Superpants

Going back a few posts- Protean have come out of PML Flightlink. I have heard various rumours of how/ why, but not really to be repeated on a public forum. I had a conversation with them at a trade show a few years back, and have kept my eyes on what they are doing, and whilst I believe fundamentally their technology, and the idea in general of in-wheel motors is sound, we are some years off seeing a practical solution available. The biggest hurdles seems to me around braking. The motors really do fill the wheels and have no space for any braking components. Whilst regenerative braking is possible, it is still some-way off being practical in a usable car. Firstly mechanical brakes are required by legislation- so for the time being these need to be fitted somewhere- putting them inboard is possible, but you still end up with prop shafts which starts negating some of the benefits of the in wheel motor. Current commercially available battery technologies are not up to handling the full braking currents generated (although there are lab scale demonstrations of chemistries that can around), so super-capacitors would be needed to store the braking current, adding significantly to weight, cost and complexity (and what happens in a long downhill when the energy re-generated is greater than the capacity of the caps? It will come in time, but these are all quite difficult challenges to overcome in a way suitable for a production car. There does appear to be quite a lot of ‘Greenwash’ round this area.

I agree that any change that results in an onus on the owner to check the database is a retrograde step, especially as you are charged to check your own details (Went to have a look last night). Whilst I have no objection to people “having a rant” on the internet, there is a risk that what is presented in an argument gets relied on as fact by other people, whether this was ever the original intention. This seems to me to be worse when the complete facts aren't available. There have been a few useful parts here- the cross post from the vintage forum and the Direct Gov link in particular, which do outline the basics. To date, the legislation does not appear to have been published http://www.legislation.gov.uk/ and certainly not reproduced or linked here, therefore any discussion about the finer details remains speculation. From Direct Gov: “Latest public estimates are that around 1.5 million of all UK motorists drive uninsured. These drivers cost the UK about £500 million annually, which adds up to an average cost of an extra £30 per car insurance policy.” This is to me a worryingly high cost to us all, and I support efforts to reduce it. I will be happy if this new legislation is successfull, so am prepared to give it a chance.

Speculation, Speculation, Speculation........ I'd be pretty sure that many of the points raised as issues (being stopped just after buying a car, how dealers operate etc) will be covered by the legislation, but that as we haven't seen the actual proposed regs we can't yet know. Any press releases or other information that has been released will of it's nature be pretty general and won't get into the nitty gritty about the bits of the regs that will only affect small parts of the public. Let's therefore hold off point out 'Flaws in the system' until we know the actual details of the system, not press releases, heresay and conjecture.... By the way, we're all doomed, doomed I tell you

The standard Wabco ABS module that was fitted on at least earlier defenders is pretty much stand alone. It needs some power up it, and obviously the wheel speed sensor inputs, but as far as I can remember needs nothing else from the vehicle (on CAN bus or otherwise). Lastly it has a few warning lights that could be fitted in anywhere. The systems can be a bit sensitive to EMC and cable specs (capacitance etc), so it would be best to use the sensors available from the OEM manufacturer, but these are not difficult to source

I'm finding this quite worrying- a basically sound idea to try and catch some of the uninsured drivers out there (which has got to be a positive move- particularly having been involved as a passanger in an accident with an un-insured vehicle) has turned into a hypothetical discussion about loopholes. There will always be ways of getting round the law, but if this closes some gaping holes and reduces the number of uninsured vehicles on the road I'll be happy. Likewise I would not like to ever be involved in an incident off road with someone driving a car that had been technically scrapped, had no MOT and no level of insurance. The paperwork and court case resulting from that would be pretty nasty, potentially leaving us all worse off as it could seriously affect how event organisers would obtain insurance in the future.

Gaffer Tape Lots of fun things to do with gaffer

As a serious answer- there a quite a lot of good LCD units coming onto the market that are being used primarily industrial vehicles (backhoes/ combines/ telehandlers etc). Not sure as to the availability as aftermarket parts, but they are beginning to get quite impressive (sealed waterproof, daylight readable, CAN bus compliant, hotkeys for control, -40 to 80C temprange). I particularly like the wachendorff opus A3 as a good allrounder; Wachendorff There are others- Motometer, EIA Electronics, Coba Group, FW Murphy, Bauser Control, Cross Control, Kongsberg and Curtis Instruments to get you going!

I favour the submarine look too; Saltwater Depth Especially like the water depth gauge! Or inspiration from this bike; Steampunk bike

1 Andy D..........……...……..Inverkip, Scotland 2 Dan W ..........……...…….Southampton, hampshire 3 Brian W.........………........Newbridge, Caerphilly, South Wales 4 V8camel……………...…..dorset 98 camel freebie 5 denviks...…………..,…….gosport, hants 6 Steve……………...……...Croydon, Surrey 7 Graham………...………...Llanidloes, Powys SOLD & BOUGHT A YETI 8 FridgeFreezer……..…….Gosport, Hampshire. 9 Mark…………………........Horsham, West Sussex 10 Mark.………………….…...Hedon, East Yorks 11 Exmoor Beast (Will)…......Exmoor obviously 2001-1.8ES 12 12 broon (iain)……………. aberdeen scotland 13 stevo7790 ………………... Pencoed, South Wales 14 Richard....……………….....Kidderminster, Worcestershire. 15 Helen & Chris……………..Bristol 16 David.....……………….......N Cornwall 17 bill2………………………...middlesbrough ,cleveland 18 Al & Cat..…………….........Chester-Le-Street, Co. Durham 19 Cerenko………………….. Doncaster. south yorkshire. 20 kent594 …………………. West Hallam, Derbyshire 21 gary……………………….. herne bay kent 22 David……………………...Morpeth Northumberland 23 windy2408………………...Rhondda South Wales 24 chucknorris666 ………….North West Cumbria 25 carpenter-dj.............…......Dartmoor, Devon. SE TD4 26 George…………………... Durham, North East 27 Stuart H………………......Newport in South Wales 28 Ian........……………..........Lincolnshire/North Lincs border 29 Eric…………………….... Colchester, Essex. 30 Mark (expat)…………….. Glenwood, NSW, Australia 31 Ironboard.……………......Swanley, Kent 32 Simon……………........... Paisley, Scotland CSK FL2 HSE Auto 33 Ootini / Dave......…..........Conwy, Wales 34 pip3658...…………….......Coventry West Midlands 35 Phil y……………………..washington tyne&wear 36 Rousseau………………..Chichester, West Sussex. 37 wayne……………………..deal kent 38 Sacha B…………………..Carlisle Cumbria 39 Paul……………………….Taunton (Somerset) 40 Dave & Mel……………… Aberdeen (Scotland) 41 Elise/Klaas ………….......Utrecht, Holland 42 scrane..........…............... colchester essex 43 Graeme…………………..parkgate southampton 44 Noel & Allie ………….......Bretagne, France 45 steve S ...……………......Halesowen, West Midlands 46 Jonny……………………. Damascus, Syria 47 Hugh……………………..Selkirk, Borders - Corwell in July would be nice. 48 Tony W ....………............Hull East Yorks 49 Neil S .......................Sutton Coldfield West Midlands 50 Andrew F/LR2luver...........Katherine,Northern Territory, Australia 51 Thing ...................... Barnstaple N.Devon 52 silkwood ....................Eijsden, The Netherlands ............. Java black FL1, 5 drs, 10-2005 53 50cc.........................Westerland, The Netherlands........ 3dr 1.8 1999 BFG AT 54 Cyberfarmer..................Manila, Philippines....Td4 55 mcdan........................Redipuglia,GORIZIA,ITALY 45° 50' 46",36 NORTH,13°29'02",67 EAST 56 M005 Devizes, Wiltshire TD4 Auto 5dr Serengeti 57 SmallRoad...................Alton, Hampshire 58 LR NUT ........................Scotland 59 Järv .............. near the ferry to Hull, Europoort NL 60 Eamonn .............. Preston, Lancashire 61 Jagman.2003....................Gloucester 62 steve.o........................exeter 63 Dave, Alexahouse ..............Harrogate. North Yorkshire 64 Moondevil (Bob)................Maylandsea, Essex 65 schuee.........................Grantham, Lincolnshire 3dr TD4 Commercial 66 keith o'connor..................Cork, Rep of Ireland 67 Steve .........................Littlehampton. West Sussex 68 fruitowl.......................tipton, west mids 69 The Caretaker (Andrew).........Hereford. 5dr Td4 Black 56reg. 70 sawcospoff .........( John ).......Wigan Gtr Manchester 71 kleefurd ....... (Clifford) ............ Dalian, North East China (Singaporean in China) 72 RegentRS ................................... Piran....Slovenia, Eu ( Land Rover Klub Sloveija ) 73 mrtibbs ...................... Kettering, Northants 74 gstuart.........................Swanley,Kent 75 defv890.........................Tonbridge, Kent 1.8 5dr sreg 76 jejd (John)..................Plymouth 77 GeoffM........................Chepstow Wales, '02 TD4 S 78 Martifers (Snr)...............Salisbury, Wiltshire. '09 TD4 79 Paul S ......Swindon Wiltshire 80 -Tony................Ely Cambs 81 Mr Bean..................................Grantham, Lincs 82 bansuzdit....................runcorn cheshire 83 Dazza65......................brentford middlesex 84 arabianjules aka John.....Witney, Oxon. (new owner) 85 Superpants- Mike.........Banbury, Oxfordshire

Just not sure I want the poor mileage!

Thanks guys- some very useful replies- I will start looking at them a bit closer. Real world mileage is very helpful! Thanks Fridge- Had notced your bargain your friendly breaker hasn't got any more kicking around has he? Ideally looking for something I can use straight away as I'm currently running on a borrowed disco (which is proving very handy), but that I ought to return soon!

I have been looking at buying a Freelander- seriously after the gearbox in my 306 recently gave up the ghost. Ideally I have been looking for a TD4, but seem to be struggling to find a reasonable example at the price I want to pay. To date I haven’t found much info on peoples experiences with the L series engine more than the general it’s old and a bit underpowered. Can anyone help with their experiences of if this engine variant is worth looking at- I want to be able to use it for a daily commute of 6 miles each way, weekend trips of up to around 500 mile round trips and possibly towing a small trailer (no caravans/ horseboxes!). Hope someone can fill me in!

There are a number of rules of thumb depending on the application; As has already been mentioned a min of 1.5 times OD is a good rule of thumb for bolts into tapped holes- but bear in mind the material the hole is tapped into will have an effect. I.e. the softer the material, the longer the thread engagement required. Also the failure mode (if the bolt is in tension)will change dependent on the length of engagement. For short engagements in soft material, the tapped thread will strip, for longer engagements in a higher strength material the bolt will fail. There are calculations to determine this. If you threading into a nut then it is normal practice to leave at a minimum of 1 to 2 threads protruding- primarily to ensure that the nut is on a fully formed section of the bolt, not on a taper. There is a lot of useful info on this site; Boltscience

Most cars are nowehere near rated for that sort of load on the roof around 50kg is quite typical- the attachments to the vehicle are likely to be a major weak point- not necessarily how well the trailer is attached to the roof rack. Sounds like a bargain though!

In my time working on electrical design for MOD vehicles, I never came across a dual LHD/RHD lamp unit. There was a requirement though from our MOD customers for the changing of a headlight unit to be quick and easy (under 5 minutes and only basic on vehicle tools- eg screwdriver) for this reason, as well as changing due to damage.

Farnell will allow you to do a credit card order without an account, although there is a minimum value. They and RS carry a lot of the industrial switches, so if you want something bigger/ chunkier they are a good source.

That's good then! Never spotted that bosch catalogue before- looks very useful!

Chief Have used these in the past- A US company but found them quite helpful.

Are you able to post a picture up and any part numbers that are readable- There are some of the Bosch parts manufactured by Tyco (AMP) that may be identifiable in some of the data I have at work. It may then be possible to request a sample.

Of the various lamp units we trialed whilst I was at Pinzgauer, the best all-round option turned out to be the wipac ones- they have quite a good selaing cap over the back of the lamp. The bosch and hella parts we tried took on more water and muck.

There are two companies called Birst- one is an american business analytics company- Can't see it being them! The other (the only one listed with companies house)was incorporated in January this year.....

Another vote for Polevolt. Thre are a very limited number of trade distributors that the retail/ mail order suppliers buy from, so within reason all the companies listed will tend to carry very similar stock.

And made in England too!

Have you asked the seller???? Otherwise what has been suggested is a very good guide to what is likely.

There are such things as turbo generators- as far as I know the only real world use for them (other than the odd foray into motorsport) is combined heat and power plants where the system can be designed to cope with the required flows through the exhaust and the associated back pressure. With modern engines, the deign of the exhaust system is critical to the emissions of the vehicle, so it isn't very practical to add items into the system without a lot of development work. Having said that, you can get power out of a junction of disimilar metals- the seebeck effect. This is the way a thremocouple works, generating a voltage from the heat input. With enough junctions you could extract maybe a few watts of electricity- this is horrendously inefficient!