The project has landed!

good luck either way you do things min..
i lost most of my friends when we purchased our first house, why you ask,
well, untill 1986 I was heavilly Involved in oval racing, bangers, stock cars, and hot rods.
spent all my money doing so, so to break away from an addiction cost me to not be associated with any of it anymore.
was married with 2 small daughters and older son, so work then took precidence...
working weekends helped me get through the "must race" adiction....

I now look back with great fondness at current and lost tracks I raced on, but feel no attachment now...
FB pages keep me in contact with those that wish it,
but TBH, I must have pi$$ed off some really good mates at the time who wont forget..lol
It happens..

So, you got to do what you need to do, as family must come first..

It's quite the opposite with the amount we need as a deposit Mator will make up nice chunk of it! I will be sad to see him go but life moves on and I will still have the Discovery and who now what else could turn up in time

Brown said:

Hmm. It's up to you of course, but the sort of size deposit you're apt to need these days means that the sale of the series isn't likely to get you very far towards it. A quick look at house prices in Derbyshire and military style 'character' Series 3s on Ebay should make the point. You'll lose the Land Rover and not get very far toward the other objective.

Click to expand...

There is still a lot of places doing 5% deposits - certainly helped me

This will be a 5% deposit! It is what it is There will be another Landy in the family

He knows what I am thinking...

Land Rover Rebuild
Posted by min200 Sat, March 28, 2015 19:08:50

My vehicle collection is getting bigger and all of this without the added extra motors that will turn up when the kids start driving heaven knows what we will do then! There is now a new game called musical motors I have to play depending on which one I would like to use and seeing as I had to move Mator anyway I decided to use him to run an errand of dropping a parcel off at a collection point a few miles away.

I think he knows I want to sell him to go towards the house deposit because he normally has some sort of issue just for the hell of it you know like a new strange noise or running a bit rough but this morning he was a pleasure from the first turn of the key until I parked him up. Having set the carb last week he ran like a dream drove even better with smooth steering nice gear changes great acceleration and I swear he was even being as quiet as he possibly could be. In my minds eye he was acting like a dog that has been a bit bad and is now looking at you from the side of his eyes with a bowed head being as good as possible so you will love him again. He was faultless...




There was even a chap who walked up to me out of the blue at the parcel drop off point asking if I owned Mator complimenting me on what good condition he was in can Land Rovers pay people to say nice things about them?

Just turned 40.

Mator is For Sale

First things first I am only selling "Mator" my series 3 landy because we are buying a house and need the money for a deposit quite frankly after all the blood sweat tears and the hospital visit he caused me I don't want to see him go but they have been well worth it.

This is a unique opportunity in the fact that you can see the whole rebuild from when it was dragged out of a farm yard to the last day I drove it every bit of work done has been documented laughed at and shared across a few of the main Land Rover forums so you can see what I did wrong then put right what has been replaced and rebuilt so you know exactly where you stand with him if you want to buy him.

SO where to start?? He has the military chassis a recon military engine running 24 volts across the board each and every dent is as it was from when it was demobbed then parked up for the seventeen years before I got him. I did not want to change them or fix them they are part of it's history. I have the MOD list of who it served with.

In a very short list the following has been done but this is the abbreviated version...alternator rebuild, brake system rebuild, master/slave clutch rebuild, new shocks, new gearbox mounts exhaust fuel system from tank to carb, undersealed, doors replaced painted and fitted, all fluids replaced and engine serviced. This is no where near everything that has been done please have a look at the blog rebuild at Just turned 40. under the "Land Rover rebuild" section for the whole shebang or search for "the project has landed" on the landyzone forum.

I have done about 74 miles only since the rebuild but this will climb a little as I enjoy driving him before he goes. It is an old landy and I don't doubt it will present a problem or two as time goes on after being stood around for so long but as he is at this moment is in great condition fully driveable with his 2 1/4 petrol engine and you are welcome to come and view. You are also welcome to a test drive as long as you bring me proof of insurance to be able to drive fully comp or I have the cash from you in my hands...you break him you have bought him!

The only things not to original military spec are the front seats wheels and headlights so if you want to put him back to military standard.

£3995 ono Nottingham area.

There's a few things in the pipeline...

Musings
Posted by min200 Fri, April 03, 2015 20:52:30

There are a few things in the pipeline I can't say too much yet but watch this space!

I am also working on more for "My CV" behind the scenes here getting the order of things right before sending it out for you good folks to read about

Tomorrow morning see's "Bodget Brian" out for his first day off roading and there will be a big update about that over the weekend!

Mator is still up for sale and there has been interest and even a couple of insulting offers but quite frankly I would rather keep him than give him away...there are always other ways to raise the house deposit money even if it takes a year or two longer than planned.

So in short there will be more drivel from me over this Easter weekend so stay tuned folks

min200 said:

There's a few things in the pipeline...

Musings
Posted by min200 Fri, April 03, 2015 20:52:30

There are a few things in the pipeline I can't say too much yet but watch this space!

I am also working on more for "My CV" behind the scenes here getting the order of things right before sending it out for you good folks to read about

Tomorrow morning see's "Bodget Brian" out for his first day off roading and there will be a big update about that over the weekend!

Mator is still up for sale and there has been interest and even a couple of insulting offers but quite frankly I would rather keep him than give him away...there are always other ways to raise the house deposit money even if it takes a year or two longer than planned.

So in short there will be more drivel from me over this Easter weekend so stay tuned folks

Click to expand...

Hmm - pretty much what I thought: 'insulting offers'. Yes you'd be much better off keeping him than giving him away. Yes, there are better ways to raise money! Slow and steady wins the race.

Indeed I will just store him away if I have to I will not just be selling him cheap not with what I have done to him!

Umm I kind of published a book about the Land Rover rebuild and all the responses I got taking the mickey warts and all so if you would like to buy it please just click on the link

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Project-Has...594913&sr=8-1&keywords=the+project+has+landed

Summer days and Slipping

Land Rover Rebuild
Posted by min200 Tue, April 21, 2015 20:30:31

If I am honest I have not done a great deal with Mator of late. I put him up for sale of course but after several rather insulting offers by folk over the net and then the usual folk not turning up I have ended up not being that bothered about him going in fact I have been enjoying him a lot more than I had before with little trips out at least once a week.

Well today Wifey decided it was a pleasant Spring evening and quite rightly we should head out for a walk to enjoy the sunset so I took this opportunity to grab the keys to Mator and take him to the riverside. The drive would be about ten miles each way no problem for the old boy of late and soon enough we were heading out and breaking his 100 mile barrier of miles done since the rebuild.
After we had settled in shouting a sort of conversation across the cab noise you know the usual for a Series when I noticed the revs seemed a little higher than normal so I took my foot off of the clutch pedal which is a bad habit I have got the revs stayed the same.
You know that stomach churning feeling you get when you realise that something is wrong? Yep I had that bugger in droves at that moment because in a split second the little issues that I had seen ploughed through my mind...the little oil drip coming out of the wading hole, the clutch adjustment on the master cylinder a few weeks before and the action of putting my wallet down on my bedside cabinet when I got in from work with no recollection of picking it up again three guesses where the RAC card was I would need for recovery home should it get that far!

No need to panic though I just went back in time twenty years or so in my head to when I was young care free and didnt give a monkeys if a motor was dying I would just try to nurse it back home with the only problem being the sodding great hill that lay between us and there! Wifey did point out at this point we could just go the flatter countryside way back instead which we ended up doing keeping the revs low along with the speed because the mud tyres that are on it are bloody awful on tarmac anyway and the old boy just plodded on noisily the ten miles home through very pleasant sun soaked Nottinghamshire countryside which was really very relaxing considering he could have decided he had had enough at any moment.
To my surprise he even backed up the driveway with no fuss at all!
A kind friend has already volunteered to help out with the replacement because I have never done one before on a landy and do you know what I think Mator might just be a bit happier then just pottering around once every week or so.

Well here it is folks the paperback version of "The Project Has Landed..."
Who would have thought an ape like me would publish a book!?

The Project Has Landed...: Amazon.co.uk: Nicky Smith: 9781511817042: Books

Clutch Plates & Seals

Land Rover Rebuild
Posted by min200 Tue, April 28, 2015 19:01:57

It has taken me two days to get around to writing up the blog about changing the clutch in Mator solely because it was such a harrowing ordeal I needed the time to recuperate my mind to cope with the ordeal of reliving it!

Now I know you are all thinking "Come on Nick it's not that hard" and in principle you are all right about that but Mator decided he was going to be a bit of a **** and play up as much as he could.
Sunday morning started well enough as I got up early the sun was shining as I headed off to my friends who with another mate had volunteered their services to get Mator sorted clutch wise the old Landy even drove ok where as the last time I drove him he was slipping in good style. I arrived just before nine am had a coffee and we jumped on stripping out the flooring tunnel and gearstick to give easy access to the gearbox...



There were even smiles and laughter at this point...



It wasn't long before the gearbox was out and it was obvious the oil seals on the crank shaft were fubared...



Now is it me or is that a LOT of oil! Soon had it cleaned up stripped out new seal fitted along with a new gasket though. Attention then turned to the clutch plates themselves and they were soon removed...



The picture doesn't really show how much oil was on the clutch plates but there was and they had got really hot before as well as the burns showed when you looked up close. With that lot gone it showed that the oil seal on the engine side had also given up the ghost sharing the love of nasty black oil...
Cleaned that mess up and fitted the new seal. Out came the new clutch plates which were lined up using my friends fancy new tool...



Then we set to fitting the gearbox back in place with smug smiles on our faces because we had only been playing for about four hours so far and should all be done in time for an early tea and cold beer in the spring sunshiny day! ...



But no dear reader that was not to be. We got the gearbox up splines lined up but would the bugger go in all the way???? No no it would not. We pushed we shoved we twisted we raised one side then the other, the front went up and down along with the back but no luck. We took the gearbox back out again to check the clutch plates and sure enough the clutch plate itself had dropped enough to stop the shaft going all the way in. Off it came again to be realigned up and then refitted. Up went the gearbox and after a few choice words some quite considerable time and lots of huffing and puffing it fitted into to place.
We were chuffed we felt like we had achieved something as we set to refitting prop shafts gearbox mountains and handbrakes. Soon enough all but the slave cylinder was in place the slave cylinder though had pushed its calliper nearly all the way out and it took some effort to get it back into place and fitted...



That done I fired Mator up the pressure plate span as did the shaft so I engaged a gear and....NOTHING. Nothing happened at all. There was no drive at all. All of our hearts sank we could see it on each others faces how much we really did not want to take him apart again. My friend then pipes up "I did put the clutch plate back on the right way around didn't I?" We then had three grown men looking in the inspection plate to try and determine that without lugging what was now being referred to as "That bloody gearbox" out again.

We decided between us that it indeed was on the correct way so it must be something else. We pushed and pulled levers around to no avail and then we settled upon the slave cylinder again. We had to loosen up the bleed nipple to relieve some pressure to get that calliper back in place so some air must have got into the bloody thing. Out came a fancy air driven vacuum bleed kit and that folks is singularly the best bit of kit I have ever seen! It bled the clutch system in 30 seconds flat! Thank God my friend had it! That done all was sorted the drive engaged no problem at all much to three sweaty dirty grimy blokes relief.
A quick look at this point at my watch revealed we had been just over ten hours on this the sun was setting and we had all had enough so we set to popping the floor and tunnel back into place with me insisting "just two bolts per panel so I can get it home" and to my surprise the lads wanted to carry on "getting it right" but no enough was enough these guys had given up their Sunday for me already we were all getting hungry because we had eaten the sugary treats hours before that I had brought with me so I made them throw in the towel.

One trip around the block to make sure all was right and with the tools all put to bed we had been at it eleven hours!!!!!!!!!

I still had to put fuel in as I was on fumes and drive one of the lads home and this was all without any major issues we had done a good job. Well I say no issues but after I dropped the lad off I noticed that when in fourth gear and letting off of the gas there was a knocking noise on the gearbox just a clunk nothing massive and I realised as I got home I had not tightened up one of the gearbox mounts I was supposed to do so hell after a day like we had just had I could live with that.
So I have still to refit the floor properly along with the tunnel and tighten up that mounting bolt but that can wait until the weekend when I can motivate myself to get the tools out again.

#### A quick afterword here just to say a massive thank you once again to the guys who helped me out on a Sunday in the blazing sunshine for the whole long day. You guys are the true spirit of friendship and restore my belief in humanity as a whole! Beers are on there way boys ######

www.nickysmith.me

Car Boots and Sunshine

Land Rover Rebuild
Posted by min200 Sun, May 10, 2015 12:21:14

Seeing as I have a long week ahead and probably should have had a relaxing lie in this morning I awoke bright and breezy at 6am of course. After fidgeting for half an hour managing to get some rather disturbing physically threatening grunting noises from Wifey who was trying to actually have a lie in next to me I got up and decided that I should actually put some oil back in the transfer box after changing the seal again a few days ago. If I didn't get around to it no doubt I would end up forgetting, driving off for a bit then quickly killing the box so it needed to be done right now.

Seeing as it wasn't my first time filling the bloody thing up with oil I had the process down pat and less than half an hour after walking outside the deed was done. Wondering what to do with the sunny morning that was fast warming up I tentatively woke up Wifey with a brew, one must offer sacrifices when you wake the dragon, and suggested a pootle out in Mator to the local car boot so I could check all was well with him.
There were no fiery deaths within seconds and she agreed this could be fun so soon enough I was behind the wheel firing up the engine. Mator roared away up teh road with easy gear changes now his gear stick had been replaced and we were soon running up to temperature nice and smooth...well as smooth as a Series 3 109" ever gets.

I drove through the end of the city out into the countryside with no problems and the steering was better after taking a friends advice and having the tyre pressures pushed up to 40psi on the mud wheels that are fitted at the moment. I wasn't in a state of apprehension waiting for something to break in fact I was smiling away in my noise filled cab as we trundled along at a steady 48mph listening to the fuel in the tank being sucked away quickly by the 2.25 petrol engine.
We headed into the car boot field and enjoyed the extra bouncing around off road and when I looked back as I was walking away from Mator I thought to myself "He does look bloody good".

There was more countryside driving back to a supermarket to pick up a couple of bits and the trundle home.
No problems, no stress, no leaks (for now) and fuel still in the tank...I can honestly say this has been the most I have enjoyed driving Mator since I rebuilt him

Been Published in a magazine!

The Project Has Landed...
Posted by min200 Sat, May 16, 2015 20:36:32

Isn't it amazing what a year can bring to you. I have quit smoking, built a Landy, published a book and the cherry on the cake is having an article I wrote about Mator's rebuild being published in Land Rover Owners International!

So here's a big thank you to all of you that have followed my drivelling rambling also for your responses encouragement and general micky taking because without them I wouldn't have come this far. Mator's journey is not yet over by any stretch there is still plenty to do on him and the astute among you will see and advert for his sale at the back of LRO but he is not for sale any more. I cannot bring myself to part with him after all of this hard work and now he is actually running well I have got to kinda like driving him without the fear of catastrophic breakdown looming over me.

Thanks again folks and keep your eye out for more updates...



Just turned 40.

Well done.

It's good you're keeping it, reckon you would have regretted selling it later.

Thanks guys, yep I would have regretted selling him so sod it the driveway can just stay full

Tyres & Rims

The Project Has Landed...
Posted by min200 Fri, May 22, 2015 21:11:09

After getting the old wheels off of Mator during his rebuild I was happy to fit the big chunky mud wheels to him but I have had a change of heart of late because now I am keeping the old boy I quite fancy putting him back towards his military roots because I like the look!
There was and is no rush for this bit of a backward transformation so I have been just keeping an eye out for the right tyres to come up seeing as I already had a set of Series rims in shed 3 (yes I have that many sheds now that I number them) I was in no hurry but as is always the way a set of part worn G10 security tyres came up for the princely sum of £60 so I snatched them up quickly. Yes they are part worn's rather than new but the mileage I do in Mator is minimal so they are more than good enough for my needs but I now had to get them fitted and being the lazy bugger I am I could not face that back breaking chore of taking off old tyres then fitting the new ones with levers and hammers and bangs to hands wrists and god knows what else so I had a quite chat with the tyre fitters at work who agreed for £30 they would deal with the issue for me and dispose of the scrap tyres on the Series rims...sounded good to me!

So this morning before I started work I dropped them off with the chaps then swung back around at lunchtime to pick them back up again on rims and half of the rubber returned home with me this evening.
I was in an odd mood when I got in and I cannot say why if I am honest I was just feeling a bit grumpy under the weather and after catching myself growling at my family for the smallest of reasons I took myself out of the equation back outside to get some proper physical exercise in the form of changing the wheels over and putting the ones removed into shed number 2 (told you there are a few).
I sweated the wheels off and on again the bloody things do really weigh more than you realise then stood back to gaze upon the backwards transformation...





Not bad at all really but I have not taken him for a spin yet as the light was getting low I am tired and it will give me something to do first thing in the morning because my young Landy mad nephew is returning to see me, well to see Mator really, and is looking forward to going for a spin I cannot let the kid down!
The wheels that came off of Mator will be going onto Brian the Discovery once I get the lift kit bought and fitted but I am going to have to save up for that because we have now officially become shed dragger's...we have bought a caravan so when we go out with the Notts Landy Club we can join in properly and socialise in the evenings...but shed dragger's none the less.

The wheels will look good on Brian though...



Just turned 40.

Plastic bags & Pipework

The Project Has Landed...
Posted by min200 Sun, May 24, 2015 08:24:40

Mator has been true to Land Rover form he has run faultlessly for two drives out and now is demanding more of my attention for repairs but we will come to that shortly.
My young nephew arrived around lunchtime and his first stop after getting out of the car was my Series 3. He was straight in it looking around saying how much it had changed since his last visit with a massive grin on his face that some how got even wider, which seemed an impossibility seeing as his face had by now run out of room, when I told him we would go for a run out in him later in the day.

Lunch eaten we decided now was the time for a drive to the woods for a walk so my brother nephew and I jumped into Mator and had a blast of a drive for the eight mile trip and all jumped out of him happy as kids in a sweet shop. It was at this point my sister in law who had been following us in her modern day reliable boring car asked "Is that water supposed to be coming out from under the engine?"
Now as much as my pride wanted to say "Yes yes it is woman it's a Land Rover they all leak a bit" due to the amount of coolant pouring forth I didn't think I would get away with it without cooking and destroying the engine on the way home so I pooped the bonnet and assumed the standard landy position of standing on the bumper bent at the waist with my head in the engine bay.
It was only a top hose that lead to the useless standard landy heater that had a hole in so I closed the bonnet and carried on with our woodland stroll while contemplating what I actually had in the back of Mator to fix him because I had typically removed the tool kit earlier in the day while pottering on the Disco and forgot to put it back in.

Upon my return I hunted around and found a plastic back and a single cable tie....challenge accepted!
I shut down the heater valve by turning the temperature lever to cold restricting the flow and then tore the plastic bag into wide strips wrapping it around the hole in the pipework and tying it off on itself. I didn't even use the cable tie at this point I saved that in reserve in case my initial bodge didn't hold...



We then set off for the drive home and I now had my niece and nephew riding along with me with the plastic bag bodge holding the cooling system together and much to my surprise it did hold all the way back into the city. We had only one more set of lights to go and a three hundred yard run home when I noticed the main ring road had been closed off due to an accident!! Talk about pushing my luck!
I looked down at the temp gauge without trying to look concerned for my young passengers it was still running just fine but there was now a bit of a queue and a back road maze we had to travel to get back without killing the old boy...I didn't think my luck would hold that long but with no other choice onward we travelled!
We sat waiting a while then squeezed between parked cars getting back to the ring road just behind the road block much to the surprise of the police officer who was there. I explained what we were up to just trying to get home before killing my motor and he grinned saying "The accident is past your house you will make it" and with a wink he moved the secondary cones that he had in place and we we away!

So we got home and Mator was still running at a normal temperature and much to my surprise he had most of his coolant still in place my plastic bag bodge had held for over 40 minutes! SO it goes to show that these landies do always want you to be tinkering with them but by god they are easy to fix and keep going no wonder our forces love the bloody things!

Just turned 40.