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Apr 24, 2016 13:13:44 GMT
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I suppose it's no real surprise I'd suggest an old Land Rover. Pretty much everything for them is available new, and all the mechanicals are nice big chunky bits that are all pretty simple, if not a little weighty.
The only real downside is (as with Minis) the prices are going up now they're being recognised as classics. What would have been a £150 project 6 or 7 years ago is often valued at 5 or 6 times that now.
If nothing else, once you've picked a car it's probably worth getting in with the local owners club and see what's available at a reasonable price from chaps who know about these things rather than going on ebay value and paying over the odds.
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Quick update but no photos.
For a start, I bought a timing belt kit and got into changing the pump for the bosch one. Once I had them both side by side on the bench it became apparent that they weren't the straight swop I had been led to believe, the main restriction being the spigot on the bosch pump was much bigger than the CAV one.
Having resigned myself to putting it back together with the original pump I did find that the timing advance lever which connects to the throttle lever on the outside of the pump was hanging loose, having not been reconnected when the spindle seal was changed. A little more research also found me the fuelling adjustment screw, which was wound up a bit.
All back together it started and idled better (now the advance wasn't able to wander about) and seemed a bit more lively on the road to boot.
The drivers door latch assembly was replaced after the door started popping open, but otherwise it kept on running pretty reliably until I got a call from the Mrs on her way to work telling me she'd had a brake failure. Fortunately the local contractor for the RAC just sent a wagon, and once it was home the problem was found to be one of the axle check straps buffing it's way through one of the pipes on the rear axle.
Sorted out, it continued for another few weeks (and a thousand miles or so) before the gearbox started making some pretty horrible noises in 3rd and 4th whilst I was on the A66 travelling to work.
Another trip home on the back of a truck (getting our money's worth from the recovery this year) and it's now sat thinking about what it's done whilst I work on sourcing a new gearbox.
More soon.
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One could only surmise yes it would.
Impossible to tell what sort of material it is from the photo, and if it's high tensile then I'm sure all is well and good with it.
I'll stand by my comment though, it would look that much neater with a set of proper bolts.
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I used to run Bfg Trac Edge tyres before they stopped making them,they were good. Insa Turbo now do a Trac Edge pattern tyre, Special Trac I think they call em, reasonable range of sizes, usual cheap prices...
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Tell me you're going to put some proper high tensile bolts on the back axle instead of threaded rod.
don't get me wrong, it's a clever reworking of things to get the result you want, but threaded bar holding the rear axle on looks all sorts of wrong to me.
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Go on then... ![](http://i460.photobucket.com/albums/qq328/DasLandRoverMan/20160214_155649_004_1.jpg)
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Now that is one really sweet ride. If only we had cool old pick ups here thats what id want to build. Dan Land Rover, old (leaf sprung) Hi-Lux, even Ford P100's if you wanted to do something a bit different. The problem over here is finding a decent modern chassis with V8 power...
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Quaintly enough the Disco 1 chassis was available with air suspension, it just had a range rover sat on top of it.
Original spec airbags and compressor etc are probably stupid expensive or not worth having second hand any more, but the factory front shock mountings just bolt on to the chassis, with extra mounts in front of the spring seats on the front axle. Sort of thing someone will likely have sitting somewhere if you wanted to save yourself some work.
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Depends who you're asking... *cough*
2 inch lowering springs would probably set the wheelbase at 101" but I doubt it will make enough of a difference for anyone to really care.
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Too much money to spend on cars must be a nice problem to have...
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I'd agree with the 3.0 BMW suggestions, tweaked up properly you've got a nice smooth engine that'll make the car go well, and if done right would probably only be noticed if the bonnet was open, or someone astute enough to notice it doesn't sound quite right.
The 12 valve Cummins is a good lump, with lots of tuning potential, but bloody heavy, relatively limited max rpm, and would likely need a lot more body modification to make it fit.
The GM V8 Diesel is a boat anchor that offers pretty poor power and torque for the capacity and the amount of fuel it drinks, along with block issues etc.
The Nissan and Toyota sixes in 4.2 litre flavour are generally good engines (the Nissan is the better of the two) but unless you can find a complete Land Cruiser or Patrol to lift the engine from it's hard to get a complete one as most breakers will sell the bare engine and ALL the ancillaries separately.
GM V8's tend to be about the £1k mark, as do the Japanese sixes, before adding another £600-700 for the ancillaries, whilst a Cummins from a DAF truck (with gearbox attached) average between £600-800. The BMW M57 is around £600 for a fully dressed lump, although you'll need to budget another £400 or so for a rallyraidUK wiring harness to allow you to wire it in as a standalone unit.
On price the Cummins and BMW (and I suppose a Merc OM606) come out as leading options, whilst the GM V8 writes itself out of the equation with reliability issues, and similarly to the Japanese sixes doesn't really deliver that much in terms of power/torque/economy for the capacity.
That's how I'd look at it.
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Mar 25, 2016 22:16:46 GMT
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Just to add to my post above, having reassembled the Series III with a new front hub bearing this morning, I went out in the 110 a couple of hours later and was fortunate enough to hear a loud bang from a rear hub as the drive flange stripped it's splines.
It drove home, but has added another priority job to the list before it can go an awful lot further.
Again, I could have picked up a willow branch and gone all Basil Fawlty on it, but instead there was a little swearing followed by a little contemplation surrounding the best way to repair it.
Looking at it another way, is it any worse than and Alfa?
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I've owned a lot of Land Rovers through the years, and have driven examples of all the main models up to the Freelander 2, along with having spent more than a few years working on them in both enthusiast & professional capacities, so I'd guess my opinion is reasonably qualified...
At present we have a 110 station wagon and a Series 3 as the only motors in our household (threads in readers rides) and both are used regularly as intended.
In terms of the usual 'complaints' people have surrounding driving them due to the interior, I've always found they suited me rather well, the upright seating position meant I could run non stop between fill ups (about 350 miles) and still feel pretty good, whilst most smaller cars tend to leave me walking like John Wayne for similar distances, although I will admit to having some serious issues standing up straight for a good few hours after an 8 hour run on military spec seats in my old GS 101.
Generally I love owning the things, I love driving them, and having had the 110 longer than I have the kids it's got to a point where even though I occasionally get to a point I want to throw matches at it, or just sell it in favour of something else (another Land rover I would add) I know it wouldn't get that far.
Would I suggest buying one to a friend? No. Why? They're not really a 'mainstream' car. There's two ways to own one, one is pay someone else to look after it, the other is do it yourself. If you can afford a newer one then having someone else do it is likely less of a concern, whilst being younger vehicles mean they haven't had as much time to develop the little niggles older ones do.
Do it yourself is certainly cheaper if you have the tools and skills to do it, but it still has potential to be a little trying. On average (over two vehicles) I would guess I'm dealing with one fault per week, ranging from minor niggles (bulbs etc) to VOR faults such as the gearbox conversion detailed in the thread for the series 3.
I do occasionally feel it would be easier to have a euro box runaround and have the Land Rovers as toys or just keep them for local running, but in my mind they balance out the bad with the good and we keep on going. I can quite imagine that if someone who doesnt hold then in the same light as I do (bought it bevause it looks cool etc) was paying out for everything I've done with them in the past six months they'd have sold it on as a useless piece of curse word already, and if it was bought on my recommendation they would never speak to me again.
In short, there are definitely better cars available, Discoverys are both cheaper and more comfortable places to be (I've had 3 of them in the past) and equally capable vehicles, but there's something about the utility models. If you get it, you'll never want to be without one, if you're following fashion and looking for a trendy car with a Land Rover badge, you're better saving yourself the hassle and buying an Evoque or Discovery Sport.
I hope that's all in some way coherent.
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Mar 18, 2016 17:41:44 GMT
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Every home should have one. At least one...
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Mar 17, 2016 22:05:30 GMT
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Just to further fog things up... Do you have an engine with a rear bowl sump?
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Mar 17, 2016 18:33:52 GMT
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Having done a little more reading it seems that only 3 series engines had a front bowl sump, whilst 5 series and most other variants had a rear bowl sump which is what I'd need for a Land Rover installation, so no need to mess about with different sumps and oil pumps.
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That's not bad. Does your delivery driver come over through Cairnryan and across the A75? I have a mate in Kirkcudbright who is potentially interested in one as well, and would be able to meet a driver on the 75 quite easily.
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West Cumbria. Having it shipped on a pallet isn't overly expensive so that wouldn't be a problem.
Could you source a Range Rover type sump and oil pump?
Now to scrape a few quid together to get it bought.
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Mar 15, 2016 10:30:31 GMT
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I've speculated enough to decide that I fancy an M51 to go in my 110, so putting out the feelers to see what's available and how far I'm going to have to open my wallet.
I don't really want to spend more than £300, and the best option would be one that comes with all the ancillaries and wiring/ECU to make it run.
Gearbox isn't that important as I intend to adapt it to work with a V8 land rover box.
What have you got?
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