Turbocharger

Thanks guys. It sounds like we may survive parenthood with only two Volvos for our essential mileage(!) so the LandRover slot is just as a two-seater for a few years. That means I don't need a Disco or 110 in the near term. Several of you mentioned front-facing rear seats but I have a cage in the rear. I need to see which galv chassis companies will add cage mounts, ideally so I can move the rear stays onto the wheelboxes and through onto the ends of the rear crossmember. Then I need to find (several weekends or) a rebuilder who I trust enough to give my truck to! Either my Ninety or a Tornado would be a 2 - seater, but I guess the Ninety gives more options and has a better resale value (esp as it's 30 yrs old so could be sold or exported if it was on a new chassis).

My garage has two spaces - one is Elise sized and one takes a Ninety, maybe a 100", possibly a Disco but definitely not a 110. The Volvo V70 fits with lots of shunting. Plus they're big, heavy and barge-y on green lanes.

So, after 15 years with my Defender and 3 years of marriage, Mrs Turbo is pregnant and it looks like life is about to change. My Ninety has been struggling on despite a crusty chassis and even crustier bulkhead but some snatch recoveries have deformed the rear crossmember over Christmas so this might be the moment to stop patching and make a stand. The sensible choice would be to buy a Disco but I like the small size, big tyres and clearances of a Defender, mine is in good shape mechanically if not structurally and there's an emotional attachment to it after 250,000 miles and trips through 11 countries. That attachment might be clouding my judgment! I use the Ninety for laning, tip runs, very occasional overlanding (eg Morocco in May 2014), towing things about etc. We've got two Volvos and a Lotus so it's hardly an essential vehicle in the fleet! The issue with building a truck is that I'm commuting 3hrs each day (by Volvo), which doesn't leave much time for spanner in. At the moment I'm weighing up: 1) a 300 series Disco purchase - cheap, quick, quiet. Too big for my garage, cumbersome overhangs and easily damaged, I'd have to sell my Ninety for bits. 2) a chassis swap service plus bulkhead for my truck (several are advertised) - I get my truck back but probably very spendy and nowhere easy for children. 3) a 100" Tornado frame with some tweaks eg child seat. Solves the chassis and bulkhead issues, costly and gives what I want but still doesn't solve the child seat issue. Thoughts or new options?

A little more investigation showed that it was tight on the inner sides of the endmost studs, even when it was cold. As it expands that would only get worse, and lift the end "feet" off the manifold face. I've "fixed" this the low-rent way, by enlarging the stud holes to allow the end plates to 'walk' outwards across the face of the head if they need to. If that doesn't relieve enough stress, it'll blow again in another 10,000 miles (2 years, for me) and I'll put a slip joint in the manifold. Thanks for the help and ideas

It seems that the vehicle was 'checked over' rather than serviced before leaving. When the first one failed we replaced it with one bought from a roadside shack in Tetouan, not held in stock but sourced within the hour for £30 a side (proper Timken part too). It had failed because the grease had turned brown and gritty - at that point there was no movement or roughness in the other side but we bought a spare pair of bearings anyway. Sure enough, the other side failed within 100 miles with the same issue, but this time it seized onto the stub (hence the beavertail, man with oxyacetylene, a night camping in a scrapyard etc). After his subsequent freewheeling hub failure, his seized brake caliper and (for balance) my front prop which was removed on the return leg because it was making a funny noise, we had a good trip mechanically. Of course, at the point when you're looking at your second seized wheel bearing you're thinking that there's two more on the back of the truck, but they were fine... Looking back, we'd have been in much darker financial straits if we'd seized a wheelbearing in Portsmouth on a Jap grey import truck on a Sunday evening...

It was a fantastic trip, even if it didn't go perfectly to plan - our interactions with the locals to find mechanics, recovery trucks etc just made the whole thing more memorable, in hindsight. Of course, that hindsight wasn't so evident when we're looking at a seized hub, 10km from anywhere, it's going dark and we've nowhere to sleep that night... As well as a holiday it also showed us all that your comfort zone gets bigger when you push at the edges. Before we went, Morocco was a big thing. Crossing to Africa on a ferry was a huge step. Coming back, it felt like using the Tube in London - we'd been there, we'd done it and it was easy.

I've put together a video of our trip to Morocco, cramming the two weeks into four minutes. Brief : take a Ninety and a Nissan Patrol to the desert. Actual: mooch about northern Morocco enduring wheel bearing failures on the Nissan, burning lots of time but not much money. Then through some awesome rocky gorges, over the Atlas mountains, into the desert but no time for dune - bashing. Brilliant trip, I want to go again next year if possible.

I made this exhaust manifold to mount the VGT to my 300Tdi. It performs well, but I've had issues with it at high temps. I've had cracks (arrowed in red) earlier in its life, and now burned away a second exhaust manifold gasket (arrowed in green). It started ticking as we climbed back over the High Atlas in Morocco, but it was the notorious and fearsome Ridgeway on the M4 near Swindon which finished it off. It looks to me like it is expanding and lifting the lower-inner edges of the flanges away from the head. I don't have the fabrication skill to add a slip joint, and I'm twitchy about adding more bolts. I'd considered re-making the branches for cyls 1 & 4 with a greater radius of bend, and maybe a compound bend so there's a semi-loopy bit to absorb the expansion - but it'd still be a pretty stiff unit. Can I buy weld-in expansion slides, which would still be gas-tight at 700deg C? I know the end pieces of the OE 300Tdi manifold just press in.

Could it be linked to the spider - if an N-plate Rangie would have one? I'd look at starting it directly at the starter motor, then look for wiring issues. If it was the spider, I can't see why it would bring the gearbox temp light on though? Maybe someone with more Spider experience has a view. Mods - is this worth moving to International so that the Disco boys can give their input?

So far so good with the Ebay cheapy - range is >2x the 150ft rope I have, no errors to date though I've not used it in anger. Combining the two ideas above, I wonder if the 'crashing' issue seen by some people could be a low voltage thing (in which case I should be ok because my winch is hydraulic, but could be relevant to the sparky winch boys).

Okaaaay. Looking like less of a bargain so far. It's wired via a winch master switch so I can "reboot" it if needed - but obviously that'll be too far away if there are fingers entangled somewhere. Has anyone bought one of these and used it for a reasonable period without finding this fault? So far, the failure rate vs sample size isn't exactly giving me confidence.

Solved! From the vendor who sold me the gauge and sender, and then the replacement sender:

Without a great deal of expectation I bought one of the *REALLY* cheap winch remotes on Ebay - under £7, delivered from Hong Kong. http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/251413258029 Here's a mini-review, but I'll say I'm impressed overall. Range: I have to say, it's really good. I wired it up today and spooled out the winch. I think my rope is 150ft and it works waaay beyond that. I paid out all the rope, then carried on walking and it was still working beyond the point where my eyesight could distinguish if the rope was moving, I'd say 400ft ish? Wiring: Five wires. Power, ground and an aerial, plus a wire each for in and out, which go to +12v when the remote is pressed. I've wired it to see the full current of the winch solenoids, but mine's a Milemarker so that's only 4A ish? It's not sympathetic but it's working ok. Handset: it's not exactly milled from billet stainless, it's a moulded plastic housing with two buttons which make a bit of a click, and the red light comes on to show it's transmitting. It would be easy to use with gloves on, no idea how waterproof it'll turn out to be though. Usage: press the button and the winch moves. There's a slight delay to start (and also to stop!) which would seem like an eternity if it was crushing fingers etc, but it's well under a second in reality, much less than an 8274 running on anyway. The handset even came with a battery in it. For £7, delivered, I can't see how they do it but I'm a happy customer and I'd buy again.

Here's the gauge and sender, for completeness.

My investigation into my weird temp gauge issue continues (from this thread: http://forums.lr4x4.com/index.php?showtopic=87557 ) I've changed the sender, now it's reading inaccurately the other way - within 5mins of idling from cold, the gauge is showing 90 degrees and quickly hits 120'C, but the IR thermometer shows 40'C and I can still hold my hand on all the hoses. Could someone with the same gauge and sender setup (and no problems!) take some simple readings for me please? With a cold engine, engine off, ignition on, disconnect the sender wire in the engine bay. Measure the voltage between the wire and the engine block - I'm seeing 7.5V Measure the resistance between the spade on the sender, and the engine block - I'm seeing 800 Ohms. Put the wire back on. Then, after a run when the engine's at normal running temp (please don't burn yourself on my account...) remove the wire and repeat the resistance check - I'm seeing 60 Ohms when it's hot. It looks about right to me so the next step is to replace the gauge - unless it could be a voltage issue in the dash?

It'll be fine, RangeRover chassis is 2" (?) shallower section anyway and they don't fall in half.

Brief: my Ninety, a mate's Nissan Patrol. 14 days. 4 people (incl first-aider). Ferry to Spain, cross to Ceuta or Tangier then anti-clockwise round Morocco via Fes, Midelt, (itinerary hazy), Ouarzazate, Casablanca and back home. Mostly camping, more driving than not but we'd like to take a day in Fes and another day somewhere in the mountains. 1) Who's been before? 2) Can we get to M'hamid to drive to Foum Zguid across the desert, or will we run out of time? 3) What's to see at Erg Chebbi? Instead of or as well as M'hamid? 4) Where did you get your insurance from? Mine doesn't cover outside EU. 5) Any recent tips for ferries or border crossing? Lots of people talk about touts but recent experiences seem to be better? 6) Any tips on what to see en route?

This isn't a fatuous reply but dialogue with a serious question: I'd need to overhang the viscous fan by 4" to get it near the rad, and I'd worry about the bearing loads. A cowl would be the better option but there's still a gap between the gearbox cooler and the rad. Am I better with a fairly proven electric fan from a good brand, or a borderline experimental extended engine-driven fan which could fail and take the serpentine with it? I could fit two electric fans, a pusher and a puller...

Thanks for the advice, particularly the Hobbit. I'll take the viscous in case the sand hits the fan(!) but a cowl isn't an easy option for the engine or rad position. Modern cars run electric fans only, mine's a decent Spal fan with a thermoswitch and an override, I can wire it to run 100% if necessary. It may be the voice of inexperience but with a locked viscous fan in the back too it looks like I should be covered?

Cooling is in - big ally rad and a gearbox cooler too. There's quite a big gap to the engine and no cowl so a viscous fan won't be too effective (and the "viscous" bit in mine is knackered) but I'll take it in the back of the car as a backup. We'll be in two cars with CB (car-to-car) and mobiles, not planning to buy a sat phone specially for this trip but with a backup vehicle too I'm sure we'll be fine.

I've gone for aluminium. The copper core 'looked' more restrictive to airflow too, since the copper tubes are much larger and the four rows overlapped, so the air path was much more torturous. The copper rad would hold much more water but it's not about the volume in there, it's the surface area. I've got a big Spal fan on the back of it and we'll be shying away from anything too abusive. I know I'm being OTT for a 2-week holiday, these things were factory specced to tow 3500kg across the Sahara (or so we're told) so a new ally rad should be more than sufficient for a little diesel engine pulling two people and a tent.

I've got two options for the same price: - a 2-row 80mm aluminium core (better heat rejection, lighter, stronger, better for corrosion or vibration but harder to repair subsequently) - a 4-row 65mm copper core (heavier and actually lower heat rejection than the ally rad because of a smaller effective surface area, but it could be repaired in the field) I'm erring towards aluminium for better thermal performance, bearing in mind that the critical trip is in two months so corrosion etc won't be an issue by then.

No no no! That's not the answer I wanted to hear! You're all right, of course... better price up a rad then.

Getting the truck ready for Morocco, I notice that the rad is missing some fins, particularly in the top half of the matrix. Looking more closely, the tubes have moved closer to each other at the centre of the matrix too - where my finger's pointing. It's not leaking at the moment and hasn't given me any particular grief - would you take this on a long hot journey, or should I bite the bullet and replace it now? It's six years (and probably 20,000 miles) old.

Please post up if you do ID it, I've been looking for an 8-way version for work but I've been unsuccessful so far.