>Another technique is the Terri-Anne technique - confuse the Landy for quite a
>while so that it forgets who/what it really is, and then you can do almost
>anything with it
Right you are. I took a clapped out series II with a lot of missing
parts, I started by adding some IIA front and rear light assemblies to
replace the broken Series II ones that I could not locate at the time. I
followed it up by replacing the totally worn out steering box with a late
IIA good condition used one. Unfortunately it meant a plastic spoked
steering wheel and the horn button on the arm was replaced by the one
that came in the later steering wheel's centre. I got a steering column
mounted turn signal switch with the column so the nonworking lever on a
small instrument panel went away too.
Then 13 years later, I opted to dump my engine in favour of a series III
power plant with 8:1 compression.
Then 5 years later I got really crazy and installed a Series III dual
power brake system and a 109 station wagon fuel tank along with a second
109 front fuel tank to replace the old leaking factory aux tank. The
filler assembly came from a Land Rover Defender high Capacity pickup.
Later that very year I found myself camping in the Pacific North West for
two weeks of almost continuous rain. I experienced the joys of trying to
run a Coleman white gas stove and propane lantern inside the back of a
109. Of sitting there with my hair rubbing against the ceiling and
getting caught in the roof vent mechanisms. Then trying to move things
around so I could get room to lay out my sleeping bag. It was during
that trip that I started thinking about converting my Land Rover's rear
bed into a camper. After much research I decided to base the camper
conversion on a Land Rover Dormobile.
Two years later after breaking my sixth rear axle, I opted for a Land
Rover series III 109 rear axle and prop shaft.
That Fall, while on a 3 month long camping trip I was run off the road in
Wyoming by an 18 wheeler. He was coming up from behind at the posted
speed limit. I of course was driving along as fast as I could with the
pedal to the metal. Rather than slow to to about half his speed he opted
to pass. He just didn't notice that there was a bend in the road and
another 18 wheeler coming in the other direction. He decided to move
back into my lane instead of being part of an 18 wheeler to 18 wheeler
head on at a combined rate of over 100 MPH. I decided that I would
prefer to go off roading rather then to come into contact with those huge
tyres.
Once I got the Land Rover stopped and ran a visual inspection for
suspension damage I found myself thinking about all the other close calls
from impatient people passing on blind curves/hills and those times when
I was on the freeway at night or in storms with big rigs coming at my
tail at close to twice my speed. That was when I really started
seriously considering that additional horse power would make my Land
Rover a lot safer to drive.
I first thought about using one of those Buick V8s that Rover has been
using. But listening to people on the e-mail lists, those things seem
pretty fragile, don't get very good fuel mileage. American versions have
tons of fragile electronics and just a water pump is about $300. So I
decided to look for something a whole lot more reliable with better fuel
mileage and way cheaper parts.
So almost two years ago I further confused my car by swapping out the non
stock engine for another non stock engine and gearbox.
To confuse my poor car even more I added Defender V8 labels and a
Discover Series II badge to my rear tailgate.
So yes my poor car is very confused, but she is a whole lot safer to
drive in American traffic, new water pumps can be had for under $30 and I
no longer catch my hair on the ceiling in the back.
The only downside is that I have discovered that steering my 109 was an
important component of my exercise program. I have lost arm strength
with the Scout II power steering.
TeriAnn Wakeman Marigold Ltd.
Santa Cruz, California Web design, site updating, testing
webmaster@overlander.net search engine optimization, graphics
and more
http://www.overlander.net/Marigold/index.html
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