Innholdsfortegnelse for January 2024 i Land Rover Monthly

THEY say you only regret the things in life you don’t do, and that rang especially true for me when I left our final Spares Day of the year at Malvern back in October. I’ve recently picked up another Land Rover – a Series III 109 station wagon with no engine, that I got in a deal with a stopgap runabout car I’d bought while doing some work on the Freelander. Looking back, man-maths definitely had a large part to play in proceedings… Anyway, on the day of Malvern I got the chance to break free of marshalling duties and make a few laps of the bustling trade stands. Among them was a Defender five-speed LT77 gearbox, with the short input shaft and bellhousing – perfect for if I decide…

LAND Rover Monthly is delighted to announce that Optimill is returning as headline sponsor for its second two-day event, LRM Live, at Worcestershire’s Three Counties Showground, on 18-19 May 2024. The Optimill team will be on-hand to talk you through any questions you may have about their products, and will be offering special weekend-only deals to tempt you into treating your Land Rover to some billet aluminium upgrades, no matter what your budget is. You’ll be able to find Optimill’s stand opposite the main arena and also shop for security upgrades, door hinges, mirror arms, interior furniture and much more. Optimill’s Kath Coates comments: “The Optimill team are really excited to be headline sponsor of LRM Live again. There’s nothing better than waking up in the morning to the stunning…

Back in a Landy Many years ago, I owned my first Land Rover (photo above). It was a Series III Lightweight that I put hours of work into get it looking how it did in the picture. We spent many happy years together including two years in Germany. We even appeared in an issue of a Land Rover magazine. Sadly, with a growing family and two small kids we had to go our separate ways. Now, nearly 20 years later, I have once more become the proud owner of a Land Rover. This time it is a Defender 90 (photo below) that I am getting ready to travel in next year when I retire. Here’s to many more years together happy Land Rovering! Cheers, Jon Steed MARTIN REPLIES: Thanks for…

WAITING for the Friday afternoon London mass exodus traffic to subside, we set out later than intended to head down to the Sussex coast to visit extended family. This gives the Fella ample time to load the interior of his Discovery with our mountain bikes and his stand-up paddle board, and lash his Wave Ski (a long thin boat) to the roof rack before we hit the road out of town. Around halfway, just after the sat nav has expelled us onto a side-road (for missing our turning) to make a looping deviation back to our intended route, the Fella emits the ominous proclamation: “There’s a warning light.” “What sort of warning light?” I enquire with interest, leaning across to see the dash. “It’s out of coolant and is overheating,”…

I seem to get through a lot of hub seals. Only last week I had a really lovely little Series IIA in for a service and general check over before it was put away for the winter. It was an interesting vehicle, being one of a batch of seven-seat station wagons purchased by the Post Office for telephone line maintenance work and numbered in the SYF**F series. This is the third of these that I have come across and has survived very well, although it has lost the capstan winch originally fitted for (presumably) pulling telephone cables through underground conduits. To my mind, even the most basic service on a drum-braked Land Rover should include removal of the brake drums to check the condition of the cylinders and shoes. All…

Watch the video YOUTUBE.COM/LANDROVERMONTHLY “I’VE always fancied a 101,” 26-year-old Ben Marston tells me as he climbs up into the cab and fires up the glorious, burbling V8. “I think the Forward Control makes a great pair with my Lightweight, even if it is pretty wacky and looks like it was dreamed up by Land Rover’s Mad Hatter’s Tea Party department!” Soon, snapper Craig and I are following Ben and the 101 through the floodwaters left by Storm Babet, as we head towards Cannock Chase for our photoshoot. The 101 wades through everything without a second thought, although mere mortals in ordinary cars are significantly more cautious as they watch the 101’s tsunami-sized bow-wave surging towards them. Cannock Chase, located between Walsall and Stafford, is 26 square miles of ancient…

I often hear – and regularly get told – how unreliable Land Rovers are. Often, this is said to me by people who have never even owned one – but their mate’s brother’s cousin twice removed has had terrible trouble. This knowledge alone qualifies them to offer me their ‘advice’. Let’s be honest here, we all know the truth. Land Rovers can, and do, let you down from time to time. But then again, name a car brand that isn’t without issues? I’ve enjoyed 28 years of Land Rover ownership to date, with the odd break of a few weeks between selling one and inevitably buying another. Also to date I have, like many, had a few technical issues, but I have always made it to my destination. Until the…

WOW 2023 has certainly been one to remember. There’s been more great Land Rover events this year than ever before, and you’ve turned up in your droves to take in the fantastic atmosphere, get inspired by brilliant vehicles, buy and sell parts and accessories, meet up with friends both old and new and make the most of the long summer evenings with a barbecue and some beers. We’re taking a look back over the plethora of events that made 2023 such a memorable year – from Spares Days to LRM Live and the Billing Off Road Show, plus more. We also have the full complement of dates for your diary in 2024 – so you can plan which events you want to attend and have lots of Land Rover goodness…

IN ASSOCIATION WITH NEED TO KNOW TIME TAKEN: 4-5 hours. TOOLS NEEDED: Soft-jawed vice, pillar drill, piloted reamers, jet gauges, file, hacksaw, disc sander, screwdrivers, pliers, plate glass, ultrasonic cleaner, taps and dies, polishing wheel, 400 grit wet and dry paper. DIFFICULTY: MODELS: All Series I models, through to Series IIA, but principles are the same for any carburettor. PARTS USED: Carburettor as supplied, Fuggle’s Fettling, £40/hour. WORK SAFELY • Use the right tool, for the right job.• Use well-fitting tools on soft brass parts to avoid distortion.• Get an expert to do the job, if in you’re any doubt.• Never take risks with heat or pressure.• Wear breathing protection when cutting or handling aged materials which may create a dust hazard.• Gaskets may contain asbestos. THANKS TO: Martin Lawrie…

ED EVANS TECH EDITOR LRM technical lead. Drives 90 V8, RR Sport TREVOR CUTHBERT CONTRIBUTOR Pro re-chassis and total rebuild specialist DAVE BARKER CONTRIBUTOR Our man for later models. Drives Discovery 4 ALISDAIR CUSICK CONTRIBUTOR Patina expert. Drives Series I, Range Rover Classic ANDREW VARRALL CONTRIBUTOR Pro Land Rover repair specialist. Drives Series IIA ED EVANS REPLIES: When waiting at traffic lights many drivers leave the gear selector in Drive and hold the car on the footbrake on the assumption that they will soon be moving off again. It’s the same in a stop/start queue of traffic which is edging forward every few seconds. This is convenient and doesn’t harm the vehicle. However, if you are shunted from behind hard enough to cause your car to roll, the shock and movement…

DOES anyone else browse Facebook Marketplace for Land Rover parts or vehicles and find themselves inadvertently clicking on their own listings with a view to making a purchase? I hope it’s not just me. Anyway… In a bid to try and win back some space, I have been trying to slim down my collection of Land Rover parts by selling them. It’s a tough one as I’m loathe to get rid of anything that I may need later on down the track. Body panels are a good example. My policy is to never sell panels that are in superb condition because I can be sure future project vehicles will need them. But where do you store a 109-inch rear tub for that rainy day? I have been considering suspending things…

IN the heart of the American West, a story began two decades ago. It was a tale of physical and mental endurance, passion, and the relentless spirit of adventure encapsulated in Land Rover’s inaugural G4 Challenge. Twenty years later, the Wild West once again echoes with the rumbling of 4.4-litre V8 L322 Range Rovers – the very ones used during the original event. This is a journey down memory lane and a grand celebration of Land Rover’s 75th anniversary. Steve Cooper, a long-time Land Rover enthusiast, G4 L322 owner and the visionary behind this expedition, found himself reminiscing about the 2003 G4 Challenge. This nostalgia wasn’t mere longing; it gave birth to an inspiring idea. Why not relive the adventure, retracing the very tracks that had resonated with the sounds…

LAND Rover restomods are all the rage right now, whether they are created by the many aftermarket specialists or by JLR itself via its Classic business, or as DIY projects by private owners. Most of them are based on the old Defender, but a few companies are offering tweaked Range Rover classics, and at least one is playing around with early Discoverys. The word ‘restomod’ conjures up a wide range of meanings and interpretations, but to put it as simply as possible, it is about incorporating non-standard or non-original elements in the rebuild of an older vehicle, the idea being to make it easier or safer to drive, or simpler to maintain, or more reliable or economical to run, or better at what it was originally designed and built to…

WE all know ‘that noise’. We pass every journey listening for it. We never want to hear it, but are constantly alert for it, regardless. ‘That noise’ is a sound from the engine, or the gearbox – anywhere, actually – that means it is game over. ‘That noise’ tells us mechanically, our car is ruined. When my Classic made ‘that noise’, my heart sank. I thought it was terminal; it sounded it. Martin and I had finished the repair – replacing a blowing exhaust manifold gasket – and I’d just started the car. But rather than the smooth sound of a now fixed 3.9-litre V8, I heard a rhythmical tapping. Sharp. Metallic. Going throughout the car. My brain worked the problem; too loud for tappets, it sounded bigger, deeper. Big…

RUNNING a Land Rover is not all about fixing things to keep the truck on the road. An even better plan is to avoid problems in the first place by inspecting critical areas at service time and by driving the vehicle in a way that minimises failures and breakages. Our three main features in the tech section this month cover replacement of a broken tailgate, refurbishment of a worn carburettor and the frequent need to replace suspension parts on the Discovery ¾ and Sport models. All of these issues can be avoided, or significantly delayed. The opening picture in the tailgate feature shows the original door frame of my own Ninety, cracked in several places and rusted along the bottom. Simply removing the internal door card occasionally gives the chance…

An evening with Alex Bescoby ALEX Bescoby, the man who made the Last Overland expedition a reality, has offered to spend an evening at Dunsfold and share the story of how he was inspired by the 1955 Oxford-Cambridge Expedition, how he made contact with Tim Slessor, original expedition member and author of the book First Overland, and how together they planned an epic recreation of the original trip, this time from Singapore to London. LRM was there at the start in Singapore and finish in Folkestone. This was a 13,000-mile and 23-country expedition, a journey extensively covered in the pages of Land Rover Monthly, but this is a great opportunity to meet an award-winning documentary filmmaker, writer and presenter and relive the challenges faced by Alex and his team. He…

AS you probably know, the JLR Defender was a Worldwide Partner for the 2023 Rugby World Cup. Within hours of the end of the first games of the tournament over the long weekend of 8, 9 and 10 September, I started to receive emails and messages from aggrieved LRM readers, bemoaning the fact that JLR’s TV advertisement for the Defender that appeared in all the commercial breaks made absolutely no reference to it being a Land Rover. Searching for the Land Rover logo is becoming a bit like Where’s Wally?. Come to think of it, maybe JLR could sponsor a new book in the Where’s Wally? series, where Wally hides with a Land Rover logo under his arm. They might just get it out in time for Christmas, giving Land…

CAN you remember the registration number of the first car you drove? I’m guessing the enthusiasts who read LRM will remember it in great detail, especially if it was a Land Rover which then sparked your later enthusiasm (or perhaps obsession) with the brand. For me it was a Series IIA which some family friends had bought to transport logs and tools around their farm in Norfolk. It hadn’t been MoT’d in years and you could see the brush-applied Bronze Green flaking off to reveal bright yellow and part of the word ‘Recovery’. Under that layer of paint was the original Bronze Green. The brake pedal flopped uselessly in the footwell, so my dad left it in low-range so that the 14-year-old me couldn’t do too much damage. I spent…

THE east of England is a beautiful place, but it’s fair to say all the bucket list lanes in the UK seem to be a six-hour drive away from there. And yet, if you’re willing to drive that far, why not look in the other direction too? This is exactly what the guys at Essex-based Empire Tuning thought when they decided to head away from the usual suspects in the Peaks, Lakes and Wales in search of a new adventure. With a four-hour drive, a trip on the cross-Channel ferry and continental accommodation to make it feel like a proper trip away, escaping to France and to Parc du Marquenterre was the perfect plan. With a group of colleagues, customers and friends, Empire boss, Gareth Ell, set the wheels in…

THE Range Rover Sport has come an awful long way since it was introduced as a fresh model to the line-up back in 2005. I remember being at the dealership I was working at, walking around one of the first cars off the transporter, gawping at the pumped-out wheelarches, aggressive perforated grille, cool multi-spoke 20-inch alloys and black badges of the supercharged model. The first-generation L320 was Land Rover’s first foray into a high-performance SUV – a tighter, tauter, more compact version of its full-size Range Rover stablemate that put pure luxury aside for a more involved drive and youthful image. That memory is fresh in my mind as I walk up to the Firenze Red Sport you see here. First introduced in 2022, this third-generation car has really grown…

I love to take my Series III on as many adventures as possible, and thankfully I’ve had the opportunity to do just that this year. It’s been to most of the Land Rover, 4x4 and Vintage Spares Days that we’ve held throughout 2023 (full rundown of them all on p78), our inaugural two-day LRM Live event back in May, to Wales to do the infamous Strata Florida greenlane, up to York for a great charity show, to name but a few. The Series III always proves to be a talking point, and it’s been great putting decent miles on it. Aside from my previous improvements to the cab, one thing that has needed addressing for quite some time is a cover for the load area. If you’ve ever seen me…

IN ASSOCIATION WITH NEED TO KNOW TIME: Around 5 hours COST: £353.60 DIFFICULTY: MODELS: Series II, IIA, III, Ninety, One Ten, Defender. TOOLS NEEDED: General workshop tools, drill and drill bits, hole saw and metal file. PARTS AND COSTS: Galvanised safari door, £270, BLRC Ltd; rear door glass, heated, MTC8951, £68, BLRC Ltd; butyl seal putty tape, black, 3x19mm, £15.60. WORK SAFELY: • Get assistance for handling heavy components.• Wear eye protection when drilling and using a hole saw. CONTACT: BLRC Ltd Tel: 02897 511763 blrcvehiclespecialist.co.uk THE rear door on early utility Land Rovers and Defenders is known as a safari door. The design remained little changed from the Series II, through Series IIA, Series III and up to the Defender of 2002. In 2002 the design and construction of…

IN ASSOCIATION WITH NEED TO KNOW TIME: Around 2 hours (with experience). DIFFICULTY: TOOLS: General workshop tools including 10, 15, 20, 21, 22, 24, 32mm spanners, track rod end ball joint splitter, jack and axle stands or vehicle lift. MODEL: Discovery 4 (shown here), similar job on Discovery 3 and Range Rover Sport 1. PARTS AND COSTS: Lower front suspension control arm RH, part number LR073367; lower front suspension control arm LH, part number LR073369, prices from £91 to £274 (genuine). Bolts for lower control arm bush (four required), part number RDI000034, £7 to £10 each. WORK SAFELY: • Before raising the vehicle, first ensure that the stands or lift are correctly rated for the weight of the vehicle, and are in serviceable condition.• Ensure the vehicle is securely supported…

Sat 9 – Sun 10 Dec AWDC 4X4 TRIAL Biggin Ashbourne, Derbyshire awdc.co.uk RTV & CCV TRIAL Charlton Mackrell, Somerset www.somersetandwiltshirelrc.co.uk DARTMOOR AND SOUTH DEVON 4X4 TRIP Exeter, Devon 4x4adventuretours.co.uk NERO CCV & RTV TRIAL West Woodburn, Northumberland nero.org.uk RTV & CCV TRIAL Cowbeech, East Sussex sroc.co.uk LAND ROVER – NIGHT TRIAL Moreton-in-Marsh, Gloucestershire ccroc.club Sat 9 Dec SELF-ASSESSMENT EVENT Wolk Hill, Belfast nilandroverclub.com Sun 10 Dec CCV & TYRO TRIAL Brierfield, Burnley, Lancashire landroverclub.co.uk 4X4 PAY & PLAY DAY Canewdon, Essex 4x4er.co.uk 4X4 TOUR WESTMORLAND Kirby Lonsdale, Cumbria blacklandy4x4tours.com LAND ROVER CHRISTMAS RIDE TBC, Netherlands lrch.nl PAY & PLAY DAY Aldermaston, Berkshire 4x4-withoutaclub.co.uk 4X4 OWNERS DAY Slindon, West Sussex 4x4driving.co.uk RTV & CCV TRIAL TBC penninelandrover.co.uk LAND ROVER TRIAL Whitwell, St Ippolyts, Hertfordshire bhclrc.org.uk TIMED TRIAL & TYRO TRIAL…