Land Rover Shitey V8

[dollywobbler]

Forgot to update this. So, last Sunday, I went and played in the mud in Bala. Great 'Pay and Play' site with loads of space. Wasn't too confident given the rather worn, non-aggressive tyres but it was brilliant.

 

Once all the diesels had disappeared, I braved a not-at-all-deep fording section. Can you guess what happened?

 

Yup, damp electrics equals zero forward motion! Drove forward on the starter motor until my passenger could get out and dry things out...

 

Only bad incident was this rock. Was completely in my blind spot (I could only see sky!) as I came over a crest. Got off it with no damage though, so all ok.

 

Doesn't look stuck does it?

 

A bit of reversing and we were off. Thoroughly impressed with the off-road ability, if not the fuel costs. Oh well, fun is rarely cheap!

[Lacy]

That really is a nice, tidy, un fooked with example....pleeeeeeease keep it that way cos there aint many left.

 

Nice to see you on the Landy forum too!

[dollywobbler]

I'm going to do my best to keep it the way it is - I probably looked a right girl's blouse at Bala, avoiding the really, really bad sections while others seemed quite content to smash into rocks and trees! I still had fun though, which is the main thing. I guess I'm trying to find the balance as there's no point having a Land Rover and not using it off road. It's a bit like marrying the most beautiful woman in the world but not actually consumating!

[richardthestag]

if they're running right you can get 25 mpg on a run with the Rangie transfer box.

ORLY?

 

I know EFI is more efficient than a pair of knackered Strombergs, but I never got more than 20mpg from my old 109 V8 with overdrive. You know the old Audi 100 advert where the parachute comes out of the boot to show aerodynamics? That's a Land Rover, that is

 

RLY!

 

I built a Landy 90 a few years ago for someone. Was originally diesel, fitted a tuned 3.9 on carbs, Rangie transfer box, and set it up properly. 17 Mpg around town, 25 on a run (provided it didn't go above 70ish) and totally reliable. Sold it to a barking mad German bloke who drove it to Kiel, towing a broken lightweight he'd bought and killed on the M6.

 

Was fun, that thing. Lightened flywheel and a few other tweaks meant it was pretty quick for a Landy too.

 

I can back up what Pete suggests above. My RRC 3.9 if careful i.e. <70 and on a long run will return 25mpg whereas similarly driven on LPG (single point closed loop) = 17.5mpg. With rapidly rising costs / greed of the petrol companies re LPG It is getting very marginal whether I run unleaded or LPG on a long run. The difference is that if I hoon it down the motorway on Petrol it drops to 20mpg pretty quick but LPG runs at 15-16mpg without too many problems nor financial worries.

 

That 90 is fab and i'd love one like that!! You now know that the std tyre sizes will get you out of most situations, the difference is that you cannot get too deep into a problem / disaster because the tyres will let you know you is in the shite while you still stand a chance of recovering it. Please please please don't chuck a great set of over sized knobblies on it. and subsequently bugger up the ride, handling and economy of the thing. I am amazed how far I can get with standard size pirelli scorpion AT's on mine.

 

Waterproofing the v8 is tricky, dunno about the layout on the 90, on my RRC i silicon sealed the cap to the dizzy body, lots of silicon spray / vaseline around the HT leads and don't forget the coil. Last time I had problems was because i got the LT side of the coil damp and the engine died instantly - I recon that the ECU did something odd and shutdown. Opened bonnet, looked around a bit and got mate to try start it and it fired straight back up again when I got home and cleaned up most of the engine bay was clean except the n/s inner wheel arch and coil which was caked in mud.

 

When wading go in slow and get a bow wave in front of the headlights. slopping over the top of the bonnet and you will have problems

 

Have fun

[dollywobbler]

To be honest, I think I'll just avoid waiding anyway. Don't really want to fill the clutch/diffs/gearbox with water anyway really, not to mention giving the deep sections of the chassis a dose of filthy, muddy water. I suspect it was the coil getting wet - eletronic ignition should prove more resiliant to water.

 

I dream of 20mpg though! Low gearing and breeze-block aerodynamics make that a distant dream. Doesn't matter given that I'm not going to clock up many miles in it (says he who's already clocked up 400 miles in it, in two weeks...). Don't worry - I have no plans for big tyres. Plenty like that already - I'll just stick to the tiny wheels.

[Skizzer]

To be honest, I think I'll just avoid waiding anyway. Don't really want to fill the clutch/diffs/gearbox with water anyway really, not to mention giving the deep sections of the chassis a dose of filthy, muddy water. I suspect it was the coil getting wet - eletronic ignition should prove more resiliant to water.

 

That's what killed my 90 - it used to do marshalling duty on an off road course pulling idiots in Cayennes out of puddles. Eventually the chassis rusted through from the inside. The good bits now live on in various other Landies...

 

If any of the ONE LIFE brigade give you any patronising looks about the wheels, just be smug in the knowledge that narrow tyres are much better in mud anyway

 

A fine, fine vehicle and top pix, by the way.

[dollywobbler]

Thanks. I found the photography a real challenge - what feels terrifying behind the wheel looks feeble on camera. That earth bank was a good 45 degrees, and we sort of skidded our way down it in low first. Yet the picture doesn't look very scary at all (was interesting getting in and out with it at that angle though!). That was the biggest issue with the lack of traction - a few descents were quicker than planned because the front wheels were skidding in low first. Dropping the tyre pressures may have helped - some people's tyres looked very squidgy!

[Timewaster]

To be honest, I think I'll just avoid waiding anyway. Don't really want to fill the clutch/diffs/gearbox with water anyway really, not to mention giving the deep sections of the chassis a dose of filthy, muddy water. I suspect it was the coil getting wet - eletronic ignition should prove more resiliant to water.

 

Dont forget the brakes. A guy at work has stripped untold sets of brake shoes by filling them with mud and driving home. He recons 50 miles is enough to completely remove the lining of a brand new set.

The final straw that meant his series Landrover now goes to the off road sites on a trailer was when he lost all the electrics, miles from home. Turned out the battery was full of mud!

[dollywobbler]

Yeah, I know the done thing is to accelerate, doesn't mean I wanted to! I can't afford new tyres anyway, so this is all a bit academic really. It'll stay with that it has until the wear out or I sell the thing!

[dollywobbler]

Cor, great stuff! Not only are the pics good, but there's some old-school quality shite there too! Don't think you'd see many 1970s Rangies in the rough stuff these days - didn't spot one leafer at the weekend either.

 

Some top tips. Thanks a bunch!

[dollywobbler]

The picture of the L-plate Range Rover was taken 15 years ago.

 

I guessed it was a while ago. Got enough for an 'old shite off road' thread?

[dollywobbler]

Ah come on. Anything going back 15 years will seem interesting today - you don't have to put all of 'em up!

 

Anyway, here's a rather poor video, but it does sound nice. Need to learn about how best to get video capture too... (my mate was recording having never used my camera before to be fair to him)

[Mr_Bo11ox]

Get on with it Landy lickers!!! If theres any way you can post up that funny droney noise that you get when a Landy on knobbly tyres goes past i'd like to hear that too.

[pogweasel]

This noise? :

 

wwwooOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOoooorrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr

[Albert Ross]

That noise is best achieved with Goodyear Xtra Grip crossplies in 7.50x16 format, on concrete. That's what got me into them apparently..... I was young and foolish. I am now older. Still a fool.

[chaseracer]

...I was young and foolish. I am now older. Still a fool.

Same here. We should get some stickers made up