Sirocco

Thought I better start a new thread for our 25,000 mile adventure leaving the UK on the 26th January 2013 Our route takes us immediately north through France - Belgium - Netherlands - Germany - Denmark - Sweden - Norway In Norway (around the Arctic Circle) we will be meeting up with Jason and others then taking the long drive to Nordkapp at around 71 degrees north. Temps up here in February are regularly -15 to -20 without factoring in windchill so a lot of preperation has gone into clothing choice and preparation of our Land rover. Far more than I initially realised after accepting Jason's invitation to join them. Leaving the guys in Northern Finland we plan to stop for a day of dog sledding in Lapland. From here we head south (quickly) to St Petersburg then through the Baltic states (Estonia - Latvia - Lithuania), Poland, Hungary, Solvenia, Croatia, Bosnia, Serbia, Bulgaria and Turkey. In Turkey we will pick up the remaining Visas in Ankara for Central Asia. Driving through Georgia - Russia - Kazakhstan - Uzbekistan - Tajikistan. We will pick up our GBAO permit in Dushanbe then head along the Afghanistan border high into the Pamirs and maybe even dip our toes into Afghanistan if the embassy in Khorog will issue visas. From the Pamirs we head north through Kyrgyzstan, Kazakhstan into the Altai region of Russia then onto Mongolia and the Gobi desert. Hopefully we will exit Mongolia around early August which will give us a full 2 months in Siberia to take on the BAM road and the Old Summer Road (Road of Bones). Both highly challenging routes in their own right made known by Sibriski Extreme (Walter Colebach) over on ADV Rider and the HUBB Returning to Vladivostok we will take the RoRo ferry to South Korea and ship our vehicle to Australia from there and aim to start a new life down under. Vehicle? A Land Rover 90 with expedition prepared modified Sankey Trailer. I will add some photos when I have finished servicing the truck and hitch it all up. Photos and film will come from my Nikon D90 and Gopro hero 3 Comms will come from a Sonim Sentinel mobile/cell phone with local simcards along with an Iridium 9555 Sat phone. Sony Vaio laptop will take care of internet stuff and a 10" HP tablet will do navigation up front and provide a backup laptop. Garmin GPS60cx running OSM will also be used when we want some room back in the cab. You can follow on the website and/or facebook. Facebook will likely get more updates as its easier to send sms messages home for family to update facebook. Links are in my sig

Tightening them back up! Last one on the o/s, too much grrrr, didn't know I had it! when people say FT I always thought that was really FT for me! But I guess I have learn't True, but if your sensible and logical about it, its not too bad. G

Can you give it some silicone spray to 'subtle' it up a little? worth a punt for £4 a can G

I must have used 3 grunts because I snapped one of mine! 2 ring spanners together is the boy to get them off and do them up again. G

Righto, So I wired in a piggyback connection to the OPS (Oil Pressure Switch) as a temp thing and that seemed to be feeding the relay with some volts. However I could not get the switch to energise the relay. when I swapped the 2 switch cables over it would power the screen but I think this was just going straight through terminal 8 (timer) to the relay. Sooooo, I think the timer is duff. Does anybody have a known working spare they want to part with? I leave for Norway in 12 days gulp failing that in going down the on/off route. G

Right, this is one for the electric guru's here. My relay and timer are wired as Western's diagram with exception to the Oil Pressure Feed. I am using an Off/Mom Carling switch (fog). I know the wiring is correct and working for the relay but I suspect the timer is duff. So, do I need to wire in the Oil Pressure Feed for it to work? or would the relay work without it? I would have thought it would work without it but I may be wrong? Let me know before I drop more £££££ on a new relay! (or give up and go for an on/off switch) G

I thought that was the job of the ignition live feed. I guess its just another connection. So I tested the screen with the on/off switch 1st and it was working well so set about putting the timer in today (hungover in the rain/sleet) got all connections in except the oil pressure switch feed. What puzzles me is the need for big wire, then the screen connections are just a regular spade terminal! My cable is pretty thick (60a) so I had to cut it down a bit to make the connection. Where is the best place to take the feed on the oil pressure? I had a look for the white/brown (300tdi) cable running back towards the bulkhead but its all hidden in the loom does it go to the starter relay? It was getting dark and I couldn't quite see it. G

bringing this back to the top. What is the purpose of the oil pressure switch feed on the timed relay? I understand the ignition live etc. Also, I am using the Carling Off/mom fog switch which has the usual power in, power out and also another feed 'to relay' with an extra earth feed next to it. So which pins on the timer need the power out and relay. I know its 8 and 5 but just wondering which way around they go. Nearly there...

Until something snaps! Done a swivel bolt a couple of months back which I think will forever haunt me. G

Done it got bored and went at it with a 2ft bar. Took some doing but it gave way in the end with no damage G

Tackling my steering today and the locknut is TAF! Using a normal ratchet with extensions at the mo but It wont move. fear of the 2ft breaker bar has brought me here. What do you think? give it the beans? I don't want to break it. Any thoughts? Cheers, G

What is wrong with LR4x4? It wont show the quotes and now wont let me edit!? Anyway, I was going to say (for the 5th time) Ferrodo make the genuine pads, that is what came in my green box a while back. G

If it all works fine I wouldn't worry too much. At the very least get a multi-meter on it for a 2nd opinion. G

How is the home made box holding up Dailysleaze? Been a few months of testing Which relay did you use Elbekko? Was it a low draw one? G

Jason - Could we use this for vehicle tracking on our trip? Our would you need to blip an sms for it to track via a webpage? Looked at a Spot. They are doing a 12 month free tracking before the end of 2012 so you only buy the unit (£100). Unless its cheap, I don't think I will bother. G

It does seem to be that everyone is looking to blame 'authority' for (insert cause)... Regardless of the nature of it. We had some flash flooding in Bristol recently and when I took some country roads to get out to the M4 I was fording 2 ft of water in the works van. Cars were turning around and a women was shouting and screaming how it was a disgrace that 'someone' had not shut the road off. I pointed out that maybe they were busy with main routes/road but she didn't want to know and just banged on about how dangerous it was. She had the sense to turn around so I don't see what her point was or why she was moaning so much! I think that's why nobody stops any more because they know it will be agro whatever you do! I must admit I'm more likely to stop for the old and women everyone else can look after themselves! including the man in the Audi who didn't know where his towing eye was but that's another story. G

Pikey

Go with HDs up front Matt. For comparison, ARB list their bumper at IIRC 30-35kg and Warn list an M8000 at IIRC 30kg. I would imagine a home made bumper to be in the same region and I think it would be silly to go foe anything other than HD springs on the front G

Ditto G

Now I have seen everything G

Ai it was did you put one in for me? cheers! I only read your column then put it back on the shelf G

I wondered this to as we will be driving passes around 4500m in the Pamirs next year. Let us know how you get on in SA guys G

https://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=endscreen&NR=1&v=KWmM6QvllwE I think these guys are on the cover of the LRO (Dec 2012). To be fair to LRO, I did win one the recent photo competitions and I did get a full set of Koni shocks out of them for free... still wont be buying their mag though G

That's about 2 miles from my house. I went out for a look around last night after being away for the weekend and the River Avon is as high as I have ever seen it. Down by our favorite pub (The Lock Keeper) the water is about 4-6ft under the bridge. We usually kayak under it when its closer to 15ft. The pub is submerged along with 2-3 cars in the carpark and the little marina there is also full. Well done that man.