Looking at the dark side, it turns out it was a faulty engine ECU......

That's the one, it went out to deal with this one.......

Unfortunately for me, I was on the shore crew so didn't get out to join in.

No, the Volans was a Dutch salvage tug that took part in an operation I was involved in, just wondered if our paths had crossed in the past.

If you are going to the effort of drilling and tapping the lower manifold, drill and tap in the right place. Where you've marked is still too far up, they want to be next to the petrol injectors. If it wasn't dark outside I'd get some pictures of where mine is drilled.

Tony, were you ever involved with the Volans by any chance? Around 1989?

That would be a problem if using secondhand kit but if using new, or just moving injectors that had been working fine before, then it shouldn't be a problem tucking them away. It might make for more problems sometime in the future if they start to get worn, but then you could extend the hoses and temporarily place them where you can get to them. Not sure if the Thor and GEMS lower manifolds are the same, but if you are careful it is possible to place the nozzles so you can still get to the manifold bolts. Or you can on a GEMS anyway as I drilled my manifold while it was off but have decided against fitting a multipoint as the singlepoint on mine works so well.

£1200-1500 but a specialist would have time constraints so wouldn't go to the effort that a DIY'er would. Someone doing it themselves might take weeks or even months to do it and get everything not just fitted, working and tidy but would spend the time making it look as if it came out of the factory looking that way. A pro installer would take 3 days maximum and fit the injectors on top and run the hoses either through or around the bunch of bananas. Looking at that gap under the upper manifold, as long as there's nothing else run under there taking up space, you'd easily fit the injectors under there so the hose lengths would be kept shorter (giving better throttle response) and you wouldn't run into problems with the injectors potentially being hard up against the underside of the bonnet. Looking at that gap and knowing that a competent pro installer would remove at least the upper manifold, I'm surprised none have chosen to fit the injectors under there.

The reason we all bang on about LPG is because you get all the benefits of running a petrol engine but with running costs lower than a diesel. To do the 1520 miles to Latvia cost me under £200 in fuel. I'm running at around 15p a mile in the UK but in Europe where LPG is even cheaper (I filled up in Belgium at 31.2 Euro cents a litre, 17.31 Euros for enough fuel to take me around 210 miles). It's V8 power, smoothness and luxury but without the running costs.

I know it's always an embarrassment buying diesel in case anyone you know sees you, it'll do your street cred no good at all. However, I've found that it's also very good for lighting bonfires so you could use that as an excuse with firework night next week.

But he's got cleaning skills that even have Morat feeling jealous! I've never been one for cleaning cars I must admit, probably one reason why I don't like the Lightstone interior. I just know that after I'd owned it for a couple of weeks it would look like the before pictures....

To add to the cooling system, a header tank pressure cap. Now that is something you can do yourself......

I've got a set and they are absolutely brilliant. Even managed to undo locking wheel nuts where the adapter had been lost with them.

Keycode Lockout will usually go away after 10 minutes on an earlier car and you can't enter the EKA code while it is displayed. If it doesn't go out to be replaced with Engine Immobilised, press remote or enter code after 10 minutes, that means the BeCM has gone into lockout so sending it to Marty to be unlocked is your only option.

He checked and the 50% discount for cars over 10 years has now been stopped, hence the 1350 Euros (he's in Alpes Maritimes so everything is more expensive there) so with that and the CoC, it isn't worth it. He's lived there for over 25 years and has residency but has always driven UK registered cars. Most of the ex-pats in that area do. As well as the P38, he's got a '93 Discovery, a 1988 Mercedes SL500 and his wife drives a RAV4, all on UK plates. He's had the Disco for the last 12 years and it is probably the only rust free 200TDi Disco in existence (I've also lapped the Monaco Grand Prix circuit in it for the hell of it). So much cheaper to buy cars here than there. Rather than having an MoT, road tax and UK insurance, he gets a CT on them and insures them with a French insurance company and the Gendarmes are happy with that. Insurance company (Axa) isn't fussed, they are insured on the UK registration number with Etranger noted after it. They are declared SORN with DVLA (well, they are off the road in the UK....) so no need to keep them taxed or insured over here.

The only time there is a problem is if a UK registered car is kept over there with no CT. As most of them have been out of the UK for so long that the MoT and road tax has expired. Without a CT the French insurance is invalid so that is where the problems start in the event of an accident.

Paul, I suspect the Poles won't be interested in it as they buy them to strip for spares. If it was a Peugeot or Citroen diesel they would bite your hand off, but a P38? I somehow doubt it.

With the effort and expense you went to to get it onto French plates, it seems a shame to give up on it now. I appreciate that you don't have the facilities to swap and engine at the side of the road but there's enough of us over here that would be able to find a decent block and build up a good engine from bits of yours. I'd happily come over with a trailer and collect it from you and I'm sure Chris would be up for lending a hand too.

My mate in the south who I buy the cars from the US with, has just acquired a P38. It's a '98, 4.6 HSE, RHD on UK plates with the typically French crack on every corner of the bumper. I was horrified when he told me he'd got it (he swapped it for a RHD, UK registered, 51 plate, Peugeot 406 Coupe diesel that I picked up over here for him for £1200 about 3 years ago) as his comprehension of electrics is negligible. Automotive electrics overtook him somewhere around 1975 so the thought of him trying to deal with the quirks on a P38 horrified me. However, he's listened to advice, rather than trying to fix it himself, he's ordered a new door latch from Marty to stop the locks dancing and the BeCM thinking the drivers door is open all the time (which also means the EAS doesn't work), he's fiddled with a passenger electric seat that kept blowing fuses and is quite enjoying it. He admitted that he can understand how someone could get completely overwhelmed with multiple faults but if you take one thing at a time and tick them off as you do them, there's far more satisfaction to be had than anything he's every owned before.

He'll be leaving it on UK plates though as he's checked and found it'll cost 1350 Euros just to transfer the registration, not to mention having to change lights and anything else they may want him to do. I assume you had to pay that, twice the cost of a decent secondhand engine.........

That'll be Marty with a sledgehammer again then.......

Here's the Code of Practice that an install needs to meet to pass inspection https://drive.google.com/open?id=0BzxqPPypF5J5WVlUOEhUSUJMTTA

This is the King installation manual https://drive.google.com/open?id=0BzxqPPypF5J5WkduYlJLMzJjWEk and this is the Zavoli manual giving a bit more info on setting it up with the software https://drive.google.com/open?id=0BzxqPPypF5J5QS1fUjVyZG03aXc (King and Zavoli both use the AEB ECU so are the same).

Avoid secondhand kits and don't go for either BRC or Prins as they tend to be approved supplier only so you'll have difficulty getting the software to programme them Something like this http://tinleytech.co.uk/shop/lpg-kits/bigasaeb-8-cyl-sgis-kit-up-to-380-bhp/ would do the job admirably. Anything that uses the AEB ECU is definitely the way to go as it is known by everyone. That would be OMVL, Bigas, Romano, Zavoli, Emer and probably a few more I've missed. Getting it certified shouldn't be a problem, although most LPGA approved installers will charge you £100 or so to inspect and certify it. Many insurance companies don't insist on it being certified and DVLA will change the V5 if you send them the invoice for the kit.

Weird, although my blue one is an SE and although it has front fog lights, they've been retro fitted as there's no switch on the dash for them so they don't do anything. Gordon's is badged as a Vogue SE so I wonder what spec his is?

Seems that the spec changed as and when they felt like it. That latest one is badged as a Vogue but doesn't have the body colour bumpers, wooden bits on the steering wheel or wooden gearknob but does have the wooden centre console surround and contrasting piping on the seats. This one http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Range-Rover-4-6-Vogue-/222297678422 is also a Vogue but does have the extra wood bits This one http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/RANGE-ROVER-P38-MKII-4-0-V8-HSE-AUTO-1999-EXCELLENT-INTERIOR-AND-AIR-SUSPENSION-/272424509752 is an HSE but has body colour bumpers, this one http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/2001-LAND-ROVER-RANGEROVER-4-0-HSE-THOR-METALIC-GREY-/331993292434 is an HSE but does have the wood on the steering wheel while this one http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/1999-Land-Rover-Range-Rover-4-6-V8-auto-HSE-/252580464689 says it's an HSE but has body colour bumpers and the wood steering wheel and gearknob (although the red carpet suggests it's actually a Bordeaux)......

We've only done one before but people either travelled each day (if they weren't that far away) or 3 of us stayed in a hotel. Marty's workshop is at a farm near Marlborough in Wiltshire down a nicely muddy and rutted track.

It came about because there were people that had jobs that needed doing that they either didn't feel confident doing on their own, didn't have the specialist tools needed or jobs that needed two people. It wasn't really organised, it just sort of happened. My partner came along as she is always up for a bit of brake pedal pressing and the like but also thought about feeding us. Morat did the same so he was responsible for the BBQ while others fettled his car for him.