Innholdsfortegnelse for January 2016 i Land Rover Monthly

I RECENTLY bought a product I was really impressed with; Rustbuster’s Epoxy Mastic 121. During my front end restoration on my Range Rover Classic, I knew I’d need to protect the metal after the weld repairs, and Epoxy Mastic 121 seemed to offer the best solution, as well as having come out best in a number of classic car press tests. You can read Rustbuster’s website (www.rust.co.uk) for the full-on technical lowdown, but basically, Epoxy Mastic 121 is a two pack paint that you mix yourself, then thin down to suit how you’re applying it - either brush, roller, or spray gun for a flat finish. What is special is the way it works. Unlike popular (single pack) paints that are’t flexible enough to reach every tiny nick, pit and…

Get yourself covered? No, not in mud. What I’m talking about is people that organise motor sporting events, course managers, chief marshals, chairmen of Land Rover clubs and the like. Let me explain... I went to a local club’s time trial the other day and all the sections were driven three times each. These time trials are great fun and how they work is that instead of entering a section and trying your best to negotiate it without hitting the numbered canes, you have to drive it as quickly as you can as well – and this is what got me thinking as the drivers times got faster. Anyone who sets up an event of any kind, be it a club trial, or a comp safari, hopes that everyone goes…

In downtown Tripoli, the bonnet of a fading and battered old Series III is propped open against the windscreen, electrical cables running from the engine into the cab. At the back, metres of steel cable in two thicknesses run from the rear and coil around an open man-hole cover. This is the only Land Rover belonging to Hatif Libya – one of eight internet and telepho`ne service companies in Libya that comprise one massive state-owned telecommunications network. And now, in the chaotic wake of the western-backed 2011 uprising that saw the eccentric dictatorship of Muammar Qaddafi overthrown, this old Series is propping up the capital’s ailing telephone networks. Libya is a shadow of its former self. Embassies and big hotels have closed and international companies have fled. With almost no…

In last month’s greenlaning feature I unashamedly declared the Lake District one of my favourite parts of the UK. It’s where hikers, bikers and greenlaners come to play in perfect picture postcard scenery. Each year 16.4 million tourists invade the 885 square mile park. So if you’re going there to avoid the crowds and craziness of city life, you might need to do a little research in order to avoid the masses. A good place to start and one where you definitely won’t see many people and only one vehicle, a Defender 110, is the world-famous YHA Black Sail, the most remote youth hostel in all of the UK. What makes this hostel so remote? Black Sail is less than five miles as the crow flies from Scafell Pike, England’s…

Developed by Land Rover’s Special Vehicle Operations (SVO) division, the Range Rover SVAutobiography is the most luxurious and powerful series production Range Rover in the model’s proud 45-year history. And it comes at a price – starting from £148,900. That’s over 50 grand more than the Range Rover Sport SVR, which announced Land Rover’s entry into the ultra-high performance SUV class last year, and twice the cost of a standard Range Rover. As common sense dictates, the SV bit stands for SVO, JLR’s centre of excellence for bespoke commissions, luxury editions and performance models, while Autobiography has traditionally been the marque’s range-topping version. Combine the two and you get a flagship model taken to even greater heights of design and luxury execution. But is it really worth the vast sum…

THE LEGENDARY Lancaster bomber has a lot in common with the Land Rover Defender. For instance, both can go anywhere and are very cold and uncomfortable for their occupants. In World War II, the Lancaster’s achievements included flying across Europe at extreme low altitude to take part in the audacious Dambuster raids in Germany’s Ruhr Valley. But even the most high-flying modes of transport can get stuck and, in this photograph, you can see a veteran Lancaster unexpectedly grounded on a waterlogged English aerodrome. Even the airfield’s usual tractor tug couldn’t find enough traction in the slippery conditions, but the day was saved when a Defender 110 joined the extraordinary tug of war and got the whole show back on the road. Grit and determination like that win wars, you…

ALISDAIR CUSICK CONTRIBUTOR RANGE ROVER YEAR: 1995 MILEAGE: 91200 ENGINE: 3.9 V8 POWER: 185 bhp TORQUE: 232 lb-ft MPG: 22 I don’t often write for Writer’s Rovers, but thought you were due a final sign-off for the year. You see, as I write this, my Range Rover is tucked up in the garage. Yes, still exactly where it has been most of the year. Until now, it is in the garage because it is waiting for me to be free to use it. The change now is that I’ve cancelled the road fund licence, declared the Statutory Off Road Notice (SORN) and laid it up for winter. As I said previously, when the power of the sun fades, the frosts start and the gritter trucks appear, I tuck the car…

TREVOR CUTHBERT CONTRIBUTOR DEFENDER 90 YEAR: 2004 MILEAGE: 88,550 POWER: 136 bhp TORQUE 220 Lb-ft MPG: 33 There is little doubt about it – as we get older, our tastes and priorities change. This is true for many aspects in life, but it only recently dawned on me that it applies to my love of Land Rovers, too. Last year, when I acquired my Defender 90 with its wonderful Td5, I didn’t immediately travel my usual route of modifications and customisations with the Land Rover, rather I drove it and enjoyed it as it was – and took my time in deciding what I would do. When I first saw the 90 it was well-prepared as an off-road machine, with large mud tyres and a competition winch and bumper on…

STEVE MILLER LRM AD EXEC 300TDI DISCOVERY YEAR: 1997 MILEAGE: 180,400 ENGINE: 300Tdi POWER: 111 BHP TORQUE: 195 lb-ft MPG: 28 STAGE ONE V8 YEAR: 1982 MILEAGE: 89,000 ENGINE: 3.5 V8 POWER: 125 BHP MPG: Don’t make me cry LIGHTWEIGHT YEAR: 1983 MILEAGE: 49,000 ENGINE: 2.25 POWER: 77 BHP MPG: TBC This year seems to have flown by. It’s the middle of December, a time when the purchasing of Christmas presents should take priority, but unfortunately (or fortunately) hindered every year for me by my Discovery needing its MoT. Usually, it hasn’t been too much of a problem, but I have a suspicion that this year, it’s going to be a little different. The problem is, as you probably already know, I seem to have acquired a bit of a…

GARY STRETTON Tools: Socket set, spanners, bench, hammer, handheld spring or digital weighing scale TIME 3-10 HOURS COST FROM £2-200 Cost: £2 (swivel seal only); 25p (shims, each) DIFFICULTY RATING Leaking swivel seals on Series II and III usually make themselves known with tell-tale oil leaks down the tyre’s inner sidewall or, if severe enough, as a small run-off noticed when parked on an incline. Heavy steering and looseness in the upper and lower swivel bearings can be caused by oil starvation due to seal leaks, so don’t delay checking them. My 109 had sat for many years out of service and, once it became a runner again, the seals failed in no time. Dirt and debris, once disturbed, can tear old seals, as can corroded surfaces of swivel balls.…

ALISDAIR CUSICK • TIG welder and rods, protective clothing including welding gloves, cap, mask, overalls, metal cutting and forming tools. Bench, practice scraps of steel and aluminium TIME 4-5 HOURS COST £170 (TIG WELDER) DIFFICULTY RATING TIG’s two main advantages are its versatility and the strength of the welds. A choice of torch tip and welding rod means it is possible to weld a number of metal types, and all TIG welds have a final neat weld appearance meaning they don’t strictly need dressing by way of flatting back with a finger sander. The ability to weld steel – both mild and stainless – and alloys, including our Land Rover’s Birmabright body panels, mean that TIG is the main option for outer bodywork repairs on all Solihull products. For example,…

Tell us about your Discovery... My client Paul Clevett purchased it about a year and a half ago. It was in a very bad way and had more rust than good metal to work with. The MoT tester told him that it was only fit for scrap, but Paul refused to listen and is determined to keep it on the road, which is why he brought it to me. He is on a mission to save this Discovery from the scrap heap. You say it was in a bad way... It had lived a hard life and no-one had shown it any love. The sills were so rotten that the mounts had detached. There were massive holes in the wheel arches. The boot floor was literally gone. The rear body…

SEND US YOUR SHOTS Let us know what you’ve been up to – email patrick@lrm.co.uk…

There are lots of jobs in and around our Land Rovers that could be termed romantic – like the Series II gearbox I have on my bench at the moment, because for some reason I seem to be our gang’s gearbox man. But other jobs, whilst less romantic, still have to be done. Like the seat belt socket on my P38 that, yesterday, simply stopped capturing the tongue. A trip home from Manchester in motorway traffic, with the seat belt not working, wasn’t amusing. On the drive at home I had a look, couldn’t see it properly, so I’d have to take it off. I moved the electrical seat forward, only to find that the anchor went with it. So I moved it back. Then I could see the 17…

The Norfolk Garage is now back into its usual routine. In the first month since the move I have had examples of Series I, SIIA, SIII, Ninety, One Ten and Defenders of both 200Tdi and 300Tdi flavours, with a mixture of both new and long-established customers. I had a B-plate Ninety in with a major engine oil leak and some electrical problems. It looked smart and tidy, and a quick look round it revealed a solid chassis and bulkhead – rust prevention being aided by a massive leak from the rear crankshaft oil seal, and a leaky diesel tank. The crank seal was straightforward enough – engine out, new seal, and a new clutch and strengthened clutch fork for good measure. The fuel tank came out about as easily as…

Mick Holmes is your typical LRM reader. He has one wife, two Land Rovers, three cats and four kids. LRM recently met up with him at the Parkwood Off Road Centre just outside Bradford to talk us through some of the highs (and lows) of his five years of Discovery 2 ownership. It’s hard to believe, but there once was a time when Mick knew absolutely nothing about Land Rovers. Don’t laugh; we have all been there, unless of course you were lucky enough to be born on the Solihull production line. Mick’s Land Roverless life changed in December 2010 when he went out looking to purchase what he calls a "new family bus". He had a budget of between £5000 and £6000. After deciding that he wanted something British…

Camper holidays were all the rage back in the Swinging Sixties, and it was only fitting that Land Rover would get in on the act. Take this rare 1966 Carawagon conversion, owned by Kevan Shaw, from Edinburgh. Kevan was born and raised in Scotland’s capital, and has lived there for most of his life. He is a lighting designer by profession, and a member of the Royal Photographic Society. After a spell studying and working in England, he moved back to Scotland in 1989. He then started his own business, KSLD. Based in the city’s port of Leith, KSLD has been involved in some important light sculptures, including several projects in the Middle East. Kevan is also an industry expert in the creative use of LEDs, and his company has…

What makes this vehicle so special? The SVAutobiography offers exclusivity, and the LWB is better than any other offering in the luxury market. It takes the Range Rover to another level of comfort, craftsmanship and refinement. The deployable tables are a result of that, and also us doing something completely different. We had the centre console anyway and we knew that, in the LWB base model certainly, it would be too far for passengers to reach if the tables dropped down from the rear of the front seats. Do you see the new Bentley Bentayga as a threat? We welcome the competition of Bentley, it is great to see them joining in, and combined with Lamborghini’s and Rolls-Royce’s efforts it is helping to extend the market. Competition is healthy and…

The fourth round of the 2015 Defender Challenge by Bowler Championship was held at the Rally Yorkshire, with stages taking place in the forests of Dalby and Cropton. The Rally Yorkshire would see the Bowler Defenders compete two stages on Saturday evening in the dark, then five stages the next day, covering a total of 54 competitive stage miles. If you’ve ever watched the World Rally Championship (WRC) on the television, you would have seen what some rally cars require just to keep them running on a stage rally. After completing a couple of short stages, a mass service crew works on the cars. Some cars are almost totally stripped down, with major parts being replaced in the short time they have to service them. This could be as little…

DECEMBER 12 Kielder 4x4 Safari 4x4 safari drive through the forest Kielder, Northumberland www.kielder4x4safari.co.uk DECEMBER 12 UK Landrover Events Lake District Tour Cumbria www.uklandroverevents.com DECEMBER 13 All Wheel Drive Club Off-road Trial, Binegar, Shepton Mallet www.allwheeldriveclub.net DECEMBER 13 All Wheel Drive Club Trial, Mow Cop, Cheshire www.allwheeldriveclub.net DECEMBER 13 Anglian Landrover Club Tyro Trial & Drive Round Great Brickhill, Milton Keynes www.anglianlrc.co.uk DECEMBER 13 Chilton Vale LRC Trial, Great Brickhill, Milton Keynes www.cvlrc.co.uk DECEMBER 13 Lincolnshire LRC CCV Trial, Welton, Lincolnshire www.llrc.co.uk DECEMBER 13 North Somerset Land Rover Club Laning Trip, Dorset www.nslrc.org DECEMBER 13 Pennine Land Rover Club CCV & RTV Trial Haggate, Lancashire www.penninelandrover.co.uk DECEMBER 13 Somerset & Wiltshire LRC CCV & RTV Trial Charlton Mackerall, Somerton www.somersetandwiltshirelrc.co.uk DECEMBER 13 Woolbridge Motor Club 4x4 Trial, Crossways, Dorset www.woolbridge.co.uk…

DAVE PHILLIPS EDITOR DISCOVERY 1 YEAR: 1996 MILEAGE: 145,000 ENGINE: 300Tdi POWER: 68 bhp TORQUE 113 lb-ft MPG: 30 NINETY YEAR: 1984 MILEAGE: 163,000 ENGINE: 2.5 diesel POWER: 111 bhp TORQUE 195 lb-ft MPG: 25 Outside, the remnants of Hurricane Abigail were howling down my street. There were several jobs needed doing on my Discovery, but the wind and rain didn’t make me feel inclined to brave the elements and get on with them. And I didn’t feel like going fishing, either. Time to find something to do indoors. Actually, it was a great excuse to embark on a new project – namely, to build a V8 engine. From scratch. I reckon I could do it in.... mmm, let me think.... three hours? No, make that four hours (to give…

DISCOVERY CLUTCH BITES LOW Q I have been renewing some brake pipes on my Td5 Discovery 2, which entailed filling the brake fluid and bleeding the brakes. I think I let the fluid level in the reservoir get too low and may have drawn air into the system through the reservoir when bleeding. I continued bleeding the brakes again and now have a good pedal feel, so I guess all the air is out. But now the clutch is giving problems because it shares the same fluid reservoir, so air got into here, too. I have bled the clutch and, although it now works okay and I can change gear, the pedal needs to go much lower to operate the clutch, and it bites sooner on lifting the pedal when…

JAMES STANBURY When welding clamps are mentioned, most of us immediately think of self-grip plier-style tools – like those entered here from Draper, Sealey, SIP, Clarke and the Welders’ Warehouse. And while these products are undoubtedly effective, there’s just one problem: they are only really useful for edge work. But what do we mean by edge work? Well, a prime example is where inner panels meet the rear wings, or door pillars, in the door apertures. The flanges there are often a sandwich of two or more layers spot welded together. Should you need to replace the inner or outer layer, a good clamp will hold the layers tightly against each other, whilst allowing plenty of access to either produce welding tacks or plug-welds. On Freelanders, and actually most vehicles…

LAND ROVER has launched a pair of special edition Discovery models, called Graphite and Landmark. The models benefit from updated exterior panelling, including alterations to the front wing vents, grille and door handles. Both the Landmark (pictured) and the Graphite have been released a time when Land Rover’s new-for-2016 Discovery is undergoing testing ahead of its release, meaning that the latest offering from the current Discovery range could be the car’s swansong. The Discovery Landmark is an extension of the range-topping Discovery HSE. On top of the aforementioned exterior panel changes (all finished in black), the Landmark enjoys 20 inch alloy wheels, while the interior features Windsor Leather seats and a Walnut veneer trim finisher. Further leather is added to the dashboard, door casting and fascia, and is offered in…

“GOOD RIDDANCE, DEFENDER” FIRST OF all I will redeem myself before the storm by saying I have always liked Land Rovers. I have owned them for over 30 years, continue to own a Discovery 1 and 3, Range Rover P38 and Freelander 1 and have made another Disco 1 into a pick-up. I find them all great vehicles. However, in some ways I agree with the reader who wrote “Who wants Disco Sport” (LRM Letters, December), as Land Rover seem to keep missing the boat and just making all very similar vehicles (albeit good ones). Everyone keeps on going about the Defender, but in my opinion it should have been got rid of long ago, as every one that I drove or rode in was just stopgap junk. Pick-ups are…

DOG GUARDS PRICE: FROM £114.99 These quality dog guards are available for the entire Land Rover range. Engineered in the UK from precision-welded steel and finished with a unique nylon-powder coating for outstanding durability. www.travall.co.uk WINCH GROUND ANCHOR PRICE: £45 A winch can rescue a stranded vehicle provided you have a tree or another vehicle to use as an anchor. What happens if you are travelling solo, or, if there are no anchor points? Then you need a winch ground anchor, of course. www.yorkshire4x4specialists.com SILICON SPRAY PRICE: £5.99 The rainy season is upon us and if you want to protect your rubber, plastic and metal bits, then a good silicon spray is the way to do just that. Dries quickly and is colourless. www.britpart.com SECURE YOUR LOAD PRICE: £9.99 (NO…

I reckon the best time for driving in most of the UK is between 11pm and 6am. Not so much because I love night driving, but because most roads are gloriously empty in the hours when most folk are asleep. And driving becomes a pleasure again once you’ve got the roads to yourself. Don’t get me wrong: I’ve got nothing against my fellow members of the human race, even though there are a few who should have their membership revoked. For example... What is it about British drivers that prevents them from switching their lights on when it’s foggy and visibility hovers somewhere between poor and non-existent? In my neck of the woods we’ve just had the first real pea-souper of the winter and, with visibility down to less than…

I’ve just returned from the big classic car show held at the NEC in November, where the Dunsfold Collection was exhibiting for the first time. It was a wonderful show, almost too big to get around in just one day, and on our stand we had two of our most interesting vehicles: the Australian OTAL amphibian that I wrote about in LRM February 2015, and the experimental V8-powered Series IIA. This Series IIA was one of three built with bigger engines when Land Rover was thinking about making a sportier model. Geof Miller, who was project engineer for the original Range Rover, drove them extensively and I can remember him turning up in one at the Ordnance Arms pub in West London when I was a young lad. We used…

There’s excitement galore today so it’s no problem getting up early, even though it’s a dark November day and the weather is dirty. After all, we’re heading for the brilliant greenlanes of Salisbury Plain. I have been designated routemeister (reader of the maps) for our little gang, which means I can’t drive at the same time, so at 7.00 am my trusty wingman Barrie Holt and our mate Simon Stevenson pick me and Hazel up, the long-suffering Mrs Thorn. She has been with me so long now, she is used to the smell of petrol, diesel and Swarfega, love her. We stowed our gear on top of Barrie’s, in the back of his Discovery, and set off on the 130 miles from Kent to Wiltshire. There’s a brief stop for…

I was just out of my teens when my girlfriend and I quit our jobs and moved to the Norfolk Broads, to run a fish and chip shop. It seemed like the perfect adventure in the long, hot summer of 1976, although the MkII Cortina I was driving at the time didn’t appreciate the blazing temperatures quite so much. Most journeys were punctuated by the radiator boiling over. One such pit stop happened on a day so hot that the tar was melting on the lane near the village of Brisley where I pulled up. The whole car shook on its MacPherson struts as the hissing and spluttering radiator spewed coolant through the overflow, where it collected in an ever-increasing puddle on the tacky tarmac below. I reckoned it had…

Hard right, hard right! Stop! Okay, come forward!” Holding my breath, I squeezed around a tight turn between trees on a loose descent, eyes glued to my navigator, Andy, as he marshaled me through a technical stretch of trail. As we squeaked through narrow gaps in the dense forest I kept replaying the Northwest Challenge organiser’s words in my head: “Nick, you shouldn’t see anything too extreme. I have been trying to make it more of a non-damaging event. See you there.” If this was the easy version, I wondered, what would the extreme variation entail? The Northwest Challenge is an annual three-day competition with a venue that rotates each year between Oregon, Washington, and British Columbia. The Pacific Coast Rover Club hosts the event on the American side of…

PATRICK CRUYWAGEN DEPUTY EDITOR DISCOVERY 2 GS YEAR: 2001 MILEAGE: 120 000 ENGINE: Td5 POWER: 136 bhp TORQUE: 232 lb-ft MPG: 28 Since purchasing my Discovery, one of the back tyres has had an irritating, slow puncture. Every week or so I would just top it up with air, but I recently decided to do something about it and took it to a local tyre shop. While they fixed the puncture I took my soon Isaac for a walk along the river in Bedford. While running after some birds on the rough track, he took a tumble and did a rather impressive face plant. There was blood everywhere as his teeth had made a nice deep hole in his tongue. I picked him up and ran back to the tyre…

THOM WESTCOTT CONTRIBUTOR SIII LIGHTWEIGHT YEAR: 1977 MILEAGE: Debatable, since the speedometer doesn’t always work and I replaced the dial some years ago, inadvertently dropping several thousand miles off the clock. ENGINE: 2.25 POWER: Quite a bit TORQUE: Several lb-ft MPG: Vastly improved! 14 - 16 mpg is the optimum given in handbook, but I like to think I fare slightly better with the overdrive Arriving at an outdoor festival in downtown Tripoli, the first thing I notice is the background roar of meaty engines and a pervasive smell of petrol. While Nuri, one of the organisers, outlines the afternoon’s events, including a karate show and a version of Libya’s Got Talent, encompassing break-dancing and singing, I keep glancing behind me towards the sound of the engines. “And we also…

TREVOR CUTHBERT • Engine crane, clutch alignment tool, power washer, general workshop tools. TIME 3 HOURS COST £6086 DIFFICULTY RATING Back when Andy and I acquired the donor Range Rover for this project, we took it out for one final test drive to access the performance. We were primarily interested in the 3.9-litre V8, but Andy did comment on the manual transmission, too. The five-speed gearbox was in great shape, with very smooth clunk-free gear shifts. “Should we consider going with manual, Trev?” asked Andy, bearing in mind that our project Range Rover had a four-speed auto box. In the days that followed, we talked about the two types of transmission, weighing up the pros and cons. This was probably partially driven by a fairly harsh shift of gears with…

ED EVANS • General workshop tools TIME 2 HOURS COST N/A DIFFICULTY RATING A61-plate 2.2-litre TDCi Defender should be in reasonable fettle, given that it’s only four years old and has covered lower than average miles. But life on the farm has been hard for this truck cab 90. It’s freshly retired from its job as a farm truck, and comes with a mud-loaded chassis, a well-worn interior, and beaten up front panels. Mechanically, it has survived the ordeal but, in it’s present state as a battered workhorse, it’s still on the road to decline. Only a transformation into a special vehicle is likely to change this Defender’s life expectancy, and that’s exactly what’s going to happen. Britpart MD, Paul Myers, has bought the truck, and it’s now in the…

With sensibly-priced series is rarer than a rust-free rear crossmember, it's later series models that are now attracting the clued-up buyers. The latest classic & Vintage cars sale by auctioneers brightwells saw a lovely line-up of leaf-sprung land rovers come under the hammer. the pick of the crop was a grey 1969 88-inch series iiA in original condition, with just four owners and 105,000 miles from new. it was expected to fetch £7500 to £8500. Bidders looking for a roomier vehicle would have bid for a red 1982 lWb series iii safari, with four owners, full service history, 16 old Mot certificates and a mere 104,000 miles on the clock. the sale estimate was £4000 to £5000. For collectors of rarities, the 1980 stage One V8 was the ideal buy.…