The UK/IERE Land Rover Owner Daily Digest

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Date: Wed, 27 Mar 1996 10:36:37 GMT
From: Dr Grahame J Harden <G.Harden@surrey.ac.uk>

Just my pound of best British beef on the leaded head issue. It may
well become a financial viability if you use the heap abroad, where
the difference between (green!) unleaded and (lethal!) 4* is normally
even larger than the UK. 
As we are all aware, it makes no odds to the environment.... the only
'green' car is one that does not move. Just one thing though, please
remind yourselves that running unleaded with no (working) catalytic 
converter in the system produces toxins that make it ssooo important
to keep the fumes from seeping into the car itself.
Just makes me so mad when I see all the crap printed about the old
leaded cars bringing the world to a standstill. Unfortunately this is
the result of the misinformed (ignorant) masses.

Phew, with that over....

If anyone knows of a reasonable 109 2.25 SIIA/III Diesel (hard-top,
plain is icing on the cake) going in the Wiltshire/Surrey/Sussex area,
please give me a buzz. If you want to exchange! your LWB diesel for a 
SWB one (really nice...) I can do that. I need a bigger heap.

Cheers

Grahame

------------------------------

From: CJ BETTON N9203387 <n9203387@hud.ac.uk>
Subject: Unleaded heads.
Date: Wed, 27 Mar 96 11:03:00 gmt

Hi all,

Being a nice student I've come in to clear my mail, and thought I'd add my 
two P's worth to the unleaded debate.

These are my own personal expediences, so don't take them as gospel.

I stuck one of those Turner engineering 'High Performance' lead free heads 
on my shed. I've still got the timing and everything set as when it was on 
leaded fuel, and it gives about the same performance as on leaded fuel. The 
only alteration I've found you have to do is turn the idle mixture up as the 
colortune test shows it runs weaker on unleaded fuel. In my case it payed 
for itself quite quickly as I use 50+ litres of fuel a week.

I'm not really sure what difference it makes to the economy though, as I 
added an overdrive at the same time, and tend to drive flat out most of the 
time. I've also got all the other "economy" things fitted :- free wheeling 
hubs, webber carb, magnetic fuel conditioner. It returns about 18 mpg with 
all this lot fitted. This figure would probably be greater if I drove 
properly and didn't have a worn out drive train :-)

Hope some of this may help someone, somewhere,
Chris

1961 SIIa Swb,
Turner unleaded head,
Overdrive,
Worn out parts fitted.

------------------------------

Date: Wed, 27 Mar 1996 16:28:47 +0000 (GMT)
From: hugh.davies@rnb.com (Hugh J.E. Davies)
Subject: Re: D90 Anti sway-bars

Land Rovers managed without sway bars (or as they are called
in The Land of Solihull, anti-roll bars) perfectly well
for some decades. They were only fitted after complaints
from owners about excessive body roll in on-road use.

Regards,

hugh.

('89 RR Vogue EFi Auto - no anti-roll bars!)
-----
Hugh J.E. Davies, AVP Unix Support,
Republic National Bank, 30 Monument Street, London.
This is *NOT* an official publication of RNB.
Personal email to huge@axalotl.demon.co.uk, please.

------------------------------

From: crash@merl.com
Date: Wed, 27 Mar 1996 11:42:50 -0500
Subject: Warning on Silicone Sealant on electrical connectors!

Danger, Will Robinson!  Take cover, Dr. Smith!

Don't use regular silicone rubber sealant on or near electrical
connections! 

The problem is this: common silicone rubber sealants use acetic
acid as an inhibitor- the catalyst that hardens the rubber works
only in the presence of trace amounts of water.  To keep the 
rubber from hardening in the tube, the manufacturers add a small
amount of anhydrous acetic acid to the rubber premix.  The a.a.a.
absorbs water "permanently" and keeps the goo in the tube from
turning solid.  It isn't a _large_ amount of acetic acid, just
enough to make the shelf-life of the rubber reasonable for sale.

Now, when you squeeze the rubber out, the anhydrous acetic does
two things- it saturates with water, and it evaporates out of the
rubber.  This is what causes the "vinegar" smell of silicone caulk.

The problem is this- the "vinegar" is actually MUCH stronger than
regular vinegar- it will catalyze corrosion of copper!  I've seen
copper wires corroded right through in less than 6 months after I 
"potted" them in silicone tub caulk.

Note that you don't even have to apply the silicone directly to the
wire- the acetic acid vapors will build up in any enclosed area (like
a taillight housing, ferinstance).

A much better potting compound is hot glue.  Warm the wires up as 
hot as you dare - a hair dryer on high is perfect.  Then glop on
hot glue from a hot glue gun- two or three coats is good.  Hot glue
is polyethylene based, waterproof, and doesn't emit anything that
corrodes copper.  And you can remove it just by getting it hot.

The only downside to hot glue potting is that hot glue softens at
130F, and so should not be used where that temperature will be 
exceeded, such as on headlight or driving lights.  

For elevated temperature installations, clear epoxy is good.  Epoxy
will stay hard at temperature if it's allowed to cure at that temperature
(has to do with the crosslinking, I understand).  So, turn the lamp
on, apply the clear epoxy (not the kind with steel filings in it!) and
leave the lamp on till the epoxy is hard thru and thru.

Another handy material to use is silicone mastic tape, available at 
Radio Shack.  This is a NON-hardening material that doesn't emit the 
corrosive acetic acid; it's sticky and pliable, like silly putty on a bad
day.  It's safe for direct application to copper parts.

There are also "electronics-safe" silicone rubber potting compounds,
they don't use acetic acid as an inhibitor.  They're also somewhat
more expensive and are often "two-part"- you mix A and B and then apply.
The advantage over epoxy is that the silicone remains flexible AND it
also is heat resistant (typically to at least 400F).

Last of all, there are urethanes.  Aqua-seal is one of the handiest I 
know of.  You can either apply it straight from the tube (viscous, 24 hours
to cure), or mix it with an acetone-based accellerator/adhesion agent and
then it cures in 2-4 hours.  Once cured, it's inert and VERY abrasion
resistant.  It is also very "peel" resistant- unlike silicones, which seem
to be easy to peel off, this stuff sticks like a fresh booger.  It seems 
inert to copper but I haven't run long-term tests yet.  It's not as
heat resistant as silicone, though.

	-Bill Y.

------------------------------

Date: Wed, 27 Mar 1996 22:28:32 +0000
From: bbourke@iol.ie (Brendan bourke)
Subject: Jeremy Clarkson, Sunday Times 24/03/96

I hope this is the correct address for the LRO-UK, if not please accept my
appologies.
I would like some reaction to the following -
Reading Jeremy Clarkson in last Sundays Times he says "the Range Rover is a
superior vehicle to the big Jeep but I fear the ownership package would
include endless bouts of mardiness, weekly trips to the dealer and fierce
rows about yet another broken gearbox."
"The best off roader in the world, then, is American and it will remain so
until people at Land Rover say to their suppliers 'If you send us one more
faulty part, we are going to burn down your factory'."
           *************************************************
            Brendan Bourke,           Voice/fax  0405 53019
            Mylerstown,               Mobile     087 519059
            Carbury,               International : 
            Co. Kildare.           Voice/fax +353 405 53019    
            Ireland.               Mobile    +353 87 519059     
                            Email  bbourke@iol.ie
                Longitude 006=B055 W  Latitude 053=B022 N
            *************************************************   

------------------------------

Date: Wed, 27 Mar 1996 20:40:57 +0000
From: Jonathan Badger <badger@tipcote.demon.co.uk>
Subject: LPG (propane gas) powered LRs

Just in case this message didn't get on the UK bit (I'm a bit new to
this game), I'm sending it out again.

I am the proud owner of a 1981 SIII LWB Safari with a 2.6lt petrol
engine. I bought it because it was the model I wanted, & it has a LPG
conversion. It wasn't running in gas mode when bought (I fitted a new
regulator), but now cruises quite happily on the stuff - however, low
speed running on LPG is a non-event right now, due to low compression.
I've got the head off to fix this problem, having tested it with a
decent compression tester. The head is being skimmed & at least one
exhaust valve needs replacing.

I'm hoping that there may be someone out there who has experience with
gas conversions & that they can offer some info, hints or tips. I reckon
that the original gas equipment was supplied by LANDI-HARTOG.

Many thanks, Jonathan.
************************************************************
        JONATHAN BADGER - 1981 2.6lt SIII Safari owner  
************************************************************

------------------------------

  END OF LAND ROVER OWNER DIGEST 
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