SCARR is in the Books (Post #537) 4/20/2015

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We are home and safe from the 2015 SCARR event. Nothing broke or malfunctioned. If you ever wanted to experience what driving in a Camel Trophy event was like this would have been your weekend. Lucky 8 has a great video I will try to link to in coming posts.

The torrential downpours and thunderstorms made this year “quite wet”. It was thick mud and creeks were up. All this made for a very fun driving experience.

Mr. Fisher cut his driving teeth by taking on a 4 diamond trail. He learned some new hand signals from our guide Arto. And at the end, you couldn’t have wiped the grin off his face with an angle grinder.

The prize raffle was fun with many great prizes from the sponsors. Thanks to all you that sponsored. Thanks to Texas Rovers for another fine event.

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As soon as the videos get through post production and editing I’ll get them up for your enjoyment.

SCARR 2015 – The Weather

SCARR 2015 – The Trails

Thanks for reading and Happy Rovering.

Final S.C.A.R.R. Maintenance (Post #536) 4/12/2015

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The final piece of maintenance was to replace the Fuel Filter. This is one of my least favorite maintenance items. Gasoline is expensive, toxic, flammable,  and generally unpleasant to work with. 

But the fuel filter is an important item when it comes to maintaining the Fuel system. Keeping the nasty bits out of your system will ensure that you to have many miles of enjoyment. The tick sheet has this as a every 50,000 mile replacement. I’m going to guess it’s been at least 10 years since it swapped mine.

The location of the filter is in the right rear tire well. It is not a pleasant place to work. I suggest removal of the rear right tire to ease access.

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You will need two large wrenches to loosen the fuel hoses. In this picture the wrap-around bracket has been removed. I have modified the bracket slightly. I slipped a piece of an old bicycle tube over it. This was to prevent the metal bracket from rubbing a hole in the filter.

I bought the Wix brand filter. It was twice as much as the others. I like Wix filters and use their oil filters in all my cars. Quality before price.

When I got the old filter off I could see the particles coming out with the gasoline. It was super dirty. I’m hoping that this will stop what might be a starving of fuel at high speeds due a less than effective flow of petrol through a dirty filter.

As I mentioned this is a dirty job and you WILL get dirt in your eyes. Once you bang a wrench under the body you will see all the sand and dirt the Land Rover has been saving up just for this moment.

I also checked the transmission fluid level (cold fluid and in neutral). It needed some to get it topped it off. The transmission shifts amazingly well now.

The only tasked left is to stage and inventory the camping gear.
I have to get my adult beverages.
I need a form mattress for my cot.
I need to buy groceries.
I need to coordinate with Mr. Fisher on the supplies above.

I’m pretty excited about this trip. Once again I hope to meet some of you. Please stop by if you are in the neighborhood.

Thanks for reading and Happy Rovering.

A Long Drive for Nothing (Post #531) 3/16/2015

Southwestern Regional Rendezvous

It turned out to be a long drive for nothing. My goal this past weekend was to go to the Southwestern Regional Rendezvous in Leslie, Arkansas. I went. But I didn’t stay.

It was a 5.5 hour drive to Leslie, Arkansas from Norman, Oklahoma. About an hour into the drive it started to rain. It rained from Shawnee all the way to Leslie. When I got to Leslie I found the event. I pulled into the lot that was passing for a parking lot.

Continue reading “A Long Drive for Nothing (Post #531) 3/16/2015”

Heater Fan Resistor Details (Post #529) 3/10/2015

I’ve gotten several requests for the details of the fan resistor for the Range Rover Classic. The latest one came in from Patrick in France. Yes, that France, the one in Europe. He is the happy owner of a 1991 Classic Vogue SE with 4 doors and the 3.9 not catalysted engine in magnificent Beluga Black. Sorry no pictures.

His problem is the same as several of you had last winter that of trying to find a heater resistor to purchase. They are often difficult to find. He sent me a picture I posted the last time I replaced mine. Unfortunately for him the picture was not high enough resolution to make out the part numbers. You see, he is keen to make his own.

So I went out and removed mine and took down the details and took some photos.

Getting to it is relatively simple.
You remove the louver from the passenger side intake. It just takes a flat-head screw and a gentle touch. Remember your plastic bits are 20+ years old and are prone to breaking.

Once it’s out of the way remove the filter material. I have replaced mine with some air filter material I picked up from one of the big box stores. It’s cheap and sturdy.

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I had to drill out the rivet.  You can see it on the far side in the picture below. That was easy enough. Yours may also be riveted. Whatever, you need to be able to rivet it back or use a screw.

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And you have the resistor…simple.

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The official part number for a resistor pack is PRC 8010.
The part numbers on the resistors are…
RIEDON452 UAL-50 .5Ω 5%
RIEDON452 UAL-50 1.5Ω 5%
RIEDON452 UAL-50 2.0Ω 5%

This one is an Atlantic British version. According to their website as of today March 10, 2015 they are in stock.
http://www.roverparts.com/Parts/PRC8010

This is cost prohibitive for Patrick due to the crappy exchange rate of dollars to euros, shipping, import tax, duty tax, it road in the back of a truck tax, more than one person handled the package fee, and five more taxes we’ve never even heard of I’m sure. SO, I also found them at Island 4×4 in the United Kingdom, currently in stock. Hopefully this won’t be so bad.
http://www.island-4×4.co.uk/heater-resistor-britpart-da4178resistor-p-7373.html

So if you are keen like Patrick you can source the resistors from the interwebs for just a few dollars and if you are handy with a soldering iron you can put your own together.

http://riedon.com/resistors/view/aluminum-housed-wirewound-resistors-ual

I wish you the best of luck getting a ready-made one or making one yourself.

Merci beaucoup Patrick for emailing.

UPDATE:

Patrick Ferrage emailed us a very nice drawing and schematic of the resistors and the wiring harness. This is top work and makes building one by hand a very simple matter. Once again thank you Patrick.

Drawing by Patrick Ferrage
Drawing by Patrick Ferrage

To the rest of you, thanks for reading and Happy Rovering.

Have You Seen What an Ice Storm Can Do? (Post #527) 3/4/2015

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I don’t understand why people do this. When an ice storm hits the Plains everything gets coated with ice. Pulling your wipers out like that just encourages the ice to make your wipers into Popsicles. At least when wiper is on the window the blade edge has no ice on it.
Truly a mystery.

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Here’s some ice art from the past weekend’s ice storm.

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Aye, it was cold.

Stay warm. In just 4 days we’ll be in the 60’s again just in time for tornado season.

Thanks for reading and Happy Rovering.

Time to Prepare for S.C.A.R.R. 2015 (Post #524) 2/16/2015

Doesn’t the Big White Bus look good all washed up parked in the drive. Well she looks better with a little mud on the tires and traipsing up and down the hills of Barnwell Offroad Park in East Texas. Yes, it’s close to that time of year again. Its time to prepare the Range Rover for the South Central Area Rover Rendezvous aka SCARR.

Once again there is lots to do. A short list…

  • Transmission Rebuild
  • Plugs, wires, and cap
  • Tie-rod ends
  • Oil Pan Gasket
  • Power Steering Leak

Its a short list but an expensive one. Getting the transmission done will be somewhere in the 2000$(US). I’ve known this was a problem for a while now. I’ve turned 220,000 miles and I think it’s time for a rebuild on the transmission. I have a plan for this. Continue reading “Time to Prepare for S.C.A.R.R. 2015 (Post #524) 2/16/2015”