FridgeFreezer

Thanks guys - TBH I've found ammo boxes, although cheap & sturdy, to be damn heavy and not always the best use of space.

I need to sort out the junk bouncing about in the back of the 109, but the pukka solutions like load-bed drawers and cubby boxes are waaaay too spendy and not exactly what I want/need. My criteria are roughly half way between expedition truck and challenge motor, plus I need a bit of flexibility to get people, gear, or bedding in the back so it can't be anything too massive or complex. Since I have windows, and quite like being able to see out of them, boarding out is not an option. As you may also gather, being able to make it myself, preferably from low-cost or "recycled" parts is a major criteria since I have no pennies left So - what have YOU done, how have you secured your gear or made use of space in the back of your truck? Show me your piccies / tell me your stories It doesn't have to be LR, one of the better installs I've seen is Andy's Bighorn

If you tell it what letters you have, it will work on just those ones - it's very handy although not 100% it usually gets you close or along the right lines.

No, but identifont.com should be able to help find it (use "identify by appearance"). If you find what it is but can't find the font for free (it usually offers you a place to buy it) let me know as I seem to have about 50,000 fonts on my PC

Parabolics are just a replacement item so you won't lose points, a disc conversion should not lose you points either.

You lose a lot through the transmission & tyres. See here and here for dyno losses and how they estimate the flywheel BHP of your engine - a dyno used to cars is going to estimate wrong for a LR. A TD5 Auto is never going to be a race car, you may be chasing a problem that simply doesn't exist.

I've got no great tech to offer, but B&Q value worktop is very cheap, should last 6 months.

What he said ^^^ my dad never cleans his alt after off-roading and as a result it's stopped working about 5 times, but each time I unscrew the brush pack, a bit of WD40 and some wiggling and the brushes un-seize and it works again. It's a cheeky fault as the thing doesn't charge, but the battery light goes out OK so it took a bit of looking first time to work it out

Since you say you've read up already, the quick version is: - A new Series front axle will be cheap and easy, sling some parabolics on and you have an "original" vehicle with a changed engine & box, pretty safe from the SVA man and a less bone-shaking than original. - A coil conversion will be a load of work and, if you're the honest type, inevitably lead to an SVA and all that entails. It will be more comfy though. - Likewise, putting the Disco axles on leaves is a load of work but you do gain disc brakes and it's not such a glaring SVA issue. - If you want a coiled, disc'ed TDi - buy a 90. They're not pricey these days and it will save loads of hassle.

I'd second the oil idea - I'd ring Mr Ashcroft and see what he's got as I'm pretty sure he has some special oils for LT77 & R380.

Put it in D, engage the X-brake, and discharge extinguisher into it. Go home and buy a V8

As in battery cutoff or just to stop accidental use / people playing with the winch when the vehicle's parked up?

The search button is your friend The short answer: No. The popular options: - Coiler PAS box - CPC Pas kit ($$$$$$$) (Search will reveal tonnes of info) The untried options: - Speak to POS to see if they can build a ram like the CPC one - Fit an electric column IMHO the issue with "up-stream" assistance is the relay unit seems to be a weak link, so stuffing 35's on and giving it a load of torque to handle will probably result in shaft failure. Someone on here (I forget who but he has a 109) was saying he'd broken several shafts running manual steering and 9.00x16's

Stumpy - it depends who you listen to and how seriously you take the whole thing, as I said in my post above. If you read the book to the letter and apply it strictly you'd be down the SVA station every time you did some spannering. Corrode finger is right, technically mine and a lot of vehicles inc. all the bobtails & tax exempt coilers out there fall foul of SVA. But then if you want to be that sensitive about it, like I said almost no-one's truck would pass an SVA in the form they drive them around / use them off-road so where do you stop? On the flip side, there is a certain amount of modification / replacement allowed (as Nige found) so what counts and what doesn't? I suspect getting a solid answer from the DVLA / VOSA would be like talking to fog. My personal opinion is that whether you have a ticket or not, if there's a problem you're going to be in just as much trouble either way. If someone from the government tells me to get an SVA, I will, until then I'm happy with my MOT cert and my insurance company are happy with all the mods. The fact that so many trucks (and cars) are running round apparently in flagrant contravention of the C&U/SVA regs suggests to me that it's not a burning issue unless you're building something unrecognisable - for example bombing round in a Seven-style kit car which is still registered as a Sierra is likely to attract interest. Likewise tax exempt plates on a vehicle which is in suspiciously good nick. If technical breaches like bodykits, wheels & tyres, etc. were cause for concern / police interest then I would expect the Max Power lot to be getting a hard time over it as they tend to be the ones with very shakily executed mods (DIY spring chop anyone?) tearing round and crashing into things.

VIC is Vehicle Identity Check and, depending on how they feel, may be a quick inspection or just rubber stamping the V5. Corrode finger knows more than I do on this subject. Basically it's the DVLA satisfying themselves that the vehicle is the one you say it is - low-end write-offs often need it before being put back on the road to stop people ringing them. They check chassis / engine numbers and any other numbers they can find to see that they all tally. The pattern seems to be that if you've built something using a rolling/running chassis and not chopped it about in a big way, you'll get a VIC and keep your plate. If you have done chassis mods or swapped major assemblies round, you'll need an SVA. Interestingly, I have heard there is a limit (15%?) to the amount which you can alter a chassis before needing an SVA, although I can't find anything online about it - and no idea how they work out 15%

Without going deep into VIC/SVA arguments, it all depends on how meticulous you want to be about it and how you interpret the book. Some of that will also be down to your conscience / fear of prosecution in an accident - which is linked to how confident you are of the safety / suitability of design of your vehicle Some maintain that if it's not SVA'd you'd be in trouble, however I personally doubt that having a bit of paper (or not) would make any difference if something you built failed and injured someone. Most of the kit car guys SVA their cars and then bolt loads of good stuff on / remove all the annoying safety bits that the SVA insists on, so it makes a mockery of the thing in the first place as it will go through an MOT even if it would give an SVA man a heart attack. To give an idea, a factory-standard Series or early defender would not pass the car SVA. If you do SVA it, when you start hacking it about technically you should re-SVA it in "battle" trim but I doubt anyone ever does, and I doubt many would succeed if they tried. Mr Wightman was making noises about road legality and SVA for the truck he's not building, so it will be interesting to see if he goes for SVA in full combat trim, and if he succeeds. I think your best bet is to do as Corrode Finger has done - re-use the disco minus the body and get it VIC'd.

I would assume that, if it's still bolted together, the swivel seal should not be able to run off the ball as it should be designed for "worst case" (EG no lock-stops) so I would say Tonk has the answer - you'll bind/break the UJ's rather than damage the seal.

What's the vehicle - 90, 110, CSW, truck cab? I would try to take everything off in the largest chunks possible, if you dismantle things into small bits you will find bits that need attention and end up with a whole lot more work. If you want to do a full restoration, then that's great - if you just want to get a new chassis under it it will set you back a bit.

Blimey, the other four have worn completely away!

Hmmm, I might have to come along to this one, dying to give the 109 a go off-road!

Mine are made from shockingly old Lucas leads and Ford ones taken apart and they have been great I was going to buy magnecors but they've been so good I can't be bothered now. Halfords sell adapters (made by Hotwires IIRC) to connect normal leads to Ford coil packs, I believe Rog is running these and has done deep wading with great success.

You mean this one Geoff? Yeah, puts me off "performance" filters too.

This is too geeky for me but I thought it may be of interest to someone and possibly even of use to those running direct coil drive or farting around with ignition systems: Analyze your ignition coil Rather satisfying that the EDIS coils come out at the top of Bruce's little test.

It's so EXTREME... ...LY empty

The 9th injector doesn't seem to make much difference, connected or not it's a factory bodge anyway. Dodgy running could be a few different things, your best bet is to go through the PDF file in the tech archive methodically and check everything - otherwise you end up going round in circles. Since it's traditional, I'll say now that it is usually quicker to fit MegaSquirt than diagnose Lucarse EFi