ThreeSheds

What a great suggestion! And so useful for so many situations! Beats buying a Colortune any day Not wishing to hijack the thread (I think that this is relevant? ) and if it's not too much trouble, could you confirm (or correct or criticize) the following which I gleaned from a 1/2 hour web-based investigation and a little thought on the subject: It appears that any old sensor would (once over 300o C) give 0.45v if the mixture is ok, 0.2v means lean and 0.8v indicates rich. This would probably have only one wire (if a non-heated type) and would be available on most injected scrappers of the mid nineties. Since I don't have a lambda sensor on mine (and hence no tapped hole) I would be thinking to cut out a section of exhaust with attached sensor from a scrapper Ford, Vauxhall or whatever (doesn't matter), cut a hole in the side of my pipe and then weld the mounting in complete with sensor... Alternatively - is it possible to use a heated sensor just stuffed up the tailpipe of a non-cat system? TwoSheds

Lovely idea! Bit far from Leeds... Hope it goes well hmm - Wonder if we could persuade Paddocks to give their products free to Forum members?

Thanks for all the advice Yesterday I received my spanky new (£10) variable heat soldering station from Maplins, but the tip cleaner - that the web-side said was in stock - is not, and so I will be waiting for that so that I can do some more practice before I start on the MJ kit that also arrived yesterday Man those pads are small! I reckon around half the size of the ones on my practice project. No way could I have done this with the Portasol! Got the SWMBO staying at the moment so not much happening on this front, but will post some pics soon Thanks again guys - I know that I would have made a real mess of this if it wasn't for all your help. Roger TwoSheds

Why did I just KNOW that SimonR would score top marks? My GF (with no help) has just scored 78 and the ones she got wrong were things like the reciprocal to rotary one - where after all, if somebody hadn't told you it was called a crankshaft would you know? she got the fan right (and it was worked out).... Cripes I am impressed! TS

Dave, from the Yorkshire Off Road Club has fitted a - well in his words: "The main part of the conversion will be to fit a GM LS1 engine and matching 4L80e auto gearbox (the level 2, Bionic 80). The engine is a 5.7 litre V8 imported from a specialist engine supplier in the USA In my case I've gone for their "middle of the road" product which produces 410 horse power." This is now done and running. I have seen it and it's pure automotive porn when Dave lifts the bonnet and it sounds AWESOME :) Another extract from the build story: "One interesting result of the weekend is that, as the engine topped the 1000 mile mark I started to open it up a bit more and I now know what a spinning Simex sounds like on Tarmac Very Happy I can now spin the wheels on dry tarmac at 30 MPH and, now I've got used to it, it's not as scary as it was the first few times I did it ! Driving my Range Rover now seems really pedestrian and I find myself missing the overtaking power of the Defender... maybe when I'm rich and famous I'll put an LS1 into my Range Rover." Well he seems happy :D TwoSheds

I'd go for this too. You can see MoT failed RRC's with good mechanicals far cheaper than 90s - and said mechanicals are less likely to have seen a hard life. If you do it then it will suck in all your spare cash and time but be the best fun you can have with your clothes on You will buy tools and equipment (oooh just that phrase gets me all excited:D ), and will learn technologies and techniques along the way that will make you grin for days and bubble with frustration that none of your friends or family appreciate what you have just achieved. It's great fun. In my case (I am not 'normal' BTW) I have actually lost sight of ever getting my RRC on the road, but am enjoying the process - the pottering if you will, so much that I don't mind if it is never finished. And like you said - I will be keeping it for a long time - well, at least until either the grim reaper or the bailiffs come to call Oh, and when you need advice - just come to this forum - from my experience since joining I really can't imagine a more helpful or knowledgeable bunch anywhere So to summarise this ramble - GO FOR IT :D TwoSheds

Only takes a few minutes and it's good fun: LINKY. I'd bet good money that members of this forum score highly Apologies if it's already on here... This is my score anyway

Not sure if this will help, but a couple of things spring to mind after your last post about replacing the bulb... 1. You may have shorted some wiring in the light unit enough to blow a fuse somewhere - you will have to refer to a wiring diagram to see if there is a common fuse that could affect the indicators and brake lights. Sorry - I should read more carefully! 2. There may be a dodgy earth or broken wire in the light unit that you have disturbed. This can cause all sorts of weird effects - commonly 'Christmas-tree lights' when braking and indicating - due to various circuits back-feeding, and may (in this case) be affecting your park interlock... perhaps?. Just clean up, look for damaged or dodgy wires and make good connections all around the back end. These sorts of problems can also be caused by poor tow-pack wiring so don't limit your checks to the unit that you disturbed. Afraid that I can't help with any of your other questions - the above suggestions are based on experiences from when I worked as a back-street-abortionist mechanic many years ago, not from any direct knowledge of a 96 Disco wiring... TwoSheds

I tried to take some informative pictures tonight - it's harder than I thought! Hats off to you guys who get great shots of WIP... Anyway - here they are... First - so you know what I am talking about - the 'catcher' and the 'thrower': Next the main part of the pulley assembly (without the catcher and thrower) showing how the trigger wheel will be positioned and how it clears the six bolts. (sorry I already painted it - makes it kind of hard to get a picture ) This shows the loosely assembled pulley on the crank with the VR sensor in place. You can see that with the pulley on TDC the VRS is nine teeth round clockwise. And finally - from underneath showing that the VRS is five teeth after the gap: I've been out there in the dark for a couple of hours and have had a bit of a set-back. There is a tubular support for the generator mounting that comes off the bolt that I am going to use for the top of the VRS mounting bracket. I had thought that I would be able to fit it on top of the bracket, but if I do that then it fouls on a bolt higher up, so I decided to chop the end off it and weld it to the VRS mounting bracket. It's a bit of a bodge, but I reckon when it's painted it'll be ok... And anyway - who's ever going to see it? I also had a go at pulling an EDIS coil-cap apart so that I can fit proper length leads. I have read that if you just pull then the inside (brass) bit would snap, so I took my time and got it apart ok. The technique I used is as follows: 1. Remove the clamping collar and cut the old lead flush. 2. Spray it with WD40 3. With a flat nosed 6mm pin-puch mounted in the vice - I pushed on the end of the old lead while winkling out the brass bit from the other end. The use of the word 'winkling' s deliberate here because you have to use a rolling-pulling sort of action so as not to straighten out the brass bit - something like extracting a winkle from it's shell. Once it is out, you are left with a bit of lead firmly clamped in the brass terminal. 4. Cut the HT lead flush with the brass. 6. Using a 5mm drill at low speed, carefully remove the remains of the HT lead from within the clamp. 7. Carefully force closed snipe-nosed pliers or a suitable tapered puch into the clamp to open it up ready to receive the new HT lead. For a trial re-assembly I passed the end of a lead through the rubber outer (easy) and then trimmed it back to expose the core. I did this by first scoring deeply into the lead (but not as far as the core) and then I used a normal clamp-and-pull type of wire stripper which pulled the end off the lead leaving the core nicely exposed. A neat trick I thought - but probably one that everybody else has been using for years After positioning the brass terminal on the end of the lead I pushed it back in to the rubber cap - again with WD40 - quite easily. I will wear gloves next time though because that brass is sharp - I got two nasty little bleeders from it All together the coil-cap thing took probably half an hour for one. I will get a lot faster, but it has left me wondering whether it's better to just buy some made-to-measure leads... I'll have to think about that... I'm off to bed now. G'night Twosheds

Two things really - one is I use LPG 99% of the time, and the other is cost - with the weak dollar, I have got a Megajolt kit for £52 including post, but I may yet get stung for vat and apparently a 'handling charge'... Well, TBH there was another thing - I find the thought of doing the MJ daunting enough - I think that MS would be a step too far. I'll try and get some photos done tonight... TS

Never tried, but I would've thought that driving over it would - at best - do nothing and may make it worse... Possibly it would go with careful use of a press?... Or perhaps (accidentally) you could carefully square up to one of those hefty steel bollards that they have near cash machines and give it a few nudges? They are supposed to stop JCBs I heard (although I doubt it myself)... Second thoughts - maybe that's not such a good idea after all - imagine the security video

Glad I didn't see it... When I was thirteen I saw 'The Italian Job' - I cried for days for that Aston and the E-Types - and the Minis too for that matter... Saw it again recently and finally realised why 'Camp Freddie'

Introduction I feel quite daunted starting this - after all I am standing on the shoulders of some pretty large giants in this forum, so what can little old (too old!) me bring to the party? Well I guess I can bring my noviciate status in many of the technologies and techniques that will be required for (hopefully) a successful assembly and installation of the kit. I have spent may happy hours trawling through the incredibly detailed and helpful accounts of both Megajolt and Megasquirt installations on this forum, and a load of off-world sites that I have found useful as well, and now I know it all think I know enough to make start... Well, at least: I know what I know, and I know some of what I don't know, it's what I don't know I don't know that worries me, but that's why this is a bit of an adventure isn't it Now a couple of caveats: I do have a tendency to do things my own way so please don't be offended if you offer advice (which I hope you will) during the course of this ramble and I ignore it - it's just that sometimes I have to make my mistakes in my own way I am not in a hurry to get this done and this first part of The Plan (see below) I fully expect to take me until Christmas. So don't get your hopes up... So why I am doing it? After all I am on a very limited budget and the RRC's engine is not really up to much (a bit rattly and leaky) and there are 101 more sensible things that I could have spent the money and time on (if I was sensible..). Well I guess that the answer depends on who I am talking to: a] SWMBO: "The original system was shot and replacement components are expensive" (This statement is technically correct, but the original system could have been re-instated for probably 1/3 of the cost of Megajolt) b] Car-nut: a] and: "It enables running on LPG with a more correct advance curve, thus improving efficiency and saving the planet" c] LR-nut: a] and b] and "It has well known multiple benefits, but it's mainly for it's improved wet-conditions running" d] Hobbyist: a] and b] and c] and "It gives me a chance to experiment with new technologies and techniques" e] The truth: a] and b] and c] and d] and "yes... ok... it's bling and I want one" The rest of this post will describe the first part of The Plan and future posts will describe how The Plan unfolds... Stage One - The VR Sensor and Pulley Assembly Remove crank-bolt This was set to 280 ft-lbs at the factory 17 years ago and was expected to be a struggle... So it was first gear low box with the hand brake hard on and then: First try was with the rattle-gun and impact socket.. Nothing Next a breaker-bar on it with a copper mallet.. Nothing :angry: Next a two foot extension on the breaker-bar - happily inched the rover along the drive... but move the bolt? Nah. :angry: Having read about people who place the breaker bar on the OS chassis and then let rip with the starter so that the bar has a good swing before it hits the NS chassis, I sat and pondered this option for an hour or so... Didn't fancy having a breaker bar and socket flying off into the scenery, so finally discounted it. Despairing now - back to the impact driver (apparently has a break-away torque of 500 ft-lbs IIRC) and this time I just ran it until the compressor cut in, gave it a rest and then when the compressor stopped again I repeated the cycle. After about eight or ten such cycles it came away! :D Lesson? Give the rattler a chance to do it's job! Remove the plugs and set engine to TDC No 1 Not strictly necessary at this point but I thought that I might as well. Remove the crank pulley After checking that the keyway was near the top (I once dropped a woodruf key into the sump on my Series 1 years ago) I gave the pulley assembly a little tug and away it came Remove timing pointer and trim back The timing pointer needs to come off since it rides quite close to the harmonic balancer ('HB' from now on) so it will need trimming back a bit to clear the trigger wheel, and since it is plated with something and trimming will remove the plating, it will need painting too. Lever off thrower With the pulley assy on the bench I now levered off the inside thrower. This is very flimsy and is easily bent, but came off ok, although care was necessary not to bent the 'catcher' while doing this. Remove 6 pulley assy bolts and remove the catcher In my scheme, the Transit trigger wheel (Ford part number 1 078 767) is going to sit between the catcher and the hub of the HB with the tangs pointing forwards over the outer part of the HB so it is not necessary to strip the pulley assy beyond removing hte catcher (what is it really called BTW - anyone know?) I have found that the internal diameter of the TW will just clear the six bolts when mounted in this position, thus removing the need for machining. Drive out roll-pin (trigger wheel wont go on with it in place) Actually it's only necessary to drive the pin flush with the HB hub and even then only because the trigger wheel won't go on with it there. Later (after timing the wheel) the internal dia of the trigger wheel (TW) will need filing to clear the roll pin. Assemble the TW into the pulley assy Lightly clamp the TW between balancer hub and catcher, true it up (I used my venerable old dial calipers) to the HB outer (which I assume is pretty centered) and position it back on the crank and check clearances. In my case I had a bolt head that was a bit close but nothing fouled. Checking around with the VR sensor showed that the only place it can really go is at 3 o'clock looking from the front. Conveniently there are two decent bolts available for mounting it's mounting bracket on at this position Design/construct sensor bracket Like most people I made the bracket out of a bit of right-angle bent metal which I fixed onto the front of the engine using the bolts previously mentioned. I positioned the bracket so that the part which will mount the VR sensor is vertical, then I found where to put the hole for the sensor by lining up a ruler with two of the cross-head screws that hold the crank oil-seal cover in place. In this manner I ensure (as far as possible) that the VRS would be radial to the axis of the crank. I marked and drilled for the VRS (two holes - one for the working part and one for the 6mm bolt that will hold it). Again - in common with most people I will use washers to position the sensor radially to get the correct clearance to the TW. 'Time' the trigger-wheel Note: In the next bit I am always viewing from the front of the engine, the engine turns clockwise and No 1 is the nearest cylinder on the right hand bank (when viewed from the front remember!) With the sensor and the crank pulley assembly in place I checked again that No 1 was on TDC compression. Then I slackend the six pulley bolts a little and moved the TW around until the VR sensor was central to the fifth tang after the gap in the TW (that is - the gap has already passed the sensor 50 degrees ago with the engine going clockwise) In summary, with No 1 on TDC (compression), the VR sensor is at 3pm and the gap is at just before 5pm (viewed from the front of the engine. Once checked again I then nipped up the six crank bolts to hold the TW still (it's not necessary to true up the wheel at this point) File a timing nick and clearance for the roll-pin With the pulley assy back on the bench I filed a small nick in the TW at the position of the TDC mark, then stripped the six bolts and catcher off, and marked where the roll-pin goes. The TW needs a small area filing in it's inner diameter at the roll-pin position to clear said pin. I didn't even try to make the notch a fit on the pin, but left a little clearance so that the TW would be able to move a little for fine tuning later. And THAT is where I am at the moment. Still to come is: Paint the bracket, TW and the timing pointer Assemble VRS bracket and timing pointer to engine Assemble pulley assy to mark, true up and nip up tight. Insert the roll-pin. Check run-out of TW and clearance to VRS. (less than .020" run-out and .040" clearance will be aimed for) Remove the crank assy and pot the TW with Sikaflex to prevent anything getting behind the tangs. (don't worry - I'll grease the HB outer ring so that the potting won't stick to it) Replace the pulley assy to engine and do up crank-bolt (280ft-lbs!) Mount and adjust sensor to just clear worst of run out ( by .020"?) Temporarily wire up the EDIS system, turn the engine and watch the sparks light the night sky![/b] :D Stage Two: Assembly of the Megajolt Kit (including extra circuit to drive the original ECU) Stage Three: Mounting/Wiring/Assembly/Testing of the rest of the system Well that's it for now - I'll edit this and put some pictures in soon. TwoSheds

Well neither of my nearest Maplins have any in stock so I ordered one and a tin of tinner too from the net - also got some heatshrink which means tha tI got free postage However it does mean that I won't have it for a couple of days so I'm going to put my soldering practice on hold until it arrives. Thanks again for all the advice TwoSheds (p.s. FridgeFreezer - TEN Megasquirts? Phew! That's got to be some kind of a record?)

wow! How do they do it for £10? Well I guess if I want to do this properly then another trip to Maplins isn't out of the question. Sorry Sam (my dog) - that's another hungry night coming up...

Thanks all! As always on this forum - lots of superb advice - I will certainly take on board all I can from what you have said. I have a 30 year old electric iron and a nice spanker Portasol with a 2.5x1 tip and have just been out an bought some self-gripping tweezers a sponge and a sucker. I'll let you know how I get on... Cheers TwoSheds

Yes, I read about the plugs - one might in a more generous mood, refer to it as efficient design? I also read (only in one place - and now I can't find it) that the EDIS system reverses the polarity of the HT side depending on which plug is on the firing stroke... How did I stuff them up? Well first I put the screw-down external power connectors on the wrong way round - not noticing that they had a blind side. (lesson learned - be more careful) Next I tried a relay - this went on at an angle to the board (lesson learned - use a clip to hold components in place while soldering) Next I tried the pot - this time I used a bulldog clip to hold it in place - and during the soldering, one of the legs collapsed. (lesson learned - use a lighter clip, like a clothes peg for example) I have also decided that I really need some way of holding the board while I work - thinking perhaps of resting it on some Kevlar gloves that I have... I probably also need some of those squeeze-to-open clamp things (like tweezers) and a decent set of mini side cutters. Oh and a small fan to take the fumes away... By 'eck it soon mounts up! Another thing I have done (after a bit more research) is to order some 60/40 Sn/Pb resin cored solder, and today I will be nicking an eraser from the office for joint preparation. Phew! I think that covers it for now TwoSheds p.s. Which is best bang for buck - considering that this will probably be a one-shot electronics project - a solder-sucker or this solder-wick that you mention? (I haven't noticed solder-wick, but I can imagine what it's like)

Going to make my own Megajolt from the Autosport Labs kit so I thought I would practice on something cheap before I start. I bought a 4.99 self assembly thermostat from Maplins. So far I have stuffed the first three components that I tried to solder onto the circuit board Need a solder-sucker now I watched 'how to solder' videos on the net and it looked so easy! I have been soldering for years with no problems but this circuit-board stuff is a whole new ball-game... And that's what I LOVE about my hobby (the RRC) - I am constantly learning! This week I have learned about variable reluctance sensors, zenner diodes, wasted spark HV polarity and a thousand other snippets. You know I really don't care if this car ever gets on the road again - I just love messing with it TwoSheds

:lol: Like static - keep discharging the low potential faults prevents a big one building up? I like that idea

Hmm I know the feeling... This morning while out on a run I could be heard calling things like "Can't I just have one run without pain please?" My own body's MTTF would be less than 10 minutes if you count something somewhere hurting... As for the trip - well yes, the list did involve everything including normal maintenance so I suppose I was being a little unfair, but it also included things like: Fractured brake pipe. Hub steering arm (whatever it's called) studs snapped. Three of four front propshaft bolts snapped. Spring shackle nuts needed tightening almost daily. Main leaf broke. Hub caught fire and needed a full strip and re-assembly (hub brakes, an overloaded 109 with unbraked trailer and 'spirited' driving by a bunch of crazy kids down an alpine pass! It took four lads' bladders to put it out and Nicola was starting to get worried ) The vehicle did well though - considering it was a hack when we set out and it made it there and back. I bet it's still running now somewhere One little incident - we were in central Afghanistan we spluttered out of fuel with 20 miles to the nearest civilisation so we kept the motor running (just) and put the 3 gallons of cooking paraffin in the tank. Guess what? It ran better on UK paraffin that it had been doing on Afghan 'petrol'! :lol: TwoSheds

I was just thinking that my RRC has been totally reliable for 3 years now Although since it hasn't turned a wheel I guess it depends if you measure miles or years as to whether it's 'MTTF' is good or bad. I once went to India in a 109: and we kept a log of all maintenance carried out. I don't have the log any more, but if you extract the actual repairs from the routine servicing, then since we did 9,200 miles and had 92 fixes then our MTTF was 100 miles Since on driving days we were covering approximately 300 miles, that's three repairs per day... So I was wondering - what's the best/worst mean time to failure (in terms of miles) of you people's Rover products? TwoSheds

In the harmonic balancer on the crank pulley on my V8 there is a notch. I was wondering if anybody knows why it is there? It doesn't obviously line up with anything or even a decent number of degrees (45, 90, 180 etc) around from anything so I can't see why it's there... I bet there is someone on here that knows though TwoSheds

Hah - found it Transit trigger wheel part number I am now thinking of sandwiching a Transit wheel between the funny rounded thrower thing and the harmonic balancer with it facing forwards over said harmonic balancer - ie the other way round to this: It would be a little tight on one of the bolts, but I think it would go... I think in any case I will be going with the Transit part - it is cheaper and easier so it's a no-brainer really And I think that this way round it won't need turning - If my estimate of 94mm id from this picture is correct... TwoSheds

North Cape? Nordcap? Navigable? - there looks to be a surfaced road upto a rather large building there: Maps.Google Looks to be an amazing place... Think I'll start saving for when I retire

mmmm Jaffa ca-a-akes shhlluuurrrppp (we could do with some Simpsons emoticons) Engines like constant low-load running - remember the Merc on Top Gear that had done (IIRC) 1.2 million miles? Spent ten years doing lo-o-ong commutes, with regular oil changes...