Your back axle looks somewhat similar to mine, albeit I have about half the rust. Boat launching sounds a likely reason. Rust so caused seems to blow up much thicker and more crumbly than the normal slow rust on inland vehicles.

Agree as to the near pristine condition of bolts when extracted, whatever the condition of the head. Surprised me when I first started spannering mine. Land Rover clearly got all the basics much righter than the are normally given credit for. Yes Mr BMW I'm looking at you, and some Japaneses. Bikes especially.

I do wonder just how well the P38 would have turned out if there had been a bit more money around to do the engineering details and production set up details a bit more properly.

What would have happened if Rover had had a strong, dynamic, board devoted to car production at BMH and BL merger time rather than the elderly and weak, mostly financially obsessed, one it actually had. There is no doubt that Rover, and to some extent Jaguar, were frequently used as a cash cow to support the rest of Leyland. Would the money have been sufficient to support the essential 2000 - 3500 replacement, up date the Range Rover on schedule and take the Land Rover itself updating a bit further although that was mostly funded via military contracts anyway so was mostly zero sum for Leyland. Possibly if Leyland / Triumph died early enough to open up the Triumph 2000 market to a proper Rover, not the seriously cost cut concept SD1, rather than split.

Clive

One day I might get the rubber treads off the set of steps I've had in storage for the best part of a decade to sort out the corroded square tubes, add drain holes and get a pro refinish. But its been 9 years since I got them, "perfect condition" said the lying E-Bay toad. I'm not sure that I truly miss having them. Except maybe when washing the roof or strapping something to the roof rails. The long outer tubes on mine are both mostly three sided rather than four so a boat load of tricky welding if things are to stay straight and be properly sealed at the end of it. Not forgetting appropriate drain holes.

If the chassis brackets are that rare then perhaps I should tool up for a few sets. Not hard to make in OEM form with the bolt on side-plate. Easier if a simple three sided weldment will work tho'. I'm not set up to paint properly so would be delivered in bare metal. Can't believe where time goes. Date on my drawings is August 2015.

Clive

Ages ago I drew out the sidestep brackets for an American(?) forumite on the dark side who wanted to make some custom sidesteps.

PM me if you'd like a pdf copy of the drawings.

Clive

Consider your routes and avoid things like pulling away off a steep hill into a tight right angle, or more, junction.

I had a CV joint on a SAAB 900 pretty much explode on me in such a scenario. First knock as I balanced power, clutch and handbrake to pull away. Loud bang, nasty shudders et al and not much drive as we went over the camber on full lock. Impossible to abandon there but fortunately just enough drive left to limp it 50 yards to the top of a steep windy hill with a nice bus stop lay by at the bottom so it could be coasted down to relative safety. The collection of fractured bits that fell out when I took it apart was impressive. Amazing that the gaiter held it in. Never did figure out how it still managed to drive.

Automatics are kinder to the drive than manuals but still something to consider. Don't forget to settle it on the handbrake before engaging park. Besides jolting the park pawl as the car rolls into balance it will also stress the joint.

Its impact and jolt loads against stationary that really makes cracks spread. Running loads not so much, as there is far less inertia to work against, until things get really bad. Knock due to wear can be nursed along for ages but if one of the drive components has a fracture crack its much more risky.

Clive

The Guild of Experienced Motorists (GEM) offers an insurance based system using local contractors. You call them, they make the arrangements. You pay the contractor and claim back the cost from GEM.

Worked fine for me many years ago when my SAAB 900 blew a CV joint and had to be recovered.

GEM Members only so membership fee puts the price up. Back in the day it was an attractive deal as the total was rather less than AA, RAC et al. Only reason I joined up as soon as I'd got enough driving years in. Long time ago now. But prices have crept up over the years. Pushing £80 now I think so may no longer be decent value.

Clive

Don't know what the P38 switch innards are like but the last time I encountered a similar problem, not an indicator switch, it turned out to be a detent spring issue. The spring had roughed up the part of the housing that it ran on creating enough drag to slow the detent down enough that it couldn't keep up with the switch centring spring so the switch could overshoot.

The moving parts of that switch had been lubricated with some sort of greasy stuff which, on the evidence of the squidged out stuff alongside the pivots, was clearly well past its sell by date.

If your switch is similarly afflicted the usual strip, clean, polish off wear marks and re-assemble process should fix things. Dunno what the current best practice is for lubricating such, mostly plastic, things is. I'm minded to try a silicone / PTFE blend spray next time.

When it comes to stripping the $64,000 question is how many self ejecting and self hiding springs, primed for instant escape into the darkest corner of the workshop, are there inside? Working inside one of those big transparent plastic storage boxes is said to be effective at preventing such escapes.

Clive

Magic number(s) for E10 compatible fuel hose are SAE J30R6 and SAE J30R9. R9 is higher spec, dunno exactly what the difference is, but both are happy with E10 and higher levels of ethanol.

If the specification isn't clearly printed on the hose don't buy.

Clive

Garvin
What breed is your small blast cabinet?

It would be helpful for folk to know a reliable source for one which comes with a properly balanced set-up of air nozzle, blast nozzle and gun throat size to work with smaller compressors.

Seems that some have such a poor mix of components that it's amazing that anything actually comes out of the business end. Of course I only tend to see the bad ones "Why won't it work..".

Clive

Although 20 cu ft min of air is a comfortable recommendation for abrasive blasting you can get very satisfactory results with less if the air nozzle is suitable size and the blast nozzle itself not too big.

I have a pdf of the official Guyson air supply recommendations for their range of air and blast nozzles. Can't figure out how to post it but PM me if you'd like a copy.

Summarising at the small end -
A 2 mm bore air nozzle requires 3 cfm at 30 psi rising to 7.5 cfm at 80 psi.
A 2.4 mm bore air nozzle (which I use) needs 4 cfm at 30 psi rising to 11 cfm at 80 psi.
A 2.8 mm bore air nozzle requires 6 cfm at 30 psi rising to 16 cfm at 80 psi.
A 3.2 mm bore air nozzle requires 7 cfm at 30 psi rising to 17 cfm at 80 psi.

Blast nozzle sizes arent so critical. Important thing is that the nozzle is large enough not to choke the flow. Undersize, or close to minimum size, blast nozzles wear fast. I'm using a 5 mm nozzle which is really too large for the 2.4 mm air nozzle but it works well enough.

Again summarising at the small end -
A 3 mm bore nozzle accepts 7 cfm at 30 psi rising to 21 cfm at 80 psi.
A 5 mm bore nozzle (which I use) accepts 19 cfm at 30 psi rising to 48 cfm at 80 psi.
A 6 mm bore accepts 34 cfm at 30 psi rising to 80 cfm at 80 psi.

Most low end blast kit seems to come with 6 mm blast nozzles and 3 mm air nozzles. So air nozzle is oversized for small compressors. Hence the common "you need 20 cfm" comments. Usually the syphon / pick up arrangements are undersized which doesn't help.

Clive

Dave

150 psi is way too much for blasting. I run 80 psi on advice from an ex-Guyson engineer. Works better than the 120 that my late mate Andy (who used to do blasting inside big tanks and exterior work for a living) advised. Higher pressure just makes more dust in the cabinet and breaks the abrasive media down faster.

I'd be seriously worried at the amount of fine broken down media floating around outside ready to breathe if using high pressure with the common bench-top cabinet. At 120 psi I used to get some abrasive fines residue drifting out of the arm seals which made for a messy "dirty shop space". Having dropped the pressure finally got round to re-working the extractor system so its as the maker intended rather than with Andy advised "it will be fine" longer ducting its all amazingly better and cleaner.

My Guyson nozzles last well.

Having souped up your Wolf to 150 psi do get religious about blowing the tank down after every use. Much more water ends up in the tank at higher pressures and tanks on these import "what badge shall we put on todays run" ones tend to not only worryingly thin but also simple bare, rust ready, steel inside. Or at least the one I refused to weld repair was. Wonder if you can Waxoyl them inside?

Clive

Wonder how well a shower pump would do as a power wash / parts washer substitute.

Used ones seem to be cheap enough (£10-£20) in the usual Facebook, GumTree, local free ad papers or even E-Bay sources. Proper power wash lances can also be found cheaply, or even free, as the inexpensive power washers are less than durable so the pump dies before the accessories do. Or possibly those cheap hose pressure intensifier nozzles from the "cheap import tat" online suppliers actually do work. I have a design for one that reliable sources say really does go well, reportedly lethal on the end of a power washer (!), so its not impossible.

Like all these make do, mod and mend deals it does depend on what stuff you have in your "will come in handy box(es)". Anything beyond fairly minimal buying and careful choice from inexpensive new offerings comes out cheaper and works well enough. As I know to my cost having frequently spent much time effort and creativity to save about thruppence three farthing over just buying something.

I sold my industrial standard Kew pressure washer and got a "£50" jobbie from LiDL. The Kew was significantly better but the LiDL cheapy works well enough and is far less cumbersome. Only place it seriously looses out is the biannual heavy patio cleaning session. No substitute for super pressure and lots of flow when shifting the slippery green stuff.

However when it comes to sandblasting the inexpensive kit really has to be considered unsatisfactory and makes even the simplest job hard work. Blasting needs plenty of air and a decent extractor system on the cabinet to get the job done in reasonable time. I have a pro Guyson cabinet with the proper extractor so I can see what I'm doing. My Hydrovane 502 makes 10 cu ft (nominal) of air and barely keeps up with the demands of the smallest air nozzle. Small nozzle makes for slow work. One day I'll upgrade the workshop electrics, drag the (freebie) Hydrovane 504 out of storage and fit a bigger air nozzle. 20 cfm is exponentially better than 10 for this sort of thing.

At least the Hydrovane is quiet. Just a gentle buzz from the other side of a chipboard partition wall. The racket from a modern, high speed, DIY rated reciprocator on similar duties would be pure torture. Even with my crappy hearing. The hefty cast iron Atlas Copco Vee twin running at 1,000 rpm that preceded the Hydrovane was way quieter than anything modern but still not exactly a comfortable noise level.

Clive

My parts washer looks pretty much like this £120 one from SGS apart from being bright red rather than black https://www.sgs-engineering.com/spw200-230v-floor-standing-parts-washer?gclid=CjwKCAjwy7CKBhBMEiwA0Eb7aqsVJu7SXe3SB_SgH9NeIVMwplZY0Szx78uoibHVnJg4xiCFMxtxqRoC-YEQAvD_BwE .

Still works after 45 or so years of occasional use. Being red it might well have come from Machine Mart as the ancestor of the current CW1D. Currently £50 more than SGS tho'.

Zoro will sell a Kennedy badged pump unit for £26 + VAT and delivery https://www.zoro.co.uk/shop/cleaning-and-hygiene/cleaning-bath-accessories/replacement-parts-washer-pump/p/ZT1030664X . Not clear how complete it is. Pump only or all the gubbins including switch and flexi spout. If its complete gubbins may be worth rolling your own if you have one of those big plastic boxes to hold the cleaning stuff. If you have to buy a tank can't see DIY being worth it.

The Machine Mart concentrate fluid is pretty effective at 10 to 20 % concentration but best to scrape off the thick grime first. It is said that more aggressive cleaners will eat the innards of the pumps supplied with affordable tanks.

Could always get serious and adapt a machine tool coolant system. But new isn't cheap, pumps are about £100 up. Used harder to find.

Clive

Seems to be a new version of these miraculous insta-service-decoke devices every decade or so.

Forget what the last one was but the blurb was seriously impressive, allegedly something developed for Canadian armed forces, good press reports from usually reliable magazines and one of the local guys got the kit. The big red beast wasn't running too well at the time a years or so later so I was tempted. Called the man to get an emphatic "Hell, no. We gave that up after it killed two engines. Should have known better."

Stripped of the blurb its just a hi-tech version of the old tip water in the carb trick described by Marshall8hp. I suspect that a modern engine ECU won't let the motor keep running it you induce enough water to be useful by simply feeding some in. So needs to talk to the ECU so as not to drown the engine.

I doubt if a modern vehicle kept in good running order builds up enough carbon to make much difference of itself so even if it does no harm its unlikely to do much good. But if Joe and Joanna Q Public have spent £100 or whatever they will convince themselves.

Browns Gas is amusing. Lots of internet puff from folk who don't understand the thermodynamics or appreciate the difference between temperature and energy. Yes Browns Gas does burn hotter but its a low energy flame so you can't do much real heating with it. Unless you have a small part carefully insulated from it surroundings the heat flows away faster than it comes in. Nice for jewellery tho'

Clive

Looks great.
I have an LED bulb in my standard light which is getting towards OK (ish) but your set up is so much better.

Ordered 2 pairs for mine this morning. Figured I'd get in first before the rush!

Discovered that I didn't use enough Martrim stickum stuffum when I did my headlining as its sagging at t'back over the load space. All off and re-do I guess.

Clive

According to this link https://garagewire.co.uk/news/company/osram/osram-canbus-control-unit-resolves-led-bulb-error-messages/ Osram reckon that CanBus and related systems need to see about 1/4 of the current drawn by the proper bulb to stop warnings being triggered.

Which was about what I did for my reversing light LEDs

No great point in exact calculations but if considering headlamps a 48 W bulb draws 4 amps at 12 volts and a 60 W 5 amps. So a parallel resistor drawing around 1 1/2 amps should do the deed. That will be nearly 20 W of heat to get rid of in the resistor. I'd probably go for an 8.2 Ω metal cased wire wound resistor in either 25 watt or 50 watt size. The 25 watt one is smaller but will get rather hotter as having less surface to get rid of the heat. Looking at the fins on my, still unfitted, LED headlamp bulbs they look about right for getting rid of something around 15 - 20 watts in the hot engine compartment. My bulbs claim to use 30 W of power and to work on both 12 and 24 volt systems so the LED driver will be something a bit more sophisticated than a simple dropping resistor. Presumably producing less waste heat.

Its probably good enough to say that reversing lights, stop - tail and flasher bulbs draw 2 amps so the parallel resistor will need to draw around 0.5 amps. Theoretically 24 Ω, 22 or 27 Ω should do. It will need to dissipate 6 W, a 10 w metal cased wire wound will be up to the job.

Osram do their own range of CanBus warning defeat controllers which look just like ordinary metal clad resistors to me. The specified power dissipation isn't vastly out of line with my estimates but it wants more than a quick glance at the data sheet to sort it all out link to the basic data is here https://www.osram.com/ecat/LED%20CANBUS%20CONTROL%20UNIT-LED%20signal%20and%20interior%20lamps-Truck%20lighting-Automotive/com/en/GPS01_2810559/ . The Retrofit Application Overview download shows whats what in relation to the car itself. One to print out and study if really interested, less than screen study friendly. The Exchange overview is basically a list of bulb types.

Interestingly Osram now claim to have TuV approval for their Nightbreaker LED low beam headlamp bulb. Is this the start of proper official recognition?

Clive

Current needed to trigger the build failure warning system depends on how the system works. As I understand it the way P38 electronic control gubbins is fairly close to the CanBus standards. Although, like everything else, the actual magic smoke control is done rather differently from the modern way.

As I understand it CanBus and related, pre Can Bus, systems have three ways of doing the bulb monitoring.

1) Low level pulses to determine if a bulb is actually fitted during the power-up self test on a modern car before everything comes on line and the car can be started. Fortunately doesn't appear to be done on the P38. Things that do tend to need proper CanBus bypass doobies. Although its still a good idea to wait until the self test lights have gone out before starting up.

2) Low current detection circuits to determine if there is an operational bulb. Generally these need to see the something around the impedance of a cold bulb before the drive transistor can turn on. Easily done. From memory the headlamp drive transistors in the BECM have the necessary monitor ability implemented in the device itself hence 4 terminals rather than the usual 3. Osram suggest that a current of around 1/4 the normal, i.e. hot, draw of an operating bulb will suffice. I suspect this is what the P38 uses. Simple, effective and good enough for its purpose.

Pretty sure thats how I worked out the the parallel resistors for the LEDs I put in my reversing lights about 6 years back. Now up to two young active glow worms per light level rather from the standard one geriatric and seriously undernourished glow worm. Better than nowt I guess.

3) Operating current monitoring. The electronics continuously measures the actual current draw of the bulb or illuminator and flags up anything outside that specified for that particular vehicle. We certainly haven't got that although the transistor drive light controls are quite capable of implementing it. In Europe driven by TuV (German) homologation requirements, with a bit of deliberately malicious input from the French, which essentially demand that a modern car has a Car Configuration File of all specification and approved part fitment details hidden in its electronic brain. Anything not on the internal approved list is verboten for that vehicle. So switching stuff from a different specification version becomes a nightmare.

And you thought BECM issues were bad!

Its all getting rather worrying. My second bike is a Yamaha GTS (the funny front end one) and the fraternity are getting reports of German inspection failures when using a 120-70 front tyre instead of the standard 110-70 despite it being an approved alternative fitment because it doesn't actually appear on the original homologation data supplied by Yamaha. It is said the machines are over 10 years old getting the changes approved requires the whole homologation process to be re-run by Yamaha. Which isn't going to happen. Apparently, in Germany at least, the powers exist to invalidate insurance, ban the use of and possibly confiscate anything that doesn't exactly comply with the on file paperwork.

Regrettably pragmatism is out of favour these days.

Clive

Been at the "OK, sort of" level for the past year or so.

But I'm thinking I may have under estimated the effect of tyre wear, and age as they are over 10 years old. Been getting the odd kick of anti-lock in the damp this year and Mr MoT man agrees with me that the tyres are coming up to their sell by date so this months pension will have to stretch to four new booties.

Currently researching to decide on a good 16" fit for road use. Local tyre man wants to sell me some Yokohama boots in a slightly off beat size and minimalistic tread pattern. Which isn't going to happen however good he thinks they are. Right now I'm tending towards Michelin Latitude Cross or Goodyear Wrangler as the tread patterns look effective without being off-road aggressive.

Amused to see that both Michelin and Goodyear have a C wet grip rating but the Goodyear claims to be specially developed to be good in the wet. O-Kay! Looking at the pictures the tread pattern on Mr Goodyears offering looks to be "bog standard for the last 40 odd years ever since they figured out snipes". Cynical moi asks "So where did all the development effort go.". Which may be good thing given how much a P38 doesn't have connecting the round rubbery bits to the car.

Asymmetric tread patterns always seem to me an invitation to the sort of issues that eventually lead to the death wobble.

Fundamentally modern tyre designs expect to see strut, or even wishbone, front set ups with the wheels moving in vertical arc controlled by relatively short links. Our rigid axles holding the wheels mutually upright put a rather different set of forces on the tyres under bump or roll which a tyre expressly designed to handle the (slightly) opposite and arcuate motion of independent front suspension may not cope with well.

We shall soon see.

Clive

Another vote for starting at the top and working down.

First time I used axle stands under the chassis to support the car whilst playing with the blocks. Made for a slow job, especially as I only have one high lift jack. But easier on the nerves. Got reasons for not trusting jacks! Second time round I used a friends short "between the wheels" hydraulic lift. When the third time comes round I now have similar lift of my own.

I reckon it equally important to have a nicely set out "form" to note down the values on so you can keep track of what you are doing. Write them all down as you go. Then file for future reference. Being Captain Anal or Inspector Meticulous tends to be something of a chore but when it pays off it pays off big.

Not a bad idea to do a dummy run through first and see what Nano says it has then come back for a proper go. If the values for the proper go are significantly different than they were for the run through could be a poor connection or a sensor getting to the end of its life. If either a sensor or connection is unreliable you will get nowhere fast. We have to accept that our cars are getting old and things are as likely to age out as wear out. Objectively 20+ years is a decent run for almost anything really.

Naturally make sure the battery is up to snuff and well charged too.

Clive

When I fitted the Hankook battery the strap profile needed a bit of manipulation so the front bolt would drop straight through the hole and tighten up without hanging on the side.

Maybe 1/4 to 1/2 hole diameter short as was.

Soft alloy jaw covers in the vice and a gentle tweak spread it just fine. Not forgetting to grease the spreading side jaw first so things would side apart easily without ripping the paint off!

Clive

If you don't have soft jaw covers extruded alloy angle 1/8" or so thick works well or split, hammer and bed an off cut of copper pipe. Fibre jaws are expensive and a bit to soft for many automotive jobs. The standard hatched grippy type are for bodge jobs. One day I shall buy a stash of those lethally strong button magnets off E-Bay an machine up a few sets with useful grooves and pockets like what the CNC guys use.

Standard M8 is 1.25 mm pitch.

If its coarser it ought to be 5/16 UNC which is 18 TPI, equivalent to 1.41 mm pitch. If so the nut should be nominal 1/2" A/F.

There is a non-preferred coarser metric 8mm x 1.5 mm pitch floating around. I defy any normal person to tell the difference between that and UNC with components of normal production tolerances. Originally adopted for sensors, banjo unions and similar duties its creeping into a lot of unexpected places. I'd have thought the Rover V8 too old to have that oddity inflicted on it but the Thor rejig was done under BMW ownership and they use some non preferred strangers.

Often wondered how the normal guy in the garage manages without sets of thread gauges, a micrometer or vernier and some sort of reference book. For standard stuff the Zeus book is compact and handy, I have about 5 scattered around but when it comes to potential oddballs like that you need something more comprehensive. My go to is a listing from Andy Pugh that covers pretty much all the common sizes, along with a range of oddities folk dealing with really old stuff may encounter, arranged in size order. Dimensions in both imperial and metric. Mine is 6 A4 pages in Excel spreadsheet format. PM me if you want it. I really need to update it with some of the becoming less oddball things like M8 x 1.5.

Clive