What have you done with your Series 2 today ?

[Richard]

"Where is the Series 2 and the driver? Where is the horn that was blowing? They have passed like rain on the mountain, like wind in the meadow. The days have gone down in Solihull behind the hills into shadow. How did it come to this?"
Theoden

[Kev]

Today, I have been mostly breaking down near Glossop, nearly contracting hypothermia, then being recovered back to Leicester.😕

[diffwhine]

Oh dear... Lets have the gory details. What broke?

[Richard]

I have been mostly breaking down near Glossop, nearly contracting hypothermia

What I find interesting is that when I google words like car, breakdown, cold, winter, what to do, I get two different, no, opposing recommendations: when possible put the car on the hard shoulder, an emergency rescue area, or something like that and (1) leave the vehicle, and (2) for heaven's sake don't leave the vehicle, the last option being safer in severe winter or cold conditions... I guess it depends on the circumstances. On the hard shoulder in busy traffic it's probably best to leave the car, but what if it's freezing cold in a down poor with gusty winds, when the chances of you becoming hypothermic are very real – even in summer...

Here are some tips on what to do from AA and RAC. But how serious do you take an organization that illustrates their survival recommendations with an image of a broken down Land Rover, and a Disco 1 at that. I mean, that's just silly...

Richard (I carry a flimsy blanket and an extra overcoat, but that's it...)

[Series2ajosh]

I fitted the freshly rebuilt steering box onto the chassis today, just awaiting a final parts order and I can call the whole steering assembly done!

[Kev]

Oh dear... Lets have the gory details. What broke?

Well basically, the alternator bracket came away from the block, allowing the alternator to twist slightly, Bending the the adjusting bar causing it to throw the belt.
The charging light came on and the temp started to rise.
I found a layby in the middle of nowhere on top of a big hill.

I did have some kit and a spare belt, but...

Earlier on I'd done a 2 1/2 hour hike from Snake Pass summit in horizontal rain and got absolutely soaked to the skin.
I was on the way to a place 1/2 an hour away where I could get a hot chocolate and get dry.

Half an hour lying underneath the 88" in the rain later, and I couldn't hold the spanners as I was shivering so much, and it was getting dark.
I called the recovery company and was told they would be 1 1/2 hours.

In the meantime I tried to make a hot drink but it was so cold, the gas in my canister stove wouldn't light...

Two ladies pulled up in a car saying they were concerned because they'd seen me earlier and I was still there
They offered to go and get me a hot drink and a hot water bottle, but I politely declined as the recovery guy had just phoned me.

It just shows there are still some kind people out there.🏆

Well you did ask...🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣

[simonbav]

I finished fitting the o/s wing front and added the sidelight and o/s headlight, horn wiring and grille. I've the Boomslang loom to add to the headlamps and will post about that separately if I need to. The list 'til rolling finish grows shorter:

add gear oil to gearboxes and axles;
bodywork (panel) straightening and remaining minor repairs;
front to back toothcomb.

[TimV]

Today I was fiddling with the speedo cable, to find out why it was intermittently working/not working. Poor cable I deduced.

But while I was there, I noticed the brown wire going to the panel sockets had a couple of cuts in it - probably PO with those dreaded blue connectors (the unfused one!!). I or someone had put insulating tape over the cuts, but this had peeled off. Not a permanent solution. So I cut the terminal off, slipped some heat shrink over the cuts and put the terminal back on with fresh heat shrink. That should last a bit longer.

[Countryview]

Finally got round to fitting a new fuel sender as the gauge never showed full and found that the metal arm on the old sender had been lengthened and soldered together for some unknown reason.

[Craig T]

A lot of the aftermarket senders come like that as they can be used in a number of applications.

You are meant to cut the two rods down to match the old one you take out and they supply small crimp things to slide onto the rods to lock them together. Some people do use solder to help strengthen the joint.

I have the same in my kit car tank. The tank in that is quite large but only about 8" deep so I needed to make a very short arm. So short in fact I managed to bend a circle in the end of the first rod that fitted the float and didn't use the second rod.

Craig.

[Countryview]

A lot of the aftermarket senders come like that as they can be used in a number of applications.

You are meant to cut the two rods down to match the old one you take out and they supply small crimp things to slide onto the rods to lock them together. Some people do use solder to help strengthen the joint.

I have the same in my kit car tank. The tank in that is quite large but only about 8" deep so I needed to make a very short arm. So short in fact I managed to bend a circle in the end of the first rod that fitted the float and didn't use the second rod.

Craig.
[/quotes

A lot of the aftermarket senders come like that as they can be used in a number of applications.

You are meant to cut the two rods down to match the old one you take out and they supply small crimp things to slide onto the rods to lock them together. Some people do use solder to help strengthen the joint.

I have the same in my kit car tank. The tank in that is quite large but only about 8" deep so I needed to make a very short arm. So short in fact I managed to bend a circle in the end of the first rod that fitted the float and didn't use the second rod.

Craig.

That's interesting, I didn't know that and it now makes sense...the PO obviously neglected or forgot to use the crimps. The new sender I bought off Emberton is shorter but works a treat, I can now run the tank to below quarter full without worrying about how much fuel I've got left!

Thanks
Adrian

[diffwhine]

You have to be a little bit careful soldering those arms as E10 petrol can eat at certain types of solder. The crimps along usually work loose. I connected one pair of arm wires together once using electrical connector crimps. That was at least 10 years ago and its still working fine. I've taken to getting it all set up to the right length and then a couple of very small blobs of weld instead which seems to work.

Those senders are cheap and cheerful, but it makes sense to run a generic unit and just modify arms to suit. There are some quality OE spec ones about, but obviously more expensive.

[Alan Drover]

Emberton sell the proper ones. I bought one for my Series 3 recently and now have a working fuel gauge. The crappy Britpart 2 piece fell apart in the tank but I managed to fish the broken bits out with a flexible rod with a magnet on the end.

[simonbav]

Just a quick two hours on the beastie this morning. I made up some Milliput to keep the headlight on my push bike in position and used the remainder on the unfinished rim section of my steering wheel, then finished the wiring to the headlights and o/s front indicator which the wren had kindly christened.

[Alan Drover]

After 9 days of not being used the Land Rover started no problem. En route to the dog walk I noticed in the distance a horse rider on a skittish horse coming towards me so I stopped and waited for them to go by. No need to switch the engine off as the 2.5 is very quiet. After the dog walk and a cup of coffee in the dog café (where the dog is more welcome than I am) it was back home. The road was busy and I had to wait to turn right as there was a long line of Euroblobbery coming in the opposite direction. However in amongst it was an older probably turn of the century Jaguar XK8 who let me turn. A quick flash of the headlights in thanks. Obviously a classic vehicle fan and driving a future classic no doubt.
The heated windscreens had to be deployed to shift misting up.