Team Idris

I'm a bit late to the party, but I only have the centre diff unlocked to climb on the trailer and move around the driveway. With the V8 in trials and challenges there isn't the chance to risk running it open and remembering not give it a boot full. But the only guaranteed way to blow the centre diff that I have heard of is to try a tight turn with it 'open' by pulling the handbrake on. Other than that failures could just be wear? So that would be a good reason to lock it on any surface it won't wind up. It is maybe the toughest part on these vehicles

I just keep going with the ford transit. It's way beyond economic repair if I was paying, but welding the thing myself it's difficult to say it's not worth it. So I guess it's only too far gone if you haven't got the cash or the time? It could be argued that structural strength is at risk, but that was gone at the first patch

Not starters, but other parts. In fact, if you think about it, you are more likely to get batch of bad parts with mass production. I'd check the cable crimps. They can drop a lot of voltage if they come loose.

My banner arn't popular, but I am pleased with them. They are transit size gfm. They get what batteries hate with plenty of work for a few hours followed with long lay ups (months). They are traction class as opposed to start or deep cycle.

I started rummaging around in the rear fan cowl. It's got an unhappy bearing by the sound of it, which is fair, as the big Kenlow has an open-frame and really it is a blowing fan, not a sucker designed to run in hot air. No point using it until it fails, so it's fan cowl is going in the bin. Also the 13" pushers have come off with the intension of leaving them off. Below is how they looked and fitted; The replacement is a 2mm ally fan cowl. It has a divider like the front set so one fan can work alone. The fans are 14" 12volt sucking Comex units from Revotec. I have put the stamping-blank file in the cad archive. The top hose has a 3 pin thermostat and I only used one of them. Now the two channels work the two fans with the LH on the lower setting. This is different to how it was, where the kenlow ran all the time on low or full speed by a switch, depending on the event. This is the view from the back over the battery set, fuel tank and expansion tank.

I'd cut the front face off plus the top and the bottom plates. Push the back flat, hammer the top and bottom flat before welding them back on and fit a new front face from sheet. Keeping the back face in place means I would know the exact original widths. This is my normal MO of weakening a structure so I can push / beat it back into shape while keeping the positions.

I've done terrible things to my RRC classic chassis. The hydraulic pump is where the cross member should be! As long as it has the structural strength it'll be fine. Most important bit will be to check for creases on the insides of the chassis rails. That metal that has moved to let the legs point inward will probably pop back when you release the front.

It's a good plan, and I imagine that when you push any rusty pistons back into the new caliper the rust crystals start to act on the caliper metal. I put the chromed steel pistons on the shelf incase somebody needs some one day. It was interesting that the SS pistons that came out of my old caliper (which bust a lug) had rust on them. I wiped it off with Jenolite phosphoric acid because it was well stuck on the surface. The surface underneath was pristine, the rust having come from the caliper casting.

I'm no fan of the words 'split charge' and 'relay' together because connecting causes burning if the load is high. Once a relay has some age to it I don't think you are any worse off than the 0.7volt drop of a split charge diode pack. Plus, the diode pack stops power traveling back to the alternator if it shorts out. But I am probably being mean to the system as it isn't as harsh charging a deep cycle battery. My first test would be to measure the voltage drop across the main terminals of the relay when it is charging. That is a hell of a big load though from the fridge. (450 / 12). probably worth adding that boats use a different regulator to push more current into deep cycle batteries. It is an external box-of-tricks with a specific charge curve.

I have to say I did use the old seals. I would only change the square ones if any. The new SS Pistons were absolute fecks to get in there and had to be Bob on square to fit in, for no reason I could see or measure? I suppose I normally fit Pistons into calipers with metal missing from rust that made the hole bigger?

On centrifugal fans the forward facing vanes are the best angle for ventoring the most amount of air, but it doesn't have the ideal stall characteristics of backward facing blades which can generate more pressure. So in this case I am guessing they are right if it has a thermostat to block the flow?

And some ARP studs to hold it all together. They do the job and look great.

Mine got to be a bad starter and it was partly because the cam lobes were flat. So it can be a valve issue with rovers happy-shopper cams If it doesn't even try with a snort it has to be ignition. And the carbon from the petrol can impregnate the porcelain as can the engine oil. Has it still got ignition bypass for a 9volt coil on those? they just aren't an engine that likes starting

If you can hold your hand on it, it would be too cold to be efficient. The hotter it gets the more heat energy it can get rid of. Most of my hydraulic customers start to get twitchy at seventy degrees centigrade. If you are worried, the best way to start is to put a temperature reader on it, so you know your exact hot value. If it is getting to eighty when it is really working hard then it will be pretty thin and maybe time to send some fresh air at the pump? The old tin can reservoirs were much better at keeping oil cool, but the oil is better at running hot these days.

Timing is out maybe?

Cracked battery plate that opens the gap up with heat maybe?

That's a wowcha bargain

I did mine the other day and it is a bit of a fight. The thing I had to do was cut the ends off the two bolts as the rust was stoping the nuts coming off. Then fight the taper. (Chisel, hammers, bars, bits of plate). I cut the ears off the ball joint so I could smack the old one out. then put two longer bolts in as alignment to push the ball assembly back in. It's a constant fight like front radius arm bushes I put a greaseable one on so a split boot wasn't a total disaster. While in there I noticed the RH A frame arm was floppy. The bush is good, but it isn't being gripped by that cast bracket thing So I've drilled it's bolt for an M6 grease nipple. I figure as off road only I should be okay as long as it does't wear more badlier. Lucky I'm not in a hurry as it looks as though my Amazon nipples are coming from Hong Kong......... And my final tip; I couldn't move my 28mm spanner, so I used my hand winch hooked around the outrigger. A bit precarious, but doesn't need huge muscles. Don't knock your teeth out though

Kate?

Stephen & Rosey Knight enjoyed that Rosie bought a model land rover for uncle Martin, I sat in Malcom's RZR, Said hi to David Boyer, bumped into Greenstream and his mate, bought some winch rope protectors from Steve King on the Damar stand, chatted to Richards Chassis, Saw the MOC guys, chatted to Neil at Red, chatted to Alan from TOR and bought an RC rock Crawler from Wheel Spin. Then off to the Café on the way out for Tuna-melt Panini and ogled a pair of 4x4 Swimwaggons in the entrance to the Donnington Museum. Never saw Megasquirt, but it was pretty mad in there

Could easily be over-full. It's called one-shot and one packet is enough to do the job. So maybe you have two packets in there? I like them oil filled, as it lubes better, but both systems suffer from the same issue; that if stuff is coming out, then water can get in. I think its re-build time At least you don't need any mega special kit to do these And so many parts around, I would consider buying spare swivels to rebuild at your leisure and fit them later in the year when it warms up a bit.

The LH wing got a reduced version of the RH wing work, as it had been 'generally' welded before 2014 season. Welding a new 30 x 2mm strip into the arch was again a success and it is a lot more ridged. I've changed both rear donut rubbers at the chassis and got in there with the welder while it was stripped. They are now stronger against rocks and less able to jam up with clay. This part was always a total pig to pressure wash, as the water comes right back at you out of the wedge shaped slot. Now there is an 18mm hole in the bottom Now it is starting to get there I'll go back to future-proofing it. I have been very pleased with the bike gear change levers for changing winch gear, but they are under a lot of cable load. I'm planning to up the cable to 3mm and fit two of the levers below. They are quite a challenge to make, but not as bad as I had wondered.

I think the 3.5 / 3.9 torque is a fair torque setting, because there isn't any real difference between the engines. I mean, we arn't talking RV8 vs Duetze air cooled diesel vs CAT C4.4 ? I did my 3.5 to ARP settings on mains and heads and that is flippin' tight. As mentioned you get the higher torque and it has greater effect due to finer thread. So I would go with standard 3.9 settings and if it is the correct studs for the 4.6 block I would go to the ARP setting. (There was issue on this forum with 3.5 stud kit in a 4.6. Pulling the threads out of the block was fixed with helicoils)

Sounds like a job for 'electric turbo'. There is a belt driven one on a supercharged mini that is a turbine wheel and a gear-up gearbox. I converted one to have an air con clutch. Don't think the bloke has run it yet? And I thought it was better driven off a winch motor anyway.

The early shock-reduction diff was probably better if it didn't bust the Belleville washers. reverse idler probably just needs attacking with an ally welder. I went to the hp22 and have been well pleased with it. The 95 was needing too much money in parts. And it wouldn't change gear 'quickly'.