Our team of 5 men and one women are fundraising for an event named ‘The School Run’ which will see 3 Series Land Rover Ambulances bought with our own, personal funds be driven from the UK to The Gambia in Africa.
Each vehicle will be filled with school equipment and medical supplies on this 4000 mile journey!
We have donated 100.00 pounds sterling towards this great cause !
Find More Information by Clicking Here
In the wake of the Arab Spring, two intrepid women set out to experience and document everyday life in North Africa and the Near East, some of the most rapidly evolvingCHARITY LAND ROVER RUN 2014
Old Landies are thinking of France now –
Our Charity run in May.
The planning has started already,
We mean to enjoy the day.
This is our fifth anniversary,
We’ve made 20 Grand so far.
Every year the amount is growing
Let’s keep on raising the bar!
We give all we make to charity,
A different one each run.
The focus is normally children –
We think they deserve some fun.
We all like our holidays, don’t we?
We think of them as our right.
But if you’ve got cystic fibrosis
Life is an unceasing fight.
You have probably heard of “CF”
But don’t know what is implied.
Hospitals, medicines, and diets,
Life up and down like the tide.
It’s a struggle to get up some days,
Breathing can be quite a feat,
And you get lots of indigestion –
There’s so much that you can’t eat.
Cystic Fibrosis Holiday Fund
Is our Charity this year.
It gives patients and carers a break;
A memory to hold dear.
There are sponsorship forms for drivers,
An online site to donate,
We’ll be asking the public for help
Let’s hope the response is GREAT!
Mike Cooper.
Since buying the Forward Control 2B two years ago, we have been asked frequently what has happened to it, well, just over a year ago it was moved undercover into our Ipswich Depot where it sat untouched for another 8 months.
Finally in October we bit the bullet and started on a full rebuild program, and bit by bit the vehicle was dismantled down to a running chassis, the vehicle was up and running prior to dismantling so we knew that the major components worked after a fashion.The chassis proved to be extensively corroded to the point that after careful consideration it was deemed to be beyond repair, and so a new chassis is now on order with Richards Chassis.
Whilst we await the delivery of the new chassis our attention has turned to the engine and box, over the last week we have stripped the engine to its component form, the block and crank have been passed over to the capable hands of Pat Segar of Seager Engineering, in Ipswich, an old friend with many years’ experience in the reconditioning trade, we are awaiting his report on what is required. Whilst the engine was very clean inside there is evidence of wear on the crank although I am hoping we can get away with a hone and new rings for the pistons.
The Carburettor and Distributor have been sent away to be reconditioned, new replacements are impossible to find now which is a shame.Rather than tackle the gearbox ourselves we sent this away complete to Colin Whitehouse, the renowned Series Gearbox specialist to be completely stripped chemically cleaned and rebuilt So now we are awaiting the return of the engine so that we can rebuild it and have it ready to drop straight into the chassis when it arrives, our next task will be to strip and overhaul both axles prior to the return of the chassis too.I will keep the blog up to date as to how progress goes with this project, good news and bad, in the meantime if anyone reading this happens to have any 6 cylinder engine parts especially a water pump, and any Forward control 2B parts I would be glad to hear from you.
Duncan Mansfield
Forward Control Chassis – www.richardschassis.co.uk
P Seager Engineering – www.seager-engineering.com
R Whitehouse & Son (Gearbox Rebuilder’s) – 01384 221 304
Britcar are pleased to announce that this year we have sponsored the vehicle rally plaques for the Classic Land Rover run to Le Touquet, France! Over the last 4 years this event has raised over £20,000 for various chosen charities, this year they chose the Cystic Fibrosis Holiday Fund who help to fund holidays and short breaks for children and young people with Cystic Fibrosis, offering a respite from the disease. They would like to break through the £25,000 barrier to help this amazing charity with their work and help more CF-sufferers enjoy the holiday of a lifetime.
This year’s event will take place on the weekend of 10th-11th May, with over 40 Classic Land Rovers booked on the ferry already! For more information on the event or if you would like to donate please visit:
Just for fun, here is a Land Rover themed word search.
To add to our ever expanding off-road product range. we have just added these 15 inch and 16 inch Bead-lockers
BA7705 15 inch Beadlocker 4 Wheel Ring Kit
BA7706 16 inch Beadlocker 4 Wheel Ring Kit
Beadlocker kits designed to lock 1 bead of your tyre to the rim to prevent popping the bead off when running at low pressure off road. These lockers are tried and tested and are safe to run as low as 5psi off road to
maximise traction.
• Fully captive inner front
• Shaped outer ring designed to clear any mud trapped in the rim.
• 21 x high tensile cap head screws to fix outer ring to inner ring using a heel and toe clamping technique (unique to us) to eradicate
dishing of the outer ring.
• No tyre sealant needed
• No overnight flat spotting of the tyre
• No pressure loss.
Beadlockers are intended for off road use only.
We saw this and thought we would share it
T’was the night before Christmas and all through the land.
not a rover was leaking, not even a series one oil pan.
The rovers were all snug and warm in the garage,
with visions of winches and romps through the mud.
Mama in her nighty, and I in my rover cap had just
sat on the couch for a camel trophy recap.
When out on the garage there rose such a rattle
I swore that my D-90 must have shorted out in battle.
I rose from the couch in a rather quick fashion,
and rushed to the garage to see what had happened.
I threw open the door, turned on the light
and to my great surprise, everything was all right.
Then out on the drive I heard a man grumbling,
something about sir Lucas and his great mental fumbling.
As I peered out my window much suprise was mine
as I spotted jolly Saint Nick in an old green 109.
The fenders were tattered, the bumper askew,
the tires were smoking and letting off fumes,
the hood was propped open, and tools all askew
as Jolly old Saint Nick quickly disappeared from my view.
The light lights came on dimly, with the left one on first
and jolly old Saint Nick let out another curse.
The grounds, he was muttering as he came back in sight,
a few whacks with a jack and bye gosh there was light.
He gather his tools and slammed down the old hood,
jumped into the rover and started to move.
The diesel was clanking ,the smoke was a sight,
as the old 109 slowly disappeared from my sight.
I watched the lights blink, heard a cuss out of sight
“Merry Christmas to all, and to all a good night,
from Russell Burns alroc.com
Tim emailed us a few months ago, Asking if we would like to donate a Raffle prize for this years Land Rover Discovery Birthday Weekend
Another year over, the Discovery another year older and the celebrations are well and truly over. Hopefully everyone that attended has got home safely and by now are most probably back at work telling their work mates what a great weekend they have all had, will they understand?
Many many thanks to everyone that turned up and took part, either in their Land Rovers or Family saloons. Yes 3 Discovery’s broke down on their way but not to be put off 2 of their owners were low loaded back home only to come down in their cars, that is dedication. Approx 50 Land Rovers and of course 3 cars took part in the weekends celebrations, and if the cars have problems you can take the car to a body shop to fix any issue like this. Roy Preston and Chris Lowe bringing along their G WACs. Without everyone’s dedication and support the weekend would not be as good as it is if indeed it would happen at all. It has come along way since a few members of the DOC Committee put together its first informal get together to celebrate its 20th.
An amazing £1425 was raised through the sale of Raffle Tickets, Weekend Stickers, Rally Plaques and the Auction. Both the Jubilee Sailing Trust and the National Coast-watch Institution are very greatful for everyone’s generosity. There are still a few Rally Plaques and Stickers available, if you require either please let me know. The Plaques are £7 and the Stickers are £3. Postage will be a couple of quid if buying a plaque.
The website will be updated over the next couple of days, please visit it for the full story and some photos of the weekend.Again many thanks to all those that supported this great weekend and hopefully see you all again next year for the Discovery’s 25th Birthday Weekend.
Tim Newcombe
On the right, you can find Duncan’s lovely 2004 Range Rover L322. Don’t be fooled by the facelift! It has had a rather useful upgrade this week. After some complaints from the boss about his mk3 BMW sat nav unit, it was time to upgrade to a better model. After a couple of hours of research, I dove in at the deep end and, by pure luck, managed to source, fit and upgrade the unit to a mark 4 version. (Oh, and it wasn’t that difficult in the end!)
Well at Britcar Global, we like to sell vast amounts of parts but also share some useful knowledge learnt over the years! So here goes:
Tools:
I prepared by burning a V32 Firmware disc with a snazzy 2010 Range Rover splash screen. You need to use a decent brand disc and burn at the lowest setting, in my case X2 speed on Windows 7.
The mk4 unit came in the post and I quickly popped out to the boot of the car and prepared to install the unit.
The boot cover just pops off, exposing the DVD unit. Using my handy DIY removal tools, I removed mk3 unit in seconds. The two connectors are easy to pull off using the levers. The GPS aerial comes off easily enough too. The mk4 unit is the reverse of the removal, with identical connectors and fitment.
Once installed, you put the key in the ignition and then panic – the screen will show a BMW badge. It’s not fooling anyone, so the time is right for a firmware upgrade. At this point, I went round to the back of the car again and ejected any discs from the unit. I inserted my newly made firmware disc into the unit and then waited patiently while the unit updates. You just need to confirm this when it’s done by taking the disc out and pressing okay. I then popped back around to the boot/trunk and swapped the disc with the BMW map.
I had a fully working mk4 unit with a 2009 map and the new features.
At this point, I locked the car and came back after a break to be greeted by a new splash screen.
Success – one happy boss!
Credits: Matthew Stevenson (My_Range_Rover) for firmware file.
Disclaimer: If you want to carry out this installation yourself, please do so at your own risk. We are not responsible if anything goes wrong with your installation
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