Turbocharger

Sorry, just spotted this one - I'm actually in Hong Kong for a month, but I live on the south side of Bath and work in Lawrence Hill, so probably pass your way quite a lot!

I think a benefit we haven't appreciated fully yet is the benefits to performance and traction that electric drives can give. By using wheel or differential motors, turning the wheel sensitively and appropriately in the first place (instead of sending power through diffs then braking the wheel to control slip) the system will be able to 'feel' the grip peeling away, on individual wheels at any speed. The hybrid drive will not give a drastic reduction in fuel consumption yet - there's still a weight penalty and, certainly from our buses, it's hard to measure the battery state-of-charge so the constructors tend to err on the side of caution and dump most of the regen energy to save boiling the batteries. As battery technology improves (and it will, with the commercial factors driving the change) the hybrid will improve and improve. This is borne out in practice too; a Prius will manage 40-50mpg if driven sensibly and a good turbodiesel will match this. The difference is in the exhaust aftertreatment but the diesel is running constantly; the Prius engine spends time switching on and off and needs very close-coupled catalysts to light quickly, so the reality isn't as promising as the steady-state results suggest. Fuel cells have been ten years away for the last twenty years or so - the infrastructure problem for refuelling will hamper their development until there's a step change in demand or supply, I guess. I drove an interesting prototype two years ago, a hybrid bus with a 30kW (40hp) gas turbine generating pack. There was virtually no particulate emission because combustion is continuous, and 40hp was enough because it only has to meet the average demand; the electric motor was 45kW (60hp) and, while smaller than the 100kW (130hp) diesel engine it replaced, the torque characteristics were sufficient to spin wheels in the dry (and motivate the manufacturer to limit the motor below 15mph!) Their latest hybrid is 'milder', with a 1.9 litre 60kW turbodiesel engine/generator and a 120kW motor, giving better backup performance for climbing hills etc when the battery capacity is insufficient. Jet powered LandRover, anyone?

I have to say, as Charles mentioned, save the weight with your masses of 25mm plate and put folds, gussets and stiffeners in to give the strength in a more 'elegant' way. Nigel's bumper will never bend but if his car used sensible plate it wouldn't be so heavy and he could just drive around like everyone else <Wanted - tin hat. Can collect, must be available for quick sale>

Go and have a chat with TroddenMasses. He went through this exact idea and bought a machine from a welding place near Bristol, as well as some welding classes at Ag College (in Cirencester?) Beware though - he took Mrs TroddenMasses too and now she can weld better than he can. He's got a reasonable welder and I'm sure he'd let you have a play to get a feel for what you like and don't like. From my experience, you can get reasonable results with a poor welder if you understand what's happening. My welding (with a 150A Clarke unit) used to get worse after around half an hour - a friend suggested the transformer was getting hot and the voltage regulation was becoming spiky. Given ten mins to cool off, progress was back to normal (pigeon poo) standard. I don't weld structural stuff Of course, if you can afford it then buy decent kit instead!

It wasn't meant as an accusation - you're quite right that the belt could have failed from manufacturing defects (Six sigma allows, what, 3.5 ppm failure?) or the manner in which it was installed. Since you followed the book I can't see you're to blame personally; I've seen the way that factory repair methods are produced and it's .. ahem .. imprecise. I'll still say that the quality of your workmanship is borne out in every job you do - you don't need the forum as an advert, just any piece of past work that I've seen. There are very few people I'll give my car and money to, but you'd be one. I think my timing belt's safe from failure for a while yet though - the car's parked up while I'm abroad!

Easy there, fella. I'm trying to broach a sensitive subject here. If a garage installed my belt and it snapped after 2000 miles, I'd blame them. If I installed it and the same happened, I'd look at my installation method before blaming the belt, especially if everything else looked ok in there. If you're happy with your method then you've more confidence than I do, that's all I guess. Best of luck getting it repaired and back together, anyway.

I'd suspect the installation, I'm afraid. Not to cast aspersions on your workmanship but it sounds like something was awry there, perhaps the belt bedding in and stretching too much? I hope it's not a bad batch, I replaced mine about 6 months ago On a lighter note, I saw a timing belt for sale at Sodbury with half the backing worn away (as misaligned 300Tdi's do)...

Not so - it might also be the A-frame ball joint, but removing the rear prop (and replacing the front one...) wouldn't load the bush in the same way.

I have QT track bars and a proprietary solid drag link (other equipment suppliers are available) and they're fine, although the 90/110 QT damper clamp doesn't fit the (smaller diameter) drag link from the other supplier, so I've had to pack it with half a jubilee clip, although I'm still not happy with the setup.

Les, Sorry to hear your decision, and thanks for your hours of evening work (and time on the telephone, doing paperwork and badgering other people) - you've made a significant contribution to bring us to where we are. Chairmanship sounds like a fitting tribute to say thanks, unless you'd reconsider? John

Am I correct in thinking that your licence can be endorsed if two or more police officers "form an opinion" that you were speeding?

I straightened one like Jim's (but thicker, and cast) a while back. The top hole and bottom hole were perfectly parallel but offset because the 'return' bend was evidently in a different place, I had to hammer the pin back in and then it never came out again...

Keir - no symptoms or does the little red light come on, but dim? I had the dim problem (no, not me personally) and I found opening it up and thoroughly drying the inside did the job. There's also a battery in there that can go flat and make the whole unit go u/s. Remove it and test - if it works now, replace the battery. (The battery allows it to remember where it was last, or where to look for satellites or something clever and electronic that I don't understand. Low voltage here means the unit packs up, no voltage means it works fine but it's amnesic so takes longer to acquire satellites when you power-up) My GPS sits on top of the snorkel and I'm amazed it hasn't ended up hanging by its lead but sofa, so good.

If you just want the looks, there's a chap about who's grafted D2 headlights onto a 200Tdi Disco... ?

Or you get smart, release the parking brake and are so busy watching that, you skin your knuckles on the jockey wheel. Or else you don't lift the jockey wheel and wonder what the odd noise is for the next five miles. Alternatively, learn all the above lessons and the door just clears the parking brake handle. You load a car on to the trailer, slam the rear door and find the geometry has changed, ruining a nice rear door by ripping the bottom edge of the skin off. Ask me how I learned these gems...

The radial 7.50R16 SAGs are a wholly different beast though, different pattern and more road biased. The 7.50x16 crossplys were really aggressive, really noisy and had nearly no grip in the wet at all. Cracking tyre when they were aired down offroad though, and huuuge with it.

Scary thought - recovery drivers are exempt from driver's hours, so there'll be no waiting time if he's paid piece rate and he's caught gethomeitis. I remember complaining to Green Flag after they contracted a local garage to get me home - the bloke had been working 28 hours straight already, I refused to get in the wagon with him.

I'd quite like to be able to hear from people selling discount-price synthetic winch ropes...

Woss that pork-product called? Sounds like ham, comes in cans... What vehicle do you run then, Mr Ropes? Nay, how about a forum discount?

Yeah, whichever site you go to anywhere in the country, most people usually recognise "the hole that Bish is stuck in" - it's generally the bit they drove straight through first, right next to the car park... (The worst part is, he'll probably whup my score in FSWC2)

All around where it bolts to the engine, I'd guess - unless you can find some kind of giant funky ring gasket to seal the two. I'd check that all the bellhousing bolts are sensibly tight and not worry until it spits the internals onto the road. (Of course, I could be using nearly no knowledge to lull you into a false sense of security but it sounds right to me if the water was deep enough, especially if you let it stand for a bit.)

^^^ that's the one I can still taste it now. In fact, I still have some since it was too heavy to lift and now even the ants and woodlice have started returning it because they're too full. It was goooood at the beginning though

I had a rocking LR birthday cake made by Mrs TroddenMasses, but the pics are on his web space and I can't get access from the other side of the world (I think I'd have to put my password in upside down or something).

I'd say it depends what you call 'fit'. I had some 7.50x16 SAGs which were HUUGE for the size(!) and rubbed the radius arms (first problem you'll hit) and munched the underside of the rear tub boxes. They just polished a patch clean so weren't a major problem, but I can't say they cleared all the bodywork. I believe the exhaust pipe can be a problem on some LRs too - TroddenMasses had to trim his because it was a little snug to his 235/85s. I'm on 285/75s now and no problems beyond a little rubbing.

Chris, you have indeed been offroad: A recent one - the serene side of laning: Following Will's lead, stuff the 3-pic rule