You wouldn't when you see how quickly they rust..... It was a good old bus, 4.2 Iceberg version of the P38 engine, so the first with the cross bolted mains, and would sit at cruising speed forever. When I first got the P38 I couldn't understand why it felt so sluggish after the LSE then realised the P38 has twice the throttle pedal travel so I wasn't giving it as much welly.

I kept the LSE for a couple of years after getting the P38 as I didn't trust the P38 as far as I could throw it initially. Came in handy when the Yanks put two cars we'd imported on the wrong ship, one that wasn't docking in the UK, so we had to drive to Rotterdam to collect them.

I was told it was to leave the right hand free to use your sword or lance against someone coming the other way. The countries that drive on the right can blame it on Napoleon being left handed and hating the British so went for the opposite side. The British influence is why places like South Africa, India and some of the former British owned bits of Africa still drive on the correct side of the road, although quite why the Japs do I have no idea.

Yes, heated cloth seats, so the only dangling plug(s) are the two for the seat heaters. MXC2112LNF is the part number for Front, Manual, Heated, Ash Grey Cloth but that is listed as only up to VIN WA376579 yet my VIN is WA 381091 but as it was a special order spec for the police, it could have any options that weren't available on production models. Despite the poverty spec interior, I've got the front fogs and headlamp wash/wipe which a base model wouldn't have, along with the 7" x 16" wheels which were only fitted to a base spec rather than the 8" x 16" or 8" x 18" that all the others came with.

Looking at the BeCM connections for C912, the supply for the seat heaters as well as the power for the electric seats all come off that one socket. I suspect I've got a loom that only contains the seat heater wiring and not the full set.

Easiest place, and closest to the instrument cluster, would be the white wire that goes to the EAS inhibit switch which comes directly from F17. It feeds the inhibit switch, the height switch, the HEVAC and brake light switch and is fused at 10A.

Assuming fine cored flexible cable, if the diameter is 5-6mm, then the cross sectional area will be Pi x r squared, so roughly 20mm (3.141 x 2.5 x 2.5) which is rated at around 135A (see https://www.autoelectricsupplies.co.uk/product/752/category/124).

Got a '99 Yamaha FZS600 Fazer that gets taken out for a blast when I get time.

Harv wrote:

'56 Buick on the trailer? That car is pretty rare over here, it must be one of a kind in the UK!

No, close but not quite. It was an Oldsmobile 88, either '54 or '55, I don't remember. That picture was taken in the South of France. We imported it into the UK where it was resprayed (original colour) and registered here, then taken to France to be sold in Mainland Europe. The car was advertised in Europe but was bought by a guy back in the UK (Hayling Island on the south coast) so that picture was taken when I was about to bring it back to deliver it to him. The LSE had been converted to coil springs before I bought it so sagged at the back with a trailer on which is what made me buy a P38 in the first place, I wanted EAS!

It's a GEMS. I use a 3/8th drive universal joint (wrapped with tape so it doesn't flop about all over the place) and a short extension which brings the ratchet out to just level with the back of the starter. Take the top one out first so the bottom one is supporting the weight and you can spin it out with your fingers.

I think the dash speaker was an option on the Vogue SE so not all of them would have had it. Interior looks reasonable in the pictures but it doesn't have the leather/wood steering wheel either.

Looks very similar to my old LSE which was Sherwood green if I remember correctly.

That one I towed was an Ifor Williams BV126 7' so the biggest they do. Even though the front isn't flat, a headwind all the way down the Rhone valley meant I was down to about 50 mph and 12 mpg. Internally it was 13 feet long, about 6 feet wide and 7 feet high and was used for my mate to move house in France and then for me to move house over here. Had to get it up the side of a mountain to my mates house which wasn't too bad but it was a bit different when we'd loaded it up to around 4 tonnes and then had to get it down again. Tried to get a video of it (as I did it with no passengers just in case it ran away with me and shoved me off the side of the mountain) but the phone battery chose that exact moment to go flat.

I would but only if the 1 was removed from the front of the price and it came with the bits that have been taken off (like wheels, bumper, etc).

This is the closest I've come to a caravan and it was hard work! I've found it's aerodynamics rather than weight that make the most difference and that thing was like towing a warehouse. Even worse when it was fully loaded and weighing about 4 tonnes......

If there's no brakes at all, the hydraulic circuit has air in it so is doing nothing until the power circuit is up to pressure. Hydraulic on their own are a bit pants but will stop the car, eventually, if you use both feet on the pedal..... I had the ABS pump burn itself out a few years ago so had to get home on hydraulic only. Think conventional brakes but with the servo not working.

Morat wrote:

You filthy filthy Shed Draggers!! :)

But at least they are dragging with something with some grunt. When I covered Norfolk for work I used to avoid going on a Monday or Friday when the roads were clogged with people dragging a small 3 bedroom detached house behind a 1 litre car. I had a boss who was into towing his house around behind him at weekends but would never own anything with an engine of less than 4.0 litres. His argument was that he got as pee'd off being stuck behind a caravan as everyone else so would always make sure he could stay with the traffic.

If it is of any help, I've got fully manual seats in mine, not even the electric up and down movement just the lever, and I also have a high line BeCM. I've never seen a dangling plug under the seats to power electric ones but equally I don't recall ever having seen a blank socket on the BeCM where a loom would be plugged in either. I do have a warning on the dash every time I turn the ignition on that says Fuse 20 Blown which is odd as Fuse 20 isn't blown and feeds the passenger electric seat I don't have. One day I'll get around to pulling the power board out of the BeCM and replacing the resistor that causes false blown fuse messages and I'll probably think something is wrong as I won't get a beep from the dash every time I switch it on.....

For the largest version, 3750 lbs in your money

https://www.swiftgroup.co.uk/caravans/swift-challenger/technical

I know they were an option but it's the first time I've seen a P38 on the Classic style wheels. Maybe another variant only on EU spec?

it's always worth doing the pump anyway, especially if it has been made to overwork for any reason.

dave3d wrote:

To make it clear, I know you own the site. (I did however think previously that it was jointly owned by you and Richard.)
I have absolutely no interest in owning, buying or interfering in this site, so why the lecture?

No, Gordon set it up after a drunken conversation between the two of us when the comment of, "so how difficult would it be to set up a forum as an alternative to RR.net?" and Gordon took it from there. It didn't come over as a lecture and I don't think it was aimed at you, more a bit of background for the new members in case they thought it was another commercially operated site.