Help with vacuum tubes for my drive around England

I'm planning to do a trip in my truck starting in May when I'm going to drive around the whole of England. The plan is to visit every county, camping over night in each, but not planning more than a day ahead where I'm going to go. I'm a technical writer for a living so I'm hoping to write a book about the experiences of the journey. The truck will be a significant feature of the book, lending a bit of character to the story.

I've been getting the truck ready for the trip, it's just had it's MOT and I've paid for a dealer service as the engine management light came on a couple of times. They said they couldn't find any engine codes recorded when they investigated it but I'm still not happy with the performance. I sometimes get a feeling of it holding back, especially on overrun when descending a hill, when it also seems a bit smoky. I've been told that this might be the vacuum tubes so I've looked at the post on the forum that tells how to replace them but I didn't realise just how many tubes there are.

Is there anybody out there, within a sensible drive of Hertfordshire, who would be interested in helping me replace all the tubes? I'm sure I could do this on my own but it would be so much quicker with someone who has done if before with them in charge and me assisting. Although I understand this sort of thing I'm just not inclined to get involved with maintenance so I usually pay a mechanic. This isn't the sort of job I would get him to do and if it's left to me I know I'll just not bother. In this case I'd happily pay for someone's time.

So is there anybody out there who would be able help me out with this? You never know, I might even find a way of mentioning you in the book at some point when I say how well the truck is running.

I would gladly help you out, but unfortnatly being in Norwich its a bit far ... I would also be tempted to get your inlet manifold and EGR cleared out. They often coke up with thick black gunk. It can all be done in a day. Obviously if you want to take a trip up here we could have a mini spanner party with some more of the EA possy and give the old girl a good once over.

That sounds like an offer I'd be mad to turn down. If we could give it a general birthday then I'd be more than happy.

It's about a three hour drive to Norwich so if I left early enough I could get there for a sensible start time, you just say and I'll get out of bed.

I'm guessing you'd be talking about a Saturday or a Sunday, my weekends are pretty free for the next six weeks of so, so you set a date and I'll fit in with you.

Tell you what. I will try to organise a spanner party at mine then and see who comes.

Oops, sorry for the delay, I didn't get the notification message that you'd replied.

Well that's very generous of you. Just let me know the date to come up. Ideally give me a week's notice.

What do I need to do about parts? Presumably I need to get a roll of tube.

I have locked this thread for continuation here,
viewtopic.php?f=32&t=53589
two threads on the same subject will get confusing and remember guys techi info in the correct forums :thumbup: