FridgeFreezer

FFIL remembers visiting the factory in the 70's and seeing hammocks on the production line, and the canteen serving pints on lunch break it's a miracle they ever made any cars at all

Stupid question but photo #1 doesn't look anywhere near "seated" to me, I'd expect the white section to be buried up to the shoulder in the socket. Is it just a case of pushing it in harder than you'd expect?

£360 is a lot of cash, ISTR a set of ARP's for the Rover is about £80 so a no-brainer. As others say, I'd look at the BMW tweakers see if they're recommending it, some engines can have weak spots and others will take big power with minimal trouble.

And they're still arguing about it 40 years later...

Similar with the exhaust manifold studs - if they're too long you can find you can't get the manifolds in over the studs near the bulkhead, also if the un-threaded section is too long you can't tighten them down properly, but it's easy enough to spot once you know and not hard to work around. The ARP head studs have hex key holes in the top to wind them in/out and once the nut's undone there's no tension on them so they should wind out fairly easily.

All that cackshifter said - it would cost more in production as it's two/three fasteners (stud, bolt, and a washer) not one bolt, but it is kinder to the aluminium block and AFAIK the studs don't stretch so are re-usable (ARP's info would confirm/deny this) I've got the same setup on my exhaust manifolds too, they're aftermarket Mini parts, 3/8"UNC into the block and UNF with a brass nut the other end, much loveliness and cheap enough.

Got a picture of the problem? Does the RAVE manual say anything about locking it together or owt?

Well for starters you can't put MS2 settings files into an MS1 so I'd advise stopping trying to do that - you can export the individual maps from one and import into the other but you can't load the whole MSQ as they have very different types and amounts of settings. I suspect your glowing headers are timing related rather than fuel but I have no further guesses / knowledge on this so will defer to the grown ups here who know about actual engine tuning. I can't remember where you got to with the setting up etc. before having the engine apart, and if your VR sensor bracket has been of

I can certainly see modern emissions, especially diesels, being a source of problems - you can't pass an MOT without them and they are somewhat complicated and finicky, stuff like EGR is just destined to clog up over the years. Wonder how modern petrol vehicles fare as they mostly only need a working cat as far as I'm aware.

Oooh that's neat... I wonder if the punch part needs 2 sections, so the 1st bit clamps down on the outer to prevent crinkling before the centre forms the shape? Lots of videos on YouTube from industrial processes like this that might give you some pointers as to how they manage it in production but it certainly feels like you're getting ever-closer to the right answer.

Remember the map value is multiplied by REQ_FUEL so you can just bump that up by a liberal amount (EG 20%) if you're sure it's too lean across the board - for running at moderate RPM with zero actual load to run the cam in you're not in too much danger of damaging anything. If +20% is eye-wateringly rich then bump it back down 5-10% - believe your nose over the O2 sensor readings especially if there's a bit of doubt on the signal, O2 sensors can get thrown off by oil/fuel/heat/impact.

And people like to say modern cars are rubbish... how quickly we forget what it was like in the good old days.

As LR17H says, sometimes people will pour huge amounts of time into patching something up to "save" a chunk of cash when actually, unless you're really skint, it would be far better to just buy the right thing and fit it and have a load of free time to do something more useful / fun - assuming the bank balance agrees of course.

Except that graphite dust from a pencil in a spacecraft can get into electrics and cause short circuits and fires, and the Russians ended up moving to pens too... http://www.hoaxorfact.com/technology/nasa-spent-12-billion-for-space-pen-while-russians-used-pencil-facts.html

https://www.bbc.com/news/technology-49319450 After an accident & investigation the US Navy are ditching touch-screens for controls on ships... who'd have thunk they're not as good as actual physical controls?

Funnily enough I had the opposite experience to mad_pete, our ambulance has spent the best part of a year parked in an open barn and not only started 1st time but then went straight through the MOT although it's noticeable how long-term storage does cause certain bits to deteriorate faster than when it's being used. I still think there should really be a minimal "classic" MOT that covers everything older than a certain date - even if it's only a quick visual check and a whiz round the block to check the thing stops and steers and doesn't catch fire, even the most fastidious classic owner

I must be buying dodgy batteries then as my last Bosch/Varta lasted ~10y, and the battery in my 2008 Jag appears to be the factory original one by the date code.

Defenders have different footwells (the slope is different, pedals mount differently) and transmission tunnel plus a lot of the little dash fastenings are different - it can be made to work as it's obviously not a million miles off in the big scheme of things, but I'd either look at decent correct repair panels for yours or just look out for the right bulkhead at the right price - shiny new galv ones are expensive no matter what but if it's going to be kept forever it's something of an investment, much like a galv chassis.

I once saw someone bring a full-sized vacuum cleaner plus iron and ironing board on a weekend camping trip. Obligatory large TV in the caravan too... had a big twin-axle van and a Discovery towing it and I reckon the whole lot was full to the ceiling with gear & kids and way over any sane weight limit. Agree that caravans are worse for snaking, they're a big lightweight sail with a lot of leverage. Our old club trailer(s) were quite large boxes and you really felt it, the current one is a lower-profile sharp-fronted Ifor, still weighs a fair bit but tows so much nicer.

I wonder if, in an ideal world, you'd have a large press to whack the shape in and if you didn't pre-cut the hole the metal wouldn't split/tear? I know the serious presses they use a bit of lubricant on the surface when doing stuff like that, keeps the metal flowing rather than catching... if you're going into bulkhead production I suspect a fair few people here would be interested given the high cost and variable quality of the stuff on the market.

My mum did a caravan course when she decided to go solo caravanning, despite having been caravanning for decades, and was shocked that there were folks there who owned a huge 4x4 and 30k+ van and had never even realised there was a way to load a caravan to prevent snaking, who'd never heard of nose-weight and one chap who didn't know what a jockey wheel was yet all of them could legally buy & tow a gert big caravan down the motorway with zero extra training... Also the weight ratios on modern cars/vans seem to have moved a fair way, see a hell of a lot of small flimsy (and often over

That's brilliant, and I laughed at the source material

Depending on pipes/wires it may be possible to unbolt the pedal boxes and just shift them up a bit to improve matters without disturbing any plumbing, sometimes a couple of inches clearance can make a job a lot easier.

I think we experienced a total of about 5 midges and caught a few more on the windscreen - suspect we were too late for them or it was too windy.

I think the timing cover discrepancy is Disco 2 Vs P38 or somesuch but I'm no expert.