ThreeSheds

I don't know how 'Defender aware' you are but you may well need blankets for mum and warm boots and clothing even if the traffic does keep moving... Other than that I think all the bases are well covered above. By the way - well done for surviving! Hope you didn't damage the Mustang too much ( ) Roger

Ahhh my old Machos - so poor on wet tarmac that they seemed very good on snow I drove my RRC to Scotland through last year's snow on half-worn 235/85 Machos and they really were very good. I was particularly impressed on the last (rural) stretch of my journey when I turned up a B road and could see from the tracks that there had been several failed attempts at the hill (at least one of which was on MT type tyres) and I just drove up it with no fuss or drama. Later on that trip I visited the setting-out of a driving day organised by the Tay 4x4 club ( http://www.tay4x4club.gdnetwork.co.uk/ ) and got to drive around on virgin snow that was a foot deep in places and had no problems... They seem very good on snow (fresh or hard-packed) but on glass-ice they were poor (as I suspect anything would be that hasn't got studs). On another occasion right outside my house, I sat in the driving seat as a passenger on a very gentle slope on glass-ice while the car just slid away at a walking pace until it hit the kerb...

I wonder what the out-of-the-box production tolerance/variance is on these wastegates when new? And I wonder how much that changes over the years...

On the pointer thing - a mangled paperclip araldited to in position is good - somwhere you can see it and get the strobe to light it. Although on my serpV8 (off a '96 Disco) the timing marks are there but were very difficult to see until cleaned and tippexed - when at TDC they are at about 2pm as you look from the front. The pointer looks a bit like a casting web on the timing cover so it may be worth having another look.... On the strobe - you may well find that the pickup is sensitive to the polarity of the HT lead, and since EDIS uses a wasted spark and cylinders one and six fire together, these have the same timing but different polarities. The upshot of this is that if your strobe doesn't work on the HT lead to cylinder one, try it on cylinder six. HTH Roger

Great info - thanks all. Hopefully another potential problem averted

Some are LH and some are RH thread. As RRB said - look at which way the fan turns (see the blades? - they suck!) and imagine that the drag of turning the fan would tighten the nut.

My thoughts: If it's a eurobox, never allow the rope to jerk tight when towing - it's amazing how little force it takes to tear them apart otherwise. If it's a eurobox, only use it's towing point or (with care) it's towball - it's amazing how little force it takes to tear them apart otherwise. If it's a eurobox, be extra careful when using a towing point at an angle - it's amazing how little force it takes to tear them apart otherwise. (The above three thoughts are inspired by my time in a scrap yard) I would not normally recover ditched or crashed vehicles as there is too much possibility of upsetting police crash investigators or insurance. If crashed vehicle is in a dangerous position I would do what I can to mitigate that using my red triangle (you do carry one - right?) and maybe my car. Lest year I came across a car half in a ditch around a sharp bend after a long straight on snow. The first motorist to see it had parked at the end of the straight with hazards on where he could be seen for about a mile, and in the other direction he had set up his triangle - very sensible I thought. I would generally help people get going up a hill in snow for example, but would tell them how I propose to do it, and ask that they accept responsibility for any damage before proceeding. I do however, have a niggling little bit of resentment about the way that people assume that you have nothing better to do than pull half-a-dozen cars up a hill. Oh, they are appreciative if you help, but what gives them the right to get angry if you don't? But back to the original question - you should only use proper towing equipment (rope, strops, shackles etc) made for the purpose and attached to proper strong points on your Land Rover. Obviously all bets are off if I thought that there was danger to life or limb - then I would have to do whatever I could with whatever I had, but would really think hard about not making things worse. Roger

So what are the best (not necessarily most expensive) Leatherman? What do people like and dislike about them? (Hope you don't mind the hijack) Roger

I would not advise taking an engine in the back of a normal car, but if you must then at least try to strap it to the tow-ball or something strong (even if it means leaving the tailgate partly open), otherwise any frontal impact at over about 20mph and you are dead. * When loading/unloading by whatever means wear toe-capped boots and welders gloves. I recently got a V8 into a trailer with a short ramp-like affair and two people lifting, with a third ready to help - all went well until I pushed the engine to slide it forward and trapped the helper's shin. Luckily not too much damage done but he hopped around a bit. Take care - a lot of it - and think through every move, and you will be ok. Good luck. Roger * In a 25mph crash, assuming the car stopped in about 4ft and hence you had stopped before the engine reached you - then the impact would be the equivalent of somebody dropping it from about 30ft onto your back... And while I am preaching - everyone should think about that loose spare wheel and toolkit in the same light!

"Sometimes I don't understand women, but I always understand my landy..." Love it! ne'mind a sticker, that one's almost worth a tattoo! My 1990 RRC may have spent 4 of the last 9 years in my care being worked on, and it's broken down a few times, but it has never failed to complete a journey under it's own steam. I LOVE it and can't imagine life without it. Back to the tools - for long journeys I take virtually everything except the welder, but for commuting it's a wheelbrace. That's it.

Spot-on!

How you gonna get two wet farm-workers, four sheep and a bail of straw in THAT? I agree with Ian - it's not a 'Defender' and shouldn't be called that. Perhaps 'Disco' would be more appropriate, not 'Discovery' - just 'Disco'

Ditto MickeyW - except that I commute through industrial Leeds so really not worth a photo, but i the new year I am moving to Scotland so things may improve a bit then

It's meant to be! I really can't fault them, but perhaps I should justify those statements a little more... On the grip comments: I commute daily: My RRC is currently my only vehicle and I do about 16 miles round trip in Leeds every day. When I used to occasionally do this trip on the Machos I would spend the whole journey thinking/worrying about tyre grip (or lack thereof ! ). Now I can relax and drive relatively normally (within limits imposed by the height of the CoG and the crude suspension). Downside is that my fuel consumption has gone up because #I am driving faster! When I said about the grip on a wet roundabout I perhaps should point out that I am not meaning that I can take Porsches on the outside, just that it is way beyond what you would expect from this kind of tyre They are not only WAY better than my old Machos, they are also way better than my old Kumho ATs too. The Machos and, to a lesser degree the Kumho ATs, used to slide at such low speeds that it wasn't even scary - I had plenty of time to catch them. With these tyres they were not even drifting when we got to a speed at which I thought 'if they let go I might have trouble catching them' so I backed off. On the motorway comments: I have recently covered a couple of hundred miles (each way) of motorway at 60-65mph on these tyres and was able to listen to the radio whereas on my old Machos I would have been wearing ear-plugs! Each time I stop on a long trip I am in the habit of checking the tyres and hubs for temperature - these tyres run a lot cooler than my old ATs and indeed are probably cooler than normal road tyres. Hope this helps... Roger

A couple of months ago I was looking for some KL71 but everyone was asking silly prices (well at least compared to a couple of years ago) so I looked around for something similar but cheaper and came up with some Mickey Thompson MTZ from http://www.silverlinewheels-tyres.com/4x4/wheels who I phoned and found to be very knowledgeable and helpful. The tyres are excellent: Although yet to be tested in really gloopy stuff they seem to be at least as good offroad as other MT tyres in use in my club (mainly Machos, but STTs and I think some BFGs too) but only tested at one trial so far though. On road they grip better (wet or dry) than anything this aggressive has a right to - twice around a deserted wet roundabout trying to find the limit had me chickening out before the tyre... I bought them on steels and the came well balanced with not a lot of weights so I think that they are accurately made. They appear to have quite flexible side walls which gives a much softer ride than my old Machos and will probably help with off-road grip too. They run cool on motorways and don't tramline in lorry ruts They are not too noisy for MTs - certainly a lot quieter than my old Machos. They look great.

Easy to fit, can be difficult to remove. Not all threads are left handed (my old V8 want one way, the current serpentine V8 goes the other): look at the way the fan turns then think that normal running will tighten it against the drag of the blades, and work it out from there. Never been a fan of viscous fans myself, since I usually own older cars they always seem to be knackered by the time I get them. I know that some people swear by them, but I swear at them and find life much easier with electrics... When working properly they are capable of shifting huge amounts of air though. With regards to whether you need one (or any other kind of fan), it depends on too many things for a meaningful answer. How do you drive? Do you tow? is the rest of the cooling system in great nick? are you likely to be hauling a horse-box up an alpine pass? Touring Greece or Africa next summer?

especially if he paid for labour to have it all fitted...

Hi, Just wondering why? And why do Peugeot for one, ignore this and still put blower fans on their cars?

Assuming your coilpacks are like the one in the photo below (which has now been copied so many times I don't know who took it - apologies if it's yours and please don't sue ) then... You don't actually need to earth the plug-ends - just tape them together since the return path is down it's paired lead, as can be seen in this much copied shot: WRT getting them to spark in the first place, I am pretty certain (although it's a few years ago) that connecting the central (supply) terminal to +ve and brushing the outer contacts in turn on the -ve made mine spark. The problem with testing the leads etc is that if you have a duff lead or cap then (due to the paired nature) it will stop TWO plugs from firing... Hope this helps

corrosion and or stripped threads happened.When it happened to me I just kept on removing and replacing brake pipes until it was all done, using cunifer and braided hose. I don't think that there is an easy way out I am afraid....

Another vote for these, I only have one fitted on the driver's side cos I am tight and the dog doesn't seem to mind having a blurry screen, but the one I have is brilliant.

I think that it's the other way round - not exhaust recirculation, but air injection, but still intended to reduce emissions, and still can be safely closed off. In fact this is the first time I have seen one of these with the pipework attached! More recent engines like mine (1996) still have the casting blanks but are not machined.

The bushes (as you mentioned earlier) can cause very harsh bump-thump. I have just changed all of my front end bushes in stages (panhard rod (both ends), then radius arm/axle, then radius arm/chassis) and I can confirm that after each of these changes there was a marked improvement - not only in ride, but also in control. Incidentally, the radius arm bushes didn't appear at all worn, but changing them still made a dramatic improvement.

Are we allowed to take one lead around the engine under the sump?

I was a bit worried for the dog there