paul mc

Julian, I should have been more clear, to book camping tickets you have to ring the number on the LRO Show website, it now turns out that these tickets were booked through the company which run Billing Aquadrome, not Live Promotions. If I had just pre-booked tickets for the show, without camping, 'See Tickets' who are selling just day tickets, are offering exchanges or full refunds, but Billing are not. I booked over the phone and have still not even received my tickets by the way, and there were no terms and conditions explained to me along these lines at the time, or any sent to me since booking for me to read and object to at the time. A company can not just go around taking people's money and then making up terms and conditions afterwards. It is a shame but from now on I am not going to pre-book any tickets until a day or two before the show. I wish I could go this time but I am getting married on 11th August, unless I could sneak off for a couple of hours

Hi, I had bought 4 camping tickets for me and three friends a couple of months ago, and have just found out that it has been cancelled due to ground conditions. Fair enough, these things happen, but......... I rang Live promotions to ask how I go about getting a refund as I can not make the new date, but they just kept saying 'we are only offering transfers to the new dates or a credit note', how is this possibly right? I bought the tickets and made arrangements around these dates, while I understand that Live promotions can not control the weather surely they are obliged to refund tickets for a show which they have cancelled? I will keep chasing them and they have given me an email address to contact but I would be very interested to hear how others get on, surely there will be hundreds of people who, like me, have already organised holidays etc on the new shows dates and can therefore unfortunately not go to billing. Have fun anyone who does make it! Paul

Hi, My 1987 3.5V8 EFI auto is cutting out when in gear and held on the brake. When i change into neutral or park the revs pick up and it idles fine, if anything a little fast (about 1000rpm). I am hoping it is purely because it has not been out for a run for a long time but this weekend i used it for the first time in about 3 months (have been doing bits and pieces on it and haven't had time to take it out). But anyway, i was shunting around in the stables trying to line up the winch to pull a broken fence post out of the ground and everytime when i was moving it was fine, but if i come to stop with it in drive, to then change into reverse the engine would bog down and die, as if the torque converter was not letting go sufficiently. As I said, I hope it will improve with a bit more usage but has anyone any ideas what might be causing it? It has only done about 1000miles since new oil and filter in autobox and oil level is fine. Thanks, Paul

X-Protex X-Attack

It was the LPG mixture which was the problem, as soon as i opened the main valve on the LPG feeder pipe to the AFM it maintained a good idle, a bit more playing around and tuning with the LPG diagnostic page suggested by Cynic-al should have it running sweetly. I also advanced it a bit more, it ran really well on a lot of advance (never checked exactly what), but it was a pig to start,so I backed it off the minimum until it started sweetly. Thanks for the advice.

Thanks for the responses, personally i thought 7deg advance was generally recommended from what I had been reading but i will have a play about this weekend. Cynic-al, that DIY tuning guide looks good, its not something I have adjusted before so that may well have something to do with it. I was thinking that there must be some lack of LPG getting to the engine with the throttle butterfly closed so adjusting the idle mixture may be a good bet. Cheers, Paul

Hope you can help!!!! I recently overhauled the top end of my engine, new camshaft, tappets etc and new gaskets on rebuild, as well as new dizzy, ignition coil, magnecor leads and plugs. In general the engine is now running lovely, and it is running very smoothly on LPG..... so long as i keep the revs above about 1000rpm. It will idle all day on petrol, albeit not as smoothly, but whe i change to LPG and let it idle it will just slow down, and slow down, and slow down until it cuts out. When i restart the engine it will fire up agasin no problem. I have it set to about 7deg BTDC. Any ideas what might be the problem? I don't want to just crank up the revs at idle. Thanks, Paul

Hi, Since getting my landy back on the road after a coupe of years, i seem to be strugging for power. I think the vacuum advance has given up on the dizzy and also can't rotate the rotor arm the 20degrees i believe it should have of free play, so i presume it's not advancing properly at higher revs. As well as getting a new dizzy I want to make sure the vacuum hoses are all going to the right places, as far as i can remember there are three vacuum sources for the small rubber tubing; - 1 above the air intake - 1 in the middle of the rear of the plenum - 1 at the back of the plenum over the fuel pressure regulator and three places needing a vacuum connection; - 1 on the fuel pressure regulator - 2 on the dizzy advance unit I am happy enough that the one above the fuel pressure regulator goes there, but where do the other two go to, and why are there two connections on the dizzy? 1987 3.5 V8 Efi flapper Thanks, Paul

I was going to stick with a new tin head gasket so as not to affect compresiion, is this not necessary?

After 175,000 miles on my 1987 3.5efi engine I have decided it is way past needing new cam, so i bought a 3.9 cam and tappets, as well as new head gasket (tin) and other top end gaskets. But while i have the top off is there anything else i really should be doing? Should the cam shaft need new bearings? I have decided this needs doing as the engine seems very underpowered, i struggle to do 60mph on motorways and drop down to 50mph on hills. It is an automatic as well. Beforfe stripping the top end i also did a compression check, all of the cylinders are achieving a consistent 150psi, with the exception of the cylinder nearest the driver which achieves only 135 (although jumps to 155 with a squirt of oil). Does this raise any particular alarm bells? I ground the valves last time i had the head off when i first bought the car (only about 500 miles ago to go into my hybrid project). unfortunately i didn't ever take the donor rangie out for a long run at full speed as it was not road legal, so don't really know how it was behaving prior to transplant, but around the farm it seemed to run well up to about 30mph, which was as fast as i could get. any help much appreciated. Paul

I went trialling for the first time last sunday with the BHC LRC in Twinney Woods, I'm pleased to say it went very well with onl a couple of niggles, one was it stalling a couple of times when i braked hard (its an auto and the sudden engine braking cut the revs too much a couple of times) and the other was lack of turning circle. I put it up on jacks this weekend to ensure the sterring stops were correctly adjusted, i got a bit more movement out of it when turning hard left, but I could not improve the turning circle when turning hard right. Even with the lock stops fully wound in so they did not make contact with the axle when at full lock, something is still stopping the wheel about 20mm away from the radius arm, I have checked all around and it is not making contact with any bodywork or the chassis, so I am thinking it is something within the sterring relay. Am I correct and is there anything i can do to improve the turning circle further? Even with wheel spacers I do not think the turning circle would be improved as the wheels are currently not making contact with the body. It is essentially a RRC 1987 3.5V8efi with power steering (with hybrid 88" bodywork) thanks Paul

It turns out my old starter was a BIsch tyoe and the one currenty in it is a Magnetti Marelli. I have swapped them both back to see if it was just the Magentti branded one that was carp but they are both starting the engine slowly so must be something else after all. The only thing i can think is that the timing is slightkly advanced to suit LPG, although it starts on petrol, would this be a likely cause? Thanks, Paul

Hi, After re-wiring my 1987 3.5V8 Efi i can not get an accurate reading out of the temperature gauge as it seems to be affected by the fuel gauge, i.e. when one goes up the other goes up, at least that's what it looks like. The fuel gauge appears to be OK as when the tank is nearly empty the reading shows low and the reserve light comes on, but occasionally it does seem to go up and down a bit. The temperature gauge seems to start ok, reading cold and then slowly going to the mid point, it also creeps up and down a bit for no obviuos reason (i.e. I'm not going up hills or anything like that). I know I can just fit an aftermarker water temp gauge but i would rather the dash one reads correctly. What do you think is going on? Is there a shared earth or live somewhere? Thanks, Paul

Hi, After my rebuild i was always very pleased at how well my 1987 3.5V8 EFi started, it always fired into life after a couple of turns. However, during one of the many sessions where I was having timing and fuel problems I got carried away and burnt out the starter, I replaced it with a second hand starter off flea bay thinking they would all do the job but now i'm finding that, while it always starts, it is much slower, often up to 10 seconds of turning over before it fires. The only difference i notcied when fitting the 'new' starter was that the main positive connection stud was quite a lot shorter than the old one (the connections here are still clean and secure though, it's just that i always used to hold the starter cables on with two nuts for security, now i can only fit on one). Anyway, I want to buy a new one as its annoying (not to mention embarrassing) to have to turn over for ages every time I set off but is there any particularly good starters out there which i 'must have', or will an aftermarket one from Paddocks do (about £80 delivered). I have seen the powerlite ones but they are bloody expensive, but are they worth it? Thanks, Paul

A bit of an update then. I have now replaced all of the main and big end bearings from underneath, and while it is certainly possible I have an inspection pit, it would have been a thoroughly unpleasant and oily couple of days were i working on my back. I drained the oil and removed the sump friday night and it was still dripping oil the next day, but as i was standing under the vehicle it wasn't so bad. The big end bearings were a piece of cake but the main bearings took some some fiddling. I made up a bit of metal a little narrower and thinner than a main bearing shell which i used to tap out the top bearing (obviously I spent a long time rounding all of the edges so i wouldn't risk scratching the crank). Getting the new main bearings back in was little fiddlier but i undid all 5 of the main bearing caps and it allowed me to gently tap the new ones home with a block of wood, i did the two end bearings first which openeed up the clearance a bit for the three central bearings, making it easier. I also fitted new oil pump gears and refaced the oil pump base, it has all helped but still not restored the pressure to anything like specified. I did see those high volume oil pumps previously but they are all described as being for pre-SD1 engines, so i didn't think they will fit my 1987 unit, Fett, what engine did you fit it to? Or has anyone else used these high volume pump kits? Thanks, Paul

Not if i use enough tape!!!

Just thought i should add a reply. I have been a bit silly here, after spending too much time reading exhaust info online and not enough time looking at my car, I have now realised that the later 3.5's (1986 onwards (but check engine number)) actually do have a 4-2-1 system as with the 3.9. They have a different part number to the 3.9 exhaust but look the same (i believe a slightly smaller bore on the 3.5). So for the sake of simplicity i have bought new downpipes and y piece to suit my 1987 3.5 and will get the custom work done from there back and i will just duct tape a silencer onto the y piece to get me to the exhaust shop. Although I have got two quotes and they are both at £300 to fabricate and mount the system from the Y piece back which does seem very steep (although it includes back box, mounts and is a stainless system). Anybody in the Enfield area know of a place that might do better deal? Thanks, Paul

Thanks for the replies, I took the sump off today to have a look and see what i could do, the big end bearings will be fine to do with the engine in place and the main bearings look do-able, i managed to get the old bearings out easy enough as Snaggers suggestion, and I have now ordered all the bearings i need so i shall try and replace them next weekend, hopefully it will work. I'm glad i am doing it, the bearings i removed are very warn so new bearings should really help with the pressure. I'll let you know how i get on with fitting the new ones. Cheers, Paul

Hi, After a slow 2 year build of my Series 3/RRC i've finally SVA'd and on the road, but now that I am using it for longer (not just test runs around a field to test bits) it is clear that the oil pressure is low, the hotter the engine gets the lower the pressure gets and after a longish drive the pressure really drops on tickover and sometimes the top end sounds quite tappetty. I am using 20w-50 and have tried the oil additives aswell just to see, I have replaced the pressure relief valve with the tadpole type from JE, and the housing for it looks like its in good condition, as much as i can tell anyway. It's a 3.5 V8 EFi wit 170k done, so it is fair to say the engine is worn out. I did a basic top end refurb during the rebuild (head and exhaust gaskets and re-ground the valves) and everything looked pretty good. I will eventually get round to a full rebuild but for now I'm just trying to keep it working and economically viable, I have spent much more than planned so i don't want to fork out for full rebuild kit yet. But basically, I can only think the next and simplest thing to do is replace the bottom end bearings (big end and main) and fit new oil pump gears while I'm under there. But what I want to know is can i do the bearings with the engine still in the car by just removing the sump? I have an inspection pit so access is good but I haven't really ever looked into the engine from below so don't know what is and is not possible. Also, is there anything else i should be doing while I'm under there, oil seals etc? I'm not really worried about restoring it to original condition at the moment, I'm sort of treating it as a phased rebuild, so that I can keep doing bits and pieces to the engine which will all help but won't need re-doing if i get round to a deeper rebuild. I'll probably replace the cam shaft for a 3.9 one eventually and then worry about new tappets, rods and rockers then. The compression is consistent in all cylinders and up to spec so no worries there. So please, any advice for increasing pressure and fitting new bearings greatly appreciated. Thanks, Paul

I need to sort a new exhaust for my RRC / Series 3 hybrid, originally i was going to go for a full custom system so that i can choose to route the new pipes well up in the chassis to keep them safe, but after reading as many posts on here as i can find i think that a better route is to bolt on a 3.9 exhaust manifold, down pipes and Y piece, and then i can just get custom exhaust from there back. Will save money and should still be a good system. I have a 1987 3.5 V8 EFi on a shortened RRC chassis with Series 3 bodywork. My only question is that as i plan to buy the 3.9 bits and take them with me to the exhaust centre so they can all be fitted together in one go, otherwise if i fit just the manifold and downpipes myself how do i get to the exhaust shop without making my ears bleed? But anyway, if i do it this way and take the bits with me, will the 3.9 exhaust manifold bolt straight on or will i need to do some modifications? Obviosuly i don't want to be getting the grinder out or altering studs or anything while i am paying a nice exhaust man by the hour. I have considered doing it all myself but my welding just isn't neat enough and i want a very good job done. I blame my welder! It's a piece of carp and i just can't get the settings right, my wire speed is basically on or off, no adjustment! Cheers, Paul

As i hadn't run my 3.5 efi rangie/series 3 hybrid for a while i took it out for a quick spin around the fields on saturday as it looked nice and muddy, the problem is that it had no bodywork on it infront of the front bulkhead and the resulting spray from the tyres meant that the entire engine bay and car in general was caked in mud. Not a problem, i parked it up and hosed it down to get it clean enough to continue working on it. However, i do remember spraying the alternator but thought nothing of it at the time, and when i fired it up about an hour later it wasn't charging (confirmed with a multimeter on the back of the alternator). Does this mean i need a new alternator or is it somehow repairable? If i do get a new one i was thinking about a higher current one anyway to run winches, spots, inverter, etc, any one got any recommendations for a good replacement unit, either like for like or higher spec one? Are there any alternators from other vehicles which are a straight swap? It will increase the chance of me picking up a decent second hand one if i know that ones from other cars will work. 1987 RRC 3.5 V8 EFi Thanks, Paul

Thanks for the response Pete but unfortunately i can't check it that way as i have a series 3 body on mine so the measurements from floor to wheel arch will not apply to me

As far as i was concerned the accepted suggestion is that you need castor corrective radius arms when fitting a lift of more than 2" to maintain correct geometry. I currently don't have them fitted and the handling at even lowish speeds, about 30mph, is quite vague.

I need to buy myself a set of cranked front radius arms to compensate for the lift i am currently running, obviously i have a choice of 3deg or 6deg cranks and i know the 3deg crank is recommended for 2" lifts and 6deg for 4"ish lifts but i am not exactly sure what lift i have achieved as I have built a hybrid using largely RRC stuff but with series body. The coils i am using are definately +2" but with the reduced weights etc on them i think the overall lift is more than the two inches so i may need the 6degree arms. My question is could someone please measure for me the spring heights on a standard RRC in an unloaded vehicle (i.e. kerb weight) and i can compare that to what i have. Thanks very much Paul

To sort the oil pressure i only took the dizzy out so i must have put it back incorrectly. I do think it's timing too, i will start the timing from scratch this weekend and hopefully sort it out. I did check the order of the leads and they are ok, i also got a new dizzy and rotor arm as the old ones were OK but a bit worn down.