Member Since: 06 Mar 2014
Location: Surrey
Posts: 1172
Ozpod
Spent a bit of time this afternoon fitting my Ozpod on roof bars in preparation for camping next weekend. It's a bit of a faff as the bars need to line up exactly with holes already drilled in the 'pod, but got there in the end. The new extended roof rails have come into their own now, too
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The 'pod is as far back as it can go and just misses the open tailgate.
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To fix the 'pod to the roof bars, I borrowed some of the fixings from my Thule bike carriers:
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Darren
"You came in that thing? You're braver than I thought!" - Princess Leia
Last edited by LandRoverAnorak on 21st Sep 2024 7:34 pm. Edited 1 time in total
6th Jun 2015 7:51 pm
LandRoverAnorak
Member Since: 06 Mar 2014
Location: Surrey
Posts: 1172
Rear Work Light
Encouraged by camping plans for next weekend, I finally managed to install my rear work light this afternoon. When I say install, I really mean lash-up as it'll need re-doing properly at some point. It's good enough to prove the concept though.
Those who've been following this for some time (see page 6) will have seen the bracket that I've made to mount a light on the top of my ladder:
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To retain the benefit when the tailgate is open, the bracket allows the light to swivel and point downwards through the glass to light up the back of the vehicle:
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I'll try and get some pictures in the dark later.
Did I mention that it's a lash up? Specifically, that applies to the electrics. Eventually, I'll build a control box that will allow the light to be switched on both from a switch at the rear and automatically with the reversing lights but for the time being it's on a socket to the existing power from the second battery. Look away now if easily alarmed:
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Getting the cable from the light to the inside of the vehicle is a real pain and will need re-thinking for the final install. For now though, it runs down the door frame (with liberal use of duct tape to secure it), into the top of the RH rear light cluster and then inside through the rubber grommets for the light cluster wiring. The original second battery install puts a 12v socket on the top of the side trim but I'll probably move that to the jack storage panel and add a few more, which will also provide a handy switch position for the work light.Darren
"You came in that thing? You're braver than I thought!" - Princess Leia
Last edited by LandRoverAnorak on 21st Sep 2024 7:42 pm. Edited 4 times in total
7th Jun 2015 4:47 pm
Andy Foster
Member Since: 27 Dec 2009
Location: Liverpool
Posts: 6551
Liking the light
Been thinking of something similar for ages. Nice touch with the bracket.
Great build thread
Cheers
AndyD4 MY15 SE TECH
D3 gone but never forgotten.
7th Jun 2015 5:49 pm
LandRoverAnorak
Member Since: 06 Mar 2014
Location: Surrey
Posts: 1172
Thanks Andy.
Managed a couple of 'in the dark' piccys last night. It's notoriously difficult to photograph light output, but they give the idea of the spread in both positions. Suffice to say that it's more than bright enough though!
Light pointing backwards:
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Light pointing downwards through tailgate glass:
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Darren
"You came in that thing? You're braver than I thought!" - Princess Leia
Last edited by LandRoverAnorak on 21st Sep 2024 8:17 pm. Edited 2 times in total
8th Jun 2015 9:32 am
Partickpebbles
Member Since: 23 Feb 2015
Location: Leeds
Posts: 269
The Lights a great idea! Really bright too! Good effort! Black D4 December 2014
Side Steps
Oh and now I have a Labrador!
Previous cars (Recent to first!):
Nissan Navara
SAAB 9-3
Renaultsport Clio
Citroen C2 GT
Mercedes A Class
Volvo S40
Renault Clio 16v Williams Blue
Citroen Saxo VTR
Audi A3
Renault Clio 16V Black
Vauxhall Corsa SRI
Ford Fiesta 1.1 Popular Plus
8th Jun 2015 10:07 am
LandRoverAnorak
Member Since: 06 Mar 2014
Location: Surrey
Posts: 1172
Window Blinds
On my last couple of Land Rovers I've had the rear windows tinted and have been very pleased with the result. I haven't had chance to get the D3 done though so, as a quick fix, I thought I'd give some window blinds a go.
These are from a company called UV Car Shades. They are very easy to fit, and can removed and re-fitted in seconds if required.
They've proved to be very difficult to photograph properly but in real life they look great.
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Darren
"You came in that thing? You're braver than I thought!" - Princess Leia
Last edited by LandRoverAnorak on 21st Sep 2024 8:25 pm. Edited 1 time in total
11th Jun 2015 8:03 pm
LandRoverAnorak
Member Since: 06 Mar 2014
Location: Surrey
Posts: 1172
Bottle Jack
In preparation for installing some electrical gubbins in the storage bin where the standard jack lives and given the bad press that jack has, I thought it time to invest in a new jack. I've read lots of posts on here about various replacements, with the Sprinter being the initial favourite until I came across the posts about that failing, so I started looking for an alternative. I also found a post by Bodsy that mentioned the lifting height that could be required, which seemed to discount many obvious candidates.
The standard jack, if fully extended, will lift to around 490mm, so that dictated that part of the spec required. At the other end of the scale, the standard jack is obviously very low - much lower than any bottle jack with the required lift is likely to be. Many bottle jacks have a screw out post to provide much of their range, but without a lot of faffing with a separate stand, their single lift range is usually only about 130mm. Any such jack that can reach 490mm would be too tall to fit underneath the vehicle, especially with a flat tyre.
After much searching though, I think I've found the ideal candidate. It's a five tonne two stage bottle jack made by SGS Engineering in Derby. It's only 225mm high but has a stroke of 275mm, so will reach 500mm overall.
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I originally found it on eBay, although it can also be bought directly from their own website, which is what I've done.
Useful jacks to have around too. I went for the 10 ton version for the slightly wider range. Current: Discovery 3 06MY (55 reg) HSE Auto Zambezi Silver Allisport Fast Road Intercooler, V8 Brakes, Silicone IC Hoses, EGRs Blanked, Remapped, De-Cat pipe, FBHIC
Freelander 2 2007 HSE Manual Tambora Flame
Previous: FL2 56 reg SE Manual Black (written off )
Disco 3 06 reg B7S Manual Rimini Red
Disco 2 TD5 Y reg ES Manual Blue - Chipped
Several Discovery 300 TDis
15th Jun 2015 11:35 am
LandRoverAnorak
Member Since: 06 Mar 2014
Location: Surrey
Posts: 1172
IID BT
New toy arrived today (in a box big enough for fifty of them ):
Now off to read Disco Mikey's quick start guide Darren
"You came in that thing? You're braver than I thought!" - Princess Leia
Member Since: 06 Mar 2014
Location: Surrey
Posts: 1172
Xenon Headlights
Had a couple of hours to spare today and first job on the list was to install my newly acquired xenon headlights. Here they are, all polished and lubed up, ready to fit:
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Unfortunately, having removed the light guards and existing headlights, I noticed that the light guard brackets were looking a bit sorry for themselves. So they were cleaned up and given a quick blast of Smoothrite:
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More unfortunately, the brackets had rubbed through the paint on the leading edges of the wings.
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I didn't have anything to hand to do anything about that, but I could stop it getting worse by attaching some stickyback neoprene foam to the inside faces of the brackets:
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When I came to re-fit the light guards, I realised that I was missing the small soft plastic buffers that remained stuck to the original lights. More stickyback foam to the rescue:
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After all that, the completed set-up:
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They work absolutely fine, although I haven't tried them in the dark yet. I might go out for a quick spin in a few minutes...Darren
"You came in that thing? You're braver than I thought!" - Princess Leia
Last edited by LandRoverAnorak on 21st Sep 2024 9:03 pm. Edited 1 time in total
25th Jul 2015 9:23 pm
LandRoverAnorak
Member Since: 06 Mar 2014
Location: Surrey
Posts: 1172
Replacement Jack
Finally for now, I mentioned a little while ago that I'd bought a new bottle jack to replace the standard scissor jack of dubious reputation and, whilst still waiting for paint to dry, I gave it a test:
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With all four doors shut and suspension at standard height, it easily lifted the tyre clear with lots of travel in reserve:
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The suspension made a few huffs and puffs as I started to take the weight on the jack but there were no dramas. However, when I let it down again, I was surprised to find the front suspension completely deflate, to the extent that I thought I was going to struggle to get the jack out:
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I guess that this is a consequence of the suspension reacting to being jacked up, whereby it stops the wheel being jacked up from extending. It was a bit disconcerting though
Anyway, with the test completed, I turned my attention to storing it. It's quite a chunky thing so I was a bit concerned about this, but I found that if I removed the polystyrene moulding for the old jack, then new one wrapped in a towel would fit easily along with all of the other gubbins:
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Darren
"You came in that thing? You're braver than I thought!" - Princess Leia
Last edited by LandRoverAnorak on 21st Sep 2024 8:57 pm. Edited 1 time in total
25th Jul 2015 9:44 pm
Tiger
Member Since: 13 Mar 2006
Location: Wales
Posts: 490
Shes looking good still!
Whack the hazzards on when jacking as i think this stops tbe compressor reacting
25th Jul 2015 9:48 pm
LandRoverAnorak
Member Since: 06 Mar 2014
Location: Surrey
Posts: 1172
Thanks Not sure about the hazards though I'll have to read the manual again.
Anyway, a quick spin out to a dark secluded spot allowed me to take these:
Dipped beam -
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Main beam -
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I think I'll take it to have the headlights aligned, as I think they're pointing a bit high. The beam is very different from the old halogens though, so I'm not too sure.Darren
"You came in that thing? You're braver than I thought!" - Princess Leia
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Allisport Fast Road Intercooler, V8 Brakes, Silicone IC Hoses, EGRs Blanked, Remapped, De-Cat pipe, FBHIC
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