Clive603 wrote:

So far as mass production factory "off the machine" quality is concerned a visit to the BMW motorcycle factory in Berlin a couple or three years before the wall came down was illuminating. In a not particularly good way. In particular a pile of imperfect K series heads on the floor awaiting re-work all looked well beyond saving!

Yeh, they mixed up the good and bad piles of heads so good heads were melted down and production vehicles got the dodgy heads thus explaining K series hg problems lol.

Can imagine finished pumps freshly off a machine just being lobbed into a finished product container before getting packaged up for sale, marks etc due to them hitting each other in parts bin.

Sloth wrote:

http://p38webshop.co.uk/index.php?route=product/product&path=84&product_id=97

I didn't know about Marty's webshop... I'll start to point P38 owners I see there, have already pointed quite a few to this forum.

Never done a tv fan on a P38 but have on plenty other vehicles... and in younger days have been infuriated by the job lol. Last one I did was on a V12 BMW that had probbaly been on the car from new (so 18 years) with a water pump leak for dunno how long corroding it on, I ended up with a scaf bar on the pump spanner on that one, no way was it shifting without bracing the pulley and a wrap around grip on the pulley wasn't going to cut it.
Usually start out trying the quick blow method. If that doesn't work try holding the pulley with something like an oil filter chain / strap with an old belt round the pulley to prevent damaging it. If that doesn't work you can sometimes get on pulley bolts with a spanner braced against the shaft but they're often tight especially if corroded from pump leaks. Since Gilbert's said you can get on bolts with a bar with a hole in instead of a spanner on a P38 it seems a good plan to me.
If it's been off recently though would think it'd come off again with a tap.

Heater core on a series Landrover is just a bit easier to access...
Last heater matrix I did was on a Zafira, relatively easy but still not piece of piss, never any fun working on stuff buried under dashboards. I ran Chrysler Grand Voyagers for years, matrix access on the early ones was a dash out job but on post 2000 models can be easily accessed from passenger footwell. I think it was the same story with heater resistor packs (well, transistor drive pack on post 2000 ones) and same with blend motors (which I've done on later ones).

Sell it to a seat sniffer for a decent markup? If buying I probably wouldn't pay more than usual... but the thought occurs some people would, and as I'm also ginner the thought occurs I could contribute a few short curly's.... Her ex car and a few short curly's, some buyers might pay silly prices lol. But don't sniff the seat when I've been there.

Not that there'll be any pressure build up if there's a serious leak now but at any point following the work have you noticed a lot of pressure (by squeezing pipes etc)? If the rad has gone it'll need a new one anyway and they do seem to go wrong after being left empty of coolant for a while.

The only interpretation issue I've encountered was when I told an American I was nipping out to smoke a fag.
And I remember my old English teacher saying he once accidentally started a fight by saying an American's wife was dogmatic.
lol

Smug mode ;-) I've developed the habit of never leaving keys in a vehicle unless at least a window is down, I won't even do it with my own cars. P38s are among vehicles I'd worry most about breaking the habit with.

Done the Corsa nsf wheel bearing this morning without a press. Knocked the drive hub out of the hub assembly, circlip off, knocked the bearing out of the hub assembly, ground the inner bearing down from the drive hub, cut a slot in it and chiselled it off. New bearing in the freezer, heated the hub assembly and it dropped straight in no forcing needed. Drive hub in the freezer and heated the outside of the hub assembly to heat the bearing a bit and that went in with a gentle tap. Still some noise at the front, will be doing the other side soon and probably looking at CV joints if that doesn't completely quieten it.

Thanks to both of you.

The one Bri linked to is by far the cheapest 12ton rated I've seen, others on Ebay are double the price, triple the price at Machine Mart.
Nearly clicked to buy but it wouldn't be here before Tuesday and I want to get started before then, might just use my mate's press instead.

What does the internal diameter need to be? LPG suppliers sell water hose down to 10mm ID.
https://www.lpgshop.co.uk/10mm-water-coolant-semperit-hose-1-meter/
I haven't checked TinleyTech but they probably sell a wider range, their old Bigas systems used narrow water pipe.
Not silicone but is that such a bad thing?

Considering buying a press. I've previously managed without one even for jobs where a press would have made things much easier but I now have a few wheel bearings to change at around the same time and buying one seems to make sense. Don't want to spend a fortune on some massive 75ton overkill rated floor standing thing but don't want to buy anything that's not up to the job either. First use will be for wheel bearings on the ML and on a Corsa (just bought for the missus to learn to drive in). What tons rating should be on top of the job but without too much overkill / bulk / expense?

I know of a couple of Nissan Elgrand engines that ate little steel screws that hold plenum flaps in place (flaps that alter airflow route in plenum, short route for high rpm, longer route for low rpm torque).. Six flaps on the V6 engine one for each cylinder (port runner in plenum), each flap is like a little throttle butterfly but performs the different function. One engine was destroyed, another ate the screws but seemed unaffected - I found the loose butterfly, it must have somehow gone against airflow direction and uphill in the plenum to come to rest on top of another butterfly for a different cylinder. Owner had me removed them all to prevent the same happening again, couldn't tell any difference driving the car afterwards but it'd probably be a couple of ft/lbs down on torque at low rpm. The flaps would be too wide to make it as far as the valves but the screws...

Sorry to bring other marques into discussion again, almost on topic though!

Morat wrote:

My wife and I were in convoy during the boxing day floods a couple of years back. We had a BMW tagging along for quite a few miles using us a wading stick to see if he could follow us. That worked well for him until we were up to the doors and he was suddenly left in the middle of nowhere :)

Wonder if the water level had risen at earlier flood points when the BMW backtracked lol...

RutlandRover wrote:

Used to camp there every year with uni friends, was great fun watching people ignore the warnings about what times they can arrive and drive in, think they can drive through the water then get stuck.

Some would just stop in the water, some would drive off the edge of the road and suddenly find themselves in even deeper water and others would drive in to the rocks that marked the edge of the road when the tide was out.

Some people are really dumb.

Went at least a few times a year as a kid and through teenage years. Dad was mad on boating (and also Landrovers for a good few years), at various times had all sort from inflatables, little powerboats, big powerboats to yachts. I've known it snow there in June... didn't stop him from waterskiing all the way from Shell Island to Abersoch and back again a couple of weeks before having a hip replacement.

One of the few driving conditions I'd prefer an oldskool diesel with mechanical injection pump for.

Reminds me of one holiday on 'Shell Island / Mochras' in Wales as a kid, it's a peninsula and the only link road to mainland is a tidal causeway... I canoed over abandoned cars with headlights still lit on that causeway

I've now got a supposedly good engine on a pallet in the garage.
After I'd bought it the scrappies told me that if I want to know anything about the engine I could ask the dad of the bloke who wrote the car off... the dad runs a local garage and should be in the know! Oil in it is a bit black, would've thought a bloke who had spent so much on custom parts for his car and is also the son of a garage owner would have changed the oil before it got like that.
Scrappies removed it with the front subframe and gearbox, they asked me if I wanted to buy as an assembly.... If the price was right I might have if it was the 4wd version but this was the 2wd setup so the gearbox didn't have the transfer case I might have wanted, plus they (or the crash) had bent a bottom arm. If mine was 2wd and I was definitely going to go with Gilbert's method of putting in from underneath with the engine on the frame I might have paid the extra but I'd probably rather split the engine and gearbox than get into the unknown realm of seals etc between gearbox and transfer case on this setup.
No local mechanics I've asked so far want to take on the job of fitting the engine (begs the question why not?) so I'll probably end up doing it myself. Just two more garages to ask including the dad of the bloke who rolled the car. I'll ask him about the engine and if he says it was a good 'un I'll ask if he wants to fit it, if he says there was something amiss with it I might end up digging into the engine myself before I still end up fitting it myself.

Would love that sort of adventure even if sleeping outside with the crocs hehe.
But sods law says the next bit to go wrong will be a part he doesn't carry, crank sensor or something.

Morat wrote:

Lpgc wrote:
realised I may have some time toward the end of this month.

Oh, you do, do you?

(just kidding, they're both running great - thanks!)

Argh hehe!

Really need to do some work on my own stuff.. have an Elgrand that still has a dead engine, ML that needs at least one wheel bearing and probably a driveshaft, I write this sat in my 'outside office' Chrysler Grand Voyager with busted radiator, bad nsf wheel bearing and needs a battery (although I bought a new battery that I made sure would fit the GV on the caravan). Out of the 3 the GV would be the easiest fix unless MOT man found anything else wrong with it... I'd better check it's sills. I've been pestering the girlfriend to learn to drive for years but now she's up for it.. so will probably buy a little manual car for her before starting on the ML so will at least have a working car while others are off the road.

Gilbertd wrote:

Dropping the subframe is the best bet and you've got the gear for doing it already. Just unbolt it and let it sit on the floor then use your chain block to lift the front of the car off it.

The only place I can attach the chain block is on the girder above the high garage door, there's a bit of a rise on the ground under this area but it is the same place I've had many engines out of cars. The more I think about it the more your idea makes sense and I might end up going that route if I do the job myself. I may yet do the job myself, realised I may have some time toward the end of this month.