Turbocharger

My darling girlfriend is similarly cursed with the second-worst car of all time (after a manual Mercedes Vaneo, with its foot-operated handbrake AND a clutch pedal, I digress) The Fiat will produce weak illumination at all four corners with the key out, so long as you press the small rectangular button on the key barrel and turn the key back an extra 'click' before you remove it. I'm pretty sure this is a legal requirement unless you promise not to park on unlit roads with a speed limit in excess of 30mph, where it is obligatory to display warning lamps. However, telling him this will mean another Fiat on Britain's roads, which is certainly a bad thing.

I've been thinking about doing this with my trolley jack and a parallelogram frame in a shopping trolley chassis. The parallelogram would extend the working height range from 'trolley jack' to 'LR up in the air' but since work's kinda busy, it's still only an idea in my head at the moment.

I don't think there is "an answer". Bigger is better for ruts and rocks, but in deep mud you'll just be further from the shore when everything stops. Wider will 'float' to an extent, but the truck is around 2 tonnes so it's no Sno-Cat. It'll make a difference in marginal situations though, so it depends on your expected use. For 90% road use, laning and playdays (plus maybe another challenge - one day!) I'm on the 255 BFGs but I'd be tempted to go more aggressive if I did less road work. At the end of the day, buy what looks like the best deal, you'll still get stuck one day

If it's completely vapour at this point, you could put the engine exactly in the middle and use custom props to make it twirl the whirly bits. Sounds like a good solid truck, nothing too fancy but should be reliable.

I've got this same problem. I tried the ratchet strap approach with a piece of steel over the chassis rails and a strap around the axle. Ok, I need to drop 4" but it was quite uniquely scary putting that much energy into a strap and then trying to drive the car. I only strapped the rear axle because I figured if I "slammed" (wikkid) the whole car and drove up the lip into the garage, one strap might overload in the mini-crossaxle and unleash its mighty power into the up'n'over door as the LR wedges solid in the gap, probably with the two doors held shut in the narrow opening. Afterwards, the process of releasing said energy when I wanted to drive it again was quick and violent enough to persuade me that tyre deflation was the future and I bought an Aldi compressor. Job done, goes in in 5 mins (tiny stone screwed in under the valve cap, refit and "SSSSSSS", measure overall height and wait) and reinflation is even quicker. Next step is to invest in two tiny stones to deflate both tyres at once... but of course I've just got settled so the landlord's selling the house and I'm moving again

Sorry, just caught up with this thread. There is only the one lane in Bath itself which you've found (and which I've driven in the MGF...) but there's plenty of responsible fun to be had south of Bath, without going further than MSN / Radstock. Give me a PM if you want some more specific details.

After my queuing to get my compressor, it works well but it's BLOODY NOISY. I'm not sure if it would be quieter to run the Tdi if I needed large volumes of low pressure gas! Anyway, I knocked up a box for it to sit in: There are no holes to let air in or circulate - overheating might be a problem if I was spraying or using heavy air tools so I'll have to be aware. Letting air in isn't an issue; if my cabinet-making skills mean it's airtight enough that it sucks itself to the floor I'll be very pleased I can report that it cuts the noise down very well.

TM and I are both still around (although I've bought a little gay car and I'm only on dialup so don't check the forum so often these days). I'm quite happy to lead another laning group around Bath, up the Fosse or even over to the Plain though - I just need to find a free weekend (and it looks like they might be taken up with househunting again soon).

I too bought one of these on Thursday - the on-off switch is broken and it leaks but you pays your money... mine seems to have oil in already - the sightglass is half full. Am I the only one or am I blind? If I'm blind, what grade of oil should I be feeling for in the stores oil retailer?

Forgive me for I have sinned. It has been four years since my last car purchase. Since I finished Uni I'm starting to do more driving with work, especially motorways, and less time for offroading (and online foruming!). While I was in London I couldn't park (or afford) two cars but since I moved to Bristol I needed something cheap to run that could handle motorways. Of course, I didn't want anything run-of-the-mill so diesel Peugeots and dull Mondeos were out of the picture. To get the fuel economy I set a weight limit of 1000kg and it's surprising how little there is. The shortlist came down to: - Lotus Elise (+++fun but vv expensive to insure, K-series head gasket is legendary and whole car's a bit too "extreme" for motorways) - Smart Roadster (surprisingly entertaining 600cc pocket rocket, 50mpg but water leak worries and there aren't many around) - MGF (decent mid-engined 2-seat convertible but questionable image and British build quality, plus all the K-series issues) - Mazda MX5 (ticks all the boxes, reliable and fun but seemed soulless and SWMBO didn't fit) - Toyota MR2 (mid engined reliable car, but I just don't like them) - Honda S2000 (fantastic engine but really cramped inside and expensive for what you get) - Suzuki Cappuccino (Jap kei-car, entertaining handling but noisy at speed and rust-prone chassis) - Caterham/Westfield/Locost (hysterical, ridiculous, excellent car but not really for the motorway) After a few months looking around I bit the bullet and have what SWMBO calls "his attempt at a practical car". MGTF 135 Sprint, 1060kg, 24k miles, FSH, immaculate condition, and it goes like a rocket. I've got an eagle eye on the coolant and oil but it came with a 2-year warranty. The Ninety stays as backup transport, offroading and I actually find it more enjoyable to drive, except above walking pace... Anyone need a perm?

Mine's a 300Tdi with a V8 auto behind it. Yours will be easier since you've got all the relevant bits but mine was a pain to swap - make sure you've got as many parts as you can from the donor. If you'd like to see how it'll drive with a 1.4 t-box, I'm only in north Bristol and quite willing to take you for a spin. Mine was originally 2.5NAD and the difference in changing to the Tdi is unimaginable. Mine had an R380 before I went auto, now it's a little undergeared so I've built a 1.2 box to swap in.

Les, the way I've seen this done is to lop your prop in half as square as poss, chop out the requisite amount to shorten and then bash an offcut of tight-fitting tube down the inside of the prop. Slide the other half of the prop on, hold Will's pigeon above and tickle to taste while the inner pipe holds it square.

Delaying tactics eh... waiting for automotive nuclear fusion plant to come onto the second hand market more like :D

Every time this subject comes up I bang the drum about differentiating limited-slip diffs from torque-biasing diffs. I’ve got a TruTrac torque biasing diff in the rear and think it’s very good – it puts torque to the wheel with the most grip, so on sideslopes it drives the lower wheel (turning you uphill), in roundabouts it will drive the rear left hardest (pushing you round the corner), in a crossaxle it puts drive to the wheel with most weight on it. You couldn’t do that with a locker. However, if one wheel is completely clear of the ground, it can’t bias any torque across to the wheel that’s on the floor so you have no drive. Rather than seeing it as a locker, look at it as an OpenDiff+ and you’ll understand what its doing.

My tiniest brother bought a 300 head from DLS recently I think - it works but didn't come with core plugs, not a lot more to say.

I wouldn't like to run one of those on the road with front discs and big offset wheels.

They’re in business to make money, same as everyone else. Ads make money, same as the cover price does. The circulation might drop a little but the difference is more than covered by the additional revenue of this advertising from businesses with massive profit margins and nearly no overheads. Vote with your feet/wallet – I did and donated to this forum instead. Better tech and no ads! On the other hand, the mass migration of people to forums may have led the circulation to drop so far they need to cast a wider advertising net to stay afloat?

Well, I pulled the diff off and there was swarf in there. Poking inside encouraged me to take the side cover off and I spy big lumps of ground-up steel (it's magnetic) Carry on stripping to find the ground up bit, or hook all the grindy bits out and hope for the best? It was running fine and quiet when it came out, I'm not convinced something hasn't dropped in and travelled through a few gears - the tooth contact surfaces are all in good condition.

In the wise words of Marco Cosic, "fit a revvy engine and gear it down". He had a 2-litre M-series Rover unit with a turbo. It's designed to rev, so let it!

Those equations cover it because they're simultaneous. Lift a wheel, output torque 2 = 0. Output torque 1 = output torque 2, so output torque 1 = 0. Input torque = (zero + zero) / ratio = 0 This is all capped by the input torque from your motor, which you can relate to the current draw? (I still think you'll need a very refined model for inertia to up-scale it effectively)

For an open diff, surely you just need: Input speed = ratio * (output speed 1 + output speed 2) Input torque = (output torque 1 + output torque 2) / ratio BUT output torque 1 = output torque 2 And alter equation 3 if you have a torque biasing diff. If the diff is locked, no 3 becomes (output speed 1 = output speed 2) Or is that not what you meant?

Don't let Chris do it, he'll smash them up for you. My parents live near Derby but I'm not pencilled in for a trip there until Christmas.

Oh dear Chris, more paperwork. Which LR? You could come and work for us - we're putting all our drivers through an advanced driving course so they can anticipate muppets more readily. Unfortunately most of ours are on board already...

Typical. I finally think about splashing() out on a drain tap to make oil change day easier, and Difflock have shut down. Any clues for alternative suppliers? Does anyone know the thread diameter and pitch on my sump plug? I'd pull it out to have a look but....

I quite like that actually. Is 'Building Design' this weeks' guest publication?