As some of you know, in November 2009 I foolishly went on ebay and bought the first Land Rover I could find for £500. I found a Series 3 109". Ex-military. FFR. Perfect I thought! Has a lovely big 3L V6 engine in it. Amazing! The insurance almost bankrupt me, but it was worth it!
So the next day I trundled down to Gloucester on the train to collect my lovely new Land Rover. After a good few worrying hours (mostly due to the fuel gauge not working that well, I made it back to Glasgow in one piece. Slightly deafened and slightly cold, but in one piece! So I stopped off at a friends on the way home to proudly show off my new truck. It was then the curse of the Land Rover first struck! She wouldn't start! After having an uneducated poke and prod I called the friendly Green Flag. The breakdown truck came and after wiggling the starter solenoid cable all was well! I finally made it home, many many hours after leaving Gloucester.
She looked a little something like this:
http://farm3.staticflickr.com/2500/4197677616_dd8ca1b2e7_o.jpghttp://farm3.staticflickr.com/2534/4197680346_a069b0f16a_o.jpgI put it in for it's MOT, and in I go proudly and confidently. A couple of hours later I get a phone call from the garage asking me to 'come and get this heap of s#!t off my ramp, it belongs in a scrapheap!' I'll be honest, I was a little upset, and to this day still haven't returned to that garage.
Turns out that where the rear of rear spring hanger should be, there was just a metal plate sticking out from the chassis for the spring to be attached to! Clearly a previous owner decided just to cut off the box that was rusting and not replace it. No problem I thought! So I got some new rear outriggers (because the other one was rusting a bit) and got it put in for welding. It was at that point I stopped keeping a tally of the cost! New outriggers on and inspected by another garage, I trundled home. On the way I discovered an old abandoned industrial area, so I decided to do a bit of offroading. That didn't end well. After a particularly rough rut the engine cut out. Steam started billowing out. I panicked. I popped the bonnet and after a moment the cause was obvious. One of the thermostat housing bolts had snapped and was letting boiling water escape. After a quick bodge to hold it together I nursed the truck home and began the repair.
I tried:
1) Drilling down the middle and letting the bolt cave in on itself, didn't work, drill bit snapped clean.
2) I then tried an easy out. Worst invention ever, hardened drill bit. Snapped off itself.
3) Eventually I had to get a cobalt drill bit and drill out everything. I had made a right mess. No problem I thought! I'll stick a threaded rod in there with some 2 part epoxy. This didn't go to well.
In the end up Greig (scotscim) handily enough had a spare inlet manifold (of which the thermostat housing is part of) and he helped me swap out the butchered block. I was back in the running.
I had a good look at the chassis and decided it needs a bit more work. I sought some advice and our very own Buffalo Bill volunteered to come and say hello and have a nosey. We had a look and it needed some more welding done. Bill took up this task and I'm extremely thankful. (I think I still owe you a crate of beer!)
Summer 2010: I decided living in the east end of Glasgow that a soft top wasn't ideal, and it was not in the best condition. I decided to do a hard top conversion, which DRH helpfully supplied and delivered to me. So one nice dry day I got another land rover owning friend (Kyle) to come and help do the swapover.
Topless picture:
http://farm5.staticflickr.com/4115/4800845359_dfa8deac12_b.jpgTop-on picture:
http://farm5.staticflickr.com/4099/4801939601_c981f816c3_b.jpgfixed the cabling of the rear lights and and things.
Summer 2011: I fixed the cabling of the rear lights and some other bits and bobs. Shug came to do a little bit of welding on the chassis. I also got all new brakes (slave cylinders, pipes, shoes, drums). I fitted these and discovered the rear brakes would not play ball. I had Lexi and Shug come and finally I had something. By this point I was already in London for work. Working on the Land Rover was a bit of a problem from 400 miles away!
November 2012: 3 years on from originally purchasing my Land Rover, I had a little encouragement from my mother swearing if it wasn't roadworthy by spring 2013 she would paint it all pink! I wasn't having that. I picked up the phone to Shug and pleaded with him to help me out. He agreed to help me out. Before christmas he came and took it away on a trailer to his 'workplace'.
I can now finally say that on Friday 25th, my Land Rover was given a MOT pass with no advisories. I was ecstatic! I even got reasonably priced insurance (£400 as opposed to £2100 when I initially insured it!). She is now road taxed and roaming the roads once more. She's by no means perfect, but if she was, she wouldn't be a Land Rover!
Thanks to everyone who helped out.
Now to tidy her up and make her a bit nicer to drive!
