minn200

[h=2]Cracks & Filler.[/h]The 110Posted by Nicky Smith Sun, May 22, 2016 17:54:38 I was a bit selfish this morning I have to admit. After all of the hard work over the last couple of months I decided that seeing as Wifey along with my daughter were out until 5pm I decided that I would head off to a car boot sale to look at buying nothing in particular then go for a bit of a hike around Matlock/Matlock Bath over the tors and through the woods on the hillside. Along with finding my youngest daughter a possible weekend job I took the time to stop and breath in the high views along with the ever increasing leaves growing well in the woodland. I love being out and about surrounded in nature it relaxes me as well as letting my mind just...flow. It always amazes me though that some folks are not quite sure how to dress when out and about. I saw many cracks today mainly in the rocks that make up the Tors but by far the biggest crack I saw today was on a chap in his late twenties who was lying down on his side taking in the majestic views with his girlfriend sat by his side. Problem was that the view he was giving everyone else behind him was rather less than pleasing. With the crack of his backside hanging out of his trousers somehow sideways that was big enough to park a bike in. Honestly you would have thought his arse ended halfway up his back! Sadly this was not the only bike park I saw out for the sunshine today in fact I saw another three that I really could of done without I mean how can folk not know that their bums are hanging out? Do they not feel the breeze? Maybe I am old fashioned because I like to keep my bum covered up but hey I prefer to keep it warm, that and I don't fancy someone trying to stick a front wheel in it! Still it didn't ruin my hike and I was home soon enough to finish off the trimming of driveway matting then popping the Land Rovers back to where they are supposed to live. I then dug out the filler I had bought earlier in the day to do the odd patch or two on the 110. I then smiled to myself as I realised I could of offered some unexpected help to those folk that I came across today with a bit of crack filling! Wifey was then home soon enough putting yet another motor on my freshly laid gravel! I mean it's like she thinks it is there for the sole purpose of parking cars on it! Hopefully just hopefully I will now get a bit of extra time to get stuck into the 110 a bit more over the next few weeks.

[h=2]Little Bits...[/h]The 110Posted by Nicky Smith Sat, May 21, 2016 21:23:13 As I keep harping on about there is more than a little to do with the new house and this is taking more than most of my time. This leaves not a great deal of time for the 110 but with each job that is done I manage to try and find something small that gets the old Landy a bit closer to being back on the road once more. My main focus over the last couple of weeks has been to level off the front garden from the unlevel mess that is was to something workable as a driveway. Seeing as the land rovers like to leak a bit of oil gravel seemed to be the best idea especially as I was working with a rather tight budget! The work was back breaking levelling off the clay based earth but after four or five days after work I was about there including moving around the hardcore that had been dumped down by the last house owners! I then ordered the gravel and matting needed to make it look a bit nicer (all 6 tons of it) for Saturday delivery so on Friday I got to getting everything ready. The landy's were fired up and moved onto the existing driveway... Before long with the help of a neighbour the matting was in place and weighted down ready for the gravel to arrive.., With that done I set to playing with the 110's steering box. There is play somewhere in the steering but after adjusting up the box as well as filling it up with oil it made bugger all difference so I suppose the box is either worn or the problem lays elsewhere. This car port is turning out to be quite handy when the rain sets in as well Saturday morning came along soon enough though and the truck turned up bearing the six bags of gravel I needed. Getting it in though took some serious height with the Hi-ab! Once it was all delivered my neighbour turned up unannounced with a wheel barrow spade and rake in hand offering to give me a couple of hours to get it all sorted. Now this is one of the many many reasons I already love living here on our little cul de sac. It did only take us a couple of hours to get sorted but the beers afterwards took an extra couple as well... Looks good though! It could do with another ton or two to top it off but once the edges are all trimmed down I can get the Land Rovers back into place leaving just the top wall to finish off. So with that done as well as the new bathroom door fitted it has been a bit of a busy day but the house is coming along now in leaps and bounds. I have ordered some more door parts but still need the bits to fit the locks onto the doors themselves but forgot to head off today to buy them so will have to order them online. I will build up the door windows this week and hopefully fit them onto the 110 next weekend. As I said before getting there slowly...

[h=2]Tools and Tiredness.[/h]The 110Posted by Nicky Smith Sat, May 14, 2016 21:19:45 Have you noticed a change in the larger DIY and electrical stores of late? Now I do not really frequent these places very often as it tends to mean more work for me that I probably don't really want to do so it has been a number of years since I last darkened their doorstep. Today though was one of those days I found myself in them buying appliances and paint ready for my weeks "Holiday" refitting our kitchen form top to bottom. Imagine my surprise when instead of staff consisting of spotty uninterested teenagers I found loads and I mean loads of positive and engaging people all wearing the uniform colours of their store offering help and assistance every couple of minutes or every isle when you started to move around it. Now this reminded me of American DIY stores and quite frankly is a step up from what us Brits are used to because these good folks are not only happy to help but seem to know what they are talking about to boot! That may just some spiel to sound impressive without them having a clue but hey it made the dreadful experience I was expecting all the more pleasant so everything has a bonus! Soon enough the bank account had been drained with the products bought to redesign and build our bespoke kitchen so home it was still with plenty of light left in the day. I stood looking out as the king of my castle trying to convince myself that the Discovery did not need the near front axle and bearings rebuilding but soon gave that up and grabbed my tools out of the garage ready to get set up to start this all too now familiar strip down to begin. One final elongated look around to see if any of my new neighbours would like to stop me for a chat proved fruitless so I began once again in earnest to do this chore for the final time because if this last ditch repair was ineffective I was going to just break the whole thing for parts. Instead of just replacing the bearings with now better Timkin ones I have decided to throw a bit of money at it and replace the whole lot from the stub axle forward bar the actual disc itself. The strip now being old hat took less than ten minutes in which time the sun decided it was time to come out in force with some heat so I found myself down to my t-shirt enjoying the spring heat on my back. With the hub off I set to knocking out the bearing races and then cleaning up and refitting the replacement bearings along with yet another new rear seal. So there we were all greased up and ready to fit into place when Wifey came walking up the driveway with two cold water beaded bottles of beer in hand. I bloody well love that woman she seems to know exactly what you are thinking and how the hell I ended up with her or why in Gods name she settled for me I will never know but I am damned glad she did. After sitting down for a while enjoying the company on this warm late spring afternoon with that cold one hitting just the right spot I figured it was about time I put the poor old Disco back together again. This took next to no time with the usual amounts of grease escaping up my arms and ending everywhere it shouldn't be in fact it all went so smoothly I sat looking at the whole hub set up wondering if I had missed anything before finally deciding I had not and then popping the wheel back on. I then drove around for a few miles on the new to me country lanes surrounding the village taking in that multi coloured greenness that comes only in each fresh springtime ushering in the promise of yet another lazy summer. When I got home I then gave the wheel a quick shake by hand and much to my disappointment felt a small amount of play in it. With a sigh I jacked it back up and gave it another test only to find it all solid so I can only presume there is some play in a joint bush or the suspension but I will keep another close eye on it. If it does decide to mess me about again by giving up the ghost I will be throwing my hat in and breaking the damned thing for parts. Now I did get a nice new toy in the post today which should make the 110 rebuild a bit more cost effective. I got me a brake flaring set! The fact I have no idea how to use it yet will not dampen my enthusiasm though as life is nothing if not a long learning curve. Would it be easier to just buy a set of new pipes for the 110 well yes it would but where would the fun in that be? Turns out I have a whole weekend to myself next weekend so hopefully I will get the chance to do more than a bit to the 110 then

[h=2]Doors & Doughnuts.[/h]The 110Posted by Nicky Smith Thu, May 12, 2016 20:41:19 Lets start with the doughnuts because yet again folks that would be me, but we will get to that in a bit. You have to love the springtime with the long light evenings and so far apart from the odd couple of days it has for the most part been quite nice warm and dry which makes pottering around outside an absolute pleasure! With a bit more done on behalf of the house when I got home I decided it best that I should do a bit for the 110 in the early evening sunshine so I dug out the door bits and pieces I have been collecting for it over the last few months. With them all assembled in one place it was time to take stock on what wanted putting together... I lay out the smaller bits to make sure I would not end up in my usual stance of having something half together that I cannot let go of whilst trying to figure out how I am going to get twenty feet to my left to pick up a nut I need to stop it all falling apart! Lets face it these series type doors are not hard to put together you just put the rubber strip on top of the door base then slot the window top through the holes onto the top of the rubber and fit a washer locking washer and the nut onto the threaded bar that now sticks out of the door base...but of anyone could make a mess of it it would be me. Not this time though but I did WD40 the threads up before fitting as they were second hand with a little coating of surface rust. These doors so far have been cheap and cheerful buying the parts as they came up for sale and not rushing but I have had nothing but time of late luckily for me. So less than ten minutes after I had started the doors were put together less the glass on one side as I need to buy some new runners for it. Now back to the doughnut point. Yes yes it is me yet again because I have bought nice shiny new locking and latch mechanisms for the doors and well the locks are in the wrong place... I don't have any of the bolt strap things to fit them either and if you look at the pictures the latch is completely different to the doors that are fitted so new striker plates will be needed too. Hmm these cheap doors keep going up in price you know! Hey ho no rush it will get sorted soon enough. I have to tackle the Discovery front wheel bearing issue yet again as it came loose over the grand total of 12 miles. Now if I had done this up any tighter the wheel would not have turned at all and after some research the actual cheap bearings could be to blame along with the stub axle being rather worn on some way so rather than mess around any more I have bought everything from the stub axle forward to replace on Sunday morning. If that doesn't work the problem will obviously be the doughnut that keeps fitting these bits...

[h=2]Breakdowns & Bits.[/h]The 110Posted by Nicky Smith Tue, May 10, 2016 11:34:45 It has been a sods law sort of 24 hours if I am honest but I suppose the piper had to be paid for all of this happiness that has come my way of late in the shape of our new home. This house really has everything I could need and a few hours spent each day on it gets it more and more into the place I can live on for the rest of my days. The outside and garage electrics are now in place making life far easier without the need for extension cables plugged in through open windows and doors each time I want to do a bit of work on the Land Rovers making Wifey moan about cold breezes. I have my garage to play with where the bike now lives but the cherry on the cake really is the car port but I am getting ahead of myself here a touch. I rolled out the bike yesterday in preparation to go to work only to find a rather large screw slap bang in the middle of the now flat rear tyre. Luckily enough for me though I had got the bike out early for some strange reason on the sunny morning that was maybe it was some sort of insight of what was happening away from my eyesight. So with a sigh I resigned myself to the fact that I was now going to have to grab lunch on the run while I got the puncture repaired. Another problem as it turned out was that the Discovery was about the throw a wobbly with yet another wheel bearing but hey ho what can you do? I limped the bloody thing all the way to work getting the punctured tyre fixed along the way then I limped it all the way home after work again as well. You have to love the fact that an old Landy will hold itself together even when it shouldn't but a little before one am I had both back home again. So first thing this morning I was up earlier than I should have been not being able to sleep again but with this extra time I jumped onto getting the rear wheel back onto the bike. This went surprisingly easily with only minimal moaning and grunting from me. Then it was time to tackle that Discovery wheel bearing but the rain had decided to start to fall at this point but I wanted it sorting this morning so I had back up just in case anything else happened to the bike so what to do? It was now that I realised that I had a car port that the Disco should sit underneath quite nicely! It really is the simple things that make me smile and I was grinning like a big kid when I started to strip down the offending wheel. An hour saw it sorted and road worthy once again. Thankfully I had a back up restored until it's MOT runs out anyway because I think I will then use it as a doner for the 110 rebuilding the 300tdi lump that sits in it now. When I moved the 110 a few days back it seemed like it was leaning very badly to one side leading me to think that I had fitted the new springs incorrectly but today I fired it up again and drove it up onto the top of the driveway where it is flat. Low and behold it sits flat once again??? Now this is indeed a bit odd so I suppose it must of been the place upon the driveway I had parked it before but I am not complaining because it is now one less job I need to do. With us now settled into our new home I will be able to grab a few on the 110 with my goal being October to have it running and road legal once more. With that in mind I have ordered new door locks and latches with a view to getting them fitted next week. This will be a nice big step towards getting it ready for painting. I think I am going to like it here...

[h=2]Never ever again![/h]The 110Posted by Nicky Smith Sun, May 08, 2016 17:21:52 Never again, ever. I solemnly declare that I Nicky Smith will never ever move a house using my own hands back or legs ever again. Don't get me wrong if I win the lottery I will happily move home again but I would not be doing a stitch of the packing lifting or shifting, no that would be left to people I would pay. In fact I would not even be interested in the unpacking at the other end either! It has been a hard long slog but we are now settled into our new home with everything up and working for now. The internet went back on-line early yesterday morning but we were out having a good long walk in Derbyshire with some friends so getting around to doing any sort of web surfing was pushed to the back burner until this afternoon. I have to say that I have not missed the internet at all over the last couple of weeks in fact being restricted to the limited data I have on my phone as well as being in a poor signal area has freed me from the sucking in factor the web sometimes has. In fact the one person I thought would miss it (the grumpy teenager) did not but Wifey on the other hand was chomping at the bit to get it all back on-line and up and running to watch the music videos she so loves on You Tube. My main chore this week has been to dig out the front garden well what was left of it to turn it into a driveway that was not set over three different levels. I did this the old fashioned way by hand and all of the clay (not soil because the last owners dug all of that up and head it removed??) was then wheel barrowed around to the back of the house to make up the un-level ground back there. The Land Rovers now have somewhere to stand and once I get a few more pennies together the whole area will be gravelled and made to look nice once again. I had to start and move the 110 for this chore so it soon came to my attention that it was listing very badly to one side once again so I think I have handed springs that I have fitted incorrectly. The target to get it back onto the road is still the start of October so once I have fitted the new kitchen I will be taking some time out to get back onto him. After re concreting the back quarter of the garage floor the bike now has somewhere happy and safe to live in... The dog seems very pleased with this new set up as she can now follow me around to her hearts content annoying me by being in the way where ever she decides to stop as all dogs seem to do! The best stop though that I seem to find her in whenever she gets the chance is the passenger seat of the Discovery. Maybe she is trying to tell me something... You may have noticed a link I posted up for my Brother and Dad raising money for Macmillan Cancer support by running the Edinburgh Marathon (Nutters). They are doing this as we have recently found out that my Uncle has been diagnosed with terminal cancer and these good folks do a hell of a lot of good work for those in this situation. Now my Uncle Dale Pritchard is not one to sit around wallowing in self pity oh no he has taken it upon himself to write a blog of the whole experience of his limited time left on this mortal coil and it makes for some straight forward frank and often amusing talking. If you are on Facebook just search his name and you will have access to it all and it is indeed worth a read as he is trying to remove the taboo's associated with terminal illness. So there you go folks just a brief overview of what has been of late and there will be more coming up in detail shortly...

Well Good Morning World!! The internet has finally been connected so I am back online! There will be more pictures and updates later today so prepare to be bombarded! First up though I have a bit of an "I want" if you would indulge me... "Ok then folks my brother and Dad are running the Edinburgh Marathon for a couple of reasons... The first is that they are quite quite mad but the second makes a bit more sense. My Uncle Dale Pritchard has been diagnosed with terminal cancer (type his name into facebook or click on the link further down to read his rather frank and funny blog about it) so they are sending all the money raised to Macmillan cancer. The target is £1000 so dig deep folks and lets get them there!" Obviously any amount donated will take them a little bit closer so if I have made you smile or laugh over our time together please chuck them a pound or two Davy Lewis 3 May at 11:30 · Dublin, Ireland A little while ago, a month or so, I was informed that my Uncle Dale had been diagnosed with incurable cancer. This is obviously the kind of news that everyone dreads to receive. There's no easy way of delivering or receiving news like this. My Aunt Melaine, Dale's mother Joyce (my nan), his daughters Cara, Stephanie and Georgia (my cousins), his siblings Joy, Martin and Sandra (my mother) have all had their world turned upside down. Dale being Dale, has been extremely strong and accepting of this bombshell and is somehow maintaining his supportive nature for his entire family. Dale has started a blog. This is updated every day and is an inspirational insight on what it's like dealing with terminal cancer. He hopes that it might possibly help anyone also trying to deal with this destructive disease, as well as putting an humorous edge on it. You can read it here...... https://m.facebook.com/profile.php?id=1396412042 My Dad and I signed up to run the Edinburgh Marathon at Xmas. At the time I thought of a few charities to raise money for. Now, it seems obvious that we should run to raise money for Macmillan Cancer Support. It's a fantastic charity that provides support and information for not only the diagnosed but loved ones too. Donating money to charity can seem risky, sometimes you don't know if the money is going where it needs to. But with the following link below, the money goes directly to Macmillan and is completely safe and secure in regards to credit card payments. Will you please donate what you can afford to this worthy cause? We were going to attempt the marathon and have a nice weekend in Edinburgh. We now have a personal reason to kick the marathons ARSE. And we will complete it, even if we have to carry each other over the line. Please share this regularly between now and 29th May. And please donate what you can afford. Thank you so much. Dave Snr & Dave Jnr. https://www.justgiving.com/marathonfordale

[h=2]Nearly In...[/h]The 110Posted by Nicky Smith Fri, April 29, 2016 19:53:21 Today I booked myself a nice holiday day off of work because you know I just deserve it. The plan was to just do as I damned well pleased just plodding along playing with Land Rovers until I had had my fill. Once that was done I was going to have a big fat steak cooked medium rare served with boiled and buttered Jersey New potatoes along with a nice side salad. The beer was to be cold served in a tall glass that glistened with minute water droplets on it's outside...what a day it was to be! So what really happened with my "Holiday" was collecting the Luton Van first thing then loading it to the hit to run over to the new house. After dumping that lot we returned to the rental house to load up my eldest daughters belongings into the van and move her to her new home. I cannot believe how much stuff that kid had managed to pack into a small room and her bloody bed fought me for over an hour to actually come apart before it could be removed from the house! Once that lot was delivered it was home again to the old house to load up everything out of the back garden and then run that to the new home. I swear to god I will never be moving again after this one. I did get a chance to actually look at the 110 for a brief time and the parts that I have in the garage ready to fit and I will get around to a bit of selfish Landy time because I want it on the road by my Birthday at the start of October ready for tackling the winter head on. I have been a little quiet of late due to making the house fit for living in but I will be quiet just a little longer as we lose the internet tomorrow for a week or so but normal service will be then resumed whether you all like it or not!

LOL John here you go... [h=2]Bits & Bundles.[/h]The 110Posted by Nicky Smith Sun, April 24, 2016 16:37:57 To say I have a little bit on at the moment is an understatement so as I sat on top of the car port yesterday in the morning sunshine happily picking a couple of decades of mud out of the guttering the last thing I was expecting was a phone call from my eldest daughter especially as she was at work. Now I get called for one of two things. Either she wants something or her scooter has broken down. This time it was the latter and it went something like this... "Dad" "yep that's me" "Umm there's lots of petrol coming out of the bottom of my bike" "Well you best put something under it to catch it then" "I HAVE Dad but it's leaking and it needs fixing" "Call the RAC then. they will do it" "I can't do that Dad" "Why not?" I asked "I told you to get cover when you got the bike" "Well it was an extra £20 and I didn't want to spend that, and I thought "Well I have a Dad" so no need to" As I took a deep breath to calm myself a touch I knew what was coming next so to pre-empt it I said "I am on top of a roof fixing the house we are moving into in a few days so I can't drop everything and come over to fix it" "Dad I am at work and they want the bike recovering home asap as it smells really bad of petrol" "And you expect me to do what? Chuck it in the back of my car so it can leak petrol all over it?" "But I don't know how I am going to get it home Dad" Now I am a Dad and yes this sort of thing comes with the territory but not at the drop of a hat I am afraid so she had orders to drain the fuel off so I could collect it later in the day. She promised this would be done but after I man handled the bloody thing into the Discovery and drove for a few minutes there was a rather alarming running fuel onto the boot of the car sort of sound so a quick stop to stick another container under it to catch the flow before heading home in quick time. Turned out to be a quick and easy fix once the panels were stripped off just the fuel line severed by some road debris but after yet a another chat with my daughter about getting breakdown cover after I had fixed it she seems to think I am on standby to do this for free for her. Wrong I am afraid as lessons need too be learnt here, I am happy to fix the bugger for her to save on bills etc but I am not going to be collecting it for her at the drop of a hat! Maybe a big fat recovery bill would open her eyes? Time will tell! So I finally got around too emptying all of the sheds and I was surprised at how many Land Rover bits I found in the deepest darkest corners! I was a bit miffed to find a full Land Rover supplied steering arm and track rod ends that I had bought for the 110 "just in case" then went off and bought another set when I needed to replace them! There were diff, shafts, panels, service kits, hinge set to name but a few things! These are now just stacked up in one place and will be set out in the new shed so I can see exactly what I have got. I fired up the 110 as it needed moving and it works perfectly well on the off road course that is my new front garden driving up and down the large piles of mud left behind by the last owners after a half hearted attempt to turn it into a proper driveway. It's now parked up in such a way so we can get the caravan on there as well when the times comes. I have broken the back of the painting in the new house and I am at the "If I never see another paint brush ever again" stage with it all but it will be superb when it is all sorted. New door tops have been sourced so all I need now is a set of series style door lock/latches and the new doors can be fitted! I am getting there slowly but surely.

[h=2]Busy behind the scenes...[/h]The 110Posted by Nicky Smith Thu, April 21, 2016 17:48:22 There has been a distinct lack of anything from me of late and this is due to the fact that I am working my backside off behind the scenes folks fixing up the house to get ready to move into and having the pleasure of night shift to boot! This has not stopped me buying a few bits for the 110 though and the most important of these is the replacement door tops for the proper door bottoms as well as a new set of hinges. These are not the military type I would have preferred and hopefully those are still in the pipeline but they will get the old boy back on the road which is the main objective before this winter kicks in if possible! So stay tuned as normal service will be resumed over the next couple of weeks, hopefully....

Yes it does feel like the suspension has settled a bit and the house will need a great deal doing to it as well! BUT it really will be worth it in the end

[h=2]Towed Away...[/h]The 110Posted by Nicky Smith Sat, April 09, 2016 20:48:19 It has been a hell of a week indeed. We have finally bought our own home and the first thing we find is that the toilet sounds like the Space Shuttle launching itself off of the ground each and every time that it flushes. Oh and it leaks, well it did I have managed to sort that bit out for now. There is also a rather large hole dug into the garage floor (no not a handy pit) and the waste pipes out of the bathroom are not connected properly together but these are easy enough things to sort. So the great redecoration of it has begun and there is more time needed here to do this than I planned but hey ho I suppose I should view it as a challenge. I have to be perfectly honest here we thought there would be at least one more move for us after this one but I doubt that. I am not as young as I was and my nerves could not take another move I don't think. My anxiety is high most of the time and I expect that it will stay that way until we have the place sorted so will I move again..nope. I think that this place will have everything that we need for us until we are done. I had to get the 110 over though and a good friend offered to move it over to the new place for me so at around half past eight this morning there was knock on my door heralding in the start of a busy day. Driving it off of the driveway then the 20 yards along the road is the furthest I have driven the 110 and it brought a huge smile to my face! It was soon up and onto the trailer even with the rather alarming play in the steering! Then away it went onto it's new home. Soon enough we had arrived so the time had come to have another good drive around in it... It then was parked up in it's new home... Then it was time for a bacon cob and a brew looking out at the best view in town...

Thanks John glad you are enjoying the read I doubt I will be able to resist the 110 for long and everyone needs a break from house renovations so what better to do than a busmans holiday on the Landy

Thanks Gordon Yep I do appreciate the house and I doubt we will ever move again from it as it's a good all rounder dormer bungalow. Once we get old we can have the downstairs bedroom lol Lots of outdoor space for the Land rovers!

[h=2]Steering Rods & Sadness.[/h]The 110Posted by Nicky Smith Thu, March 31, 2016 12:54:47 It was a hell of a day yesterday running around like a blue arsed fly. Now this was not my intention for the day oh no I intended to just have a slow final potter around the 110 before walking away from it until after the house move but the best laid plans and all that... My shift pattern is all over the place at the moment so I find myself awake when I should be asleep then vice versa fighting myself to stay awake when all my body wants to do is sleep. Don't get me started on the food side of things because my body clock is so messed up I don't really know what to eat when so I find the easiest option is to just go with the flow and that is how I find myself eating Southern fried chicken when it should be cornflakes and then curry at 2am. Be a trainer they said....it will be fun they said... Hey ho not to worry at least I have a job. The day started well though with me up at the crack of dawn when I should have been sleeping finding the sun already blazing in a deep blue sky. This always makes me feel good inside so happily I hopped into Wifey's car and headed off to Paddocks in Matlock to pick up a new rear steering arm and track rod ends for the 110. I love the scenery in Derbyshire it takes away all of the worries of the world leaving me happy and relaxed as I drive through it. Not even the knackered old tipper truck that was in front of me for 5 miles driving at a steady 35mph throwing bits of fresh tarmac my way could dent my relaxation. As I got to Paddocks I was surprised to find no one else queuing for parts so I strolled in got the bits in minutes and headed out again...a rare occurrence there indeed! I headed back home via Matlock Bath taking in the views of one of my favourite areas and I found myself home again in less than a two hour round trip. Then the phone rang with my solicitors calling giving me an update on the house purchase and wanting rather a large sum of money for the deposit on it all. So off to the bank in town I headed thinking all I wanted to do was play on my Land Rover then I got stuck in road works traffic queue's and among the pleasant happy faces of the stressed city office workers. Finally after parking up I wandered through the crowded throng of shoppers ( I hate crowds of people with a vengeance it puts me on edge) to my bank where with a great deal of nervousness I transferred more or less our life savings over to a solicitor getting charged £20 for the pleasure as well... That was more than a little unnerving I can tell you. Then it was the same queues getting back out of the city centre but two hours later I found myself at home once again looking at the 110 with a cup of tea in my hand. I had already removed the old steering arm with the help of a grinder so all I had to do now was measure up the new one to get the track rod ends in more or less the right place tighten up the clamps and fit the bugger. The first bit went ok but when I came to slot the track rod ends through the steering arm the would not go all the way through? I admit I was getting a bit tired now with my body deciding that I should be sleeping now after all before going back to work but I lay there under the Land Rover feeling a little dazed and confused to figure out why it would not go on. A couple of minutes later I realised that I had not removed the protective plastic cups that cover the track rod ends whilst they are in storage...no seriously. I was trying to fit the bloody things with them still on... like I said I was tired and that's the story I am sticking with ok. With the covers promptly removed and for some reason I was looking around from underneath the 110 to see if anyone had noticed my school boy error the new steering bar was fitted nicely into place. After double checking it all over to make sure I had not missed anything else it was with a heavy heart that I packed all of my tools away for the last time before the big move. There will not be the chance now I doubt to do anything else to the 110 before then but if I am honest I have managed to get a lot more done to it than I expected before we head off to our pastures new that will at least give me a car port to work under on it! It is starting to look good under there though... http://www.nickysmith.me

Thanks John When I say "end of welding" I mean "the welding needed that I can see" lol

Nope it's just the angle of the picture

[h=2]Jet Wash & Train Sets.[/h]The 110Posted by Nicky Smith Sun, March 27, 2016 13:08:29 You know we are buying a house so every penny has top be watched at the moment but luckily for me I get the odd bit of pocket money thrown my way to play with. This usually goes straight out on bits for the Land Rovers but this month I got myself something a little different... After a very pleasant lunch out yesterday with Wifey we ended up at Masson Mills just for a look about at stuff we didn't really want or need. Part of this messing around was trying on new hats ready for next winter. Apparently the one in the picture suits me to a tea I am told... Deciding against the furry mop on top we ended up downstairs in the toy department which in itself was probably a mistake because I am just a big kid at heart. Each time we come here I get side tracked by the Train Sets and the Scalectrix. The ten year old that never left my mind goes crackers over these things but each time after some serious longing and contemplating I normally walk away more than a little disappointed. But not this time oh no this time Wifey "made me" buy a train set! I walked up to the cashier with a big grin on my face and she just smirked back in that knowing sort of way women seem to do as I paid for my new toy. Not long after we got home I showed my 15 year old daughter and her friend what I had bought and much to my surprise they seemed as excited as me about setting it up. It didn't take long to get the track sorted and within minutes of the train starting to move the kids had run off to get my Land Rover collection to add to it... So with my impulse buy I had also managed to remove two teenagers from the internet for over two hours and didn't get a looking at my new toy but it was fantastic to see the happy looks on the girls faces. As they were shoving pulling and towing the Landies around I realised that I needed to get back underneath the 110 to pressure wash off a load of oily gunk off before we moved home and went onto the dreaded water meter. With this in mind my job to do this morning before the bad weather hit was just that. I dug out my heavy duty wet weather gear and got set up with the pressure washer ready to get stuck into the gunk... I mean how are you supposed to get to anything nut & bolt wise under thirty odd years of crap? The pressure washer soon made short work of it though and while I was under there getting covered in gunk and soaked to boot I decided to give the whole of the underside a good wash down in preparation for the final coat of under seal... Looks a hell of a lot better under there now though! And seeing as I did it now on a concrete driveway instead of a gravel one it was a damned sight easier to clean up as well. A quick engine fire up to dry it off and charge the battery as well as moving it up and down the drive a touch to keep everything moving freely later and today's work was done. All that is left to do before the big house move is buying and fitting the new rear steering arm next week and that folks will be it for a few weeks I would think.

[h=2]Radius Arms & Rough Edges.[/h]The 110Posted by Nicky Smith Fri, March 25, 2016 18:25:09 Have you ever really stopped and looked at the folk that jog and keep fit? Most of them are not the young and beautiful because, well they are young and beautiful already. Do you remember that? being able to eat and drink whatever the hell you wanted then still wake up fit as well as looking good? Well if you are young and reading this please please enjoy it to the max because one day you will wake up and notice a pot belly appearing then the real work will begin... The thirty plus group have to work hard to stay in shape and the forty plus folks even harder. This starts to take it's toll on our bodies but in mind we are all still twenty something so we keep pushing chasing the fountain of youth that seems to have passed us by in a blink of an eye! But if and when you arrive here can I give a tiny bit of advice. Don't run around in very cheap partially see through leggings. As I was on the ground about bumper height a rather large lady passed by jogging to her hearts content which in itself is a good thing but she had a pair of these leggings on so everything was there to be seen. This leads me to the main question I just have to ask... Do you ladies prefer to to jog in thongs? This just seems odd to me because surely it must chafe to hell! Right then onto the 110. I have been working back shifts so have had time during the day to play so with these unexpected extra hours I decided that I should have a stab at fitting the radius arms. There was an axle rebuild on the cards at first but I decided to follow a different path because I was sick of the damned arms looking at me every time I went into the shed. The off side was first up for no other reason than there was more space on that side on the driveway and I didn't have to move the motor. There was plenty of dust and rust so I was expecting a bit of a pig to get the nuts and bolts undone but they played ball from the off all coming undone very easily. Then I had to remove the track rod end which promptly snapped off of course. But not to worry soon enough it was all off and ready for the new arm to be fitted. The new arm slotted straight into place and with very little persuasion from me it all bolted up with no issues at all. That was it for the day though because work was calling so I popped the wheel back on leaving the nearside for another day. That day was today because even though I have the pleasure of working just about every bank holiday we have the driver I had in for assessment didn't get past the first hurdle so instead of a ten hour day it was only a short six hour one. Surprisingly for a bank holiday the sun was shining in a clear blue sky and I had the rest of the afternoon to play on the 110. The other radius arm was in sight and even though the first arm was a straight forward and easy affair the second was it's polar opposite. There was grinding banging a few choice words and lots of prying until the bloody thing finally hit the ground free of the chassis. Not one of the nuts and bolts wanted to come free of their thirty year hold and they fought me the whole way. Still rough with the smooth eh. Once it was off I could get to the very last bit of welding that needed to be done on the chassis and it was with a big smile on my face that it was finally completed! No more welding for a while on the 110! Now you would think that the replacement radius arm would just fall back into place as easy as the other but oh no it did not want to do that! I had to jack it up pry it sideways just to get the bolts into place but we were not finished there. The back rubber had to be trimmed by a couple of millimetres or the nut would not have never gone on it all! It all tightened up no problem though so finally I could stand back and admire my handiwork. The track rod end on this side is shot as well so that has been taken off and I will refit all new ends and bar on Wednesday because that is the first chance I will get to do it. Then if time allows I will make a start on that axle rebuild...

[h=2]Paint & Floors.[/h]The 110Posted by Nicky Smith Mon, March 21, 2016 13:34:25 I was feeling fed up this morning because I had a large chunk of time before work as I have the pleasure of back shifts this week. The problem with me when I am fed up is that making any sort of decision seems next to impossible. Shall I make a brew? or have some juice? Cheese on toast for lunch or beans on toast? Sort through the sheds again or have a good look through the 110? The 110 won out in the end but only because I could not decide what to do with myself so I wandered around to the driveway. I nosed through each of the windows and noticed that I had not yet refitted the front floor pans properly so it was back to the sheds to see if I had the nuts and bolts I needed. Turned out I had a far few kicking around so I set to on the floor pans drilling holes in the new foot wells. It turned out to be an easy job really and quite enjoyable to boot. Funny how something so simple can make you feel a whole lot better about the progress you are making. I dug out what was left of my grey oxide primer and gave the floor pans a good coating. There was literally just enough in the can to do the floors so that has been added to the "Need to buy it" list. I am getting more and more tempted to strip down the front axles, replace the radius arms and then rebuild them all before we move. I shall keep an eye on the weather and decide as the week goes by.

[h=2]Rust & Rust[/h]The 110Posted by Nicky Smith Sun, March 20, 2016 17:54:18 Can I just say that if you ever end up in a position where you have one or two Land Rovers in really good condition do not make the mistake of selling either one or both of them. Don't get me wrong here I know hindsight is 20/20 but really folks just fix up any landy you have if it is on a good solid base. The 110 has stalled because of the upcoming move which is quite frustrating. So I set my sights upon the Discovery boot floor that was looking a little ropey in the odd place so I set to removing the carpet and insulation to inspect the full extent of the problem there. I wish I hadn't. I started by pushing my fingers through the boot floor just about anywhere I wanted to. Then I checked the rear inner wheel arches and quickly wished I hadn't done that either. Crawling underneath it I was horrified to find the extent of the "Hidden" welding that I had missed when I bought it on the chassis. There is patch after patch under there I mean the bloody thing must of been a rot box well before I bought it so here we are back again in rusty city. The front inner wings are held together by the thickest layer of under seal I have ever seen! So what to do with it. I can repair it again but that will involve a couple of hundred pounds worth of repair panels and home made patches with at least two days worth of work to do it. That is just the boot area not the chassis. The chassis itself is solid enough for now with it's many patches but that does look like a quilt under there. At best I reckon there is a one more year on the old boy tops before anything more terminal sets in providing can find at least something semi solid to weld to. With moving house and the amount of work still needed on the 110 I guess that I should get saving for those repair panels... http://www.nickysmith.me

Now that looks like a fun project!

[h=2]Spring Sunshine.[/h]The 110Posted by Nicky Smith Sun, March 13, 2016 18:55:10 Spring is most definitely on its way and today it made it's presence felt through the blue skies and sunshine that had some warmth to it. So what better way to start it off than popping off up into Derbyshire to have a good nose around a car boot then after grabbing some sandwiches and a cake hiking up to the top of High Tor so we could sit down enjoying the view whilst we ate... I cannot wait to move closer to this area so we can explore it fully without the ridiculously long drive to do it. There will be plenty of hiking, cycling as well as canoeing and quite frankly I cannot wait for it! The thing with all of that fresh air though is you end up quite yawny so we headed home for a relaxing afternoon which for me meant soon standing next to all of the motors deciding on what I could do first. I changed over a knackered intercooler pipe on the Discovery then it was onto fitting new clips that a friend had dropped off onto the 110's air filter. That went on easily finally giving the old 2.5 N/A engine it's air the way it was supposed to. A quick turn of the key and it fired up into life without missing a beat even though it has been standing for quite some time. Whilst I was stood there looking into the engine bay I was trying to decide if it is possible to move the battery in there to save buggering about modifying the new passenger seat I have lined up so I can remove the base of it to access the current battery box. But where would you mount the battery under the bonnet? It already looks crowded under there so any advice on that would be much appreciated! After checking over the doors, all three of them, it does indeed seem they will all need extensive work on them so they will have to be replaced. I have the bottoms of the front doors but will need a rear door as well as both door tops...best get bargain hunting again then. © http://www.nickysmith.me

[h=2]Axles & Angles.[/h]The 110Posted by Nicky Smith Sat, March 12, 2016 19:45:05 Well what a week. To say it has been busy is an understatement. Work is flat out with lots of retraining of drivers then add to that the fantastic fun that is buying a house well it's been a real blast of late. The best thing I have had to prove to my solicitors of late is that I have the deposit for my mortgage. So I went to the bank to get them to copy my account passbook to give that to my solicitor who could then confirm to my bank that I hold that account with them so that the same bank that I bank with can then authorise a mortgage with themselves after the confirmation from my solicitors that the money is in an account that I have with them. Does "Jobs for the Boys" ring a bell for anyone here? Best to leave them to get on with it all eh! Meanwhile in the real world I had more than my usual number of chores today because I have been working well into the evenings all week my little tribe had a long list of things they wanted help with when I woke up this morning. But the day had a most definite hint of spring to it when I looked outside so I was determined to try and find some time to do anything I could think of on the 110. Turned out that that was much much later than I expected but I had noticed that the rear salisbury (I think that's right) was very very rusty so I wanted to grind it all back to see if it was still viable. When I say very very rusty I really do mean so rusty that I would not of been surprised if I worked my way through to the inside of it by the time I was finished... I chiselled it off as well as grinding it off and much to my disappointment more and more rust fell away in big chunks. Then it stopped just before I had hit the far side of the axle it felt lie! There were no leaks which surprised me but I had convinced myself that the diff must be empty of oil so I cracked it open for a quick look. What I found was crystal clear oil so someone at some point must have looked after the mechanical side of this old motor even if they did not look after the rest of it very well. Seeing as the worst of the rust was sorted I took to spraying it all back up into black. The axle looks ok and probably is good for now but seeing as I have to rebuild all of the rear brake drums including back plates as well as changing all of the bearings at the same time I am left wondering whether or not it would be a better idea to replace the whole thing with a different axle along with disc brakes. After getting Wifey to fish the rust out of my right eye I realised that I had plenty of daylight left so seeing as I had the tools out what could I do next? I decided on cutting the rusty bits off of the rear tub capping's as they bug the hell out of me each time I look at them! Ideally I could replace these capping's eventually but I wondered how far back I would have to chase the rust so I could see if something could be fabricated up instead of spending money. The nearside was not too bad but the offside was rotten quite away's along though. I am looking forward to get stuck into the mechanical rebuild now but that will have to wait until the house move is done and I am running out of little jobs to do! No swaps were forthcoming so I have been putting some serious thought into what I can do with it as a more long term project. I am leaning towards more of an overlander feel so if and as this has become more long term I suppose I really should go down the TDI route as well. www.nickysmith.me ©

Yep The Landy sign is off for now...I had a really busy day lol