Ed Poore

Maybe it was just the Sandringham's that had it fitted as standard then.

Just a different idea to throw into the mix since I redesigned it again. I got the inspiration from the Mantec website but because of the 322 seats in there they weren't going to fit so decided to make my own. Mk1 was a couple of inches higher to line up with the front of the seats when folded down flat. With a proper thickness mattress on top it was a little tight when on-top to move around. I dropped the new version down so that it lines up with the rear of the seats when folded down (OK it means there's a slight slope if you sleep in it but it's pretty negligible). I'd also lined the rear of the tub with thick ply which meant my old brackets didn't fit because the wheel boxes were 18mm wider. The side effect is that the side pods now fit sheep lick buckets in the side very neatly (the did fit before but they were a bit of a squeeze). Handy for general carting around of stuff. I haven't boxed in the sides but I might make a lid to sit on-top of the wheel boxes because I actually find it quite useful being able to reach in from under the shelves to get stuff stored in those. The shelves are split in half - basically just a bit of angle that sits inside the frames and then box across it and a 5mm sheet of ply on top. They're just a tight fit so most of the time don't even need bolting in place. I might put some bolts through the two halves and some quick release gas struts so that if I'm camping and have a mattress on-top I can just lift the whole shelf up in one go to get access underneath rather than having to slide out boxes. Can get some more pics if you want - just happen to have this one handy. It was definitely done in under 2 lengths of angle (I get them in 7.5m lengths) so about £10 worth of steel and some time with a chop saw and welder.

I think it gets worse than that - I've come across a 6 bolt and a HD 6 bolt. I think most Stage 1s / 6 cylinder ones had the HD version fitted.

And 6 of them

Saw two on my journey into Surrey last week. One near Bristol on the M4 and overriding view on it was the wheels were too small for the size of the vehicle. The other one was in Guildford and had one of those side thingies on and looked weird.

Wouldn't have thought so, although it might depend on what kind of headlights. I know the L322 you can do most of them from reaching down inside the engine bay but the main bulbs are a bit fiddly but then I had Bi-Xenons which don't "blow" but wear out and go purply as they wear out. It was a 5 minute job to remove the whole housing, open bonnet, remove grill (couple of screws on top), remove the screws holding the unit in and it slid out.

The one I liked was, I think it was an Astra, which you needed to remove the wheel arch liner (which required some tools) in order to change any of the headlight bulbs. The bonus was that in order to remove the liner you also had to go from lock-to-lock so you could get access to all the plugs holding the liner in.

Can't edit the original post above but re-reading it should have emphasised that the sub-zero to >50°C temperature cycle was ambient not device temperatures, those regularly ran into triple digits.

More to the point if a jump start kills something on a vehicle then that vehicle has not gone through it's CE marking / certification process because all automotive electronics have to be tested under far more rigorous setups. It can be truly painful trying to get things through the automotive qualification. Multiply that by a factor of several hundred if the equipment in question is a super sensitive radio receiver (trust me I've spent more hours than I care to count sat in a stiflingly hot test centre in Fareham waiting for several hours for a test to fail to spend 10 seconds changing another component or setting and then wait again to see if it fails again).

Why on earth is it off-topic? Pretty much all new Land Rover's have electric seats these days so very much on point, both @paime and I have stated in different scenarios that we find them useful. If someone built a seat as comfortable as the Range Rover ones that was mechanically adjustable I might be tempted to fit them but I'd hazard a guess it would be even bulkier because of all the linkages required to get the adjustment. Just a general point / rant now (i.e. not aimed at you): I really wish that people would get the fact that electronics are unreliable out of their head. Perhaps most consumer electronics are because everyone demands cheaper and cheaper goods doing more and more stuff which means compromising somewhere. But if you are willing not to compromise on cost then they are orders or magnitude more reliable than mechanical systems because there are no components that wear out. For example one system I used to work on / design has been installed into a dusty environment that's daily temperature cycle goes from sub-zero to well above 50°C. That system has been operational for 10 years running flat-out and never been touched, find me a complex mechanical system that has done that. That particular system certainly has more processing power and complexity in it than a high end vehicle. On @paime's point about not having electrical seats in a work or expedition vehicle I don't see why not. The only two vehicles I own (if you exclude the JCB) are the 110 and the 6x6 and I'd say that over 90% of what I use them for would constitute as "work" or "expedition" stuff. They've been soaked, covered in carp (literal), sand, mud, blood, snow, swamped in water and they've been faultless. In fact I've had more issues with the mechanical seats in the Sandringham because the mechanisms seized up. I think it's each to their own - my background is electronics and programming so nothing around that particularly fazes me. I'm proficient enough in everything mechanical related to Land Rovers but that's all self-taught. Maybe I'm mad (no I definitely am) but if I had the spare cash to splash around and I'd run one for at least a year then I would

- I've got some L322 seats fitted to mind and don't have an issue with them. OK they're a bit heavier than standard but they are a damn sight more comfortable. I have come across a genuine use for them though - when I had my L322 my sister used to use it as well and when she's driven a car I physically can't get into it so have to faff around with the seat from outside just in order to get in. By using different keys the car set itself up for which ever key unlocked the car and voila no issue.

Don't have it in front of me at the moment but fairly sure the brochure made a point over it because of the increase in swept braking area. In its current form it doesn't have a hope outside of low range but the planned engine (was meant to be picking it up on Thursday but that fell through) produces 440lbft of torque at a minimum , with a minimum of about 150hp. Potential on that engine of hitting 1000 on both torque and hp without too much effort if I go completely mad (but without changing internals). Suspect I'll leave it standard and have it nice and reliable for 1m miles.

Ah but what I was saying is that the +E isn't as straightforward as that because if you passed between certain years (as I did, post 97 but pre some other date) then you can exceed 3.5t towed if the tow vehicle supports it (without cat C). If you passed now, no matter what you cannot exceed 3.5t towed. There was a period where it was clear(er) on the gov website but I think its been simplified to the point you have to look at rhe legislation itself.

Umm, this one had a few more than 110hp...

It's an interesting one, I've not really looked into it in any great depth - the 6x6 (in particular is a minefield). Years ago people automatically got +E entitlement which meant you could tow a trailer up to the maximum rating of the vehicle (and some overall limit I think). Then they stopped automatically issuing the +E entitlement which meant people had to pass a test (a good thing in my opinion). The first few years of that the phrasing I seem to remember was that you were restricted by the capacity of the towing vehicle. They've subsequently changed the rules slightly which explicitly limits you to a maximum of 3.5t on the trailer (so I think if you were to head out and pass your B+E test today then you wouldn't be allowed to tow a 4t trailer with coupled brakes even if the vehicle was rated for it). I have the "intermediate" one which doesn't appear to have this 3.5t limit. Now that's all to do with licensing rather than vehicle construction. I don't think (in terms of vehicle construction) that new rules can overrule old ones - so if you had a vehicle capable of towing 4t without coupled brakes then it's still capable of towing without coupled brakes. Where that sits on licensing grounds I haven't the foggiest! 🤷‍♂️ Going onto the 6x6 - some of the carnage is that it's registered as a 109" Stage 1 V8 from Land Rover (with 2 axles). Where it's more commonly referred to as a 139" wheelbase with 3 axles... Many other things on the V5 are also incorrect but who knows what they're supposed to be - I'm not poking that bull at the moment, particularly as I am planning in the not too distant future upgrading the 2.8l straight 6 to a 5.9l straight 6 so it'll be a little closer to the 5.7l on the V5 . But I can see why it's capable of towing 4t - the brakes (I've only touched them to adjust them, not overhauled them yet) are amazing but then it has 3" wide 11" drums on the front with twin pistons and the rear axles are similarly oversize. It failed it's MOT on braking efficiency and with the other distractions I had I'd completely forgotten drums need adjusting. So I duly adjusted them for the re-test, tester came out from the Tapley test rubbing his head "you definitely improved the brakes, I smashed my head into the windscreen - I wasn't expecting them to be that ******* good". So I've not noticed any issues with braking with or without 2t (on the road) or 4t (off-road) on the bed on the back. Just needs some actual power to get it moving but the upgrade should sort that out comfortably...

The tow pack from Westfalia isn't that dear (think I sourced mine from PF Jones) and fitted it myself. It's what LR fitted from factory. Bit of a lump to install and you need to remove the rear bumper I think but was a couple of hours work. TDV8 is great to tow with, worst economy I ever had was with 3.5t of trailer and milling machine behind it through the Welsh mountains and got 19mpg. Normally towing 3.5t on the motorway it sat at 25+. Just because a mad plan is in action I reckon the best tow machine will be what I'm planning . Stability is sorted because it's 109" and 139" wheelbase (6 wheel drive). Torque will be in abundance - given the donor engine's likely to be circa 150hp but a minimum of 440lbft. Vehicles plated for 4t towing (no requirement for coupled brakes from what I've found out so far) and can take another 2t on the back. Oh and if I run out of power the little Cummins engine going in is generally accepted as good to 1000hp before you need to start messing with internals (bigger injectors and tweak the pump) . Downside is ride is shocking without 2t on the back and it's not the most comfortable but it is still a Land Rover!

Cheap - we live on a farm

Well in that case wellies can't be made of rubber... I've had a piece of welly acting as a gasket on my aircon pump for about 6 years now in the engine bay and still like the first day. Dad's also had welly cut outs acting as o rings for his 2" pump and most of those are 15+ years old from when they were made. The wellies likely had a few years of use before that. Admittedly they might be too thick for some applications.

Soapy warm water is best. Can stay in there as long as you want but best if the bucket is kept warm. @miketomcat kept it in a bucket of hot water whilst we were removing the old windscreen so that it had time to supple up. Ironically after asking a local garage they recommended Britpart seals as they'd found them the nicest to fit. Don't bother wasting your time trying to remove the old rubber - just run a sharp knife around flush to the outside of the screen, you can then push from the inside without having to force it past the lip.

Inner tubes? Old wellies ?

@miketomcat helped me did mine when I replaced it with a heated one. He made a comment that although not difficult he was grateful he had someone who'd done one before helping him the first time and I can resonate that comment. I'd be happy doing another one now but it was nice having someone who'd done one before helping out the first time. Just take your time and don't get frustrated. Having said that we completely smashed my old one to pieces, Mike was incredibly grateful I broke it first because then we didn't care. Did say he'd never come across one so brittle before - mind you it was original I think.

I thought I had two cup holders in the JCB. Turns out one of them is a broken air vent pointing at the back windscreen , drink got rather hot... No significant mods planned for the 2CX except building a frame to hold a set of pallet forks on the front quick hitch. Though it would be nice to sort: New battery Temperature gauge Why the heater only blows hot All the lights (at least check if it's simply blown bulbs) Give it a good service

Paging @PaulMc

Appreciate that by got rid of I mean not visible.

Looks better than the station wagon ones because it's got rid of that c.d pillar.