Hi from Jarralad! Thanks for having me!!

[Jarralad]

Jarralad aka Jon, living in God's Country.otherwise known as Cumbria, or more accurately, a little village midway from Penrith and Kendal known as Old Tebay *bows formally*

OK, first question to you steadfast (old) Landy Experts...

How do I get 'er indoors' not to nag me when I present her with my new project??? Said Project is likely to be an ex-MoD Lightweight 90 when I find a suitable one that won't have me hanging from the nearest tree (that means ''so cheap i couldn't not''), then the associated costs of changing the transmission from manual to auto, as my left leg doesn't work too well, following spinal surgery.

Second question would be for any tips in sourcing said project, other than the usual Googling and Ebay-perusing. Ideally I'd like it to be as recent as I can afford, but no Excise duty is very appealing too *grins*, as it helps in justifying question one to she-who-must-be-obeyed. Any models to avoid/General advice??


I do have a friendly mechanic, but when I say friendly, it doesn't stop him from charging me an arm and a leg e.g. £600 for wife's Chevy Aveo service, MOT and tax, and a couple of new tires etc..
He'll likely help me out (for a price) in the more technical repairs, and maybe any welding, but I really want to do as much as I can myself

I have a totally not-practical background, last 10 years in IT before the spine gave way, but as a kid, I remember fondly working with an old mate, on a Series 1 or maybe 2, can't remember, other than it had some big-assed bearings on the wheel that took some shifting

Cheers in annticipation

Jarra

 

[zollaf]

welcome to the forum.
buy a discovery thats already auto. they are cheap an plentiful and come in v8 petrol or diesel versions. unless you know what you are at then converting a lightweight to auto is going to be a very expensive mission, mainly because the only auto box thats readily available comes from a discoand simply won't fit in a lightweight unless you move the engine forwards, which is a lot of work. or do you mean a 90, since a lightweight 90 doesn't actually exist. a 90 is easier to convert but still a lot of work.

 

[Satancom]

How do I get 'er indoors' not to nag me when I present her with my new project??? Said Project is likely to be an ex-MoD Lightweight 90 when I find a suitable one that won't have me hanging from the nearest tree (that means ''so cheap i couldn't not''), then the associated costs of changing the transmission from manual to auto, as my left leg doesn't work too well, following spinal surgery.

Bin her.. I did. But if thats not really an option then you could always get her involved in it and try and highlight the plus points.. Of buy her wine and throw chocolate at her till the nagging subsides?

Second question would be for any tips in sourcing said project, other than the usual Googling and Ebay-perusing. Ideally I'd like it to be as recent as I can afford, but no Excise duty is very appealing too *grins*, as it helps in justifying question one to she-who-must-be-obeyed. Any models to avoid/General advice??

Ebay is pretty good for projects but watch as sometimes you can pay too much for something thats nothing more than a basket case. Gumtree can be quite good and if your willing to pay a recovery charge (usually £1 per mile) you could pick one up from devon way or out in the sticks as usually they will be an honest working example so no modifications falsely inflating the value

If you can weild a spanner they really are mecano for grown ups

I have a totally not-practical background, last 10 years in IT before the spine gave way, but as a kid, I remember fondly working with an old mate, on a Series 1 or maybe 2, can't remember, other than it had some big-assed bearings on the wheel that took some shifting

Well I bought mine in 2006 ish after a 6 year stint in IT. Did some basic stuff on it myself and then some more stuff with the supervision of my friendly mechanic. A few years later I got more ambitious and rebuilt a v8 in my spare room and fitted it to my series, again some help from my mechanic mate. Then after 11 years in IT I decided I prefered playing with spanners as customers generally appriciate what you do for them unlike {L}users.. So I put my notice in and now work with my friendly mechanic as a qualified mechanic..

I firmly blame my career change on my landy.. oh and the fact that beating an end user with a keyboard for telling you to stop messing about on the computer and do some work is frowned upon.

 

[Jarralad]

OOPS My bad

I was thinking something like the Land Rover Defender 110 Tithonus Hard Top RHD something like this:

http://www.mod-sales.com/direct/vehicle/,25,/68248/Land_Rover_Defender_110_Tithonus.htm

Actually a 110

Yeah I know the Disco would be the easier thing to do, but this is a bit of a labour of love, as I used to work for MoD as a civilian contractor, and I have huge and immense respect for our guys, so its meant to be a bit of a ''thank you'' to those brave guys. (also as I'm regarded as disabled now, more of a 'labour of love' / hobby' thing than anything else. Also I've come up with the cunning plot of persuading the missus, that if I get the Landy, and convert the transmission, then she can use my mobility car (which she loves) when I don't need it...and when I know the stuff, I can offer to service her crappy Aveo for her/my daughter in a years time when she's 17 smart eh??

I've researched on Ashcrofts, and assume something like this:

http://tardis1.tinygrab.com/grabs/a9d357e0107603049f0d2b09becdea6f95717cbd53.png

Cheers

J

 

[Jarralad]

Well I bought mine in 2006 ish after a 6 year stint in IT. Did some basic stuff on it myself and then some more stuff with the supervision of my friendly mechanic. A few years later I got more ambitious and rebuilt a v8 in my spare room and fitted it to my series, again some help from my mechanic mate. Then after 11 years in IT I decided I prefered playing with spanners as customers generally appriciate what you do for them unlike {L}users.. So I put my notice in and now work with my friendly mechanic as a qualified mechanic..

I firmly blame my career change on my landy.. oh and the fact that beating an end user with a keyboard for telling you to stop messing about on the computer and do some work is frowned upon.[/QUOTE]


LOL

I got an email from a colleague who had heard the following (Abridged and sanitised version)

IT SUPPORT: Good Day this is XYZ Support How may I help you???

Nutter: My computer isn't working!

IT SUPPORT: Have you tried switching it off and join again Mrs Nutter??

NUTTER: I can't, theres nothing on the screen

IT SUPPORT: No display, no Desktop, no blah blah

NUTTER: Nowt

IT SUPPORT: OK, need you to check cables etc. going into the machine, can you see (insert random cabling instruction)

NUTTER: Can't see a damn thing!

IT SUPPORT: Can you put the light on so you can see????

NUTTER: I can't, the power's out

IT SUPPORT: *sigh* Have you got the original packaging for your machine Mrs Nutter????

NUTTER: Yes, its in the understairs cupboard...why is it as bad as that???

IT SUPPORT: I'm afraid so, as you're too f***** stupid to own a computer

IT SUPPORT was subsequently sacked, but IMO, should have been promoted to the Board of Directors....true story

 

[Satancom]

I once saw, and im not kidding, someone pick up their mouse and touch it on the screen to move the mouse pointer..

Some of the stuff you see can be truley frightening.. I got told off for telling someone I wasn't going to fix his printer as I wa sa little busy. He reported me and I got called up to the MD's office. Once I explained he had barged into my office f'ing and blinding that I was just playing about, when I was actually a little busy trying to resolve the huge network issue that had just brought our SQL server to a grinding halt thus preventing any invoices/delivery notes/paperwork being generated at every uk depot.. the issue was dropped.

 

[Jarralad]

I once saw, and im not kidding, someone pick up their mouse and touch it on the screen to move the mouse pointer..

Some of the stuff you see can be truley frightening.. I got told off for telling someone I wasn't going to fix his printer as I wa sa little busy. He reported me and I got called up to the MD's office. Once I explained he had barged into my office f'ing and blinding that I was just playing about, when I was actually a little busy trying to resolve the huge network issue that had just brought our SQL server to a grinding halt thus preventing any invoices/delivery notes/paperwork being generated at every uk depot.. the issue was dropped.

As I said, I used to work on MoD's secure network, speciality Exchange (emails, Instant Messaging etc), and I had the unfortunate experience of dealing with a Major X, who had the rep. of losing many a poor engineers career, for being a generally obnoxious so-and-so, and for being a generally annoying ''poorly-informed and educated master-of-none''

I closed his case, eventually...but not until I heard, he had threatened another engineer '' to bring my f***ing tank to your site in Bracknell and bring it to the ground!!

twas always my claim to fame LOLS

J