Best to use a high tensile bolt. Especially if using the proper riv-nuts as they are stronger than the commonly available consumer types needing more heft to compress properly. Made to be fitted with a hydraulic or hydro-pnuematic gun but good luck fitting one of those in unless you have the uber expensive extension thingy for dealing with confined spaces.

Two rigid washers with a decent film of grease between them will make the job go easier.

If I ever get round to fitting my sidesteps I shall use a ball thrust race to make life even easier. Gotta find a use for a least one of the four I saved out of the brake mechanism of the Lancia Beta HPE I had to break about 40 years ago. Too obviously useful to bin. Er. Ahem.

My steps need welding and I've not figured how to either safely get the rubber treads off or source suitable replacements.

Clive

Have a chat with V8 Developments before you do anything. They have probably seen everything that can go wrong many times and will know what works and what doesn't.

Helicoils are widely considered to be better than native tapped threads in light alloy. Especially for things subject to serious temperature changes. It is said that the spring like nature lets them follow thermal expansion and contraction without loosening or needing high torques on the fastener. Naturally you have to choose the right breed for the job as there are a number of different designs. I prefer Timeserts, basically a bush with threads inside and out expanded into the re-tapped holes, for most jobs despite significantly higher costs. But heads get helicoils.

Clive

Given the grief factor if a head gasket fails to seal properly its extremely risky to re-use one that has already been fitted. Even if the engine hasn't been run.

There is a school of thought that claims a properly fitted and carefully removed gasket retains sufficient elasticity to re-seal properly if its never been hot. I know of it being done successfully, albeit on an engine far less sensitive to gasket issues, but how much of that success was due to blind luck, stars in correct alignment and an engine design that let you get away with it I know not. At best an "11.15 pm on Sunday night when I have to be at work at 6.30 am Monday" expedient.

Sounds like your exhaust bolt threads have either been partially stretched so there is a pitch error half way down or the lower part is full of crap.

Did you have your heads reconditioned or are they exchange?

If exchange and of unknown history such stretch can be cause by overtightening a too short bolt leaving a pitch error at the end of the bolt. Normal cutting taps aren't really the right thing for fixing that problem. Snap on et al sell thread reforming "taps" at vast expense that mostly massage the thread back into shape rather than cutting away the errant material. Which makes for a stronger job.

Poor boys workshop expedient is to cut a couple of slots into the thread of a nice accurate bolt, carefully clean up the threads where they meet the slot to produce a smooth edge and screw it in and out a few times. Don't force it, go as far was it wants to then back up clean anything out of the slots and go back down a bit further.

I'd be reaching for the helicoil kit and be doing them all whilst I was at it. But I'm in a position to quickly set-up to do that sort of job fast. Which most folk aren't.

Clive

Have fitted standard (allegedly) Boge and Bilstien with no issues. Just follow Rave and make sure you have enough space for the axles to drop a bit to give wiggle room. Not forgetting the jack underneath to ease the axle back up to fit the second end of the shock. Simultaneously detaching both shocks on an axle is probably not a good idea.

Anoint the threads with your favourite release agent a couple of times during the week before you do the job. I just put the air suspension on high for a bit more wiggle room underneath. Makes squirting release stuff up the tapped hole for the top rear bolt much easier.

Best to get new bolts.

Rear shock top bolts come in both Torx and hex heads. Hard to see in there but its important to know what you have because if the socket slips off its likely to crunch down on the air line.

Much easier with a rattle gun. My 18V Makita just gave half a rattle and spun the back ones out. So quick and easy that I thought the socket had bounced off.

Unless you fancy taking tiny bites between axle and body, its a long way through for a breaker bar and extensions so its easy to get off line when heaving. This is the sort of place where my short 3/4 extension with a scaffold pole welded to the middle making big T shaped super breaker scores as it can be supported with a jack on the end opposite the square drive. So you can heave and be reasonably sure all will stay in line. Top bolts aren't that tight so a spotter to make sure you don't get off line should be good enough. Naturally 99.99 % of the time just diving in and doing it will be just fine. But I've never like being the 0.01% man.

First time through I pulled the wheel off and took the wheel arch liner out for best visibility. Left all in place at the rear second time round. Folk say the front can be done with the liner and wheel in place. Tried that second time round. After doing the nearside with all in situ I reckoned pulling the wheel and arch liner was easier and no slower.

I imagine that its all easier with a lift rather than working on the floor with jacks.

Clive

You may need the pulley holding tool when re-assembling to keep things stable whilst you tighten the bolt up to the specified torque.

Clive

Ah!

Thanks for changing things so the picture showed up.

Penny finally dropped as to what I'd done wrong just before lunch.

Clive

Well that was easy. Turns out VectorWorks can export jpeg and other image files.

Basic drawing for my hub. Two M8 through bolts hold it to the pulley, tapped holes for M8 bolts holding it to the handle. Official handle is "a foot and a bit" (ish) long if you want to do a one piece tool. Long handle is (almost certainly) impossible to thread through if made in one.

https://imgur.com/JaBVldd

Pox. Why isn't it showing up in the post.

Clive

My tool is a bit different to Brians. Bolt on head is easier to handlle when affixing to the pulley but the long handle needs a bit of care to threadle through. Its not obvious but that handle has three hollow through stud holes at the bottom so it can carry other heads. 1" square by 1/8" wall steel tube.

Full tool kit, including scaffold pole super-breaker bar just in case. Not needed, there is an 8 ft extension bar that slides on for really serious cases.

Handle connector details. The alloy hub adapter is underneath

I'll put up the dimensioned drawing for the bit that goes on the pulley if I can bully my CAD program into doing a jpg that the system will accept.

I'd be unsurprised to discover that my 18V Makita rattle gun could shift the bolt "just like that" without a pulley holder. If it could be gotten on with the radiator out. Brutal thing.

Clive

LRT-12-080 is the tool to stop the engine turning whilst leaning on the crankshaft pulley bolt.

Basically a hub that bolts to the pulley with a lever to wedge against something solid to stop things turning. Easily made if you have access to a guy with a lathe et al.

Once you find the dimensions. I have drawings for the one I made which is a bit different from the usual run because the hub and lever are separate pieces.

Much easier to fit. My lever is far longer than the usual versions so it sticks up past the right hand side of the engine. My crank bolt came undone easily with a long impact type socket on the nut turned by a big Britool 3/4 drive torque wrench sitting straight(ish) up past the front of the engine so I could opeate the torque wrench and holder handle together. Plenty of feel that way and all done standing comfortably in front of the car. Two 3 ft (ish) handles used together are effectively a 6 ft breaker bar so I was unsurprised that it came out fairly easily. Plan B was to wedge the tool handle on the ground with both hands on the bar.

You need a long socket to pass through the tool. Impact types are hex form and, if an OK breed, slightly modified to spread the load off the corners. I bought a Nielson / US Pro branded one as being good enough for this one job I needed it for and not professional expensive.

PM me if you'd like the drawings.

Various shade tree options of wedging the pulley or flywheel. Some involving shocking the bolt loose with the starter motor. Not a fan of such options as the consequences of failure can stretch from naughty words and waiting for the bruises to heal right up to major engine damage. The last being somewhat conta-indicated when engaged in repairing the beast.

Clive

Thinking about this I do wonder how hard it is to get at the actual MAF output without introducing errors so you directly know what the ECU is seeing.

If that can be done with the resources you have then I'd look into putting the two MAF sensors in series as close together as possible and log the outputs simultaneously. Switch them round and repeat to verify that there is no systematic error due to position. Shouldn't be as both sensors will read the same airflow. Divide one output by the other and, in theory, you have your conversion factor directly.

Of course its never that easy but if you can simultaneously measure the outputs from both sensors under the same conditions a heck of a lot of potential errors go away.

With this sort of thing you have to pay very careful attention to the result you want rather than trying to characterise things and sorting it out later once you have, hopefully, accurately calibrated measurements on both.

I'd expect the tuning fraternity to have add ons to their flow benches for testing and verifying actual MAF outputs on a modified engine. They aren't particularly accurate devices in instrumentation terms. Repeatable if well made but production variations are wider than I'd like.

Clive

Serpentine auxiliary drive belt is the first place to look when you have a squeak. Unlike old style Vee belts serpentine, multi Vee, types don't wedge deeper into the pulley under load for more grip so it takes very little contamination to make them slip prone.

A teeny front oil seal leak put mine into mouse mode. The leak was no worry but the squeaking on cold start was a pain.

Clive

Richards oil pipes are much more confidence inspiring.

If its good oil its amazing what you can get away with.

Official unofficial kid sister lost the sump drain plug on her diesel Disco when pulling into a motorway service station. Oil slick ended just before she parked. Found the drain plug, had it recovered refilled and all seemed well. According to Almer Motor Works at Hatfield that is who were the shower who forgot to tighten the drain plug. Not their first codge up either.

So she found another 4x4 specialist, Romanian guys, (even worse) and swopped the Disco for an L322 'cos she'd lost confidence in it! Disco was still running just fine and made at least another 10,000 miles before we lost track of it.

Clive

Looks to be a cheap and crappily made pipe to me.

Common practice with that sort of "make up any pipe" system is to run an expander round inside the metal pipe to swage out a ring or two for the rubber to grip. Crimp squeezes the rubber down around or between the raised rings so it can't come out. Kinder to the pipe than barbs but you have to get the sizes just so. The rubber pipe would have to expand to go over the ring. Metal sleeve stops that so the pressure only has to be enough to hold it in place.

That one looks as if the crimp force is generated by knurling rather than squeezing so I'd expect to see two swage rings on the pipe. One each side of the knurl effect. Normally knurls are though of as raising metal but on thin material with compressible inner support they go down just fine.

Its always surprised me how little it takes to hold a flexi pipe against considerable pressure. You just have to make sure the pipe can't stretch and shrink its wall thickness to win clearance. One place where Poisson ratios, in this case basically the tendency of the flexible "rubber" pipe wall to get thinner if its stretched, can bite you. Its not the same for all pipes. The way the hidden re-enforcement cords are laid in can make a considerable difference.

Given the right pipe its possible that simple frictional pressure on plain pipe would be OK at lowish pressures. But I'd be very chary about expecting a "rubber" pipe of any style to have a low enough Poisson ratio not to thin its wall down enough under longitudinal stretch pressure sufficiently to loose grip. Which is what has happened there.

Contrast with the nylon pipe on our air suspension systems which essentially doesn't thin down when pulled.
Clive

Pop LED Bulbs in the search box, select topics the search and you will get a list with a number of discussions.

Good LED bulbs are much better than old style in both light output and reach.

My understanding is that current MoT test guidelines make fitting a LED bulb in a non-LED approved headlamp is instant fail. On on the road it probably isn't an issue so long as the beam pattern is correct. Decent LEDs will give the correct pattern, or one near enough not to make a difference as the emitters will be arranged to mimic the shield on a H4 bulb. Cheapy "made for the American market" crap throws light everywhere and will get you stopped.

I believe the Osram LEDs are in the process of getting German TuV approval as replacements. Already done for some of the single filament replacement range.

However I suspect this is really for projector lights such as the Hella "90 mm" pair my Norton now wears which were designed for commercial vehicle use. I've been told that LED in a good projector light will not be questioned at MoT time. Which doesn't help matters on P38.

All my interior lights are LED and much better for it. LEDs in the reversing lights too which are an improvement. Youthful bursting with energy glow-worm rather than old arthritic glow-worm so objectively still rather crap.

Dunno about the P38 but LED in the red reversing lights and flashers can look odd due to spectral effects. Depends on the dyes and lens materials. Whatever it looks like it certainly won't match the official spectral standards, which are surprisingly tight for something so apparently minor. But who is equipped to measure that on a car.

Clive

If the pipes have shrunk due to heat and age its probably time to replace them. The shrinkage process makes the material a little more brittle and raises the stress where it pushes onto the connectors. Mine are fine, for now, but on other vehicles I have seen them crack around the swelling where the pipe barb is. Doesn't take long to go from a weep to a full on leak.

If its gotten seriously old and heat affected just squeezing it can drive a decently long lengthwise crack.

Naturally once cracked it won't pull off. Just snaps. So you have to carve the left behind bit off with a sharp craft knife. Such joy. Worth the cost of new joints to avoid.

Clive

Welcome aboard and best of luck with tackling the issues.

Apart from simple mechanical things fixing issues one at a time on a P38 with a whole slew of them tends to be slow and unproductive. Best to identify a group that are common to one system and sort the lot in one go.

As per book.

Shortcuts pretty much invariably blow up in your face. Quick ways generally take longer than following the book too. With a few honourable exceptions. When in doubt ask here.

Slew of issues means you are facing "old car blues" partly odd things just ageing out but mostly too many years for the careless or unthinking to do bodges and unorthodox repairs. The truly annoying thing is that fundamentally the P38 is pretty simple. Screwing things up is generally harder than doing it right.

The book is RAVE.

A must have. Not sure where the best download is now but someone will know.

RAVE runs just fine as a computer based system but I printed my download out and slipped the pages into transparent sleeves before assembling into ring binders.

About 3 ft of shelf space!

Transparent sleeves meant that I could assemble an oily finger proof job specific manual into another binder to take down to the car with me. Unlike a Haynes book of errors a ring binder stays flat and open.

I'd struggled through a couple of jobs before doing the printout but the one that convinced me I was right to take the time was an electrical issue. Simple enough except "Where's the poxy multi plug!". RAVE has all the numbers from the circuit diagrams organised, tells you where it is and pretty pictures so you can see what it looks like. Yay. All manuals should be like that. Gawd knows how long I'd have taken to find it without the book 'cos it was about 6 ft away from where I thought it should have been.

Regards

Clive

I bought one over two years ago after the HEVAC display intermittent partial failures started getting a bit too common. Damp and low battery seem to be what surfaces the problem although the root cause is connection deterioration due to old age.

Thing started behaving again immediately except for very occasional loss of a couple of segments when damp and battery low. Magic.

I guess the magic is wearing off though as almost all off has become pretty common since early December. Even a good long run to de-damp everything and get the battery right up didn't cure things for long.

Need to check a blend motor too so I guess I shall be digging in soon when things warm up.

Clive

Had similar pipe issues on my Yamaha GTS1000, a known design problem due to the inlet pipes being mild steel welded stainless steel catalyser box. Obviously the pipes corrode and leak or break off.

Standard fix is to have new stainless steel inlet pipes made and welded to the catalyser box. Cost me £180, including carriage both ways, to have four new pipes made and welded on by a specialist bike exhaust fabricator. Which included making a jig. Clamps were extra. I chose Mikalor stainless band clamps as being bike appropriate. Bit spendy but I use them on cars too because they distort the pipes less than conventional U bolt ones so its (usually) possible to get things apart without cutting.

I imagine any half decent stainless steel car exhaust fabricator could do a similar job on your catalyser boxes for, probably, less money as much less jigging would be needed.

If not abused OEM cats seem to have very long lives.

Clive

When mine arrived I put a meter on it and voltage seemed a bit down from full charge so I put a cheapy (LiDL) intelligent charger on it. As I recall things it reckoned something like 2/3 rds to 3/4 charge so it got a couple or three hours tickle up whilst I finished off what I was doing when it arrived.

Didn't need the extra charge but as I had the time and the car wasn't scheduled to go out for a week or so it seemed sensible.

Clive

Biggest time saver is getting yourself properly organised before you start.

Separate places, with labels, for the new O rings et al organised by what goes where and similar places for the old parts being replaced and things being removed and refitted as part of the process to go. Not forgetting places to keep the screws in order.

Obviously fairly detailed notes / labels as to whats what, where it goes and which side of the block you will be working on.

I suspect that sorting a proper notes and places system is a almost as effective a learning tool as doing your first one. Likely to take an hour tho'.

I'm fairly methodical but wasted ages first time through with an O ring and "did I / didn't I" mix up. Primarily due to thinking that simply laying out on the bench would be good enough. Not quite. Most likely due to disorientation when flicking between the how to notes printed off the internet, the block and the bits being taken off / put on. Once I'd lost my place in the sequence trying to figure out exactly where I was at was hard.

Got a check off list for doing the brakes for similar reasons.

Clive