Dave W

Normally the hole you need to drill is the bolt diameter minus the thread pitch as the thread is normally square. So for a 12x1.25 you'd be looking at using a 10.75 mm drill although a 10.5 should be fine as I suspect the thread depth will be 1.5 rather than 1.25. Given that the current bolt is 11mm outer you'll only have a 1mm thread depth in some places. When tapping the thread use plenty of lubrication and keep backing the tap out quarter of a turn as this helps clear the swarf. Normally you turn the tap clockwise until you feel it tighten up, back it off anticlockwise, rinse and repeat. The key to a good clean thread is plenty of lubrication, keep it clear of swarf and take it a little at a time. You are always better off buying a 3 stage tap set for the thread rather than trying to do it in a single pass, any decent engineering supplies place will be able to supply you with a 3 piece tap set.

Does it only do it when cold or at all temperatures ? A little bit of piston slap isn't unusual in both the 4.0 and the 4.6 when cold although it normally goes away when it's warm.

Try a chandlers, they use a large flexible grommit thing that the control bars go though to an outboard motor. They work perfectly for transfer box levers as they seal around the lever, mount to a flat surface and have 360 degree movement. Typical items... http://www.universalchandlery.co.uk/outboa...ommets-78-c.asp You need to get one a bit larger diameter than you'd expect to make sure you get full movement.

Yes, it's a structural member that supports the rear tub so needs to be sound.

I wave and get waves when I'm in the Defender, less so when I'm in my P38 RR. I always forgive Series drivers who don't wave back, I always found I needed to keep both hands firmly on the wheel when driving my Series III at anything over about 20MPH

A manual won't accelerate and is likely to stall, an auto left to it's own devices is more than capable of accelerating to quite a high speed as it will change up the gears as it gains speed. A manual is far more likely to stall and you know straight away it's in gear as you start to crank the engine whereas with an auto it won't move until the engine is already running. An alternative to the start inhibitor, if you prefer, is to use a brake interlock so the engine will crank over in any gear but only if you have your foot on the brake. If you wanted to you could actually combine the two by using a relay powered off the brake lights that overrides the inhibitor when the brake lights are on.

The safety requirement is there for a very good reason, it's too easy to lean in through the window and start the engine up, if you've left it in drive or reverse it will then set off on it's own. It is simple enough to disable but as others have said it's far better to sort out the idle in the first place

It cannot be connected directly to the main roll cage structure but it can be connected to a component that is, in turn, welded to the cage. In your case if you have a loop welded to the cage and the shock absorber is mounted to that it should be OK if it is braced. It's described in [F]284 and is specific to cross country. 284. Vehicles must be fitted with sprung suspension between wheels and chassis, unless originally manufactured otherwise. Where the top mounting of the shock absorber, whether or not it is fitted with a coil spring, is mounted directly to a main member of the roll-cage, a brace must be fitted between the mounting point and the chassis or those members of the vehicle frame acting as the chassis. It is prohibited to mount the shock absorber by drilling and/or welding a stud or bolt directly to the roll cage. All mountings must be made with reinforcements in material at least the same thickness as the roll cage wall thickness. The recommended mounting is shown in Appendix 1, drawing number 284. You should always be prepared to challenge a scrutineer, scrutineers can't read every detail of the regs as it relates to your vehicle and may not always be aware of changes to the regs.

That doesn't normally pose a problem as long as they are braced, are you sure you are reading the regs correctly ? There's no reason not to have shock absorbers mounted to the cage in the regs. Cages are a problem but there is a bigger issue with challenge vehicles due to the mainstream being out of the MSA "umbrella" for far too long so people simply aren't used to complying with regs. Having observed the scrutineering at the MT this weekend and some of the moaning from competitors it'll be an uphill struggle but in the end persevering will pay dividends. I won't go into details but some of the vehicles presented to scrutineering were failing on some pretty basic stuff... steering joints not tightened up, batteries loose with metal covers above the terminals, fuel tanks with open vents, holes in the bulkhead between the passenger compartment and the engine bay. One vehicle took 4 hours work to get it up to a minimum standard. On the whole, those that had competed regularly in properly scrutineered MSA events went through without a problem though so it's one of those things that you just have to get right once. I'll send another email for the regs but probably won't enter unless I can get my cage through, any pre-scrutineering available ? If my cage can get through it might be worth putting in the effort to meet the other AWDC specific stuff.

Maybe making the regs "secret" means people assume the worst, I'd shown an interest in the event but haven't had any further details maybe others are in the same boat.

Never mind, managed to read it off the side of the unit. Evermore SA-320, £80 in either USB or serial versions.

Looks like a useful unit, ideal for roof mounting. Any clues on manufacturer, source, cost etc... ?

If you take a look at http://www.lambdasensor.com/main/lrover.htm They do a choice of direct fit lambdas (come with the right connector etc) or universal, which are cheaper. A universal titania 12mm (so you don't have to fit a new boss to the exhaust) will cost you just over 60 quid. I buy all my lambda sensors from the above site. As can be seen from their list, not all LR lambdas are titania, some are zirconia so choose your model carefully. A direct fit version normally costs about £10 more than a universal.

Although LR use Titania they use the type that have an internal voltage source, tapped off the heater supply, which supplies an output voltage between 0v and 1v. (some titania sensors output between 0v and 5v). To the ECU a zirconia sensor would look similar to the standard LR titania sensor.

Hopefully Dave Ashcroft will be along soon and point you in the right direction but from vague memory last time I changed an A clutch about 5 years ago the pump assembly was just in front of the A clutch and is the first thing you take off the box so with the box out it's literally a 10 minute job to swap it over and i don't recall there being anything tricky about it. cheers Dave

Ordered from OEC this morning, touch wood they arrive tomorrow or I'll have to put rubber ones in.

It is certainly a neater option for MS in some ways, I bought one a few years ago with this in mind but never got around to fitting it. There are a couple of issues which I'm aware of, the first is that I don't think it will fit on a distributor equipped V8, you have to have the serpentine front end and crank that drives the oil pump from the crank. It might be possible to use a cut down distributor to drive the oil pump but as far as I could see here wasn't enough room for a full size distributor. The idle control is OK but it's a bit coarse and there's no way of driving it proportionately that I'm aware of. You have to put a restriction in the pipe to get the cold rpm something like. With MSII-extra and the latest closed loop idle control the hotwire plenum would be worth considering, particularly for an LPG setup where the code can stabilise the idle speed for both fuels.

It should do, the torque converter is in the circulation "path". Normally you'd expect the oil level to drop as soon as you run it for the first time. Did you remember to bolt the torque converter to the flywheel after fitting the box... I've never forgotten to do that myself... well, not many times anyway

Need to put new panhard rod bushes on my comp motor before Friday, anyone know/recommend a supplier who can supply individual superpro bushes mail order ?

When you bolt the gearbox up to the engine it is vital that the torque converter is completely engaged into the gearbox and stays there as you attach the engine. If you don't get it engaged properly and use pressure to pull the gearbox and engine together using the bell housing bolts, the chances are the oil pump has been damaged. Even when you think it's engaged it's worth measuring that it is the correct distance back from the bell housing as it locates in two stages. A lot of people make the mistake of attaching the torque converter to the engine first and then offering the gearbox up... which will never end well. The oil pump is at the front of the gearbox and, as you may have guessed from the above, the torque converter slots into it.

The second pic in the first post looks fairly typical, hope you've got a towball cover or you won't be at all popular I'd be a bit "brutal" when you're inspecting a chassis. Just because the MOT tester isn't allowed to take a hammer to it anymore doesn't mean you can't. A light tap all over the chassis will soon reveal where the rot has set in and how far it's spread. Had to put a patch on SWMBO's 90 before this year's MOT after a gentle tap with the hammer went straight through the rear cross member. It looked fine but there was nothing left under the paint.

As Les said although at that age I'd expect bearing top and bottom. Looks to me like you need to replace the bottom swivel bearing as adding shims to the top should only increase the pre-load and not be able to lift the housing like that because the bottom bearing will stop it normally. That suggests the bottom bearing has either collapsed or is very badly worn. You will probably also be able to feel movement in the hub as a result.

Check the front radius arm chassis bushes, get someone to shake the steering wheel from side to side while you have a good look at all the steering joints and bushes to see if anything's moving. Check the drop arm is tight on the bottom of the steering box !!!

Don't mess around with bottle jacks fighting the anti-roll bars just unbolt them rather than fighting them. It only takes a couple of minutes and will save you much more than that in the long run. That anti-roll bar is designed to stop one wheel on the axle moving in relation to another. Using a bottle jack to force the anti-roll bar is just plain stupid. You are loading a massive spring with a hydraulic ram, if that ram slips what's going to happen to that massive torsion spring you just forced all that energy into ??? When I read posts like this i get my Mr grumpy head on and ask why does someone who can't grasp the basics of what an anti-roll bar does think they are qualified enough to remove the factory suspension system and replace it with something different. Get someone who knows what they are doing to check your work over before you go near a road with your custom suspension system.

Anti-Roll bars still connected ?