=jon=

I'll try and get down to this as it's reasonably local to me

It'll give your ears a chance to recover from the diesel clatter

We should organise a trip out sometime

Sounds like Britpart

The cooling on MX5's is pretty marginal anyway - even with a good factory setup it's very affected by things like not having the undertray on - I've got 'proper' gauges on mine and it made a 7C difference cruising at 70 on a summers day to the water temp... Some of the problem is because they were originally used as transverse engines (in the 323) - when they put them in the '5 they converted the plumbing from in the front out the back to in the front, round a bit then back out the front again which doesn't help things a lot.. I converted mine back to exit from the back of the block when the engine was out last time, cooled things down a lot (but then mine runs a bit hotter than most as it's not quite standard!) Jon

It's on BBC HD on the 1st March, 9pm

A-Plan (Thatcham Branch though) insure my 90 - Lancaster messed me around never calling me back due to it having a ford engine in it, A-Plan sorted it out in about 10 minutes. V6, lift etc all declared for something round £150 which I was pretty happy with...

Arr, they be my go-faster holes, they be! Courtesy of one of it's many previous owners, along with the yellow blotches, the green blotches etc etc

(quick clamps are not the recommended fixing method ) I got a company called Roc-Ard (http://www.roc-ard.co.uk/) to make me up a custom light bar with mounting tabs to suit the bar - it came to about £50 all in. I have no connection with them but I thought it was good value for something not off the shelf... It's very nicely made too, well worth it (but if you go order one based on the dimensions I gave, I measured the mounting holes badly so they would need slotting a bit...)

I'd had a look at doing it with stable matting etc, but knowing me I'd make a half assed job of it, hence looking at something off the shelf!

Hi, Does anyone have any experience of the Defenderbits acoustic rear load matting, as per: http://shop.defenderbits.co.uk/defender-load-area-acoustic-matting-system------auto-404-1177-p.asp It looks like a reasonably decent solution for tidying the back of my 90 up, and reducing the road noise a bit, and for a 'reasonable' price - but I was wondering if anyone has any experience of what the quality is like, and how effective it is... Cheers Jon

A friend of ours is MD of a CNC and machining company in the west country - I'll see if I can dig out some details and PM you...

IT Rangers? Sounds like a foreign football club FWIW - I've got Dakar's on the 90 now - they are pretty noisy considering that they are a 'standard' tread pattern - on road at 50ish MPH there's a considerable amount of tyre hum. The 90 came with BFG muds (of the wrong size), which the Dakar's are based on, and they were quieter, but still hummed a bit. For a mainly road car I'd be looking at something quieter...

Trailer, as in thing you tow behind you, not trialler....

I've just found out the same thing - it also seems that the fuse boxes are labelled as holding current, not peak. Later ones with blade fuses have 15A fuses for the blower...

It means you may miss the chaos caused by a few flakes of snow Milton Park has it's own micro-climate caused by the power station apparently, the vapour from the cooling towers means it snows when it gets cold. My better half is on contract at Milton Park at the moment, she came back with that handy fact on Monday!

It seemed to spin well enough, and when it's on full pelt it certainly seems to shift a lot of air...

Glass. The standard fuse is shown as 10A for the fan inside the fuse cover, but it must be drawing more than that...

Roughly on-topic question, does anyone know how much current a '89 defender fan should draw, and what current the wiring is rated to? I always thought the fan on the 90 was pants, after taking the dash apart and putting it back together properly, I realised that the switch was only travelling to the second click on full travel (first click is flap fully open, second click fan speed low, third fan on full), and that there was a whole extra full speed setting which previously couldn't be selected! This blows a reasonable amount of air, equivalent to a 'modern' car - however it blows the (standard) 10A fuse after a few mins. Changing the fuse and doing some quick diagnosis this morning before my commute shows the fuse glowing cherry red as soon as you select full speed. Bearing in mind everyone complaining that the fan is carp compared to a modern car, and the fact that it blows 10A fuses after a few mins, has it been tampered with or is there a wiring fault somewhere? When I had the heater box apart it looked to be a standard fan and span freely... I don't think it's a short as that would blow the fuse much quicker, but I'm loathed to stick a higher amp fuse in there if it's going to cause a wiring fire!

I'd get someone to sit in the drivers seat and wiggle the steering back and forth, you should be able to work out what's got the slack in it by going round each of the joints / boxes / relays etc

I think they can put any tabs on you want...

If you are interested in a roof bar, these guys: http://www.roc-ard.co.uk/index.php/shop/category/view/1 Are currently building me one with custom fittings for the same sized light bar - its been fabbed and is currently at the powder coaters, should be with me at the end of next week. When it turns up I'll post pics and a review etc, I think the plan is that once they've confirmed mine's OK, they will be set up to make others as a standard item.. Cheers Jon

This one? I've set it up to tape, due to the wonders of MythTV I may be able to get you a copy you can watch sooner than the postal one

How about stable matting? Some people on other forums have used it to cover the innards of a defender with good results, it's also a LOT cheaper than the wright off road kit...

Subscribing as I'm interested in this too, dependant on what happens with my series (with a 2.5 petrol). What kind of gains are you looking at over something like an electronic dizzy module?