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Tanuki

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Everything posted by Tanuki

  1. I'd just stick a battery on it and start it. Then when it starts, let it run for half an hour and do an engine oil/filter change - oil that's been stood for a while can be a bit gloopy with congealed combustion by-products so a change is always a good idea. Then drain/refill the coolant: after a couple of years the corrosion-inhibitors will be depleted and due for replacement anyway. Then jack each corner and do a full brake-fluid-replenishment (after 2 years it's bound to have absorbed moisture) check that all the caliper pistons are moving freely and the discs are not too pitted with rust (often you get rust where the pads have been against the discs). If the clutch has 'stuck' to the flywheel, my trick is to push the pedal fully down and wedge it there with a piece of wood between the pedal and the seat-box. Leave it like this for a couple of days and - without the clamping from the pressure-plate - it will probably unstick. Far easier/less-brutal than some other solutions you may read about!
  2. Be aware that copper and aluminium are rather far-apart in the 'electrochemical potential' scales, meaning that when connected together in the presence of an electrolyte such as water they'll do their thing and turn into what amounts to a short-circuited battery - so one of the pair will be rapidly eroded. To stop this, you really need to use a serious non-ionic coolant/antifreeze/corrosion-inhibitor, in serious concentration!
  3. Reminds me of the way the council in Swindon put a series of speed-bumps down Manchester Road, the local 'hotspot' for picking-up hookers. "No, Officer, honestly, I'm not kerb-crawling, I just don't want to get my exhaust dragged-off over these speedbumps".
  4. A review in the Daily Telegraph.... https://www.telegraph.co.uk/cars/land-rover/2020-land-rover-defender-review-five-star-performance-road-mud/
  5. What vehicle? And how are you running the different tyres? Different sizes on the same axle? or are you running one size on the front axle and another size on the rear? On the same axle (assuming it's stock LR and not some odd unofficial locker-thing), a few percent of different-diameter's not going to be a problem - it's only the difference between having a new tyre on one side and a worn one on the other. In this situation though, it *may* flag ABS errors. Equally, if you're running matching tyres on the ront axle and on the rear axle but the front's different to the rear - with an 'open' centre-diff [like a LT230 in non-difflock-mode] if won't make any difference at all provided the difference is a few percent. The problem comes when you have 'locking' diffs - either clockwork ones or viscous-coupled jelly-pots, which don't like long term significant rotational differences. In times-past, those of us who ran Sierra XR4x4s as service-vehicles always made a point of replacing all four tyres at the same time, because that was a lot cheaper than cooking the viscous-coupling at the side of the M6 after a 100-mile 'fast' callout while running with even-slightly-different-diameter tyres. The Vauxhall Calibra was also famous for diff-damage with different-diameter tyres. Series-1 Freelander-owners can no doubt tell their own tales about VCD failures and fractured rear-diff-mounts. The probability-of-damage increases with vehicle speed, since this increases any difference-in-rotational-speed between different-diameter tyres. How fast will you be regularly driving?? I've run 750-16 on one axle and 235/85 on the other axle of my Defender without any issues, but it's probably only ever done about 10 miles with the difflock engaged.
  6. One of my clients used to issue them to middle-managers who couldn't handle the tax-implications of an entry-level Range-Rover. With all the option-boxes ticked, they were really rather nice (though a pain for me to fit the obligatory high-power HF/VHF radios to). If you buy one - get the head-gasket-dowel issues seen to, then - warm it up gently - and thereafter drive-it-like-you-stole-it! The standard slushbox-programming was very much targetted at minimising [UK business-tax-liability] emissions, so even in 'sport' mode it changes up far too early. Keep it at 3000+ RPM even on a whiff of throttle. The V6 sounds really happy - and good - above 5K RPM.
  7. Does running a "fuel system purge" cycle before trying to start it make any difference? I'm thinking you may have air/combustion-gases in the fuel rail, which will make starting problematic. Running the purge-cycle a couple of times before trying to start it will blow-out the 'trapped wind' and should make starting easier. If this is indeed the case, I'd be investigating possible cracked/porous-cylinder-head issues.
  8. Before she retired the Jimny-critical person drove a bunch of 'stuff' including Saxons, Warriors, Cougars and the horrid "Snatch" Land-Rovers for UKMoD in Iraq and Afghanistan. I guess that's a good foundation for assessing a vehicle's in-service dynamic ability. Alas I never was able to get her drive-time on a Humber 'Pig' or a Bedford RL. I think she'd have liked the RL - "Always-full-throttle-and-let-the-engine-governor-deal-with-any-traction-issues".
  9. The "freaky handling" comment about the Jimny was after a particularly fraught drive down the M4 in high winds. Overtaking the usual 56MPH slow/middle-lane-hogging HGVs when there's a gusty 40MPH sidewind... her legacy 2014 Freelander handled that sort of stuff happily at 70-75MPH, the Jimny utterly not-so, even when it was weighted down in the back by as many bags of Mollichaff you can possibly fit in. She's now happy doing the same trip in the Dacia [which, it has to be said, is a hell of a lot of 4x4 for the money].
  10. It's interesting that the Jimny is mentioned. Someone I knew bought one last year to replace a Freelander - and has since sold it on, to be replaced by a Dacia. She couldn't live with the noise, the sluggishness and, as she put it, "freaky handling" of the Suzuki. The Dacia will probably last her a couple of years. Another data-point: an equine-vet friend who is just about to retire is looking at having to buy - for the first time in 40 years - a car with his own (rather than his practice's) money. He's gone through pretty much every 4x4 option in his working life: Sierra XR4x4, Audi Quattro, a couple of Defender-90s, a RRC or two, Discos, Subarus, a Volvo XC90, Vauxhall Insignia 4x4 tourer, BMW X5, a Mercedes 4Matic, a Mitsu Outlander PHEV, a Ford Ranger, an Isuzu Trooper. Top of his likely-list now is a Skoda Kodiaq with all the options ticked. The market for 'industrial' 4x4 vehicles has largely been taken by double-cab-pickups (look at the global sales of the Hilux!) - even a Hilux these days comes with the car-like creature-comforts and features people have come to expect. Sure, there may be some hardcore types who want 1.5-Metre wading capacity and complain about a car coming as standard with 'luxury' stuff like a good sound-system, carpets/airconditioning - but the market shows very little interest in de-contented upmarket agricultural vehicles. You don't buy a UNIMOG as your daily-driver, and I doubt tjhat if Mr. Ineos gets his Grenadier into production there will be many sold as daily-drivers either.
  11. But if it deployed its optimised Diesel torque, electronics and transmission-technology to put up track-times just as good or better than a 'classic' not-even-clockwork-engined, un-intelligent-suspended, 2WD Elise? Would you still complain? I'm all in favour of using 21st-century stuff like ABS/traction-control/adaptive-suspension, automatic transmissions, variable-nozzle turbos and the like to make the driving-experience fast-and-easy. Part of me thinks that some people here would rather have a car that was 'true to its heritage' but would still need you to fiddle with a manual choke and spend minutes trying to get the thing to start if it was cold or wet, and then (if it started before the battery was flat) struggle with hopeless heater/demisters to clear the windscreen. OK, if you *want* that , it can be simulated in software. Normal people, however, will happily buy a car that they can jump into when it's -15C, turn the key and have it start in half-a-second, then engage the heated-screen/turn the aircon on, select 'Drive' on the transmission and go about their business for the day. OK, after collecting the kids from prep=-school, you may want to go and lug a trailer with their ponies in it... I'm happy to see cars develop to the point where they're 'domestic appliances'. Normal people don't expect to have to worry about 2WD/4WD levers, high/low ratios or diff-locks. Get in, sit down, and drive!
  12. I've got a few decades of history... in times past I was part of what was then known as the "Scary Devil Monestary" [alt.sysadmin.recovery]... which in turn spawned the writings of the "person I'm not that keen on-Operator From Hell" - https://www.theregister.co.uk/Author/Simon-Travaglia/ There are plenty of historic quotes of mine to be plundered---- https://banana.fish/sysadmin/ASR.Quotes
  13. I understand the whole cheap-and-nasty vs OEM-parts thing, and am happy to reflect this understanding when having work done on my Defender. So I tell my local garage/workshop.... .:.:.:.:.: "I really don't like Britpart stuff, I know lots of their parts are utter-carp, but use your judgement: their stuff comes with a 2-year warranty but if you fit their stuff and it fails in less than 2 years I'll expect you to cover all my associated incidental costs, along with the labour and recovery-costs before replacing the failed parts". Cheap parts are expensive. Missing an client appointment to negotiate a £300K contract because a nasty-cheap part let me down on the journey is horribly-expensive.
  14. Looking at the photos of the 3-hole flange, you may want to grind back the weld-bead close to the holes, so that the nuts/washers can fit 'square' on the main flange rather than being tilted and stressing the stud because part of the nut is on the weld-bead and another part is on the flange. [Call me anally-retentive, but this is the sort of little-issue for which I'd happily refuse a 'fit-to-fly' certificate back in my days dealing with aircraft]
  15. Rather than crazy low-speed-off-road stuff, I'd much rather see videos of the Defender 2.0 doing the classic "Elk-swerve" manoeuvre while towing a 3.5 Tonne-laden trailer. Or cruising at Euro-legal limits on motorways/autobahns/autostradas while dealing with the wind-wash while passing slow 70MPH truck-convoys. [Trailer, of course, should have 21st-century independent per-wheel ABS and snake-sensors providing realtime feedback to the towcar]. That's the sort of situation the likely Defender 2.0 purchasers are living: when the racehorse in the horsebox you're towing, or the car you're trailering to a trackday, is worth 3x the cost of the towcar-and-trailer combined.
  16. As others have said - blocking all the possible noise-passages between the engine-bay and the vehicle interior is really important. When I got my TD5 90 I spent a bit on a 'soundproofing kit' featuring foam panels with heat-reflective aluminium-foil one side, peel-off self-adhesive sticky-stuff the other. While this worked OK on the top of the centre-area-where-the-cubby-box-lives-between-the-seats, the stuff intended to fit on the *underside* of the underseat access-panels to the battery-box and ECU/fusebox covers had serious adhesion issues, dropping off after a few years - so I re-stuck these to the tops of the access-panels using "Sticks like ****" gloop-in-a-cartridge. The supplied under-bonnet panels dropped off after less than a year: I guess their self-adhesiveness was not designed to handle underbonnet cook-off-after-engine-shutdown temperatures of an enthusiastically-driven engine. So I threw the stick-on panels away and instead used the remains of a can of window-fitters squirty-foam to squirt into the holes in the channels between the bonnet-skin and the bonnet-frame itself - the idea being to provide a positive fix between these and damp any resonances in the bonnet-skin. The result was as good as the redundant stick-on panels. But - to re-use the stick-on panels, I took the bulkhead vent-flaps off and glued cut down bits of the stick-on panels to the inner faces of the flaps. This was inspired by noticing just how much more in-cab noise there was when the flaps were open, and thinking that even when they were shut, noise could come through. Whatever you do, a Defender will never be a quiet travel-experience. Accept this, and learn to turn the radio up!
  17. Do you want petrol or diesel? The Peugeot "XD" Diesel was popular as a retro-fit in all sorts of vehicles in the 1990s: it was also used by Ford in their Sierra/Granada cars in Europe. Mahindra used a version in their Indian-built Jeeps.... a very simple, tough and long-lived (though agricultural) engine.
  18. Yes it sounds like a classic example of a brake flexible-pipe that's more-than-10-years-old and has swollen/degenerated so it no longer allows the caliper to de-pressurise. [I've always treated rubber brake flexies as a 5-year/50,000-mile service-item; braided-PTFE Goodridge types get abother 5 years of service-life before replacement]
  19. Yes, while you can use the likes of Megasquirt/Megajolt to re-engineer older standalone engine-management, these don't really integrate well with 21st-century stuff where the engine/gearbox/transmission/ABS/traction-control all needs to work together as a package. Sure, you *could* re-engineer such a setup - but you'd be needing one hell of a lot of product-liability insurance to cover you for when a divide-by-zero error in your retro-fit system's software caused the engine to apply maximum-throttle rather than zero in a panic-brake situation on a vehicle you'd never tested your kit against. [Trust me on this: one of my clients were specialists in re-engineering 40-year-old aircraft electronics. Even getting the specs as to what--it-had-to-do was a nightmare; they turned down loads of what would have been highly-lucrative contract-offers because nothing good's ever been reported about a kludged-together Boeing 727's electronics causing it to bellyflopp onto a kindergarten]
  20. If anything, I suspect the trend towards electric vehicles will mean that more and more people will lease/PCP their vehicles (here in the UK the vast majority of private cars are already leased). Leasing does at least give you an easy way out if you find battery-life starts to become an issue as the vehicle ages, rather than you being lumbered with a 5-year-old 100,000-mile vehicle that needs £10K-worth of new battery.
  21. Classic Zinc-Chromate etch-primer should go on really thin - just a fine 'mist coat' that barely conceals the underlying metal. Don't recoat the etch - let the first coat dry [I generally leave it for 48 hours] before going for the top-coat.
  22. Unless you're intent on 1970s military-authenticity - and have a vehicle with a legacy NATO-hitch/kludged-up electrics to tow it - Sankeys are really not that much in demand. [Last year I was paid to tow an "Eriba" camping-trailer and L405 petrol Range-Rover down to the Adriatic. you just didn't know the trailer was there. 110MPH on the Autostrada.... ahem]
  23. "absolute wheel travel" is all very well as a static measurement, but you need to also understand and acknowledge the dynamic aspect - "if the wheel is slammed up to the bump-stop, how quickly does it recover in rebound? If a wheel gets dropped from load-bearing, how quickly does it reach full-droop, and then when it is re-loaded, how quickly does it yield to the load? And while all this is going on, what is the transmission's intelligence doing to distribute torque/manage wheelspin?" What "works" when crawling over rocks at 2MPH is entirely different to what happens when you drop an inside-front-wheel into a pothole while doing 60MPH and towing a 3.5-ton trailer [I'll happily sacrifice slow-off-road ability in exchange for all the transmission/suspension-smarts that stop me leaving buttock-clench-ridges in the seat-trim in the fast-towing-wheel-drop situation]. If you want crazy off-road ability - buy a UNIMOG. If you want a vehicle that will happily keep-up with motorway-speed traffic while towing a few tons, the current LR product-portfolio makes sense [or follow my lead and buy a "Commercial" Toyota LandCruiser, which I really think is the logical VAT-deductible business-sensible successor to the Defender. There are some great discounts available, for example via "Mole Valley Farmers".]
  24. 2625cc is the 1960s inlet-over-exhaust six-pot lump shared with the Rover 110 car. A truly-gorgeous engine when well-maintained and running sweetly - alas the Land-Rovers fitted with it got a spectacularly-numb camshaft, a low-compression cylinder-head and only one carburettor. The Rover-110 version had higher compression, twin carbs and a camshaft that was rather more-lively - 123 Horsepower - more than the dumbed-down 3.5 Litre Land-Rover V8 managed...!!
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