simonr

I'm not convinced that double cardon joints are always the answer. In an ideal world, the nose of both diffs should be parallel to the axis of the transfer box output flanges (Hu hu - he said Flange). It is this (or the lack of this) that tends to cause vibration (assuming your shafts are balenced and phased correctly). You have fitted castor correction arms on the front, so there is a good chance this will be about right. Have a look at the back. I suspect it will be way off. You can often correct the diff nose angle by fitting a couple of washers between the rear trailing arm and the chassis bush - effectively lengthening the thailing arms and lowering the diff nose. Ironically, fitting castor correction front arms can make the vibration worse as the effect of the misallignment of the front and back can cancel out if the phasing is correct. Si

I find that something along the lines of "Sorry mate, but I don't speak a word of english" - in a very english accent, tongue ties and ultimatly get's rid of most such people. You have to try quite hard not to laugh though as it can result in a sore nose. I look forward to the friends of jesus or sales people coming to play. They are fun to wind up though! "I like your shoes - did you make them yourself?" Si

Doh! Too easy! I'm thinking about a couple of push buttons on the underside of the auto selector lever to lock up either side, with a lockout if the rear ARB is engaged. I'd like to do 4 wheel fiddle brakes - but finding space for the calipers on the front is a bit tricky. The pneumatic idea came about because there is nowhere obvious to stick the levers in the cab. I considered making a split pedal (like on tractors) to go where the clutch used to live - but was persuaded by Simon C that a more complicated solution is always better Si

Looks a bit like something for an Unclear Reactor? I'm not totally sure it will work - but the numbers seem to add up. I have some double lip piston seals on the way as well as a 12v 5 port open centre valve to drive it. At 120psi, there should be 920lb of force on a master cylinder which I reckon is about equivalent to 200lb of force on the foot brake (with it's mechanical advantage). That should give about 2000psi in the brake lines which should be enough to stop a wheel! Si

Sadly, it's a total sod of a job! Not difficult, but time consuming. I did mine twice after tearing the seal the first time during reassembly. Trouble is that the oil pump is directly behind it and the oil is at fairly high pressure so it will do all it can to leak. Si

Never occurred to me to look at what it said on the glass at the front! They are Wipac Quadoptic and have "Series 397" at the bottom. The new 'genuine' rubbish ones have "Series 1??" (There is a chip where the ? is) I wonder if the ones supplied to LR are slightly different to the ones supplied to after-market dealers as 'genuine'? The rubbish ones were ordered using the LR Part number. Maybe it's time to buy some from a main dealer & hang the overdraft! Si

I have original quartz ones on my SV90 - and they are brilliant (literally). So far I have bought two sets which were supposed to be the same (one from LR and the other, Wipac from Dunsfold) for the other 90 and both were dissapointing by comparison (I probably still have both sets kicking around somewhere). 90 still has lame sealed beams - but it's a V8 so the waterproofing is accademic. The front glass on the ones on the SV is very flat, whereas both the replacements were more rounded. Anyone know what the part number of the flat ones is? My local dealer thought the ones they ordered were the ones - but they turned out to be rounded. Any ideas much appreciated - they walk all over anything else I've seen on a defender to the extent that the 1/2 power 'side light' is as usable on the road as dip on the other 90. If someone can accuratly determine the part number - this would be my absolute top tip for headlights! Si

That would be good - Cheers James! Si

A better option (which requires a little more plumbing) would be to add part ANR1415 which is a front to rear balancing valve. When you brake hard, it sticks more pressure in to the front than the back, helping to stop the back skidding. It was fitted to CSW vehicles - and makes one hell of a difference! The shuttle valve comes in two flavours : NRC7871 - PDWA Pressure differential warning actuator NRC6515 - PDWA/PCR Pressure Conscious Reduction. It is usually the latter which sticks giving uneven front to rear braking. If you fit the former in it's place, all it does is illuminate the brake warning light if there is a problem. If it sticks, the light stays on (usually the switch packs up before it sticks so the light doesn't come on at all!). This would be preferable to connecting them together with a tee-piece. Si

Thanks both of you. Si

Thanks Steve, Any guess what the pitch is? The core diameter looks most like 1" UNF or UNC Thread Dia/ Dia/ Pitch/ Pitch/ Core Core Depth/ Depth/ Name Inch mm TPI mm Dia/" Dia/mm Inch mm 1 ADM 1.0000 25.400 12.0 2.117 0.8933 22.689 0.0534 1.355 1 BRASS 1.0000 25.400 26.0 0.977 0.9508 24.150 0.0246 0.625 1 BSF 1.0000 25.400 10.0 2.540 0.8720 22.149 0.0640 1.626 1 UNC 1.0000 25.400 8.0 3.175 0.8466 21.504 0.0767 1.948 1 UNF 1.0000 25.400 12.0 2.117 0.8978 22.804 0.0511 1.298 1 WHIT 1.0000 25.400 8.0 3.175 0.8399 21.333 0.0800 2.032 And what is the diameter of the hole in the middle of the 300 tdi fan? Cheers, Si

After a few hours slaving over a hot computer: Key: Gold = Engine mounting boss Green = Coil former Red = Bearing Grey = Magnetic Ballast / Core Purple = moving cone-clutch plate Light Grey = 4 x M6 x 20 stainless cap bolts to retain fan Blue = Fan mounting plate (on radiator side of fan) Fan bolts in between Purple & Blue Clutch plate slides on 4 cap bolt heads (only moves 1mm) Assembly held together by M10 x 50 bolt which passes through Grey and into Gold. 7mm of the big nut which holds the thing on to the engine protrudes - probably enough to get a spanner on it. The distance between the left hand end of the gold bit and the engine side of the fan centre is 30mm Max outside diameter 120mm A bit of meccano will need to be attached between engine block and the green coil former to stop it rotating and to carry the wires (from the coil). Assuming my calculations are correct (and there are a lot of assumptions) it should be capable of transferring about 5hp with a current draw of 4A to the coil. Si

Mike, Nigel & Steve, Thanks for the help. That catalogue looks good - easier to navigate than a shelf full of parts catalogues anyway. I share Steve's opinion that first off, go for 200, 300 & V8 although there are a lot of V8 variants out there, so I guess go for 3.5 & 3.9 V belt types. Sadly, I'll not be at Donnington - even though I had an invite to go & do show & tell with TBR UK. Sarah has other plans for me that weekend! If one of you happens to have either a micrometer or a thread gauge to hand, I'd like to know the pitch and either outside diameter of the stud on the engine or inside diameter of the female thread on the viscose unit. To measure the pitch, measure the distance between the tops of the peaks of the thread. Measure distance between say 5 peaks & divide by 5 to give good accuracy. I have a very handy thread lookup table of the measurements of every size of thread - which makes it easy to identify by measuremet. Si

Cheers Steve, I have a new design which is much smaller and overlaps the bit that screws on to the engine (the thread is inside the coil & clutch). It's hard to fit everything in place when the distance between the engine and fan is so small - I reckon no more than 40mm to play with - but I have a plan - which looks good on paper. I've done a quick calculation of how much force the mag clutch on an AC pump applies to squash the two plates together and it's almost a ton. This may prove to be over the top - but I'm going to start with that. The bit which screws on to the engine is a fairly small part of the assembly and should be easy to make more than one version. Likewise with the plate to which the fan bolts - and that could have several sets of holes for different fans. I'm starting to realise why nobody has done this before (as far as I know) - it's quite a difficult and technical problem! I'll do some hunting at sodbury for different fans and viscose units - they are too expensive to buy all the combinations new. I would have imagined all the fans would have a left hand thread to stop them unwinding while the fan is running - but the laws of physics are different for Land Rovers I believe! Si

Nicely done Les. The bits of my exhaust I fabricated, I made from 1/8" wall 2" OD tube - which should last a fair while even if it's heavy. It was such a sod that I only wanted to do it once! Si

Thanks Tony (and Steve). Didn't realise the fan mounted on the back of the viscose unit. That makes it a little more tricky - but only in terms of running the wire for the electromagnet out. Not impossible though! Just had an interesting idea! If the electromagnet were allowed to rotate with the fan, I could use a bearing as a rotating contact to apply power to the coil. That would simplify the design no end. Si

Do any of you happen to know the thread size used to screw the viscose unit on to the front of the engine? Also, what is the distance between the end of the threaded portion of the unit which attaches to the engine and the mounting face of the fan itself? Lastly, do all the fans for different vehicles with viscose fans have the same mounting holes / style? If you happen to have a fan, could you measure the diameter of the hole in the middle and the distance between the centres of each of the four mounting holes? Why you ask? Well, I have an electromagnetic fan clutch design on my cad at the moment. It would be ideal if it could be made to fit all vehicles - or as many as possible. This has to be the ultimate answer to the electric or mechanical fan question as it gives you the best of all worlds. You can switch it off in water or on the motorway for a few extra BHP and switch it on continuously off road or towing for a bit of extra cooling. the rest of the time leave it controlled by a thermostat. I believe that the fan can sink up to about 7kw of energy from the engine rotating it. It seems to me that it will be hard for any electric option to compete in terms of raw cooling. Just for a taster: Red = Bearings Green = Electromagnet Grey = Clutch Plate and magnetic ballast Brown = Electromagnet Mounting Blue = Fan mounting boss Gold = Engine mounting boss I'm going to start making it tomorrow! Si

Place a table behind your front door. Then you won't have to bend down to pick up your mail! I have two starter motors. One on the vehicle and the other normally lives in a bucket full of oil. When one dies - simply swap them over. You can keep swapping them over like this for quite a long time before both are knackered. A year or so in oil seems to do wonders for bunged up solenoids. Si

Cheers Tony, That would be fab! Si

Could Be! It struck me as the best of both worlds too! It was drawn in the pub about the size oof a postage stamp on the back of a beer mat! Doesn't look so good blown up. I'll see if I can find some fans and knackered viscose units for the thread sizes and hole centres - and build a prototype using the coil from an air-con pump. Si

Can yer tell what it is yet??? Apart from a rather wonky fag-packet drawing. 1st itteration of the design, but I'm working on it! Si

Push should be able to shift more air than pull. Pulling, you can generate a max pressure differential between the front & back of the rad of 1 atmosphere (14psi or so). Pushing there is no limit. In practice, it may not be that simple though - and I doubt any fan is going to generate anything near 14psi (a 12" fan at 14 psi would give 1500lb of thrust - so we are in to jet engine terratory) Si

Did you find someone in the UK to buy them from? I've been trying to contact Flexalite about something else - and they have proved elusive! Si

What are these 'Flexi Fans' of which you speak? Si

APC sound good - 3m max length! They are going to ring back with costings - so it might be frightening! This is a problem I've had with a number of product ideas - like roof-bars. Cheers for the tip! Si