Woo hoo, new shite!

[garethj]

After words of wisdom on this thead: http://autoshite.commlm/forum/viewtopic.php?t=2754 I've found a new motah at last. A picture is worth a thousand words so there's a good sized essay for you

 

 

 

 

 

 

It's a Land Rover Series 3 109 Station Wagon Safari Stage 1 V8. Or "an old Land Rover" for short. Apparently back in the 70s Land Rover were getting a good reaming from Toyota because the Land Cruiser had a powerful straight 6 engine that would take it anywhere, while the Land Rover had a wheezy 2.25 4 cylinder motor that would take it anywhere very slowly or a straight 6 that would go slightly less slow but with less reliability.

 

Land Rover came up with Stage 1 of their improvement programme which involved taking the Series 3, giving it a much stronger Range Rover gearbox with permanent 4WD and the trusty ex Buick V8. This meant the flat front as used on later Defender models but I'm pretty sure the Stage 1 parts are unique for extra difficulty.

 

Wider brake drums helped kerb the mighty performance but even so they restricted the power from the Rangie's 135bhp to a more sedate 90ish bhp. This is done in the typical BL high-tech way and they screwed a couple of big washers into the inlet manifold of each Stromberg. As a result it makes this power at 3500rpm

 

This one seems mostly unmolested, it's got overdrive which you should only use on 3rd and 4th to make it last longer and the chassis and bulkhead are good. Brakes take the effort of Hercules to slow the thing down and the steering is heavy beyond belief but driving it is an absolute hoot.

 

They're replacing the door sill (not a structural part but looks a bit scabby), a little patch on 1 A post, giving it a service and putting a new MoT on so I can pick it up on the first weekend of August. I can't wait

[Torsten2001]

Splendid! Well done!

[garethj]

It's a train ride to Bromsgrove to pick it up and drive it back 80 miles to Luton. I'll pack all the essentials - AA card, MP3 player, earplugs, flask of coffee....There's a hole for a starting handle so I might be less reliant on Lucas Prince Of Darkness than most BL owners. If it fails to start you simply take the starting handle, gripping it carefully with both hands and then beat the shit out of the starter motor with it

[Cavcraft]

It's a train ride to Bromsgrove to pick it up and drive it back 80 miles to Luton. I'll pack all the essentials - AA card, MP3 player, earplugs, flask of coffee, £379 for petrol...

 

There's a hole for a starting handle so I might be less reliant on Lucas Prince Of Darkness than most BL owners. If it fails to start you simply take the starting handle, gripping it carefully with both hands and then beat the shit out of the starter motor with it

See what I did there?

 

That's way cool, are you going to off road it?

[garethj]

£379 for petrol...

 

See what I did there?

I am considering an LPG conversion

That's way cool, are you going to off road it?

With piss-poor brakes and a heavy steering it'll probably go off road at some point, although not on purpose. I'll have a look if there are some trails around here, I thought they'd all been closed to anything except a horse or a lesbian with a bobble hat?

[Cavcraft]

Got any pictures of these lesbians? That's the kind of thing that keeps me going

[Albert Ross]

You're half right about the birth of the Stage 1. It was to replace the IOEV 2625 six cylinder from the Rover car range, not the trusty 2286 (which,by the way is not, as you say, wheezy) The 6 cylinder had been around since 1967 in Land Rovers, but was a hang over from the pre-war engines used up until 1959 ish!!!!!!! There were subtle changes to the 6 cylinders to improve reliability, such as adding more main bearings, better carburation, viscous fan replacing a direct driven metal unit......Always fancied a Stage 1 meself......then I realised how expensive the unique parts are.................that's why I stuck to my trusty 4 cylinder models!Nice in Limestone BTW.Interestingly for it's age,i t has the early layout for the rear lamps, close together, but that's original as it has the metal badge on the offside, instead of the later plastic one. Must be one of the last ones built like so...............

[pogweasel]

Looks like an excellent purchase, well jealous. Glad I'm not footing the fuel bill though ;)As for mudding, there's still plenty of bits round Luton to play in. Obviously there's Devil's Pit, which pretty cool 'pay to play', but there's quite alot of bits of th old Icknield way out through Lilley towards Hitching etc which are still open and various other bits which are accessible for some green lane action.

[garethj]

After a couple of delays I picked this up today. 3 hours on the train up to Bromsgrove and then drive 100 miles back in the pouring rain. What a hoot to drive Brakes have been adjusted so it's not quite so terrifying to slow down now, steering damper was changed and the steering box adjusted so now a mere human can turn corners in it.Sat quite well on the motorway at 60-65mph in overdrive 4th and stupidly decided to drive through Warwick, Daventry and then down the A5 to Milton Keynes. After 10 roundabouts I decided to get back on the M1 again to have a bit of a breather I filled the tank when I left and topped it up when I got home, worked out at 17.5mpg which is pretty good I reckon. Was cheaper to come back by V8 Land Rover than to go there by train In true autoshite style there's a few things that don't work on it, the heater controls are a bit stiff, the heater fan doesn't work and once on the trip the fuel gauge and temp gauge went to zero. I cursed Lucas electrics and it came back a minute later.It's noisy, bouncy, hard work, there's no radio, expensive to run and will probably be unreliable. But I did the whole journey with a huge grin on my face, I reckon that's a result.In other news I had a crash last week in Mrs Gareth's Mitsubishi Galant. A car crossed the central reservation of a dual carriageway and hit me head on, we were both doing about 60mph. Luckily (?) the Galant was pushed sideways a bit and rolled over, if it had been a sudden stop I'd probably have died. As it was, it rolled and slid down the road smashing all the glass, bending every single panel, setting off all the airbags and throwing bits of the car everywhere. It eventually came to rest on its side.I cut my hand a bit. But it's better now

[Volksy]

Great purchase, Sorry to hear about the crash, sounds horrific, glad you're ok!

[Mr_Bo11ox]

I filled the tank when I left and topped it up when I got home, worked out at 17.5mpg which is pretty good I reckon. Was cheaper to come back by V8 Land Rover than to go there by train

Thats fuggin shocking isnt it. Tells you all you need to know

[pompei]

CHEESE 'N' RICEHope you're ok Garethj - that sounds absolutely terrifying. What happened to the other guy?

[Mr Lobster]

That sounds like a nasty one! Glad you are ok. Wonder what would have happened had he hit you in the LandRover?

[r.welfare]

Cripes man, glad to hear that the Galant did it's job in protecting the occupant. Question is, what will you replace it with?

[garethj]

That sounds like a nasty one! Glad you are ok. Wonder what would have happened had he hit you in the LandRover?

I'd probably be very dead, and so would the driver of the other car, impaled by a chassis rail is not a nice way to go. I really try not to have accidents because of riding the motorbike but I genuinely didn't see this coming until it happened.

Hope you're ok Garethj - that sounds absolutely terrifying. What happened to the other guy?

Luckily the other car didn't roll over, just bounced off my car and skidded down the road. It was an 08 plate Clio and had the front very smashed in but skidding got rid of that car's crash energy. Other driver had only been driving 6 months.

Cripes man, glad to hear that the Galant did it's job in protecting the occupant. Question is, what will you replace it with?

No idea what the replacement will be yet, perhaps a Volvo S70, S80 or Subaru Legacy if I can find something with a manual box, about 140bhp, working aircon and a nice colour (my better half's checklist for a new car )

[pogweasel]

Sounds an unpleasant experience.

[r.welfare]

No idea what the replacement will be yet, perhaps a Volvo S70, S80 or Subaru Legacy if I can find something with a manual box, about 140bhp, working aircon and a nice colour (my better half's checklist for a new car )

I'd personally recommend a 98-03 Honda Accord 1.8 - but I would say that as Mrs W now drives one 136bhp, a/c, cruise, 4 airbags (4-star NCAP rating too) and a reliable manual box with most now hovering between the £1-£2k mark. Only downside is you struggle to get more than 35mpg, regardless of the engine size, transmission or your driving style. I had a 2-litre auto for 3 years and 60k miles, and this "new" one was actually my dad's for 5 years and 105k miles (now on 115k, also an auto and a 2000 on a V-plate - a bit scuffed on the body but it was free!), and the only things that have gone wrong has been the bulb blowing behind the clock LCD, funnily enough on both of them...the 9k service interval is a bit of a fag but straightforward to DIY, and the cambelt change intervals are 8 years/96k miles...

[bones96]

Subaru Legacy if I can find something with a manual box, about 140bhp, working aircon and a nice colour (my better half's checklist for a new car )just bought mine for £850 9 months mot 6 months tax air con works a treat for a r reg car im only the third owner lol