Turbocharger

I saw a Ninety which a chap had cut'n'shut a 300 Disco dash into - the cut was behind the clocks and it looked very neat actually. Les Brock is your man for tidy but functional cabin decoration.

The TD is a decent engine which suffers with piston crown thermal fatigue problems because it was the final development of a very old design. Get a second hand Tdi intercooler and fit that to reduce the piston temperatures. I found that Peugeot 'pintle' injector nozzles gave my 2.5NAD a few extra ponies, they don't have the auxiliary hole which sprays fuel onto the heater plug. This makes for worse cold starting, but that same fuel is then saved or burned more efficiently. However, this will probably bring the piston crown temperatures back up. If you inspected the pistons for cracking when you rebuilt it (or replaced them) then you should have a green light for getting a little extra beans from it. If you kill it - fit the 200Tdi anyway! There's something very respectable about getting the underdog to compete with the big boys

On the injury front, I suspect the ruling with hinge on the words I know that, during a roadside inspection from VOSA, you have a much stronger case to say that any sharp edges on bodywork are much less likely to injure a pedestrian if they are on the offside of the vehicle. I'd suggest that you might be fine if the 'ornament' was further back on the bonnet.

I think Si's idea is to use shorter, stiffer main springs so they dislocate earlier than a super-soft floppy spring. That way the system is 'dual rate' so on the road you have short, hard springs for running as the manufacturer intends, on flat side slopes(!) there's less body roll but when the axle needs to articulate, the new spring appears and keeps pushing the axle down.

Hi Tom - I'm jealous. When I was 16 I had two (front) halves of Series 3's, lots of bits and some grand plans. Best of luck with your build (although don't go for bucket seats, I did and they're a pain).

I've done 20k miles without a fan (or cowl) on my 300Tdi. I keep the fan in the back just in case but it only gets hot below 5mph when it's working hard.

Couldn't see it, I was blinded by the lights...

You are a miserable old git...

I think they're the same as the ones I have on my cage: They lasted a day before I cowled them - the glass was bringing light directly into my eyes through internal reflection and the beam lit up the road, the trees, the bonnet, the cage, the dashboard, the wipers, George's lovely smile... They're the same diameter as heavy-duty plastic drainpipe, the full-round downpipe type, so I drilled three holes and screwed bolts in around the circumference of the light to clamp it. Wasn't sure if it'd work, but they're still there. So I guess that means I ought to tidy them up a bit. Naah.

Mine's on 228,000, spread over: 2 engines 3 gearboxes 2 t-boxes 4 prop shafts 5 diffs 4 axle casings numerous wheel bearings half a chassis rear tub 3 owners eight countries to my knowledge (nine if you count Devon) ... so the speedo head is the only rotating part that's covered that mileage!

But if you get the professionals to do it, you can avoid the 'Three little bears' procedure

It might be blasphemy, but have you considered option 3: pay a jobbing shop to bash it out for you? It depends which is your aim: to hold the part you want in your hand, or to build a lathe as a project.

"For sale: Ninety seat cushion in original unclenched condition. Heavy roll forces sale."

If I might wade into this intellectual discussion unarmed, if you raise the roll centre too high, are you in danger of creating a less stable car that doesn't show body roll before it falls over? ie plenty of weight transfer without the alarming roll angle that tells you it's time to go home.

Welcome Chris - you're very bold but it sounds like you have the usual plethora of issues with your LRs

Paul - get a Milemarker, there's only two numbers to remember then. The local pizza shop (for deliveries during competitions while you wait for the winch) and your local calendar supplier...

[debate] I don't agree with you there Tony. I support road charging as a way to reduce CO2, but only if it's "revenue neutral". Big polluters and congesters pay more, giving the idea of a "responsible" motorist based on when and where he drives, not just what he drives. [/debate] The poll is still puerile.

Methinks such trivial petitions might devalue the effective punch of more serious debates, such as to skew the cost of motoring in line with CO2 emissions, or regarding the legality of manouvres in minor Middle-Eastern corners...

Top entertainment, I say. I don't want to hear how many cupholders the newest Ford Astra has - I want a laugh. I daresay some of it is staged - I don't believe they ate Jeremy's cow. But if I wanted to actually buy any of these cars, I'd go and drive one around myself for a bit. Looking forward to the world's first three-wheel space shuttle next week.

Err, yeah. As the calcs say, it needs to flow a lot of air. And then you bear in mind that if it's supplying 280cfm, it's giving enough air that it's not getting in the way any more. You'd ideally like some pressure rise to make it effective so, for 2 bar inlet pressure you'd (fag packet calc) need to double that cfm figure. I think similar ideas will appear, but only when cars are running 48V and are more like a piston 'power turbine' on the side of a gas turbine, as a heavily turbocharged diesel engine could be considered. I suspect we'll see more of this as series hybrid electric cars become in vogue, and the transient response of the engine isn't significant any more - this would be the chief benefit of the e-charger.

Bruce, It won't work on a diesel, the pressure gradients betwen the engine and turbo go the wrong way.

Any feeling or benchmarks on how well it goes? ie 0-60 or even "I could do 40 up this hill and now I can touch 65" (although that's not exactly scientific since its easy to bias)

Who's got the classic photo of Nick and his door mirror?

I say do it, paint it body colour if you don't want it to stand out - it's your safety (and that of your passengers). The last thing you want to be thinking at that horrible moment when it's going wrong is 'I wish', and LRs are awful crumply when upside down.