Rcutler wrote:

The problem with drilling it is as we tried with a hole saw. (Good ones I might add) is that the minute it got hot it started to melt and jamming the tool.

Getting hot and nowhere for the swarf to go is always the issue when using holesaws on anything other than sheet metal and similar thin stuff. Unsurprising I suppose as thin is what they are designed for. Which hasn't stopped me sacrificing a few in the interests of "getting 'er done wiv wot I've got" despite inherent unsuitability. Really doesn't help that, most of the time there is no recourse but to run them far too fast. Mr Starrett puts a nice speed chart in the box with his. Sometimes I think I'm the only guy who has actually read one. Reading and following being slightly different matters of course.

Nice thing about Rotabroach type cutters is that they have proper arrangements for swarf extraction. I imagine the usual rules for plastic would apply. Razor sharp, run slow (so it doesn't warm up) and heavy feed for a thick chip mechanically strong enough to spiral out. Maybe done in short bites and lubricate the centre stub or maybe just push on and let the centre burnish smooth. Depends on whether it behaves like nylon or delrin.

Experimentally heating plastics is something I tend to avoid. Frequently you end up with smoky, smelly or a mess. Often all three. Which offends angainst my conceit of knowing what I'm doing.

Clive

Imagine an annular cutter (Rotabroach) is the tool most likely to shift stuck in poly-bushes without excessive verbal encouragement. £60 + a pop in that sort of size tho' and really need a vertical mill to be confident of alignment. Right size pilot rod ought to work but how central the hole will be after many miles is open to question. Still have to cut undersize to be safe but scraping a couple of mm or so of left over polybush tube out isn't the end of the world. 2" twisted wire cup brush would be the tool of choice for that but I've not seen them that small for years, 2 3/4" seems to be the bottom size nowadays.

Clive

Gilbertd wrote:

I thought they only ever fitted SUs but someone may have swapped them for Strombergs which are the only other dashpot style carb I know of.

Just had a shufti at the James Taylor bible on the Rover V8 and was surprised to discover that Strombergs were a much more common fitment than SU from 1973 to 1989. I guess cheap'n nasty copy has its attractions!

Anyway that ambulance is something of an oddball. Quaife diff suggests it should be a Metropolitan Police Rapid Intervention Personnel carrier mini-bus. Apparently Met Police were the lead customer for the V8 version of the Sherpa aka Freight Rover V8. Ambulances were probably most common. A Quaife diff seems overkill there. Especially at Quaife prices!. Engine is basically the ordinary SDI one as used from 1977-1981 and in the TR8 in "Saudi-tune". 8 to1 compression ratio, 132 bp and 186 ft lb of torque, couple more ft lb and 3 bhp less than the Rover installation. OE carbs were Stromberg 175CD-(SET?). I imagine its now wearing SU HIF 44 to Land Rover One Ten and Ninety 1986-90 settings. Whether it also gets 134 bhp and 187 ft lb is anyones guess.

Allegedly these V8 Sherpa things can exceed 90 mph even when fully loaded. Yikes! Seems to be pushing the envelope a bit given the close relationship between Sherpa chassis design and that of the old J series Transit competitor. Short legs and narrower body of the J made a lot of sense for local tradesman guy. But they also somewhat channel the old Austin A30 tendencies to falling over in abject terror when confronted by a corner at anything approaching normal motorised vehicle velocities. Which doesn't seem a good basis for something that quick!

Plenty of varieties of CD carbs made over the years. Mostly licence made versions of the cheapy crappy Zenith Stromberg copy. OK (ish) when new but putting rubber diaphragm flexibility into the carburation characteristics mix is not a good idea when things get old. Especially so with the dashpot-less, air damped Bing version beloved of BMW Motorcyles. Which I shouldn't really grumble about having made a fair bit of beer money over the years from knowing how to set up the orrible things so they stayed set up.

Clive

Standard Rover so SU HIF, probably HIF 6 or HIF 44. Possibly the front drillings are different but the usual gaskets are universal with redundant holes.

Sorry can't be more help but the only SU's I've had serious dealings with over the last 20 odd years are the ones on my rotary engined Norton Commander and they are, ahem, weird.

Clive

+1 on the impact gun for shifting bumper bolts. I expected mine to shear but cheap LiDl special electric impact gun shifted them just like that. Looking at the bolts after removal the actual engaged thread and bolt shank was decently clean and rust free. Thick rust on the bit sticking up past the thread holding it in. Now on the tri-annual pull out and lubricate schedule.

Easiest bumper to remove & refit that I've ever met. Heavy but easy.

Hafta say I've been very impressed with how the various nuts and bolts have stood up to the environment. External corrosion yes. But quite light really given the age of the car. Business part, threads and where the bolts go through things have all come out very clean. With one exception. Those darn radius arm bush bolts. One out, three cut. Un-surprising as the inner sleeve of the bush is alloy, on mine at least. Asking for trouble.

Clive.

Was hoping to make it to lend a hand and generally meet folk but still waiting for FlatDog to deliver the stainless steel exhaust I ordered three weeks ago yesterday. "Yup, we have it in stock and it will be going out on Wednesday, should be with you Thursday.". Flexible friend took the strain. Three hours later phone call "Sorry it will be going out next Wednesday." OK can live with that. Check last Wednesday for an anticipated delivery time. Nope not going till next Wednesday (today). E-Mail this afternoon says it has shipped. We will see.

Meanwhile still running around with tails of wadding hanging out the back boxes. Not the sort of thing you want before embarking on a 250 odd mile round trip. Things probably won't break but...

I shall be well pleased (not) if it turns out to have been drop-shipped.

Clive.

Re the grinding paste on a screwdriver for extra grip. If you've not got grinding paste in the garage, I guess most folks under 45 haven't, there is a made for the job nostrum called ScrewGrab which claims 800% increase in grip. American made and, allegedly, effective. About £7 for a 15 ml squeeze bottle off E-Bay. I bought a bottle, but have yet to try it, despite having a lifetimes supply of grinding paste picked up for next to nowt nearly 50 years ago. Looks to be more convenient to use.

The 1/4 hex diamond coated bits have rather more grip than a plain screwdrivers too. Although folk associate them with woodscrews and house DIY "HoneyDoo" jobs I frequently use them on vehicles.

Also the cheap ratchet lever thingies for 1/4" hex bits can be a lifesaver when something is a bit stubborn. Especially if a screw head is at the wrong angle so you can't go straight in but there is room round the sides. But don't forget to push down on the top knob to keep the bit engaged.

Clive

Did my big radius arm bushes, and the rear rubber lumps, back last summer at around 89,000 miles and 18 years. Objectively a bit early judging by the general condition of the removed bushes but produced a noticeable improvement in all forms of stability including roll. Wasn't bad before but clearly getting older. In my neck of the woods there are some horrible more or less straight longitudinal dips and weaves in the road surface that really bite when it comes to straight line stability, roll steer, bump steer et al. Not purely a Rangie effect. Everything suffers.

Starting to feel things a bit again so Panhard Rod bushes on this summers job list. Which makes pretty much all change for the front end over the last 10,000 or so miles. Mimbling over the steering damper.

Clive

I suspect those 4 big bushes in the front radius arms get involved in the anti roll business. With the axle connecting the radius arms any roll means that one side of the bushes needs to squidge and the other side stretch. Which doesn't really happen with solid rubber so the whole thing has to distort and shift too. Between the 4 bushes there is a lot of solid rubber involved.

Probably more of a speed related effect anyway. Sharp inputs at high speed being more likely to invoke things that more normal driving. Big squidgy tyres probably cushion any steering / handling effects too. For my money its more about controlling the body movement than steering / handling although with the steering box on the car and drag link connection there is some (theoretical) potential for roll steer.

Scary thing on a P38 is how little there is actually connecting the body to the axles with any degree of rigidity. Just a panhard rod and rubber bits at the ends of the radius arms.

Clive.

Slump moulding from a thermoforming plastic sheet such as ABS may well be the absolute easiest reasonably clean method. Basically you heat the plastic to its thermoforming temperature and let it drape over or into the mould under its own weight. I've done bends in perspex that way and folk on the internet suggest that not too complex components can be reproduced in ABS but I've not a clue as to whether its capable of getting close enough to make a functional brake shield profile. Obviously the size will be a touch different but I hardly think the extra in draping over the outside of an original shield will be important. Unless the old one is super tatty it can probably be patched up enough to give a functional mould.

I've had ABS vacuum formed commercially over simple wooden moulds I made myself with good results for £ very reasonable in the (fairly distant) past. Possibly worth an investigate.

If you need a set of new ones as masters for the fibre glass route then it needs to be a group buy kind of thing. Finger in the wind suggests that 10 sets is about where it starts making financial sense. If you have to buy a set to make a mould from might just as well put them on and be done with it!

I always felt small glass fibre work was much harder than bigger jobs. Big bits stay put much better and you can roll the fibres down well for a good finish. Small jobs tend to jump around the bench and I never really got the knack of stippling the layers down without dragging pointy bits up on the return. Little narrow rollers were a pain too. But hating the stuff and job wasn't exactly motivation to learn properly. Always method of last resort. Actually method of no resort for forty odd years. Which worries me not at all.

Clive

Not sure about metal spinning. Bit of an art form and, so far as I can see no good DIY / Teach Yourself texts. Its on the bucket list of things to try to do properly before I die. I have spun a simple rim over OK (ish) but in all honesty the difference between OK (ish) and Gawd thats Really Ruff was more luck than judgement.

Basic shape can be spun easily enough but the U shape cut out has a rim that won't come out of a circle so that bit will have to be pressed. Of course if the basic dish is spun pressing the details becomes much easier. For spinning best to keep it thinner and do a return edge rather than try to make it thick enough to be stiff enough. Considerable forces involved when pulling into corners. 2 mm alloy will most likely be severely marked.

I wonder if metal loaded filler would be strong enough make press tooling good enough for pressing out a few sets in alloy. Carefully work a couple of layers of plastic sheet over each side of the master to bulk up the inner and outer tool spacing as alloy needs to be thicker than the original steel and act as a release agent. Fill as appropriate with a backing plate so the press tool is properly supported. Line up carefully with the alloy between and squeeze with a press. Sounds as if it ought to work. Still best to spin the rim.

Clive

Gilbertd wrote:

If someone was to buy a pair of new ones it would be dead easy to take a mould off them and knock them up in fibreglass. They don't need to be steel after all, they only keep the crap off the inside of the discs.

Yeess. But total Yuck job. Especially if you aren't geared up to handle the horrible stuff. Bought into that idea to copy an unobtanium sheet metal Velocette dynamo drive belt cover when I was about 20. Got it done, eventually but absolutely never again. Young, stupid and bloody minded isn't a good combination! Mould is still kicking around somewhere.

Frankly pressing from aluminium with basic dies in two or three stages looks a better bet if functional rather than exact will do. 16 gauge / 1.5 mm should press to shape OK with a workshop level press. Do centre first, then main back and edge. Spin the rim and trim round I think rather than final stage press'n shear. Dimple for strengthener and bond the extra piece in. Probably a week or so of (very) part-time work to draw and make adequate dies at my "Grumpy old man doesn't hurry for anyone!" speed using the Bridgeport and 1024. But is there enough market for them. Need to flog off 50 + sets at £50 (ish) a pair if its to be worth the effort.

The more I see of this sort of thing the more I wonder if its worth outing the Bridgeport and putting a proper VMC in as the entry costs have dropped like a stone over the last decade. Like serviceable Haas for £10,000 - £15,000, Fusion 360 for the CAD and G-Code is free. When it comes to home shop guy with a life, standing at the machine for a couple of days or so is the killer when it comes to long "for other people" jobs.

That £100 (ish) a pop price is well judged. Not so much to turn "Sheesh, thats expensive." into "Absolutely no poxy way.". The alternatives are either life is too short type things or do proper weld up, blast and repaint job which not only takes lots of time and effort but isn't that much cheaper when all is said and done unless you have all the gear and skills to hand.

Clive

James Taylors' book on the Rover V8 has a 3 page last chapter entitled Afterlife which covers the MCT built engines and engine numbers. Apparently Mitchell Cotts began in the 1960's as a Birmingham based company making fans under the Alldays Peacock brand name. They grew and moved to Weston-super-Mere in the late 1960's taking in work from the Ministry of Defence and gradually diversified into re-manufacture of engines and power train components. Name changed to MCT late in the 1970's as a wider customer base was attracted. By the start of the 21 st century they were already working with several manufacturers, including Land Rover, on remanufacturing programmes to keep older powertrain components available. Pretty much all new tooling and methods because Rover buit around 1,200 motors a week whilst MCT were expecting to build 2,000 to 3,000 a year. Coscast blocks were developed for MCT and their production methods. Direct quote from Taylors book "At the time of writing in 2016 small quantities of unused Coscast blocks were still in stock at specialists waiting to be built up to meet customer orders."

"Apart from very clean looking castings the MCT remanufactured V8 engines could be distinguished from Rover built ones by having an additional XM in front of the engine number prefix."

Book doesn't actually say but as written it implies that the XM is followed by Rover style identifier (number)D as given below. In which case XM56M95B31 makes no sense although 56 implies Discovery 2 high compression 4.0 litre.

The book has an appendix (apparently) giving chapter and verse on engine number format for different applications. There are 4 varieties of complete factory P38 engines listed covering 1998 to 2002. 57D and 58D are 4.0 litre engines in low and high compression versions respectively to whilst 59D and 60D similarly identify 4.6 litre versions. There are 21 varieties of short and stripped engines identified by prefixes 61D to 68D and 73D to 84D. Prefixes 69D to 72D are Discovery 4.0 service and stripped engines. Not quite so clear for 1994 to 1998. Says 42D is probably high compression 4.0 litre and 44D the low compression version with 46D and 48D being the 4.6 versions. 43D and 47D apparently weren't used.

I could scan this to PDF if anyone is interested.

Clive

I think Mitchell Cotts morphed into MCT ReMan who seem to be pushing the transmission side of the business more these days https://www.mctreman.com.

Allegedly they took on the Rover factory tooling with a contract to supply new engines for several, initially 5, years from 2006 https://www.thewestonmercury.co.uk/news/company-lands-25m-contract-for-rover-1-306290 . Have some doubts as to the accuracy of that story as the Rover factory tooling would have been full blown, fairly old style, transfer line geared to supplying production line quantities. Such things are huge, need significant skilled staff to tend them and chuck completely machined blocks off at a silly rate of knots. With a fair quantity of scrap initially whilst things are dialed in. Given Brit Leyland inssues with investment said set up was probably completely worn out as well as obsolete anyway.

Given that the Rover is absurdly simple by current standards hafta wonder what you'd need to do blocks the modern way with up to date kit from the likes of Gehring who set out their stall on modular systems, as mentioned in the first few paragraphs of this link https://www.igus.co.uk/info/energy-chains-gantry-loader?WT.mc_id=NLGB-0219N&utm_source=newsletter&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=newsletter_02/2019&utm_content=newsletter_02/2019&C=GB&L=en

Clive

At least they look to be proper second cut taps and will start cutting immediately. Trick is to keep it dead straight and push firmly down as you turn to keep it cutting.

As you have about 10 mm to go into there is a bit of room to play with if you have problems starting. If you have an 11 mm drill using that for the first couple or 3 mm or so before doing the rest of the hole 10 mm will make it much easier to get it started nicely.

Reviews suggest its reasonable set so can't really grumble for the money. Heck I'm used to paying more than that for just one tap!

Clive

Um. What species of tap have you got? Ordinary hand taps i.e. taper, second, bottoming can be a right pain to start in soft "casting muck" alloy. Especially a fairly course thread like your M12 x 1.75.

It's very easy not to get a clean start with the taper tap and end up reaming out the hole rather than cutting the thread.

Especially if you've not done it before and have no feel for just how much the tap should pull in for each turn. Like so much of this sort of thing once you have done half a dozen or so you wonder what the problems were. But first time out. On your own. Un-mentored (and a bit P'd off with the whole palaver) is whole different ball game.

Can you find something to practice on first?

Ordinary high street / industrial estate hardware store, motor factor, not too expensive off E-Bay et al supplied taps frequently aren't totally wonderful either. Will get the job done once you have your eye in but .... Serial form taps, where the first (and second if there are three) are smaller diameter(s) are a lot easier for folk in your position but the price is hardly one off job friendly.

If I had a set of M10 or M12 serials about the place I'd drop them in an envelope with the right size drill and post tomorrow but unfortunately I don't.

To be honest the best fix would be to put a Wurth TimeSert thread repair bush in but the kit is seriously not cheap. That way you get a steel thread expanded into the alloy which will neither strip nor pull out. Been doing a few a year for the last 30 odd years and I've yet to have one come back broken however gorilla-oid the customer.

Once you have got your thread in lock the puller bolt or stud down into the boss with a nut and washer done up decently tight before you try to pull the boss off. Makes things a lot stronger. With a simple stud screwed into a thread only the first three or so turns do any work so its all fairly weak. Adding the nut brings more threads into play and seriously stiffens things up.

Best of luck and hope it goes well for you.

Clive

OK I was being a bit sarkie with the £5,000 - £7,000 comment.

But only a bit. P38 on springs has all the hallmarks of folk who don't really know what they are doing having worked on it. So high probability of many bodges, sort-of and very short term fixes hiding inside. Abandoning ship for a relatively simple and not stupidly expensive repair suggests last straw that broke the camels back scenario. Excellent marketing wheeze too. The "Oh I can fix that easily." brigade probably won't look as closely as they should for other issues. Something I have previous form for.

We know that the secret of happy P38 ownership is to fix things once, fix things properly. Can sometimes be a pain when was going well but broke happens with proper servicing and all factory OEM equipment. But fixing short cuts, bodges and bodged bodges installed by higgorant cheapskates is a whole n'other thing. Getting into thousand piece jigsaw, no box, in a bag of 1,200 bits so probably all there territory. Could be basically OK. Could also be a two year game of problem of the week. If faced with something like that starting from scratch and going right through is the wisest course. But then you need to do the miles to justify the spend.

Looking at the money mine is absorbing as it comes up to the 100,000 mile and 20 th birthday marks there is no way this low mileage old fart can possibly justify the cost objectively. But it will be 100,000 more miles ready and no way could I get anything else as good for the money without serious risk of mega bills.

Similar sort of mis-judged purchase is why I've had a V8 Bristol sat outside under a tent for best part of a quarter of a century waiting for funds and time to line up well enough to finish sorting the bodges. A V8 Bristol being basically the worlds most expensive kit car has rather less clever stuff to go wrong than a P38 but its still an object lesson I shan't be repeating.

Of course that P38 could be fundamentally fine with just the obvious issues to deal with. Only the buyer will know.

Clive

Assuming the mileage isn't starship throw £5,000 - £7 ,000 (higher end if you want lpg) at it and you will have a decent motor for the next 100,000 or so miles. At least it hasn't got a sunroof!

Clive

LED type replacement bulb would probably work well. Higher output at lower power. LED pseudo colour temperature is higher than incandescent QI bulb colour temperature too so the light looks whiter and therefore effectively brighter. No cut-off and beam shaping issues to worry about either.

Clive

I got the Wolf version of those Machine Mart ones dave likes https://www.ukhs.tv/Wolf-6-Ton-Axle-Stand primarily because of the safety pin which ensures that it stays put. Looks like no stock of the Wolf ones in the UK at the moment so issue is academic right now.

Jury is out on the shape and depth of the fork on top. My Wolf ones are shallower on top and, possibly, a little wider than the Machine Mart ones but I was able to get rubber caps from SGS giving better grip to offset the shallower recess.

Bought the Northern Tools version of the 2 ton long reach jack https://www.machinemart.co.uk/p/clarke-ctj2gls-2-tonne-long-reach-trolley-jack/ many years ago after getting fed up putting planks under my smallest size Weber to lift the Lancia HPE I had then. I'm well pleased with the performance. Big, heavy, noisy as heck to pull around but safe and solid. Release knob can be frustrating tho'. Grip for oily hands is poor and the UJ at the pivot end needs the handle at least half way down before it will turn. Not a great issue as you need to lift the car to drop the axle stands but the handle can catch you a right wallop across the shins if you temporarily forget its down and sticking well out when running round to shift the axle stand on t'other side of the car. Garage language practice time!

I don't trust the little short high lift trolley jacks as the lift arm gets too close to vertical for my tastes so the mechanical advantage of the smaller stay that keeps the lift cup more or less level becomes small. Years ago the job got ahead of my brain when using my small Weber as a secondary lift under the Bristol axle at full extension. The stay couldn't take the strain letting the cup slip spitting the jack out. Damn lucky not to do some seriously expensive damage to both car and me. Bristol chassis stops just in front of the rear axle so only alloy body to take the strain! Fortunately just bruised pride and a, probably overdue, reminder that "usually being careful" isn't good enough.

This sort of thing https://www.sgs-engineering.com/tj25-4x4-trolley-jack?gclid=EAIaIQobChMIgbGBjJqd4AIVFyjTCh0_7Q-mEAQYAiABEgJn2fD_BwE with the extension dooby perched on top should come with a pre-printed suicide note! The leverage of car weight on the sticky up thing should the jack slip back a little so the car weight is forward of dead vertical is unreal and will spit the jack out really easily. If a decent quality Weber jack can go that way when the users desire to get on with the job pulls ahead of his brain whats the odds of cheapy Chinee import from "what colour and what sticker on this batch" factory won't also suffer. Especially with the pole on top.

Clive