Tufty

I still have the tool I made to build up oil pressure on my newly rebuilt V8 about nine years ago. It's just a length of threaded bar with a slot cut into the end and some garden hose around it. Worked a treat - no rattly lifters on startup. Dunno why I've kept it - I suppose you never know when a thing'll come in useful, right?

Oh, have you got a 110 as well then? ;-)

http://www.facebook.com/#!/photo.php?fbid=4290260582958&set=a.2288447418880.2114986.1479801509&type=1&theater

Spotted this morning from my coach... A Nissan Terrano sporting a spare wheel cover bearing the legend: Warning! Do not follow me - You won't make it... Oh look! He's pretending to be a big boy... How he feels if ever he goes to an off road site where he's going to have to be recovered by bobtailed rangies, modded nineties, bog standard discos and freelanders I can only imagine. No hill too steep, no ditch too deep, no hole too small to hide in... Bless his little cotton socks.

Anyone like to post the odd pic of a part of their daily commute? Here's one of the better bits of mine...

That DC100 would guarantee the death of Defender as we know it. Somehow I can't see it with an Ifor Williams trailer. I have a sneaky feeling that we may see something very like a current Defender, made in India with a Tata badge on it after 2015... I mean, they'd be daft not to!

I have to bung in a plug for the General Grabber AT2. I had a set on my Disco - replacing BFG A/Ts - and they really were fantastic - I couldn't fault them on the road - quiet and grippy. They never got stuck in mud either. On a local lane I was forced onto the soft edge by a pillock on a tractor (Yes, I was there legally) and he looked very smug as the Disco stopped. I locked the centre diff and the AT2s pulled us out, no problem at all. They were seriously good in snow too - drove up Bailey's bank (proper steep) in Biddulph in 5 inches of the slippery white stuff as if there were chains on. The BFGs were good, but not as good as the Grabbers and wore quicker. The Grabbers were quite a bit cheaper too. No contest.

Actually, now I think about it, the engine oil level hasn't dropped at all, despite several longish motorway trips. I'm beginning to suspect that this 110 might not be a Land Rover at all, but a cleverly disguised spying machine from some distant planet. Oh dear, that'll mean even more computers, and I'm going to have real problems getting this to a main dealer to plug it in...

Ah, I expected that assessment of the situation, but no, all levels are as specified in the handbook. So there.

I recently bought myself a 1990 110 CSW TD. It was chosen as a result of my paranoia about little black boxes. Eight months earlier I'd let a perfectly good Discovery XS 300Tdi auto go because it was difficult to get three kiddie seats in. I'd fancied a 110 for the greater effective width of the second row seats but they seemed expensive. So I went and bought a Chrysler Voyager. Brilliant - immaculate, comfy, economical (CRD), not much below 1500rpm but bleedin' fast above it, and all the toys. Then one day a couple of months after I bought it the immobiliser became a bit overzealous, did what immobilisers do, and immobilised it. Seems no-one had told it that it wasn't supposed to prevent the legitimate owner from driving... After a trip home on the back of a yellow beavertail (At the end of which I noted that the departure angle of the Voyager wasn't all that impressive - the towbar hit the ground on its way off), I hit the phone lines in search of help. First - there aren't all that many independent Chrysler specialists. Second, the few that do exist are completely unable to plug in and diagnose an '02 Voyager LX 2.5 CRD. 'Main dealer only, mate, sorry'... One 'specialist' offered to buy it - for £800. 'Once that immobiliser goes mate, it's scrap, intit? Main dealer then. There follows a rough transscript of the phone call to my local Chrysler dealer. 'Hello - my '02 Voyager's immobiliser light's come on and it won't start.' 'Oh dear. If you can bring it down we'll plug it in and find out what's wrong, sir.' 'O - k... the immobiliser won't let me drive it...I should be able to get it to you somehow though. How much to plug it in and diagnose the problem?' 'A diagnostic check is £58 plus VAT, sir.' 'O - k. And based on previous experience, what is it likely to be?' 'In our experience it'll probably need a new steering column sir.' 'O - k. (Thinks; steering column? Weird...) And how much is that likely to cost?' 'Well, there's the column, that'll be about a thousand pounds, then we'll have to reprogramme the immobiliser ECU and reset it - in total it'll come to around £1500....' 'Click - brrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr...' Fortunately, after removing the battery, fully charging same and reattaching it, the immobiliser decided to allow mobility to recommence. The light came on twice over the next couple of days, but the starting problem never resurfaced and all was normal thereafter. But the seeds of doubt had been sown. (Sowed?) ...And so ended my brief flirtation with swish, smooth, quick, quiet, oiltight modernity. So, to the point. What I Needed Was A Land Rover. A suitable 110 turned up locally, reasonable mileage, lovely and straight, great paint. All shiny and green it was. Still is. The Chrysler went on ebay and raised enough to buy the 110. Ahhhh. Like coming home, it was. I drove home with a huge grin on my face. But all is not rosy in Tufty Towers. There is something wrong - my 110 is shy. On the drive there is still a sizeable oil patch - deposited by my old territory-marking Discovery. Now, I park the 110 a few feet further back so as not to make it uncomfortable; so it doesn't feel as though it's invading another Landy's territory: you know how it is. Thing is, I expected Hermione (The 110's name - the Voyager never got one) to start marking it as her territory once she'd settled in but there's no new oil patch! No leaks at all! The bloke who bought the Disco is a mate, so we were able to introduce the two so mine would understand that the old oil patch is now out of date: the Disco now lives elsewhere, so the drive belongs to her, but still nothing. At this rate I'm going to have to perform an oil change - you know, take out the old oil and put a whole new lot in, rather than the more usual constant top-up-and-drip method. Even the swivels fail to contribute to my drive's waterproofing. I'm getting worried - It can't be good for the old girl to keep it all bottled up like this. Any Landy whisperers out there got any advice?

For me, they almost exactly fail to please the eye. No, scrub the 'almost' part. Yuk!

Noticed a bit of juddering on braking t'other day. On investigation I discovered that the rearmost radius arm mounting brackets on the front axle have broken on both sides! Which pleased me no end. Thing is, do I get new brackets made and welded on or do I need a replacement front axle or axle case? I do know a good welder.

Sounds like by the law of averages I'm due for a bad Paddock/Britpart experience, but honestly, I've never had a problem with either. Oh, there was the Britpart swingaway spare carrier... It fitted fine, holds the wheel straight, preserves the door and doesn't rattle, but the box wasn't blue! No, it was a regular brown cardboard box with 'BRITPART' printed on it. Very disappointing.

I've used Paddocks loads of times over the years and been very happy with the service and the quality of the parts (yes, even Britpart stuff from there's never let me down). I once had a starter motor go within a week or so and they replaced it and refunded with no problems at all. I've recently bought a swingaway spare carrier - which turned out to be Britpart - and which turned out to be brilliant - and I've just on-line ordered a full set of springs and shocks, along with spring retainers and assorted other bits and bobs for my 110. Thing is, I made a bit of a cock-up and one item I clicked on was for a 90. Rather than just send it, they rang me to check whether that was a mistake. They then said they were going to send a paypal request for the difference as the correct part was a couple of quid more. Three hours later, no such request had been received so I rang them to hurry it up a bit. They'd just altered the order and sent it - no extra charge, even though it was my mistake. Surely they'll blot their copybook one day... Paddock Spares are brilliant!

Ah yes, the one that started off with 'read all the questions carefully before starting to fill any in', then says 'do not write on this paper' at the end?