Eightpot

I was going to say I had a similar problem with an MGB once, but the damage was nowhere near as bad as that - the shells were worn down and scored, enough to make the engine knock and drop oil pressure, but they still looked like bearing shells when they came out... Crank journalls looked ok to my i-spy bionic eye, and felt round enough so I just sliped a new set of bearing shells in - only to have to do the job properly and strip the engine down a week later when it happend all over again. I would be amazed if you didn't need the crank regrinding (if it's got enough metal left on to do it), and I'd also be worried that there was debris in the oilways waiting to do some more damage later.

the cheap listings dont normally cover car sales as far as I know, but they dont make it obvious - if you dig deep enough there is a bunch of small print explaining what is and isnt covered. I've fallen foul of this myself. They are misleading and contemptible, and frankly you have the moral high ground for not paying the buggers - you won't get any sense out of them as there's no-one there answering emails or on the end of the phone, you'll just get shagged over by a machine. personally I wouldn't pay and risk being suspended, like the Lithuanian shoe salesmen who robbed my user ID and rang up a 200 quid bill and waltzed off into the sunset with a couple of grand worth of punters money and got away scott free, but you takes your own choice

girls. real men use a screwdriver hammered through the filter.

late 300 tdi exhausts are worth looking at - wide bore and only a single central silencer. The exhaust doesnt cross horizontally at the back either like a 200tdi as later defenders had the fuel tank there. You coud even do away with the silencer using an off the shelf silencer replacement pipe if you want it a bit noisier, but personaly I've found the silencer to be unrestrictive anyway being a straight through type with only a couple of mesh baffles in the air flow (which I knocked out with a hammer and broom stale) Think I paid 100 quid end to end, for me not worth mucking about with pipe benders for a weekend and all the agro.

A long while ago, I read about using toilet rolls as a very effective oil filter - you take the cardboard out and put it in an old style filter housing. I think the jist of it was that it was they made a very effective filter and very cheaply. carp idea?

keep the dust outside the way they are put together makes it pretty difficult - if it doesn't get in the back door, it'll get in the front doors, or through holes in the bulkhead, or through the floor panel gaps, or through the seat box, etc etc. It helps to stay in clean air if you're in a convoy and keep a window or one of the vents open a little to increase the air pressure inside. I also go round floor panels, gearbox tunnel, seat box gaps with gaffer tape. You could also spend a bit of time making sure the door latches are adjusted to pull the door snug against the seal, but largely just accept you'll get a layer of dust on everything

I'd say you should check the swivel pre-load. Easy enough to rectify, theres a good thread in the tech archive.

The gauge/sender don't quite match up and will show a higher temp than actual - I've got the same set up and did a couple of long trips last year, one around Europe and over the Alps, the other across the Sahara. I didn't actually find cooling that much of a problem, though when pushed really hard on very long straight uphill slogs up the Alps in the summer (fully loaded with gear) and very sluggish runs through big soft sand dunes for several hours (again, loaded up till the springs were bottomed out) , I did have to stop a few times to let the temp drop back down, and I got it steaming once. On the whole though, no probs at all. I've fitted an electric fan, with temp controler (from X-engineering), and left the viscous in place - hopefully that will keep me a bit cooler on some of the slow uphill slogs. Day to day driving though, no problem at all - in fact after fitting the fan the other day, I couldn't get the water hot enough to trigger the fan no matter how hard I tried.

It would need to be long enough to make a four point sling if you know what I mean - one end hooked on crane hook/shackle, passed under engine and back up to the shackle, then back down under the front of the block and back up secured to the shackle. Not the best way to do it as you won't be able to adjust the angle as it comes out and goes back in very easily, and there is a risk of damage - use wooden blocks against the side of the engine to keep the strop away from pipes/lift pump etc. I'd also get the rad and front panel removed if you do it this way so you dont have to lift it very much. If you can order the lifting points from craddocks or somewhere it might be easier though, and probably a bit safer.

They dont look anything special, just flat plate with a hole in it bolted to the block, one at the front one at the back. If they've been removed for some reason I'd use a tow strop passed around the engine front and back making sure nothing vulnerable will get squashed when it's lifted and it's good and secure, and pass it through a shackle to the crane hook.

A 235 sits too high on a bonnet and obscures the view badly, but you could use a 7.50x16 as a spare - almost the same diameter but a fair bit thinner. You could also just carry a puncture repair kit like the ARB one, or a couple of cans of tyre weld instead of a spare.

In my experience swivel preload probs show when you brake and hit an uneven bit of tarmac - or show as a shake which starts when you hit a bump and then amplifies. Wheel/tyre imbalance tends to show in a narrow speed range generally over 50 mph and more of a vibration than 'wobble' general shaking going up to a violent wobble of the steering at lower speeds up to 50mph tends to be worn panhard rod bushes Worn track rod ends/shock absorbers can add to the problem but not usually a main culprit of a proper 'shake' Steering damper - it's only purpose is to absorb the shock of sudden steering movements, ie hitting a rock, so shouldn't have any effect whatsoever in on road driving. Not had a worn drop arm ball joint yet, but I would imagine this would induce a fair bit of play and wobble in the steering. I have had a worn old steering box, but that just made steering very vague and meant the wheel had to be turned quite a bit before anything happened. From what you say, my first though would be to check the bushes in the panhard rod (foremost steering rod, at a slight diagonal below bumper level at the front of the car)- get someone to rock the steering wheel while you look at the bushes, if there's any free movement, change them.

I can't count the times I've run out of fuel and moved my car to the side of the road on the starter motor - never had a gearbox locked on me yet. Must be one of those new cheeseboxes.

I'll put in a vote for the X-Eng fan controller kit as well, got mine last week and it's...wait for it.... FAN tastic!! I'm off to bed...

I've used jerrys a few times and I'm adding another tank now instead - I just don't like the hassle of fishing them out, filling, wiping, loading them back up (I'm in a soft top so can't get em on the roof) and I've had a bag of clothes and my soft top damaged by diesel splashed cans. But I've only got a small main tank on the 90, so jerrys were used more often for me, I was envious of my mates second tank in his 110 at fuel stops - nozzle in the main tank, fill her up and off, no messing. Talking about long trips here though, for a holiday in France I would take a spare jerry can, my last outing needed six jerrys in the back though which was a joke, and I didn't feel particularly safe either!

Jerry cans are a right pain on a long trip, you tend to want them down low inside the vehicle, which means having to empty everything out to fill them or use them, and it's almost impossible to avoid getting diesel dripping down the outside of the can which just gets on your gear and stinks. A behind the rear wheel arch one is the way to go I reckon - maybe connected directly to the main tank to keep filling easy, but with an in line isolator so you could fill it up then seperate the tanks till you need the reserve and not lose so much it someone tried nickin it.

Take a look at the Smartcom unit at Towsure - I've used one for the last two years and would highly recommend - http://www.towsure.com/product/2973-Self-S...elay_Wiring_Kit £13 and will power a second battery and fridge, and shuts off power to either the fridge or battery when voltage drops, then starts powering them again as soon as it hits a certain voltage. Very easy to install, I took a reasonably thick wire straight from the main battery into the input feed, then the same guage out to leisure battery and fridge. It has terminal block type connectors so a five minute job to set up and tuck out of the way, and it's very resiliant to knocks vibration and I've dunked mine under water a couple of times with no ill effect..

You can buy them from a few places - I would suggest trying Nene Overland, Frogs Island, Safari Equip - they will fit them too. Another way to do it on a 110 is to fit a tank from a 90 under the drivers seat.

The LRW show at Eastnor gets my vote as well, consistently the best show in my opinion, and it's a nice place to camp. I'll probably jinx it now but it always seems to get really good weather as well!

Can't I just reverse the wiring on my air compressor and attach it to the servo? What about a camping foot pump set to suck, taped under the brake pedal, when I brake it will automatically create the vacuum - would that work? How about if I extend the brake pedal with some angle iron and jubilee clips to give more leverage - will that stop me having to spend another hundred quid?

I believe mm4x4 will deliver to Moldova, panel cost is about 65 euros plus postage. (thier web server is down at the moment, so try again tomorrow) A few of the UK parts firms will deliver worldwide - paddocks (send email to sales@paddockspares.com to confirm if they can deliver) and John Cradock http://www.johncraddockltd.co.uk

Nah, I think its defo the pump - took the hose off the servo and gave the engine some welly - no suction at all. I'll check at the pump outlet tomorrow just in case theres a split or something daft in the hose.

Tidy.

....but like ,seriously - do they create constant vacuum while the engines on or only if like, something happens, with something else.

I always like to test these things with my thumb first, saves any embarrasment down A&E