My old Heap (as the wife calls it)

[Jonboy]

After the recent crap weather the sun finally came out today, so after a hearty fry up with my wife at a local greasy spoon ( it was superb by the way Marco ) i donned a woolly hat and took out my old heap for a quick trip around the block to give her a run

Upon my return i discovered that i had a split water hose , i made up a new hose from a scrap bit i had lying around, fired it up again to check for leaks the thing then decided to get stuck in gear, pulling and pushing the gear stick whilst rocking it back and forwards had no affect so i then had to remove all the floor matting, take the gear stick out and peer down into the gearbox to see what was occurring, managed to get a screw driver down the hole and line everything back up, luckily it was only a selector out of line so nothing broken, a new gasket also had to be made as the old one fell to bits upon its disturbance, re-inserted the gear stick complete with cardboard box gasket and hay presto we had a full set of gears again a blast down to the local shops and all seems to be fine now.


Nothing like a old landy with no top on and a Rover V8 to listen to who needs a radio or a roof.

In the end i got about 10 mins of driving and spent the other 2 or 3 hours tinkering, the joys of owing a fine piece of British engineering, the grin factor makes it all worth it

Perhaps i'm posting this on the wrong forum but thought some of you might be interested i what i play with other than Hifi

By they way its a 1983 109 inch series 3 stage 1 v8 (factory Fitted), ex Water board

[chris@panteg]

My wife would call that a thing of beauty ! She loves em , especially the 110 wheel base .

[walpurgis]

Yes, I've owned various examples of "fine British engineering", unfortunately the couple of hours tinkering before you can actually go anywhere is not that unusual.

What with SU fuel pumps playing up, points burning, condensers or coils on the blink, Stromberg diaphragms splitting, exhaust manifolds on BL motors heating the mechanical fuel pump on the block and vapourising fuel so you conk out, endless hydraulics problems, etc., etc. It may be endless fun, but it's not reliable transport.

I've still got a fully equipped workshop that I no longer really need as I've stopped buying 'Classics' and just buy reasonably low mileage fairly recent cars.

[Beechwoods]

Alex_UK has a fantastic ex-Safari Landy. I strongly considered getting one last time I changed cars, but came down on the side of comfort (for the price) and got myself a Mitsubishi Delica instead

Landy's are still beautiful looking machines in my book though

[The Grand Wazoo]

I drove past the end of your road 4 times today Jon(in my Japanese 4WD!) - the x-roads by the Wibbling Whippet or whatever that pub's called. I would've let you know I was down earlier, but I'm a bit engrossed in domestic stuff this visit.

[Jonboy]

unfortunately the couple of hours tinkering before you can actually go anywhere is not that unusual.

What with SU fuel pumps playing up, points burning, condensers or coils on the blink, Stromberg diaphragms splitting, exhaust manifolds on BL motors heating the mechanical fuel pump on the block and vapourising fuel so you conk out, endless hydraulics problems, etc., etc.

All of the above Geoff but that's what keeps me sane at times, fiddling


Spent part of Friday and half of Saturday replacing a distributor on my v8 Land Rover Discovery which started off as a basic half hour rotor arm, dizzy cap and plug lead replacement ended up being a complete nightmare after the dizzy fell to bits when i pulled out the rotor arm , a lesson learnt for me next time "more haste less speed"

I had to get another complete dizzy and re-time the whole engine which meant laying underneath it in the pissing rain with a ratchet on the crank trying to find top dead centre whilst trying to align timing marks etc

Love it

[Jonboy]

I drove past the end of your road 4 times today Jon(in my Japanese 4WD!) - the x-roads by the Wibbling Whippet or whatever that pub's called. I would've let you know I was down earlier, but I'm a bit engrossed in domestic stuff this visit.

Oh well perhaps next time Chris you know your always welcome just to pop in, no appointments required here i'm either in or out or doing both

[The Grand Wazoo]

Ha!

[Jonboy]

Landy's are still beautiful looking machines in my book though

I just can't keep away from them Nick, but they are certainly not the most reliable things, you will always be wanting something done or fixed, i have got two at home plus 2 more for spares in a mates field just in case,

The defenders still command big money which can make the Japanese stuff a good buy in comparison with better running and servicing costs (sometimes) as well, as you say comfort side wins it hands down,

[walpurgis]

All of the above Geoff but that's what keeps me sane at times, fiddling


Spent part of Friday and half of Saturday replacing a distributor on my v8 Land Rover Discovery which started off as a basic half hour rotor arm, dizzy cap and plug lead replacement ended up being a complete nightmare after the dizzy fell to bits when i pulled out the rotor arm , a lesson learnt for me next time "more haste less speed"

I had to get another complete dizzy and re-time the whole engine which meant laying underneath it in the pissing rain with a ratchet on the crank trying to find top dead centre whilst trying to align timing marks etc

Love it

Glad you still "love it".

I spent years tinkering, rebuilding, tuning and customising cars (and bikes). Mainly Minis, never Landy's and I thought I was having a ball, until I bought an Alfa, then I suddenly realised I had a vehicle that gave me everything I wanted without me having to change it.

By the way, what's your mpg on the V8. Must be pretty thirsty.