Innehållsförteckning för May 2024 från Land Rover Monthly

SEND YOUR LETTERS TO MARTIN@LRM.CO.UK ID check please Do you have any advice on tracking down Land Rover Special Purpose Vehicles? My girlfriend and I recently bought a 2001 Land Rover Defender Td5 with only 32,000 miles on it. It is a lovely deep green colour and has so far been running superbly! Its particularly low mileage appears to stem from its origins as a Special Purpose Vehicle. It has three unique switches on the dashboard (one red, two yellow) and two plates screwed onto the roof, next to a small hole with a rubber grommet – these factory modifications appear to point to an emergency vehicle-style light bar being installed on the roof. Sadly, however, the person we bought it off (the third owner) did not have any documentation…

WHEEL NUT EXTRACTOR £20.40 Contact: lasertools.co.uk If the wheel nuts on your Freelander or Range Rover Evoque have seen better days and have been chewed up by the rattle guns of tyre fitters, you might need this socket. It has a protective sleeve to avoid damage to alloy wheels and a spiral thread to grip the nut. Three sizes are available, with the largest, 21mm (part no. 8766), being suitable for the Land Rovers listed. MIRROR ARMS WITH PUDDLE LIGHTS £280 Contact: optimill-uk.com The latest incarnation of machined aerospace-grade aluminium mirror arms are fitted with a sealed row of LEDs to illuminate the ground when entering and leaving your classic Defender. They’re best used on Defenders fitted with remote locking – you wire them to the interior light circuit so…

HOW many times have you seen on Facebook someone asking about painting their Land Rover? It seems to come up time and time again. Often people are told it would be sacrilege to paint their dilapidated Land Rover and they should preserve the patina. Where did this obsession with patina come from? I feel that many people confuse patina with neglect. A couple of years back my 109in rolled down a hill and smacked into a tree. The rear body was buckled and beyond my ability to repair, so I managed to find a nice straight, second-hand replacement. The challenge was that it came in multiple different shades of peeling green paint and made my Land Rover look like something spawned from Scrapheap Challenge. With no spare time, I drove…

SOMETIMES, you come across a Land Rover that completely redefines how you think about that particular model. All your preconceptions and experiences of other vehicles of the same ilk are forgotten, and a new benchmark is forged that all others will be measured against. The Series IIA you see here is one of those Land Rovers. To be honest, I first became curious about this particular Series IIA because the man responsible for the stunning photos in this story, Alisdair Cusick, told me how it had been converted to use a Ford Ecoboost petrol engine. I’d seen this conversion done in Defenders, but never in a leaf-sprung Land Rover. So my interest was already piqued, but I wasn’t prepared for the level this little IIA has been finished to, and…

SOMETIMES you can fall into using clichés when writing about greenlanes. Not every lane can be superb, offer challenging driving or have spectacular views – though it would be great if they could. Instead, many are just simple roads that take you from A to B, roads that didn’t warrant the expenditure to gain a tarmac coating. Those are the greenlanes that most of us enjoy on our travels, but sometimes it’s worth making a trip for the superb, challenging and spectacular ones – and that’s what we’re doing in this issue of Land Rover Monthly. We’re crossing Cumbria on some of the best greenlanes in the county; arguably some of the best in the country. We’re in three Land Rovers: Russ Dykes is leading in his much-travelled Discovery 2;…

SINCE opening its new museum building last summer, the workload at the Dunsfold Collection has increased exponentially. As well as maintaining the vehicles, website and the social media channels, the volunteers and trustees (all unpaid) now have to organise, manage and host the public open days, private open days, private tours and the new ‘An Evening With…’ events, while managing and developing the site and the never-ending work inside the museum itself. And then there’s all the admin, accounts, form-filling and so on that goes with running a charity. Strengthening the team has therefore been a priority, and that’s why the Collection recently appointed Andrew Munden as a trustee. Andrew is, as you would expect, a committed Land Rover fan and since he retired from a successful career as a…

I think I’ve lost count of the number of times I’ve mentioned the intention to rebuild the Series II’s engine since I first took ownership of it in 2016, yet here we finally are: one engine not under the bonnet of the Land Rover, but instead sitting on a stand in the garage. After admittedly neglecting the 88in while I put my efforts into building an Austin Seven Special last year, getting back behind the wheel of what had been my daily driver wasn’t entirely successful. The dynamo was no longer charging and fuel was going anywhere but where needed, courtesy of a split pipe and a poorly carburettor. Those were easily sorted thanks to a replacement dynamo from our friends at Britpart and a new length of hose, but…

lrmtechnical@gmail.com LAND Rover gets some bad press, here and there. It even gets criticism from Land Rover enthusiasts, and often it’s from those who want everything to stay as it always was. I don’t exclude myself from the band of fans who think the Discovery 2 was the best of the breed, that only a Series truck provides the genuine off-road experience and that new Defender isn’t an icon. The fact is, probably all Land Rovers have been the best, and they’ve all been icons, back in their day. It’s unfair to compare modern Land Rovers with what has gone before – we should be comparing contemporary Land Rovers with the contemporary competition. There’s always a lot of talk about what goes wrong with Land Rovers. Well, try this little…

Coil springs, and the specification to which they are made, are absolutely vital to the way the vehicle they are fitted to drives, rides and handles weight, whether unladen or loaded. The rate, or ‘stiffness’ of a spring is determined by its steel quality, number of coils, and diameter of the metal that makes it up. You’ll notice that when new, OE Defender springs have coloured marks on them to identify their rate. They’ll be different on the front and rear, and often side-to-side, to make sure that the vehicle sits level and drives as well as possible. Many aftermarket springs are described as ‘heavy-duty’, which generally means the standard poundage has been increased by a set amount over OE springs, allowing the Land Rover to be laden with more…

My non-ABS 300Tdi Discovery is on its fourth brake master cylinder. I have replaced the brake balancer and the brake servo (all OEM) and the pedal still descends. No loss of fluid. Everyone says it has to be the master cylinder. Of the four I fitted only two have actually been non-ABS as I was provided with two ABS ones in error, but both of these have exhibited the same behaviour. The brakes work, the vehicle stops, and then the pedal slowly descends, so if you don’t keep moving your foot down it will roll. The pedal does eventually seem to stop and hold, but by that time you are pressing very hard, the pedal is almost at the floor. The new servo has made it worse; the pedal starts…

DEFENDER (not Land Rover…) has revealed a bold new livery and the driver line-up for the 2024 Rally Series UK. Each of the specially prepared Defender 90s in this year’s championship will feature a distinctive version of the exterior design, with a signature colour chosen by the teams. The seven-event season comprises gravel and hill rallies in Wales, Scotland, England and the Republic of Ireland and aims to build the rallying skills of the drivers with a view to upgrade to competitor rally licences and progress to the European Baja Championship and other one-off international events. With up to 16 driver and co-driver pairings contesting each works-supported event, it is the largest competitive field the championship has yet seen. Applications are open – and in demand – for 2025. Drivers…

FOLLOWING the closure of Avon Tyres’ Melksham factory, Vintage Tyres has announced it will continue to produce some Avon tyre lines, including the Traction Mileage and Rangemaster, which were OE fitment on Series and Defender models. A main Avon dealer for decades, Vintage Tyres has for some years owned moulds for classic Avon crossply and radial tyre ranges: these will now be manufactured in an EU-based factory, although there may be a short disruption to supply while the production ramps up. The company promises that every type of Avon tyre it previously sold (not just for Land Rovers) will continue to be available in the future. This is good news for anyone who needs period-correct specification rubber for their old Land Rover – call Vintage Tyres on 01590 612261 or email:…

MORE or less since the day it was launched in 1970, the original Range Rover was a very desirable thing to own. Whether you were royalty, an aristocratic blue blood, a rock star, a successful businessman, or an ordinary hardworking man or woman, everyone wanted one. Even if it meant buying an older model and making it look younger than it really was, as I seem to recall Quentin Willson once recommending in an episode of Top Gear. Having just re-read that last sentence, I thought I’d better check that my memory isn’t failing me and yes, go online and have a look at Top Gear 1991, season 14, episode 12, to discover all you’ll ever need to know about how the Range Rover was perceived back in the day.…

I’D like to think I have a decent grasp on the market for Land Rovers of all ages, but this month I must admit I’ve been baffled. I’ve been losing badly in the ‘guess the value’ game I play in my head while watching auctions, and it’s been quite unnerving. It started with a classic sale where a lovely-looking early three-door Discovery failed to meet its reserve of £4000 and a very tidy refurbished Series III Lightweight sold for £1800 below its lower estimate of £8000. I had to exercise considerable restraint, despite going into the sale with no intention to buy either of them as I hadn’t done enough research to raise the bidding paddle. I’ve learned the hard way that there’s usually a reason for cars being cheap,…

SPEAKING of rebuilds, I had a gorgeous grey Series IIA 88-inch in to be serviced and fitted with a brake servo. For these vehicles I use the servo from an MGB sports car – this is an inline Girling Powerstop unit which plumbs in between the master cylinder and the T-piece which distributes fluid to the front and rear wheels. These servos are available as a good quality reproduction, complete with a bracket which allows them to fit neatly on top of the passenger side footwell. The only point to note is that the valve on the servo body must face downwards. If the valve points upwards it will trap air and you will be unable to bleed your brakes. The vehicle had very recently been rebuilt around a new…

Terry Hayward owns and operates Hayward Revive, an independent Land Rover specialist on the Norfolk coast. The company offers restoration services from recommissions and light overhauls to full rebuilds and conversions like this one. ‘‘I like to try different things, and it’s really exciting when our customers are on board to think outside the box and come up with original ideas. We’ve already got plans to do another Ecoboost-powered Series – a 109in station wagon, with the slightly bigger 2.0-litre petrol and an automatic gearbox rather than manual,’’ he says. Terry’s busy workshop and stacks of inventory really give off a feeling that anything is possible, and the man’s enthusiasm is infectious; it’s clear he does this because he loves the brand and the vehicles, rather than just to pay…

I’D love more time for my Land Rover-related hobbies. Commitments have meant I’m not using my 90 Tdi much, and the Puma 90 even less. With insurance costs and general costs of ownership going up, one of the Defenders had to go. I took my driving test in the Tdi back in the 1990s, so that wasn’t going anywhere. The Puma 90 needed to find a new home. I spoke to Bob at T Elliott Land Rovers who sold me the Puma. Bob was happy to buy it back off me knowing I had treasured it during my ownership. It wasn’t on his forecourt for long – it had been sold to a new owner within a couple of weeks, which shows despite the financial slowdown in the UK, the…

BIDDING first and worrying about the consequences later can occasionally pay off, as Andy Coston explains. “I’ve always had Land Rovers, and owned lots of different models over the years including a Lightweight, Defender 110, Discovery 1s and 2s, but I’ve always wanted a V8 Ninety. “I was scrolling on eBay while on holiday one day, and saw this Trident Green example that was almost at the end of its auction. It was still pretty cheap for what it was going by the pictures, and although it was advertised as spares or repairs, I put in a last-minute bid and ended up winning it. The buyer’s remorse kicked in until I went down to Cornwall to pick it up, and it turned out to be quite a lot better than…

ONE of the best things about Land Rovers is how easy it is to adapt them for what we love doing most, whether that’s camping, overlanding, greenlaning, off-roading… The list goes on. Fitting accessories and upgrades inevitably means adding some weight to the vehicle. A bit is okay and won’t make a noticeable difference to the Land Rover’s stance or handling, but bulky items like a winch or roof tent can have a big impact on how the vehicle drives and even looks when it’s parked. Couple any extra mass with already-worn OE suspension, and you could have a wobbly, lopsided Land Rover on your hands that you won’t want to look at, let alone drive. In fact, even without extra weight, sagging springs and leaky, worn-out dampers will have…

THE Range Rover restoration boom of recent years has moved the refurbishment of these vehicles to totally new levels. Project cars that a decade ago may have needed a simple respray, minor weld repairs and a mechanical fettle to get to an acceptable standard, can now involve a strip-down, bare metal respray and full refinish of everything right down to the axle cases and driveline, with the aim to create a collector-grade car. Combining this level of finish with ageing vehicles means that totally new resto skills can be involved. Age-old problem Reaching those high standards can mean solving many problems such as electrolytic corrosion of the doors. Common to all Range Rovers but also Land Rovers and Discoverys, electrolytic corrosion occurs when two dissimilar metals are in contact and…

Last year I bought an early V8 Defender with the 3.5-litre Rover engine, and I’m just giving it a full service. I’ve heard varying advice on what to do about the twin carburettors, in particular the dash-pots on the top. There are several views on what sort of oil, and how much, to put in the dash-pots. I’m reluctant to interfere with the carburettor adjustments as the car seems to be running well and was fully serviced by a Land Rover garage about a year ago. ED EVANS REPLIES: If the engine is running well it would be best to leave the carburettor settings as they are. You’ll know this from driving, but there’s also a good indication on the spark plugs when you remove these for cleaning and re-gapping…

I have a question concerning my Range Rover Classic top tailgate adjustment. Do you know how to adjust the rear hatch window catches, please? ALISDAIR CUSICK REPLIES: There are five things to think about with Range Rover top tailgates, though the first is only a worry if you’ve changed or removed either top or bottom tailgate. Do all this with the lower tailgate dropped down, to help access. Many of the fixings will be large cross-head screws. Use a well fitting tool, and take great care not to round any of those off. Corrosion in the frame, catches or operating rod mechanism can cause issues, so start with a clean, well lubricated system. The first point to check is the height of the top tailgate. It should be adjusted at…

JAGUAR Land Rover has dropped plans to switch its dealers to an agency model – instead it will oversee the buying process and pay dealers a fixed fee for each vehicle sold. It is the same traditional franchised sales format that JLR currently employs, but the company intends to make tweaks by providing ‘elevated concierge levels of client care’. JLR announced its plans to switch to controversial agency sales a year ago alongside showroom changes that would see a move to a ‘House of Brands’ ethos with Defender, Discovery, Jaguar and Range Rover having their own identities and marketing strategies. These plans still stand – for now – and it’s been reported that dealer partners have welcomed the decision, praising JLR for reacting to changing conditions in the UK automotive…

IT’S official: if you look at analysis of more than 200,000 warranties over an eight-year period, the Range Rover is the second most likely to experience problems, while the Discovery languishes in eighth position. Whilst the now defunct Chrysler Voyager was the UK’s most problematic car, the average claim cost for Range Rovers was the highest, standing at £6165, coupled with an ‘above-average frequency’ in the number of repairs needed. The data – compiled by warranty firm Intelligent Motoring – that looked at claims numbers from policyholders between January 2016 and December 2023 – combined all Range Rover models into one group, so accounts for the Range Rover, Range Rover Sport and Evoque. The cars included in the lists were between three and 15-years old. However, the data did not…

Autoglym Car Care With spring’s arrival, now is the right time to spruce up your Land Rover’s exterior for that perfect showroom finish. Autoglym’s two new exterior car care products are designed to do just that… Autoglym Ceramic Wash & Protect RRP: £24.99 CONTACT: autoglym.com Autoglym Ceramic Wash & Protect is an easy-to-use triple-action ceramic car shampoo that delivers a deep clean, creates a smooth high-gloss shine, and leaves a durable water-repellent layer of protection. Autoglym Advanced All Wheel Cleaner RRP: £19.99 for 1-litre spray CONTACT: autoglym.com Autoglym Advanced All Wheel Cleaner safely and effectively removes contaminants from all lacquered wheel types. It contains active ingredients that react with any ingrained metal particles and lifts them from the surface so they can be easily rinsed away. Inverter Welder PRICE: £179.98…

I’VE been told by the Hemel Hempstead garage that a Weber carb is the only way forward and that, if I source one, they will fit it for free – a gesture which, after the hassle of the last couple of months, is appreciated. I have long been resistant to the idea of a Weber as I prefer to keep my Lightweight’s engine as original as possible. And, although a cruise around a few online Land Rover chat rooms seems to suggest a Weber is not actually the dream solution I have perhaps been led to believe, the sorry truth is that I’m struggling to see how else I’m going to get my vehicle back on the road. Brookwells is always my first choice when it comes to ordering Land…

WHEEL bearings on the older Land Rovers are big, substantial taper roller bearings and usually have a very long life. They are adjustable for play via a large nut on the end of the stub axle, but should not normally need adjusting in service. I had a rather muddy One Ten in for a service. One of the first things I always do is jack up each end in turn, rock the wheels (side to side, up and down) to check for movement, then spin each wheel by hand to see if it turns smoothly. One of the rear wheels on this vehicle had a bit of play in it – still within MoT test limits but only just. It also felt slightly rough when rotated, but not dramatically so.…

With so many elements of this humble Series IIA brought kicking and screaming into 2024, I cannot wait to get behind that wood-rimmed steering wheel and see how it feels on the road. The first thing that jumps to your attention is how solid the doors feel. You can open them, grab hold of them and pull up and down – there’s no play or movement at all. Jumping into the cloth seat and pulling the door closed behind, the tinniness of a slightly flexible Series door is gone; you get a much more reassuring, solid-feeling thunk instead. Want to check for daylight creeping through the seals or between the floor panels? Be Terry’s guest, but don’t hold your breath. A twist of the centre-mounted ignition wakes the Ecoboost, and…

TODAY, it is known locally as Gwaith Powdwr, which translates as Powder Works, although for many years it was known as Cooke’s Works. It is now a nature reserve at Penrhyndeudraeth near Porthmadog in North Wales, but given what used to be made here, having its own fire brigade was probably very sensible. In 1865 a factory opened on the site that manufactured explosive charges for use in the local slate quarries. In 1922 it was acquired by one Ralph Cooke, a coal mining magnate who owned another explosives factory in Essex, and he combined the two operations at the Penrhyndeudraeth site. Following an explosion at the factory in 1928, Cooke sold part of his company to one of his rivals, Imperial Chemical Industries (ICI), ostensibly to gain access to…

REGULAR Land Rover Monthly readers will remember that last spring, REVS Restore, a community group based out of Bicester Heritage, started restoration of a 1975 Series III 109in which was kindly donated by Tim Compson. The Land Rover spent a number of years on the Falkland Islands, hence being nicknamed Stanley after Port Stanley. REVS is a mental health, wellbeing and community group for people who love all things with four wheels. Reverend Adam Gompertz, or the Rev, is the chaplain for Bicester Heritage, and heads up the group. Adam is a former car designer and a proper petrolhead, so he loves Land Rovers as much as the rest of us. Those of you who attended LRM Live at Malvern last year would have seen Stanley midway through its ‘reverse’…

AS you may or may not have seen from previous Editor’s Welcomes, I have recently taken ownership of another Series III, also a 109in, but this time a five-door station wagon. Had I been on the lookout for another old Land Rover? Absolutely not*, but this one sort of found me in a roundabout sort of way. You see, late last year I had taken the Freelander 2 to my small workshop with the intention of giving it a bit of a birthday treat as it approached 200,000 miles – new hub bearings all-round, new discs and pads, fresh suspension arms, handbrake cables, calipers – and I wanted something cheap and reliable to nip around in while it was on the ramp getting whatever it needed to give me thousands…

THE owner of this eye-catching Freelander has wasted no time making it exactly how she wants it – young Libby Davies takes up the story. “I bought the Freelander last September for a bargain price. It is my first car; I really wanted a Land Rover but didn’t need anything too big, so I thought this was the perfect model from the green oval family. To start with it was only meant to tide me over until I’d saved up enough money for a classic Defender because I really wanted one at the time, but over the months I have kept on upgrading it, and now fallen in love with it. As such I have decided I want to keep it for as long as it lasts and put the…

We’re fitting slightly uprated but standard-length springs to this Defender, to keep the original look and just improve its handling and ride with a roof tent and camping gear on board. Because we’re keeping it at its original ride height, we don’t have to make any further modifications aside from matching the springs with appropriate dampers, which are also included in the Terrafirma kit in this case. Things can get more complicated if you choose to fit longer springs to lift the Land Rover. Most off-the-shelf kits can raise the height by up to 40mm, which can be helpful to fit slightly oversize tyres for off-roading, but the suspension geometry will still be altered which will affect the handling, and the centre of gravity will be raised. Any higher than…

EVER jumped out of your old Land Rover and into a modern car and noticed how sharp the brakes are? That effect is not just because of technical advances, it’s much to do with the condition of the brake fluid and the associated hydraulic seals inside the braking system. Yet, although Land Rover service schedules specify regular renewal of brake fluid, and of brake seals, many non-Land Rover garages ignore this requirement and vehicles seem to carry on driving (albeit with the occasional routine brake problem). So, is a regular fluid change really necessary, or is Land Rover simply covering itself by making the stipulation, and enjoying some extra service business? The main consideration is that brake fluid is hygroscopic – it absorbs moisture from the atmosphere – and when…

The bonnet pull on my 1999 Freelander 1 has become very difficult to operate and I have to pull it hard up, which is near impossible. Even when I do pull the release lever up far enough, the bonnet edge doesn’t seem to lift, though it is free, and I have to get my fingers or a plastic lever under the edge to ease it up. Do I need a new cable, I thought perhaps it has stretched? But I cannot see where the cable comes into the release mechanism on the front of the car and there seems no way of getting into the latch from above, below or behind. Do you have any ideas? ED EVANS REPLIES: The cables are not known for stretching, but they can become…

MORE AT LANDROVERMONTHLY.CO.UK/EVENTS/ March 29-31 EASTER INTERCLUB, TYRO, CCV AND RTV TRIAL AND TIMED TRIAL Stainby, Lincolnshire llrc.co.uk EASTER WEEKEND EVENT CCV AND RTV TRIALS Stoke-on-Trent, Staffordshire badlrc.co.uk March 30 TASTER TYRO/RTV/CCV TRIALS Sudbury, Essex elrc.info March 30-31 4x4 TRIAL Coney Green, Stourport-on-Severn awdc.co.uk 4x4 TRIAL Mow Cop, Staffordshire northernmonkey4x4.co.uk March 30-April 1 CLUB TRIAL TBC sroc.co.uk TYRO, RTV, CCV AND TIMED TRIAL Newmans Quarry, Moreton-in-Marsh mroc.co.uk RTV, TYRO AND CCV TRIAL Stainby, Lincolnshire panddlrc.uk March 31 4X4 TRIAL Eaton Lodge, Melton Mowbray emorc4x4.net April 2 SOLENT & DISTRICT LAND ROVER CLUB, GREENLANES Axminster, Devon sadlrc.com April 3 SCOTTISH LAND ROVER OWNERS CLUB, RTV TRIAL TBC slroc.co.uk April 6 WILD WALES 4x4 OVERLAND EXPLORER TOUR Aberystwyth, Wales offroadadventuretravel.com April 6-7 BXCC BRITISH CROSS COUNTRY COMP SAFARI CHAMPIONSHIP ROUND 1 Pickering,…