I bought this FL1 to be my hunting car but it turned into a project. I live in Finland, so this is a left hand drive car. It has 280 tkms in odometer.

But who wouldn't love to work with these. I just think that Freelander 1 has some special thing in it. The design is so plain, workhorse like, which is missing in FL2 and later designs.

Bought this one in 2020 December. It has 2 previous owners. 14 years it belong to a older couple and served as their daily driver. Being older they didn't drive it that much during the last years.

What have I done to it since December:

A lot's of cleaning, vacuuming every place to get all the **** out. I don't understand people that just don't clean (or get it cleaned) their cars. Now it smells and looks good.

Haven't driven this more than couple of hundred km's but done 2 engine oil changes. It has a service history but I want to be sure that oil and filters are changed a lot for these old cars. It is just cheaper than changing a whole engine.

Engine and cabin air filters.

IRD, gearbox and diff oil changes.

New clutch, master & slave cylinders, new dm flywheel.

New backbreaks, new drums, new cylinders, shoes, everything. And new handbrake cables.

New tie rod ends during the clutch change.

Rear wheel bearing, gave some noise.

Driver front door had a rust problem in lower part of the door. Seems like it has started from the seam. Had to to clean it to a bare metal with grinder and then spray it with primer, paint and clear coat. The other side is better but will do it also later.

Also converted the car into a van by removing the rear seats. Don't have kids and typically driving this alone, or with my german pointer.

There's a company in Finland that manufactures custom seat covers for all kind of cars. Bought these vinyl covers for the front seats, which were originally fabric. Covers are easy to clean and look quite sharp with stitching. Not cheap at all. But who cares.

What else..? I have a new GKN VCU and bearings already waiting, will do that also during the summer. Also in the todo list are rear diff hangers and fuel tank cradle. And my windscreen wiper switch is a bit erratic, will change it when I get a new one from Rimmerbros.

Thought I need a new wiper switch/stalk but cleaning of the old one fixed the problem.

Couple of pics from last week. Taking care of the corrosion on drivers side front door.

Looking like it'll be a fine vehicle.
It's interesting that it has the Sport 18" rims, so presumably it was ordered new with them, or someone put the 18s on as a replacement for the standard 16" Freedom rims.

Thanks Nodge, it will. And it is Sport of course, edited the thread title.

Went to yearly inspection (same as MOT in UK) last week. Have to still replace drivers side wishbone because of rust. Will do both sides at the same time, already ordered parts.

Now that was a fu**ing nightmare to get those bushings off the wishbone end. Couple of hours of cutting and whacking using a socket to push the bolt out. Hopefully tomorrow I'll get the new wishbones here.

New wishbones arrived today and bolted them on. All bolts were of course cleaned well and then lubricated before the installation. So next time should be easier .

Back on his wheels again.

Weekend fun: let's change the VCU and carrier bearings!

Removed the whole package as one unit from the car. The other prop was literally welded into old VCU. Had to use all means of violence to get it out. Other end just slided out. New carrier bearings into new VCU and again assembled whole package togerether on ground and bolted it back to car. The old VCU showed already some tightness and because I don't know the history, wanted to be on the safe side with the drive train. And carrier bearings were shot, so this was very much needed.

Props and old VCU out.

Enjoying the car and exploring the nature nearby where I live.

Night time testing high beams. Put Osram Nightbreaker Lasers to high beams.

Any plans on going for a bigger set of wheels and tires or installing a suspension lift kit?

potealve said:

Any plans on going for a bigger set of wheels and tires or installing a suspension lift kit?

Click to expand...

Well, higher sidewall would be nice. I already have 16" wheels and standard size tyres for winter. I don't think I'll lift this because it's Sport variant. Not worth it and I won't be offroading.

Stance said:

Well, higher sidewall would be nice.

Click to expand...

You can fit 235/55/18 tyres on there, which I had on my 18" rims.

Great work!

Didn't have anything special planned for this weekend, so decided to do some preventive bolt maintenance

I'm doing the fuel tank cradle replacement some time in the future. Wanted to try to get the rear subframe bolts (4 x 18mm) out. They were relatively easy actually, no rust at all. Took them out, cleaned and put back with copper grease. When I get the new cradle, those bolts won't give me any problems.

Bolt porn

Preparing the new tank cradle. Gave it a layer of rust preventive paint and on the bottom side facing down I sprayed couple of layers of stone chip protection.

Weekend again and I'm under the Hippo.

Fuel tank cradle replacement but before that I'll change the front diff mount while the prop is off.

This was definitely done. Wasn't sure can the front mount be removed without taking others loose but it was doable by wiggling it out towards the front. And new one in same way.