I've left this blog for a few weeks so I'd have enough to write about on the next update, which is what I'm writing now of course!

The GP Masters was good fun, although Mansell broke down on the parade lap and the weather was weird, it was akin to October arriving two months early. I've got some photos from the event if anyone is interested.

During the week leading up to the weekend of the 19th-20th I did some small items of work, such as replacing some of the bolts holding the front wing on and throwing away some of the junk that was starting to clutter the back of the Landrover. I also ordered up some electrical wire and connectors from AES, and spent hours on the net getting the correct wiring information for the Clarion radio I'd saved from the scrapped Landy. In addition to this I resprayed the radio mounting craddle with some Halford black paint after a good clean as it was shedding old flecks of paint, and looked less than pretty.

On the 19th my Uncle returned and we replaced the oil seals on both sides of the rear axle. This wasn't as tough a job as we expected, and by the second one we knew exactly what needed doing, and did it in less than an hour working at a leisurely pace. We also removed the broken radio aerial from the front wing, thinking we'd be able to put a new one in it's place, but due to clearance issues, we scrapped that idea. On the down side one of my neighbours helped themselves to some of my uncle's tools while he worked under the Landrover and I was out buying a new plastic bowl in which to catch the leaking axle oil.

On the 20th I headed off to Maplins and bought a smaller rubberised aerial that is desgined to be roof mounted and a few crocodile clips to make a test harness for the electrical items I'd saved from the scrapyard.

I didn't do anywork during the next week as the weather was very hit and miss and I didn't want to start anything and then have to pack away after 10 mins due to a downpour. What I did do however was get the V5 document sent off to Swansea to notify them of the new engine number (the previous owners did an engine swap but didn't update the v5 as the vehicle was SORNed).

On the 27th with uncle back over, we did the remaining leaking axle seal, which went well although the remaining original brake cylinder decided it would let go, so now has to be replaced. Since it was on the wheel we were working on, I expect the disturbance of removing the shoes was the final straw and it just let go and leaked. I suppose it's lucky to catch the problem now rather than later, and on the safety side it will mean all the cylinders are new. We also fitted the new rubber aerial into the roof (there's a pre drilled hole with a rubber bung) and raked it back so it's quite unonbrusive. The hole in the wing will most likely get a CB aerial (when I fit a CB) as they are useful when Greenlaning. We also washed out the interior, and threw out a lot more tat from the back, as well as getting all the new seat cushions properly installed. The latter required some bending of seat squab brackets, but we got them in which is the main thing.

On the 28th I built my electical test rig and found that one of the spotlights I bought works fine but I couldn't test the other unfortunately. This one needs a new connector on the back of the light, which I have but I don't want to fit it yet until I've worked out how I want to wire these up. Once it's crimped onto a wire the new connector can't be removed.

Today I shall be off to buy the new cylinder, and to chase up the 15" Mountney wheel I wanted.

The last few weeks have heralded quite a few developments, some bad some good so just to recap, here's the story to date.

On Saturday the 22nd of July my Uncle kindly returned to get the brake system finished off. We managed to get this done which was a huge boost, this was an easier task than expected as one of the front brake cylinders had been replaced by the previous owner and thus could be easily bled. The other one wasn't so helpful, but we managed to open the nipple in the end, so now the brakes work as intended. We still need new shoes on the rear brakes, but we can't do this until the axle seals are fixed. In addition we tried to work on the handbrake, but couldn't remove the drum, so we put that on hold until we could find out what the trick to doing this was. While the centre seat panel was out I took the opportunity to remove some of the 1/2" thick mud covering the gear box. On Sunday I continued the cleaning after purchasing a suitable scrubbing brush for the task.

On the following Friday (28th) I got a chance to visit a local scrapyard where I picked up an aerial and a cigarette lighter with socket from a Saab. The socket will be wired into the dash to allow me to fit a larger fan to augment the interior cooling system. The fan itself was only £3 from Aldi and resembles a small oscilating desk fan with a big clip instead of a foot, that can be attached to the dashboard. While I was at the yard I spotted a white 109" Land Rover from which I took some few screws and fitttings.

Over the weekend of the 29/30th I pressure washed the Land Rover and found two large rust holes. One of these I had seen before in one of the front crossmembers, but the washer had revealed the rust's full progression. The other was in the side of the bulkhead (under the driver's door hinge) and went right through the section to the interior. These caused me to wonder if the Landy was doomed, and to plan a trip down to RJs on the following Monday. I still fitted one pedal rubber on the Sunday as I thought just in case I could save the Land Rover, it would be a job done.

Down at RJs on Monday, I got some very bad news, the rusty crossmember couldn't be replaced, and the bulkhead might not be fixable. They also told me the gearbox problem I had (the 4x4 lever not engaging) couldn't be fixed without removing the gearbox. This was pretty much terminal news.

Clutching at straws, I decided to email a rebuilder to get a quote on a chassis swap for a new galvanised one, and for a gearbox rebuild. It would take a couple of days to get back an estimate of £3000 for the chassis swap and £300 for the gearbox, but in the meantime other events had occurred.

On Wednesday (03/08) My Uncle came back to finish the handbrake, but after looking at the rusty parts was certain the chassis at least could be welded. This would be much less than £3000, and perhaps the bulkhead could be patched too, or if not filled with bodyfiller, so the project was back on. He also thought we should try to fix the axle seals ourselves and since that only left the gearbox to do, we could try that too! Buoyed by this news we got the handbrake drum off (by dropping the prop shaft the task was easier) and found the shoes were completely worn out and the actuator pivot and bush were badly worn. If these were replaced the hand brake would be in service again. As we didn't have the parts available, and given the weather was turning nasty, we put the drum back on and vowed to get the job finished another day.

Returning to the Land Rover I had spotted on the previous Friday, I wanted to go and see if it could give us any other useful spares. The first time I had 30mins in the yard, so not long enough to removed much, so I wanted to go back with a full day to hand. On Saturday the 5th of August, my step father and I went back to the yard and removed a good lot of spares and interesting items. We took the following items:

- A new rear door with wheel hanger, wiper mount and washer
- Spare headlight bulbs, interior bulbs and fuses
- A radio with 3 speakers
- 2 Front light guards and 1 rear (one had been taken already)
- Handbrake return spring
- Interior Switch gear, fuse box and clock
- 2 Spot lights
- Rear water pump and resevoir

Not much time to work on the Land Rover this coming weekend as I'm off to Silverstone to watch the GP Masters race where Damon Hill could be racing alongside Nigel Mansell and Emerson Fittipaldi.