Stainless Windshield Wipers

Installed new stainless-steel wipers today, never having particularly liked the black wipers whose arms I had to cut to size myself. The new wipers are a truly great improvement over the previous. They don't just look better, but they appear to work better, as well. The wiper motors had a great deal of difficulty dragging the previous wiper blades across the glass, the motors not being that strong, but tested today, the new blades swept smoothly back and forth. Not tried in heavy rain yet, but much more inclined to try now. : )

Anyway, once installed, went for a drive to test the newly overhauled odometer/speedometer and the related speedo cable, the new wing mirrors and just to see what the Land Rover looked like with the new wipers.

Below: the new wipers.

The arm is stainless, but I think the pivot is chromed brass or something similar. Very nice quality parts. The arm surface even comes wrapped in plastic skin to make sure it's not scratched in transit, which must be removed when installing.

An overall view. The arms are the correct 'spoon' type, and it feels nice to have something 'authentic' there to see through the glass. I think the original 1960 Land Rover had flat simple wiper blades, however, and I may eventually switch these ones out to be even more authentic - but only if they work well.

A view from inside. All parts have a really nice finish. The arm length can be adjusted to the exact length you need by pressing the small tab at left, and then sliding the arm.

A view outdoors. I was a little worried the new wipers might be 'flashy', especially on the old galvanizing, but they look fine. The new Allmakes wing mirrors are excellent: their convex shape is perfect, and visibility is superb - and their shape is historically accurate.

An overall view in the sunshine, with the new wipers and the new wing mirrors. Speedometer and odometer are now working just fine.

Broken Speedometer Cable

Today I disconnected the speedo cable at the gearbox, and found that, as I had guessed, the cable had broken. I can't quite tell why it broke, as it's not a clean break; in fact, it's pretty messy, and there was a great deal of sand-sized shavings underneath the cover.

I'm very curious as to why is broke. The original, 'high quality' Land Rover-made cable had broken at exactly the same place, and I attributed that to resistance at the speedometer end due to seized lubricant. But the speedometer has now been redone, and there should be no such resistance. From the 'spaghetti' of the cable winding wire, it almost looks as if it broke by being twisted in both directions, as if putting the vehicle into reverse put stress.

Could it be that because the odometer does not move backwards, when the vehicle moves backwards, the cable twists? Would not the designing engineers have compensated for this? I'm sure there's a reasonable answer, but I don't know what it is right now!

Below: The first view, as removed from the gearbox housing.

A gentle tug with the pliers and the cable remains came out.

A view of the cable shavings around the gearbox entrance.

View of a new replacement cable, as it should be.

Round Wing Mirrors

The new wing mirros arrived from LRDirect in the UK today, made by Allmakes (and thanks go to Lars, in Sweden, for recommending these). What an improvement over the former rectangular ones! The mounting clamps are painted black, which is nice, and once on and tightened nothing is going to shift them.

The mirror angles have to be adjusted when the mirrors are being installed, as once the clamps are tightened they don't move any more. The bodies are plastic, but a shiny black that looks a great deal like black paint. The hardware and overall look is miles better than the rectangular mirrors.

The convex mirror is really nice - gives good views to rear and sides - no "suicide mirrors" there. Being convex, however, "objects are closer than they appear", obviously, but you do get a very useful field of view for larger objects behind and to the side of the vehicle.

The former rectangular mirrors, although they were larger, being flat, really weren't that useful even when they were at the correct angle.

My only small complaint is that the body on one is slightly 'collapsed', as if it had been compressed when the plastic was still warm. Not really visible unless you look for it. (EDIT: Lars informs me one of his was the same - must be a build quality issue. And so, if you purchase these, stipulate non-collapsed units!) And the bolt threads are a tad long - I think they could use 1/2" acorn nuts on the ends just for aesthetic reasons and also to stop anyone snagging something on them.

Of course, the true test will be when next driving....

 

 

Below: Proper size and shape for the 1960 Land Rover.

An overall view from the driving position, taken while sitting in the driver's seat (left-hand drive).

And just two closeups to better show the field of view.

A Run to the Farm

Another nice day, however with several days of rain forecast ahead, and so I decided to take the Land Rover on an even more sustained highway run at lunch time. This, to the farm where we pick our strawberries in the summer.

The run is about a half hour at 80 kmh. It's the first  time I am conscious of just how loud a Land Rover interior is at that speed. Not quite deafening, but you can shout pretty loudly before you hear yourself!

There was also a substantial gusting headwind on the way back - the sound of the air being pushed away from the flat windscreen adds to the noise, too. Driving a Land Rover definitely feeds all of your senses to a very great degree.

Only noteworthy event: halfway there, the mirror fell out of the rear view mirror frame. The crash of breaking glass was louder than even the engine noise. Turns out the mirror was just glued into the frame, and I guess 50+ years was the limit. And so, I made my way back with wing mirrors that are useless and a non-existant rear view mirror. Not exactly safe, however, but this is what these shakedown drives are for, and in the end it's just another problem solved. Anyway, I've ordered a new mirror from 3 Bros. and hopefully the new round wing mirrors will arrive from the UK soon.

The after-drive check showed everything else ok, but the radiator did smell very hot when the hood/bonnet was opened (although indicated temperatures were good). Will keep an eye on that.

Spring Morning

Delays at work meant I had a little free time this morning, and so I went for a drive. The Land Rover roared along comfortably at 80 kmh, the coolant temperature stayed normal, and was all-in-all a very nice beast to have out-and-about. The engine is a bit weak on a steeper hill, losing about 3 kmh in 4th gear when starting the hill at 80 kmh. On higher hills I think it would lose more. (I still haven't tried to find the top level-ground speed of the Land Rover, and so don't know how fast it will actually go. My rationale is that there is no point straining something too much: this is, after all, an original 1960 engine with original components....)

It's still the honeymoon period with the vehicle, and so, of course, I took pictures. : )

A post-drive check showed one rear brake drum hotter than the other, which means it's time to reset the brakes for the first time.

Below, the Land Rover in the general environment it has known since since arriving here in 1960.

Nice little yellow summer house.

The one-lane bridge at Kingston Mills lock, with one of the original guard towers known as a "Blockhouse", dating from about 1853, in the background. If you'd like to know more about this historic Rideau Canal Waterway lock, see here.

A view of Colonel By Lake, by the locks. If you look very closely, you can see a Land Rover parked in the foreground. : )

Year Sticker

This a pretty feeble reason to put a post up, but in case you didn't notice in the previous posts, have added a year sticker to the rear of the Land Rover: that red oval beneath the license plate. Just a little custom thing I drew up, produced by an inexpensive service called Vistaprint. Half to help people who know a thing or two about Land Rovers understand that it's not a 2a or 3 series, half to perhaps help those behind understand this isn't a fast vehicle. : )

First Drive with 3 On Board

A little drive to "Tim Horten's" yesterday evening (if you're not in Canada, it's a chain of coffee-and-donut shops), with both daughter and wife along with me - the first time we have everyone together in the Land Rover. New seatbelt arrangement for middle seat, complete with shoulder belt, worked very well. Daughter sat on her booster seat. Shifting gears not a problem, but I had to have an elbow on my daughter's lap - not really a big deal.

Odometer has stopped working - which makes me think the speedometer cable has snapped, just like the original had. Will have to fix that, whatever the problem is. Have been using the GPS as a speedometer, but would be nice to have the entire panel gauge working in any case!