The Vehicle
In the Beginning...
Tyres Tyres Tyres
The Vehicle
In the Beginning...
Tyres Tyres Tyres
Now that I had the great idea for this trip I now had to put my money (and a couple of other peoples) where my mouth was and make the first major purchase for the trip. This was a decision that was well investigated. After lots of research I had decided that a Land Rover Defender 110 Hard Top with a Tdi 200 engine would be the best option. The reasons for this decision are listed below. The picture right, is of the Land Rover just after I had brought it from the ex-military and PLC dealer.
So the search was on. I managed to find just what I was looking for at a local ex-military and PLC Land Rover Dealer. It was an ex Yorkshire Electricity Land Rover with the spec I was after, plus heavy duty springs and a PTO driven winch. The body was in rough condition but the mechanicals were pretty good for the mileage on the clock, 118,000 miles. The price was right at the top end of my budget, but it was the best deal for what I wanted at a reasonable price. As I would want to change a lot of things anyway and go through the vehicle from top to bottom. So I scrapped together all the money I had, sold my trusty Vauxhall Nova, and borrowed money from my girlfriend and parents. So in June 2001 I became the proud owner of a Land Rover Defender, the base vehicle for my trip.
Before I bought the Land Rover from the Dealer they had carried out some minor work to enable it to pass it's MOT, and so make it road legal. This was necessary, as I now had to use it to move all my stuff from my University address in Hull back to Jersey.
With this first 300 mile trip completed and the Land Rover safely back in Jersey. We (me and my Dad, thanks Dad) could now start the long list of jobs that lay ahead to get it up to overland vehicle spec. Because the Land Rover was U.K. registered. The first priority was to get the vehicle to a standard so it would pass the inspection it would have to go through to get its Jersey number plates. The body was panel beat to remove the worst dents and the smaller ones filled with body filler. Two holes in the bulkhead near the top front door hinges where repaired. This involved removing the front screen plus window surround and the top of the dash, so that the patch panels could be welded into position. After closer inspection of the front doors, I decided that replacing them was the way to go. As the good old reaction between steel and aluminium had rotted the bottom sections of each door. One, second hand door was obtained and the other was brand new. These where both just bear metal doorframes with skins that were then painted. The glass and trims were then transferred from the old doors to the new. The whole body was then repainted white (the Land Rovers original factory colour). Whilst all this was going on the chassis was also getting a lot of attention . All the remaining muck and rust was removed. In the majority of the chassis it was only surface rust, but a couple of areas needed tougher cleaning. Once clean the areas of rust were treated with acid fixing agent, then a rust proofing paint was applied. This was then repainted in black and sprayed with under seal. The result a very tidy chassis and body. Only the oil leaks to worry about for the inspection then. Luckily the only major one that needed to be fixed for the inspection was where the front prop shaft meets the front differential. This job was not to bad to do, even though a very large leaver was required to remove the retaining nut. With all this done there was only one sticking point. I still had the rough and heavily worn old tyres that had come with it. This brought about a strange request to a friend I had only recently made at work. "Could I borrow the tyres form your Landy for a day?" Once I had explained, he thankfully agreed (nice one Adrian) and the temporary swap of tyres was done. Come inspection day a tidy looking Land Rover was presented to the DVLA of Jersey. Besides them throwing their toys out of the pram about the winch (which was removed from the bumper the same day) the Land Rover was passed and the new number plates and document issued.
Even though the Land Rover had past its DVLA inspection there was still plenty of work to be done. I then got cracking on servicing the engine, transmission and axels. The engine got treated to an engine oil flush treatment to help remove all the thousands of miles of carbon crap built up in all though nooks and crannies. Followed by and oil filter and oil change, as well and a fuel filter change and new (standard) air filter. I then added this engine oil enhancer call Slick 50. It says on the box that the Teflon in it adheres to all the metal surfaces in the engine, reducing wear, improving engine efficiency and reducing noise. I can't say much more than it seamed to do exactly that. Which left a smooth running quieter engine, so good stuff!
Then came the big job of changing the timing belt. For those of you unfamiliar with the Tdi 200 engine this is berried under a cover plate. This is only accessible after removing all of the front drive belts, alternator, water pump and the whole radiator and intercooler assembly, plus connecting pipes. But it had to be done, as I didn't know when the belt was last changed, and the consequences of in breaking are very bad to say the least. This also revealed that and area in the radiator core was in poor condition. So I had the radiator re-cored while I was at it. As part of the reassembly new belts for the water pump / alternator and PAS pump were used.
This done, I then turned my attention to the transmission and axels. All the oils were drain and replaced with new oil, and boy is there a lot of oil in a Land Rover (8 Lt's in the engine on it's own). On close inspection it was obvious that the prop shafts had seen better days dew to the high mileage. So I didn't mess around and bought two new ones, as they are going to be put through a whole world on pain were I am going. Also the rear axel ball joint connecting it to the A frame was replaced and a track rod end.