Hi From New Member

[donkeychomp]

Hi there...excuse my ignorance but what is 4x4 response?

[djc]

welcome, nice truck, nice bars... didn't know Ray did pink ones

[Darrell]

Hi there...excuse my ignorance but what is 4x4 response?

http://www.hampshire4x4response.co.uk/w ... page_id=31

Welcome to the club Helen & Ian.

[Andrews]

Hi donkey chomp and thank you Darrel for the link .
4x4 response is a national charity that is subdivided into individual areas and regions and is staffed by individuals with 4x4 vehicles who use them at short notice to respond when essential services grip do to a halt in bad weather . Generally snow and flooding . We transport doctors . Nurses palliative care teams district nurses .meals on wheels etc . We also occasionally do mass recovery exercises at music festival s remember the iow 3 years ago ?
I've been a responder 9 years now and have covered thousands of miles in this role and have dispelled some of the bad press about 4x4 vehicles
Ian

[donkeychomp]

Just read the link...that is a fine charity and I'll be offering my services too.

I did help out locally when the floods hit, as did many others!

[Andrews]

That's great news .Responding is great fun , particularly incidents such as the Isle of white festival . but more seriously its very important when essential services just cant get about .
Weve just completed another training exercise this weekend at D1 Bagshot and Helen my partner is now a full qualified responder and she completed the off road driving element in my standard Grand Vitara 2.0 on road tyres over some pretty serious terrain , and hopefully an article will appear in 4x4 magazine soon as Bob Cooke was on hand and took part in the training and will be doing a write up . whilst responding is entirely voluntary we do receive some travelling expenses whilst on a shout .
Regards Ian

[Andrews]

Just a bit of an update , on were we are having the truck engineered . sadly got some bad news yesterday , as the brilliant guy doing a major re engineering on Helens truck found that the recently installed low mileage XUd motor appears to have either done its cylinder head gasket or cracked its head as it is blowing diesel fumes through the coolant pipes and is currently being investigated for both . We were so near to having it thoroughly re engineered including a very trick BDA rally car dual core radiator and fan system , 90 amp alternator ,directly connected cooling fan and glow plugs and a complete replumb of copper fuel lines and injection system ,extended drivers seat rails and the most beautifully custom constructed stainless straight through exhaust system including stainless cherry bomb ,
Helen is now very disillusioned , but James and martin at precision autos are pulling out all the stops ,
We have found James to be absolutely fastidious and technically on the ball , even replacing a recently replaced cambelt as it was found to have been installed too tight and had caused blistering to the edge .
So we wait patiently , very aware that its costing more than Helen had budgeted and that we cant use the truck to marshal this weekends BLORC event in it and thoroughly test it out on the quite difficult course there .
I,m busy refinishing the wheels in a beautiful purple and Helen is amassing a collection of new add ons for the truck , including trick HeKi wind deflectors , steering wheel cover and trying to get suitable art work done for the spare wheel cover . She is also trying to purchase some strong and powerful 8 LED light clusters to fit on the bull bar but are a little unsure of the quality of some of the products on fleabay .
Any suitable recommendations would be appreciated ?
Also forgot to mention martin has almost completely re packaged and engineered the wiring under the bonnet including new super tough fuse boxes and relays .
Anyways all , have attached a couple of pics of the stainless exhaust .
Regards
ian and Helen

[Andrews]

Oh forgot to mention , the exhaust was fabricated by the guys at TFS racing next door to precision autos , they more commonly work on monster drift cars , and very trick subarus and they took a number of attempts to get the angles right under the engine to preclude contact with the front axle during suspension flex and compression .
apparently it creates a beautiful burbling sound and may even produce a couple more ponies

[Andrews]

Further update , Good news this time ! . It appears cylinder head gasket isn't gone it was just throwing out steam from water that hadn't come out of block , but once new rad installed and it all running again James and Martin Gonna run a block test and put the "sniffer" on the coolant system to check .
We are now thinking of turning the truck into a small overlander by removing the rear seats , creating a a raised bed area from plywood in the back with plastic crates underneath for storage and using a 3 quarter double mattress on top ,with a curtain hung from just in front of the roll hoop . The original roofrack would go back on with a pair of aerodynamic roof boxes fixed side by side on top for storage . Whats everyone Think ? is it a workable idea , ? we know it would be "cosy" in the back but running a diesel engine and simple mechanis it should be suitable for trips through france spain Portugal maybe northern Africa ? probably looking for another set of wheels for it with decent all terrains and a set of Led driving lights but anyone got any thoughts ?
Ian

[donkeychomp]

That sounds quite a neat idea. Nothing wrong with cosy!