Dave W

Which key are you using ? Are you using the factory alarm or an after market one ? If you use Key No. 1 it should re-sync itself anyway, key 2 is normally the one that gives problems. Mine might be different though as mine allows me to unlock the door with the key and, in that case, the alarm doesn't sound - maybe that indicates that you do have a problem with the switch in te drivers door... I'm pretty sure the alarm shouldn't sound if you opened the door with a key.

One of the tool warehouse places (Northern tool or machine mart maybe ?) used to do one of these for around 40 quid, might be worth having a look around. Personally I use a ratchet strap, never failed yet but will admit it's more fiddly than being able to blow the tyre back on but I work on the principal that if I use the same technique at home as I might have to do in a field in the middle of a competition then I'm better practiced at it and will find it easier when I'm against the clock.

It will mean taking the transfer box off but it can be done with the auto box in situ. The governor assembly is located at the end of the gearbox. If you get the serial number of the box you can get a replacement governor assembly and O rings fairly cheaply... IIRC it's about £40 or so but it's been a few years since I last bought one. You might get away with just cleaning the existing one in which case just check/replace the O rings. You don't even need to drop the oil out of the ZF as everything you need to get to is outside the gearbox itself, it's just covered by the extension/adaptor housing that adapts the ZF to fit the transfer box. You remove the extension housing and the output shaft adaptor and you'll see the parking pawl and ring. The governor is bolted to the back of the parking ring, you can slide the whole assembly off the output shaft, replace the governor and O rings and put it all back together. The governor is essentially just a weight that controls oil flow using centrifugal force, if it sticks or the O rings that seal the oil into the 2 "chambers" around the output shaft are split it messes up this speed detection, especially when the oil in the gearbox is cold. Getting the transfer box off and back on again is the biggest part of the job. If cleaning/replacing the governor doesn't help and there's no obvious damage to the O rings, if the problem persists you'll need to think about a recon box. Often a sticking governor is caused by sediment (bits of brake material) building up in the box and, if that is the case, it's probably a short term fix. It's not unusual for this sticking to occur after a gearbox oil and filter change as it "disturbs" all the sediment and washes it around the gearbox is relatively low mileage (the ZF in Pam's 90 has done around 180,000 miles now without being touched other than an enforced oil change due to a split oil cooler pipe.

Are you sure it's the wheel bearing ? If it's the front axle you need to check the movement is in the wheel bearing and not in the swivel upper or lower bearing. If it is the wheel bearing and it is still slack when fully tight you need to replace the bearings.

Is this when the gearbox is "warm" or when it is cold ? Sticking regulator or split O ring on the regulator/governor will cause this but normally it only does it for the start of the journey and then, as it warms up, it starts working again. My old Range rover wouldn't change up from first for a couple of miles... was a bit embarassing as we're 500 yards from a 40 limit ! That was a split O ring.

Not sure if it'll help on all engines but I have had similar starting problems on both my 3.9 and on my LS1. I left the after start stuff as it was as I eventually decided that the problem is more down to the engine starting on a borderline mixture than anything that was happening afterwards. I think the "multiple starts" thing is down to the cranking opening PW being set too low. The first start it's too weak to fire, second start it's got a bit more fuel and will try, 3rd start and the cumulative build up of fuel gives it enough to start. Mine used to be a real pig, especially when it'd been left for a few days or more. It always started but some days you needed to be confident in your battery ! As well as the cranking pulse width the idle air control is also important and it's no bad thing IMV to crank the engine with enough idle air to run at 1500+ rpm in normal circumstances. Mine is 100% open when cranking due to a bug in the MS-Extra code, not sure which versions of the code have that bug in them. Getting enough air in and a suitable equivalent of fuel makes starting the thing a lot easier, mine will start first time and idle from cold when it's not been started for a week without touching the throttle and the biggest difference between now and the original "will it or won't it starting" has been opening out the idle air during cranking. The ASE is OK to bridge the transition between cranking and running but if your engine is running optimally from idle speed and you get the cranking pulse width correct to suit a wide open idle air control (and have the IAC open during cranking) the transition should be fairly smooth and painless.

Fun projects are always the best ! If you change your mind and want a proper lock then you can fit one, I wanted something simple and reliable... which is unusual for me as I normally get accused of making things over complicated There was also the problem that 6 months before I adapted it a tree jumped out behind me while I was reversing and put a dent in it where the lock would fit ! If you look at the picture you can just see, on the LHS, the edge of a hole. This is where the handle from a front RHS door lock or rear door lock mechanism goes. By drilling a hole for the handle to come through and a hole for the lock barrel you can mount the assembly on the inside of the tail gate. My tailgate was originally a side opening tailgate (from a NAS Defender) I swapped for some EFi bits many years ago but until last year I used it as a traditional drop down one. Nothing against chopping rear doors in half though, there's half a rear door on mine... only I used the top half Yep, wish I was there again this year... Lots more pics at: http://www.yorkshireoffroadclub.net/imageg...s.php?album=101 and a couple of videos in my sig.

It'd be easier to convert your existing tailgate to side opening. Get the bottom two hinges from a hard top rear door, remove the two existing hinge brackets from the tailgate and the RHS "loop" that the locking pin goes through. Bolt the door hinges to the RHS of the tailgate and the back body. The existing LHS loop and locking pin will hold the door closed. This shows mine, possibly makes it clearer than the above description Click on the image to see a larger version for more detail, ignore the box in the middle of the tailgate, that was added when the spare was stored on the floor.

Valid points but they mostly come down to inexperience with the rope I'd have said. If you can't keep tension on the rope as you pull it out then wind it out before you climb, unlike wire you can easily unwind a load form the drum while you're at the front of the motor and then throw it up the slope leaving you free to climb with your hands free. With practice you get a feel for it and learn to keep the tension on, if only to make your own life easier One thing we do on really steep stuff is that I will wind the rope out while my navigator climbs up, I can then throw the rope up to them when they're sorted. That way they only have to carry a strop and can choose the easiest route to get up to the top rather than having to go up the direct route. The bit about the rope getting damaged is something you start off worrying about but, again, it becomes second nature after a while. If you can protect the rope when you rig it by throwing a winch blanket over rock edges etc... then do so but don't worry about it too much, especially with the 11mm stuff. If you change to Plasma and use it the same as wire you're not getting all the benefits from it. I say Plasma because I mean Plasma, having changed to 11mm Plasma 12 in 2005 I wouldn't use any other brand. The rest are just a pale imitation of the real thing IMV

Not really, the code change took me about 10 mins and all I had to do "hardware" wise was add a switch and run a wire to the controller. If I wanted to do it "mechanically" i could have just added a hand throttle off a series motor TBH

The original design had a "load" input that worked in a similar way to the one the hotwire uses. When the input goes high or low (depending on how you configure the hardware) it would open up the idle valve a few steps for a short time and then let it fall back to it's PWM controlled position. That was how the OEM hotwire system copes with aircon coming on or an auto box being put into drive or reverse (it triggered off the start inhibit switch). That works OK for when you have a sudden increase in load but if you look at the way most alternators deliver their power, the faster they are spinning the higher the output current. bearing that in mind I thought it would be useful to have a switch where I could force a fast idle both to keep the batteries topped up while winching and to recharge them after winching. With the current programming, when it calculates how many steps open it needs to be based on the current PWM it then looks at the input and, if it's low, it adds a few more steps to the calculated position. To work with closed loop idle (which would otherwise reduce the PWM when the RPM rises, negating the increase) I'd need to add the steps from the current position calculated when the input first goes low and then stick with that figure, ignoring the PWM, until the input goes high again (fast idle turned off). It's only a few minutes work to make a change like that to the code. I'll try the closed loop idle this weekend and see how well it works, if it works OK I'll modify the code for the fast idle button. The circuit and code I am using is based on the work that masterx81 created and posted on the MSExtra forum. http://www.msextra.com/viewtopic.php?f=67&t=18971 I've done some optimisation of the code to suit my own needs and to make the stepper more reliable so that it doesn't miss steps but the basic concept and design is all his.

Auto boxes will last virtually forever as long as the oil is kept cool. When you are using them off road or in a "spirited" way on road the oil temperature can rise significantly unless they have a suitable oil cooler. The standard "hedgehog" oil cooler as used on classic Rangies and Discoveries is adequate but IMV it's worth using an aluminium oil cooler instead to keep it as cool as possible. Think auto can supply the coolers, connectors and pipes... http://www.thinkauto.com/

Redpath Tyres ? Give them a ring and I'll sure they'll sort you out. They've got a few depots in Scotland but deliver all over. http://www.redpath-tyres.co.uk/4x4_set.htm

The auto will be a lot easier on your transmission. Just use a decent oil cooler and run a 1.6 transfer box on the back of it if you want to use 35 inch tyres (or even better, use 4.11 diffs with a 1.2 transfer box). 1.6 transfer box is the cheapest way though, any higher than that and you'll be constantly changing gear when you're trying to cruise.

Simtek do the decent ones, as you say, the VWP ones are pretty awful being rigid plastic rather than flexible ones. http://www.simtekuk.co.uk/www.simtekuk.co....t=317&ack=9

The controller converts the PWM signal from MS into a stepper position so 100% is fully open 0% is fully closed. No reason why it can't work with the closed loop idle from MS1 although the consensus seems to be that the code for that in MS1 isn't too good ? I've not tried closed loop with mine, I just use it as a glorified choke, I might give it a go if the MS code is something like. I added a "fast idle" to the original code using a spare input on the PIC for when I'm winching or want a fast idle to get the batteries topped up quicker after a winch pull. I have a button on the dash that controls it and it just takes the pintle in a fixed number of steps from where it would be based on the PWM input. I'd have to modify the code slightly to get it to work with closed loop idle.

Digressing ever so slightly, I'm using an external PIC circuit to control a 4 wire stepper from MS1. It interprets the PWM signal and steps the idle control accordingly. It works really well both on the 3.9 stepper and on the very similar stepper on my motor. I've made a few of these now and have 3 more to make in the next couple of months - if I was to get a batch of PCBs made up professionally rather than my current one off UV system, would there be much interest in them or does the PWM valve make it unnecessary ?

Solid, the tubed ones (at least all the ones I've tried) have the problem of leaving a short section of tube unprotected for the clamps and therefore weaker so when you land on the track bar the original bar can snap at the point it is exposed. The other problem with tubed bars is that, with even the slightest bend, you'll never get the steering bar in or out of it again. Solid, by comparison, are reinforced all the way to the TRE and the locking nut (on most of them) is a lot quicker and easier to deal with than the original clamp system so the TRE can be replaced in situ without the seizing problems associated with the split, compressed tube. You can't get either tubed or solid straight again IME and I carry spares for both steering arms so I never need to try ! As for make, I wanted some Sumo ones so ordered from Devon4x4 when Sumo couldn't supply from stock (who are listed as a distributor) and was then advised by someone who had tried both that the Britpart HD ones were stronger than Sumo. Strangely Devon 4x4, despite being listed as a Sumo distributor, sent me a pair of Britpart HD ones. I bought a set of decent TREs for when the Britpart ones failed and 18 months on have only used one of them which was a pleasant surprise as i didn't expect them to last especially given the hammering they got in Australia. I know you have an allergy to Britpart but you'll be hard pushed to find anything better without paying stupid money.

The Gwyn Lewis guard looks remarkably like a guard we used when we were doing Hill Rallies about 12 years ago. Can you change the track rod without removing it or a wheel ? I binned mine after a TRE snapped in a forest section and we had to remove the downhill front wheel with the motor on a sideslope, turning a 2 minute job of changing to the spare track rod into a VERY dodgy 2 hour job. Re. the Britpart HD ones, you're cutting your nose off to spite your face there, they are really good, much stronger than the MJL "Dan bar" sleeves that I used to use, I don't use steering guards either so they live or die under their own strength.

For extra clearance I make my own cross members, cut the plates off the old one and cut a piece of 4x2 box section to length, weld the plates to the end and add some fillets and you're done. Takes a couple of hours and gives a lot more clearance for exhaust systems to go over the top of it. You can see the result here...

No, it doesn't meet MSA rules like that for a number of reasons including being too far away from the rear of the vehicle and not being covered.

All the usual P38 stuff, make sure all the electronics are working. Check coolant system and front floor wells for damp. MPG should be about 19-20MPG, maybe a bit more on a motorway run. Average on mine over the last 3 years is 19.8 according to the computer.

You should have 12v on both when it's not turning over. The ignition coil gets it's 12v supply from the amplifier wiring, on their is a joint inside the engine loom that supplies a feed to one side of the amplifier - the wire that is also connected to the +ve terminal of the coil.

OziExplorer for me with a touch screen interface

The safety devices FIA homologated cage for the Range Rover Classic had a removable diagonal bar as you describe. It was bolted in at both ends but I don't remember exactly how. Ask Dan at P&P, he'll be able to make it to meet MSA regs while being removable for when you're not competing.