ThreeSheds

Any carpet or trim within spatter range (several feet) will need removing or protecting, as will window glass. I have specks of weld splatter melted into my windscreen and passenger door glass from welding around that area.. As for the dash, I left mine in but it made access bloody awkward at times, and if I was doing it again I would definitely take it out, along with the seat, door and outer wing.. As always with these jobs - it will be a bigger/worse than you think so, IMHO, you might as well bite the bullet and strip out everything at the start...

I think that there may be room for some debate on this... With a Borg Warner viscous coupled transfer box, I would have thought that it would still transmit enough of the (hand) braking force from the drum through to the front axle for that to count as an effective 'secondary braking system' and pass the efficiency test, even in neutral? Having said that, there would be a certain amount of 'creep' meaning that you would not have an effective 'parking brake'... How that would be interpreted by the MoT man I wouldn't know.

Done it. No probs. Just the steering was a bit lighter - other than that I really couldn't tell.

Hi, Has anybody driven any distance in an RRC (BW transfer box) without a front propshaft? Was it ok? I have to nip to the accessory shop (about 10 miles less than 40mph) and I only have the RRC available which has a completely shuggered UJ on the front propshaft...

This can sometimes be caused by an air leak into the exhaust (usually the manifold in my experience), but I am also wondering about the removal of the cats, which begs a few questions: Have you told the (petrol) ECU that it has no cats now (tune resistor changed)? Does it still have original lambda sensors connected? Has the gas been set up to take account of the new free-er flowing exhaust? Does the gas system have it's own lambda sensor(s)? Also (of course) this could be coincidental and could be a symptom of something else entirely: Mine was recently exploding in the exhaust on over-run, which is why I looked at this post. ( I have a side exhaust and it always seemed to do it just as I was passing a car with the windows open :0 . Frankly I am surprised that some of them didn't crash with that thing going off in their ear! ) In my case t was a dodgy connector in the ignition circuit meaning that a sudden reversal of torque from on to off power would rock the engine and temporarily cut the ignition to two of the pots (I am on MegaJolt). After the initial rocking of the engine the spark returned and the exhaust ignited the unburned gas/air mix. Hope this helps Roger p.s. Does a 1998 car pass an MoT with no cats?

Back a bit.... Back a bit more... Argh-ee-ee-ee--ee!

I think they look ok.... At the time of this pic the car had no lift and only front arch trimming. The rear tyres caught the rear arches (inside) and the rear door skin. I did a 40mm body lift and trimmed the rear arches to match the front and all is fine now

Apologies in advance for a somewhat rambling post... Being a professional cynic - especially when it comes to corporate motives, I would have to say that - in my humble opinion - caravans are designed with one purpose - to maximise profit. A little aside: I work for a large bank whose avowed corporate purpose is "to server our customers better" The thought of my company doing anything that isn't motivated by maximising share prices or director's remuneration, makes me laugh like Lord Flashhart: Aha haha hahaaa! But my point is that, as was mentioned in an earlier post, the caravan is designed to sell. The towing part of the design will in some cases be pared to the bone in terms of just getting past the regs and keeping component costs to a minimum. On the plus side - I don't doubt that there are caravan companies out there who pride themselves on producing good towing vans, and they are to be praised, so how about a few postings of good makes/models here? (Even though no doubt any 'van can be turned into a towing nightmare by incorrect loading/driving...) Another little aside: A few years ago I was being driven along the A9 North of Perth ( a good dual carriageway) by my brother-in-law, and he pointed out that the up-coming downhill left bend 'is a bit nasty' when towing. He explained that, although the bend looks innocuous enough, it is down-hill and tightens so that the unwary find themselves going a little too fast into the lower part of the bend and if, instead of gently easing on the brakes, they are applied suddenly, there can be disastrous results. He had barely finished saying those words when, around the bend we sighted a car (on one side) and trailer (upside-down) and a ton or so of logs all strewn around the verge and a police car just pulling up... Nice day, good road, driver doing the speed limit (probably - that road is stitched with speed cameras), local driver (who drives logs a long way?) and still he got caught out... So... (as mentioned in an earlier post) even with everything in your favour, you should still drive with extra care and attention and leave more in reserve when towing. Again - apologies for rambling post Roger

Look for a 'real' garage.. My local people will remove old one, fit new one and attempt to balance them (not always possible) for a tenner - damn good value I'd say! Best to go when they are not busy though. I have changed a few LR tyres manually and the main problem is normally breaking the bead on the old one, where you have several options: 1. Drive around on the old one until it pops off: This is ok if the old tyre is already toast, but it can also cause rim damage if you are not careful. 2. Put the wheel on the ground and drive over the tyre: I only tried this once and it didn't work.. 3. Jack up the vehicle with the base of the jack on the tyre: I have done this and it has worked, but not always. Last time I was also not happy safety wise, especially when it lifted the Range Rover... 4. Use a 14lb sledge hammer. I never had the nerve to do this myself, but have seen it done several times with remarkable effect, but it does appear that for it to work, you need to land very heavy blows within a whisker of the rim... 5. Use a bead breaker like this which fits on the bottom of a hi-lift jack. Very effective and cheap if you make one yourself, but the bought item is (in my opinion) too expensive for what you get. 6. Use Tyre Pliers - they are expensive, but VERY effective. If I was equipping for an expedition I would probably get some but otherwise they are just too dear for me. 7. <insert several techniques I have forgotten> Once you have the bead broken, a normal pair of tyre levers work fine with a bit of grunting... Roger

It would probably be a much better vehicle if you replaced the engine with a 200tdi, but I have a real soft spot for the two-and-a-quarter petrol engine so I hope that you can rebuild it. They are slow, but when running nicely you can hardly hear them at tickover, just sort of a rustling ball-bearings-in-oil sort of a sound. Lovely It's a bit of a dream of mine to get an early SIII or a late IIA one day. I know it's been a bit of a disaster so far, and you have every right to be P'd-off (although you don't sound like you are ), but she does look good for her age, so I hope that you can rebuild the old girl - she deserves a bit of TLC... Roger

Chisel gets my vote unless you are going to buy a socket. I sharpen mine at about 90deg and blunt the end otherwise it just chops through. It can take quite a few good 'taps' to loosen it...

Hmm - seems that maybe I could have got away with just an oil seal and that's unfortunate since I have just ordered a bearing as well ! I did think that mine is a bit excessive at maybe 2mm though... Thanks for the replies chaps Roger

A box spanner is ok (I have the LR series one) as long as everything behaves like it says in the manual. For some reason my locking outer nut (carefully done up to the correct torque) is a tight as two nuns when I come to undo it and the box spanner just slips off and chews it's self in the process. After chiselling off a locknut that I had replaced new only a year ago I finally got fed-up and bought a socket... MUCH easier Before you tackle this job have a look through the tech archive - there are some excellent articles in there... Also, if your balls are in good condition, you might like to consider the easier (some might say cheating) way of changing the seal without removing the hub or disc or calliper or swivel ball... Roger

My 1990 RRC Borg Warner Transfer box front output bearing and oil seal need replacing since there is about 2-3mm play at the flange and it has started to leak. According to the manual the job is easy-peasy: 1. drain TB oil 2. remove front prop 3. in gear and remove prop-flange 4. remove 8 bolts and 'withdraw' the VC housing (complete with VC) 5. pry out oil-seal and remove bearing retention circlip. 6. gently persuade the output shaft and VC assembly out of the bearing/housing 8. drift out the bearing from the inside of the casing 9. replace the bearing and oil seal and put it all back together. There are just a couple of points I would like to check: 1. Are there any nasty little gotchas that I should know about before I start? 2. I have read somewhere when searching LR4x4 just now, that even with a new SKF bearing installed there is still an amount of play at the propshaft flange - does anyone have any opinions on this? Cheers, Roger

I flash for two reasons - the first (mentioned above) is to say "you can move into my lane now without inconveniencing me" and the other is to say: "DO YOU FLIPPING THINK I CAN STOP IT THREE YARDS YOU TWONK!"

I have a single phase one you can borrow for a couple of days - I'm in LS26 - pm me if interested. I don't know what rate it gives air at but it seems to manage my schutz gun ok... Roger

Wouldn't be surprised if you pulled some muscles with that huge grin Sounds great - how can anyone listen to that and not want a V8?

and in a lot of hotels too if it's range is as good as advertised (100 metres)... but it has just occurred to me that it would be more versatile if the receiver worked of batteries too - which this one does not...

I saw this and immediately ordered one. The company seem very good - there was a problem with my address and they phoned to check, and posted it the same day. The device is basic and works as described, but I haven't checked the range. My car is a truck cab and I have the sensor fitted behind the drivers head in the corner so it can easily be switched on and off as required (to save battery when driving), and from where it covers the whole cabin. I am not worried about publicly posting where the sensor is, since I have confirmed that it is impossible to get even a hand inside the car without the home unit emitting a very loud bing-bong Thanks for the suggestion GBMUD

I seem to recall reading that Gwyn Lewis will make up custom lengths with various fittings to replace the whole 'body to calliper' assembly with one piece of braided, and I think that someone on here has replaced every line on the car with it without problems - just make sure it is properly retained to prevent it flapping about. Getting custom sets made is not difficult, but be aware that using a banjo requires a 'good' surface around the threaded hole, which not many in-situ callipers have... Hope this helps Roger

You could also slacken off all the body mounting bolts and lift the body by an inch or so (make sure all wires, pipes and linkages are ok!) - this will give enough clearance to get in over the top of the box without too much difficulty although you still need loads of extensions. As said above - you can do it anyway with extensions, but it is a bit fiddly...

In my ever so humble opinion, a serpentine 3.9 V8, with a simple LPG system and Megajolt would tick all the boxes, and save on money and setup time too...

Ooh - not at all good... I'm regretting that I wrote in support of them now... Sorry! Roger

Since it's on carbs would it not be ok to gravity feed from a tank on the roof (as long as you are not moving it)?

I have been told that the auto box on a V8 is valved differently to that of a diesel and changes up at too high revs. Apart from that I think you are allright.