Colin Lindsay

It still is - this is the side area of our stable, which thanks to adverts on Gumtree has shrunk by about half in the last two weeks as gardeners come and remove it for free. Despite being free for collection I've had a messages complaining that I won't deliver for free too...

I certainly will - I was totally unaware of this trip until John posted it, and it's definitely worth supporting, as are the good causes! Good luck guys and keep us updated.

I gave up on that magazine years ago, but the entire trip doesn't appear to have been very well publicised anywhere. Perhaps we'll only get to read about in on their return? They appear to be doing it on their own, rather than getting sponsorship or help (or have I missed that bit?) I sent boxes of spares and various donations to other enterprises over the years, that either never even started, or simply disappeared....

If I give her any more she'll blow....

Did you see today's BBC News? Britain is sending our wonderfully washed clean and sorted waste off to other countries for recycling. THEY have now decided they can't do it, and are really just dumping it. The waste is washing up elsewhere but as it originated in Britain, guess who's in trouble? Local recycling centres are the unluckiest places on earth, it's amazing how many of them get grants to startup and are heavily subsidised, amass a huge pile of recycling and then - hey presto - it strangely goes on fire.... it's happened to more than a few in recent years.

...and on Honda engined Rover 213s, where even the Haynes manual got it wrong and left me stuck at home for a number of days until an AA acquaintance sorted it for me.

In my experience one answer cancels out the other... yes I have, Steve, and having obtained a small plastic bottle of yellow and black-streaked grey goo that someone valiantly attempted to sell me when I requested a litre of Triumph White, I'll avoid Halfords in future... sorry Dave!

why is is that the best events are always so far away?

I once tried soda blasting but it wasn't any good; perhaps I wasn't throwing the bread hard enough?

I don't think I've any dip facilities near me so I'm having a Herald tub shotblasted BUT only the outer panel edges, seams and floors; the main part of the panels will be sanded down. A good shotblaster will know to be sympathetic with panels but if he's too rough he can ripple or distort them. The heavier metalwork - chassis, wheels etc is never any problem but the thinner panels are always a worry; besides which as it's sound I can keep the factory anti-drum coatings on the insides and just paint over that.

Make one yourself, a nice rectangular plate with the details hand-stamped. Or: you could also get a self-adhesive one made as an underbonnet sticker, same as Spits and Dolomites use to have. Any local graphics company would make one.

I'm currently laying in wait for my postman, he dumps the local school post through my letterbox, it's 100 yards away, and now all the post for the local auction rooms, which are 100 yards the other way... neither apparently have a post box which he can access. It's probably illegal to do that. I'm going to bill him for each delivery I have to do.

If it's debris holding a valve open, that would work, but if it's just wear and tear, it won't.

I had one bag leak, replaced that, one went down for no apparent reason, fixed that, then both went down - compressor failure? I replaced the compressor with a new one which failed in under a month. Add to that two sensor arm replacements and I decided coils was the lesser of two evils.

No, mine sits full all the time and never drops despite weeks or even months of non-use. Yours is just draining back from the pump through a non-sealing valve. You can live with it - expect more pumping or cranking before it starts, which if nothing else will circulate the oil around the engine first, or else invest in a replacement pump.

I had to remove the air suspension in mine after it went down three or four times within months and the compressor failed. Coils were a huge improvement but the drive to the local specialists, to get the computer settings reset from air suspension to coils, was a 40-mile nightmare with the alarm chime constantly sounding to inform me that the (now-removed) air suspension wasn't working... As for speed ramps..... en-route to the Circuit of Ireland Rally in 1980 in a much modified and lowered MG Midget (don't ask... ) the Irish border checkpoint at Aughnacloy had such vicious ones they tore the exhaust clean off, so we had to return home without ever getting near the race...

In all likelihood your fuel is draining back from the system and needs time to get repumped back to the carbs; obviously the longer you leave it the longer a restart takes. Is there a priming lever on the pump? As Pete says a new pump with new valves that will (hopefully) keep the fuel in the pipes should cure the problem; it won't be the diaphragm but a valve that's faulty.

Your control box contacts may be seized closed in which case the current from the battery is reversing when the engine is turned off and the battery now drives the dynamo, instead of the other way round, and the strain of fighting against the resistance from the fan belt is causing overheating since it can't spin freely. If your replacement control box is old stock it may have seized through lack of use; a good clean of the coils and contacts may get it working.

Does that mean waxed string has already been dehaired?

yep, it's a different model: as you've said - there are either two lights, or one long light, but they can't be combined into the same mounting holes.

Shaun, you have a lovely attitude; if your son has inherited it, he'll go far. Me, I'm just a grumpy pensioner....

Aw no... I can't DO multiple quotes so bear with me and answer your name when called..... Richard - you've put an idea into my head, is it feasible to have a fully charged battery at each charging point, so instead of charging YOUR battery you take it out, swap with a full one, and drive off instantaneously? Car designers take note! Anglefire - I miss my Discovery too.... carried an entire band's worth of equipment on tour plus five people, and went everywhere. Shawn - I put all my plastic in the bin too, the a local collection company called Bryson House comes along, throws it onto their lorry, and it all blows off again along the road. I can always tell when they've been, the verges are strewn with litter. Is that everybody or have I missed one?

A bubble for a spirit level or a tin of tartan paint.... I started work at 14, 4pm - 6pm and Saturdays / school holidays for four years whilst still at school; thankfully Uni got me away from that environment. I still remember the terrible jobs they gave me. While everyone else sat about and joked over tea or ciggies I was washing windows or cleaning old store rooms, or even outdoors cutting grass. I spent two weeks clearing out an old store of files and records - open the Lever arch folder, shake contents into bin for incineration, dispose of file cover. THEN the Area Manager found out and went ballistic, as for tax and other important reasons they all had to be kept for seven years or more. Thankfully, at the bottom of the food chain, they couldn't blame me....

4x4?? Ours (I'm surrounded by three farms) just use tractors for everything, including the weekly shopping from Tescos... and their teenage sons drive round the square outside the local disco at weekends in huge green John Deeres with orange lights flashing. Must impress the Hell out of the girlies.

If it's available in 12mm it looks like a fairly simple design to adapt for our system.