Turbocharger

Nah, at 6500lbs he's going to bolt it to the inside of the cab roof so he can drag "just enough" steel into the Ninety for the next light-duty bracket or cupholder...

Hopefully you've solved your problem. If you're still struggling, and you're willing to try anything, it could be a relationship between the two propshafts. You'll sometimes find that the front prop, with the different angles across the UJs, can excite a harmonic across the (open) centre diff, which reflects rotationally off the uncorrected middle section of the rear prop - before the second UJ corrects the speed. Solution: remove both props. Problem goes away completely.

African or Asian?

Sorry chap, I'll be getting drunk in another county. Have you thought about getting a swap axle for the week and doing the work in the evenings?

I just renewed mine with Sureterm - no problem with a considerable list of modifications (continuation sheet...) and a discount for being an LR4x4 member. I'm sure they'll screw me for a refund / cancellation / moving house / adding drivers / changing the colour of the fuel gauge etc - just as anyone else will. The only company that I've found who have been "fair" in the traditional sense of business ethics was NFU, but they went rather cold when I started modifying my Ninety - I guess their bread and butter customers will go as far as an Ifor Williams top and folding side steps, and no further.

Hmm. Food for thought here. I had discounted the idea of bolting through the canvas but it might not be that much of a nightmare to mess about with - and it keeps the cost nearer to £sensible. Just need a set of hood sticks really... I'll try the idea out by taking the roof off (after the forum laning trip - I'm not that stupid!) and see how I get on. I've not had the roof off in nearly ten years - since the cage was fitted, in fact.

You could have a loose injector or a missing sealing washer? Or the 'doc doc' noise could be linked to the vacuum pump (if a 200Tdi has a vac pump too?)

This is surely an issue that others have dealt with before... I have a hardtop Ninety with a Tornado Motorsport cage; the rear hoop joins to the front via sandwich plates on the side of the hardtop, above and behind the corners of the doors. Bad photo: I'd like to convert the car to soft-top, but I want to retain the cage. I could just bolt through the canvas via eyelets in the same way as with the hardtop at present, but I'd like to be able to remove the canvas without unbolting the front hoop etc. Since Google is my friend, I have turned up the following links, in ascending order of wackiness: All Wheel Trim's page shows a very neat conversion of a Ninety with poppers around the cage (and a weird sleeve arrangement that I don't like): Frog's Island have a range of tiny photos showing that such an idea is possible, but no real illustration of how they do it. Rover World cover the installation of a cage into a soft-top in great detail, bolt by bolt, but completely skip the bit that I'm interested in. Nene Overland have a big selection of soft-top options, including this foldable fastback version, but I don't see how it'd fold without 1) looking like a pram and 2) unbolting the front cage. If I was starting with a completely new design I'd make shape it so it curved down and inwards at the rear (like the Brahma tops for Mitsu L200s or the BMW X6) for better aerodynamics(!) but I'm steering towards commercial products on the grounds of cost. This must have been done before - any ideas or should I just put wingnuts on the sandwich plates that currently go through the roof?

I too will work for Jaffa cakes and can give Charlie a lift down on my way through. What're you doing on weekend 14/15th November?

Oh, you will, you will. I'd go with what's said above - pick a plan and stick to it, but that doesn't mean you should blinker yourself to the other options available. It strikes me that your problem is the location of the t-box lever? If you include a manual gearstick it'll poke out in a similar location. It's not the work of a fabrication god to produce a linkage to move the original t-box shifter (or go cable) and put it on the console as planned, with your PRND321 shifter alongside. You could fold up a triangular 'wedge' to take the PRND shifter alongside what you have at present. I may have missed the point already but, as John said, small progressive improvements deliver better than delayed perfection.

Just got back home from this and, I have to say, not massively impressed. Saw some familiar faces and lots of second-hand parts but as the "LRO show" I was expecting more big name stands there, and by 1pm on Sunday most of the traders were starting to pack away. I walked in to find I only had a second-hand car dealer, the offroad course and a dodgem stand for my £8 entry fee. Most of the show was hidden behind these stands and there was enough to justify the entry fee, just. I'll be back next year in the hope that it's a much bigger event with more of the major players turning out too; the venue's perfect for a much bigger show, which is what seems to be strangling Billing from expanding any further. Highlight for me was the 110 Hi-cap hot tub conversion - despite the steady trickle out of the back it looked entertaining, especially to drive around with the potential to slosh down your back I believe that Mr Lovejoy may have had a bit of a 'stuck' on the offroad course too?

If corrosion took even a very small amount off the diameter of the wire that makes up the spring, the rate would change. IIRC the rate is proportional to the fourth power of the wire radius(?)

Saw this at the Weston Beach Races - it's just a car with a DJ in the top of it and loud music blaring, but something made me look twice... Spot anything familiar?

You'll tend to find that any but the tiniest amount of sealant is squeezed out either side of the joint. You can trim off the outer bit but the internal bead floats around inside. In an axle, unlikely to be a problem but I've seen engines seize because the oil pickup pipe is blocked by strings of RTV after a sump has been replaced.

Good point Will - what does your workshop look like?

Thanks Ian, some really interesting reading here. I've got a Trutrac in the back of my Ninety and I find it goes further than it did with two open diffs, particularly if helped with a little left foot braking or using the inertia of the tyre as a 'load' across the diff. It's not an ARB and never will be, but it's simple and I like getting my head around the load paths of the helical gears etc. I find with moderate power (Tdi...) it helps cornering on loose surfaces - as the car leans and the inner wheel goes light, the power now comes from the outside rear wheel, turning the car into the bend. I'm sure V8 power means oversteer but it works well in combination. As Mark90 says, conversely that means you're sometimes left pointing uphill if negotiating a sideslope. Ian's comments re durability are interesting (and much appreciated), but I've not broken mine yet so it'll stay...

SWMBO and I have booked at the Wild Pheasant for Friday and Saturday night, incl dinner on Friday night. They stop serving food at 9pm so we'd better not break down on the way!

I've a Masters Honours degree in Automotive Engineering, and it taught me nothing which contributed to me VGTing my 300Tdi. After doing it, with the experience I've got now, I'd have a go at supercharging if I started again but probably more for interest's sake than for real performance. Bish - pressure waves + girders = Tacoma Narrows. You boys need us.

Hotel list, please add: Turbocharger + SWMBO (double room, or a twin room if I p*ss her off) Are we staying one night or two?

It depends what you're looking for from your engine. A cost effective solution for 1 bar of boost from 1800rpm from a 200 / 300 Tdi exists out of the factory. I wanted better grunt at lower revs so I could take advantage of longer gearing, reduce noise levels, get an MPG benefit and enjoy slightly more power too. I went down the VGT route and I now have 1 bar of boost at 1400rpm and 1.5bar at 1800rpm - I suspect my turbo's not quite so well matched as it could be so there's possibly more to come. I reckon you could see more boost from <1000rpm using a supercharger - how far do you want to go for that instant response? VGTs are more fashionable but I reckon you could build a supercharged setup for less ££ than a VGT install.

I thought about this before I went VGT. Fuelling shouldn't be a problem, your low-speed torque will be better if you can get a well-matched unit but your fuel consumption will suffer. A 300 would be easier to mount the unit onto for belt driving, and you'll likely need quite a wide belt. Give it a go! Don't mess with compound options though, matching two units (turbo or supercharger) will be hard work and lots of maths.

Hello Jon - some of us have kept the same vehicle for the whole time you were gone - just replaced all the bits between the numberplates, that's all. Time for something silly and V8-powered then?

... which means you'll shortly have a bent normal length spanner (and an undamaged lump hammer) like wot I have

I've got three(!) good 300Tdi injectors in my garage and I'm in Dublin next Monday. You're welcome to borrow one until you source one at a sensible price?

I've got no fan on mine at all - it gets warmer when working hard offroad, but I either stop, point it into the wind or refit the fan and the temp comes back down again. Does better MPG then too, but I accept the risk of a head gasket or worse.