Innholdsfortegnelse for November 2017 i Land Rover Monthly

DEFENDER SPECIALIST Twisted Automotive has agreed a three-year deal to become a major partner of Gumball 3000. Known for attracting some of the world’s finest supercars and celebs, it’s probably a world away from most of us humble Land Rover owners. Interestingly though, Gumball 3000 founder Maximillion Cooper entered his Twisted 110 in the 2017 edition of the rally, which started in Riga, Latvia, and finished in Mykonos, Greece, and was apparently a real crowd favourite – who needs supercars when you have Defenders?…

MY WOEFUL £112,000 RANGE ROVER ON JULY 4 this year I took delivery of my new Range Rover Autobiography at a cost of £111,911.49p from Farnell Land Rover in Nelson, Lancashire. I spent a further £3500 for the Balmoral Blue paint option. But there are three specific areas which I am unhappy with. Traffic system: Having spent £112,000 on my new car, I had to go out and buy a data SIM card, for a further £41.45p, to enable the live traffic system to work. What a complete and utter insult. I simply cannot believe that a vehicle at this level of cost does not come fully functioning on delivery. What are JLR thinking? Engine auto stop/start facility: This feature has to be the most unwelcome item I have ever…

PORTABLE AIR COMPRESSOR PRICE £87.50 Britpart offers this double-pump portable air compressor which is an ideal tool for off-roading trips, expeditions and in the workshop. Delivering an airflow of 150 litres per minute and capable of 150 psi, it quickly inflates tyres from zero to full pressure. There’s a 10 metre air hose, pressure gauge and a selection of nozzle fittings, plus leads and clips to power the unit from your 12 volt battery. The compressor is mounted in a sand tray and the whole kit, weighing 4.6 kg, packs into a conveniently-shaped rigid carrying case. britpart.com ARB DIGITAL INFLATOR PRICE £48.75 The mother of all digital tyre inflators. It doesn’t matter if you drop it as it has a rubber bump guard, and there’s no excuses for getting the…

THE AVERAGE price of a used car in the UK is now £10,000, which is just over half the average value of a new car (£19,000). So it isn’t an investment to be taken lightly – especially if you’re investing in a Land Rover. You need to know how reliable and economical it is, whether it will hold its value and what could go wrong. You also need to know which Land Rover is right for you. Are you looking for a versatile family car to take the kids to school, or are you planning to drive it across Africa? Will you be towing a caravan or trailer? Will you be going off-road or will it be your everyday wheels for the daily commute? Or maybe a bit of all…

“Why is driving through water so much fun? Issac (and I) enjoy it so much that I do the long water run several times” This is a show like no other. You can climb out of your tent, hop into your Land Rover, then in less than a minute, be on one of the finest off-road tracks in the whole of the UK. We own Land Rovers because they can go just about anywhere. The Billing Off-Road Show is exactly what it says on the tin: an opportunity to take your Land Rover off-road in a fun and controlled environment. It does not matter whether you drive a Series I or the new Velar Range Rover, all are welcome here. Even if it does not have the Green Oval... After…

This year is the 50th anniversary of the formation of the Anglian Rover Owners Club. It is one of the oldest 4x4 clubs in Britain and was formed in Cambridgeshire. The club first appeared in 1955 as the Land Rover Club Anglia and it crawled out of the Fenland mud and evolved to become the Anglian Rover Owners Club in 1967. As part of the club’s 2017 programme of 50th anniversary shenanigans it spent a weekend at Tixover Quarry, near Stamford, with many members camping out for the weekend and a full programme of competitive events planned. The weekend was dry for the campers, but they still found some mud to play in. The club ran a Tyro, RTV and CCV trial over the two days. The Tyro trial has…

As I write this it’s the last day of meteorological summer. By the time you read this, it will be autumn and then shortly after the greenlanes in my neck of the woods will be closed. That’s why I’m out greenlaning in the Northamptonshire countryside right now, exploring some of my favourite tracks in my faithful Discovery 1. The Disco has served me well in the last month. A fortnight ago I joined my eldest daughter, Jeanine, her husband Stef, and my beautiful grandchildren, Chloe and Ethan, for a lovely day at the seaside. We all piled into the Disco and I took them to one of my favourite beaches on the North Norfolk coast, at Thornham. It was a glorious day and a great excuse to be a kid…

After last month’s stalled painting session due to an unplanned body repair, we’re now back in business. No matter how well the vehicle is prepared ready for the spray shop, there is always the fine line between damage that will be repairable, and damage that won’t. In our case, we assumed a dented and cracked rear panel could be skimmed over and painted and, if some evidence of the damage remained, we would wear that as a bit of character – evidence of the vehicle’s history. But the spray shop was having none of that. On close examination it was obviously not right to leave the broken panel pop-riveted together under new paint. Also, the damage had extended to the rear left wing which was kinked, and the only way…

A few years ago I visited a Land Rover breaker’s yard on the lookout for an air conditioning (AC) fan for a Discovery 2 that I was working on. I was pointed in the direction of five or six scrapped D2s and each and every one of them was seized solid. The reason for this is the AC fan does not have a motor that is waterproof. At around 14-years old, the radiator from my own D2 has become quite flaky and powdery – the fins are corroding away in places, and the intercooler is in similar condition. My AC condenser, although still capable of holding refrigerant, is probably in the worst condition. Having carried out performance upgrades to the Td5 engine in my D2, it is vitally important that…

Everyone wants to own an early Series I. Where did you find yours? I purchased it from a chap who lives in Hermanus, the town along the touristy Garden Route which is famous for its whale watching. I heard that it was for sale from another enthusiast who lives in the same town. I had purchased several Land Rovers from him in the past and he knew that I was on the lookout for a good early Series I. What sort of condition was it in? As you can see from the picture it was a real beauty and a rare find. There was no rust in the firewall or on the chassis. Despite the fact that someone had done a few modifications to it, all the important bits were…

“The pinnacle of the Discovery family has received a number of suspension mods” BY THE time you read this the Discovery SVX will have been revealed for the first time. So, what is it? Hailed by the carmaker as the ultimate all-terrain Discovery, it sits alongside the SVR and SVAutobiography lines and adds a new arm to the Special Vehicle Operations (SVO). Offered exclusively with JLR’s 5.0-litre supercharged V8, tuned to deliver 525 bhp and 625 Nm of torque, the pinnacle of the Discovery family has also received a number of suspension modifications. A model-first for Discovery on SVX is Hydraulic Active Roll Control (H-ARC) system, which gives increased wheel articulation and improved body control, to enhance traction and reduce body roll. It also features increased approach and departure angles,…

I am currently trying to acquire a Certificate of Conformity for my 1995 Defender 300Tdi, which I have exported to France after inheriting it from my father-in-law, who has sadly passed away. His Defender had not been driven for almost four years due to his ill health, so when he died my mother-in-law spent almost £2000 to get it MoT’d so that my wife could collect it and drive it to our home in France. That was just over a year ago and that MoT has now expired, but when I went to the French testing station for a Control Technique (French equivalent of the MoT) I was told that as it was over 20-years old I would need a Certificate of Conformity. Unfortunately, every person I have spoken to…

There are times (usually at the end of a day when everything possible has gone wrong) when I briefly wonder why I chose, some years ago, to leave a relatively well-paid office job in favour of working on cantankerous old vehicles. But these moments are few and far between. Basically I love this job and wouldn’t want to be doing anything else. And in a fast-changing world, where once-secure jobs are being outsourced, downsized, de-skilled or automated out of existence, fixing broken machines is one of the few kinds of work which cannot be rendered obsolete by a smartphone app, or done at a tenth of the cost by someone halfway round the world. To have an old Series II limp into the workshop on two and a half cylinders,…

“To take his incredible wildlife and landscape images Hannes literally spends years with his subject” No human life is complete without a trip to witness the miracle of nature that occurs each year in Botswana’s Okavango Delta. Try and imagine the scene. It’s where at the height of northern Botswana’s dry season, the flat, dusty Kalahari desert plains are transformed into a wildlife Garden of Eden thanks to the mother of all water discharges from the Okavango River. The waters of Okavango Delta begin their remarkable journey hundreds of miles away in the Angolan highlands, before making their way south and across Namibia’s Caprivi, and finally they flow over the thousands of square kilometres that make up the Okavango Delta, bringing with them life – and wildlife) It is here…

“With little or no experience beforehand you will come away with the confidence to tackle any expedition situation” When an invite to attend one of Land Rover’s events drops into my inbox, I’ll always sit up and pay attention. Usually because the invite is to do something exciting. To sum the email up, Land Rover Experience has recently launched a new series of Eastnor Explorer days which gives attendees the opportunity to experience expedition adventure, while under the expert guidance of LRE instructors. My invitation to attend a day’s session would give an insight into what LRE has created for anyone who books the course and my job now is to share it with you. The course takes place over a maximum of three days, which can be booked separately…

The strip of soft sand I was travelling on, more a ledge than anything else and just below the first line of low scrub-covered ridges of sand, became narrower and narrower. To my immediate right the jagged twisted spires and clumps of sea-eroded limestone rocks didn’t look particularly inviting, while the wave-tossed sea just a little further out was downright intimidating. Suddenly the sandy ledge I was on gave out completely and the Discovery lurched sideways into a fettuccine-like porridge of sand and weed. I thumbed the gearshift paddle back to second, the low range box growling in time with the increased rumble from the V6 turbo engine. The only real response though, as forward motion came to a quick end, was a plume of sand thrown through my open…

SEPTEMBER 15 – 17 Midland Rover Owners Club, Majors Memorial CCV Trial Eastnor Castle, Ledbury mroc.co.uk SEPTEMBER 15 USA – Arizona Land Rover Owners Club Telegraph Canyon Trail Runs Phoenix, AZ azlro.org SEPTEMBER 16 – 17 LRO Land Rover Show East of England Showground, Peterborough lroshow.com SEPTEMBER 16 – 17 Buxton & District Land Rover Club Tyro & RTV Trial Warslow, Leek badlrc.co.uk SEPTEMBER 16 – 23 Bulgaria – Balkan Offroad Rallye Albena, Bulgaria balkanoffroad.net SEPTEMBER 16 – 30 Morocco - Atlas Overland 4x4 Adventure Tours Morocco Grand Tour Morocco atlasoverland.com SEPTEMBER 16 Solent and District Land Rover Club Greenlane Trip sadlrc.co.uk SEPTEMBER 17 All Wheel Drive Club Comp Safari Bickleigh Mill, Devon awdc.co.uk SEPTEMBER 17 Bucham Off-Road Club CCV Trial Lumsden, Aberdeenshire bordc.co.uk SEPTEMBER 17 Cornwall & Devon Land…

Any Series Land Rover with its original leaf spring and telescopic damper suspension system should ride well. If it doesn’t, it’s not because of an old design that’s rough and ready, it’s because something is wrong. The truth is that a Series vehicle should ride and handle well. Admittedly, ride quality may fall short of modern standards, especially in a Series I, but they aren’t so bad as is often assumed. Indeed, a long wheelbase model can give a tolerably smooth ride, and a short wheelbase model can be predictable and tight in its handling. Steering obviously also affects handling – and that means front wheel toe-in, steering joints, steering box, steering relay, drag link, track rod, steering damper (where fitted) and tyres all need to be in good order.…

Advertise your Land Rover in LRM and you will reach HOW TO ADVERTISE tens of thousands of like-minded enthusiasts, worldwide. Fill in the coupon below and send it to us by post, fax, or email if you prefer. You can include up to 60 words in your ad. 1 POST LRM Classifieds, Dennis Publishing LTD, Bedford Technology Park, Thurleigh, Bedford, MK44 2YP • Please write your name on the back of photo 2 ONLINE Visit forsale.landrover addict.com and click place free advert, it is that easy 3 EMAIL  classifieds@lrm.co.uk • Send photo as 300dpi jpeg if possible • Please supply your name, address and telephone number • Maximum of 120 words Advertisers using Land Rover Monthly reach the most Land Rover enthusiasts worldwide…

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One of the eternal problems facing the small garage proprietor is time management. There is a fine balance to be struck between taking on enough work to pay all the bills, while still allowing a bit of slack in the schedule for when things go wrong as they inevitably do when working on vehicles that are sometimes more than half a century old. You never know when things might go quiet, so the temptation is to fill up the diary, cross your fingers and hope for plain sailing. This is seldom a good idea, as a recent arrival in the Norfolk Garage demonstrates. The vehicle in question is a Defender 90 which I have been looking after for a little while now. Two years ago it was treated to an…

“Both car and carrier are packed with 21st century technology, which interfaces with their human operators by integrating gizmos and systems to maximise the performance” In August the nation’s new aircraft carrier and flagship HMS Queen Elizabeth arrived for the first time at its home base in Portsmouth, under the command of Captain Jerry Kyd. The 65,000 tonne ship’s move came after weeks of trials in the North Sea and months of training by the crew and Captain – for this is the biggest ship ever built for the Royal Navy, and was completely untried. The ship will be tested at a later date, but we wanted to see how the captains of HMS Queen Elizabeth and its sister ship HMS Prince of Wales, currently being built in Rosyth in…

One Christmas Day a few years ago I went to my local pub for a midday pint. It was pulled by barmaid Tracy, who had a big smile on her face. “You having a nice Christmas, then?” I asked. “Brilliant!” she grinned. “My next-door neighbour had a kitchen fire this morning.” “You don’t like your neighbours then?” “No, we get on fine,” she explained. “But I got to see the fireman going up and down the garden path. Best Christmas present, ever!” We all love firemen – even if some of us, like Tracy, love them too much. But the truth is that no other public servants enjoy the same level of respect and admiration as firefighters. Others, like police, politicians, social workers, civil servants, refuse collectors and even the…

Who is the Green Mamba some of you might be asking? Well it’s the name my son Isaac has given to my Defender 110. Why the Green Mamba? Well not only is it the name of a quick-striking venomous snake, it was also the name given to the prototypes during the attempt by BMW to put M52 engines into South African Defenders during the late 1990s. I’ve just returned from an epic tag-along tour with Venture 4x4 in Iceland and the last thing I did before leaving was to drop off my Defender 110 at Rogers of Bedford, my local independent Land Rover specialists. Some of you might be aware of the fact that in the late 1990s Rogers of Bedford imported about half a dozen South African Defenders with…

Having become a bit fed up with the fight between myself and my loved ones for the USB charging socket, it was time to do something. I know some of you will think the simple answer is to buy a two-socket USB plug for the cigarette lighter, but this means other accessories can’t use the socket and I regularly use my powered cool box for picnics and bringing home perishable comestibles from far-flung places. The solution came from a post on the Freelander Owners Club Facebook page. In China, they make everything electronic, including things for which there is not yet a use. One of the FOC members had located a USB socket which fits into the blanks many of us have in our cubby box. The blanks used to…

The final work to complete on our chassis is on the remaining, untouched front end. So far, our time has been spent on the rear two-thirds of the car, as that typically is the section that corrodes faster. At the front end of the chassis, exhaust heat, engine oil leaks or residual engine heat after use all mean there’s less opportunity for water to sit around, hastening corrosion. In contrast, the centre and rear parts of a chassis are a little more exposed to the elements. To work on the front we unbolted the front axle much as we did with the rear, then raised the chassis on heavy-duty axle stands, and set to work. Our hypothesis on the chassis condition proved loosely correct. The front end was in good…

A flat tyre, leaky rim or slow puncture can halt you in your tracks just when you need to get going the most. So having a portable tyre inflator on board can be the difference between 10 minutes delay or a wheel change and a trip to the nearest garage. And it’s essential for adjusting tyre pressures whenever you want to go off-road. Small pumps available from filling stations for less than £20, claiming high inflation pressures, are false economy. All 4x4 tyres take longer to inflate to their specified pressures than smaller car tyres due to their size. For a tyre inflator, 4x4 tyres represent a challenge because the volume of air required is large and the typical continuous running time of a small pump before it overheats and…