Bolt wrote:

Errrrr......Just what heater pipes run the full length of the car?

None on a P38... I started this thread when my Nissan Elgrand engine seized while on holiday and wondered if it'd be a good idea to pay any Rangerover owners to come with a trailer to save me, been keeping the thread updated with my Elgrand woes since. I suppose it does add a bit of context to the forum... other vehicles besides Rangerovers have their problems too ;-)

Changed that rear wheel bearing and been to Scotland since with the touring caravan for a few days clocking up another 700 miles towing and 1200 miles total (I like to look around unfamiliar areas). All quiet at the back end now but now seems the front OSF wheel bearing is on it's way out so that'll be my next job after I've sussed a slight coolant loss - reckon either a weak rad cap or a leak from one of the heater pipes that runs under the full length of the car, the spring clips where short sections of rubber pipe joins metal pipes are corroded, probably replace them with J clips. Went up via A1 Scotch Corner and came back down via the M6. Even in Scotland I see the odd car I converted to LPG.

I'm looking forward to reading more about this!

Only 2 hard working man made objects have been known to withstand 20 years wear and tear and still work like new... Gilbert's P38 and Trigger's Brush ;-)

Thanks Gilbert, have to see if I get time to digest the IVA stuff later.. Not being lazy but do you have a short answer for what the Elgrand can tow / what Bobby's take on it is likely to be if I get pulled (besides the subtracting the numbers on the plate method you described)? Fixed a few LPG issues on cars and a C class Yank RV today and now changing that rear wheel bearing I've been going on about. Half done now as long as putting the new one in goes smoothly.. Getting the drive plate off the hub is proving a bugger but is half way out now, getting the hub off the arm was a bugger before doing this bit. New bearing getting cool in the chest freezer for when I'm ready, wish I was as cool I've got a right sweat on.

Edit 1930... Bolx just realised I should've warmed the new hub bearing and cooled the driveplate lol.. Anyway, managed to split drive the plate from the old hub bearing, smash the old hub bearing up and get it's shells off the drive plate. Cleaned up the driveshaft spline (was a problem with it binding in the old bearing on removal). just waiting for the drive plate to cool. Seems the handbrake cable was attached to the drum brake actuator with a pin with circlips at each end, I was surprised it fell to bits on removal, seems because there are no grooves for the circlips in the pin. Will try replacing the pin with a cut down M6 bolt and nut.

Edit AM 23/8.. Got it done last night, all quiet now.

Gilbertd wrote:

Under the bonnet or on a door jamb you should have a plate or sticker. It will have 4 figures on it, these being (in order) front axle max weight, rear axle max weight, gross vehicle weight and gross train weight. The last one minus the third one will give the maximum trailer weight it is cerified to tow. If the plate doesn't exist, find out the vehicle weight and go on the recommended 80% of that as a max trailer weight.

I haven't looked at the plate yet. It will have been over 10 years old when imported so just needed a fog light and MOT not an IVA, if it doesn't have the plate is the recommended 80% also a hard/legal rule or something that can be ignored at owners risk physically and legally? Week after next I'll be taking the caravan to Scotland and past some apparently often staffed police weighbridge spots where others towing with Elgrands have already been pulled but they were only towing small lightweight trailers so got away with it anyway. I'll be at least pushing the limits for any kind of towing limit for an Elgrand so best case scenario for me would be if there is no hard rule/legal limit for towing with the import, next best case scenario would be if it is a very grey area.

Late reply, forgot to track the topic even after I'd asked questions, was on holiday that's my excuse. On the campsite there was a Unimog 6x6 kitted out as a campervan, German number plates.

There was a battery in the usual place besides the additional one.

Quite a few years ago I sold a DIY LPG conversion kit for this Autobiography.

The current owner recently bought it from a guy called Karl. I'm not sure if Karl was the owner I sold the DIY kit to or if the side vents (from an L322?) were fitted last time I saw it (when I calibrated the DIY install). The current owner reckons it's been stood a year with a HG problem, he's had a 'new' engine fitted and came here today for me to check it all over (wasn't confident the engine fitter had put the LPG system back on properly). I found the calibration was still spot on, only slight issue was someone had got wires to 2 LPG injectors mixed up which was causing a momentary 2 cylinder misfire when switching between fuels.

Still looks good! I wonder if anyone here knows this car or the previous owner? I advised the current owner to join this forum.

Someone fitted a pressure gauge to the air suspension.

The owner won't care that the reg number is visible

Extremely tidy condition all round. Immaculate and original(?) sheepskin rugs in the rear, I didn't take a pic though.

I do have a record of fitting a new LPG ECU on this install shortly after the DIY conversion... The owner had jet washed the original LPG ECU, I can remember finding it full of water! Must have removed the ECU box top cover when jet-washing, Thor so the LPG ECU is fitted where a Gems ECU would be.

gordonjcp wrote:

Someone set up an account apparently as RRTH years ago when this site started first. I emailed him at the time and he says it wasn't him, which might or might not be the case (it was registered from an IP somewhere in the US, but that's about all I know), and I locked it to prevent abuse. It can easily be unlocked, if he asks. If he wants to join the site - or LLT for that matter - then he'd be just as much a welcome and valued member of the rrpub community as anyone else.

Awww... I might have registered an account under the name RRTH here just to see the reactions it got lol. I'd have admitted it was me after a day or two ;-)

Heavy duty bit of kit!

On the other subject - why might I have been banned from the other forum when I haven't posted except to say hello?

Message I get when trying to access the other site...

Oops! We ran into some problems.
You have been banned for the following reason: Spam. Please contact the administrator if this was done in error..

Huh? I only ever posted once to say 'Hello new member here' lol

Link?

Pleased for you Mazz. Like Morat says Tom would be very welcome to join this forum, would suggest it to him.

I went to school with the vending machine guy, year younger than me, I think he thought vending machines would be an easy life / money lol.
You've been around a bit Bolt... maybe it's you being chased by an agency bringing this surveillance upon us ;-)

Thanks for all the tips / advice. I did realise the need for a battery and about side loading the mower bearing, thought about a CV perhaps from a steering joint to turn a pulley and usual belts between the pulley and alternators.

Looks like Gilbert's under surveillance too... Dunno whether to blame davew or someone here with one or two Russian ex's (ahem) for bringing this attention upon us lol.

Maybe a lot of digging out of the pond etc there Gilbert.. Pity it isn't 1986 or you could've got job centres to send you some unemployed youths as they did for digging canals out.. Probably a few takers too, 'work experience in France' sounds fun.

As a kid I made a wind turbine (first with mecano blades then with thermoplastic got from school) to turn an electric motor direct drive with a diode to charge a 6v lead/acid bike battery I found at the local tip and partly revived. It did charge when it was very windy, powered bulbs in the summer house that used to be at the bottom of the garden.

I'm sweating now, just found this image online..

It's only a bloody satellite pic of where I am so it seems MI5 are monitoring me too, for what reason I don't know. Think I'd better move to San Francisco too! But I can't quite remember the rest of the advice.. If you're going to San Francisco be sure to wear (what was it?), jeans maybe, probably something to help blend in with the general population lol. And I'll need a RangeRover to use as a post apocalypse vehicle.

I don't actually need a jenny, just a matter of interest really and got to wondering after looking at the cheap petrol lawnmowers. Thought if I ever did need one a self build one might make sense and might as well be 2kw rather than 1kw.. Could probably make one quieter than most stuff on the market by experimenting with exhausts, cheaper and to own spec.

I've seen quite a few big RV's with 3kw invertors installed but wired up to just a single 100Ah battery, even with the capable invertor that sort of setup isn't going to run at fill tilt for long before the battery is flat (knackered even) even with the engine running. So also imagined a lawnmower engine on the RV blowing it's exhaust into the big engine exhaust, alternators obviously local to the lawnmower engine but the battery(s) and invertor could be a bit more remote. A lot of big RVs have standard fit jennys but they're 110v 60hz, some campsites don't allow generators but nobody need know one is running if it's quiet enough.

I know a couple of alternators feeding individual batteries and a 24v invertor would be a fall back option if there were issues with connecting 2 alternators in parallel... as long as one or both were electrically insulated from the chassis of the setup.

Lots of torque from a water wheel but not much power?

Yesterday I bought a new petrol lawnmower from B&Q for £140. Got to agree with my dad's engineer mate than a complete lawnmower with petrol engine and all the other bits for that money seems ridiculously good vfm when you consider what went in to making it... Probably couldn't even buy the engine separately for that much. So I wondered about buying another just for the engine and using the engine to drive an alternator to charge a battery to power an invertor to make my own invertor generator. Alternators are cheap from scrapyards and the lawnmower engine would have enough power to drive several alternators.. So how about a high power invertor and several alternators in parallel... But are there any issues with wiring alternators in parallel?

I've got loads of sound equipment but stage stuff not hifi. Grew up with dad's flight-cased Revox's, Teacs, Akai etc real to reals around though and inherited an old Grundig real to real with 'magic winking eye' valve thing for recording level. At one point I used a Revox to record computer programs. My dad was an entertainer and ran a recording studio, one of the first 'acts' to make and use tape backing tracks due to most club organist and drummers being crap. He was working weeks away on cruise ships etc, one time he went he forgot to take his Revox so though he wouldn't be able to work, told the captain, captain said 'thats ok we have a Revox on the bridge that we used to use to record depth and seismic readings (nothing to do with Russian subs obviously) but we don't use anymore, you can borrow it'. Still got SL1210's, Denon 2500 and Denon 2600 amongst other stuff I used for DJing. Loads of speakers including 18" subs, Peavey Hisys 15" and 12" stuff, a JBL setup, loads of big power amps such as very heavy Peavey 2000 class b that needs repair), Peavey 2600 class H, active crossovers, mixers, etc. Sold my 4 EV SX500's just a few years ago, needed the space.

I think E34's handle great but that still isn't ideal if you can't see properly to drive and the A pillers get in the way of sight a bit, halfway between a comfy 7 series and nimble 3 series, like the chassis though and M5's and 4,4 aftermarket supercharged go well ;-)