Alfa is a 2007 and was just under £3k while the Ronart is interesting. With a 4.2 straight 6 in it (or even a 5.3 V12 if you feel like being really suicidal) fed with 3 triple DCOE Webers and sitting on relatively skinny tyres on wire wheels, they need to be treated with a great deal of respect. I know the guy that designed and builds them and my only complaint about them is that as they use the standard XJ6 running gear, they actually look too big when you have something to judge it against. Seeing him sitting in it, it almost looks like it was built in 12/10th scale. So you probably would fit in that. He's currently working on a redesign so it will take the running gear from later Jags as a donor XJ6 is getting harder to find and they are going up in value now they are becoming collectable. Bit old hat too with a 4 speed gearbox with Laycock overdrive bolted on the end.

This is one that my mate in France built as the first LHD version (with Dina and our dog). I think the radius of the mudguards is wrong or it needs larger wheels and/or tyres. Problem with that is the wheels won't take larger tyres and wire wheels aren't available any bigger. And yes, that is the nose of a 1973 Volvo 1800ES sneaking in the foreground.

This weekend I'm picking up an Alfa Spider in Skegness and delivering it to the new owner (a guy I used to work with before I retired) in Torquay. For the French trip it'll be a chassis and roll cage for a Ronart W152 (one of these http://www.ronart.co.uk/). It was ordered and paid for last year but the travel restrictions mean delivery has been delayed for months. All the paperwork for it is dated 2020 so, according to the EU document checking service at the A1(M) services just up the road, I shouldn't need any export documents. I'm not so sure so I'll be taking them anyway.. Also got to take 2 negative Covid tests too, one as a punter in case they don't consider me a freight driver and another as a freight driver if they do. Just got to hope I test negative......

Symes wrote:

replacing sensor with Rover MG sensor

What sensor did you get? My temp gauge has become intermittent, it'll read fine one minute then drop to the bottom of the scale, then recover and read low, then go back up again for a while before dropping again. Cleaned all the contacts between the sensor and the BeCM, checked continuity on the wire, checked the ground then connected a meter to the sensor. One minute it gave 186 Ohms, then 378, then open circuit, then back to whatever resistance it felt like so it's duff. Genuine article is available but only from LR and not cheap.

Screwfix Heavy Duty degreaser (https://www.screwfix.com/p/no-nonsense-heavy-duty-degreaser-5ltr/88668#_=p) and a pressure washer before taking it for test, impresses the tester no end. Good stuff too, even got oily marks from a bicycle chain on my step daughter's white dress off.

Bloody tight. I assume the diesel has stretch bolts hence the 90 degree at a time rather than to a specified torque. The theory is that the bolts stretch and the 'springyness' in them clamps the head down tight which works as long as you have bolts with the correct amount of give in them. Too soft and they either snap off or stretch too easily, too hard and you run the risk of pulling the threads out of the block, so make sure you get decent quality ones. As it's a BMW engine I would suggest getting genuine BMW bolts.

Nice one but you should have told him the oil leak is a factory fitted option. Not doing the mileage at the moment due to lockdown, only managed 5,000 since October. But got a 500 mile round trip this weekend and a run to France next week (which is going to involve 2 negative Covid tests and an awful lot of paperwork).

Amp is separate and lives behind the sound deadening behind the sub/CD changer. It's in the void between the inner and outer wing and a pain to get to as the sound deadening is coated with adhesive strips. Not sure how you could test it without a known working head unit attached.

If you can power it, check the LM2931. It's a 5V regulator so will have full battery volts on one pin, centre pin will be grounded and the other pin should have 5V on it. Very carefully check the feed through holes as it's a double sided PCB. If any look even slightly iffy, push a piece of bare tinned copper wire through and solder it on both sides of the board.

Interesting although I've never tried it. Pulling the timer relay (or fuse 44) is a good way of isolating which corner has a slow leak but I can't see the point in removing the timer relay and replacing it with a 4 pin. If you habitually park on very rough ground it might reduce the load on the compressor marginally but when it self levels it drops 3 corners so won't be taking anything out of the reservoir.

Yes. The timer relay is energised all the time the ignition is on so supplies power to the EAS ECU. It then also wakes up every 6 hours or so to power everything up for the self levelling. Putting a 4 pin relay in means it is only energised while the ignition is on, so no wake up and self levelling but also no diagnostics. Fuse 44 supplies power to the ECU via the timer relay contacts (or via the 4 pin relay) so with that pulled the timer relay will still wake up and energise but won't have any power to switch. Easier than grovelling under the seat trying to pull the timer and far easier than trying to get the thing back into it's socket which you will invariably have pulled off it's mounting point so it is now floating around on it's wiring.

You obviously won't be able to connect diagnostics with Fuse 44 pulled as the ECU won't be powered.

Unless there's a huge ridge, which you would be able to feel anyway, it won't damage the rings. Once out, check the bores for round to make sure they aren't going oval but if you can still see the hone marks, that's pretty unlikely. Same with the crank journals. Check for round and any scratches but again, unlikely to need a grind unless the engine has been really neglected. New piston rings and big end and main bearings should be all you need. When my engine was rebuilt at V8 Developments, they used the original pistons as 4.0 litre pistons are about 4 times the price of 4.6 ones. As Ray said, the rings do the work, the pistons are just something to put the rings on so can be reused as long as they aren't damaged.

Beowulf wrote:

• The pistons can just be tapped out the top of the engine block? How do you remove the carbon ridge? Using my finger nail I don't really feel any ridge.

If you don't feel a ridge then do as the book says, and just tap them out. Make sure you've got a ring compressor for when the time comes to put them back. That's one of those tools that gets used so rarely you can never find it when you need it but find it a couple of days after you've gone out and bought another.

• The piston connecting rods have 12 point bolts where they connect to the crank. A 9mm is too small while a 10mm was a bit loose. Are these imperial? Tomorrow I'll scout for a 3/8" 12 point socket.

GEMS engine is all Imperial, Thor is a mix of Imperial and Metric, so quite possibly the big end bolts are Imperial.

• Regarding removing the crank, the six hub aligner screws are really on there. Removing them is made more difficult by the crank not being locked. On page 36 of the Engine rebuild manual, where it covers removing the crank, step 4 says to "Remove 6 socket head cap screws securing hub aligner to crankshaft, remove hub aligner." I was thinking it wise to have the machinist check the crank for wear and balance but should I bother removing this hub aligner? It isn't necessary to remove the crank from the block. One could stick a piece of wood in the crank galley to lock the crank against assuming that won't somehow damage the crank. That's doubtful as the crank looks extremely robust.

They will have been put in with Loctite when the engine was assembled so will put up a fight. Choices are to jam a lump of wood in there to stop the crank turning or leave them where they are, as you say, crank can be removed with it still attached.

• The rebuild manual doesn't mention a specific order that the main bearing bolts need to be released by. Ditto for the big end bolts I mentioned previously.

I don't think it matters to be honest. The crank is so stiff you aren't going to bend it. Sit it in place on the bearings, drop the caps on and torque them up (remembering to make sure it still turns after doing each one).

Here's a few more images just because...

I wanted to give a mod the fun of correcting the links so they showed properly.......

Now that's one I can answer, yes the nav does talk directly to the DSP amp. Input from the nav is on a pair of wires, Yellow/Orange and Orange/Yellow on pins 18 and 19 at the amp. It also has a Mute line on a Grey/Orange wire on pin 7. I think all the illumination is bulbs, it is on the earlier Clarion anyway.

High power one is only a good idea for the compressor relay, timer only powers the ECU so doesn't need a high power one (fused at 10A). Or just pull Fuse 44 which supplies power to the timer relay contacts so it will still wake up and energise every few hours but won't do anything as it will have no power to switch.

Not when towing though I bet....

I actually followed a Polestar2 the other day and wondered what the hell it was. Figured it was an EV due to the lack of tailpipes poking out the back but hadn't a clue what it was. So memorised the registration number and looked it up on the DVLA site as soon as I got home. Not a bad looking vehicle actually.

As long as it isn't cracked it should be fine. I tend to put a thin smear of blue Hylomar around the waterways at each end anyway.

Definitely looks like ATF to me (nice clean ATF at that). Could it be that you have a leaking cooler hose and it is spraying it onto the side of the engine and dribbling down?

Ascot on Triple Sports, 8J x 18 so running the standard 255/55 x 18 tyres while the Ex-Plod is on Futura which are 7J x 16 so rather than running the usual 255/65 x 16 that all the other 8J x 16 wheels took, runs on 235/70 x 16 tyres (more commonly a Discovery 2 or late Range Rover Classic size). Only a few of the earlier, usually base model, P38s were fitted with the 7J x 16 wheels but plod obviously wanted to save a bit of money when they specced mine.

Triple Sport (see https://www.cxmdunord.nl/rims-land-rover/) same as I have on the Ascot. Not Discovery but actual Range Rover wheels, just not particularly common.

I have a feeling at if the laptop is booted with the cable already plugged it, Windows detects it as a mouse or something like that. I boot up the laptop, start the car, then plug in.