GW8IZR

The only way I can think of to machine that would be with a setup almost identical to the crank and key and use a reciprocating drive Its fascinating to see wear like that and probably gives an insight into the load when in use. Do you reckon the material was softer or blemished on one side of the key slot?

brother in law bought the inverter welder which we put to use fixing the harrow this weekend. Its really good and a nice stable arc, light as a feather to carry as well. the accessories (chipping hammer and mask) are useless but the machine is a good performer. As with all these things the fan has no filter and if you use the grinder when its running the dust will be drawn into it and duly deposited on the 'electronics' so a bit of common sense needed ... but I've paid more for takeaway food......

I used Retinax railway axle grease in a wheel bearing on my Austin Cambridge and it failed - I was working on a project which was a detector for hot axle boxes. The designer was Hawker Siddley and they shipped a clever bloke in from Germany to help us. We spoke of the reasons for failure in railway axle bearings and his opinion was the grease was designed for very high load but was to be used in applications where it was not allowed to shear. Overfilled axle boxes and hence bearings (too much grease) would cause shear and overheating. In the discussion about my car wheel bearing he felt the bearing was too small and the grease was not suitable. Maybe it wasn't suitable or maybe I over greased it - I would have intuitively thought you couldn't have too much grease but since then I've only ever used a small (correct) amount of grease in wheel bearings and never had a failure. But a layer of that stuff on a tow ball coupling works really well until you get it on your trousers, then the car seat, then the furniture in the house, then the wife............

To be honest I'm surprised the chassis is OK when the bulkhead is like that but there are many reasons that may be the case. Yes you could repair that bulkhead and the galvanised ones you buy often look like that before they are repaired and zinc plated - but myself, I'd replace that. I didn't galv my replacement bulkhead, it was almost new and in good shape so it got careful seam sealer, good paint and very careful cavity waxing. The original bulkhead lasted from 1985 to 2013 and would have been easily repairable.. It had not been protected in the first 12 years of its life and thereafter I only did cursory protection as I anticipated changing it at some stage So my un galvanised bulkhead might last longer than the fuel needed to use the vehicle and probably longer than me!

I cant remember the name of the stuff - It was Shell Retinax but that is a wheel bearing grease and the stuff we used was Retinax something or other, which was slightly different. It was exactly the colour in your picture until it had been exposed to the sun and dirt whereupon it turned a filthy black colour - but scrape it off and the metal underneath was like new. I left the railway at the end of my time some thirty five years ago and used up the last dregs of a pot of the stuff maybe two years ago.. excellent stuff. :-)

In my apprentice days I sloshed gallons of the stuff on quadrants, point cranks and locking frames ;-)

don't loose heart, just make a list, prioritise the important stuff..

Absolutely right, and if I modified a car ( anything really ) to make it better for a particular environment or for a particular task I wouldn't necessarily expect it to work if I decided to use it in a different environment or for a different task. Not without revisiting the modification to see if the criteria were still OK.. I probably wouldn't drive a car set up for winter UK green laning (or more realistically a typical weekend pay and play shed) to Morocco without giving the MT tyre selection a second look - whereas in reality a stock Defender straight from the dealers would do both jobs :-)

I know, I didn't mean to infer that the design is necessarily in the realms of every DIY installer, to clarify what I meant - a proportional fan controller as discussed previously isn't hard to design and some major manufacturers do choose to do so. Also an after market setup for the DIY installer should be no more complex to fit than a bi-metal switch setup that many are familiar with. With some engine setups, particularly conversions there isn't much choice about the type of setup to use, in some climates and usage the choice is largely irrelevant ( for example TDi's in the UK ) I had some time investigating cooling fans on site generators, the generators were failing due to overheating. Diagnostics reported inadequate air flow. The manufacturer stated that the generators were being worked close to their design limit and that the customer should fit the more expensive, more reliable and generally better electric colloing fan upgrade. That made little difference to the reliability so I was asked to look into it. The first one I visited took me two hours to dig out, it was under 2m of snow. It showed that looking at the application and design is more important than the actual technology used.

My BMW road diesel has a proportional speed control, its trivial to design a reliable speed control and equally trivial to determine that the motor is turning, drawing appropriate current and apply appropriate circuit protection. Unfortunately both electric fans and mechanical fans get bad reputations due to bad implementation, often by DIY bodges and failures to maintain. I've had people tell me Kenlowe fans are rubbish, when I look at the rats nest of Scotchloks and tyraps holding them together I can see why they would make that conclusion. I've seen DIY V8 conversions where the state of tune was so bad and air flow was so compromised the engine fan had zero chance of cooling the system.. rubbish these electric fans! Analyse your application carefully, design and implement appropriately and either mechanical or electrical will be perfectly fine and reliable. On the old 70's era Peugeot in line four, a magnetic clutch was used to engage the engine fan. French electrics were never fantastic, probably on a par with Lucas but I remember that fan setup being very reliable.

Oh you will.. whatever happens don't let him bring a TIG as well.

Rural life :-) just different challenges - I didn't really take to cats 'till I moved from an urban life and then I quickly realised how handy they are, now I admit 'er indoors puts 10Kg of wild bird food out each week feeding all the food chain from insects up to buzzards so the cat had her work cut out. Anyway, sorry but I thought the air inlet on 'er indoors FL was on the outer wing, the car went 6 months ago so my memory obviously fades. Those clicky ultrasonic scarer things are a waste of time otherwise you could have rigged something up like that. Slosh that Jeyes round where you park as well so the established runs get disrupted.. my luck the disruption would send them scurrying into the house shouting gas, gas, gas ;-)

do you have a proper outdoor cat? Mice are a real nuisance and do a lot of damage, we have trouble with them for a couple of weeks both at the end of winter and summer. They gain access through a low stone wall into the kitchen roof space. Since the passing of our old cat Jess they meet with a click and its lights out. So, whatever you do don't poison them, if you lose them it stinks and can kill other scavengers. As you probably know they p1ss constantly when they roam and the trail is a signal for others to follow so clearing them out is only a temporary fix but if you spray disinfectant, Jeyes fluid or FAM ( any farm Iodine based disinfectant ) it not only reduces the risk of disease, it kills the smell and stops the others following the trail. That will give some temporary relief. I would make a plastic cover to clip in the vent to completely block it when parked, they can squeeze through a hole the size of an end on pencil so any mesh will be pretty unsuccessful. HTH

you cant beat a good pup picture to successfully punctuate a LR thread :-)

Its always fascinating to have an insight into what drives a particular modification, thank you for the explanation. Here in the UK we may find diesel vehicles less attractive in the future so who knows what alterations and modifications we will be pushed toward in the future.

I think thats probably the key to it, all this bit is filled in on my bumper which is a big volume just where you dont need it: It doesn't affect anything at the moment apart from my shins when I walk into it on the floor of the shed....

That existing dash looks very nice to me, tall people seem to be less comfortable in the newer vehicles, I'm 6 feet which in years gone by was considered tall but these days lots of people seem to tower over me and I couldn't live with the later dash setup... anyway, unless you are quite short I think you would find the puma type dash a backward step.

Thats a good one! Not enough letters or variation for something like /TDI not much better /

Didn't think they ran on 'owt else ?

I was fairly disappointed with that particular setup (in the photo) as the previous 8274 hardly protruded at all where it mattered but either way it served its purpose - these days I have no real need for the winch as I carry a Tirfor so the approach angle is back to standard.

My Husky was in a tray which did stick out a fair bit but it was never really a problem. Now the bumper ends were huge and a real nuisance. They were detachable in so much as they bolted on and I always felt it would have been better to make the two bumper ends much smaller and the same profile as a 'normal' bumper in which case they wouldn't have got in the way at all. as much It was always the bit pointed at with the red arrow that caught and dragged on the ground. HTH

When I helped a friend with his car that needed a Q plate we were stumped by what vin plate to use, so I took my stamps and some thin stainless, asked the tester and he said you can use your phone number for all I care, if someone comes with the same number we will know who to call ;-) We used his post code followed by FAST! and that's what ended up on his log book. At one time we could ring the local office and ask them or drop in for a brew* and a moan.. today I guess a call to Swansea is the best bet. *Technically I never got a brew out of them but they did have a vending machine.

I think Exmor do a HD bar set but last time I looked they were very expensive. There was a guy in south Yorks used to trade as Betaweld who made cages and hood stick stuff but thats twenty years ago so could be trading as anything now or not at all..

Hope things work out ok..

Yes I agree that it needs clarifying, I wasn't sure the first time I read @Peaklander s post that he'd understood the process, tighten to the torque setting THEN add a further 90' turn. Hopefully thats what he's done but the post could be read either way. HTH (EDIT) Then I read a previous post where he describes tighten + 90 so 'now' I think he has it ok :-)