treks

3 hours ago, desertdude said:

That's true but you are talking of full loaded and kitted out with steel overlanders. Might work for a empty nearly stock regular swb 4x4. No harm in trying as he's already got them

That's true, but I was not referring to overland expedition vehicles. I was referring to common-or-garden variety SUV's like the ones you guys use in the desert. We have hundreds of graded off-road trails, some of which allow unmodified SUV's (so-called soft roaders) on them, and it is on these trails that we often see the weight of an SUV defeat expensive suspension mods. 

But it is as you say; the OP has the shocks already, so he might as well try them out to see what works best. 

9 hours ago, desertdude said:

I think I would follow Baja Truck settings as they seem to just glide over rough terrain Fast compression with slow rebound.

You jump or attack an obstacle and you land the soft compression absorbs up all the impact and with a slow rebound you don't bounce back up like a spring 

You make a good point here, but the problem is that many SUV's are so heavy that it is very difficult to control the compression rate without the suspension bottoming out. We see this all the time on grade 1 & 2 off road trails that allow SUV's on them- some people spend large fortunes on suspension mods and especially on coil-over shocks with multiple adjustments, but in the end, the sheer weight of their vehicles defeat even the most expensive suspension mods.  

We never had the 2.8 engine here- at least, not officially. What we did have many of was the 2.3L version of the V6 engine in a few Sierra variants. In my opinion, the 2.3L was a far superior engine to both the 2.8L we saw in some unofficially imported Granada's and the 3.0 in the many variants of the Cortina. 

Just a Ford Sierra, but I must admit I have never seen this colour scheme before, We only got them in single colours. Sierra's, with colour coded double spoilers I mean- not Merkurs.  

I think coil over shocks with 4-way damping adjustment are wasted on vehicles that mostly do dune bashing. Sure, having some adjustment to firm up the suspension is a nice thing to have if you do lot of soft sand, but for the most part, these kinds of shocks are much better suited to track racing applications to improve steering, braking, and general high-speed cornering ability. 

23 hours ago, Ale Vallecchi said:

There may be hope for your daughter. Check the paragraph below taken from DXB Airport's site:

Issuance of Visas

Effective March 17, UAE authorities have temporarily suspended the issuance of all
entry visas. This does not apply to those passengers holding diplomatic passports or
those who have had visas issued prior to March 17.
It also does not apply to passengers who hold passports from the following countries.
These passengers can continue to travel to and from the UAE although may be subject
to additional screening.
Australia, Austria, Belgium, Brunei, Bulgaria, Canada, China, Croatia, Cyprus, Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hong Kong, Hungary, Iceland, Ireland, Italy (from Rome only), Japan, Latvia, Liechtenstein, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malaysia, Malta, Monaco, Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Russia, San Marino, Singapore, Slovakia, Slovenia, South Korea, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland,
The Vatican, United Kingdom and The United States of America.
 

Wait, what? Not from South Africa? We only have 62 cases as of tonight, so why are they letting in people from Spain or other places that have more cases than us? NOT fair...

16 hours ago, Barry said:

I was supposed to do a visa run next week then the news dropped on Saturday that they’re not issuing new visas from the 17th so it was a big panic to get a last minute flight yesterday. Airport was crazy on the way out. Super busy and like something from a zombie apocalypse movie with half the people wearing masks and rubber gloves. Coming back into Dubai was a different story. It was like a ghost town. Hardly anyone there and only 2 immigration counters open. I’ve got an aunt stuck in Spain at the minute too. Missed her flight home and now can’t get through to the airline. 
 

I really hope they’re not going to start doing this with every seasonal virus every year or life could become unmanageable for a lot of people very quickly. 
 

Anyway, I’m ready for total lockdown. Plenty of beer and baked beans in the cupboard and Netflix subscription paid up to date. Bring it on. I could use a break from society. 

That's the spirit!

On 3/11/2020 at 8:31 AM, Barry said:

Another new one to me, Ford Verona. Basically a 2 door Orion. Would love one of these and drop in the RST CVH engine. 

We knew these as Mazda 323' s, which we reborn as Ford Meteors when Ford and Mazda started a local joint venture. 

12 hours ago, Gaurav said:

Like this one, maybe.....?

Exactly, only without the alloy wheels. 

21 hours ago, desertdude said:

Jeez man talk about a ludite!  Bet you still use an old typewriter and write angry letters to the local newspaper sent via the post office

Of course. Is there another way?

On 3/5/2020 at 5:37 PM, Barry said:

Share some pics please? Quite collectible in Ireland especially the GTi with the 4age although sold as Corolla. 

Don't have pics, unfortunately. I don't own a camera or a device with a camera. 

The variant you mention was never sold here, and I have only seen a few unofficial imports. So my Tazz is bog standard and it uses the 1.3 2E carburetor engine.   

NIce colour. Same as my Toyota Tazz. 

22 hours ago, Wrangeld said:

Geneva Motor show was cancelled, so the engineers that just spent their annual budget on a toy need to do something to show for it. Normally, they woudl take it to Geneva, have everyone ooh and ahh and fie years later you get a watered down version of the beautiful vehicle they created. This year ... no show (literally), so they needed to put it out in Social and other media. 

Is it beautiful? Based on the last Bentleys it's getting better. Is it worth the price of a really nice home, no. But as I have said before, you can't drive a house, but you can sleep in a car. 

True, but why would you want to sleep in a car- no matter how much you paid for it? 

What would happen if all the park assist systems in all cars/vehicles suddenly stopped working? Would anybody still be able to park a vehicle without hitting anything? 

Here is the thing- when the OBD II standard became mandatory in the USA in 1996, all scan tools had to be able to communicate with all ECU's, regardless of the communication protocols in use on any vehicle that was going to be sold in the US. However, this only applied to the American market, and even today, cars made and sold elsewhere will often not communicate with scan tools and especially scan tools bought off Amazon.

So, since your US-spec Lexus was sold in the US, your cheap scan tool worked, but with your GCC-spec car,  you may have to upgrade your choice of scan tools considerably. 

Increasing the master cylinder diameter actually decreases braking performance unless you either fit (much) bigger discs, or (much) larger pads to increase the contact area between the discs and the pads. Much of a vehicles' braking performance depends on the relationship between the master cylinder diameter and the diameter of the caliper pistons. For instance, if the caliper pistons are say, four times as big as the master cylinder, the force/pressure generated by the master cylinder is multiplied by four in each caliper.

Therefore, if you increase the diameter of the master cylinder by say 15%, the multiplication factor decreases non-linearly; ergo,you get reduced braking performance if nothing else changes. In practice, increasing the master cylinder diameter causes not only the brake force multiplication factor to decrease almost exponentially- it also causes the force required on the pedal to increase linearly, which means that the average driver may not have the leg strength to stop the vehicle at all.   

It's like the guy in the video says, there are a whole lot of variables to take into consideration when you upgrade brakes. In Africa we do much the same thing this guy did when we upgrade the brakes on overland expedition vehicles, but one thing we never do is increase the wheel diameter, because the added brake torque can (and often does) negate the benefits of the upgrade.

I do agree however that in purely desert conditions, this particular brake upgrade is more trouble than it is worth.      

It might not even be the main seal- it's just possible that the tappet cover gaskets are leaking and the oil is running down the back of the engine. Sometimes the oil can seep past the mating surface between the engine and gearbox, and if it that happens the oil drips out the bottom of the bell housing which makes it look the main bearing seal is leaking.  

Which is bette to remove- the engine or the gearbox depends on whether or not the vehicle is a 4 by 4. Some gearboxes are absolute bitches to remove, so it really depends on the vehicle. Speaking for myself, I have often removed the engine instead of the gearbox because it is sometimes easier this way- but only if I could do it without disconnecting A/C lines. 

Yeah, I can see how this would work for habitual payment defaulters or people out on parole. However, I was thinking more along the lines of alcohol sensors being mandatory equipment on all new vehicles to keep the people off the roads who habitually drive while drunk but never get caught until they kill someone.  

Phones working as car keys? This is just stupid. Why don't they spend some time and money inventing and implementing useful stuff instead? Like for instance, sensors in cars that can both detect alcohol vapours, and disable the starting circuits for as long as it detects alcohol in the car. Now that would be something I'd be willing to pay something extra for in a new car. 

18 hours ago, Frederic said:

I don't agree completely. By making laws you're basically putting a deadline on it. Some things never change if we are not forced too change. These deadlines ignites creative thinking. Humanity is able to do so many things but sometimes we lack the motivation.

Lack of motivation is the least of it. What is also lacking is the money to build power generating capacity, and the infrastructure to distribute it. 2035? In their dreams...

Can't they just let the whole F & F thing die a peaceful death? It's getting really old.MInd you, they should probably have scrubbed the whole thing after the first movie. 

...and Facebook.

 I am a long-time amateur astronomer, and I have three questions about this scheme that I have wanted to ask since this madness first became known-  

1) Since Elon Musk is all about astronomy, and space exploration, and was he perhaps drunk when he thought up this idiotic plan? 

2) What idiot, or group of idiots, approved this moronic plan? 

3) Did NASA play any role in approving this idiotic plan, and if they did, was it because they were afraid of losing SpaceX's boosters, (seeing that they have no lifting capability of their own) if they did not go along with this asinine idea? 

As I said, I spend a lot of time watching the night sky, and while I don't do astrophotography anymore, nobody in the world who does will be able to take long exposure pictures without capturing God knows how many satellite trails, as well. 'Nuff Said.   

6 hours ago, Gaurav said:

OR

Go to a better mechanic.

Any decent mechanic at any tire shop, or even at autopro can point the bad bushing with one look.

It is not always that easy. I have seen mechanics mistake the natural resilience of rubber bushes for excessive freeplay. You really want someone who knows what he is looking at. 

19 hours ago, Sidshk said:

Tyre are new 2019 - Only Six months 

Some tyres are bad right from the start. Have them checked out at a proper tyre shop.  

7 hours ago, desertdude said:

AFAIK and this is all theoretical knowledge as I've never been in the pilots chair even on one of those full fledged simulators ( would love to though)  some aircraft will almost rotate on their own and have a hard time keeping their nose down one they reach V1.

Some even have to keep the yoke pushed forward a bit while on take off roll to keep it planted until the right time.

This is true for many small / light aircraft.  

The important thing is to get the nose gear off the ground successfully. The rest of the aircraft follows automatically. That's the theory at least, but as I was building hours learning to fly real aircraft, it soon became clear that if you screw up while getting the nose into the air, the rest of the aircraft tends to follow the nose gear into the ground. Funny thing though, the more experience I gained, the more attention I paid to keeping the noise pointing upward during departures- just to keep the rest of the aircraft following the nose downward.