A big 'Hello' from the Isle of Skye!

Skye Stage 1 · Post by **Skye Stage 1** » Wed Jul 04, 2007 10:33 am

Allow me to introduce myself as the new owner of Mictho’s Stage 1 – you probably saw his eBay listing. I had narrowly missed buying Jon’s lovely S.W. – I was there with my finger poised over the B.I.N. button, but some other person got there before me (I hope it’s gone to a good home in the States, at least). I then e-mailed Alan, from this board, about his Stage 1 – unfortunately, at the time it looked like it was going to be sold to a foreign buyer, but that fell through – unluckily for him, by then I had sorted out a deal with Michel. I had also e-mailed Paul, but he wanted slightly more for his (very nice) vehicle than I was prepared to pay – certainly a perfectly fair price, just a little more than I wanted to spend. With Michel, though all that remained was the actual handover of the Landrover. Of course, he lives in Tadley, and as you probably spotted at the top of this ditty, I live in the far northwest corner of Scotland. Happily, before confirming the deal I had asked Michel if he would be able to drive the Landy up to Glasgow, obviously I would be happy to pay his travel costs. He said that wouldn’t be a problem, and we set a date.

Well, the eventful day came – I had bought a coach ticket that went from Portree on Skye, all the way to Glasgow, leaving at an obscenely early time in an attempt to avoid rush-hour. I must say, on the way down the enormity of the task began to dawn on me. I mean, I knew the route out of Glasgow well enough (though in this case I picked a different one, thinking I was being clever), and I know Series Landies well enough to be happy driving them; but, up to this point, never the two had met! However, Michel was totally confident in the ability of the vehicle. In the end, I arrived at Glasgow slightly before Michel, but we met up in Queen Street car park to fill in paperwork and for me to release a large (but very fair) amount of cash. All that remained was to get it home…

As I mentioned I had planned a slightly different route out of Glasgow (not a city I know well) – the bus station I had come in to was almost smack on the A82, which would take me two thirds of the way home: I had thought it would be a quick and easy way out of Glasgow. In the event, it turned out to be a very busy street, punctuated by traffic lights every 100m, not a single set of which remained green for long enough for me to get through two at a time. Of course, this was also the day of the airport terrorist attack (though I didn’t find this out until afterwards), which clogged up some of the town.

After about an hour of stop-start traffic, during which my leg muscles had started to complain at the heavy clutch I ended up on some clear road, and started heading north. I must say, this was the low part of the journey – I had planned on about 45 minutes to get from Glasgow to Crianlarich, in the end, it took around two hours. I pulled in for a short breather – Michel had mentioned that occasionally the Landy would hesitate on LPG, and it didn’t seem to like the slow, unsteady very tight roads up the side of Loch Lomond. After a bit of mental debate, I switched on to petrol, and got to Fort William in about 50 minutes! Good progress indeed, the roads had dried up a little bit (though it did rain the entire way home), and I was able to maintain a steady 65mph with no fuss. I was able to fill up with LPG here, and so switched back to that. I hit a very nasty pothole, just outside of the town, which gave the Landy a nasty jar – I did pull in and check it over, and it seemed fine. Worrying though.

The last part of the journey was comparatively simple – the road branched on to the A87, which is a road I drive often. I made it back home after about 7 hours behind the wheel.

I must comment on some extremely positive aspects of the trip:

The Landrover performed flawlessly – I must say, I was nervous about the trip, but it didn’t miss a beat.

Great seats – the don’t look all that comfortable, but they are.

The road tyres made braking and steering almost car-like, and not too noisy.

Michel certainly did a great job in creating a totally solid and useable Landrover that could almost certainly tackle everyday long-distance driving.

However, to make it perfect, here is what I have planned:

Basic stuff, like a full service and change of all the oils.

A new thermostat, I think someone on here recommended an 88-degree unit.

Finish off the bodywork – there’s a bit of filler that needs sanding down before painting.

Then a full re-paint. I know Michel had a fairly radical look in mind, but I think I will go for a more conventional blue with white hardtop (if you have a windowless hardtop, I’d be very grateful if you could post a picture so I can decide for certain which colour I want to go for).

A Waxoyl of the chassis and bulkhead – they’re lovely and solid, and I want to keep them that way.

A new coil, and perhaps spark leads from RPI – has anyone on here got any specific recommendations?

An overdrive OR a 5-speed gearbox OR higher ratio transfer gears – I’m open to suggestion here for the best option.

Soundproofing! Michel gave me some earplugs for the journey home – I thought he was joking…

As an interesting aside – the Landy has been a Hi-cap, but the chassis number (LBCAV) is indicative of simply a 109 Stage 1 V8, nothing fancy. If anyone has any history on the vehicle, it would be great to hear from you.

Anyway, that’s basically it up to now, this is my first attempt at maintaining a Stage 1 (though not of classic Landrovers), so I’ll probably pester those in the know with never ending questions; so far, though, I’m one very happy owner.

May I ask - what is the best way to post pictures on this forum?[/img]

Basil · Post by **Basil** » Thu Jul 05, 2007 5:41 pm

Hello Skye stage 1, great post and welcome to the forum buddy

Basil

Skye Stage 1 · Post by **Skye Stage 1** » Thu Jul 05, 2007 6:20 pm

Pictures - thanks to Johnnyboy for the 'How To'.

Thanks for the welcome, Basil, reading the spec of your Landy, sounds like your Stage 1's lovely (I wanted a Station Wagon). Fife - that's reasonably close to where I am; anyone else in the Highlands?

mattv8 · Post by **mattv8** » Thu Jul 05, 2007 7:27 pm

hi, yer like the post to, try www.realsteel.co.uk there a lot cheeper than rpi. &

very helpful, if you take a look at the link below theres a couple of pics of

mine before i put the truck cab on... hope you enjoy owning your v8.

http://s153.photobucket.com/albums/s228/mattv8_album/

Skye Stage 1 · Post by **Skye Stage 1** » Fri Jul 06, 2007 8:22 am

Thanks for the link, that should be very useful. Your Landy looks nice - I think the 8-spokes suit it really well, and nice to see them in silver rather than the more ubiquitous white.

One question: I notice you've put SUs (HS6s?) on it - I've always preferred SUs over Strombergs anyway, which mine still has, so would you say it was worth swapping?

Basil · Post by **Basil** » Fri Jul 06, 2007 5:57 pm

Imo su's are a far superior carb to a stromberg, there is a lot less moving part's, they are more tunable and they don't wear out as quick.
Land rover ony used stromberg's because at the time of the range rover launch su couldnt supply enough carb's for the rover car company and land rover.
I swopped to su's and it was definatley a big difference.

Cheer's Basil

Skye Stage 1 · Post by **Skye Stage 1** » Fri Jul 06, 2007 6:26 pm

Thanks for the update Basil - I've always preferred SUs as the don't have diaphraghms that will split and cause trouble, and as you point out, they are simpler carbs. If you noticed a big difference, that's good enough for me. Do they fit to the same manifold, or is it easier to look for a pair already mounted on a manifold and just swap the whole assembly over? I guess my next question, then is this: anyone got a pair of SUs they don't need?

Basil · Post by **Basil** » Sat Jul 07, 2007 1:18 pm

Tbh mate i don't know if they fit on the same manifold, as mine came complete, I would have thought so as i can't see rover changing it, the best bit about getting it complete though mate is you will get all the linkages that you need and they are different between the two types of carb.

Cheer's Basil

Skye Stage 1 · Post by **Skye Stage 1** » Sat Jul 07, 2007 2:07 pm

you will get all the linkages that you need

I think that's the nub, really - as you point out, the linkages are different, and buying them seperately (if possible) is going to be more trouble than than tracking down a complete assembly. Thanks for clearing that up, though.

mattv8 · Post by **mattv8** » Sun Jul 08, 2007 6:28 pm

i dont use the su,s anymore now ive fitted the 4barrle webber, unfortunately

theyv had it, but ive got all the linkage still, so if you do find a set & they

dont have the linkage let me know. the su,s as far as i know were fitted from

new & i have a set of k & n,s. oh & im sure the manifold is the same for both

types of carbs..

Skye Stage 1 · Post by **Skye Stage 1** » Sun Jul 08, 2007 6:57 pm

Thanks very much for the offer - I'll keep my eyes pealed for a pair of HIF6s then...

jonnyboy · Post by **jonnyboy** » Sun Jul 08, 2007 10:03 pm

I fitted SU's to mine. Much more reliable than the strombergs and easier to tune. They will fit on to the same manifold but the linkages are always the problem. I had to bodge up some for mine.

mattv8 · Post by **mattv8** » Mon Jul 09, 2007 12:52 pm

i did see some on e-bay the other day, looked good set too. let me know if

you need the linkage, just send me a pm.