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101 Forward
Control Land Rover pages
Service History (since we bought it)
The Basics
| Details
of vehicle |
Land-Rover 101" Forward
Control, 8 cylinder petrol
Ambulance bodied |
| 30/9/1977 |
Vehicle
built (Solihull, UK) |
| 30/7/1982 |
Vehicle
into military service |
| 28/6/1999 |
Vehicle
out of military service |
| 1/8/2000 |
Bought vehicle |
The story of getting it running:
| 8/2000 |
New plugs, plug leads
Cleaned carbs
Sorted out electrics
Repaired night heater
Door locks replaced (with ones with a key!!) |
| 9/2000 |
New petrol tank (stainless
steel, via 101 Club) |
| 10/2000 |
New thermostat and
radiator cap |
| 11/2000 |
Replaced speedo cable
(odometer still doesn't work, though)
Sorted out in-cab and rear body electrics and
split charge system (see resources centre for
details and wiring diagrams).
Mended odometer.
Front seats replaced with comfy ones.
Inertia reel seatbelts fitted to front seats. |
| 1/01 (good
date!) |
Triple gauge replaced (oil
& water temp weren't working) - (very good
price from John Craddocks)
Exhaust manifold gasket replaced (Birthday
prezzie from Lois)
New Distributor cap and rotor arm (Birthday
prezzie from Hannah) |
| 2/2001 |
Headlamps converted from
the original glow-worm. |
| 3/2001 |
New points and condenser
fitted (dwell meter method used to adjust points
- feeler gauge method hopelessly inaccurate). |
| 4/2001 |
Fuel line re-routed and
fuel pump re-wired to try to sort hot starting
problem.
New coil. |
| 6/2001 |
Carburettors overhauled
and reset. |
| 7/2001 |
New fuel filter, foglamps,
pick & shovel, and amber flashing beacon -
all from Billing - fitted. |
| 8/2001 |
New halogen headlamps and
U/J (for MoT). |
| 9/2001 |
New distributor.
Professionally tuned.
Service (oil/filter change etc)
Electronic ignition fitted |
| 12/2001 - 1/2002 |
New distributor drive gear
& timing chain. |
| 3/2002 |
New HT leads |
| 6/2002 |
Additional gauges fitted
(oil pressure, vacuum, voltmeter) |
| 7/2002 |
Flasher unit sorted out |
| 8/2002 |
Overdrive fitted |
| 10/2002 |
Service ready for winter |
| It's
worth noting that the academic year 2003/4 was
not the best one. I was having a tough time at
work, and this is reflected by the lack of
activity at this time. |
| 1/2004 |
New vacuum difflock
control, new auto advance tube |
| 5/2004 |
MoT pass!! |
| 7/2004 |
New starter motor and fuel
pump fitted. Note: a new, high speed starter
motor was fitted instead of the original
equipment unit. It spins it over like a dream,
and is FAR better at starting it than before. |
The on-going story:
| During 2005 |
New exhaust and overhaul of the oil
pump (new main gear and idler, and reconditioned
pump cover and relief valve) |
| 8/2006 |
MoT pass (first time!!) |
| 8/2006 |
All brakes
overhauled. New brake pipe fitted.
NEW TYRES FITTED - big ones! |
 |
| 10/2006 |
Oil pressure
still poor (despite new oil pump bits) and bits
starting to break, so I have to admit - finally -
that the old engine is a dog! So new engine
acquired (from Steve Graham Services who is now,
sadly, out of business). This is from a 1986
Range Rover EFi (with a 9.35:1 CR). |
Full
details of the swap (including lots of pictures)
are here. |
| 1/2007 |
Got fed up with the noise levels in
the cab, so fitted sound proofing kit from NoiseKiller Acoustics. This was quite cheap and made a
HUGE difference! |
| 2/2007 |
Having made the noise bearable, I
then decided to make the comfort levels better by
fitting some lovely new seats from Exmoor Trim. |
| 1/2008 |
So, that's makes it comfy and
reasonably quiet, so what about the cost of
running the bloody thing? I sorted that next by
buying and fitting an LPG kit. That was good fun,
but quite nerve wracking when it came to the
CoP11 test that has to be done on DiY
installations, but I needn't have worried because
the installation passed with flying colours! |
Lots
more detail here. |
| 2/2008 |
MoT pass. The old carbs (you'll
remember that I had to keep them when I installed
the Efi engine because of the gearshift and room
under the engine cover) were on their last legs,
so emissions were hard to get right ... however
the LPG kit sorted all that out and this time
there were no worries at all and she passed very
easily with lower emissions than she'd EVER had. |
| 2/2010 |
I got fed up with doing bits and
pieces to the brakes, which were never really
right and very hard to get adjusted correctly. So
the pipe flaring tool that I'd had to buy for the
LPG installation really came into its own as I
replaced all the pipes, cylinders and shoes. The
brakes are now as good as they ever could be. |
| 10/2010 |
MoT - perfect! |
| 11/2011 |
MoT - perfect! |
| 3/2012 |
Major problems with clutch! Wouldn't
engage properly, slipping too! Turned out to be a
collapsed flexible pipe restricting and sometimes
even blocking the flow of fluid completely.
However, this had led to a meltdown of the
release bearing, so I had to do that too. Dropped
the gearbox down this time rather than taking the
engine out. On balance, it's easier to get the
dearbox out than the engine, so for clutch
repairs this is my recommended method. |
| 11/2012 |
MoT - perfect! |
| 11/2013 |
MoT
- perfect |
| 9/2014 |
Full service including new plugs.
Also I decided to upgrade the alternator from the
old Lucas ACR25 (the ambulance standard that
pumps out 50 amps when new) to a Unipoint
ALT-4028 ( which is a 75 amp unit). This fits in
the with new split charge system as well as
lifting the voltage to a charge-level, which the
old alternator didn't. I've also replaced the
starter motor - the one I put on in 2004 (a high
speed one, you'll remember) wasn't as good as I
thought. I've now reverted to the standard one
for the engine. Now that I have the new engine
with its electronic ignition and LPG, it doesn't
need a high speed starter anyway.. |
| 11/2014 |
MoT
- warning of worn swivel pin |
| 11/2015 |
MoT - perfect (so my
repair of the swivel pin worked ok!) |
| 3/2016 |
New front propshaft
fitted (one with a double joint at each end and a
long slip sliding joint). This was a Christmas
present from Lois and Hannah, and is to sort out
the characteristic front propshaft rumble. It was
made by Dunning &
Fairbank. Just a quick note about
this firm. They are really helpful people and we
thoroughly recommend them. They were happy to
discuss this propshaft and its specification with
me, and them make it up as specified offering
advice when necessary.
The characteristic
101 front drivetrain rubmble is now GONE - it's
as smooth as silk and just as silent. No rumble
at all. Lovely!
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If you do this job, note that you'll
need longer propshaft bolts to deal with the
thicker yokes. I used 1 1/4" x 3/8" UNF
bolts to replace the standard 1 1/8" bolts. |
| 2017/18 |
A slow time for the vehicle - My new post
took up a great deal of my time, so little way
done. However now I've retired, I can give it the
time it deserves! |
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| May 2018 |
An important time! This is when the
Government brings MoTrequirements into line with
the Historic Vehicle tax requirements, and it
won't an MoT to get tax, which is free anyway
because it's over 40 years old! Looking forward
to that! |
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TOTAL COST to date
(Aug 2000 to Feb 2018):
| Base
vehicle: |
£2,300 |
| Parts: |
£5,157 |
| Service/labour |
£1,526 |
| TOTAL |
£8,984 |
| Per day of ownership: |
£1.40 (not bad for a
hobby - or so I tell my wife!) |
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