Thon

From what I remember at the time, factory V8 Nineties were also fitted with a 4 pin diff in the rear axle. This one will have a 2 pin. Not a big problem, just another reason for it to be worth less IMHO. 3 large absolute max. And I would insist on a test drive if I were your friend.

"I've just rang Paddocks to see if the shocks come with the bushes, they said it depends if they are in the box when it gets delivered" Not sure i'd bother buying anything from them with an attitude like that. If we answered a customers questions like that, we'd be hung, drawn and quartered, and rightly so. I'd take my money elsewhere.

We had a similar situation with our two children in our 90. A friend built me some beautiful brackets which allowed me to bolt securely two defender centre seats, forward facing, half on the wheelboxes, and added two 3 point seatbelts (from Exmoor) using all the necessary brackets and spreader plates. We used these with two high backed booster seats for several years for a total cost of around 150 pounds when the children were between 2 and 6. I still have the brackets available F.O.C if they would be of use to you. Now owning a 110 TDI SW (actually two of them), this demonstrated to me that we really should have bought one a long time ago, so much easier are they to load kids in and out. The 90 is do-able, but the 110 soooo much easier on the back.

I think my wife is an exception. She drives a 110 SW TDI, likes going to LR events, has driven (as a novice) in the most scary RTV I have ever seen and has infinite patience with my tinkering in the workshop (with my comp safari coiler and XTZ 660). 1 in a million. And hot too:-)

If the thing became jammed in gear after such a minor operator error, in my eyes it doesn't bode well for the replacement vehicle. Could the same thing happen again? It would certainly make me think twice about accepting a replacement. I would be reeeaally interested to hear the full explanation, if they ever decide to tell you - based on their explanation so far, they should.

http://www.nickpaxton.co.uk He's based in Cranmore, Somerset and does an excellent job.

I once replaced the clutch on my old N/A diesel 90 by using the box-out technique and the rack of my 5 foot hi-lift strung between the dashboard top (protecting the windscreen with a rag) and my wooden toolbox in the back. I think (it was a few years ago) we took out the floor and seatbox but the advantage was most of the work was done in the dry cab. We used a chain hoist to lower the main and transfer box to the ground (whilst clutch fiddling) with a bottle jack under the sump and it worked a treat. Best of luck whichever way you choose.

I had a similar problem with my 90 when I converted it to PAS with a secondhand parts. It turned out that for some reason (probably wear or maybe an impact) the output shaft of the PAS box had a "notch" in one position of its travel. I noticed this by disconnecting the drag link from the drop arm and turning the steering column by hand from the engine bay so I could see how smooth the movement was over its entire travel. I then re-connected the drag link to put some load on the box and the notch showed up beautifully. This gave "50p" piece roundabouts and long sweeping bends. Adjusting the top preload simply resulted in a lack of self centering. Simply, if expensively cured by fitting a new steering box. If your steering column UJ's are in good condition, this may be your problem. Good luck - it's a disconcerting experience I know.

This sounds from your description to be lubricating oil being burnt, despite the lack of obvious crankcase pressurisation. Another suggestion would be to look at the valve guides and their seals, which if original could well be quite crispy and will not seal well. Obviously this is a little more work than merely re-routing the breather to a catch tank. For the cost of a top end gasket set and oil seals however, you may cure the problem in a day and 50 quid. From my experience with these engines (100k miles or so) I would suggest the top end components rather than bottom end - when I last had the head off (at around 195K miles) the bottom end was all good but the head needed a little more work. All that said, if you are looking for more power (and few N/A 2.5 owners aren't) then maybe you should bite the bullet and do the TDI transplant - it does make for a more pleasant drive.

When I used to work at a local Fiat, Lancia, Maserati dealer in Basingstoke many years ago, we had a customer with a Thema Turbo which suffered from repeated temperature gauge malfunctions. On his way down to Italy for his family holiday, he experienced what he thought was the same fault and ignored it. Well, for the 10 or so minutes it took to grenade his 2.0L turbo intercooled motor anyway. Turns out a hose had split. Sadly he was not bright enough to keep his ignorance of the high temp reading to himself and earned himself a bill of around 6 large for his troubles. I've always remembered this story which taught me: - 1. Never to buy a Lancia 2. Never ignore warning lights I am still however stupid enough to have bought 2 dreadful Italian motorcycles and am contemplating another. There's no telling some people.

Thanks all for your helpful advice. I think I'll get in touch with SCOR and AWDC and accept that an ARC spec comper will always be at something of a disadvantage. I'll just have to drive it harder ... Cheers, Thon.

Hi All, I have an 88" coiler built specifically for comping, although some time ago. I have no idea how competitive it will be (the previous owner did reasonably well with it) but want to get out there and do some events. I come from an ALRC background in trialling (Somerset and Wilts ROC) but am struggling to find any ALRC clubs that A) hold many comps, and B) are anywhere near me on the Hampshire/Berkshire border near Basingstoke. Maybe I've not looked hard enough but would appreciate your opinions on good local(ish) clubs. Cheers, Thon.

I recently bought a 110 SW with BFG A/T's and the only thing I dislike about it is the white tyre lettering ... But then I don't like alloys, bull bars, spotlights or anything of that ilk either so what do I know?

Hmmm Yes, it does look a little underhand. From my experience in domain purchasing, I believe KAM could seek arbitration and could claim the .co.uk domain as they are a UK company and obviously have a more legitimate claim to it. Of course, the best thing to have done by KAM was to purchase both the .co.uk and .com domains in the first place. Hindsight is a wonderful thing though ...