B reg 90

I found NfU were the only ones that would touch my tools. I have an itemised spreadsheet and pictures with them and an agreed value. How ever garage is connected to my house, so on house insurance

I believe you can 'down rate' a trailer by putting on a replacement capacity plate reducing the GVWR to the level you can tow. I was told there is no legal minimum standard for a name plate. So gaffer tape over the original and write the weight you want on (as long as it is below the trailer design figure) and your good to go. Change driver to one who can pull the full weight - rip of the gaffer tape and you have 'up rated' the trailer back to original GVWR. Job done!

CNC Mill - more info needed! What controller is it - Anilam?

I changed the rubber seal. Also check how much the glass is being pulled down onto the rubber when closed - mine wasn't being pulled down enough. I stripped the winding mechanism and changed the 'timing' between the mechanism and the indexing pin that engages once every revolution of the winder. I can now closed/pull down the glass more. Leaks fixed

Yes you do, but there is another issue with removing the thermostat. You lower the resistance to flow of water in the system. The pump flows more water. The water is in the block for a shorter time, hence warms up less. However as the temperature difference between the metal and water is greater (higher thermal gradient) the heat flow out of the block is higher when compared to a lower flow of water. That sounds fantastic, your removing more heat (BTU's, Joules, Watts or what ever your unit of choice is). However you now have a high flow of 'colder' water going to the radiator. The temperature difference between the water and the passing air is lower. Hence the heat transfer rate out of the radiator to the air is lower. If your radiator is the same size as it was before you removed the thermostat, then the heat transfer capacity of the radiator has dropped. Water temperatures going back to the block are higher, water temps coming out of the block increase, higher water temps back to the block cause lower vapour pressures at the pump suction, cavitation can occur, flow drops, less heat removal, etc. Coupled with the fact that with high flow rates the water pump needs a considerably higher inlet pressure to prevent cavitation (set by radiator cap pressure and header tank sir space to water volume ratio), every thing is fighting against you. In short if you remove the thermostat you may need a bigger surface area on the radiator to dump the heat if the radiator is the limiting factor. Even then due to the lower cooling system resistance, the pump will flow more. It will hence need a higher suction pressure to prevent cavitation. If cavitation occurs the engine will over heat and the situation will get out of control.

One thing I think that gets missed is the volume ratio between the air space in the header tank and the water volume in the cooling system. Too much volume in header tank - expansion of water in system does not compress the air sufficiently, hence lower pressures in the system as temps rise. Low system pressure means lower water pump suction pressure. This equals a higher likely hood of cavitation. Once cavitation starts the water flow rate drops, water flowing out of the block gets hotter, suction vapor pressure at pump drops, more cavitation, less heat removal etc. Too little volume in header tank - expansion of water in header tank raises pressure of air to greater then cap set pressure. Air/steam vents. System stays at roughly cap pressure until engine stops and cools. Because some air/steam has been vented and cap does not let it back in, the cooling system when cooled back is then lower than atmospheric pressure (vaccum) as it has a lower mass in the same volume. When engine is next run the expansion of the water only raises the system pressure by roughly the same amount, but it has started from a vacuum, end pressure can be low enough that the pump suction pressure is to low and the pump cavitates, low flow, water leaving block is hotter, pump cavitates, etc. This is one of the reasons there is a label on radiator caps that state ' only remove when cold'. l plan on fitting a pressure gauge to my cooling system when I eventually get my M57 engine running so I can see what is happening.

I think KAM used to do a lower ratio ring and pinion.

Have you considered the like of rakeway to make you a new flywheel?

Google 'smart resovior' or www.variablevolumeresovior.com It allows you to get rid of the oil tank completely as you are surmising with your CV boot idea. If you search for the 'hydrodymanic' buggy on pirate4x4 - he is running one of these with no hydrualic tank on a full hydro drive 4x4 (hydraulic motor at each wheel). Adrian

There is a coach building/motor industry event at the NEC each year. A visit to that and you will not be short of idea's. Unfortunately I have binned the literature from my visit a few years ago. Well worth the effort to go and find the right parts

Hoss, I used to use Service metals for aluminium extrusions - they were good. We looked at fancy honey comb panels, but never used any. There are other companies that I looked at at a trade show, however the names escape me. They had a bigger selcetion of sections than Service Metals.. Google is your friend. The truck will be top heavy, so personally I think it's worth the effort to source light weight materials. It would make the end result stand out. Adrian

Hoss, Look at how they build new modern horse boxes and trailers for HGV's. Easily made to be removable. Adrian

Hoss, Coachbuilding companies (like Albert Jaggers, http://www.albert-jagger.co.uk) sell all the parts you need for your body. Lovely aluminium extrusions for the corners/uprights, laminated composite insulated panels, etc. A box steel frame with Aluminum skin feels a bit 1980's to me. If you get it right you could get a panel for each side, curt the doors, windows out and your done. Slot into the purpose made aluminium corner section and so on. I used to use a company that made custom windows and doors as well. If your interested I could dig out the name. Adrian

You need a bent axis piston motor. They are good for silly speeds, like 10,000rpm -this will give you decent line speed. Then you need a high pressure pump with sufficient flow rate to get the enough torque (pull at drum). You will be looking at 300 odd bar. Then the valve blocks get expensive to deal with the pressure. Pump needs to be off the engine to get away from the problem you have now. Also at the LT230 PTO slot the shaft speed is low, hence you need a big displacement pump to give the flow rate - makes it more ££, big and heavy. Note that the worm drive is fairly inefficient and will sap a bit of your power. Efficiency varies in proportion to shaft rpm. Max at static. The worm is self braking when stationary, but not at speed. Adrian

You take your off 90 to work, have to give your boss a lift, then have to 'let' him out of the passenger side as the door has fallen apart again internally, but don't feel any embarrassment.

Having a sh*t day and I was suffering from the temptation to put a rant on this thread. I'm going to settle for a 'like' to this. Back to the wine.....

Not sure I agree with you on the above. With my axle coming up horizontally it will hit the chassis rails before the shocks bottom out. Therefore I am using the bumps to protect the chassis rails. On cross axle I want the up hill side to go up as much as possible - the shock mount goes higher on the up hill side on cross axle than it does on a horizontal full travel. I did this at maximum theoretical cross axle (i.e. assumed that the radius arm bushes would not restrict travel) - drew it out in CAD to work this out. I then moved the tops of the shocks up 1/2 " to allow for **** ups. End result is the shocks will never bottom out. - the chassis rails will however take a pounding with out bump stops.

I chose to put bumps in chassis rails. They are the lowest point and the items your trying to protect. If you put them outside the chassis rail they still have to be at the same height to protect from the axle coming up horizontally (landing after a jump). However on cross axle the further out the bump stops are the more they limit the up travel of the high side of the axle. To get the same flex the lower side of the axle therefore has to drop more. End result is that ur vehicle will sit higher when cross axled when the bump stops are wider apart - higher chance of roll over. Hence I chose to put the bump stops as close together as I could, but still protecting the chassis rails - i.e bump stops in chassis rails

If it was an air tank in the oil industry it would be in an inspection schedule: 1/. Visual check - remove end bung and look in if possible 2/. If deemed necessary do ultrasonic thickness checks 3/. Might ask for a hydrotest to 1.5 x operating pressure (depends on design code) Adrian

Niton PMI guns are good, but can't tell you the carbon content, so are really only good with alloyed steels. If they have a good material library loaded they will give you a grade of material, however you may end up with a list of element with % composition figures. Then it is search material spec's to determine the likely candidate. If you do get it checked with a Niton gun make sure the sample is clean or you will get duff readings. Specifically, buff a clean surface with an aluminium oxide based buffing disk. Clean surface with alcohol (your finger prints can effect result if the machine is a high sensitivity version). Ask the gun user to disable the Aluminium detection.

Bush65 /John, I just skimmed though your posts and it's excellent stuff. I will read in more detail when I get a chance and try and ask a sensible question. In the mean time thanks for your efforts and I look forward to the next instalment! Adrian

What ever is the cheapest/have lying around. Make it a big enough diameter to suit the load and material strength. Your hardly going to do 10,000 mile round the garden, so why over do it? Adrian

Is the impeller turning? If so then it will pump is flooded with water. However it needs to be flooded with a clear suction line from the tank. I the pipe rubber lined and coming off/closing the flow? Valves open (handles or balls in the valves on the wrong way will make them 'look' open when closed. Make sure the tank is full and check you have water at the suction of the pump. Then try again. However don't run it dry to mutch as the wear rings may pick up. Adrian

Look for Jessie Haines (JFH Fab) truck on pirate. Manual steering box at drivers feet, link to axle via bell crank. Hydro assist ram in axle. Think he did King Of The Hammers with it, so it must have been fairly robust. Adrian

Maverick? No but I have one for Goose.......