Escape

Too bad... What's the reason behind the limit? To keep out larger/heavier vehicles? It doesn't seem that twisty so I don't see a long wheelbase causing much trouble.

As above, you've seem to have checked everything but the starter.

With the ignition off you should have no voltage at the MAF as it is fed by the main relay, not directly from the battery. The SLABS ECU does stay awake for a few mintues after locking to allow for self levelling. So make sure you give it enough time. If you still have a drain, pull the fuses that are permanently live one by one until the drain disappears. That will narrow it down.

You're a brave man to start such a project! I'd be worried about the damage that can't be seen unless fully stripped (and even then) but might show up over time, with connections going bad etc.

Keep the faith, you'll get there!

Especially the previous model (the light green one in the vid) looks like a G-wagon shrunken down a bit. Just to prove I'm a grumpy old barsteward, I prefer the old one, not only the looks but also the lack of a touchscreen and other gizmos. It didn't seem very convincing offroad though, the lack of center differential and IFS with obviously limited articulation let it down. The lever operated lockers are nice though! Not taking price into account, I'd still prefer one of these to a new Defender, just because of the character and because there's less electrickery to annoy me. I'll take a Niva over both any day. 🙂

That sounds like a fun project! 😎 Everybody likes pictures... It is possible that the engineblock was cast in 2001, the GEMS management (and 'brick' intake etc) was only used up to '99 by Land Rover, but lasted longer with TVR etc as they never made the transition to Bosch management and the 'banana' manifolds. I have a Megasquirt running an engine with a GEMS flywheel (though not yet in the car...) and standard sensor, so the Emerald should cope as well. Makes for a tidy install without the addition of a toothed wheel at the front. Filip

There are different sensors for manual and automatic because of the location of the tooth wheel. But that can be solved by playing around with the spacers as well. Also a difference between early and later GEMS, early ones have the connector high up near the coils and a short wire on the sensor, later ones have a longer loom with the connector directly at the sensor. I think the connector is the same, so interchangeable if you adjust the wire length in the loom. Please tell us a bit more about your project, that will help give the correct info. Are you using the standard GEMS ECU or something aftermarket like MegaSquirt? Also, there's no such thing as a 2001 GEMS, they were replaced by the Bosch ECM in 1999. Filip

Hard to find indeed... Probably due to it being an old program (last version was 2014 I think) and not straightforward to get it running on a modern OS. And there being so many online versions out there now. I had a version on CD, but that didn't survive the fire...

Exactly this! Luckily there seems to be some renewed interest in nuclear. Even the greens are now realizing building new gas (or coal) plants is not really a sustainable answer. I have heard fusion research is making progress as well. 🙂

PB and BY are the 2 signal wires on the sensor in a GEMS. The Bosch has a separate 3rd B wire for earth.

The drains are a stiff pipe, I blew through it with some cleaner before reassembling. All seemed well but I'll double check when I get back.

I got the turbo out again, only took about 3 hours now that I knew what I was doing and could cut a few more corners (like leaving the prop in place)... It doesn't look good. First off, there was a lot of oil (as in 1-2 liter!) in the air hoses, both from the air filter and to the intercooler. The intercooler also held a good amount of oil. So clearly the turbo oil feed was working (I did clean and check it before putting the rebuild turbo in) but something caused the seals to fail again. Once I had it on the bench, much to my surprise the entire compressor wheel was missing! I found some debris and swarf in the oil, more than last time. But not nearly enough to make up an entire compressor wheel. So either the parts fell out while I struggled the turbo out of the car or it got blown into the engine (or at least into the intercooler). What really needs answering is what could have caused this rapid failure? I can't just put another turbo in and hope for the best... I'll send an email to the supplier for advice. I didn't expect the turbos to last another 400k km but certainly not fail straight away either. I also need to decide what to do with the RHS. It seems fine, I'll check for oil in the pipework but don't really feel like taking everything apart again without good reason either. Filip

There used to be the Microcat CDs, with unlocked version available. I can't find a copy anymore, but I'm sure there out there if you search a bit.

That goes with all the added creature comfort I'm afraid. I was hoping for the last Lotus ICE to be a new Esprit, not a next generation Evora. I'm sure it will be a great car and appeal to a bigger crowd as there seems to be a lot of interest from non-Lotus owners, which is what Geely wanted. Those who prefer an Elise/Exige will be harder to convince. And a new Esprit, if it ever happens, is likely to be electric (which puts us back on topic somewhat 🙂 ). I've only seen renderings of the Munro, but based on an Ibex is certainly a good start. The limited range is probably enough for most practical applications like farmers (the original/main market for the Ibex I think) but could be a problem for leisure users wanting to take an offroad trip or drive to a pay&play and back. Unless we put a big diesel generator at each offroad site. 🙂 "You can go anywhere, as long as there's electricity" doesn't really cut it... And not as easily solved as just putting a can of petrol/diesel in the back. Filip

I like it! It reminds me of a Polish protobuggy in Ladoga 2011 or 2012. A bit more affordable and I'd be genuinely interested. The rough version please, not the one with the white bodywork that looks like a Tesla cybertruck. And it should provide access to LEZs, even with the limited electric only range. It's been years since I've had much positive to say about anything new, but that's actually the second new car I like in the last month or so. The first one being the Radford Type62/2 (but not so much the Emira, unfortunately). If this is the way things are heading, there is hope still. 🙂 Filip

This! Driving schools often focus just on getting you to pass the test. Which is of course what you pay for, but I'd expect some insights on safe practices as well. See my earlier post about the learner driver with no idea about lights but happily and legally on the road nevertheless. With that in mind the rule change will probably have little effect. As long as there aren't too many numpties who now think because there are no specific requirements they can go and tow without giving it a second thought. I was lucky, when I had my HGV/artic lessons the instructor actually cared and gave me some good pointers to make things safer as well as easier. I've thought a few people to drive a trailer (including @elbekko) and have always tried to stress the importance of common sense, safe loading etc rather than nitpicking on the rules. Both passed first time, so I must have done something right. 🙂

Yes, but a Series1 isn't that heavy either (ca 1200kg?) so there's a considerable part of the total weight high up.

Or this for towing: https://www.weigh-safe.com/

I can't bring myself to not like that, such a simple solution! But I certainly don't want to be the one who has to drive the racer on there. Or drive the Series at anything but low gear and on the flattest and straightest road possible! I once drove a 110 with an estimated 400kg of scaffolding on the roofrack and that was all but comfortable. For the record, the son of the boss had loaded it and then handed me the keys to drive it from the site to the warehouse, about 40km.

I haven't really noticed that. If you refer to accident coverage, it could be cars on their sides or roof make for better pictures and a more spectacular story so are more likely to get more attention? Cars have been getting higher and heavier (obvious in SUVs and MPVs, but applies to 'normal' cars as well), at the same time advances in suspension and tire technology offer better grip, with electronics working hard to exploit every last bit of grip available. So if it does go wrong, consequences are bound to be greater. A tail happy old Spitfire is unlikely to reach a high enough corner speed to actually flip over, it will just slide off or spin away.

It looks almost like a Grenadier DCPU to me, only with a proper dash. 🙂

Sounds identical to my own story! While I was still a learner driver my dad couldn't get our small trailer reversed to where he wanted it, despite me giving directions. So he got out and to let me have go. First time success, and he's been asking me to drive the trailer ever since. Especially when he still has his boat, it was always me who drove it out to the harbour. Despite not having my BE license at the time. Like you, I blame countless hours of playing with (and designing) Lego trucks/trailers/mobile cranes etc. 🙂 As for CE, over here it is very rare to see a driving school using a tractor + semi, it's always a rigid + trailer. The latter meets all the requirements for the exam and the rigid can be used on its own as well, whereas a tractor would just sit there. I think in most cases a tractor + semi is easier to drive anyway, certainly when reversing or maneuvering than a rigid + trailer, as the the long wheelbase of the semi makes it less nervous. A bit like how a big car trailer can be easier than a small single axle skip trailer. You just have to be aware of the room it needs on the inside when taking a corner. Filip

Not giving up yet, we might still get there! 😉

Some (overdue) updates: It took me some time to get new/refurbished turbos. Apparently no one had the LHS in stock. I was not really amused some thought it a good idea to proceed with the order and just send me one turbo instead of a set. Especially as the LHS really needed replacement, broken shaft and all... In the end I did find 2 cores, thanks to @elbekko digging around for cross references instead of the LR partnrs. The rebuild went fairly smooth even if it took some time. I then somehow managed to get both turbos fitted to the car again, took slightly longer than the removal to fiddle everything in place but no major obstacles. I'm still convinced I could not have saved time by removing the body and am sure that would have brought along plenty of other problems like broken clips etc. I turned over the starter a couple of times to build oil pressure and on the second attempt she fired up and immediately settled to a nice and stable idle. Victory! I thought, until I noticed some drops of oil under the car. Turned out one of the gaskets on the left return pipe got pinched and was leaking. Not too bad, just a bit fiddly to fit a new one. And at least a leak in the return was prove there was a good supply of oil to the turbo. The oil leak taken care of I took the car for a spin, once getting up to temperature a lot of smoke, probably due to some oil and cleaning agent remaining in the pipework. I took it easy but the engine seemed to run nicely and wanted to rev. The smoke cleared after a few (short) runs so all seemed well. Not so much, yesterday got a call from the owner he had again broken down. Big cloud of smoke, no power and then the engine stalled. When we went out to recover him I immediately spotted some oil under the LHS turbo... I didn't have the courage to start taking everything apart again yesterday evening... Not sure what I'll find, everything point to the turbo, the only place oil can leak out would be feed or return pipe (feed pipe looks dry as far as I can see) or the new core has already failed due to some underlying and unresolved problem. 😞 Stay tuned for updates, I'll start over on Tuesday (if I can muster the courage). Filip