jamesm

Me too - some very interesting reading there! (Judging from that report, I'm probably safer in the 110 than in my bed )

I think you're looking for this thread by Turbocharger. The original post was on the other forum (here).

I thought 'trade libel' whilst reading it too - but the risk of it turning into another 'McLibel' saga must be a slight disincentive.

I understood that the Defender (in terms of deaths per 1000 accidents) was supposed to be on a par with the Mercedes S-class, and just about the safest thing on the road. Can't quite see it myself, with the squashy roof - anyone know the source for it? Must say, I was tempted to sign up as a climate change activitist - in fact, I might make some changes later today by going out for a non-essential journey in the RR to look at the snow.

Grrr - JCB power! I got: a GPS reradiating antenna (signal booster that makes an Etrex work even under tree cover) a nice new fleece with no holes, burns or grease stains (yet) a pocket annenometer/altimeter/barometer/thermometer gadget (mainly for kite flying) various books and edible items ...not a bad haul at all!

If you had a really big (scrapiron-stylee) lift, wouldn't your diff need to point a bit skyward to prevent the prop binding? Could be that it's meant to go with one of their extreme setups. (Maybe to prevent the diff nose scraping the road when the springs sag )

Would have been nice to see anybody get out of the MkII Escort that hits a tree about a third of the way into the Rally vid - but I rather suspect they didn't...

Hm - one or two advantages there that hadn't occurred to me before. My tyres rub the inner arches slightly at the back (I should probably do something to the bump stops, but can't be bothered!), and replacing the fuel pipes was a real fiddle on mine. Just out of interest, does the steering need modified with a body lift?

I believe that Mobile Storage Systems do them. At least, they had a 90 with them on beside their stand at Bling when I bought some grilles for the windows either side of the back door. These were much cheaper than Mantec, and the service was 10 times better.

I don't think I'll be buying a Ford F150!

But does a body lift achieve anything particularly useful? Unless it's to create room for some truly immense tyres I can't see much point to them.

I wouldn't bother with too much of a lift for the time being - once you get much over 2" they start to muck up your steering geometry, and unless you're desperate to increase your ramp breakover angle it's not worth the messing about, imho. A lift would also raise your centre of gravity - not such a good idea. I have 235/85 MTs on Disco rims with police spec spings, which are cheap and give about 0.5" lift. The lips of the rear arches just needed trimming a little (and hammered flat) in the area normally covered by the rear doors. The tread occasionally rubs the tops of the rear wheelarches on full articulation, but that's no big deal and I haven't felt the need for anything taller.

Thanks for that - surprising that it makes such a difference, though. Given that the radius of my wheels has increased by 10%, I'd have thought the brakes would be working 10% harder - about the same as carrying a couple of passengers with a fondness for pies ...or have I missed something?

Looks very nice indeed - but I'd be interested to learn whether you notice any difference in the braking performance on-road. My RRC is on 235/85s, and although there doesn't seem to be anything obviously wrong with the brakes they're not quite as sharp as I'd like. I suspect it's the tyre diameter, but before I start swapping out servos and so on...

I reckon the solution is planted, along with the materials. When they broadcast some of the American series a year or so ago the machines were uncannily similar to those on the UK programmes.

swmbo has a '95 Punto TD that has been pretty reliable. Apart from service items (brakes, bulbs, tyres, exhaust, oil & filters etc), in the last 100k miles it has needed a starter motor, one injector pipe and the rear suspension and subframe bushes. Not bad for an oldish supermini, considering that until recently it was doing over 100 miles a day on busy motorways. It also benefits from a galvanised bodyshell B) - but is a horrible thing to work on

Actually, I think you only get soap if you've added a bit too much Lye otherwise it's just glycerine. iirc, the book says that you can chuck the glycerine on the garden - it's fairly harmless stuff. You could probably dispose of any soap down the drain once you'd recovered any surplus methanol from it. This page suggests what to do with the by-products. Unfortunately not . Methanol is apparently quite difficult to get hold of - I believe Chris W tried to find a supplier and didn't have much luck.

The book's called 'From the Fryer to the Fuel Tank', and here it is on Amazon. The recipe is as described on the journeytoforever website (vegetable oil, Lye and Methanol). The book says that veg oil is made of three esters attached to a glycerine molecule (a triglyceride, visualised as an octopus with three legs), and that biodiesel is made using a transesterification reaction. During this reaction, the Lye acts as a catalyst and breaks the triglycerides up. The three esters get attached to the alcohol and turn into alkyl ester molecules (the biodiesel), and the glycerine reacts with the Lye and sinks to the bottom as soap. There! Clear as mud.

I think the clue is in 'Fastway' - but in this instance it was 'Way too...' (btw - if a bus hit my shed, it would be like an instant Sodbury!)

Most impressive - and what big approach and departure angles you have!

A lot of them don't stick to rights of way as it is!

NRC4304 - rear Police spec RHD springs. (Conveniently, the parts book lives within reach of my armchair!)

Depends if your driveway has an engine crane and/or trolley jack(s). Engine out is reckoned to be the easiest way to get at the clutch - I did a gearbox swap last year, and it's not an experience that I'd care to repeat!

I discovered how to do 'J' turns quite unexpectedly whilst reversing along a (narrow) driveway a tad too fast - and only just missed out on an opportunity to learn more about panel beating Reversing at speed is great if you like surprises...

I started a similar thread in 'the old place' and received the same excellent advice - having looked at the job, it's pretty evident that Deano's tip would save loads of time and much dismantling. Luckily I ended up not needing to do the job just yet - the place that does my MOTs know their onions Landy-wise, and the tester decided that body and chassis were not about to part company. Here's the relevant bit of the MOT tester's manual to help you estimate your chances - one of my rear crossmember body mounts was (and is) ropey, but most of the others are OK because I had to get busy with the welder for the previous MOT!