Turbocharger

Some nice long exposures there Dave - 30 seconds or more? Best I've achieved with a similar effect is this (and there's no snow, sorry!)

Umm, Jase? Your Ninety's not a hardtop any more - but you could sell tickets to see you trying to curl up in a caged truckcab. Gymkhana event anyone?

Done - better than a magazine subscription: no adverts, a range of opinions and some real expert advice across the board, all bundled together in a well-edited package!

Sounds like the switch you have will work fine in the bottom hose. The top hose gives a better idea of what the engine's doing, but if it dumps a load of heat to the rad and there's sufficient ambient cooling (ie on the motorway) then the fan's not needed. Top hose is "better safe than sorry" but means the fan will run more often (and also neater/easier to install), but bottom hose is probably more efficient.

Used carefully, I've managed successful road recoveries with a KERR. The "towee" doesn't need as much skill to keep the rope tight and there's some 'give' for give-ways etc. Obviously if you back up for a runup then you're going to be picking Eurobox tow point out of your back door but as Rob says, if you're sensible then it works fine.

I'm not sure that the reluctance to use voluntary labour is political. I was part of a voluntary team working on the steps, and further along by the frog pond, as part of a GLASS/TRF group in 1999. I speculate that it's on H&S issues but I'm not sure what was different back then. I will remove the writeup of my trip over Christmas if it helps.

Well? What did you find?

I drove this lane in a group on 28th December and stopped for a look at this smashed-up truck. I've got some pictures of it from then if they're any use?

Can a mod delete this thread please? Stupid me clicked again, thinking nothing was happening...

After Christmas I led a group of three vehicles out around the Peaks to enjoy some good scenery and see if we could find anything to tax the newcomer to our group, a bog-standard Suzuki Jimny on road tyres. After a few muddy rutted lanes south of Bakewell we headed towards Sheffield and crossed Houndkirk Moor: Both the Ninetys were taking it well despite some snow still lying where the sun hadn't caught it, and the Jimny was surprisingly composed over some very rough ground. Encouraged, but mindful of the conditions we headed to Stanage, down hill and with the Jimny leading so we had the two winches behind it in case of trouble. The Jimny struggled a little with ground clearance to the radius arm mounts (some big clonks!) and was a little short of wheel travel, but very impressive for the toy offroader we all thought it was. Some lovely scenery up there. The ramblers lined up silhouetted like the Mafia from the Italian Job to watch our red, white and blue convoy, but none had a bad word to say (to our faces) and most were very impressed with the Jimny in fact. Buoyed by the good, dry conditions and the ability shown by the Jimny, we decided to have a look at Roych Clough. This Discovery was at the top (after Mountain Rescue had retrieved the owners) - a bad omen perhaps? I have more photos from about 3pm on 28th December if they'd be of use to the owner, please PM me. We headed on down the track, as slowly as possible with the Jimny in the middle of the convoy to give best chance of recovery if it got beached or stuck. Bearing in mind that it was growing dark and the temperature was slipping towards zero, we tackled the steps individually - some were rather large which was a little concerning for the Jimny! In fact, the Jimny bounced down fine, with just a couple of scrapes to the radius arm mounts. However, the second Ninety didn't fare so well, slipping on the wet/icy rocks and one wheel climbed the bank just as another dropped down a step, and the whole car tipped slowly onto the driver's side. Everyone was ok, no injuries and the situation was safe with everyone out of the car within 5 mins. With two support cars and six people, we felt able to tackle the recovery although we needed to winch the Ninety from behind - the best car was mine, but it was at the front of the group. We looked at the ground to the side of the lane but didn't want to cause any more damage than was entirely necessary, so with no time-critical issues I drove the rest of the lane (which I am familiar with, albeit twelve months ago) down to Chapel and then back up to come along behind the stricken Ninety. The rest of the party planned the recovery and waited in the warm Jimny. With a group of four in the right clothing and state of mind, I had no qualms about leaving them. Once back with the group, we put a winch cable on the bulkhead outrigger to pull sideways and from behind, got everyone uphill of the recovery and pulled it back onto the bank. Carefully re-entering the rolled car through the uphill door, it was driven on RH lock back onto the lane with a combination of the starter motor and winch cable, until squarely back on all four wheels. We checked the oils and fluids, topped up a little lost engine oil and assessed the damage: one bent sill, one bent mirror arm (but no smashed mirrors or glass!) but a rather distraught Brownchurch roofrack. In truth, I think the rack took the impact of the three-foot fall and saved the rest of the car and its occupants from further damage. With everything and everyone checked over, we drove the rest of the lane with similar caution and then headed for home. I don't mean this writeup to sound overly cautious but I don't want to be tarred with the "gung-ho" attitude that I assume other groups have had when I've seen six or seven vehicles out laning, tackling banks and ditches which aren't on the ROW and treating vehicle rollovers as entertainment. This was a serious incident for our group and we were very aware that we could have seen damage, injuries or worse, during the roll or during the subsequent recovery. We did consider calling mountain rescue when the vehicle rolled, but thought they'd see us as stupid for ringing when we still had two working vehicles. We also considered leaving the recovery until the next day, for better light and warmer temperatures, and indeed this was our backup plan if the simple winch righting had failed. Overall, an enjoyable day but with a two-hour pause for thought at the end. Impressed with the showroom-spec Jimny though.

After Christmas I led a group of three vehicles out around the Peaks to enjoy some good scenery and see if we could find anything to tax the newcomer to our group, a bog-standard Suzuki Jimny on road tyres. After a few muddy rutted lanes south of Bakewell we headed towards Sheffield and crossed Houndkirk Moor: Both the Ninetys were taking it well despite some snow still lying where the sun hadn't caught it, and the Jimny was surprisingly composed over some very rough ground. Encouraged, but mindful of the conditions we headed to Stanage, down hill and with the Jimny leading so we had the two winches behind it in case of trouble. The Jimny struggled a little with ground clearance to the radius arm mounts (some big clonks!) and was a little short of wheel travel, but very impressive for the toy offroader we all thought it was. Some lovely scenery up there. The ramblers lined up silhouetted like the Mafia from the Italian Job to watch our red, white and blue convoy, but none had a bad word to say (to our faces) and most were very impressed with the Jimny in fact. Buoyed by the good, dry conditions and the ability shown by the Jimny, we decided to have a look at Roych Clough. This Discovery was at the top (after Mountain Rescue had retrieved the owners) - a bad omen perhaps? I have more photos from about 3pm on 28th December if they'd be of use to the owner, please PM me. We headed on down the track, as slowly as possible with the Jimny in the middle of the convoy to give best chance of recovery if it got beached or stuck. Bearing in mind that it was growing dark and the temperature was slipping towards zero, we tackled the steps individually - some were rather large which was a little concerning for the Jimny! In fact, the Jimny bounced down fine, with just a couple of scrapes to the radius arm mounts. However, the second Ninety didn't fare so well, slipping on the wet/icy rocks and one wheel climbed the bank just as another dropped down a step, and the whole car tipped slowly onto the driver's side. Everyone was ok, no injuries and the situation was safe with everyone out of the car within 5 mins. With two support cars and six people, we felt able to tackle the recovery although we needed to winch the Ninety from behind - the best car was mine, but it was at the front of the group. We looked at the ground to the side of the lane but didn't want to cause any more damage than was entirely necessary, so with no time-critical issues I drove the rest of the lane (which I am familiar with, albeit twelve months ago) down to Chapel and then back up to come along behind the stricken Ninety. The rest of the party planned the recovery and waited in the warm Jimny. With a group of four in the right clothing and state of mind, I had no qualms about leaving them. Once back with the group, we put a winch cable on the bulkhead outrigger to pull sideways and from behind, got everyone uphill of the recovery and pulled it back onto the bank. Carefully re-entering the rolled car through the uphill door, it was driven on RH lock back onto the lane with a combination of the starter motor and winch cable, until squarely back on all four wheels. We checked the oils and fluids, topped up a little lost engine oil and assessed the damage: one bent sill, one bent mirror arm (but no smashed mirrors or glass!) but a rather distraught Brownchurch roofrack. In truth, I think the rack took the impact of the three-foot fall and saved the rest of the car and its occupants from further damage. With everything and everyone checked over, we drove the rest of the lane with similar caution and then headed for home. I don't mean this writeup to sound overly cautious but I don't want to be tarred with the "gung-ho" attitude that I assume other groups have had when I've seen six or seven vehicles out laning, tackling banks and ditches which aren't on the ROW and treating vehicle rollovers as entertainment. This was a serious incident for our group and we were very aware that we could have seen damage, injuries or worse, during the roll or during the subsequent recovery. We did consider calling mountain rescue when the vehicle rolled, but thought they'd see us as stupid for ringing when we still had two working vehicles. We also considered leaving the recovery until the next day, for better light and warmer temperatures, and indeed this was our backup plan if the simple winch righting had failed. Overall, an enjoyable day but with a two-hour pause for thought at the end. Impressed with the showroom-spec Jimny though.

Easy - soft top. Question is, standard shape (to fit internal/external cage) or something a bit different?

BBC News today suggests that Shackleton has dodged a bullet by missing out - Ben from Southall got stung by a tiny jellyfish, but he's ok now.

You'd need very chunky hydraulics to throw the wheels from side to side at that kind of speed too, or else you'd start to develop issues with the lag between the joystick speed and the steering position. Then there's the issue with the lack of feedback, as suggested above. It's surprising how much interaction comes back through the resistance in the steering, hence why it feels weird when you steer on ice or gravel, or particularly if you jack one wheel in the air.

The ford's about halfway between the motorway and Kemble airfield - you've done well not to spot it! Kite or buzzard, I tried to get a better picture but it's awkward because the little buggers keep moving. The things you see when you haven't got your telephoto lens, eh?

(Disclaimer - I know f-all about Td5s) If it's shearing studs then there's a sideways movement between manifold and head. Bigger studs will just pass this stress elsewhere, which might mask the problem rather than solve it. Either remove the webs to reduce the thermal expansion, or make the bolted joint more tolerant by giving it more room and less clamping force so it can move.

Excellent project! Have you got a motor and controller in mind? And (although I'm not one to let this stop a perfectly interesting project) what will you use it for?

Ta - it's only the spare, so I'm hppy with it as a 'get home' option. As an aside, I got a new stem today but couldn't pull it through to seat it. I decided to let the air pressure push it home as it seated the tyre bead, but I was struggling to make it seal enough to build any pressure. Then I fiddled with the air line to get a better purchase and fired the stem into the tyre carcass at Mach 1. I've given it to the professionals to fix now.

You've downloaded an illegal copy of "VapourCAD" for Christmas and you're looking to dimension up a project? I've got a Milemarker motor you can borrow...

I'd be surprised if it's waxing in this instance. The 5% bio content in the fuel can drop out, but it'd quickly join the mix again when the temperature rises, so I'd expect to see a problem within 200yds of home, rather than 25 miles down the road (when the return pipe has been circulating warmer diesel through the tank for a few miles). If you can catch a sample in a jar, you could warm it in a pan (or even just keep it in the cab) and see if it re-liquifies at room temperature? A little (5%) petrol in the mix in cold weather won't do it any harm, mind.

I took the long route to finish my Christmas shopping, and didn't find any of the gridlock that the news is reporting... I have a new camera, so took the opportunity to test drive it too. A lovely sign of the time of year. I was the first person today along the lane, so it was perfect and unspoiled. The ford wasn't too deep, but the water in the footwell was crushingly cold! Offroad winter scene. There was ice on several of the puddles along the route - this one was nearly half an inch thick! It's been a couple of years since I've been down to Easton Grey, and I was shocked at the level of erosion from illegal offroading there. It's a SSSI and a breeding ground for crayfish, but the local authority's concrete 'sharks teeth' are now scattered around, including in the river itself. What can you do when they have 4WD and winches? I had a (ahem) "moment" on the backroads on the way back, as I discovered what happens when a Torsen diff sends all the power to the outside rear wheel when cornering in snow! I did spot some wildlife though - can anyone ID the bird? It had a ~4ft wingspan!

Just a very light covering in Gloucestershire, but enough to bring entertainment to the backroads...

Ta - they may only be pence, but when you're out in the countryside and it's a Sunday evening, that doesn't really matter... At least I know that I went down the hard route and lost

I tried to remove the valve stem from my spare wheel today because it's leaking around the base (tubeless). I know how they go in, nice and easy for the Kwikfit crew with their threaded pull-tool that screws on to the valve cap threads, but I've only ever seen them cut the old one off. I don't have a replacement stem, so I thought I'd try to 'help' it back through with the aid of a couple of screwdrivers. Since all four screwdrivers punctured the rubber, I'll be buying a new stem anyway. Can someone ease my mind and tell me it's not possible to remove it without damaging it?

I probably don't know the answer, but ... what was the question??