streaky

As a matter of interest to me and other first time users of the 8274. Exactly how much over-run do these winches give when spooling in or out with no load?....I found mine continued for another 8-10 inches before stopping completely. I have just rebuilt mine with a 6hp XP motor and a set of the larger surface area brakes discs (compliments of Mark 90..cheers mate!) Last week I used the winch in anger for the first time to get Cols110 out of a pickle....I was surprised on how much over-run the thing had. Is this down to the faster motor or are the brake discs on the winches rubbish by nature? My free-spool knob is stuck in perminantly....not a problem when you have a winch as fast as this one though. Lewis.....have you seen the excellent rebuild page on Pirate 4x4 for the 8274? I found it very usefull considering I'd never even seen an 8274 winch before being given mine! Regards. S

Could you honestly say that your desicion to buy a new car or 4x4 would ever be influenced by what that program has to say? Clarkson is a nothing more than a freakishly ugly jester. Having watched some of the things he does to cars makes you wonder if what he says and does is either supposed to be a joke or perhaps it's really his honest opinion as an idiot. He'd be better off writing desperate scripts for fifth rate comedy shows than doing jounalist work.......

I didn't take any Col! Too busy with grubby mits to grab the camera. You're right though....I should take some before the things get all covered in muck. The use of a four post lift made the job alot easier than it would trying to fit then whilst still on the ground though.

For the record and if anyone needs advice on how to go about it. I have installed two sill fuel tanks to my Discovery Series I. They hold an additional 45lts each side, are made from Stainless steel and use an externally mounted pump to transfer fuel from the sill tanks to the main tank. I fitted one tank each side of the chassis, which means two sets of switches, relays, and two pumps. The tricky part is the plumbing. Both tanks need to be filled from underneath the wheel arches...not much good for you mud luvers unless you protect the filler cap from wet mud. The fuel is pumped to the rear tank via the existing main tank breather....it's an inch I/D but is still quite slow... a faster pump will overcome this I guess... but the ones that came with the kit from Safari Equip (WVA Holdings) do the job.....just. The tanks and fitting kit contain everything needed for the fitment apart from an electric drill and spanners. As a precaution I drilled the nessesary holes and mounted the tanks last weekend, I then removed them both and undersealed the car. After a weeks drying of the underseal I then reinstalled the tanks and completed the pipework. The Disco now has a fuel capacity of 180 litres on board. The ground clearance is not affected because the tanks still arn't the lowest point to the floor. These tanks are not intended for LPG, but will work fine for both petrol and deisel. S.

I used the matt black sign making material made from sticky back plastic PVC (Fas-cal). If you go down this route be sure you have two or three helpers with you during application. Apply glass cleaner to the well cleaned surface and have a rigid squeegy to ease out the bubbles. Start at the middle and work the bubbles towards the outside...your helpers should support the edges of the film as you work on it. I bought mine at Billing and kept the backing paper/release liner as a pattern to make more should the need arise.(or I screw up the first application which I didn't!) Top Tip. After application and allowing for a few days for the adhesive to dry out to take hold.....give the surface a wipe over with Armoral or similar. It will make it alot easier to keep the surface 'black' and not dark grey. I'm no painter and the thought of masking off the bonnet and then having to spray it evenly was too much a daunting task for me. I also sell self adhesive products for a living and feel more comfortable working with this type of material. Hope this helps. Regards. S.

And just to complicate things.....the V8 models with air con have two different sizes/part numbers of serpentine belt to choose from. Sorry I don't have the part numbers... but last week I was down at my local Landy garage compiling a spares box for my trip and this same question came up. Regards. S.

Will.....FYI, Simon the Difflock Admin dude was looking for something like that. Could be another potential customer? Regards. S.

I was out tinkering with the thing last night and have narrowed it down to the wiring on the back of the key switch / column. There is definatly a slow short there and sometimes even a dead short. I had 12.8 volts and then after a rumage I would get 3.8 volts... at least I was able to give the sparky something to go by. More follows...........................

Is that a load of Bull Sh*t...................... .......along the side of the car? I saw a coach that hit a camel doing 120kph in Saudi......not much left of the camel and it wrote off the coach killing the driver at teh same time. I don't think any form of bull bar/winch bumper call em' what you will... could withstand hitting a beast of size at 60mph anyway. I know the coaches in Oz have those big Roo catchers up front don't they. I was on a coach going from Sidney to Surfers...with a driver called 'Barry the Basher' on account of he didn't slow down for Roo's on the road! Nutter!

My dash in the 130 was just so shabby I decided to tart it up with a new tread plate one. All fuses and relays were moved inside behind the new dash onto proper fuse/relay holders and the ECU lives in the new glove box. A few more guages and monitoring systems were also built into whilst it was in the fabrication stage. Make templates from card and sticky tape before finally transferring them over the the tread plate for initial cutting and welding. The Roof console is an ARB retail item bought off of Siggy a few years ago for 150 quid......they are close to 200 now from Deveon 4x4. The rear end of the 130 has also had the 100% checkerplate pimp over...but's it's just such practicle stuff and oh so easy to work with!

Exploding jerry cans full or half full of petrol when shot with a firearm is a load of rubbish. Me and my mates tried to blow up a petrol filled jerry can with a 9mm Browning Hi-Power out in the desert one night and all we succeded in doing was ruining a pefectly good steel jerry by putting holes in it. To blow up a fuel container you need a very good ratio of atomised fuel air mixture and a strong spark. Any one watch Mythbusters? Back to the plot though. The connector blocks are PVC or nylon....will not disolve or melt in petrol. Just be certain that the screws/wires cannot come undone though! Most automotive cable used these days is PVC coated and will alright. The connections have to be rock solid though.....this is where you can cause heat build up or fires etc.

It's part of a aftermarket kit called the GULF Campaigne. I was one of the guinea pigs for it back in Saudi in 98'. It's not just a grill though. The entire kit is made up of a bigger capacity radiator, bigger fan shroud, 120 amp alternator, new plastic fittings all over the place and a plastic type skid pan to go underneath the radiator. The purpose of the kit was to improve both engine cooling and the air conditioning performance. 100% of the air going through the grill is therefore uterlised into cooling....and very effective it is too! Simmonittes in the UK make a sports grill similar to the Saudi one but it's just for show. The actual grills themselves are worth a packet now...and even out here in the Gulf I am always looking for them in the breakers yards for people like yourself who want them. Is your Disco a DI or DII ? I have sent them overseas in the past if you're still interested. Regards. S.

Hi Richard.....Frank @ AAA had a handfull of the Australian made Magnum twin head compressors for sale. These are fitted to the Ozzie Parentie rigs for fast on-board air. Two decent sized pistons like a little Harley Davidson engine and a super neat reservoire set-up makes for a really fast pump. 1000 Dhs each.....I nearly took one but the engineering required to fit one along with the Air Conditioning was a huge task. Tim Ansell has one sitting in his garage and no truck to fit it to since he rolled the Rangie! Good to hear you're still wheelin'. Regards. S.

They all seem to be either copies or clones of the great Viair compressor...the Max Air certainly takes some beating though. I have had mine for three years and it still works a treat. It may well be from the same factory as Viair....guess we'll never know. Not like those ARB things that have an allergy to dust. At 160quid a pop you'd think they were up to it... but I've got through two of them in two years and would never buy another one. Switched to max Air and have never been happier. I made comment at Billing a few years ago about the Matt Savage ones and the prices he charges...he didn't reply back... just cut me a look. Good luck to him...but I'd never pay that. S.

The Black 10k ones are the latest in the cataloge of soft shackles. At the time...the yellow ones were the highest rated in the range. I threw the packaging away...but IIRC they were 7500k. I can't remember what I paid for them either...we got together at the club and bought a job lot in one go. I actually paid for mine on the morning after a mega campout with the most stonking hangover....I could have paid 500 quid each and still wouldn't be any the wiser today! Let me get onto the club and see what we paid....perhaps you'd get some leverage on the pricing. Now Andy knows not to charge anything over 39 quid!....leave sales to the pro's mate! Regards. S. PS. Mark. Got the 8274 wired up and running over the weekend.....jobs a goodun' mate. I fixed the hand controller...or rather one of my tea pickers did. Chat soon.

Hi guys....thx for the replies and also for the various PM's on the same subject. The reason that Ireland is so attractive is because my mate (who these guards are intended for) can get free air freight from Dublin to Dubai. Freight is usually the biggest killer when ordering this kind of stuff. Cols....WVA....Hmmmm. I bought a set of twin sill tanks for my Discovery through them @ Billing. They quoted me four weeks lead time and ended up taking thirteen weeks! Not the kind of service that promotes repedative business really! For tank fitting......you're on mate! Mobile stage systems...love that company. Their gears just reaks of quality. Just wish they did summat about their pricing....at least you get what you pay for with them!

Not nessesarily Main Dealers.....suppliers of after market Rover parts who might have 90 Window guards in stock would be a start. Thx, S.

You don't fancy a job in the local LR dealers in Saudi Arabia replacing front windsheilds do yer? My 98' Discovery I was in and out of the Riyadh main dealers four times for a new rubber seal and even then they couldn't seal it properly. I bought the car from new and this saga happened over the course of the three year warranty. I needed a new windsheild due to stone damage....insurance was paying for it so WTF...get a new one. Washed the car...water leaking in through the top somewhere. Back to dealers....complained. They tried to fix the leak by using silicone. Washed the car...water leaking in through top still. Back to dealers....tried again to stop the leak using a new set of window rubber sealing strips. Washed the car....water leaking in through top still. Back to dealers for the forth time. They said they would remove the glass and clean up the surrounding frame to do the job. They stripped the frame back to bare metal!!! Then here's the best bit.....they resprayed the windsheild surrounding frame with the roofrack still on the car. The result of which caused most of the roof to be covered with overspray. But the windsheild no longer leaked. Hurrah....for four years. I moved to Dubai in 2001 taking my 98' with me. Last year the windscreen started to leak again.....I gave it to my local LandRover approved garage to fix. They called me at home to say that the entire frame of the windscreen was rotten to the bones! Water had gotten into the windsheild rubbers and made it's self at home for three or four years....LandRover in Saudi had not even primed the steel frame around the roof portion of the glass before putting the glass back in and spraying it. It cost me a fortune to get the repairs done....so bravo to you sir for doing such a wonderfull job!

Do we know of any dealers in Ireland (the Southern bit) that sell window guards for a Defender 90? It's a long story....so just a name and email addy would be great and I'll do the rest. Thanks and regards. S.

Cols...see my post on me4x4 about Trinity engineering. They would be the locals lads in Dubai to make a special and balance it. Let them have the old UJ's or even supply them with up-rated ones if possible...wider yoke perhaps? Personally I think the shaft had a weak point to start with (dented perhaps). Your points about Mabsey are well valid and I know Mark hasn't twatted a prop on the Saluki in all the time I've serviced it. My 130 has a longer proppy than yours (or at least I'm pretty certain it has...I'd have to check and confirm that) and I'm pushing heaps more power through it than a TD5....hence I still think your old one was faulty from the start and you'd be ok in future to stick with a standard one. (that and the fact that you drive like my granny anyway!)

Ever thought of joining the Boy Scouts Andy? You'd get a badge for that little effort mate!

Try here mate http://www.lirosropes.se/pdf/XTREME%20Catalogue.pdf they do mail order. We bought a job lot for our club...but if you're really in the stoomph...I will post you one of mine and you can return it to Dubai when you're done. Regards. S.

Fans are Kenlow Turbo veins or some flashey name.....The aluminium shroud was made by Mark Powell...Team Saluki Driver/Pilot. He works for Serck Services...those awefully nice people who make radiators , heat exchangers and intercoolers. The overall design was one that I'd copied from an earlier hybrid I had a few years ago....a 3.9 EFi Series III Lightweight coupled to a Borg Warner 66 Auto. Running in 100+ desert temperatures teaches us a lot about cooling our engines. Running them through 5 day rally raids teaches us even more! I've not tried the water wetter (prolly coz we don't see it on the shelf here), we use a 50/50 mix of Mocol coolant + water. The Mocol raises the boiling point of water a few more degrees.

I think I'm the only person on this site using them at the moment Andy. As an entrepeneur you might have to buy one and use it as a pattern for the rest. They sell them in single packs.... Regards. S.

This is the only picture I have of the engine and rad during the instalation stage. I hope you can see how the shroud works now. Don't use those stupid little 'poke them through the rad' zippy things to secure the fans. They will eventualy ruin your new investment. Regards. S.