Of note whilst a tractor is a motor vehiucle as far as Registration with DVLA is concerned if used on a road and has to be, provided it is used only for agriculture, horticulture or forestry, used only on public roads passing between differne t areas of land occupied by the same person and distanec does not exceed more than 1.5 kilometres, then it is exempt from duty.

Sched 2 VERA 1994
dvd,actually what you refer to here about the 1.5km limit is a taxation class called limited use ,a tractor on the road is limited to 15 miles goods outwards and unlimited distance goods inwards(might be taxed as an agricultural machine)one of your fellow officers is trying to standardise ag regulations
info here www.agricultural-vehicles.co.uk/Questions.htm#Q16
the grampian police checks mentioned were general vehicle checks as well as would you believe checking cattle passports ,there are more severe checks kept on livestock movement than any terrorists but why it has to be done at the roadside is beyond reason when it causes delay to other motorists

The subject of when Ford Zetec timing belts should be changed has been discussed in the BR many times before.

Try having a look here:

www.honestjohn.co.uk/forum/post/index.htm?t=20934&...f

By the way,did you get your water leak problem sorted out?

A clutch driven plate is very carefully matched to the drivetrain in order to avoid torsional resonances. If you look at a typical driven plate, there will be either springs of differing rates or windows of differing working lengths (you need to look carefully to see where additional springs become effective as torque is applied) or both. Almost without exception, the torsional stiffness of a driven plate assembly increases non linearly with applied torque in order to control drivetrain oscillation.

There is indeed more danger of torsional oscillation damage through revving in the lowest gear, both from the point of view of increased engine acceleration and the reduced damping effect of the load. However, the engine acceleration rate even in a low gear is usually about an order of magnitude less than the unloaded acceleration rate. I spent many happy hours designing big diesel governors which would catch an engine off load and yet give stable control on the governor run-out. For some large scale applications the engine has to be protected even if the load is suddenly removed as in the case of a shaft breakage. The diesel engines we can afford will not necessarily enjoy this level of protection.

659.

Came across a red 316 a few years ago that belonged to a fellow who lived in our basement, who was leaving and wanted to sell it for £600. I said I'd look at it.

It had an MoT and started and ran more or less OK, bit thrashy, probably needed the valve clearances doing. Second and third gears were hideously noisy although it ran OK in top (four speeds). The clutch pedal was six inches higher than the others necessitating a Peter Crouch-like technique when changing gear. There was a big clonk somewhere in the front suspension. The interior, especially the seats, was utterly, utterly disgusting, more disgusting than one would have thought possible in a car less than ten years old.

I figured it was worth £300 and pushed it to a journalist friend, explaining that he would have to get it thoroughly done over by a proper mechanic and put in a reconditioned or secondhand gearbox. The mechanic he went to told him (wrongly, I'm sure) that the gearbox was all right and it really needed a back axle. Being an automotive slob, he just kept the ghastly thing as it was and ran it for a couple of years. BMWs are tough, but that one was probably the nastiest road-legal car I have ever seen.

There is no "flasher unit " on this car.There is a multi-function control relay for indicators/hazards/wiper delay and hrw functions situated in the fuse box .