R
RichardK-PB
Guest
Looking at a 109" Diesel with full canvas tilt to use for
filming/running about on the Waverley Route Heritage Association's
railbed/land - my cars can't quite handle the track even though I saw an
Escort van and a Volvo 740 belting down it!
It's incredibly cheap - £600 with decent length of MOT - and the chassis
and outriggers all look solid as anything, though filthy. Tyres are
good, engine starts first time and eventually stops with the James Bond
smokescreen (A Landie enthusiast was in the garage when I was looking at
it and apparently took the **** because I commented on the smoke - I've
never owned a Landie diesel and he'd have been able to really go for it
when I switched it off and took the keys out then wondered how the hell
to stop it running - he also commented on my suggesting I could get the
bonnet welded (the steel strengthening, because it has a wheel on the
bonnet and has cracked) by going on about how I must not know it's
aluminium. ****. The smokescreen was goot for getting rid of tailgaters,
but was bad enough that when I turned around after 400 yards, I was
driving back through it.
Draglinks are pretty bad - 1/4 turn on the wheel to keep it in a vaguely
straight line - but I'm used to that from the 109 Petrol I used to
drive. Brakes appear to do something. Gearshift is fine, if a little
tricky to catch second due to a rather knackered reverse detent -
familiarity would sort, I think.
However - the one thing I'm worrying about - a little - is the bulkhead.
It's had stuff chucked onto the floor (chequerplate) and seems solid
enough, but it looks like it has 'dropped', causing the front wings to
tilt up slightly (I know I say banana shaped, it's very slight, but the
line from wing, to bulkhead, door and rear isn't straight) and a slight
kink in the sill. Looking under the wheelarch shows a chassis upright
going into the bulkhead, and torn metal (again, filthy, presumably has
been like that for a while) at that point - there's no gap between the
chassis and bulkhead.
Now, if this is a really major f*ckup as it being 'right' goes, then I'm
worried. If it's a mess, but no big deal in terms of using the old thing
to trot up and down a railwayline and take crap to the dump, I don't
care. Nothing budged, nothing creaked, all that really strikes me as a
potential issue is massive chassis flexing if doing some serious
off-roading, and I have no intention of doing any of that in a £600 Land
Rover. I like being alive.
Of course, on the plus side, Landies can always be sorted and I know a
specialist locally - seems to be around £500 for a new bulkhead. I'm
figuring the smoke is probably mostly top end (blue) with a hint of
rings, it's showing 18,000 miles (round the clock. Twice, probably), so
fair enough. Started from cold without a problem, started from hot
without a problem.
Charge light sitting on very slightly, so new alternator is probably on
the cards; until it dies, new battery kept charged flung in the back and
some jumper leads for when it does
Fan and heater work, lights work,
horn worked, doors lock, sliding windows slide...
Help and advice appreciated. I'm not as thick about Land Rovers as the
'experts' at the garage, but I've only owned one, and driven two others,
before - and one of the ones I drove was a brand new 110 Defender
County, so hardly counts.
Richard
--
RichardK - 1980s in a can. http://www.dmc12.demon.co.uk/music
Retro computing - http://www.dmc12.demon.co.uk/retrotech/
Apples - 1977 to 2004. Acorns from Electron to RPC.
MidiGuitar, Enterprise 128, NeXT, AU/X. Stuff. See the links
filming/running about on the Waverley Route Heritage Association's
railbed/land - my cars can't quite handle the track even though I saw an
Escort van and a Volvo 740 belting down it!
It's incredibly cheap - £600 with decent length of MOT - and the chassis
and outriggers all look solid as anything, though filthy. Tyres are
good, engine starts first time and eventually stops with the James Bond
smokescreen (A Landie enthusiast was in the garage when I was looking at
it and apparently took the **** because I commented on the smoke - I've
never owned a Landie diesel and he'd have been able to really go for it
when I switched it off and took the keys out then wondered how the hell
to stop it running - he also commented on my suggesting I could get the
bonnet welded (the steel strengthening, because it has a wheel on the
bonnet and has cracked) by going on about how I must not know it's
aluminium. ****. The smokescreen was goot for getting rid of tailgaters,
but was bad enough that when I turned around after 400 yards, I was
driving back through it.
Draglinks are pretty bad - 1/4 turn on the wheel to keep it in a vaguely
straight line - but I'm used to that from the 109 Petrol I used to
drive. Brakes appear to do something. Gearshift is fine, if a little
tricky to catch second due to a rather knackered reverse detent -
familiarity would sort, I think.
However - the one thing I'm worrying about - a little - is the bulkhead.
It's had stuff chucked onto the floor (chequerplate) and seems solid
enough, but it looks like it has 'dropped', causing the front wings to
tilt up slightly (I know I say banana shaped, it's very slight, but the
line from wing, to bulkhead, door and rear isn't straight) and a slight
kink in the sill. Looking under the wheelarch shows a chassis upright
going into the bulkhead, and torn metal (again, filthy, presumably has
been like that for a while) at that point - there's no gap between the
chassis and bulkhead.
Now, if this is a really major f*ckup as it being 'right' goes, then I'm
worried. If it's a mess, but no big deal in terms of using the old thing
to trot up and down a railwayline and take crap to the dump, I don't
care. Nothing budged, nothing creaked, all that really strikes me as a
potential issue is massive chassis flexing if doing some serious
off-roading, and I have no intention of doing any of that in a £600 Land
Rover. I like being alive.
Of course, on the plus side, Landies can always be sorted and I know a
specialist locally - seems to be around £500 for a new bulkhead. I'm
figuring the smoke is probably mostly top end (blue) with a hint of
rings, it's showing 18,000 miles (round the clock. Twice, probably), so
fair enough. Started from cold without a problem, started from hot
without a problem.
Charge light sitting on very slightly, so new alternator is probably on
the cards; until it dies, new battery kept charged flung in the back and
some jumper leads for when it does
Fan and heater work, lights work,horn worked, doors lock, sliding windows slide...
Help and advice appreciated. I'm not as thick about Land Rovers as the
'experts' at the garage, but I've only owned one, and driven two others,
before - and one of the ones I drove was a brand new 110 Defender
County, so hardly counts.
Richard
--
RichardK - 1980s in a can. http://www.dmc12.demon.co.uk/music
Retro computing - http://www.dmc12.demon.co.uk/retrotech/
Apples - 1977 to 2004. Acorns from Electron to RPC.
MidiGuitar, Enterprise 128, NeXT, AU/X. Stuff. See the links
