I always have busmans holidays, even when I went to Latvia the first thing I had to do when I got there was fit a new set of discs and pads to Dina's father's car. I'd only get bored if I had nothing to play with and would end up taking my own car to bits for the hell of it.

I can hear the brake pump on mine but the EAS pump is virtually silent, there's no way I would be able to hear it with the engine running.

As well as shifting cars around Europe this weekend I took the opportunity to give my mate a hand in getting his EAS working. He's only just got the car and when he sent me a few pictures of it when he got it, I could easily spot why the EAS switch did nothing and the suspension didn't drop at speed despite the previous owner having spent a fortune on it. The biggest clue was in this picture

Errm, that's not original.....

As well, there were signs that somebody had been in there from the fact that the valve block appeared to be complete but there was a reason why the pump wouldn't run, it was disconnected

Although the pump looked OK, I suspect it had been replaced as the lid of the EAS box suggested that it had got a little bit warm at some time in the past

I pointed him in the right direction and he got a rebuild kit for the pump and a set of O rings to rebuild the valve block and did those. So, in theory, all I had to do when I got there was connect everything up and maybe clear the odd fault or two with the Nanocom or the RSW EASUnlock software (as the cable and an old laptop live in the car anyway). The dash was showing EAS Manual when he first started it up so that said the jumpers had been fitted in the EAS ECU plug.

Fairly simple you might think but in anticipation of any possible problems I removed the valve block and compressor from my SE and bunged them in the boot just in case. We started off by getting rid of the Schrader valves and putting the pipes back where they belonged in the valve block. We then turned our attention to the electrical side of the system. Fitted the delay relay which he'd found in the glovebox, removed about 3 feet of insulating tape from the plug for the EAS ECU, checked to see if it had any jumpers in there (which it hadn't) and plugged it back into the ECU. Then removed the EAS bypass harness fitted to the BeCM (the expensive alternative to a pair of jumpers at the EAS ECU plug), refitted relay 20 which had been removed and figured that it might work. Started the engine and nothing. No lights on the display, pump not running, zilch. Pulled the display and rocker switch out of the dash and found that had also been disconnected, so plugged that in. At least that now lit up but the pump still didn't run. Use the Nanocom to force it to run and it did. Checked and found that not only had the pump needed a new piston and sleeve, a replacement reed valve he'd had to make from an old feeler gauge fitting (as the original one was split) but it seemed the thermal switch was open circuit too. Fitted the pump from the boot of my car.

Now it ran, it sounded a bit noisy but it was generating air, so much air that after a couple of minutes there was a pop and the sound of air hissing out. The collet on the large pipe just beneath the exhaust silencer had obviously fallen out so the pipe had popped out. Pulled the collet from the valve block in the boot of my car. Left it running with doors open for about 10 minutes then closed the doors to see if it would lift. It all appeared to be doing the right things, no fault messages, bottom light on with the standard height light flashing. That's about all it did though, the suspension was still doing nothing. Seems that although the pump was running, it wasn't filling the tank for some reason. Maybe a problem inside the valve block, maybe he'd mucked something up when fitting the O ring kit, we didn't know, but it didn't work. So, pull it out and fit the one from my boot. So now it has my pump and valve block in it. Fired it up again, pump runs, left it for a while and slowly it started to lift up off it's knees. It bloody works! A squirt of the soapy water showed leaks from just about every one of the multiple connectors in the air lines but I keep some of those (along with a length of pipe and a set of Schrader valves) in my emergency get me home if something goes horribly wrong kit in the boot. Swapped the cheapo pipe connectors for decent quality ones and no more leaks, or at least none of any immediate concern, those that were left were at the valve block where a couple of the pipes went in and they were cured by trimming a couple of mm off the end of the pipe so the O rings sat at a different place and not in a groove in the pipe. It was all working although appeared to be sitting a bit high. Admittedly it wasn't on flat ground so we took it down the road to a nice new, flat car park to put it next to mine and measure the heights at each setting. Spot on, no tweaking of heights needed. The only thing we hadn't checked was if it lowered to motorway height at 50 mph but that would need a run down to the Autoroute, even 50 kph is pushing it on the mountain roads around where he lives.

The pump still seemed noisy though. It could be heard easily inside the car whereas on mine the only way I can tell if it is running is by opening the bonnet and putting my hand on the box lid. I've also heard other people say they can hear their pump running too. We had another look at it and compared it with mine. The pump sits on 3 rubber mountings with a washer above and below them. These washers are dished and they were on upside down. The bottom ones need to go with the concave side downwards and the top ones with the concave side upwards. With them like that the engine was fired up and to see if the pump was running I had to put my hand on it to feel the vibration, it was completely silent.

A pretty good half days work in all, even if we did end up having to use the valve block and compressor from my SE which I now have to replace. All that was left was to get it running properly on LPG but that is a whole different story.......

Having got home a couple of hours ago from a trip that started at 4pm yesterday and during which the outside temperature varied between 18 degrees and -1, my heater kept the car at the required 20 degrees all the time. The air temperature from the face vents was the same as that from the footwell vents. I could open a window and let the warm air out, the output from the heater would get hotter to get it back up to temperature but no matter what I did (it helps to have something to play with on a drive like that), I couldn't manage to get air at a different temperature from the face and footwell vents. The heater box may be simple but you must have something wrong.

I understood that the longer inlet tract on the Thor compared with the GEMS trumpets gave more bottom end grunt. The tuners are usually dealing with engines fitted into TVRs and the like so don't want more grunt, they want more top end so shorten the trumpets. If an extra 1cm does have an effect, it will be to increase bottom end power, just what you want in a P38.

I used to use black tape but it would come off when the car was pressure washed and the edges of the tape would damage the headlamp wiper blades. The same would happen with those stick on beam benders that alter the beam pattern. With most of my long journeys being on the wrong side of the road, it didn't really matter if I had a flat cut off which is why I decided to paint the masks on the lights, looks like I need to find better paint though. I've also owned a few cars with either Marchal or Cibie lights where you could alter the dip pattern by rotating the bulb in the holder, a great idea but nobody seems to do it these days other than some very expensive luxury cars with HID lights where you can alter the dip pattern from the onboard computer.

Boge.......

If I remember right, Gordon's is badged as a Vogue SE too although a GEMS. Survival rate does seem pretty good but you know what they say. 75% of all Land Rovers ever made are still on the road (but the rest managed to get home again....).

If I remember right, Gordon's is badged as a Vogue SE too although a GEMS.

I got here this morning and only one person flashed me on the way down so it can't be that bad. It isn't tape either, I masked the area and sprayed it with the bumper paint before going to Latvia but the headlamp wiper covers more of it on that side and has worn it off

You've definitely got something wrong Nick. I've just driven down to Dover, outside temperature reported as 15 degrees and the HEVAC set on 21, Auto. Once the interior was up to temperature the flow and temperature from the face vents dropped to about ambient and the footwell vents dropped to the same.

OK, tea break over, back on yer 'ead. All back in one piece, even with new badges and after having a bit of a rest (other than 480 miles last Sunday with only half the trim back on) it's back to work for the newly resprayed ex-Plod. 1969 Triumph Bonneville and a 1976 Triumph TR6 on an Ifor Williams CT177 tilting trailer that will be in the South of France by breakfast time tomorrow.

How are you getting on with yours Mark?

Although I can't see what (but will admit I've never been inside a heater box) but you've obviously got something wrong. I leave mine on 20 degrees and Auto and it just works. The only slightly odd thing I have on mine is that if both sides are set at 20 degrees, the drivers side cools off sooner than the passenger side, If I leave the passenger side at 20 and put the drivers at 21, the air from the vents is the same temperature from both.

No, you'll need the earlier one, I've just emailed it to you along with the installation manual and software guide.

That's a Zeta N, a lower pressure version of the one OB has. As long as the injector jets are the correct size, then not a problem. It should switch back when the pressure drops so that would point towards a dodgy pressure sensor.

It should come out of the main LPG loom. 4 wires that SHOULD have an 8 way Molex connector with only 4 ways used the same as your Leonardo. No idea why someone would chop the plug off though.

Just been out in mine and probably not a fair test as it's a whole 1 degree outside so I need the heater. However, I know that in warmer weather, once mine has the car interior up to a comfortable temperature, the air from the face vents cools off but I've never bothered to check to see what is coming out of the footwell vents. This evening, it started off blowing lots of hot air out of both face and footwell vents. Once the interior of the car was at a reasonable temperature, the face vent output went down to very little but still lots of nice warm air at the footwell to keep the interior warm and my feet nice and toasty. I would assume once the interior temperature was up then the air to the feet would cool down too (but it's unlikely to do that at the moment).

I don't have rear underseat vents as Mr plod didn't need heat in the back so the output for these vents are blanked off. Didn't realise this at first but it does explain why I wondered what the problem was with getting access to the blend motors and O rings as I don't have the duct that gets in the way.

Original Zavoli Alesei rather than the later Alesei N, Zavoli Zeta S reducer (the higher output one so that's good) and the ridiculously expensive but extremely good, Zavoli badged Matrix XJ544 injectors. A very good system that shouldn't give any trouble and even if it does everything is rebuildable.

While you're in there, sort out the plumbing for the LPG reducer and put it in series with the heater. Apart from the slow warm up and/or feeble output from the heater at idle on a cold day, you'll get rid of two places for air locks to sit (shouldn't the hoses into the heater be straight rather than curved up like that?). Never having pulled a Thor apart, I can't tell you if the studs are original or not but they do look a little long. I can't see land Rover wasting that amount of metal.......

You sure it's leaking from the HG and not the rocker cover? HG doesn't have any appreciable oilways running through it. No doubt someone a little more dexterous will tell you how to get to the ignition coils, probably requires fingers like ET with the grip of Mole grips......

I remember reading somewhere when I first got involved in wasted spark systems that the extra spark isn't so great as it isn't doing anything. On one of the very old Crypton analysers with a CRT, you could see the difference in strength between the spark that was firing and the one that wasn't. I'd suggest leads as well, I've run these http://www.island-4x4.co.uk/ignition-lead-4046-9498-intermotor-bra2001-p-3971.html (but for a Thor you'd need http://www.island-4x4.co.uk/ignition-lead-4046-9802-intermotor-hls103-bra2002-p-3972.html) and the only time I've had a problem has been when I had a hose split and they got doused in coolant. Even after they'd dried out it looked like Blackpool illuminations under the bonnet in the dark.