Jocklandjohn

Well I guess that's Land Rovers for you - and one person's easy job is another's nightmare! Once I get the replacement pump overhauled I'll decide whats happening next!

Aye good point. After looking at the how-to videos and watching whats needing doing I think I might agree, given the timing belt will be replaced too.

Hi Mo - ok will do - sounds like the best form of chain letter/ ponzi scheme but where everyone's a winner!

Hi Orgasmic - ok that'll do me nicely thanks! I'll have it. I've tried to establish the provenance of some of the ebay stuff and it's a dead end. So getting another pump and then overhauling it properly without a rush seems a good idea. I'll pm you asap. Cheers John

Thanks chaps - these are sensible options. The refurbed pump requires a surcharge and return of the existing so getting a cheap knacked one, and then o'hauled, might be a good way to go.

My FI pump has started leaking from the pipe union side - I've read the various posts about the failed o rings in that area and read up on the full removal and refit methods. Pump has done between 160,000 - 200,000 miles so could probably do with a full overhaul. I've got several options - 1) Put van into local independent Landy garage who does stuff for me off and on and I know them well, get pump removed by them and serviced by the local main Bosch experts a few hundred metres away. Van off road for several days (I called the Bosch folks and they say they'll need at least two days). 2) Buy the pulley tool and remove pump myself, take to Bosch experts for overhaul. Refit and hope for best, not an area of tinkering I'm entirely comfortable with and although the various walk-through videos I've watched are really helpful, there appears a lot to go wrong (!) and I'd be doing this outside in winter on drive which is not appealing. 3) Buy recon pump unit off ebay, take van to garage and have them swap out for old one. Benefit is that it would only have the van off the road for a day and minimal hassle. Downside of latter option is that I'm not using a local Bosch expert (if anything goes pear-shaped) and I've not got any idea of how good the refurb unit will be and if problems arise it's a potential pain. Cost is obviously a major factor and Option 1 is the dearest. And option 3 is the cheapest, so is attractive! The supplier I've seen for the refurb unit is Bob Beck Diesel in Leamington Spa. Anyone used them? If you have and would like to offer an opinion either post here or send me a PM I'd be grateful. Any alternatives you can suggest are also welcome. Thanks.

Getting there. Hope the water ingress problem is now solved - that can be SO dispiriting. All the small niggles will be overwhelmed by the amount of fun you'll both have in it!

Me too. Got a Numax leisure deep discharge for aux equipment and an Odyssey Red Top for starting, but connected and 'managed' by an IBS-DBS unit which enables automatic connection for charging when driving, and disconnection for use when not driving. Works great and has been very reliable.

No, outside. Basically the block has a big hole in it. The dipstick assembly is a simple tube with an olive and nut on the end, and the actual dipstick sits inside this. You shove the dipstick tube down the hole until the attached olive (which was fitted at the factory) is sat tightly in the hole, and then the bolt that slips down and over it is nipped up, pulling the olive down into the hole and effectively sealing it. However over time the olive can loosen and allow the tube to migrate down (I was factually incorrect in my previous post - the olive doesn't move - the olive stays put but the tube moves). My engine needed almost 6ltrs of oil according to the book, but was showing 'full' with only 3.5ltrs. because of the dipstick drop. See this pic - olive is just visible at the end, with bolt just above:

I had a very similar problem - the oil level on my dipstick seemed to be continually over-level, and rising. Cause - the brass olive on the dipstick was migrating up the dipstick tube with engine vibration, and causing the tube itself to drop further into the sump thus indicating that the oil was over-filled when in fact it was the opposite. I doubt this is your problem, but it's something to be aware of.

Work continues inside. Got the work surface and storage box racking completed. It's very light pine so does not add a huge amount of weight, and its thick enough to be able to screw into the end wood so makes jointing it easy. As you can see it's dictated by the depth of the fridge, and that wider area provides a good spot for the gas cooker - enabling it to be sited far enough forwards (towards the middle of van) to stop steam and heat from affecting the timber surround that's covering the old cut roof edge above it. The two larger storage boxes will be held in with a simple strap looped through a few tie-down eyes, and I've been able to fit a small pull-out shelf on heavy duty slides in the gap between the storage boxes so that we have a small table that can be pulled out when needed. I've an idea for a larger table top suitable for having meals off that will sit in front of the rack of four smaller boxes (these are situated just to the left of the two larger boxes, but low down) and be deployed as a table top, supported by the slide-out table when needed, but when sat in front of the storage boxes acts as 'door' to hold the boxes in. Might manage that tomorrow. The small pull-out table is useful for anyone using the lock and fold/rotating seat that I have in the rear for my wee boy. The design of worktop with the two reductions in width as you go towards the front of the van ensure maximum space in the area behind the front seats where two of us can sit. Got some more fabbing to do with the water and waste tank on the other side under the sink, and to finish the sink unit itself - some form of reinforcement at the bottom which can be used as a step to get up onto the sleeping platform would be useful - but having this other side done is a step forwards. Fabric for elevating roof sides is ordered and should be here in the next few days.

Job done (more on my other thread re lifting roof doings if you're interested)

On Monday I made a start on the gas bottle holder on the side panel beside the back door. Went for simple steel angle and used a grinder as I've not got any form of steel cutting capability. I can grind in a straight line reasonably well. Two bits were bolted onto the van to give me a starting point, with the gas bottle hung off the roofrack with a strap to use as a guide so it's all aligned. This involved another strap off to another vehicle to keep the bottle in the right orientation. The rear panel has no straight lines - the van side slopes, the rear window slopes etc so making it to suit with the bottle in situ seemed the most sensible course of action. (And yes the gas bottle was lifted well out of the way when I was using the welder!) It's a simple triangle to support the bottle, and this also allows tighter clearance between the frame and the spare wheel as it swings round. A square base would be more complex and bigger, and intrude into the arc of the spare wheel. The plan for securing the bottle is some flat-bar that I can bend into a semi-circle and then attach to the frame. Saw some galvy perforated steel strip in BandQ which might do. Yesterday got it fully welded, and then a coat of primer. And today a topcoat of silver stuff. A few ideas for fastening the bottle's base to the frame have been abandoned because several of the bottles I've seen have had bashed bases and this might create problems with attaching clamps that hook up inside the inner lip. Anyway it's bolted on with stainless fixings and a thin sticky rubber tape down the join between the frame and the van to seal it. I'll make/find something to cover the top of the gas bottle - a metal 'top hat' of some kind to cover the regulator and keep the gas pipe out of the elements, and which will be padlocked on to retain the bottle and prevent people gaining access and fiddling with the valve.

That was my thinking. I'll have the flexy gas pipe coiled up around the top of the bottle, inside some form of slip-over cover (with a padlock) and will retrieve it for use when needed and pull it inside and use quick-release connectors. I might put a short pipe through the side but it will be a connect-when-needed setup. I've a huge distrust of pressurized flammable liquids and their containers and the back door is as far away from me as I can get it!

Hi John - aye have done so. Been trawling through eboy to see what turns up. The Landyboxes and similar are a bit dear. I may just make my own at some point. I've got enough to do just now with plumbing, wiring, fabric sides etc to keep me occupied for weeks!

Thanks Tanuki - that's all good stuff to know. Could save some serious embarrassment!

Aye I've used a Trangia for many years - brilliant bit of kit and pretty much bombproof. It's my stove of choice when I go kayaking.

That's good to know. Probably another reason to have a built in euro-bottle refillable one.

Me too, but I've had some days up here in the highlands when there were deer sheltering behind the Land Rover the weather was so unutterly bad! Cooking inside was.....well.....sensible!

Thats a possibility in future - I've already measured up and found a tank that fitted when I was planning all this work, but it was quite expensive so I decided the money would be better spent on a solar panel and controller. My home-made gasbottleholder has cost £15 in materials so far which I think is reasonable. The underwing space on the drivers side is still empty so I could use that at some point. One of the main reasons for the gas bottle on the back door is because I've got a custom-made holder for the cooker folded up on the door, which I like to use when the weather is nice. So with the bottle on the rear I can either use the cooker inside or outside without any hassles.

Aye I agree - I was referring more to there perhaps being variations on where they MUST be carried internally/externally in various countries as per whatever specific regs are in force in that jurisdiction for the transport of gas for 'campervan' purposes. I'm very wary of gas bottes!

Cheers Mike - thats what mine is looking like now. Useful location. I guess carrying location will vary from country to country.

Thanks chaps. Yes Mike - got two fire extinguishers - one on the back door and one in the front both mounted properly for easy access. That said I think they're about due for renewal! Aye I've still got some empty space on one side down low - I've put a water tank in the passenger side forwards of the wheel - my plan for the other side is to use that space for oils and tools, strops and bits like that. I figured the gas bottle could be safely stowed at the back up high and free up the locker space further forwards. As its only a few bolts that hold the gas bottle holder on if I decide to shift it forwards it wont be a huge problem.

Just fabricating a gas bottle holder for the rear of my 110 and wondered whether there are any regulations regarding the external carrying of LPG or similar? It's a solid steel frame bolted onto the area to the right of the rear door, at head height, and I'm intending fabricating some form of metal cover that will slip over it - if not all over, at least halfway down - and with a padlock on to protect it from the elements and thievery. I tried a search here but not having much luck with anything substantial. Anyone have any idea what the law is regarding this before I get too far down the road making something?

Cheers Mike, it's coming on slowly. My idea for very thin strong (Dibond) alloy panels that can slot into the lifted-roof sides to form temporary hard sides is a goer, and I've started obtaining the materials. I've been trying to figure out places to put them (two pieces for each side = 4, and a single hinged folding piece for the rear end) and can get some on the roof, but thought it might also work on the side too. Also I've been down to Morocco a couple of times and would like a return trip in a year or two and the ability to strap a load of stuff on the side will be very useful. I figured if I was going to fit them it was easier to do it now whilst I have the interior stripped out so I did, and was able to get in behind and make sure they were well fixed and sealed. I'm working on a simple awning (with zip-on sides) for both the back door area and another for the passenger side (both fold and lie flat against the sides) and intend that the support leg for the side awning uses the rails for support, so they should prove useful in the longer term. It's not hugely expensive stuff so worth doing just now.