lansalot

Thanks folks, plenty to think on there. Might go the TD5 position route and guard it instead. Get my truck-bed back !!! Cheers A

Thanks Aragorn - I have the defender tank in a big box in the rear. God it's awful, bought it that way. It's in the big black chest, and you can see the amount of room it wastes in the truck bed here: http://picasaweb.google.co.uk/lh/photo/lv-isHMk95wd8odF2xGgpQ?feat=directlink Is plastic really an option for a tank in the outside, or is the scrutineer/MOT-man going to fail me for it ? Edit: this looks about right, are internal fuel-pump fitments a pretty standard thing ? http://www.famousfour.co.uk/new_parts/part_info.php?partID=1983

The ebay one Marc - yeah, but no internal pump. Thought it might be tricky to marry-up the right model. Was hoping there would be a simple "buy this it has everything" bit... Bish, I have a defender tank, but I like the extra clearance not having it underneath affords. The hammering the vehicle got at the last trial, I'm glad it wasn't under there. The tank as-is takes up a hell of a lot of space and it's a very awkward shape. Just looking for something more compact/tidy etc. Can see me sticking the Rangey one in the truck-bed yet though..

Hmm. The bouncy-tilty stuff is a slight concern, but will have a look around. Some serious strapping to hold it down to something solid is of course a must. Some top welding going on in the above link. Jealous etc etc.. In the meantime, if someone has a plug-and-play link that I can bolt down, be reasonably compact (ie, not shaped to go round a mk2 escort wheel well), has the internal pump suitable for the EFI, please let me know Cheers FF

Incidentally, I've heard tell of a place round here that does them for the local marine chaps. Is that a completely different application that wouldn't be a good idea ? And is some sort of plastic/composite an option ? Just mulling over the thoughts in my head, trying to keep work out..

I wanted a fuel-tank - not a peep-show ! (nice work though - if you'd like to knock one up for me and stick it in the post, much obliged. Food stamps/EP90 by return of post )

Thanks Fridge, sounds good to me. Any links where I might find just such an arrangement ?

At the moment, the 90 has its old petrol tank up in the truck bed - and the previous owner encased it in a huge metal chest. As a result, it uses most of the truck bed, it's carp and I hate it. As I'm going EFI, I'll need one with a decent fuel pump (current carbs one won't do) and I'm thinking about doing it properly. Get a decent tank, preferably something that didn't start life under a land rover, something around the 10 gallon mark and alloy. Can be strapped to the truck-bed somewhere out of harms way, integrated EFI-capable pump if possible and go from there. I'm trying to avoid looking at the range rover tank I already have, I'd like to go clean from the start. If I'm going to do it, I'd like to do it right (for once). Any suggestions anyone ? I see a few threads with bespoke hardware in them, but I don't have the ability to make one up myself. Am googling and can see plenty of alloy tanks etc, but wanted some expert-opinion on what might be a good idea I otherwise haven't considered. (Did also think low-pressure-pump and hi-pressure/swirl-pot in engine bay - worth it for a 3.9/MS?) Cheers A edit: likely suspect? http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/12-GALLON-ALLOY-FUEL-TANK-KIT-CAR-RACE-RALLY_W0QQitemZ170345233143QQcmdZViewItemQQptZUK_CarsParts_Vehicles_CarParts_SM?hash=item27a95dfaf7#ht_1278wt_1038

Simple and functional - a nice clean job. Am "planning" (read: never gonna happen) going for the NOR wings, but making a flip-front for it instead. Fold up, to take the inner-wings with them. Un-fettered engine-bay access. That's the theory, anyway... Be nice if I could roll that work into the engine-swap which is up-coming, make life a bit easier. Megasquirt is sitting in my bedroom, taunting me... gotta get on with it.

Any chance of a "tuning tutorial" then ?

"There's an exact formula but because he wasn't familiar with this particular Dyno he gave this as an approximate number." There's no formula you can use to calculate at-the-flywheel from at-the-wheels. Each vehicle is different, there are way too many variables. Chances are two (to all intents and purposes) similar vehicles will be a little different (wear-and-tear, fluids, tyre pressures as said etc). If you want the at-the-flywheel figure, the only reliable way it to yank the engine and bolt it straight up to a dyno. But you're better off measuring at the wheels anyway - that's what is of actual use to the driver. Never seen the purpose of quoting "at-the-flywheel", unless it's to use as an indication of "check how much our great drivetrain is sapping!!" Out of interest (and I might have missed it in the above), what power difference (%) is that for your vehicle?

Am facing that decision just now as putting RR 3.9/auto into my 90 3.5/LT77. Will be keeping the LT230. I just like the full manual lock-up method, I'm used to it and I know it works.

Speaking of someone who has a reasonable-ish truck with a list of modifications I'd like to perform that are as long as my arm, I wouldn't bother with this I'm afraid. I drive to the site, I air down when there, and pump up before leaving. It's 10 minutes work either side of the competition. And that's once a month. Sometimes play-days in between as well, but I couldn't justify it to be honest. No matter what the cost, unless it was silly-cheap, I just can't imagine it would be something I would consider. The serious kit tends to arrive on a trailer anyway as said, so who's it really for ?

The two are probably unrelated, fwiw...

Not seeing anything there just now, but from the look of his site I'd expect that if there is something there, it comes from some part outwith his control - statcounter for example (not pointing the finger in particular).... Perhaps his hosting company have their trousers down. His website seems basic enough not to be exploited in and of itself.. edit: possible false alarm - did you have any tabs open to other websites at the same time?

Yep, that's what I meant (but didn't articulate very clearly). The torque output from the engine is academic, it's what we're seeing at the wheel (the loss due to the brake) that is the issue, it's what hits the rest of the drivetrain that we are interested in.

What about a Discovery - considered one of those ? Can get a lot of disco for 4k...

Or maybe not. Google came up with... http://auto.howstuffworks.com/differential3.htm "Remember that the open differential always applies the same torque to both wheels, and the maximum amount of torque is limited to the greatest amount that will not make the wheels slip. It doesn't take much torque to make a tire slip on ice. And when the wheel with good traction is only getting the very small amount of torque that can be applied to the wheel with less traction, your car isn't going to move very much."

Hmmm. Surely an increase in torque will overwhelm the grassy wheel - as the diff sends the same torque to both wheels, won't it cause wheelspin ? edit: just read your bit again, increasing the amount of torque required to turn the wheels, isn't that the same as lowering engine output ? I'm sure if on a dyno at a steady RPM and I dabbed the brake, wouldn't the torque output decrease ? I had imagined (and I know where my imagination gets me) that traction control applies a brake to the spinning wheel, so lowering the twisting force to both - and thus eventually the stationary wheel gets a shot ? Sounds plausible, but as I said - I know where me any my imagination get me. Probably a trip to google could sort this one out, but this is more fun

If both the front AND rear wheels that were on the grass were spinning, then - yes - that is normal behaviour. The reason the Shogun does it is because there may be some limited slip diff or traction control in that vehicle. In the Rangey, there isn't (as standard). If it helps, imagine it this way: if it only takes 10ft/lb of torque to spin on grass, and 50ft/lb to spin on concrete, then let's say with the engine idling in gear the engine outputs 20ft/lb. 20ft/lb being more than 10, the grassy wheel is overwhelmed and it's the same as dumping the clutch at high revs - wheelspin. Too much torque, not enough traction. The important thing to remember is that the diff wants to send the same amount of torque to both wheels, but it spins internally and the 20ft/lb goes straight to the grassy wheel while the concrete one gets nothing. By dabbing the brake however, you are reducing the engine's power output - let's say you can dab the brake enough to reduce the power down to 9ft/lb without stalling the engine. Then, you might get lucky and the concrete wheel might get a share. You were lucky, and it did. Short answer - buy an ARB, KAM or Detroit locker if you don't want this to happen edit: incidentally, if you have a front-wheel drive car and you can't get going on ice, slip it into second instead of first and try and drive out. You'll reduce the torque output of the engine and might get going.

I should have guessed - system was saying there was a hardware port, but clearly there wasn't. Forgot I even had a docking station, that's what happens when work hands the kit out. Now, if I could just get megatune running on the iPhone (or my nokia n800)... now there's an idea.... off to the msefi forums to plant some seeds I think

TomTom is out on the iPhone now. Quite expensive now. And not so much fun if the phone rings while you're half way round Spaghetti junction. Google Maps works fine, but you have to read the screen and watch where you're going - it doesn't read anything out to you. MotionX GPS is a great little GPS app, but no routing. (edit: Route Buddy looks a bit like the free version of MotionX to me?) A mate told me you can get a Garmin from ebuyer for about £35 and hack the TomTom maps onto it. Not that I'd advocate that sort of thing ! Just posting for info

As an addition: clearly I'm not that good. Went into work today and noticed the docking station had a hardware COM port on it. So I knocked the dust off it and took it home. DOH !!!

God I'm good - Bluetooth (RFCOMM) com port stack interfering. Disabled the bluetooth device in device-mangler, and up it came. One for the Megasquirt FAQ, if you have one

Tried it on the desktop - it works fine (once I'd connected up all 3 common grounds). Tried same on laptop, still not working. Suspect it may be something to do with the Bluetooth COM port emulators, maybe one of them is sticking their oar in. Will give it some thought, maybe just disabling BT will be enough. Anyway, can at least chat to it now on the desktop, so I know the system is OK. Bit of a load off my mind - this isn't to say the USB/serial is 100% yet, but am hoping. Thanks for all the suggestions.