Words From The Wild

Our itinerant wild camper, wanderer, hedge-botherer and semi-feral woman of the woods, Lauren Eaton, talks us through some of her 4x4 adventures out in the big wild world.

A New HQ!

The things you do for the love of Land Rovers

I was hoping to have some trip news for you this month but, while I’ve been all over the place in the Tithonus 110, I haven’t had time to do a write up. What I do have is a new Sunshine HQ to share with you all.

Trips

Trips have been unnecessarily problematic over the last 12 or so months. I may have excitedly mentioned one or two that, unfortunately, never materialised. This is unusual for me as I’m readily available most of the time, and am able to be far more flexible than most people can hope to be. I’d also planned to disappear as soon as I sold my house, but that dragged on, and in several cases I’d planned to travel with company, and therein lay a further problem.

I have cut back on leading trips after many years, one reason for this is the difficulty that is 'people wrangling' - I think I’d have more luck herding sheep! Plus it is costly. I have never charged, and I think that many people believe that if something is free that they can freely mess you about, which invariably costs you more money as well as your time.

More recently I’ve tried doing the opposite, accepting invites to go on trips with other people, but they’ve been no more successful and, in fact, have cost me far more time and money. At least if I organise things I’m ready to go and can usually still get away if people bail, but when someone else isn’t communicating details, you can be left hanging, saying no to other opportunities because you believe you have prior commitments, and ultimately going nowhere.

Moral of the story: if you can’t go, say so! Not being able to go isn’t a problem, it’s not saying so that causes havoc for anyone else involved.

Anyway, being messed about has had its positives. I’d organised some really cool stuff to do on the 110’s first trip and was lucky enough to secure permission to drive some private trails and camp there. These are some of the most epic trails I’ve ever driven with the most stunning wild camping locations, and now I have them all to myself! Every cloud, and all that!

Workshop: Stage 1

I’m not one for resting on my laurels, so during the wait I’ve been very busy and, between working on all four Landies, I created something for them all that I personally think is rather epic, but I’ll let you decide.

As I was stuck spending more time than I can usually stand at home, I put it to good use and converted a building that I built with my dad many years ago, in fact, a couple of decades ago which makes me feel very old, and recently I have been gifted it as a workshop.

Over the years it has fallen into disuse, and become full of clutter. Quite sizeable clutter at that, weight machines, exercise bikes, even dishwashers were unearthed! The outside was overgrown and there are two large sheds adjacent to it that need to come down. This area can then be used to park Landies under what will be a covered area.

My first job was to empty it, which was epically difficult due how much stuff was in there and also its location. I had to carry everything by hand over 200 yards of obstacles, rough ground, many steps, and even another building to reach the Landies! From there I had to load it, take it to the tip, and unload it. In short, it’s been a mammoth task!

I will be creating vehicle access, but that will require some serious tree felling, ground clearance, demolition, and building work. I couldn’t wait that long to set up a dry space to work and paint body panels over winter, or continue to keep so much car stuff in the house and Landies, so I rolled my sleeves up and got on with it.

Originally built as a home gym, the building measures 7 meters by 3 meters, has a large amount of storage, electricity, and many plug sockets. It also has a tiled floor, splashbacks, and walls; a perfect place to tinker over winter. There is, or was, a water supply, but at the moment that doesn’t work for some as yet unknown reason. But all the pipework is there, I helped install it, so it shouldn’t be too difficult to reinstate the supply. [edit: I got this working!]

Not only do I have a huge number of tools and parts, I also have a large amount of camping gear. Thankfully, I have enough space in here to store all of it, which will make it far easier to assess what I have, what I have 2 (or 3 or 4) of, and what I need or would like to add to my collection. It is also the perfect space to dry things out after a trip. I’ve equipped the workshop with a dehumidifier and it has two oil filled radiators, it will be wonderful not to have to air gear out in the dining room!

One of my plans for the 110 is a new paint job, this will include a new rear door and military accessories such as pickaxes and shovels on the bonnet, and wing vents. Not (yet) having a garage or enclosed space I can drive a vehicle into, I plan to remove the two front doors, take them apart, sort out little niggles like window rattles, and paint them on the bench. The same goes for the bonnet, military accessories, and wheels. The rest will either wait for the new structure or, depending on timescales, I have the option of using a friend’s workshop or setting up a tarp cover on my drive.

I plan to use the space for some non-Landy activities too. It’s big enough for me to do some sculpture and casting, and I have plans to make some interior artwork and exterior garden features. I can do this when I’m sick of being covered in old EP90 and fancy getting covered in clay, paint, or cement or plaster dust instead.

I’ve treated myself to a quiet running compressor for benchtop work, a massive parts washer, new work bench, and of course various new tools. Celyn has her own workshop bed and treat jar, and there are areas setup for various types of work as well as considerable storage for all my Landy stuff.

It’s not finished yet, and the outside needs considerable further work, but I plan on turning it into the ultimate woman cave and will obviously keep you updated on how things progress. It is however, at a point where I feel very organised for a change. I’d quite happily move into it, shut the door, and tinker to my heart’s content! Stage two, creating vehicle access, will start at the beginning of September.

The Tithonus

Before its first trip, I did some further work to the 110 which mainly involved working my way through fixing leaks. No surprise there, it’s a Landy after all! I also finally got around to fitting the new military bumper when I unearthed it from the back of the 101.

One common issue on the 300tdi is a leak on the lift pump, so here’s a little tip for installing a new one.

I always use Delphi pumps, they have a filter that needs to be cleaned every now and again. For some reason, Land Rover decided that the fuel would pass through the pump before the main filter, which is probably one of many reasons why these fail (many cheaper versions don't have a filter), as is not cleaning the filter if you have one.

Mine hadn't failed, but has a slight leak, which could be caused by how it was fitted with a simple 1mm gasket between it and the block. Unfortunately, you can’t take these apart and rebuild them, so a new one was the only option.

The pump comes supplied with a gasket, no surprise there. But there are two main schools of thought about how to fit them:

1. fit with only the supplied 1mm gasket

2. fit with an aftermarket spacer (5mm) and gasket (2x1mm) either side but the best option is...

3. fit with three gaskets.

The reason for this adjustment is the shape of, and therefore, the stroke of the cam that operates the fuel pump. The maximum stroke needed is 3.3mm, but the max lift on the cam is 5.9mm, this means we need an adjustment of 2.6mm for optimal fuel pump operation.

The standard 1mm gasket is too thin, and the 7mm spacer kit is too thick, which will have a considerable impact on fuel volume and pressure, not to mention longevity of the pump, whereas three gaskets are just (about) right.

You can either buy more 1mm gaskets or, as I did, use 0.8mm gasket paper and make my own. This gave me exactly the right thickness. I used a fine smear of RTV sealant to sandwich the lot together before installing.

The 101 Ambulance

I’ve not had much time to spend with Archie recently, but I have managed to relocate a lot of stuff out of the back of it into the workshop which will help immeasurably. It had become a mobile shed for a while, but I’m glad to say I’ve lightened the load significantly which will save me a fortune in fuel I’m sure.

There is some fun news coming up though, it has a very special job to do early next year, but for now I’m keeping that a secret!

That’s all from me this month folks. Come back next month for some fun in the 110. I’ll share some info on Chapper’s first trip, and possibly second if I manage to get away before the end of September which is plan A, but as ever I’m happy to go with the flow.

Drive safe, Lauren and Celyn x