I suspect you will find that Ford, in line with most multinationals, make losses in high-tax countries and quite good profits in low-tax ones. Given that most plants buy in lots of components and services from other 'group' companies overseas it makes sense to set prices that generate profit in low tax areas.
However, the problems start when the execs forget that their figures are fictional and decide to close all the loss making plants (in the high tax countries). They then find that their high profit plants in Eastern Europe and the like suddenly aren't as profitable any more....
ROTFL I worked for a company like that once. They did a sum that involved dividing the total cost of running the entire company by the number of shop-floor hours worked. This gave a feel-factor number for what we needed to be making in terms of product to stay running.
Then some idiot costing people started to believe that this was the 'cost' of a shop floor hour and realised that they could put work out on contract for less. This meant that some people were on slack time while their job was sent out to be done at five times what they were paid. Over the next few years they saved so much money this way that they went bust.
I had a simlar experience at a large company during the rush to out-source IT/Software Deveopment in the early 90's. The potential supplier made constant promises about how much they could save the company a year, but no one (except me, the 'trouble maker') asked how much they would charge for development - "That'll be in there", they said. Right through to the end of Due Dilligence (posh wording for not having a clue what pepple do all day) they never asked the question. Just before signing the contracts, having wasted vast amounts of money and time (they even sorted out the pension scheme etc) and alienating half the staff (you *will* work for this American outfit or get sacked) someone finaly asked.
The project was canned the same day.
There's something like 2,000 less poeple working on thier site now, and the senior mamangement *still* haragued the shop floor to avoid waste.....
You were lucky, mine was a 997cc 1965 Ford Anglia. I seem to remember spending most of my time filling it with ally mesh and Isopon P38 (thats weird, was it really called that??). The first head I ever removed but I don't think there was actually anything wrong with it, just curiosity!
I had a wee play in an old 105E Anglia on the race track a couple of weekends ago. It's now powered by a well warmed over 1600cc Toyota and was putting quite a lot of contemporary vehicles to shame.
Interesting thing is my first escort was of 1977 vintage, but has long since gone to the scrapyard in the sky wheras my current landie dates from five years before this.
And they had the foresight to leave enough space in the engine bays to drop in something really really interesting std =105E 997cc ohv lump 40bhp barking climbing up the wall mad= Lotus Twincam 160bhp+ don't mention the Cosworth BDA Derek
You may well be right I not sure if the BDA was primarily for the Escort or open wheel racers (Formula Atlantic F2 etc) you can bet cosworth had a list of applications all mapped out before they blue printed the first engine I had the pleasure of the navi's seat in an Anglebox (not in anger btw) fitted with the lotus lump far more torque than healthy and accleration that really did pin you into the recaros and the handling of a frog with parkinsons disease. It was probably the only time I've experienced diff steer in an RWD car a bucket load of fun tho'. Derek
"Nigel Hewitt" wrote in message news:447459b1$0$24331$ snipped-for-privacy@free.teranews.com...
Hmmmm.... an awful lot of similarity in that tale to what is currently happening within the MOD, I'm sad to say. Those of you that know me will know that I left the raf almost a year ago to start my own business, I was "pushed" (well, actually, I was assisted to jump ship by a rather attractive redundancy package), although I think I'd have gone anyway. Some idiot (brain-dead officer) turned up at my old place of work with his "model" of how things were to change, here's a rough guide to the way it went, and no, it's not a Monty Python sketch, although it does read good with the officer's lines done in a john cleese sort of voice......!
Officer. "We can save a fortune by putting all our eggs into one basket, ramping up production at "campX" engine bay and closing this one down. Me. But what about the logistics of shipping engines up and down the country? O. There are daily transport runs that bring you the modules to build the engines from, they'll just be running engines instead of modules. Me. But the modules are stackable in their containers, you can only get 2 engines on a flatbed. Will the supply system put on extra lorries and drivers if we need engines in a rush? O. Now you're getting silly. Me. "Camp X" historically produces half the engines per month that we do, would it not be a good idea to up their production levels before we start to wind down? O. They are ramping up as we speak, it'll all be ok once their floor has been re-done and the new pulse-line is up and running. Me. Floor? O. Ah, yes, you'll need to ramp up again towards the end of next month for a few weeks while their hangar floor is re-laid, I'm afraid. All down to contracts, you know? Me. Would have been nice if someone had thought of that before starting this whole process! What about all the extra acommodation at "CampX" that'll be needed for their bay to up production? I mean, you're talking about an extra 200ish bods and that camp is already housing students that are there on courses in either portakabins or hotels? O. I'm glad you asked that one, you see, what we've decided is a jolly good idea is to house everyone at "campY" 60 miles away that's in the process of closing down, and we'll bus them in and out. Good, eh? Me. You must be joking, best part of 2 hours on a cold and draughty raf coach at the start and finish of each day? You do realise the only road between the 2 camps travels through the middle of cityX? That would mean getting out of bed at 5am for an 8am start, not getting home again until almost 8pm, when's anyone expected to get any time with their family? O. Well, we think it's workable, and because we provide the coach we can save on home-to-duty payments as well. Me. Ok then, coming back to the workplace itself, what's this pulse-line thing all about? O. Ah, that's the key to the whole project. It's based on the model of how Toyota build cars and it works so efficiently because it's so simple. Your engine will move from workstation to workstation, each station doing its little bit until the whole is complete. Me. But the raf don't build toyotas, we repair engines. There's a difference. Because of the modular nature of the engine, we remove the module that has the problem and either repair or replace it, then test the engine. How can you interrupt a pulse-line process to insert an engine at a particular place just because that's the bit that needs looking at? It doesn't work! Oh, and another thing, we struggle for certain spares as it is, what effect will it have on pulse if we have 6 engines all stopped at the same build point, all awaiting the same seal? O. I think this conversation's gone far enough, I can see you are simply a disbeliever in the pulse-line methodology.
Well, that was almost 18 months ago now and what's happened since? The engine bay at my old camp has indeed gone, "CampX" still struggles to produce engines of a decent quality, let alone in sufficient numbers, and there is apparently an acommodation building programme about to get underway there as well, just in time really as they're tendering off the whole engine rebuilding/repair side of things to rolls-royce next year! There are more lorries than ever transporting engines up and down the country, more aircraft sitting dead awaiting replacement engines, it's harder to get engine spare parts as "CampX" is holding on to them all, the pulse-line is stopped more often than it's running due to lack of spares, the troops are totally demoralised due to the repetitive nature of their jobs now instead of having a bit of personal pride in completing a whole engine and seeing it tested. Me? I'm sitting back laughing at how stupid the mod really is, it'll rather take the word of one officer over 400 troops, then pull the blinkers over rather than admit it was the wrong decision in the first place. Every other week I have someone in the garage telling me yet another tale of woe, or have I heard this, or did I know that such-and-such had happened.... the more I hear the more I'm sure that I made the right decision, I'm glad I jumped when I did. Badger.
authority to say " This is a good idea" and off it goes. The NHS is the same. Although I do have a degree, it is relevant to the work I actually do thank goodness.
Back to the OP.
Having just got the 300Tdi ES Disco I am amazed at how far they have come in the four years between that model and my '92 Tdi Disco. The ES seems to have lower suspension, side steps, air con and a slippery leather seat. The steering wheel is smaller and the ride height lower. The tyres are wider and lower profile. I would suggest that perhaps the last "proper" Landie ( neatly avoiding the hyphen argument) was the Disco I, which is eminently "spannerable", yet still let down by modern gizmos like central door locking and plastic tubery on the tank sender which failed. On the 300 the plastic insert in the cooling system has just let me down ( See other post ) which necessitated a recovery home and a an aborted parents visit. 0/10 for that component. It disabled the vehicle and in the desert or some such may have been a seriouse problem, unless some Araldite had been carried. Some may argue that the Defender is the last peoper Landie ( or should that be Landy? ). I wouldn't disagree too much. TonyB
It wasn't the one on the rad, rather it was the one on the thermostat housing. I finally got it out without realising that I could take the housing off fairly easily. Hence some small bits and a large bit of the old one fell into the cooling pathways. I was most concerned about bits blocking the cooling tubing and thus covered the expansion tank top with a rag ( anti-freeze is very very poisonous ) and blew hard into the expansion tank. The large part came out with the coolant and I assume the smaller bits did too.
Funny enough, by chance I noticed a similar looking plug in the garage which was a perfect fit - it was a domestic radiator plug. I won't be using it but it might do as an emergency one.
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