Small Surgery - Brake Master Cylinder

The TVR-made brake master cylinder had begun to leak at the push-rod, and so had to be replaced. A bit surprising it would leak so soon, especially as it almost new and was not a cheap unit. It had just 400+ km on it. The original Girling m/c hadn't been great, either, the inner spring being too weak or something similar. Ah well. The new m/c is a cheaper one, as if they're all going to fail so often, then why not. I did carefully take it apart and inspected and cleaned everything, so I'm hopeful that will extend its life.

If you don't mind undoing bolts, Land Rovers are easy to work on. That overspray on the underside of the hood/bonnet is factory original, by the way (except the part on the frame, which was copied from what was originally there). The mudflaps have been superb at stopping stones and dirt from hitting the bulkhead footwell.

Just a view inside the pedal box. It would be nice if the m/c could come out without having to remove the whole box. Be even nicer if the wing didn't have to come off, too! : )

Strawberry Picking

We went strawberry picking after work today. Seriously, which vehicle would you rather go with?

In 10 years of strawberry picking, the best crop I've seen.

Very hot and humid day - and so a little stop on the way back to buy the supplies to make some ice-cold strawberry milkshakes...

Mud Flaps

The other day, when driving downtown, I passed through a construction area that was unpaved, and then a section with fresh asphalt. The noise in the wheelwells indicated the tires were picking up a lot of stones, etc.. I then noticed that the cars that had been following me were now a lot farther behind than before. It occurred to me that perhaps the Land Rover was throwing stones and sticky asphalt particles on those following, due to the large tire treads plus the rear wheels being so exposed and close to the rear of the vehicle. Had there been pedestrians or bicyclists, they might have been effected, too. And so, I decided to install rear mudflaps on the Land Rover.

3 Bros. sent a set, from Bearmach. They also had them from Land Rover, but it was indicated that the Bearmach ones looked slightly more rugged and were stiffer, born out by their weighing more (2.28 Kg vs 2.04 Kg), plus the Bearmach ones were held together with bolts while the LR ones used plastic rivnuts. Both used coated brackets that were virtually identical.


Below, the basic Bearmach mud flap. Four 1/4" holes must be drilled into the chassis for each flap, and you must supply your own bolts for attachment to the chassis.

The bracket was held on by just a bolt, small washer and nut (bottom), and so it seemed advisable to add larger galvanized washers and lock washers (top).

Good clearance of the exhaust pipe.

The flaps installed, before adjustment. They needed adjusting because it turns out the diagonal undersurfaces of the chassis rear cross member are not "flat", they have a slight twist (you can just see this where the flap brackets are visible), and so the flaps did not hang straight down. Not helped by bolt holes in the rubber being slightly off.

Your basic Land Rover with mud flaps. Changes the "look" to some degree. Fully removeable if necessary. If off-roading, I would take them off, as they are quite long and I can see them being pulled off if reversing out of a steep-sided rut or something similar, if pinched between ground and tire.

Ramblings

I guess it might be somewhat accurate to say that the restoration is now complete - as complete as any restoration like this ever really can be. The Land Rover is being driven and enjoyed regularly. There are still some minor milestones being 'acheived' - first visit to a gas station (filled via jerry can up until now); first ride for the dog. As such, perhaps fewer entries in this blog, or rather entries that are less to do with restoration and more to do with enjoyment. But as enjoyment is the payoff of a restoration, there will be entries to be made! Plus info about repairs, improvements and the like.

Ramblings: Fort Hope, overlooking Kingston.

First gas station visit! Nice not to have to pick up that jerry can.

The dog's first ride - loved the open vents; window perfect size for sticking head out (but not too far!).

A happy dog. More rides to come.

"Boot n' Bonnet" Club Garage Visit

Today attended the annual "garage visit" tour arranged by the "Boot n' Bonnet" English car club. This consists of the club meeting at a specific launch point, then heading off to visit two garages of interest, followed by lunch. The first garage visited also provides a breakfast.

I just headed out to the first garage on the tour, and then headed home afterwards, a round trip of 90 km. The host here was Steve, who you may remember had helped with some items on the Land Rover, and who will soon become a full-time Engish car technician-mechanic at his new shop. No shortage of clientele, as was evidenced by the many cars waiting for attention. Of today's visitors, mine was the only Land Rover Series in attendance, although there were other Land Rovers and many interesting cars to see. And a nice group of people.

Below, a selection of Land Rovers at left, with mine at the rear.

The club arrives....

Spring Drive Video

Took advantage of a beautiful Spring morning to go for a drive. Very fortunate to live in the "1000 Islands" region, there's usually always somewhere nice to drive to. (In fact, a friend has just published an book on the area. If you have an iPad, you may like to give it a look here.)

Video basically just shows the stability of the Land Rover, which has been a pleasant surprise, and how high one is in regard to other vehicles. Too bad the camera couldn't show the GPS (square unit on the lower-right of windscreen) info, including speed. Speedometer itself works, but as is evident, needs calibration!

Out Shopping

People who use their Land Rovers regularly will find this laughable, but a small event today was taking the Land Rover out while shopping. Having finally purchased a battery booster, from which the cell phone and GPS can also be run, I was a now ready to go somewhere and stop for a while. : )

Of course, parked it as if it was a Ferrari, away from other cars. Also because it gave work room if needed....  You will notice the puddle under the radiator: this is antifreeze coming out the overflow pipe of the radiator. For some reason, this vehicle likes to have a very specific amount of antifreeze in there - any more than that, and it blows it out, more so if parked nose-down a slope, as it is here (hard to see, but there is a slope). I had filled it right up, and so serves me right. :)

Definitely a fun way to do the shopping, however!