Mick Forster's Land Rovers (The Best 4x4 by far)

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On Tuesday 2nd of July 2013 the Land Rover 109 Safari passed its 24th MOT since I bought it.

News:

August 24 2010
The Series 3 Land Rover 109 Safari passed it's 22nd MOT since I bought it today.
I haven't used it that much this year but I hope to during the coming months.
I had to fit a new rear number plate light which was broken when I was moving some timber a couple of months ago, apart from that and a couple of iffy electrical connections, no problems.

July 14 2009
Today the Land Rover 109 Safari passed it's 21st MOT since I bought it.
During the past year I have fitted a new exhaust system, a new vaporiser for the LPG and a new transistor switch unit for the ignition, so I'm well pleased with it.

June 10 2009
After falling as low as $38.00 a barrel earlier in the year the price of a barrel of oil has reached $70.00 again.

November 17 2008
Now oil has dropped to $56.00 a barrel!!

October 15 2008
Oil is now at $78.00 a barrel. Some experts said back in July that the high oil price was due to things like a recognition that oil was running out, that the developing markets of China and India had increased the demand and not because of greedy speculators!!!!!!!!!
If any of those reasons had been true then, there is no way oil could have fallen back to todays price, so who's telling porkys then??

July 22 2008 Trying to make some sense of the current silly oil price ($150.00 a barrel) and found these sites:
History of the Oil price
And:
A sort of analysis, but difficult to follow, maybe I'm just too thick!!!

July 16 2008
Today the Land Rover 109 Safari passed its MOT, this was the 20th MOT I have had on this Land Rover. In September I will have owned the Land Rover Series 3 109 for 20 years, it was 15 years old when I bought it so now its 35 years old. This last year I have fitted a new steering column, a new main brake pipe and now a new back seat, well not new as such it was donated from an Audi A4 the old one had been in a previous Land Rover Series 3 I owned so it didn't owe me anything.

Friday June 13th 2008
Sam's Land Rover Series 2a 88 failed its MOT today but it passed it's retest.

April 2008
This trickle of water from the radiator overflow went on for a few weeks, I bought new radiator caps and it still happened. Then I had a close look at one of the new caps and thought it looked a bit cheap and nasty compared to one of the very old ones, which was worn out. So I finished up getting one from DLS which looked a lot better. When it came it was a lot better, put that on the radiator and I've had no problem since.
I put the fan back on as well.

January 2008, its quite cold and I noticed when I topped the oil up in the Land Rover Series 3 109 Safari there was some condensation and white emulsion in the filler cap. So I decided to take the fan off, so the engine would run a bit warmer and get rid of the condensation. By rights it should also save money, since the engine isn't driving the fan so its doing less work and using less petrol. Never really noticed any difference myself. I have taken the fan off during the winter months before but this year I never got round to it with it being fairly mild for most of the time.
Anyway the problem was that after the run to work I noticed some water on the floor under the front axle where the radiator overflow pipe was, and checking the water level I found it was well down. So I topped it up and kept a check on it.
Eventually I looked closely at the radiator cap and thought it was a bit worn so I replaced it with one I had in the garage. A week later and having to still top it up every other day I realised why the cap had been in the garage and went and bought a new one. This seems to have cured it, probably the weather will go warm now and I'll have to re-fit the fan.

Monday October 15th, the starter motor packed up on the Land Rover Series 3 Safari. It had been a bit sluggish for a couple of days and when I came to leave work it just clunked.
I bought a new one on Tuesday but it rained all day so I had no chance to fit it. Wednesday was a lot better and it didn't take long to get the broken motor off and the new one back on.
I tried it a couple of times and all seemed fine, although the Bendix gear seemed a bit rough, I assumed because it was new it needed bedding in a bit. When I came to leave work on Wednesday night this new motor just spun and didn't engage the flywheel. I finished up hitting it with an hammer and then it worked.
I presumed it was because I hadn't oiled the gear so it was just sticking. I had Friday off and hopefully fixed it then by taking it off and running it on the bench off an old battery and applying some oil to the Bendix.

Thursday August 2 2007, the Safari passed its 19th MOT since I bought it. A month or so ago I finally changed the clutch master cylinder which had been leaking since winter, then this weekend we went camping the Landy was fine but on the Monday morning the clutch pedal went to the floor, I checked and the slave cylinder had gone. I bought a new one and fitted it last night. Everything else seemed ok for the MOT. There's some play in the steering box and a corroding brake pipe to be done sometime soon.

June 28 2007, Sam's Landy passed its MOT, the steering relay bolts had come loose somehow and the brakes needed slight adjustment, apart from that it was fine.

July 27 2006, the Safari passed its 18th MOT since I bought it. I had changed the ball joints on the ends of the longitudinal steering arm last week and as well as tightening the nut on the steering box for the drop arm this has made the steering a lot better. I also took out a couple of shims from the near-side (left) front swivel housing king pin. For the emissions test the CO level should be less than 4.00% and the Safari was well in, then I found the VOSA site, so really only a visual check was required since the Safari was first used in 1973.
June 29 2006, Sam's Series 2A Landrover passed its MOT. The Road Tax expired this month too, it's always a joy to go to the Post Office and get a new one. The look on the cashier's face when they realise it's exempt payment is a picture.

March 2006, its doing it again, the exhaust manifold gasket is again blowing, must get it sorted this weekend.
March 2005, the exhaust started making a horrible noise. Finally traced it to the exhaust manifold gasket, changed it and the noise went. A week later and it gradually came back. Off came the manifold again and low and behold the gasket had gone again. I bought a new one and it seems fine now. I reckon the first one was an old gasket I had kept in the garage for a number of years and it was damp. The heat from the exhaust must have caused the damp to expand and ruin the gasket. I hope that was it anyway.
Thursday 6 Jan 2005, could not get to LPG supplier so I had to run on petrol. Started it this morning using the choke, it took longer than normal to warm up enough to run smoothly and the smell, I had forgotten how smelly petrol was. Must fill it up with LPG today.

Land Rover Restoration Portfolio

Land Rover Restoration Manual

Corgi model Series III 109", makes an ideal gift from Amazon.

The Land Rover 109 Safari in March 2009 near Milwich

In January 2008 Sam and I went to the Land Rover Experience center at Pale Hall near Bala in Snowdonia. An experience that anyone with an interest in Land Rover should have, and go for the Range Rover Sport; it is truly awesome.

The first Land Rover in my life was a 1966 ex-army Series IIA short wheelbase. I owned this in 1973. I bought it from a friend at work, he had worked in Africa and was so impressed with the one he drove there that he ordered one from Richards at Hinstock. Unfortunately the Land Rover was not entirely suitable for his needs in England so it had to go.

After the SWB Land Rover, I always wanted a LWB Safari but they were more than I could afford so that had to wait. It was 8 years before I owned the next one, in 1981. This was practically identical to the first, a Series IIA ex-army 88 Land Rover.

The old Land Rover lasted for 6 years but eventually the corrosion was getting too much so we looked for a replacement, in March 1987. That replacement turned out to be another ex-military Land Rover, this time an ex-Royal Marines Series III 88. It was more like a standard Land Rover Series 3 without the modifications that had been on the previous two.

Even with a trailer the 88" Land Rover seemed to be getting smaller as the three kids grew up. I had wanted a Land Rover Series 3 109" Safari for years and now in late August 1988 that dream finally came true.

Sam had always said he would have his own Land Rover one day. When he was 17 and left school to go to college he passed his driving test then bought this 88" in 1996.
It's his brother Ben in the back with mum, like a photo of the Series 3 88" when I took the roof off that.

In 1997 we took a family camping trip to Scotland. First camp was at Oban then on to Applecross. The Land Rover Series 3 Safari was the only vehicle to go in.

The chassis on the Land Rover Series 3 Safari was showing serious signs of corrosion and the decision was made to replace the chassis.

The development in the autogas technology had reached the point where it was now economically viable to look into converting the Land Rover Series 3 109" Safari to run on LPG.

A broken spring resulted in the purchase of parabolic springs. These have improved the ride on the Land Rover Series 3 Safari.

The petrol tank on the Land Rover Series 3 109" Safari started leaking in February 2007.

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