Blake's Den

Yesterday I picked up this retro Lumen Tune Up analyser for the princely sum of £5. It looks like it has never been used. It is essentially an old school multimeter but includes and inductive pick up lead for measuring RPM based upon the current in the HT leads. I like the way that it works for 4, 6 or 8 cylinder engines and 2, 3 or 4 rotor engines! I haven't tested it yet but I will do a video of it.

One of the first jobs that I wanted to do was to intsall a CTEK battery charger. I've had one on my Mini Cooper MPI for over 10 years at it has been faultless. Sure the CTEK chargers are not cheap but in my opinion they are well worth the money. I seem to be attracted to cars with batteries in unusual places. In the Mini it is in the boot, in the Defender it is under the passenger seat. This makes it difficult to run the charging lead to the outside. However Land Rover has saved the day by installing terrible weather seals around the doors. This makes the Defender draughty but it does allow the cable to pass without snagging. I've ordered a service kit so hopefully I'll get the oil and filters changed before it gets too cold / wet / dark.

Thanks. Yes, I've known James for years. He is a really popular guy!

Hello all No real progress to report on the Designer unfortunately, I've been distracted by other projects. I need to get my finger out! But I have had fun* playing with my other mini, a 1997 Cooper MPI (multi-point injection for those not in the know). It developed a random starting problem where it would occassionally fail to crank, usually at the most inconvenient time. I did some fault finding on the ECU and immobiliser and then found out that the wire to the starter solenoid had failed. Here is the full fault finding video if anyone is interested:

Those were the days! I remember seeing the crime stoppers video of that. Remember one with a range rover too

I've got a mk1 Santa Fe 2.7 V6 and it is surprisingly good. AWD and a rear LSD. I've got a thread on here about it (somewhere)

Very nice! It looks to be fairly unmolested too, magic wand gear change and original interior. You won't lose any money buying that.

I've been chasing an intermittent starting problem on my Mini MPI. Sure enough, when I turn the key to start it fires up first time 🤦‍♂️. Now I have to remove the dashboard to get to the immobiliser. Normally this isn't and issue but I'm really struggling with back pain and Mini's are not known for being the most comfortable of vehciles to start off with.

Well, the Santa Fe is still running and serving me well. One of the jobs that I had to do before putting it back on the road was to replace the fuel line from the fuel pump. To do this I used some 'petrol resistant' fuel line from a populare internet auction site. Fast forward 18 months to last week when I started to get a strong smell of petrol when the car was running. After reversing back and seeing a fluid patch on the floor I decided that further investigation was necessary. It turns out that the petrol resistant fuel line had rotted out. My guess is that it wasn't ethanol resistant. It has been on E5 since I got it back on the road and its only had half a tank of E10 so I can't blame that! Anyway, I've replaced it with a length of Halfords finest 7mm fuel line (courtesy of my trade card), hopefully this will do the job. No appologies for the click bait video title, I'm trying to jump on the 'E10 is bad' band waggon!

Great news on passing your test 😀. As my dad said to me, now you learn how to drive! The oddest thing that I remember after passing my test was driving the car with nobody else in it. You look over to the passenger side and there is no instructor, it felt so odd at first.

Thanks. Yes, I have considered security. I didn't want to show it on the video for obvious reasons. I've learnt from experience, pretty much any key will unlock the doors! And yes, definitely no chequer plate or 'One life, live it' stickers 😁

Thanks I just about fit. The engineer's at LR clearly had no understanding or ergnomocis when they designed it back in the day.

Is that at one of those pay and play off road places? Was that an ex rescue and recovery vehcile? Just thinking why anyone would buy a new one in bright yellow!

Its time to introduce you to my new project – Land Rover Defender 90 300 TDI in farmer spec. I’ve been working on this off and on (mainly off) for the last 10 months or so. It was bought new in 1996 by my wife’s grand father and it is about as basic as Land Rover’s get. The only option ticked was a step on the drivers side, there is no step on the rear or the passengers side. No radio, no central locking, no airbag, no aircon (or heating at the moment), it is very basic motoring. It’s the 300 TDI engine which I understand are fairly reliable. It needs a good service which is one of the first things on the list to do. It has plenty of oil leaks as standard so they need to be looked at too. My plan is to keep it standard – no big suspension lifts or big tyres. It has been a working vehicle and it is going to stay as a working vehicle. Its going to need a new rear cross member very soon as it is more plate and weld than original. Being a pick up (or truck cab) it should be a fairly easy job to fit one with chassis leg extensions. I’ve got a feeling that this one is going to keep me very busy! I’ve always wanted a Land Rover so this one is defiantly a keeper. I should hopefully be posting some regular video updates on my youtube channel. Oh and thanks to @Minimad5 for the bumper 😀

My mate had a couple of P4's, 80 and 110. Both conpletely rotten! The 80 was bought by a chap who turned it into a wedding car. The 110 was scrapped I think. They are good looking cars though. The header photo in my YouTube page is the 110 during a late night fettling session. https://youtube.com/c/blakesden Good luck with the repairs, you've got a job on there 🙂