Photoblog: Dreams

This dreamcatcher came with Olivia - but it's not done catching dreams yet. I may add a few tiny objects to help focus them into one place sometime.. :-)

Olivia - LIVES!

Yes, it's true - she's back on the road! And the problem? Well it wasn't spark plugs (though I did replace half, and will do the other half when I don't have a thunderstorm to deal with). It wasn't fuel starvation - in the conventional sense of the word.

What it was turned out to be a lack of fuel (nearly empty tank) and a serious amount of gunk in selfsame tank! Yes, those are my finger-marks, having dragged through the debris to haul some out and see what it was. There were sticks, sand, mud and other bits, quite a collection.

I undid the plug below the tank, drained and scooped it all out, rinsed it with clean petrol and filled it up - and she started first shot!

YAY! We're back on the road! Took a quick turn around a couple of blocks and she's running well.

The only issue now is idling. It's set too low and I had to go on choke to keep her alive. But that's not something too difficult to sort out.

Here's to travels! At last... :-)

Identification & History

Found a site that tells your "fortune" (ie gives info) based on chassis number for Series vehicles, and here's what they've thrown out for Olivia:

948 Model: Land Rover, Series III
Body type: Station wagon
Wheel base: 109in
Engine: 6-cylinder
Model years: 1972-1979
Destination: Completely knocked down (CKD), right-hand drive (RHD)
***** Serial number
C Design: Two significant design modifications

Hmmm... how nice that they don't tell you what those two modications were! I mean, if they're significant and all.. :-) Unfortunately the system only gives a model/year range, and not what would be the ideal - a detailed history of everything known about that particular vehicle, where it was put together, what it originally looked like fresh off the factory floor etc. Those details would be really cool to know!

I do, however, have a superb write-up on her recent history, thanks to her previous owner. I'm sure there's much more that hasn't been told, but it's fun to know where the beast has been and what it's been up to.

History's still in the making - we've got many more places to see ahead of us.

Once and For All

This weekend is Landy weekend. I have to get her sorted out once and for all, even if it takes me the whole weekend.

To start with, I need to get a spark plug gapper - none of the shops I was at stocks one, so I guess I'm going to have to hit the specialist auto shops. Hopefully sorting the plugs will help with the starting issues - and will be checking a few other things while I'm at it that are related.

Then it's on to that still-slowly-deflating front tyre. I need to get it checked out and fixed before it causes tyre wall damage.

I want to get hold of a guy that breaks old Landies and find out if he has any fuel tank insert thingies - don't ask me what they're called, but it's a metal tube that fits into the top of the tank and has a mesh at the bottom to filter out any nasties. Olivia's one has a hole eaten through the mesh, and I don't want to take any chances (of either gunk or bits of mesh ending up in the tank). I hope I can resist coming home with another Landy from the breaker guy - who apparently has FORTY of the things standing around in various stages of repair... but unless he's giving them away free it's unlikely Olivia will get a playmate just yet. Cash has been assigned to priorities other than Landy collection for the forseeable future.

Once she's up and running again, the tyre needs re-affixing to the bonnet - mostly because it looks good! Also keeps the bonnet from rattling up and down a whole lot. I just hope I don't have to do too much in the engine again shortly, as it's hellova heavy to lift. I have to climb onto the bumper to do so.

Then it's on to matters grease and oil - checking levels and such. While I'm at it, the Ford also needs gearbox oil. I just wish it had the gap underneath that Olivia does to crawl into.

I want to give the rooftop tent a go too, and check that all is well there. With guests arriving over Christmas, and not a lot of space in the flat - it may just come in handy. Will do that in a secluded place though, as it's going to be a learning curve to set it up and I wouldn't want to become the object of derision by the neighbours. Especially as the wind seems to be picking up!

And then there's the matter of her "tattoo"... but that's a post for another day. :-)

Olivia Live! Well, sorta...