LandRover on Grumpybadger's Webby

Peterborough LRO 2018

Sat, 15 Sep 2018 19:00:00 +0000

Mannington 4x4 May 2016

Mon, 30 May 2016 19:00:00 +0000

Mannington 4x4 April 2016

Sat, 16 Apr 2016 19:00:00 +0000

Brick Kiln 4x4

Sun, 13 Mar 2016 19:00:00 +0000

I had a great day out on Sunday with the Solent and District Land Rover Club (with the SHIRE Land Rover Club) at a “play site” called “Brick Kiln Farm”, just outside Alton in Hampshire.

Unfortunately after an entire 20 minutes my own vehicle decided it didn’t really want to do four-wheel-drive any more with the centre diff-lock not able to be engaged, which in this mud meant the end of my fun. However every cloud has a silver lining, and this opportunity permitted me to watch other folks break their trucks while I snapped away.

Devon 4x4 meet with Defender2.net members

Sat, 30 Jan 2016 19:00:00 +0000

January 30th saw me head out West early on a dark Saturday morning to South Moulton, which is not too far from Barnstable in Devon, to meet members of the Defender2.net.

Great set of enthusiasts to spend a morning with, especially when given cups of tea and sausage rolls from Liz and Simon, the owners of D44.

Romadog’s v8 110 was the highlight for me - just what I am after. It did however take him 10 years to build, which is a lot longer than I want to spend!

Green laning in Wales 2015

Sat, 21 Nov 2015 19:00:00 +0000

Another fantastic trip with Yorkshire 4x4 Specialists, this time to Wales based around Dolgellau. The weather offered up an extra treat - snow overnight!

Giving the Td5 a 2 inch lift

Sun, 11 Oct 2015 19:00:00 +0000

Having upgraded the wheels to an Italian made 8" wide Mach 5 alloy, shod in BFGoodrich’s excellent KM2 (285/75R16), I next had the problem of working out how to avoid the tyres from rubbing on the wheel arches under articulation.

After lengthy research, I settled on a Gwyn Lewis supplied 2" lift kit. Not wanting to regret skimping on parts later, I went for the whole hog, including castor corrected front radius arms (hockey sticks) and double cardon prop-shafts:

Peterborough LRO 2015

Sat, 19 Sep 2015 19:00:00 +0000

My second year at the Peterborough Land Rover show, and this time with added sun! At 290 miles for a round trip, its pushing the limits of what I can do in a day while remaining focused behind the wheel, but for buying bits I don’t think the UK has a better event. I’ll just have to move further North…

Land Rovers on the Land Rover stand were all immaculate, including this transporter.

Land Rover Td5 Defender - Mach 5 Alloys

Fri, 03 Apr 2015 19:00:00 +0000

To smarten up my vehicle, I decided to order a set of 5 Mach 5 alloy wheels from Devon 4x4, complete with BF Goodrich KM2 mud terrain tyres in 285/75R16 size (33").

Before starting…

The new tyre is a good inch taller than the previous BF Goodrich KO 265/75/R16.

Land Rover Solihull Factory Tour

Wed, 25 Mar 2015 19:00:00 +0000

In the (planned) final year of production of the Land Rover Defender, I with my Father attended a Solihull factory tour of the production of the Defender.

So early in the morning we set off to arrive at a large car manufacturing site, with a lengthy set of instructions where to go to find the tour site.

Photography was limited within the building to a ‘celebration’ room, a temporary construction built in the middle of the factory floor, where we dressed up in period attire and saw the new with the old.

Green laning in the Lake District

Wed, 31 Dec 2014 19:00:00 +0000

Had a fantastic time “off-roading” in the Lake District at the start of December (weekend of the 6th and 7th), on an organised tour with Yorkshire 4x4 Specialists, led by Russell.

It was quite a long drive up from Southampton, but took turns driving with my Dad who accompanied me to share the burden.

The day kicked off by throwing us in the ‘deep end’, with a very steep rocky technical road up into the mountains. The group consisted of 5 vehicles, 4 Defenders and one Discovery. There were plenty of axle twisters to leave us stranded finely balanced:

Land Rover Td5 Defender Nolden LED Lights

Sun, 09 Nov 2014 20:00:00 +0000

The lights fitted to my Land Rover were not exactly the latest word in high luminosity. In fact they probably go someway to explaining why the Lumen value of headlights is usually measured in the thousands - a scale which is perfectly suited to recording the light value of my lights in the lower numbers.

To make matters worse, mine had ‘fogged’ up in a stripe pattern on the inside of their lenses:

Land Rover Td5 Defender - Fitting Addition Gauges

Thu, 01 May 2014 19:00:00 +0000

Using one of the MudUK “Mud Pods” I wanted to fit a number of dials to monitor the engine. I might have gone down the road of one of the South African MadMan Monitors if I had known about its full potential, but went with a full set of Croytek VDO gauges, which comprised of:

Voltmeter
Boost pressure
Oil Temperature
Oil Pressure
td5 rev counter

The rev counter was fitted into the main instrument panel for ease of viewing, the other gauges shuffled along one slot and the clock moved to the Mud Pod.

Land Rover Td5 Defender - Fitting An Intercooler

Thu, 01 May 2014 19:00:00 +0000

An “Alive” Intercooler had arrived which needed to be fitted. How hard could it possible be I asked myself?

On the models with air conditioning, the intercooler is sandwiched between the main engine radiator and the air conditioning radiator at the front, behind the grill.

You can se it here sandwiched inbetween:

Getting the old one out isn’t too hard. Undo the top slam panel…

Land Rover Td5 Defender - Fitting Noise Insulation

Thu, 01 May 2014 19:00:00 +0000

Defenders are never going to offer Bentley levels of noise insulation. However since by default the td5 is somewhat close to the maximum allowable noise levels for a work place without ear protection, there is room for improvement!

The kit I chose was the Exmoor Trim R380 Moulded Matting System (black) which is not exactly cheap - but had several positive reviews.

The kit comprises of a thick rubbery moulded pieces for both the seat box and cabin floor section which runs over the gearbox tunnel.

Land Rover Lightweight

Sun, 29 Dec 2013 19:00:00 +0000

Shortly before selling it, I painted my little Lightweight back into a millitary paint scheme, a matt Nato green.