I was going on the regulations for an Individual Vehicle Approval test for a vehicle imported to the UK that doesn't meet normal UK type approval.

The IVA manual says:

1. Any towing device fitted must be of the correct type and be fitted with a 50mm diameter tow ball
   2 The coupling frame must bear an ‘e’ or ‘E’ mark to ensure the construction of the device meets the appropriate approval criteria.
   3 The coupling device(s) must be securely mounted to the vehicle
   4 The coupling ball and / or towing bracket must be installed to the correct height
   5 Towing attachments that do not incorporate a 50mm ball are not permitted e.g. Military style hook type fittings and pin types.
   Minimum Height 375 mm
   Maximum Height 500 mm
   Coupling height requirements measured (vehicle unladen) to the top of the ball

Note 2: Modular coupling receivers, typically found on vehicles produced in North America are integrated into the construction of the vehicle during manufacture and are therefore outside of the scope of this Section.

The advice given to me when I enquired about taking a Range Rover Sport that had been imported from the US and was fitted with a US style towbar was that I could either remove it completely or weld a plate over it so it couldn't be used. I didn't think any more about it at the time and welded it up so it couldn't be used. Although reading those rules now as it was a factory approved towbar, but for the US market, had it been fitted with a 50mm ball I would have thought it would have been fine

If it isn't SORN then it must be insured too. There's 3 things we must have in the UK, a valid MoT certificate which is issued assuming you car passes the annual safety test, the VED (or road tax) and insurance at a minimum to cover damage to third parties. No insurance is the most serious and a car being used on the road with no insurance will be seized by the police and held until you, or someone else, produce valid insurance for it. If no insurance is produced within a set time, the car goes to the crusher. Driving with no insurance results in 6 penalty points on your licence (12 points within 3 years is a driving ban), a fine and vastly increased insurance premiums.

I doubt it, the channel is the best part of an inch wide.

Yes but that's a ToyMotor, not a Land Rover.......

I don't think it matters at all. There's numerous people running around with 4 pin diffs from the rear axle fitted to the front (so they are rotating in the opposite direction) and other than some people saying they are slightly noisier, nobody has ever broken one that I know off.

Don't think there is a problem. I SORN my motorcycle every year over winter, tax it by direct debit when the weather gets decent enough to use it and then SORN it again until next time. I don't bother with the insurance I just let that run as it only costs me £90 a year fully comp (as I'm old....).

Having just checked it seems the cupsacs are available but, as you say, the bits of plastic that fit into them aren't listed separately. I know when I took my rubbing strips off when the car was going in to be resprayed some of them pulled out of the channel. Maybe they changed the material on later ones as none of mine broke, just pulled out and I had a hell of a job getting them back into the channel. If I remember right, mine appeared to be nylon.

In addition to the front recovery point, there's the tie down point which is a loop of steel of one of the chassis rails and is a lot less substantial so wouldn't be any good as a recovery point. As it's also above the bottom of the front bumper if you did try to use it you'd need to take the bumper off first anyway. If you've got the after,market towbar with the bolted on ball, I don't see why you can't attach to the towbar itself. Not sure how I'd do it with the factory swan neck towbar though (if I ever had need to).

Not only is green laning and offroading different in the UK to the US, we have different towbars too that don't use the square section socket that you have. In fact, the US standard ones are illegal in the UK, if fitted on an import it must be either removed or disabled (welding a plate over the hole is the accepted method.

The first one looks like he thought he knew better than the designers and converted to springs. If he had EAS he'd have almost 6 inches more height so probably wouldn't have drowned it in the first place. Second one has grounded it but at least it's another P38 that drags him out, third ones Traction Control isn't working and the fourth one shows what it can do.

On all of them the factory recovery points are being used. But as said, none of those would be considered green laning.

This one

They might need them on an inferior vehicle but for mild green laning you'll never need them on a P38. If the terrain is that bad there's a chance you might need them, then it isn't green laning. The only reason you would need then is to tow the others out......

Thinking about it, David, Rutland Rover did far more difficult off roading than a bit of gentle green laning and he didn't have to fit recovery points.

I believe it depends on the year. Both my '96 Ascot and '98 ex-plod need the 4 turns to lock first then the first number is entered by turning to unlock.although I have a feeling that the initial 4 turns aren't needed on some earlier cars, what year is yours? Owners handbooks for 97 and 99 onwards show the 4 turns being needed first.

Yes, this is the EKA, the Emergency Key Access, code.

Klarius is Euro Car Parts own brand, enough said......

Suggest they go for the Maltings Off Road one (https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/range-rover-p38-exhaust-system-p38-4-0-4-6-exhaust-kit-V8-Petrol-exhaust-1994-02/272214709858) which is supplied by AllMakes, although I suspect they will just go back to ECP and get a replacement from them. You paying labour and them supplying the parts seems over generous actually. You wouldn't have need for any labour if the parts didn't need replacing.

You couldn't make this up. Called in today and as I walked through the door the guy said, "They've sent the wrong ones again". He had cross referenced the part numbers and reckoned that the number 507670038 was wrong and it should be 507670068 which is what he had ordered. However, he had received 4 more Crosland C40353P filters only this time with 50767068 hand written on them. He suggested I phone head office and demand 4 of the correct filters at the price I had paid. A check when I got home shows 50767068 to be for a Freelander and not a P38.

So, I call head office and explain what has happened. They were very helpful but couldn't understand why the same filters are being labelled with different, incorrect, numbers. I gave him the Land Rover part number (BTR8037 which supersedes to LR030219) which he checked and found it cross references to 507670038 but not to the Crosland C40353P. They asked if I could photograph the labelling on the boxes and the filters I have been sent, along with a P38 filter so they know what they are looking for. So that is what I have done and wait to see what happens now.

Amusingly, the pollen filter for a Lexus IS200 is a Crosland C40353P, ECP part number 507820068 which is shown as a non-stock item when in actual fact it appears they have bloody hundreds of them! They've just got the wrong numbers on them.......

Been to ECP. They checked the part numbers, cross referenced from the genuine Land Rover part number and confirmed they were wrong. They found the listing for the correct ones and have ordered 4 in for me, should be in tomorrow. He said to keep the ones I have, bring them in tomorrow and, assuming the ones that arrive are correct, he'll do a straight swap. So, I should get 4 pollen filters for the £8.55, IF they are the correct ones......

1/4" drive, 8mm, 12 point is the correct one. Doesn't need to be deep, just slim which is why I say 1/4" drive. I had to go and buy one so went to ToolStation and asked for a 12 point 8mm socket, he came back with a 13mm and said it should be close enough.......

You made the right choice, the XJ40 series Jags rot like there's no tomorrow (and they are ugly!).

Change it quick then. When the bearing cage breaks up, some of the balls fall out and although it will still rotate, it flaps around all over the place and throws the belt off as soon as you raise the revs above idle. Mine did it a few years ago just as I was pulling off the forecourt of a filling station at Harlow, about 50 miles from home at the end of a 1900 mile round trip. AA had to take me that last 50 miles.

The important bit is to make sure the new switch is fully extended when you fit it. It allows it to set itself to the correct position.

Just got off the phone to ECP. Explained it to the guy he reckons it sounds like the warehouse is labelling them wrong so the wrong parts are being sent out. He suggests I take them down to my local branch tomorrow (fortunately going to be working from home tomorrow so will be able to), explain the problem that me, and a few others are having, and he should be able to get on to the warehouse to get them to sort it out. I may even whip one of the filters out of the Ascot so I can show them what a real P38 pollen filter looks like......

Not from ECP I hope, there's no telling what they will send you.......