So, new thread for all those stories in the background.

 

Honda and Rover were sharing all design development at the time, just before the take over. The only difference between the two companies at that time was the badges and front grille and rear light cluster design, and Honda use to put it's own engines in it's cars, though sometimes Honda engines use to appear in Rovers too.
Stand corrected on the P38, did a little digging, though BMW claimed to have made tweaks to the design of the P38 which delayed it's introduction to the market by a full year.

With regard to Solihul's AL v8 engine production machines, I have not heard about that, but will dig around. If someone did pay a lot of money for them, I would be surprised, as Rover already have a set and so do TVR, so the engines are still readily available and in much higher state of tune than the land rover versions.
Overfinch may also have a partial set as well, as they often change the heads on the V8's etc in Landies.. to make them go faster..

So, tell us more about Ford, as they seem to have a bad reputation over in the USA as been bully boys and the like. Here they are very careful, though some of that appeared last year, when they started threatening Land Rover to cease production at Solihull and move production to Halewood and abroad, unless it pulled it's socks up. The only snag was they said they had to do as well as Jaguar, (as the last figures showed jaguar doing really well,) only problem was when the deadline came up, Land Rover were back in profit and Jaguar was making a loss, due to the dollar becoming weaker and most of jags exports had been to the USA. Now all that has gone quite, the freelander production may still be moving to halewood, so as to make room on the solihull site for the Range Rover Sport but the whole thing seems to have gone quiet.

 

BMW did tweak the 38A but not till later. In 1999 they modified the intake and switched from Lucas to Bosch EFI. They also made other subtle changes till it's end in 2002. Don't understand this, what is TRV ? We currently can't get V-8's in the States.

Want to know more about Ford ? First A little info. In the States, Techs are paid flat rate. Ie: piece work. Example, to change A glow plug at A dealer, they pay you 0.20 hrs. Each hour is broken down into tenths. One hour has ten tenths, or six minutes per tenth. If you get the job done in less than 12 minutes you win. If it takes you more than that you loose. The problem is Ford has set totally unreasonable times for these procedures. Go here if you dare; http://www.flatratetech.com

Bait

 

TVR are a sports car manufacturer www.tvr-eng.co.uk though they seem to be changing the entire range to 6 pot instead of the V8, which is a shame.. The V6 I don't think will ever be the same..

Hopefully this link will take you to the Rover V8 that is now in production..
http://www3.mg-rover.com/rover_GB_en.../node9916.html

Though if you want some fun, http://www.overfinch.com/

Interesting link there you gave, will need to take time to read through the site.
With regard to times to work on changing parts etc set by Ford, nearly all the manufacturers do that here in the UK and all garage Techs moan about it. As they say, in a clean workshop and taking a brand new car apart and putting back together, will take less time than a car that has moved a few miles down the road and started to pick up a little dirt. Also the pay the tech gets relates in no way to what the customer pays. Land Rover dealers in the uk are now charging in the region of £65 per hour.. (approx $120 per hour) now if the tech even got half that, he would be happy.. but they tend to get about the £6 per hour.

Which is why the independant garages do quite well and no one gets upset when buying a second hand car with a service book filled with stamps from an independant. Typical hourly rate from them is about £25 ($40 per hour approx)

 

Lighting,

That's interesting. I've heard from several sources that UK techs are not generally paid flat rate.

It has gone beyond moaning in the States. Ford's dealer techs have banded together and filled A class action law suit against Ford. http://flatratetech.com/classaction.htm It will soon be introduced.

Bait

 

The techs are paid a salary, a good tech will always demand more money than a bad one though. Hopefully this link will work, as it is an example of jobs currently on the market in the UK for Techs or mechanics as they are still known outside of main dealers..
http://www.clickajob.co.uk/catalog/a...hanic_161.html

So Ford is going to have a hard time this year, as I understand that on Monday is the start of the 500 legal cases realting to roll over accidents with regard to the Ford Explorer. With evidence showing Ford were told serveal times about the problem and how to solve it and they ignored it. Looks like it could be expensive for them.

 

Lighting,

I don't understand the pay issue. In the States techs/mechanics at Dealers are paid only by what they produce at the Manufactures " flat rate ". If they work for 8 Hours but only produce 6.5 flat rate hours, they are paid 6.5 hours times their hourly rate. If they work 8 hours and produce 9.5 flat rate hours, they are paid 9.5 hours times their hourly rate. Yet you say Please elaborate.

In general I'm not A negative person. But as you have said, Ford has troubled times ahead. 1) Ford is the only Company in the States ( and World ? ) that has Dealer techs suing them. 2) The Firestone/Exploder debacle. Ford denied it all to the bitter end while hundreds of people died. 3) Jag sales slump and numerous embarrassing States recalls.

Unfortunately this all points to A ruthless, greedy company. I wish I could post otherwise. Maybe they will wake up and see the light ! Lets all hope so.

OT; What is the UK slang name for a bloke with a lower class accent ( the fast spitting , stuttering type ), vs. A ' Queens English ' proper accent ?

Thanks,

Bait

 

With regard to the salary, yes they get paid a salary, but they are still set the time limits, will ask a tech next time I see one to see how this effects them as they all moan about the time limts, so I can only assume that they are penalised in someway if they do not meet the deadline. I know that if you need your car to be repaired by a main dealer, the quote they give you say for 2 hours work, and it takes them 4, they can only charge you for the 2. (though of course the garage would try to find some other excuse to charge you the extra time) I do know the tech feel under such pressure to complete within the stated manufacturer times that they will cut corners and not do things as they should if something like a stuck bolt slows them down. That is where it gets a bit scary, and why so many leave dealerships to run their own businesses, where they don't feel the same time pressures.

I understand that Ford are paying a lot of money to advertise during the Superbowl this year, both the Mustang and the F truck. The F truck ad would only add more fuel to the fire for the anti 4x4's though.. sorry to say.

Not really sure what you mean by the slang term for guy with a lower class accent. Or maybe we don't have one in the same way you do in the USA. Will have a think about it and see if I remember one..