FridgeFreezer

Lewis - does the T bolt in place of the K then? Thanks to a bit of help from Jules, I slung a new battery in and we changed the fuel pump and it sprang into life this afternoon. Alternator had seized solid, but WD40 and a socket on a breaker bar unstuck it and it doesn't seem to have suffered for it. The top end is a bit tappetty, but then the oil has seen better days and will be changed. The fuel is well stale, a tank of "ultimate" or such like will be first stop to try to clean it through. Jules spotted a few bits: First off, it seems to be running without anti-freeze, which is less than ideal on an engine famous for cooling issues some proper coolant will be purchased & stuck in ASAP. At some time the driver's door has had a ding and the side of the car has been sprayed, but it's not really noticeable (and I don't care ) It doesn't have ABS, which Jules reckons makes my life easier and cheaper - I'll not be off-roading it so the loss of HDC/ETC is not a worry. The diff problem the previous owner alluded to could be a bush, there is a chalk mark pointing to it which suggests a mechanic has marked it for attention. Apart from that, it needs a sidelight and stoplight bulb and it's about ready for an MOT (after a thrash round the block to clear the stale fuel & the rust off the discs). Only other thing is I need a roof - either soft or hardtop, not fussy, so if anyone's got one they want to part with please PM or e-mail me.

I've driven a PS10, IMHO LR could learn a lot from them - they're a bit basic (but then they're aimed more at the commercial market) but they go really well and seem to overcome a few LR design faults that have been around forever. Apart from the headlights which I'm not overly sure about, I'd have one over a LR.

Paul, that seems to be an early problem and not too difficult to remedy:

Most Shire events are, but joining only costs £10 per year and if you're quick getting your membership form & payment off you should be on the memberlist in time (Will won't thank me for this, sorry Will! ) and you get four rather excellent newsletters for your money too.

I've just discovered the MG ZT-T had a turbo'd 1.8 K-series fitted... street sleeper anyone?

A photo from a bit of an angle would help to see what's going on (or some 3D glasses B) )

ooooh, you bitches!

I can Hell with a pile of wire and a bit of thought, anyone can!

Is that really surprising?

IMHO you'd be missing a trick by not just fitting MegaSquirt and having done with it, but yes it will work fine. To drive the coil feed to the stock ECU you need five diodes from the coil packs to the old coil -ve connection:

You can pull the centre diff as a unit and split it to inspect the shafts/planet wheels, as far as I'm aware if you are just doing that there's no shimming involved - just take the front output housing off and pull the diff. You may need to rotate the gears a few times to allow it to pop out, can't remember...

Thanks guys And thanks to Mr White for reminding me of this one: I'll post piccies when I find a camera to borrow.

Doesn't sound like any definition of remanufacturing I've heard, get it fixed and send them the bill.

Giving prizes that aren't first past the post is a very good idea, and if done well can really encourage newcomers - for example the marshals can nominate people for bits of quality driving, teamwork, well executed recovery, lateral thinking, spirit of the event, or just getting their vehicle somewhere you would think impossible without lockers'n'winches'n'simex etc.

They're pretty basic things, the detent springs and balls (behind grub screws) can fall out but once you've caught them there's really not much to the rest.

Got overtaken by replies there, what I meant is: Lewis - you lovely chappy, can I say "dibs" on the IRD but wait until I've got the thing running to check if it actually needs it Jon - Wallet says no , besides the whole DLander thing is sooo last year now Jules - Cheers mate, I'll give you a bell Saturday when I've got the pump

I think I could live with that though: Actually, that'd make a good replacement for a TDi - probably similar MPG, much more horsepowers, can't weigh much more if any, and twin turbos as standard. Hurrah, back (almost) on topic! Sorry!

Oooooo can I have dibs on that mate? I'd like to get it running and double-check before changing the IRD.

My only plan engine-wise would be to complete the classic restoration by dropping in a 2.6 I6 as it was when it left the factory... RB26DETT's count as equivalent replacement don't they?

That was easy - £30 from the scrappy, collecting it Saturday so then the fun begins

No-one else lets that stop them

You don't have to faff about with a LR engine for long before just fitting something else makes much more sense.

Long story short I am now the slightly bemused owner of a 1998 1.8 3-door softback, which looks like it may replace the RR as a daily driver. It's been stood for 2 years and the fuel pump has seized up (blows fuse), so the first question is where's the best place to get one cheap, can I use one from another car or such like or are genuine ones cheap enough? I have had a lengthy chat with Jules who has increased my FL knowledge by about 1000% (thanks Jules, top bloke!), so I think I've got most of the basics in my head. Originally I'd planned to flog it quick to buy a set of tyres for the 109, but Jules has 99% persuaded me that not only will I struggle to sell it for decent money (being a less popular 1.8 needing a bit of work), but that FL's are less pricey to run than I had assumed. I'll ramble on about the car anyway: It's had a new engine not so long ago (before it was laid up, it was a company car). The soft-top doesn't close on one side, I'm not really sure if it's fixable or if a replacement is in order. Apart from that, it's clean-ish and straight, the previous custodian says it needed something to do with a diff that would cost lots of money, but has no idea what (they know as much about cars than I do about flower arranging) so it could be a new IRD or such, or it could be the rear bushes clonking as they (apparently) do.

Nope, the (aftermarket) electronic ones are programmable.

Without wishing to hijack, the Shire LRC "fun challenge" events (next one being 25th November @ Bunny Lane, plug plug ) have proved popular and I think I can see why - we set out a load of punches, hand out punch cards and let people do what they like. They can work out who did best in the pub later where they can all discuss if J Bloggs got that punch no-one else did, but he's the only one with lockers, etc. etc. We don't set classes, and we don't usually tot up points or give prizes - it's just a play day with a little extra interest that makes people think "I wonder if I can get to that punch" rather than driving round following each other's tyre tracks as many seem to do at normal play days. The fact we're relaxed about what people do, and the lack of serious competition or trophies seems to discourage the big boys from turning up, or if they do they don't take it so seriously either. We have also been working hard to keep the scrappers on trailers away - MOT & insurance is required which seems to work well, plus we always look closely at anything that doesn't come through the gate under it's own steam.