Jump to content

Eightpot

Settled In
  • Posts

    2,211
  • Joined

  • Last visited

  • Days Won

    18

Posts posted by Eightpot

  1. Slightly OT question here for anyone with a metallurgy bent.. 

    I've fitted the lid of my National Luna fridge freezer with a 3mm aluminium plate on top using double sided tape, so there's roughly a 1mm air gap, so I can use it as a worktop in the camper. 

    It's still in the high 30s here in Morocco and the fridge is struggling to keep to low temps without high run times - not a massive shock as its 37 degrees in the truck, but its occurred to me I may have strapped a big heat sink to the top 🤔

    The lid has a shiny stainless surface naturally, not sure if I'm better off ripping the ally off - any thoughts? 

  2. You can send sea freight which is cheaper but slooow or air freight which is quick - have a look on transglobal express as an example to start weighing up prices. If it can be properly paletised on a standard size pallet life gets easier and there are lots of online pricing websites for global pallet shipping.   Also have a search for freight forwarding agents offering LCL (less than container load) and get some quotes, and have a cruise through some of the overland groups & forums on FB etc - plenty folk ship thier cars for travel or even expats sending personal effects that might be glad of using some container space to recover some costs.  I would also search for UK-Oz specialist shipping agents (a lot of agents specialise in certain routes) and see if they can arrange some space - when I was bringing containers back from Africa I'd have been happy to sell a bit of floor space. 

    • Like 1
  3. There's barely a straight bit of road here in Portugal, some of the bends are savage -  I've been struggling with my ambulance camper on the corners to the extent of limiting the bottles of wine on board and jettisoning anything non essential. I think if I was driving that 110 I'd just give up and push it over 😄

    Good place to be in an electrical storm though!

    • Haha 2
  4. 23 minutes ago, smallfry said:

    No feedback from the Police as yet, but I am not holding my breath !

    Police don't spend time on chasing motoring paperwork anymore since the internet came along and DVLA are able to directly control everything end to end and there's an insurance database.  Unless there is some evidence it's a stolen car or someones commiting fraud then maybe, but looking at an ebay ad won't make it past the round file in the corner of the front office.  These shonky cars should be getting picked up by the eyes-on section of dvla, MoT inspectors, but doesn't seem to be a process and if you put historic plates on you don't need to go for mot anyway.   It's a big loophole, but its also one that in a way stops us having the strict rules of many EU countries that stop most modifications, so maybe we shouldn't poke too hard..

    • Like 1
  5. Old V8s can run rough for many reasons, sometimes several at once.  Some things off the top of my head - faulty fuel pump or pump power supply. Fuel evaporation due to poor return flow to tank. Bad plugs/ wrong temp.  Dirt in carbs. Air leak on manifold. Dirt/object in tank blocking pick up pipe. Stuck advance mechanism on dizzy, bad module. 

    The list goes on, but thorough testing of each element of air/fuel/ignition, particularly when it won't start is the key. Is fuel getting to carbs, is fuel getting into cylinders, is power getting to plugs, are plugs sparking, is mixture good, is compression good. Find the area at fault & work backwards.

  6. I wrote to DVLA asking what the process was for reporting these invented identities - there isn't one and they didn't much care. Just advised me to tell the police if I see one. Police won't care much either unless it's got no insurance and a body in the boot,  so if you want to save a few bob on tax just screw some old number plates on 😕 

     

  7. I was struggling to get my trade parts from Bearmach for the last couple of years - the quality of parts declined massively as well to the point I had to stop using them - a lot of Britpart stuff is superior.  I have only just narrowly avoided a destroyed engine after a brand new bearmach coolant overflow Y piece on my 300tdi split and lost a lot of water, unfortunately as I was going up a mountain in the pyreneese and it boiled dry. 

    It's a pity as thier stuff used to be decent and I liked dealing with thier trade tream - it seems sourcing thier stuff from china became an issue with covid and the subsequent global supply & shipping problems.

  8. Thermostats along with many other parts are rubbish these days  - I no longer use anything but waxstat in the workshop and even then they can be faulty out of the box. Think I went through four new stats before getting a good one in my own 200tdi.   

     

    • Like 1
  9. Sorry if I'm teaching you to suck eggs, I don't know if you have a pressure guage or are relying on a blinking oil pressure warning lamp?

    My old safari truck in africa started flashing the oil pressure warning lamp very convincingly for a while which had me thinking the worst - turned out to be a bad sender thankfully - always nice when its the cheap fix 🙂

  10. Virtually all bodyshop paint suppliers will be able to take a scan of your bodywork and mix something up. You will find your local one with a google search. The difficulty with matching old paint is deciding to replicate the weathered & oxidised current colour or polish it up to bring it back closer to the shade it went on as - the new paint will stay bright far longer than the old panels which will revert to thier dull state. 

  11. Terms & conditions seem to vary depending on which agent you use, ebay, parcel2go etc, as they seem to make thier own standardised rules but if you check directly with the couriers most will accept a tyre if its within weight or dimension parameters as long as they are wrapped & labelled.  I've sent a few recently, I think using Parcelforce and TNT.  

  12. After one of the bearmach sourced inner tubes blew its guts out on the motorway at the weekend, I think I might find some heavier duty ones for the Rangie - anyone know of a good supplier?

    The only place I can find michelins online are £43 each 😲  at which price I'm better off sourcing tubed rims..

  13. as an aside, I'm a ludite and techophobe for the most part, haven't owned a modern car for 15 years, but have to hand it to my wifes 14 year old 'modern' Saab  though which does a 170 mile commute three times a week for several years, refuses to break down, I've changed the oil twice which is the extent of the spanner jobs I've had to do, its quick, comfortable and refuses to do less than 45mpg and yet to grow a spot of rust.  Still on it's original shocks & exhaust at 160,000 miles while my Land rovers sit there like screaming baby birds waiting for feeding & fixing daily.

    I'm trying to clean up the aerodynamics on my Range Rover ambulance at the moment while preppng it for another big trip, as every mpg counts over a few thousand miles, and while trying to figure out if a smooth steering guard will help airflow under the axle to any extent or if I should stop buying shiny things,  came across this interesting technical paper written by a guy from LR and a professor on SUV aerodynamics - it confirms the defender is equivalent aerodynamicaly to a Spanish galleon compared to other models, took some useful tips to clean up the flow and reduce high pressure areas.

    https://www.researchgate.net/publication/330412255_Improving_SUV_Aerodynamics

     

    • Like 1
×
×
  • Create New...

Important Information

We use cookies to ensure you get the best experience. By using our website you agree to our Cookie Policy