series3100

Just wondering does anyone run their diesel engine on kerosene (heater fuel)... Forget the legalities of it, does it work? Are there any/many detrimental effects? The engine I'm really considering is an Isuzu 4jb1t if that makes any difference. Just want to hear your thoughts really. Cheers, Brian

I have a set of doors off a C reg 90. The one piece jobbies with lift up door handles, wind up handles and a galv strip that clips on. I ordered a matching set of 3 door lock barrels a while back and the only one that fitted was one into the back door, the OD of the barrels is too big to go into the front door barrel wholes - Just no way they're going in. Can anyone tell me which barrels i should be looking for? Cheers, Brian

That would be great thanks. I have a rough idea in my head of the final piece, For example the tapers on the end are going to be longer than normal giving a sharper look but obviously I cabn't dive straight in i have to go through all sortds of designs and prototypes first in order to gain full marks... Cheers, Brian

Once again thank you very much to everyone for there input, You're good people here... The good news is I'v got it down to 2 ideas i want to develop, bad news is I have many more ideas due to this thread in my head now meaning even more projects to nibble at my cash in the near future 2 ideas I have are a (very) secure cubby box and a mighty strong rear winch cross member. I'm tempted by the rear cross member, I suddenly had an outburst of ideas and think I'v come up with what could be developed into a nice design including 2 revolving recovery shackles, 2 built in lights (something along the lines of a GU5.3 bulb) and obviously the winch but. Someone mentioned how most rear winch cross members aren't designed for the more hobby type winches so this would defiantly be part of the brief. Oh it'll also have a quick(ish) release drop plate so you're not left with a winch but no towing abilities. Does anyone have a winch they want to donate to a worthy design? I'll keep updating you with progress. Brian

The alternator is actually a late 300tdi one that i had lying around. I swapped it on a while back because the alternator fitted wasn't working (I thought!) - I'll check the bulb and if that's not suspect will see what happens if i swap alternators again. Cheers, Brian

Thank you everyone for you're replies, some great things to think about already. Tomorrow I have to take a list of several ideas to discuss with the teacher and amongst the class. I will get back to you tomorrow with further thoughts. Very much appreciated! Brian

Hi all, I'm about to start my design technology A level course which is design and make in resistant materials: Wood, metals and plastics. My college has a fairly well kitted out workshop, great metal work anyway - for wood based stuff I'm better off in my dad's workshop so the option are open although I'm more inclined to go down the metals route for this project. Basically unlike AS level I'm not given a brief, I can design and make what I like so long as I find a potential client(s). Fairly soon I have to come up with a brief consisting of a problem to be solved or a scenario of some kind, infact it doesn't have to be a problem as such more of just 'here is this space and it needs x to go there to do x, y and z'. You get the idea. Here are a few of the ideas I have: (bare in mind it has to be complicated enough to show I have various skills and problem solving abilities but must also consider I don't have infinite time or space so can't go and build a 20' boat trailer!) -High mount heavy duty bumper, possibly a winch bumper, was thinking incorporate some kind of lights too. -Light bar (I think this is too strait forward unless there was some interesting innovation) -Secure cubby box -Dash console -Heavy duty rear cross member with various recovery points etc. -Rock sliders Does anyone have any suggestions of possible projects? Ideas for innovations? Or anything they want to add in general? What do you think of the above ideas? Just throw ideas around please... I must add this is in no way cheating or anything, it's advised that I find a potential client(s) to come up with a possible product to design and make then I add pictures and things along the way and ask for feedback etc. Could be quite interesting for both me and anyone who wishes to be involved in this thread. Also all of the above items have already been made before obviously, this is ok so long as I design and make my own with my own little slant. Hope this is ok with moderators and stuff? Thanks in advance, Brian

It works, kind of anyway. I ran an ignition live onto what was the earth side of the bulb and it now lights up when the ignition is turned on, when the engine is started and reved though it doesn't go out, it does vary in brightness slightly though. The alternator is defianatly charging now, i was getting a touch over 14.5v then when the engine was shut down it goes to more like 13v so I'm getting there! I would of fiddled around a bit more but it was raining very wet rain... Cheers, Brian

so it is Cheers, Brian

Great thanks for that, I'll book mark that website. Thanks a lot Brian

Hi all, I don't know what its called but i need the gasket that goes beteen the odd shaped blanking plate and the oil filter houseing thing. I think if you take the plate off you get to the oil cooler thermmostat. I'm suffering from a mega leak! Cheers, Brian

Ah that is my solution by the sound of things. Here is what i'v done: I more or less assumed i just had to run a wire strait to the charge light then from the other side of the light to ground. So if i understand you correctly there should be power (an ignition live) to the charge light which is also the power that activates the alternator. Sounds simple enough... I'll have a poke about and get back to you. Thanks, Brian

I lied! the little wire goes to D+ (just looked and i think that's what it says) I think this is my issue as that wire goes directly to the charge light, if its this circuit that does the energising then it'd have to magic up some energy . How do i go about energising this circuit? Oddly I'm sure the charge light did work a while back... Thanks a lot, I'm a bit of a hater of electrickery! Brian

I'm pretty sure i put the big wire to the same side of the solenoid as the main battery +ve cable goes to. The charge light doesn't seem to be up to much any more, used to come to life. Its a 200tdi btw. Cheers, Brian

I'v searched about alternator wiring and now know in order for an alternator to work it first has to be energised (i think). So how do i wire it up properly? currently the big terminal (can't remember the name, b+?) goes directly to the starter solenoid. The w terminal goes directly to the charge light and to make a long story short it doesn't work. I even swapped the alternator for a spare then realised it was more likely to be my wiring. Thanks in advance Brian

That's fine, better than a std defender anyway! If the play worries you/ is annoying or means you cant get the full rev range then I think the cable can be adjusted at the other end. Brian

Ah that's a good idea, I just don't want a repeat of £35 for 7L if I can avoid it. Although saying that whenever i go in the shop I now have in mind I end up getting carried away and buying loads of other stuff so I'll probably end off worse off... Cheers, Brian

Hi all, Can anyone recommend a CHEAP place to by oils online? In particular I'm after EP90 (GL4)... Cheers, Brian

Mazda MX5 seats are going in my 90. Ideal cos they're not too chunky but quite comfy... oh and they have speakers in the head rests Brian

In that case I did mine too high at 14lb... I think anyway. Might look into that. Cheers, Brian

From memory I think the measurement your after for the swivel is 14 to 16lb. The relay can be topped up with oil by removing 1 of the 4 bolts in the top of the relay and squirting/dribbling oil in, I think I might have taken 2 out so (in theory) it would fill better with oil going in one hole and air coming out of the other. It has a big spring in so and is meant to have a resistance. Brian

There was an article in one of the mags ages ago about someone 'tuning' a 2.25 diesel, I don't know what else he'd done but he had tubular manifold and a bigger bore exhaust made to good effect... can't really give any more info though. Brian

Are you saying I didn't have to faf about drilling and tapping new holes? feel stupid now But does this not mean the waster gate actuator is pulling in an odd direction? hence why i had to tap new holes...? Confused! Brian

Oh, It's not letting me upload pictures I'll try again later. Brian

Hi all, I was running DI but am now going back to Tdi (minus the inter-cooler for the moment. 1 step at a time! ) Anyway, I might be completely wrong but I think I might have done things a little differently to others, not sure if there is much benefit although in my case without the intercooler it did make piping very strait forward. The modification I did was simply rotating the ally casing on the turbo anti-clockwise so that the outlet now points more up than down. To do this I removed the huge circlip to release the ally casing from the main body of the turbo, now it could be easily drilled and tapped. To a curtain extent it was guess work, I didn't want to over-rotate the housing but had to move the waste gate actuator (is that what it's called?) to the other side of the outlet or it would of been too little so I positioned it just on the other side of the outlet but far enough away to not obstruct pipe work. Now just drill and tap. On reassembly it was perfect and the only other thing that needed doing was a longer pipe needed to be fitted for the waste gate actuator. Pictures explain far better than me. As I say I think this is a different method to most Tdi installations, if not then oh well it's just a bit more info for those who are going to do the conversion! Hope that helps someone... Brian