Any advice for a first landy?

ER1C said:

My sole advice would be....take someone who knows land rovers...
There is always rust and weak spots.... which is fine.... then there are more serious issues... You wont be able to tell the difference.. someone with more experience probably will.

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Thanks for that. I'll be the first to admit that I currently know very little about land rovers in general, so I would definitely be asking for some advice from someone with experience when I go to look at some.

Turboman said:

Joining clubs is a good idea. He will get some advice from experienced people.

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that's why a noob like me is ****posting here every day.

soaking up that sweet sweet knowledge.

Vanmancan said:

Prob best you find the model you can afford to run the cheapest ie insurance/tax/fuel for your 1st one , s

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best savings for insurance and tax would be a series2a. Being tax exempt and on classical insurance. Are series 3s tax exempt/classical now? That would be a little easier to drive.

MPG is pure **** though.

Trench Rat said:

that's why a noob like me is ****posting here every day.

soaking up that sweet sweet knowledge.

.

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Forums are OK, but there is no substitute for face to face contact with experienced people.

That is how we all learned. There was no internet when most of us first had landrovers.

Turboman said:

Forums are OK, but there is no substitute for face to face contact with experienced people.

That is how we all learned. There was no internet when most of us first had landrovers.

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Of course. That's why i'm glad i know some of the people i know. Very helpful and more than happy to help.

Something Harvey will definitely need.

Trench Rat said:

Are series 3s tax exempt/classical now? .

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Early ones, yes. Later ones, no.

gstuart said:

hi

plus what the other guys have said

inc

how much does a set of tyres cost
service items, inc brakes and suspension as ur going to use it off road
insurance and mot

also what tools etc u have to work on them

or dare i say it even consider a freelander TD4 , ( no ladder chassis ) as ur only 18 , can pick them up very cheaply then as u gain more experience and no claims bonus u can then move up the models

hope that helps a little

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Good point. I'll have a look at service items for a few models.

I don't currently have a lot of tools, but any excuse to build the stock up is good

I did consider the freelander, as insurance is dramatically cheaper than the discovery, but I've personally never been a huge fan of them ( no offence intended)

Thanks for the tips

Harveyg582 said:

Good point. I'll have a look at service items for a few models.

I don't currently have a lot of tools, but any excuse to build the stock up is good

I did consider the freelander, as insurance is dramatically cheaper than the discovery, but I've personally never been a huge fan of them ( no offence intended)

Thanks for the tips

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Not much wrong with freelanders. And very good value.

Harveyg582 said:

Good point. I'll have a look at service items for a few models.

I don't currently have a lot of tools, but any excuse to build the stock up is good

I did consider the freelander, as insurance is dramatically cheaper than the discovery, but I've personally never been a huge fan of them ( no offence intended)

Thanks for the tips

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hi

indeed there’s always an excuse to buy more tools, lol

think like many of us started with series and slowly went onto different models , did have a freelander and of course no offence , all down to the individual, i recently moved onto a D3

u will find this forum a fantastic place to get knowledge etc and never be afraid asking questions,

Toseland said:

my advice? buy a pajero

again, get the nicest D2 you can afford, stick the suspension up at the back and crawl under with a screwdriver and give stuff a tap, check the engine bay on the back of the top of the arches,

check for low coolant before starting it up, (mine has a weeping rad, and loses about half the expansion bottle of coolant over 2 months), and it was stood for a while before i bought it so topped it up straight away and it's fine..

do you have a mate with nanocom? if so take it and look for codes..

aside from that history, vin checks, engine number correspondence etc

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In fact....a pajero is the only vehicle I've driven off road before....it had a speed limiter at about 15 mph too

Thanks for the advice!

I don't really have any landy mates yet, beside my uncle who has a v8 d2. But hopefully I'll find someone with nanocom and drag them along to look at some cars with me

If you do go for a discovery, definitely worth taking the cost of a nanacom of your overall budget so you can buy one straight away , its will be your 1st tool to grab when a problem develops, plus its good just for live data while driving around

If you can afford it a D2 is a good plaec to be.

Some have terminal chassis rot, but are now becoming engine donors for newer Defenders, just like D1 for 90/110.

D1s are simple but rust.

Defenders expensive
90/110 climbing fast
SIII also getting pricy

Harveyg582 said:

Okay. For someone who has never touched a welder, does it take a long time to pick up, or is welding something that you can learn the basics fairly quickly?

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Yes and no!
Welding isnt the hardest thing in the world, but welding a rusty landrover body/chassis can be the hardest thing in the world, for a start its all overhead work and its not going to be sound metal all over.

Vanmancan said:

If you do go for a discovery, definitely worth taking the cost of a nanacom of your overall budget so you can buy one straight away , its will be your 1st tool to grab when a problem develops, plus its good just for live data while driving around

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Just had a look at a nanocom on their website, will make sure i factor in that price, cheers.

lynall said:

Yes and no!
Welding isnt the hardest thing in the world, but welding a rusty landrover body/chassis can be the hardest thing in the world, for a start its all overhead work and its not going to be sound metal all over.

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Plus, a poor weld will fail quickly if there is any stress on it. A lot of welds look ok but they can have poor penetration so they are only superficial. I know a few people who think they can weld cos it looks ok, but smack it with an ammer and it's not so clever. I've been trying to master welding for ages, even did a night school course but I'm still schit at it, at least though, I know I am.

Col

lynall said:

Yes and no!
Welding isnt the hardest thing in the world, but welding a rusty landrover body/chassis can be the hardest thing in the world, for a start its all overhead work and its not going to be sound metal all over.

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Okay, that's kind of what I expected, plus I wouldn't be confident enough that my welding skills could stand up to being driven around. I'd have to spend some serious hours practising before I was willing to put mine and passengers lives into the hands of my welds....if that makes any sense at all

MJI said:

If you can afford it a D2 is a good plaec to be.

Some have terminal chassis rot, but are now becoming engine donors for newer Defenders, just like D1 for 90/110.

D1s are simple but rust.

Defenders expensive
90/110 climbing fast
SIII also getting pricy

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Yeah, D2 seems favourable so far, also a lot cheaper for me to insure than a D1 for some reason.

I have always really liked the defender but they are way out of my budget.

On the welding front, most people seem to say the MIG welding is the easiest to master, especially on thin materials such as vehicle parts. Electric Arc or stick welding is very often too fierce for use on vehicles, but can be used with a lot of practice.
Check with your local technical college to see if they run any part time or night school classes in either welding or vehicle repairs.

I wanted a series originally, then was looking at 90’s/110’s but couldn’t buy a good one for what I wanted to spend. I was lucky in that a good D1 came up locally, all I’ve done is replaced the tired parts with new, added some underbody protection and fitted slightly larger tyres. Have to say having been in a few defenders I’d take a discovery over the others every time for what I use it for. They may not be quite as good off road but even a standard disco will be far more capable than you’d expect or probably need.

Discovery 1 300Tdi manual, as unmolested as you can find, classic limited mileage policy for recreational use will be cheapest option.

Rust is a killer on both the D1 and D2, bodies on the 1, chassis on the 2.

Can't beat joining a club, meeting some folks and getting out in the great outdoors to do a bit of Sunday morning laning, of course you can still meet some folks on ere and get out on a Sunday morning laning in your area if you can find someone who wants to show you round the local lanes.

Freelander 1s get unfair harassment but are fab little things, decent set of boots on em and they're very good in the rough.

AdamD1 said:

I wanted a series originally, then was looking at 90’s/110’s but couldn’t buy a good one for what I wanted to spend. I was lucky in that a good D1 came up locally, all I’ve done is replaced the tired parts with new, added some underbody protection and fitted slightly larger tyres. Have to say having been in a few defenders I’d take a discovery over the others every time for what I use it for. They may not be quite as good off road but even a standard disco will be far more capable than you’d expect or probably need.

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Yeah I guess if I do end up with a discovery I'll really enjoy it.

What sort of stuff do you get up to in yours?