Supernaut's Cars - E36 323i / mk3 Megane / S1 Land Rover

[Supernaut]

Heat / mud shields now fitted.

[Supernaut]

It's Drive It Day today, so... I drove it.

To Inverurie and back.

There were a few other things at the cars and coffee too.

[Supernaut]

The mild steel rear silencer I ordered on the 17th finally arrived yesterday.

No photos as it's just a bit of exhaust pipe, but I fitted it to the Land Rover as soon as it arrived.

The stainless silencer made a twaaaannng as I rapped my knuckles across it, while the mild steel one made a dull thud. Good start.

 

I took it for a drive in the evening to collect a couple of part worn tyres off FB marketplace for one of the other cars. I can now drive it without wearing ear plugs! Success!

It's also better than any antidepressants. I was grinning like an idiot pootling about in it, and people on the street were genuinely stopping what they were doing and staring as I slalomed through parked cars in a residential street.

 

 

I'm determined to get my own piece of 4 wheeled porridge to mess around with now. I'm currently sniffing around any cheap local Morris Minors or similar...

[Supernaut]

I decided to fit a coolant expansion bottle to the Land Rover.

It currently just dumps out the bottom when the coolant expands, but I found a nice 1L bottle that fits perfectly in the bracket from the old screenwash bottle.

I still need to get some hose of the right diameter to plumb it in, though.

Why yes, it's an empty Kraken rum bottle.

 

 

[Supernaut]

Huehuehue.

[camryv6]

Remember it will not suck the excess water back in as the cap on the radiator will seal once the pressure has dropped

[Supernaut]

15 hours ago, camryv6 said:

Remember it will not suck the excess water back in as the cap on the radiator will seal once the pressure has dropped

Indeed.

I just didn't like the idea of it simply dumping coolant out, what a waste, and not exactly environmentally friendly.

 

Ok, it's not like the rest of a series Land Rover is eco-friendly either but...

[camryv6]

9 hours ago, Supernaut said:

Indeed.

I just didn't like the idea of it simply dumping coolant out, what a waste, and not exactly environmentally friendly.

 

Ok, it's not like the rest of a series Land Rover is eco-friendly either but...

I remember spending a couple of hours topping up all the levels on my series 2, then parking it on the road and it left an oil mark in about 6 different places

[Supernaut]

I popped along to the show at Crathes yesterday. Some highlights (I took 50-odd photos in total).

[Supernaut]

Let's turn a wing mirror into a door mirror.

 

I saw an MG Midget for sale at the show yesterday. It was very tempting at £1850 and having just been through an MOT (despite being exempt). The history wasn't even scary.

That bubbling around the clamshell and the rear arches was giving me the heebie jeebies though.

I realise I already have something small and RWD that will need bodywork attention at some point. Plus I already have access to something old, British and barely weather tight.

Still, though. It would be funny...

No!

[Supernaut]

I'm just idly thinking here, but...

The Land Rover seems to make a lot of intake noise. I mean A LOT.

It's not particularly a nice noise and it's right in my face seeing as I sit about 2 feet behind the carb and there's fuck all in the way of insulation.

It's running an SU carb with a pancake filter as that's all that fits under the bonnet. The carb sits quite high.

I wonder what parts I could use to put an elbow, pipe, and airbox on it. Something that doesn't cost a fortune either.

I've seen SU carb elbows for Morris Minors on eBay but they look like they would either point upwards or downwards, when I need it to go forwards.

[Tayne]

Wouldn’t it originally have had an oil bath air filter?

[Supernaut]

1 hour ago, Tayne said:

Wouldn’t it originally have had an oil bath air filter?

Yes indeed. And a Zenith (I think) carburettor.

[Supernaut]

I took the air filter off then took a photo, just to show what I'm working with.

Not as much room in there as I initially thought, thanks to the battery.

I wonder if putting some sort of shield around the rear half of the pancake filter would make any difference, or am I being stupid?

The intake noise at anything above maybe 2/3rds throttle is honestly overwhelming. It's rather silly.

[goosey]

Memories, My dads petrol Landrovers always made that sucking sound when fitted with an SU carb 

[Surface Rust]

9 hours ago, Supernaut said:

I took the air filter off then took a photo, just to show what I'm working with.

Not as much room in there as I initially thought, thanks to the battery.

I wonder if putting some sort of shield around the rear half of the pancake filter would make any difference, or am I being stupid?

The intake noise at anything above maybe 2/3rds throttle is honestly overwhelming. It's rather silly.

Could you fit an inlet elbow to the carb, to turn the inlet towards the front. Should help quite a bit.

I don't think yours is a HIF44, but something like this:

[Supernaut]

1 hour ago, Surface Rust said:

Could you fit an inlet elbow to the carb, to turn the inlet towards the front. Should help quite a bit.

I don't think yours is a HIF44, but something like this:

That definitely looks like the sort of thing that would do the job. I wonder where to get one from.

[Surface Rust]

What is your carb, is it a HS2 or HS4?

If so there might be a BMC arrangement that works like this:

[Supernaut]

What a way to spend a Sunday morning. Upside down in a foot well undoing a T20 torx 1/6 of a turn at a time. Fuck you Renault, and your RHD conversions.

It definitely needed doing. I mistakenly dumped it on the passenger seat and it was like I burst a vacuum cleaner bag!

[Supernaut]

On 22/05/2025 at 22:07, Surface Rust said:

What is your carb, is it a HS2 or HS4?

If so there might be a BMC arrangement that works like this:

I believe it's an HS4.

I found this sort of elbow on eBay for £20.

I wonder if even that with a cone filter on it, pointing forwards, would quieten things down a bit.

[Surface Rust]

Bonus points for ram air effect performance* boost!

[Supernaut]

I fitted one of those Trutrak Pros to the Land Rover on Saturday.

I then took it to the vintage car show in Fraserburgh yesterday.

 

Here's the tracker showing me switching off the ignition in the exact parking space I parked in outside Lidl after the show.

Aye, that's pretty accurate!

[artdjones]

7 minutes ago, Supernaut said:

I fitted one of those Trutrak Pros to the Land Rover on Saturday.

I then took it to the vintage car show in Fraserburgh yesterday.

 

Here's the tracker showing me switching off the ignition in the exact parking space I parked in outside Lidl after the show.

Aye, that's pretty accurate!

The only trouble with trackers is getting the police to go and have a look if the vehicle disappears, and you have a tracked position for it. 

There's a whole genre of YouTube videos where private investigators find stolen plant, but often the police aren't very responsive. I cringed with shame at one from South Wales. The constable sent was hairy, scruffy, fat, and I mean fat, with a manbun. And useless.

[Supernaut]

I've been going through the photos of the Land Rover in order to make an album of its restoration.

So here's an imgur link, and they're pretty much in chronological order too.

 

https://imgur.com/a/nzL4X9J

[Supernaut]

Rather than swapping between tow bars depending on which trailer I'm using, I installed this today.

The pin seems to rattle when in place so it may well get slung into the storage box under the passenger seat when not in use.

[Supernaut]

Free fix on the Megane yesterday.

I suspected for a while that the nearside handbrake wasn't doing all that much.

Took the wheel off yesterday and had a look. I sprayed a quarter of a metric fuckload of GT85 in amongst the wee lever on the back of the caliper, then grabbed it with molegrips and twatted it with a hammer to get it moving.

Result; better handbrake (still sort of shite because discs) plus the brake pedal feels more confidence inspiring. I guess I got the entire caliper to join the party again.

[Supernaut]

I've just "bought" this.

I transferred the money from my instant access savings so my dad could buy it now instead of coming back another day, and he's paying me back once home.

2013 Rav 4 Invincible. 2.2 D4D with only 55k miles.

It drives... like a car. Barely even any body roll. Fairly nippy too.

It'll be getting a tow bar fitted "soon".

[Supernaut]

Paid £7.5k for it.

Seems like a lot for something from 2013 but similar ones are more like £8k elsewhere, or you're into 5 figures for a CRV only 2 or 3 years newer.

It's absolutely immaculate. The interior is like brand new. 

It's been garaged all its life and never had a tow bar. I feel bad for it considering what it's going to be used for.

The first thing I did was connect my phone to the Bluetooth and got some stoner rock on the go. Then the second thing I did was poke and prod the cruise control stalk for the hour drive home.

 

Now we need to shift a 2012 Kia Sorento with a dodgy clutch, a rusty rear subframe, non functional air conditioning and it's generally just grubby and minging...

[paulplom]

In November we paid £5k for a 2012 kia sportage with 90k on it. Yours is  bargain in comparisson.

[Supernaut]

16 minutes ago, paulplom said:

In November we paid £5k for a 2012 kia sportage with 90k on it. Yours is  bargain in comparisson.

Aye, the parents wanted specifically a diesel over 2 litres and a manual too. So that made the search criteria narrower.

It will occasionally be towing a twin axle Ifor Williams with about a ton of mulch in it, so small petrols or autos were out.