Fairey Overdrive A little trip to the dump 3 miles away turned into an adventure as all drive in the lanny disappeared after clattering a sleeping policeman. After a tow home the googling began and off came the overdrive unit I had fitted to find that the clutch sleeve and main shaft had ground each other away. The gearbox was so short of EP90 that I assumed a lack of lubrication pure and simple. However there is a magic ingredient anti-scuffing paste Autoparts Spur type overdrives developed to bolt onto the back of a land Rover transfer case in the sixties are not up to the job of modern service expectations. In fact that goes for any oily bits in a Series Land Rover. The only way to maintain reliability is to physically check levels in both axles and all gearboxes gearbox My first car was a Zephyr MKII Farnham Estate with overdrive and that kept going when top gear croaked. Remembering how to engage the overdrive on that car wasn't straight-forward as you had to be travelling at or about 20mph on overrun and pull on a chromed knob that operated a dog-clutch. There was no engine braking due to the built in freewheel. Roamer(Rover)drive-epi-cyclic alternative is big money. Parts required to renovate Fairey Overdrive Parts to fit to prevent EP90 dripping out and maintain lubrication include billet cut transfer case cover

Heat

A trip round the M25 in February became a mini nightmare at the toll booth in Dartford, as both hands cramped up and I couldn't get the change out of my pocket.. never a relaxed chore with a host of toasty drivers behind ready to toot me on.

With a home-made radiator muff, significant heat came in to the cabin after about five miles, but I am ready to sort the issue properly and avoid the fear of overheating on the motor way.

So I've got hold of a Defender heater to replace the gnat's hair drier and a Webasto fuel burning heater too.

Defender Heater

Pathé Archive

LAND ROVER RALLY

ROVER REVIEWING NO.4

Cornwall

A pal of mine has the occasional trip down to the west country to a place looking down on the Camel Estuary Bird Sanctuary near a certain pub,

and we have the lend of it for a few days and I'm supposed to be the one who knows what they're doing when it comes to keeping the spaniels in check. My lab is slightly less prone to wandering but we arrived here at dusk and on letting the Range Rover tailgate down with a loud "No!" watched them make 200 yards into the gloom before getting the ever present whistle to the lips.
Clever lad me! had not fed'em yet so a pip pip pip on the afore mentioned brought them in for chicken wing surprise.
Just as well because there must have been a four score Canada Geese parading in the next field and a host of other water-foul species a quick hop over the fence away.

(the next morning)

MOT

Going to Cornwall in pal's Rangey so decided to 'pop' the 88" Landy in for annual test.
Last year about now I took her up to Richard at Glencoyne Engineering in Thetford with a disco engine in the back and got the tired old 2.25 swapped over as she was using more 20W/50 than petrol and a crisis was imminent!
We decided to leave off the turbo to preserve the drive train which Richard recommends for that reason.
The natural aspiration 200di conversion pushes about 70bhp, about what the original 2.25 would have done new.
Richard did both swivels too and removed the Fairey free-wheel hubs.
Because...
The month before that I'd driven her down to Wadebridge no trouble but on returning didn't like the noise coming from the FWH on the driver's side..
Long story short felt a pull to the right when braking at one of the many roundabouts on the Ilminster bypass which turned out to be the front driver side drive shaft shearing.
Unbeknownst to me both the free wheel hub had not released.
I pottered on gently Lancaster with three engines gone sort of style while the wheel bearing, dry of oil was mincing itself and trying to reweld it's self back on at the same time.

I sourced a replacement from Gumtree in Hassocks which has a yard full of series axles and panels and a lad who puts salvaged parts on eBay and spent the weekend on front wheeling bearing and stub axle repair.

Sorted a few things out like the rear reflectors which have been rolling around under the dash for a year.
While the drill was in my hand the new Rocky Mountain rad grill got fitted and a quick disc cutter pass removed the plastic Land Rover badge and lined up with the holes ok. While disc cutter was in my hand I took it to the wiper arms to fit original wiper blades I'd bought using a new iPad app from Land-Rover-Parts.com and changed the busted nearside sidelight bulb.
Presenting for MOT means clearing out all the important stuff you might need.
List:
Dog cage
Waitrose shopping bag set
Farmers hi-lift jack
Five bits of ply and timber off cut wedge.
Bread-tray with dog toys & poo-bags
Spare pair of toe capped boots
Wellingtons
Day-Glo rainproof coat with trailer grease up one side
Filthy sunglasses
Socket set
Jump leads
3 bottles of de-icer and scraper
Tool kit roll now located under passenger seat
Shovel
Two magnetic led torches
A pair of gas struts from a Seat Marbella
Mongol Rally plate now cable tied to grille
Busted wiper blades
Tin of aerosol white grease
2 off cuts of coconut matting
Couple of cheap battery powered clocks also from Seat
Wind up torch
Old Leather wallet containing payslips
Hi viz tabard
Sundry auto fuses
Quantity of mud
Leaves
Bits of twig
Dog hair
Spare wheel off eBay with 7.50 16 Goodyear Wrangler approx 5mm tread
Actually I put the good one on first and put the spare in the garage with the other essentials.
I took her up the road to the Suzuki dealer who went into raptures about his first car a Series ll and I listed the known faults.
List:
Perforated rear cross-member near tow-bar yikes!
Weak sound from the horn - probably ok actually
Soft brake pedal action
One click short of full confidence on handbrake
Reversing lights not coming on
And there's a new thermostat to fit which would be better done off our snowy drive
And there's a couple of new wheel bearings if needed.

What I didn't mention was the Webasto Freelander pre heater I've got but not tested yet so I'd like to make sure it functions ok without the missis finding out I've even got it!

The parts I've got hidden away in the trailer or the lockup include
List:
Complete diesel series 3 with parabolics but standard shocks and good drive train.
Another complete series 3 with 200tdi
Td5 intercooler Steve Parker exhaust heavy duty steering bars wheel spacers and oversized tyres not sure what
Spare 200tdi engine out of a broken up project
Spare 2.5 turbo diesel out of
an E reg 90
A 2.25 3brg rebuild petrol engine with Turner head
Pair of 3.54 Range Rover diffs
Full set of new old stock leaf springs
A spare fuel tank for the leaky tdi
Set of Defender wheels and tyres
The M&S undersized fat tyres on steel 5 spoke steel wheels she came on
and 2 sets of seats with runners.