Dave W

Both... Crimp first and then solder (never the other way around !) The solder will improve the electrical connection and also reduce/remove any problems with corrosion. You should never crimp a soldered joint as the solder will creep under the pressure and the crimp will come loose.

I use the Jag J shifter with ZF boxes, I posted something about it not that long ago but can't find it now for some reason. You can extend the slot to allow selection of 1st gear (it's only the plastic trim that prevents it). You need the cable and the small operating lever that attaches to the gearbox. The shifter was fitted to Jaguar XK40s and can be bought fairly cheaply from most Jag breakers.

The intention is to release it as freeware once I've stopped adding new stuff to it. I've got to finalise a version in the next week or so so I can make sure it's working OK before the Muddy Truckers. Anyone interested in a test version PM your email address, screen resolution (so I can pre-check the button placement). I've only tested it on XP so far as that's what my Nav PC runs. cheers Dave

I didn't really mean they won't work at all, simply pointing out that at a reduced height they would work just as well and reduce the risk of bad location. If you make them tall enough, of course, the spring will never leave them anyway so there is no risk. If you have enough articulation for the spring to completely clear the cones then the slightest movement at the bottom of the spring as it comes back down again can result in it missing the cone and the cone then "guiding" the spring into the caliper/wheel/tyre. The shorter they are the less chance there is of that happening simply because the axle and the bottom of the spring are squarer to each other when they meet so are already closer to being aligned. The taller the cone the more acute the angle as the bottom of the spring meets the cone.

I've put together an app that works with OziExplorer and supports Irish Grid, it acts as an overlaid keyboard for Ozi explorer and gives you a Garmin style GPS arrow over the top of the moving map and ways to add/edit/delete waypoints among other things. I wrote it because I found OziExplorer too fiddly to use with a touchscreen in competition so put it together as a touchscreen overlay aimed specifically at challenge navigation. I mentioned this on another discussion about X Nav so maybe that was where the connection was made ? cheers Dave

A couple of design considerations regarding axle location "cones" after running a few different designs over the years... A hook is only necessary if you make the cone too tall A lop sided pyramid is as good as a symetrical one - the spring only needs to be persuaded back in towards the diff and aligned front and rear. The latest design I use is asymetrical because it seems to reduce the amount of undergrowth I get trapped. The relocators don't need to be anything near as tall as chassis ones, 2-3 inches tall is more than enough. Having the relocators too tall can allow the spring to locate to the wrong side of the locator, you can get around this with a hook but this is an unnecessary addition trying to compensate for a design fault. Having them relocate badly due to them being too tall can result in damaged calipers/brakes/wheels/tyres. The purple ones above are way too tall and if you get enough flex to get the spring off them they won't relocate, Nick's look about right height wise but I guess they're copied from the latest versions we're running

Using engine oil is just plain stupid, apart from destroying the pump you'll more than likely blow out the seals in the box, possibly leading to complete failure of the power steering.

If you want to fabricate them yourself, adding them to the axle is easier, clamp the top of the spring to the chassis and build a 3 sided "pyramid" on the axle seat out of flat bar. They don't want to be too tall as you don't want the wrong edge of the spring to catch.

Just for sanity reasons I would take 5 mins to check your TDC position "manually", use a small screwdriver or welding rod or similar through the spark plug hole in the head to feel the top of the cylinder and carefully rotate the crank until it's at it's highest position. Then check the marks on the pulley and see how they compare - I once had a pulley where the marks were 14 degrees out ! Another thing to check is that the keyway and pulley are sound, they can wear and allow the pulley to rotate on the crank causing all sorts of wierd timing problems that you wouldn't notice using a timing light. 4 degrees BTDC isn't enough advance BTW, unless you're using really bad petrol 6 degrees or more is normal. I don't think that a 2 degree difference is causing this problem though ! .

The problem with the MSA regs as I understand them is that the extinguishers aren't there to put out the fire, they are there to allow the occupants time to escape. Like others, I used to carry a Halon extinguisher to put fires out and AFFF to get through scrutineering. Currently I have 2 powder extinguishers as I'm not doing any events that require extinguishers at the moment so can leave the AFFF at home..

Why not use the standard panhard rod and raise the mounting point off the axle to compensate for the lift. You get much better handling that way as lengthening the panhard rod inevitably leads to handling issues because the axle moves more as the suspension moves. Moving the panhard rod axle mount upwards retains the designed steering geometry. You need to lengthen the rod to compensate for lift BTW, not shorten it. As the axle moves away from the chassis it moves sideways towards the steering box, the longer the rod the more it will move sideways so the more you'll feel the effect in the steering when you hit a bump. How much lift have you got ? An extended/adjustable panhard rod will only be able to compensate for a few inches.

They're not wolf axles, wolf axles are coil sprung. If you're referring to the axle bracing, that's normal at that age. Yes, we've been asked to do it a couple of times in the past, we've also been asked to estimate the value of a competition vehicle described over the phone by an insurance investigator. (All mods were declared so no probs with the claim but he needed to check the value of the winches. plasma rope, suspension etc...).

Not in my book, just sell it and get a Disco if you don't want a luxury car. The EAS was fitted for very good reasons, ditching one of the main design features of the vehicle is just daft as far as I'm concerned.

Do yourself a favour and sort the exhaust or at the very least check where the leak is, they have a habit of failing on top of the silencer where the hot gasses slowly melt through the plastic pipes for the rear air suspension. This, in turn, leads to the compressor burning out due to it having to run all the time to compensate. It's one of those things that will be a LOT cheaper to fix in the short term than it will be if you leave it.

Yes... but why would you ? (unless you're changing to upgraded kit)

From the above it looks like the orientation difference is a Defender vs Disco thing so probably best to ignore that, I didn't realise there was such a big difference between them. Looking at your pic again and reading the instructions it looks like you could remove your extension and, if the cable won't reach the second hole using the built in cable adjustment, just move the lever one spline anti clockwise as described in the instructions.

As a reference that may help this is a pic of mine where you can just about see the position of the bracket relative to the caliper and the rest of the plate.

Any chance of a pic showing the whole backing plate, it looks to me as if the plate is installed in the wrong orientation.

Tim, I think that's the old part number, there's a one shot version available now, you'd be forgiven for thinking it looks like thick muddy water but when it gets warm it thins out and has the advantage that it won't leak out of the light seals when cold.

Where are you, someone may be able to offer a spare ? I wouldn't have thought connecting it up backwards would damage it, most modules of this kind are pretty much bomb proof although it will have almost certainly blown the fuse you ran the feed from. Forget the Megajolt altogether (disconnect it) and concentrate on the EDIS, if it has power, the coils have power and the VR sensor is hooked up you will be getting a spark at 10 BTDC. Check the spark with a timing light on each of the HT leads in turn and make sure that you are getting a spark at 10 BTDC on number 1 and then at 90 degree intervals for 5, 7 then 3. Do the same on the other side 6 at 10BTDC then 8, 4 and 2. If you're not getting any spark at all check the power to the EDIS, the coils and check the VR sensor wiring.

I'd considered it but have visions of it all ending in tears if something goes wrong. It'd be too tempting to increase the rev limiter and start playing with gear change positions. Traction would also be a problem because the only road biased tyres I have are 225/75s which would decrease the gearing dramatically and increase the problems of wheel spinning. even with 235/85s I still get problems under acceleration with the front wheels "chiruping" when it changes up a gear and causing it to pull to one side or the other. Not that I've given much thought to it you understand ! There's also the problem that it clashes with the D44 weekend and I quite fancy going down to that.

Are you sure it's a ground anchor ? Other than the construction suggesting it should screw into the ground I can't see any obvious place for a winch hook to connect to.

That's a good price !

This will do for the regs: http://www.merlinmotorsport.co.uk/p1682/CA...oduct_info.html It needs to be mounted so that either occupant can reach it and deploy it while wearing a seat belt or harness as appropriate. Having it behind you doesn't normally fit the bill but you may be able to reach it, depends on seats and how agile you are

I doubt there will be any real difference between the makes but whichever make you go for, paint it before fitting it if you want it to last, pay particular attention to the seams as that is where water/road salt/dirt will get trapped and eat away at the metal if it's unprotected.