disco_al

i thought about making one for my disco, but in the end bit the bullet and got a proper safari one. looks much better IMHO than a home made job, and it's designed to do what it says on the box

surely that's what you mean??? :)

job done! used a small drill bit and drilled a series of small holes, then filed them smooth. looks rather good. i will add a photo tomorrow.

Obviously the best tool would be a big holesaw (as recommended in the Safari instructions), but what else have people used? I am hoping to fit my Safari Snorkel this weekend, and need to chop some holes in bodywork, so what do people recommend? Cheers

looks familiar. did a similar job to mine last year before the test. did one side at a time though to make life easier - especially as she's a daily driver.

just installed the nov 09 microcat tonight on win7, and the only thing i had to do was the mg16.dll bit, tell microlaunch to run in compatability mode for windows xp, and check the run as admin box. works fine otherwise

sounds like the solenoid has gone. check the wiring first, could be a corroded connector. if not, try hitting the solenoid with a long bar, then try starting it. if it engages then you have a sticky solenoid. recon starters are about the £80 mark (avoid britpart though) it may be worth asking an auto electrical place how much it would be to recon it, may work out cheaper just having a new solenoid fitted

Most banks now implement a check, that looks at your spend history. If the system spots an "out of character" purchase eg foreign usage, or substantially large amount, then it blocks the transaction. My mum recently had this happen when she went to pay for her new car using her bank card. Because it was a large transaction, that did not fit with her usual spend amounts, the bank blocked the transaction, and locked the card. She had to go into her branch and take ID to get it unlocked and complete the transaction.

it was on the top deck of a big transporter, along with a load of other old cars....

I agree, i saw a 6 wheel stretch Range Rover Classic on the back of a transporter yesterday, obviously on it's way to be turned into coke cans, looked unusual as it had P38 style headlights.

Personally i don't like the idea of driving round with a potential H bomb behind the back seat. Anyone remember the Hindendurg? Let alone a string of Hydrogen tanks along busy main commuter routes, just waiting for someone to blow them up in the name of whatever or whoever?? hmmm

That is the exact concern that was expressed by the guys from Forte. The risk of dislodging deposits from seals and bearings, making the engine leak like the proverbial sieve.

No - definately not. Forte Engine flush is not recommended for use on any engine that has done over about 70k, that is what they told us when we asked them the question. If the engine has had it used from it's first service, then it would be ok, but on one that has done that much mileage, it would cause more problems than it would solve.

Gas-flowing is also known as porting and polishing. I did this myself using a flexible shaft (oo-er missus) and grinding stone on my Sierra a couple of years back. It doesn't really make a huge amount of difference to the performance, although it does make it smoother. It's not a difficult job to do, just very time consuming. Polishing is the smoothing of inlet/exhaust tracts of the head to allow a smoother passage of air into/out of the engine, as long as you are very careful and don't remove too much material, then nothing can really go wrong. The problems arise when there is only a thin layer of wall between the inlet/exhaust ports, and an oil or waterway. Porting is when you match the inlet/exhaust ports between the head and the manifolds, to provide a smooth flow of air into/out of the engine. Manifold gaskets rarely match the ports on the head, this is where port matching comes in. Place the gasket on the head, and locate it with a couple of studs and nuts, then have a look into the inlet ports. you will see where the gasket overlaps the port, creating a restriction. By matching the gasket to the inlet ports, (or vice versa) on both the head and the manifold, removes this restriction allowing the most air to get into the engine. Hope this makes sense......

Cheers. I will see what i can find.

Another of those common 300tdi problems has reared it's head, the aux belt tensioner has started squeeking like a hyperactive mouse on speed. Rather than buy a cheapo "Quality aftermarket part" for £25 or an OE quality one at 60 odd quid, is it possible to replace the bearing, in a similar fasion to the bearing in the a/c pulleys?

my lookup here suggests a 664 from 99-04, with an 072 (300 spec) as an alternative.

IIRC the difflock was reinstated for that model year, although only as a cost option. Ashcrofts (I think) do a kit to add the difflock to those that didn't have it.

it's a common problem i'm afraid, usually worse when there are inclement weather conditions such as snow or flooding - usually the time when LR''s come into their own

what about the fuel pressure regulator on the back of the head? don't they leak down and onto the undertray (not sure if the defender has got an undertray though, so may not be applicable)

yes, they supply and fit. from memory they will also invite you back in a month or so to see how it's settled and adjust it if required.

i'll 2nd the guys at A44 in worcester. did a fantastic job on a mates focus for not much over £200

....and the TD5 is OHC. I'm 99.9% sure that the vw engines are all ohc as well now, not many of the old OHV designs still left in use due to the fact that they cannot be tuned to run as well as an OHC for the newer emmissions limits. Obviously there are still some OHV V8's about..... As for the TD5, as stated, i would go with the better injection system, better mixture controls and generally speaking better design.

problem solved. the fuel supply pipe into the lift pump wasn't sealing properly, letting air into the fuel system when under load. new fuel pipe fitted and problem gone cheers all for the ideas and pointers.

sedimentor part number NRC9708