Ice Road

Just as important as santa and the traditional food at Cristmast, is the Boxing Day Off Road trip. We have been participating for many years now (for Måns as long as he has lived). First by foot, then with our old series3 and our Range Rover. This year we brought our discovery for the first time.

Since the disco is the family estate and not a hobby car as our prior landies, we had no tougher off roading plans for her.

Christmast Day was raining, and in the night to Boxing Day the temerature fell quickly again. This made the ground like an ice cube. It was not icy only on the surface, but also a bit down under ground. Boxing Day morning, it was snowing, adding an extra layer of slip above the ice. This together meant that it was sometimes difficult to get traction even on level ground. With our road tyres we slid aroud as on a wet soap. It is really scary to slide sidewards without any possibility to brake or control the car!

We, Måns and I, had planned to meet up with Klas and his son Hugo in their series3 pick up. But we also spent the day with Fredrik (defender 110), Björn (defender 90), Janne (willys), his brother Ulf and my brother Mats-Ola. We also ran in to the Ek brothers (seris3 and OneTen) and a couple of other nice people with the interest of our proud make.

We tried our best as we slid along. Klas ended up in a mud hole and got home far too late for the family gathering, but Henrik Ek took it to yet another level as he almost buried his 109.

Even if Henrik had his winch wire far up in a tree, the car digged itself further down. The hard mud turned of his winch button, so it had to be

digged out with a spade twice to get it working. He got up, but needed a serious rescue party to help him do the job.

The disco served well as a spectator bus, and as usual as our portable café.

Movieclips at youtube:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3bDkX_j8qLE

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tnAgnGwHwgU

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MTG64-LrMJ8

Forest Bump

It wasn't that dramatic to bring the Christmast tree home this year. Last year I ended up in my brothers potato field, bogged down to my hubs. The most exiting this year was that the trailer I used was to wide for the little road at one place where I had one wheel in each dich and the trailer sledging at its axle. Yes, I had to use a trailer this year. I'm too much careful of my paintwork. My old series3 had a roof rack and the rangie, well there I simply put the goods at the roof and tied it down through the passenger compartment.

2WD

Vibrations grew. Finally they were disturbing. I started to fear something was wrong with the gearbox or converter. The engine ran smoothly and perfect, so it wasn't a power problem. Friends guessed a bad mount or a bad joint in a propeller shaft. I gave Fredrik (a friend from SLRK) a call and asked if I could pop by at his work to do a check in their grease pit. He was going to work at one of his cars the same evening, so he could gladly help me out.

So, with two epson greens side by side I almost made up my mind to let Plutten get this beautiful tint as well.

It took Fredrik less than a anything to confirm that it was a bad universal joint that most likely caused my problems.

















Again our kitchen table was made with car parts.

For the moment we better stick to the road. We now have an ordinary SUV, a car that looks as if you could use it off road. But on the other hand, I didn't always use four wheel drive when off roading with my series3. Anyhoo, the disco almost felt like a racing car in two wheel drive, joke, but I imagined that it in some way felt lighter. Like a VW-van.

I think I have to give the shaft to Daniel asap, he has promised to help me with the joint change. I have to admit that it makes me nervous driving around with a lot of lights shining at the dashboard. TC-info, ABS-warning, dif lock light...

Well, this was it for today.

clean parts

It's not everyday you're allowed to put engine parts at the white kitchen table. New valves and guides will make my 2,25 happy!

Cool

A cold shiver went down my spine when I looked at the coolant level the day after a 300km trip. Almost empty! I topped up and hoped it was one of these mystic Land Rover whims. The same evening we had a 200km trip and I had to fill about 5dl coolant after this. Now I was starting to be afraid. I drove the car to work (1km) and had to top up with 2,5dl.

Everything else was ok, the temperature didn't rise, the heater worked normally, oil looked good, no coolant coming out from the exhaust... So I checked the hoses under the bonnet and fond them wet and pink. Eventually I found a leak. It dripped from the plastic air vent in the top hose above the fan. When I touched the plastic plop it fell off and water started to run. I pushed it back and drew a strap around it and drove home slowly.

At home I took the hose inside and started to pull away the old plastic bolt. A phone call to the local LR mechanic showed that this air screw wasn't to buy separately, you had to buy the whole hose, which of course is an expensive item. So, I found a bolt with a matching thread. There are no threads in the hose, the bolt is held in place by a form of plate from the inside of the hose. This plate had fallen out when I pulled away the remains from the plastic thing. To get it back I used a piece of string with a spacer tied to it as a drag stop to draw it in place. I had marked the top position with a pen previously so I could turn it into the right position. Finally I tightened with the new bolt and a rubber seal.

If I do this again, I will use something else than a ordinary metallic bolt since it was a little bit hot for the fingers to bleed the system afterwards. But anyhow, the car has stopped leaking as it seams.


(Hoping, hoping, hoping this was it... I'm not interested in another top work!)

SLS

Towed a heavy trailer with the disco yesterday. SLS works!

Off road, but not off pist

It feels nice to have a mobile café for your Sunday trip. Last Sunday Måns and I had our 'fika' on top of the local ski center after our skateboard practise.

I didn't get the HDC to work though, so I have to consult the manual next time. We descended the 'old school' way by locking firs gear and drive safely.

A few days ago my mother, the notorius Land Rover opponent, had to borrow our devilish piece of British machinery. My wife showed her how to drive an automatic and my mother set of without the 'if this happens do that' scheme, since a discovery in many ways is like a normal car.

Fifteen minutes later she called from a parking lot with the alarm screaming. She had turned the alarm on and then tried to enter by using the metal key. At home we laughed, convinced that she would hate the make even more after this. But, to our surprise she returned the car with a smile saying se'd want one for herself! ! Miacles can happen! From now on it's likely to hear good words about Land Rover even from her!

First Aid

Today I saw two men trying to pull a Ford Escort convertible up from a small slope where it stood with its front in a pudddle of mud. The owner had got a call from the police who had found his stolen car, and he was about to bring it home. The Volvo they brought to tow it home hadn't much to give in this situation, so I hooked their towing line to our car, locked up first gear low ratio and took my foot of the brake pedal. The V8 started to pull nicely on just ideling. Suddenly there was a bang and their towing line snapped and whipped our spare wheel cover. Fortunately the rope hit the cover, which is a soft one, so no harm done. Unfortunately for him, he has to do some body work on his boot... Since my strong off-road equipment was in a case at home, the Ford owner descided to call the breakdown unit instead. But I drove off, confident and proud of our new strong team member.

Goodbye Svarta Damen

This was probably the last time I saw SvartaDamen. Here she is being loaded for transport to Holland. Goodbye, and thanx for all the good moments!

















The queen is gone! Long live the queen! I now really look forward to all good moments our new boot café hopefully will give us!

The Mothership has landed

The mothership has landed! Yesterday I picked up our latest Land Rover. It's a fully equipped Discovery2 with all extras, including a custom built center differential locker. For the moment the fleet consist of three Land Rovers, but only for a few days though. SvartaDamen has been sold to a buyer in the Netherlands. The new Landy got the name "Moderskeppet", which means the Mothership. It's a suitable name since we hope it'll be our travelling base, AND also because it's the first Land Rover that my wife really likes to drive. Yes, she has already been on two tours this morning, and I guess she will have an evening ride as well :)

SvartaDamen has served me well, so it's a little bit sad that she has to leave us. Especially now when she is working so nice. But as soon as I sit in Moderskeppet, all other cars are forgotten.

Braking News

Does anybody think it's strange that the brakes didn't bite when you see my front disc?

The axel had start leaking oil at the disc. A good cleansing, new pads and gaskets solved the problem. The right front caliper also got the pistons cleaned or renewed.

The rear calipers suffered from heavy wear. The gaps were filled with chemichal metal, and will hopfully do their job better from now on.

Tomorrow Svarta Damen will hopefully hit the road again!

Finally, a picture of the youngest Land Rover fanatic in the family.

I just have to do it!

A big stone attacked my car, again... This time it killed the brake pipe that runs under the sill to the back wheels. So finally, I had to do something about the brakes. Now, all brake pipes and hoses are new. I took a gentle test drive in the forest and it's possible to use the pedal for braking again.




The brakes still didn't bite enough, so one of the front calipers is going to have a service. The rear calipers are going to be replaced by either the disco1 calipers to the right in the picture, or a pair from a scrapped RRC of a friend. Either way those also have to get a service first.




At the same work bench as my growing pile of brake parts, I am sorting out parts for the series3 engine that is under restoration for 'Plutten'. I wanted to prioritate this, but since we are selling the car that-I-will-not-mention-the-brand-of-here, we need 'SvartaDamen' as our first car until a replacement i found. Well, I think it's found already actually, it's the money I havn't found yet.





/

2,25

Time to start an engine.

I have two 2,25liter petrol engines to choose from. One is a series 2 engine, probably the original power to Plutten. It has had a quick check and then been conserved for the future (filled with oil and valves shut).

The engine we (I and my uncle Ole-Johnny) chose to try to wake up and put into Plutten is a series 3 engine (well, I can't tell the difference, but my uncle pointed out a few modifications).

After having removed the cylinder head we could see that the engine was in good shape. It had not been turned for a long time though, so some rust had started to show inside. Ole-Johnny guessed that it had been through a service after having an earlier stand-still before the perhaps ten years it had been standing before I bought the engine... So, the history is probably that it has been standing for a while, then have had a service with new gaskets etc, driven for a time, then been standing still again for a long time. All together, he dint think it had run very much... Finally something good about this car!

As you might have noticed, the engine is red. Shouldn't be... But since I have a correct coloured series 2 engine saved for the future, I don't mind really.

Here my father Ingvar (also a SLRK member) and my son Måns (G4) are giving a helping hand at the dismantling.

Finally some inside photos.

/

"SvartaDamen"

So, with Plutten in parts and still in the need of a second car, I had to start looking again for a cheap car that could serve as this. And, again, I ended up with a Rover that had some 'just have to fix before the MOT'. The plan was to keep the Rangie for a year until Plutten was working. But since the Plutten-project grew into a major restauration, SvartaDamen have stayed in the family.

The first year it was all about passing MOT, which she did after a few weeks, and then keeping her running. The more I drover her, the more I started liking the car and the special feeling of driving a Range Rover. So, now she is staying, and also she is now slowly becoming more and more tuned.

I'm not afraid of bringing her out in the forest, so she has suffered a lot too. I have no plans though of building an extreme off roader of her. I like the idea of driveing a standard vehicle through really bad terrain, and get through. (Well, at least most of the time...)

/

"Plutten"

When we were selling Primadonnan I knew that I had to have another LR, regardless if it was working or not. I had now become a LR addict and wanted a series, no interest what so ever in the anonymous SUV that started my car interest.

So, I ended up paying a little too much for a wreck that I couldn't even bring home without help. I had learnt a lot from fixing with Primadonnan, but this project would be needing much more experience and knowledge than I could gather by my self. So before buying I had asked my uncle if he could assist me in bringing the car alive again.

My uncle came all the way from Norway with a friend (650km) to bring "Plutten", as I named her, to his garage. We had some problems with the custom, but eventually Plutten ended up among a bunch of other LR-projects where the car was resting for a year until we had time to start working at her.

It's a slow project since I can't spend so much time in the garage, but the project is slowly progressing. Here are some movieclips from our work.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ygO5I984cpI

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HTI8rdEAmvk

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QXm_wmSwXng

/

"Primadonnan" Part Two

Primadonnan was running all right and the frame was ok. Some new parts like springs and a new exhaust pipe was mounted, otherwise I could go straight for the looks. A good cleansing inside, new skin on the front seats and a nicer switchboard over the radio console was some of the few things that was made.

Then it was time for stripping exterior parts and cover the windows. I spent three nice summer days painting Primadonnan in my brothers field.

A new set of tires, and she looked like this.

By this time I had met som off-road enthusiasts from SLRK, so a few dents was starting to show, but she was always keps decent for family trips. Other people noticed it too, so at a Classic Car Show she was honoured the Peoples Choice as the best off-road vehicle.

Sadly, you can't eat a Land Rover, so we took the deciscion to sell her as we were students at the time. At the time we were selling Primadonnan, a friend from SLRK called and said that he had found a Series/II for me. This car was a wreck but quite cheap (to expensive to be honest). Even if I couldn't drive it, I would at least not be out of LR. But that's another story...

"Primadonnan" Part One

My wife and I enjoy the Norwegian mountains. Once or twice a year we try to take a trip to a cabin not far from where my mother grew up. The mountain roads are sometimes bad -not that bad as the used to be when I was a child- but worse than you can drive with a standard family car. We love to drive around on the moutain roads, but had to keep to the better parts where the off-road level was good wheel place planning, scratching the exhaust pipe now and then and at its worst a little digging. After the second summer trip I started to think of buying a SUV, but since I had loved my old Beetle the thought of a good veteran grew. Since my uncle was into Land Rover I started to look for a decent Range Rover Classic (a car I had read about in a magazine in the cabin, and that I knew my wife liked).

After a time of searching I found a Series/III stw at a bankrupt company that I bought. Sadly it didn't start, so I had to go home without it. Next week I head out for the 500km journey again with a friend that knew more about cars than me. It showed to be the diesel pump that didn't work, so no car this time either. the week after we brought it home on a trailer.

It took me some time and phone calls to my Norwegian uncle to get the car running. Once on the road the car became a she, after some driving a personality and pretty soon a name, "Primadonnan" since she danced from side to side and had to be fawn with to work properly.

At this time I thought it be a good idea to become a member of the Swedish Land Rover Club (SLRK), which I have been since.

Eventually I wanted to get Primadonnan to look as beautiful as I knew she was worth, so a small refurbishing became a high post at my to do list. But more of that another day.

So long! /Kirefiel

"Åtteåttin"

In the middle of the sixties the 80" had done its service at the farm when my grandfather bought a 1962 Series/II regular hard top. this car was my first Land Rover experience. As a kid I often played behind the steering wheel, I was at great adventures. Since it is a rugged car, my grandfather had no problems with me playing inside, utside or on the car. I was sure that the car was capable of anything, I knew it could drive through water and I also thought that the hard top roof could serve as a small boat if needed!

When my grandfather passed away in the eighties, my uncle inherited the 88" along with the farm. As a teenager I didn't care about the car, I had other interests, but it served on the farm all along. Of course there are a lot of stories about this car too, I like the one when my cousin hang out from the window when the door flung open in a curve and she was still hanging out from the open door. When my uncle straightened up, the door flung back and my cousin was back on her seat again.

The 88" is today running perfectly and is still in everyday use. It is kept and serviced in its original, not many parts are new since it has always been perfectly maintained. I have to say that this is by far the best Series I have driven!

In the picture to the left the car is dressed in summer clothes.

Below a picture of my son sitting on the hood. He is a six year old Land Rover fanatic who often urges his father to drive over bigger rocks ant through deeper mud. Sometimes we call him G4 (generation four).

Pre History

How did my life become a land rover life? Before I bought my first Land Rover I had no interest in cars, had no mechanical experience and would hardly think that I gladly would spend time trying to get a car through a mud hole.

Looking back I can see how things have lead me here, and that they retrospectively perhaps are more obvious than to many other land rover fanatics. I could say that my interest didn't start with me really, it actually came in years before I was born.

My grandfather bought a Land Rover in 1952. In those days there was only the 80" to choose from and he used it as it was meant to, namely as a tractor for plowing and harrowing or as a power plant for a saw. He also helped the local doctor to get around to difficult places, and as a taxi to drive people up in the mountains. It also served as the family car.

This was the car my mother grew up in. I have heard a lot of stories about the car and events connected to it. They are fun as the one when my ant fell out from it during a ride when the door suddenly opened, or shows how life was in the old days when it was used as a hearse to get my great grandfather home for his funeral.



In the picture to the left my grandfather and my uncle is maintaining the car. To my grandfather there couldn't be a better brand. This he passed down to the next generation (my mother excluded:) ) My uncle inherited the interest for the make and cultivated it further and is now a leading person in the Norwegian Land Rover Club. He is also my mentor when it comes to Land Rovers. I couldn't have kept this interest for a week if it wasn't for him!


The 80" Land Rover stayed in the family until the sixties when my grandfather bought a Series/II. What has become of it since then we don't know. But it was with this car it started, nearly twenty years before I was born.

Nystart

Eftersom min före denna blog lagts ner, gör jag en nystart här. Denna sidan var den första blogportalen jag surfade in på, och när jag nu skriver mitt första inlägg här har jag inte ens sett mig runt i menyerna. Det får komma när jag skrivit klart det här inlägget. Jag kommer inte ta med mig det gamla innehållet hit, men en och annan tillbakablick kommer det kanske ändå att bli. Sådärja, nu är vi i gång igen!