Turbocharger

When TroddenMasses swung on his old vice and it came into bits, we went to Machine Mart and bought the biggest vice they sell for £40. Bargain, although he's bent the handle now and the swivelly bit is sh!te - weld or bolt it static. Be aware it's steel, not cast iron so you can store a lot of energy in it as it bends...

Well, we've got the expertise right here... BBC's V8 build, fitting an underdrive, plenty on modifying an 8274, RangeRover sill replacement, or anything from the excellent Hayneson maintenance series. Just had a peek in the (underused) tech archive, there's something from Will about welding and even my water pump swap made it in. Then we cover wider areas such as getting an SVA, building a fast hydro winch or even putting on those dangerous portal axles. There are plenty who register and stump up for forum coffers, and a smaller number who donate stuff like carbide drills, CB ariels and whole cars, but in principle the information is free and in the public domain. So why would I pay near a fiver to read something of similar origin, dumbed down by a journo to fit into three or four pages, with smaller photos and where I can't ask questions*. I suppose in that respect, I guess we have killed the UK magazines by bringing the enthusiasts directly to each other - Link House etc can no longer take our money from us and Scorpion/Ashcroft/X-Eng/Bearmach can't control what we read and believe. We give our experiences and I think everyone (apart from the monopolists) are better off for it. *Inevitably the questions turn into pisstaking but I can cope with that.

Tim Burt (same chap?) used to run muddyweb.co.uk... ?

It's all about the bling. Blueband CDS mandrel-bent towel rail anyone?

Which shape, Will? The factory 110 utility SW or the Exmoor Beast "post-sledgehammer" 110 utility SW? There are some .. ahem .. detail differences.

Phew. I just re-read it and thought I'd had a "senior moment". My snorkel's on the nearside and spaced away from the cage (despite the filter on the offside of the engine!). It's still a visual obstruction over there (but I can see between the screen pillar and cage, and the cage and the snorkel). I wouldn't like to mount it on the driver's side in the same way but if it was outboard of the screen pillar and tight in, it might be shadowed by the pillar and be less obstructive? Time for some experiments with drainpipe and sticky tape for you methinks.

Yeah, what Al said - get someone else to do it

Are you sure the heater isn't on the nearside (near the kerb)? I think all the pedals and gubbins are in the way on the driver's (off) side.

If someone can lend me a car or fix mine, and spend the weekend house-hunting to move in with my girlfriend, I'm there...

"I've taxed worse"

Re-read my post. I never said I'd actually owned a diff gasket, just that I would use one if I did. Besides, the stick has now passed into legend and has Grade II listed status - it is preserved behind the passenger seat and will one day enter my collection in a museum.

Grease and gasket for me if you have them (they're only pence and come apart much more easily), RTV if not. B&Q now do aerosol sillo - very handy thing to have in the truck for all your roadside repairs.

Martin, If you want to look at mine in the flesh (very much as above) I'll be in Derby in a couple of weekend's time - drop me a PM.

Pretty fundamental question - what does a roof tent do that a normal tent does not? What stops me putting some hardboard up top, some pegs onto a roofrack and using an appropriate-sized normal tent up there?

I don't know why but I immediately associate this kind of diagnostic with SimonR.

Thanks for that - I found the manual online. The torque converter slides a bit so it can't be that critical... can it? I don't have confidence in the dimension that the manual details because the adaptor plate has other "features" which suggest it isn't perfect. I have a gap between the t/c and the flex plate of 5mm. Ashcroft's site says the t/c endfloat should be 2mm, so I'll shim it by 3mm (1.3 + 1.7!) and make sure that the boss still locates properly. If not, I'll have to get a 2.1mm spacer, the largest they do.

Question - which are the most reliable vehicles? The trailer queens, which have an irritating overheating problem but never seems to get sorted out between events, or the daily drive that doubles as a competition car and gets a good run regularly to iron out the niggles? To me, driving a competition car on the road is closer to the grass roots of the sport. Depends what you want to achieve, each to his own. If you really want to get up that hill, walk up it.

I don't need a manual - I need an automatic I didn't know there was a shimming process, I just bolted it all up. Nothing will please me more than taking it all apart again. Still, if it's coming apart again I can line the flex plate up with the four larger holes in the flywheel so I can fit the t/c bolts easily too. I would be very grateful of your shims, it sounds like both together will do the job nicely.

Dammit, the holes in the centre of the flex plate don't line up too well to start with. It took me three hours to get all ten in, then I made the fatal mistake of taking them out one at a time to apply loctite - the tenth refused to re-engage for another hour. If you have a 2mm shim I'd take it gratefully because this is the remaining worry about alignment. When the gearbox was installed first time, some bellhousing bolts were missing and the angle bracket across the back of the engine (holds the wiring?) was trapped between the adaptor and the bellhousing. These, combined with the gaping hole in the bottom of the bellhousing, are the suspected cause of failure.

I had a similar problem, and removed the stat too - this helped it but didn't cure it. In the end, changing the sender and gauge cured it, Racetech now tell me I have 88degC water and I believe it.

Buses are "normal road vehicles" Yes, it's lifted from the PSV tester's manual. Being a bus company, we don't carry the PLG one...

[insert can of worms here] A bus will fail the MOT under 'Oil and waste leaks' for the following: 1 Any oil leak or combination of leaks from any assembly which can create a pool 75mm in diameter in 5 minutes or a number of leaks which collectively would deposit oil at the same rate 2 Leakage of waste whcih is likely to cause unpleasant or dangerous conditions for other road users, or damage road surfaces 3 Leakages which, when the vehicle is in motion, can heavily contaminate the vehicle such that it causes a health or fire risk For more than one leak under (1) there is debate whether you add the diameter of the puddles together or not, but most testers will use common sense.

BANG!

Right, one weekend, 500 miles in a rented banger and several hours lying under the car, the flex plate and gearbox are now installed. I've found a number of issues which may have caused a misalignment and I'm now much happier that the gearbox is pointing squarely at the engine. However, I'm back to the original point: there's a gap between the flex plate and the torque converter of about 5mm. I can pull the t/c forward until it touches the flex plate, it slides smoothly for 4mm or so and then there's a 'bump' as it takes up the last 1mm. It will then slide smoothly back home. Do I bolt it up like that and risk unseating the oil pump, or make four rectangular spacers which are the same shape as the t/c 'feet'? The bolts will not be overtight this time, but doused in threadlock.

Dew - I've got a good friend in Cumbria who knows some good lanes around the lakes - drop me a PM and he'll take you out, show you what the 110 can (and can't) do, and tow you out when he expects the former and finds the latter.