mat_the_cat

Minor update - went to meet Mrs_the_cat for a meal on her way back from work, and as it was a clear sky the temperature dropped quite quickly. Such a difference in performance! So I do need to look into cold air ducting.
 
Had a nice meal in Betws y Coed, and then I followed her home...kept up with her MINI Cooper well, although she definitely had the edge on cornering It was a great drive though - you know how it is when all the corners just seem to flow together perfectly? Very happy with it all, and still got 24 mpg when I filled up

I confess that I cheated with the controls, and found a ready-made lead:
http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/141021626502
 
Arrived today, and with the aid of the Smart Key app I can customise the button presses to suit my requirements. Plus I can take the lead and use it in the van too, as although the head unit in that has a USB connection, folder navigation is a pain so easier to use the phone's music player.
 
I went along to the XM/AS meet at Cosford at the weekend, and all went well. The plugs seemed a bit on the white side when I had a look at them prior to the run, so I'm wondering if it's running slightly weak. Although, on the way back it was noticeably more powerful as the temperature dropped, which would suggest the less dense hot air coming from the exhaust manifolds is an issue. To be resolved... But I really do feel like I'm living the (admittedly fairly modest) dream
 
And in other news I have my 5 minutes of fame!
 

 
I'd emailed Practical Performance Car with the idea that they might put a paragraph and photo in Reader's Cars. But they liked the story enough to run a full feature!

I'm not the only one who thinks they look better more or less standard then! The trouble with most off-road modifications is that they make it (even?) worse to drive on the road, which is where you spend most time. Still, you should get a good few quid back from selling the 'extras'.

I'm not the only one who thinks they look better more or less standard then! The trouble with most off-road modifications is that they make it (even?) worse to drive on the road, which is where you spend most time. Still, you should get a good few quid back from selling the 'extras'.

I'm not sure on the regs, but you state 18 inches is OK yet you have a distance of 25 cm. Mixed units? I've done all mine in copper to a fixed tank so no help, but wouldn't personally worry about a little extra length, especially if just a temporary solution.

I find prepeation is the key to making long lasting repairs. I always clean any corrosion off with discs, wire wheels etc then thouroughly clean and degrease the whole area. Dry it off then apply etch primer to bare metal then at least another coat of primer then either paint or stonechip (then paint on top) depending where it is. I have done this on both my old fords and both have lasted years (over 10 now on the capri!) with no signs of failure.
I also always give the same attention to the insides of panels, usually finished off with several good coats of stonechip then either wax or underseal. All box sections, cavitys, sills, inside doors, wings/arches etc get a thourough coating with wax (dynax s50 for me!) I top this up every year or two. This bit is best done on a nice hot day so the wax is as thin as possible and then applied so it can flow into all panel seams and gaps. I do mine after the car has been sat in the sun for a few hours first, and even sometimes heat up the wax cans in a bucket of warm water first!!
 
I have always done any corrosion repairs where, corrosion should preferably be cut out and replaced, this is the best way to get rid of it but not always easy or possible. If that cant be done then grind/sand away as much as possible then use rust converters followed by good, well prepped paints/wax etc on top. The best cure for rust is always to cut it out completely if you can.
Its not always possible though without destroying sound areas trying to get access to the rusty bits. I had bits like this on my granada inside the A post and bulkhead, it was still solid but had surface rust on it that I couldnt get to, so I made good as best as possible and covered the whole area in several coats of cavity wax with an injection lance to stop it getting any worse. Sometimes this is all you can do without totally stripping and rebuilding the whole car.
 
Also always spend time prepping and painting the insides of all panels, it seems like a waste for something you wont see afterwards but it is well worth the effort for long lasting repairs. When I replaced the front wing on my granada, I bare metalled the new one, etch primed it, seam sealed all joints etc, then spent nearly two days painting on several layers of stonechip followed by underseal/wax - this was just on the inside/underneath of the panel!! After that had dried I did the outer paint finish. The wing weighed a ton afterwards but it wont rust again in a hurry!!
Its also worth stripping off that black/brown paint that new panels are sold covered in. Its usually crap paint just for protecting the metal while in transport and storage. It also often has surface rust already starting underneath it! If you leave this behind then paint over the top it will eventually come through again and rot the new panel aswell. I always strip it all back to bare metal and paint/prime it myself, the finish is much better this way and you also know it was dry,clean and rust free to begin with.
Try to do bare metal and paint work in a dry environment to avoid moisture in the air starting to rust the new/bare areas and if you have to leave it overnight or for another day always give the bare metal a light dusting in primer, just to stop any rust starting until you can finish the job proberly.
Primer is also porus so dont leave a primered panel out in the rain as the water eventually soakes through the primer and rusts the metal underneath.
 
Sorry for the long boring reply but it is well worth doing this if you want a good long lasting job done. Its not fun at all having to re-do your own work (or someone elses) a year later because it wasnt right the first time. I know cos ive done it myself and learnt the hard and expensive way!

Final tweaks made, pictures taken and V5 in the post.
 
Total Bill including van was £852.32 (so £350ish). It is usable for weekends but will need insulating, more cupboards, windows tinting, cushions 7& covers, curtains, fridge, leisure battery and electrics for more. Oh and a 5 speed box
 
Apologies for the shit pics but camera didnt like the sun.
 

Went into what's now my local branch of CeX in Wolves.
London Racer for 30p - time for some nostalgia/shite racing!
 

 
 
 
The traffic cars are B2 Passat estates, Mk3 Golfs, early Accord Aerodecks, Alfa 33s, Routemasters, Scania 113s and Merc T1/601s...
 
Can't wait to unlock the DeLorean and Rolls Silver Spirit...

My view would be if the standard coil is capable of igniting the mixture at high loads and rpm, there's no benefit to a performance coil. If you're increasing the rev limit then you'd need a coil with a faster cycle time, otherwise it'll fire before peak voltage and may not ignite the mixture. Similarly, if you're increasing the compression ratio, you need a higher voltage to jump the same spark gap. But for a standard engine, I wouldn't worry although moving it to a cooler location can't hurt!

I'd have thought ignition problems would show up more under load, so my money would be elsewhere - either a setting up issue or the quality of the carb if these are known to give trouble. I have a spare pair of Zenith Strombergs if you like?

I think it's called mullered connector block.

I never felt the need to modify my Disco with anything except (road-biased) AT tyres, and I've done plenty of green laning in it. We do tend to have CB radios to pass on gate-shutting info to the last vehicle in the group though..
 
That being said, I'm not going to get involved in any witch-hunt against other motorists & their preferences. Unless their preference involves a fucking Citroen fucking Picasso, that is.

Yep. People who need ultra-knobbly tyres and massive lift kits and the like for green lanes are either not driving it properly or the lanes are in too poor a condition to be driven....in which case ploughing it up even more with your mud tyres helps nobody and gives non 4x4 enthusiasts more ammunition to get vehicles banned from green lanes. 
A standard Land Rover on good mixed terrain tyres at the correct pressure for the situation will go anywhere a reasonable person will need or want it to.

Wheelz are the same, just make sure you get welded rims and not riveted Series jobs if you are going tubeless, but as above most 90s (orig spec ones on steels anyway) run diddy 205R16s. You want (taller) 750R16s as a minimum. Ebay usually has lots of skinny tyres/steel rims due to OLLI types "upgrading" or bling merchants going for alloys.
 
 
 
Each to their own but the whole accessory market and the mods the mags tell you are a "Must" for venturing anywhere off road is complete bullshit. All you need is decent tyres and even then you don't need something designed for the Amazon rainforest. OK, if you want to spend your weekends and play-and-break sites or do competition you might want locking diffs and all that jizz but how many farmers do you see going round with lift kits, snorkels, diff guards, fucking tree wires and NangChungCok winches with nylon ropes? Trust me, the average farm 90 will do more bum clenching offroading in a week than a road warrior lifted, OMG extreme modded winch weapon with SuperCentipedeSquasher tyres will do in a year.
 
I always think a good role model (lol) for Defender mods are the electric board motors, they have wide mud tyres cos of where they have to go, and that's it! The big FO winches are for work (they do look cool though). 

Nope, that and extreme cold starts, or engines which haven't run for years. I'm not sure whether SWMBO would prefer I was looking at 'real' porn though!

I'm not the only one who thinks they look better more or less standard then! The trouble with most off-road modifications is that they make it (even?) worse to drive on the road, which is where you spend most time. Still, you should get a good few quid back from selling the 'extras'.

I'm not the only one who thinks they look better more or less standard then! The trouble with most off-road modifications is that they make it (even?) worse to drive on the road, which is where you spend most time. Still, you should get a good few quid back from selling the 'extras'.

It's your lots fault .
I'm I'm trouble for being late to bed last night .
Listening to commer ts3 and Detroit diesels on YouTube .

I gatecrashed a Scania truck show on Sunday called the gathering of the Griffin at the local truck stop, I took a few photos, Don't ask me any questions about them though as i haven't a clue.
 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

All those lift kits, big wheels, roofrack, stickers and other shit just shout 'HEY EVERYONE!!! I AM A GRADE A BELL END' when you see them on a Landy being driven on the road. When you see a standardish one in the town centre traffic though they look cool as fuck I think.

I'm not the only one who thinks they look better more or less standard then! The trouble with most off-road modifications is that they make it (even?) worse to drive on the road, which is where you spend most time. Still, you should get a good few quid back from selling the 'extras'.

I've been hankering for a Defender 110 for ages, probably since I sold my 109 V8 a few years ago.  The old one was good fun to drive but with no power steering and leaf spring suspension it wasn't a restful drive by any stretch.  I've had more relaxing drives pushing a car with a seized brake drum, under a constant stream of gunfire.  The luxury of coil springs and power steering was alluring, and 30mpg from a Tdi instead of 10mpg from the V8 seemed handy too.
 
So after lots of saving up, I thought I had enough for a 110.  Prices seem almost reasonable at this time of year; we haven't had OMG SNOW CHAOS yet.  But finding a Tdi (not the earlier turbo diesel) was still difficult and finding one which doesn't have a 4 inch lift and metal roofrack cuts down the choice a lot.
 
I took a flyer one evening and did a search on every category and found this one listed under spares, any car.  No bids.  I held my nerve until the last minute on Sunday evening and threw a bid on for the opening price of £2000.  Nobody else bid so I got it.

 
I'm not shy about my dislike for adding junk onto Land Rovers, and this one will need extensive de-twatting.  The roofrack will go, as will the bull bar and all the spot lights.  The stickers obviously have to go, and the big wheels too.  I think it's even got a lift kit, so I'll try and find some standard size springs.

 
A message to the seller about collecting it and we arranged for last night.  First part of the journey was walking past the Skoda, I spared no expense and caught the train!  Which was late.

 
Into Bedford station, change for Kettering.  I remembered the train commuter rule; you have to be pressing the button to open the doors at least 10 seconds before the train stops.  If you aren't holding the button down by the time the train's beeper goes you almost get blown over from all the tutting behind you.

 
The owner picked me up from the station and we drove back to his place.  The ONE LIFE, LIVE IT-mobile started up and sounded smooth, we exchanged cash for a V5 and I set off.  It was parked with the rear tight up against his house, and it turns out that reverse gear is very close to first gear.  It's quite easy to select reverse by accident and reduce the gap to his house from 3 inches to 0.0003 inches.
 
Into first, gently feel it want to go forwards, off with the handbrake and we're chugging away up the road.  Clutch down, into second and crunch, don't rush the gearchange.  A brief detour around the housing estate as my phone's satnav thinks I'm still at home.  I used my zen navigation skills to get onto the main road and found a petrol station.  I don't forget you boys, so took a photo.  And filled up, with £101 worth of diesel!

 
Onto the A6 and it seems to run quite well.  Nobody would say it's sprightly but it's quick enough for most traffic and when I got to some dual carriageway I put my foot down until we got 75 on the speedo with more to come.  Not bad.
 
It was about 35 miles home and there were a few issues.  The brake pedal seems to go a long way down and the battery overcharges for a couple of minutes every so often.  The voltmeter reads all the way to the right and the headlights get really bright.  Then it settles down again for 10 minutes.  Regulator I think, or possibly alternator?
 
I arrive home at about 9pm when it was very dark, but I got a photo this morning before driving it to work.

 
The colour is a really nice dark green, the doors are second hand off another car so while they're not too rusty they do need a lick of paint.  Once the de-twatting is done, I think it will be good.
 
Anyone want a Skoda Octavia Tdi with recent cambelt and water pump?

Got some options for the alarm problem that I shall try another day.  For now, here's an update on the old bus.
 
Did a bit more work on that rear wing.  It's still not right, I need to ideally flat the entire wing back and repaint it but I seriously CBA with that.  Also did a bit more filling on the arch this side to eliminate the last of the old scrape damage.  Again, it needs a bit more work to make perfect but it looks about a gajillion times better than it did.

 
Other side had a bit more filling work today, again still not perfect but better than it was.  I almost had enough paint to finish things off... almost.

 

 
Made a template for the new rear oversized number plate I'm going to order if I can find someone to make it for me.  The existing plate might get highlighted as an issue at MoT in November so I want to deal with this before then.

 
But the best bit was getting the newly repainted grille on.  Turned out to be a fairly simple job to fit in the end and looks superb, I'm really happy with this.

 

 
Once it turns midnight I can get tax on and then drive the Xantia home so I can unload washing machine #4 (an Indesit Moon, modern washer shite that) and all the Princess spares currently living in the back.

I did it with an impact gun, and had no luck.
 
Take the starter motor off, and jam a pair of pliers between the gearbox housing and the flywheel, this has worked for me several times in the past.
Tie a piece of string on the end of the pliers so they don't fall into the gearbox, this has happened to me several times in the past. :'(

Text him back in 12 months time and ask him how much he wants. When he says whatever the amount is, just say 'oh you should have asked me a year ago.'