paintman

And for anyone trying to put it all back together without a manual, http://www.green-oval.com & download yourself one.

Mine's been connected at the engine bay end with Jubilee clips since I replaced the rusted through steel pipes. In about 1996. Hasn't blown off (yet ) All the connections at the fuel tank & filter are jubilee clips as well.

Air Flow Meter. If it blew off that'll be a backfire. Which in turn suggests either the leads are on in the wrong order and/or the dizzy is in the wrong position. Don't forget that when putting the dizzy back in the rotor arm will rotate as the dizzt drive gear engages with the gear on the cam. Very easy to get it one tooth out which results in it apparently trying to start. But just banging & f...ing. As to how I know that one.....

Do all the numbers on the vehicle match the numbers on the registration document? If they do you are likely to find that DVLA will be completely uninterested in it. Surprising, but there you go.

What have AF said to you by way of explanation? You have rung & asked them haven't you?

Lots of different opinion here, on the web AND from the chain manufacturers. Which is not necessarily what the vehicle manufacturer recommends. And there lies the problem. In the event of any problems suspect it likely to come down to whether they are fitted in accordance with what the vehicle manufacturer recommends

The owners handbook for my 86 RRC says that chains should be used as an axle pair on the rear axle and that the centre diff must be in the locked position.

Sounds like the wrong battery to begin with. Which will be the start of the problems. How was this one selected? Face the battery with both terminals on the same side as you. If the +ve is on your left the battery is a 'left hand positive' and if its on your right its a 'right hand positive'. The cable not fitting problem is common as they are often just the right length for the correct battery to be fitted. I have 2 perfectly good batteries sat in my garage which are the right size dimension wise to fit my RRC & the terminals are the right size but they are the opposite way round & without changing the cables I can't use them. Also several different sizes of terminal are in use. Sometimes it may be necessary to just open up the cable terminal slightly if it won't slide easily down onto the battery terminal. I take it you have compared the terminal sizes on the old battery & this one?

Have a look in http://www.green-oval.com for manuals & parts catalogues

You will find the VoSA appeals number on the link. Suggest you ring them & ask whether the test is correct. What has the garage that did the test said?

Tried the link again this morning. Still doesn't want to play in Mozilla Firefox, but works fine on AOL.

The MoT man can't win I'm afraid. If a car fails then you get a lot of yelling about how unfair it all is. But when a serious accident happens you get a lot of yelling that the defects should have been picked up and its all the fault of the tester. Ho hum.

2.5 mm left on pads says they are well overdue for a change! (Interestingly on one of the MG Rover forums they say the minimum recommended thickness is 3mm.) And I would expect on a car fitted with a working wear indicator system that at 2.5mm the light will either be on or will be very soon. Under 1.5 is a fail. http://www.motuk.co.uk/manual_350.htm Very thin worn pads can fail dramatically with the braking friction material coming away from the metal pad. Not what you want when you really NEED the brakes to work! If you think you are being done over by your garage then complain to VoSA. Procedure is explained here http://www.motuk.co.uk/ If you can find a council run station you will get a very thorough test. No leeway given. I've used the same garage for all our MoT's for years. They know there's no work in it for them. The test is conducted properly & if I've missed something on my pre-test check it will fail. As it should. I always ask if there are any items I should keep an eye on.

You might find this of more use. Gives the clutch plate sizes as well. http://www2.qha.com/catalogues/QH08.pdf Par for the course. Tried the catalogue before posting the link & now its playing up - the rest of the QH catalogues are downloading fine. So if you are having a problem you might want to try later

And I've just had it on mine with a stop/tail bulb. Press on the brake pedal with the light switch in the 'OFF' position & all the sidelights lit up. Checked the bulbs using a battery & no matter which contact you touched, on one of them both filaments lit up. New bulb, problem solved. Headlight main/dip beam selection with the column switch on the Classic is a known problem area, I'm on my third switch but each time it has stopped working on one or the other.

How's your coolant levels? White smoke or steam?

That's probably because they see the way they're driven! We had a problem with clutches for a Triumph Spitfire in the mid 70's. The garage we supplied to kept bringing them back with the driven plate in bits. Neither we nor they could understand what was happening. After they had fitted the THIRD clutch to this particular car in as many months we finally found the problem. One of their mechanics had seen the young lady owner driving the car. All starts were build up the revs, drop the clutch, spin the wheels. An old clutch will slip a little & take the punishment. A new one wouldn't. She was spoken to by the garage owner & told in no uncertain terms that any further clutch failures would have to be paid for. You may be surprised to know that there were NO further problems

Suggest you have a look at http://www.disco3.co.uk/forum/topic13325.html

http://www.motuk.co.uk/manual/contents.htm. Think you will be OK with the shock if it works & isn't leaking, but if it is that old you might think about fitting new ones (as axle pairs only). Have a good look at the seat belt mounts in the rear arches.

If you brush or roller metallic you are likely to finish up with a stripy pattern. Needs to be sprayed. The metallic element is aluminium particles & these sink if the paint is applied too thickly. As those who have sprayed wheels with aerosols & wondered why it goes dark will know. You get the same effect if you spray a metallic coat too thick with a spraygun - you get a pretty sparkly waterfall as it sags down the panel.

If you brush or roller metallic you are likely to finish up with a stripy pattern. Needs to be sprayed. The metallic element is aluminium particles & these sink if the paint is applied too thickly. As those who have sprayed wheels with aerosols & wondered wy it goes dark will know. You get the same effect if you spray a metallic coat too thick - looks like a sparkly waterfall as it sags down the panel.

Read the link I put. If you do it the 'unofficial' way using jump leads as it shows then you won't need to reset anything.

have a look at http://www.rangerovers.net/rrupgrades/battery.html

Cam doesn't affect the spark. Replace the plug with one from another cylinder & see if the problem stays where it is or moves. If it moves with the plug then you need a new plug. If it doesn't, try the same with the lead. Are the dizzy cap(inside & out) & rotor arm in good condition & genuine parts?

You will find the Police do it as well. Amazing the detail they will go into during an investigation & the number of people who have been caught for other matters due to keeping bits of paper round the house which have been seized during a search. As for keeping stuff on your computer.....