his post above, it makes sense that the sender unit i'm thinking of is a ROW spec 300TDi unit. I'm not sure how advisable it would be to try and use an external pump to pull fuel through the existing LP pump but it may work OK.

You don't need a 2 stage pump. The Bosch pump I use for my V8 is suitable for a TD5. It also simplifies the fuel filter and pipework arrangement as you haven't got fuel going to and from the tank for the 2 stage version. You can either pull fuel through one of the existing pumps or change the pump unit for a simpler (cheaper) one. I can't remember which variety it is but there is a "pump" unit that's actually just a sender and a pickup pipe with no pump. I can get the part number for the Bosch pump off my spare as I don't have it to hand at the moment. I'm going this route myself at the moment with a TD5 for expedition use as the last thing I want to do is drop the fuel tank in the middle of nowhere or carry a bulky spare in tank pump. It will also mean that the spare pump can be plumbed in next to the normal one with a couple of isolator valves used to switch from one to the other.

It's debatable if there's any advantage with MS to running 2 Lambda sensors as you don't have any control over the fuelling per cylinder/side. Generally a single lambda sensor is fine and many people fit the sensor (on a V8) before the Y piece on one side as it's better to get the lambda close to the cylinder head but after the 4 cylinders are joined together. I wouldn't run a V8 without a balance pipe or a Y system though, I don't pretend to fully understand the theory behind it but in simple terms it's to do with the exhaust flow from one cylinder helping to ease the flow from the next cylinder by creating a low pressure area on the other side of the Y or balance pipe. Without it you get less performance and a rougher running engine, especially if you have a silencer in the system.

For the specific gearbox problem(s) I'd start by checking the oil level as previously suggested. An oil pressure problem inside the box would/could cause both your problems as it does sound as if the torque convertor is stalling your engine. How exactly did you remove the oil cooler ? Did you loop the pipes together to bypass the cooler or have you blanked the outputs ? Blocking the oil flow through the cooler circuit would cause all sorts of strange problems. I wouldn't run a ZF without an oil cooler for trialling, they very quickly heat up with low speed work and heat is a real enemy for the gearbox.

I'd start by checking the fuel pressure and fuel "circuit". What fuel pump has he fitted and where (in tank, external, swirl pot) ? Has the regulator been plumbed in properly and is the feed back to the tank/swirl pot clear and no back pressure ?

I'd avoid welding cable as it has a tendency to be of higher resistance than battery cable. As you say, in theory a 6HP motor could draw 400A at 12v but on a 12v system the resistance of the cable will often limit the maximum current more than the motor. In order to get 400A to the motor and assuming that the motor has 0 resistance itself (which it doesn't), you'd need a maximum of 0.03 ohms for all your cables, connectors, solenoid contacts and motor windings combined if you assume an average voltage of 12v. There isn't a lot you can do about the motor or the connectors (other than using high quality crimpers and soldering them) but you can minimise the resistance of the cable. Moving the solenoid away from the winch multiplies the length of the cable in your circuit by 3 so for every meter away you move it you are adding 3m of extra wire although you may gain part of that back by shortening the supply cable from the battery to the solenoid.

I hadn't noticed they were TBH, privacy I guess

One of our members had their 90 stolen last night from Walkeringham near Doncaster. It is/was a very tidy motor, reg number D821 JWX, on the off chance that anyone has seen it, please contact me and I'll pass any info on. It has Insa Turbo Sahara tyres which I think were 235/85s, rear tow hitch has steps on it, indicator side repeaters are an "odd" triangular shaped aftermarket item. Here are a couple of pics of it at a trial a week or so ago...

Assuming you are using an albright solenoid, the most common position these days seems to be on the end of the motor using the gigglepin kit. It gives the solenoid some protection (compared to being on the front of the motor).

For an M12 bolt on the thread I'd use 10mm as the bearing area to be safe. Allowable bearing force on 12mm mild steel plate with a bolt diameter of 10mm would be 2.06 tons according to the table I have, 12mm shank/pin would be 2.47 tons. The shear strength of the bolt will far exceed the bearing capability as even an 8.8 rated M12 bolt would have a shear strength of 4323 kg. The table I'm using has a safety factor of 5 which is the lifting industry standard rather than 3 which some non critical applications use.

In the case of 2 plates mounted in the manner described the bolt strength will probably exceed the bearing strength of the plate. How thick are the plates ? Two bolts will double the strength though in either case. A 10mm bolt shank through 3mm plate will take around 0.5 tons bearing force without distorting/tearing the plate whereas 6mm plate will take 1.03 tons. An 8.8 M10 bolt in shear will take over 3 tonnes in shear so the tensile strength of the bolt is less of a consideration than the bearing capability of the plates. An M12 shank will increase the bearing force to 0.62 and 1.64 tons for the same plates.