OK, another update on Project Dash Box...

OK, an update on Project Dash Box...

I hit a snag as I was working on the design today. While I no longer need to mount the dash camera to the new box (it's fitted to a bracket mounted on the rear-view mirror now), I still need to find a way to mount the phone to the dash in a way that is a solid mounting, not something that meanders all over the shop every time I go over a pothole. So, mounting it to the top of the dash box seemed to me, to be a good idea.

Uh-uh.

I checked this out today, and the damn thing blocks my view of the road to the nearside (left front), with a good 30 degrees of view completely blocked off, which is obviously unacceptable.

So, mounting the phone on the top of the box is a no-no, then. I can't fix the phone to the window, due to the inexplicable inability of both suction cups and self-adhesive mounting systems to remain attached on the windscreen. Likewise, due to the spongy nature of the dash trim covering, I can't fix either of those types of system to the dash.

So, I'm left with either drilling holes in the dash, or using something to attach the phone mount to the side of the dash box. I *think* I have a solution, and it involves the items in the photo below.

These are camera mounting accessories for tripods and the like; the one on the left is designed to fit larger phones to tripods for photographic or video purposes; the item on the right is a friction dual ball-head articulated armature (hey, don't laugh, this is what the damn thing's called!); both use the de facto standard 1/4"-20 threading standard to camera, tripods and photographic quick release systems.

If I can somehow screw the armature into the side of the dash box, and extend it to the front, the red phone mount will screw into the other ball joint, thus providing a fully articulated mounting for my phone.

That's the plan, anyhow.

I'll look further into this tomorrow, and if it works, I'll add links to these items at that time.

The Dash Box. Oh joy, new problems...

Right, there I was, ready to set-to and sort the box out, and a fresh problem, one I thought I had a fix for, popped up and said "AAAAARGH!"

I have the measurements for the front plate, where I'll be fitting some of the USB power sockets, the switches, and the control head for my Yaesu FT-8900R Amateur Radio transceiver. I thought I had sufficient space to mount my phone atop the box, and still have adequate (room to spare) view to see the bonnet and road to the front left.

No such bloody luck. There's a massive slice of view that's just completely obscured from the drivers seat, and that would be an MoT fail, let alone a common sense safety failure.

So, now I have to figure out where I'm gonna position my phone. Again.

Mutter mutter wibble grumble coffee coffee where's me coffee...!

The Dashtop box: Interim measures...

Dashcam installed, cable management improved

Right, progress :)

I have:

1. Removed the spaghetti junction of cabling in the front dash and centre console area.
2. Installed the dash cam on the Unimount set, attached to the rear view mirror stalk.
3. Replaced the haphazard mess that was accessory cabling into a more tidy and safer temporary installation, pending the installation of a properly (not a bodge job) Dash Top Box.

All in all, not a bad afternoons' work.

The camera installation. Look for the white thing centre top of the windscreen (that's my Payage auto toll dongle thingamibob for use on toll motorways in France). Look slightly left of that and a smidge lower. yep, that's the camera, hanging below the line of the rear view mirror.

Side view of the camera and mounting system. I'd have hung it higher, but the articulation of the Unimount accessory mount just wouldn't let me. That's something to work on later :)

The view out the front. Not perfect, but good enough for the moment.

Vastly (trust me on this) improved cable and accessory management. Note the liberal use of cable ties and self-adhesive mounting platforms. This is a temporary measure, while I work, 'slowtime', on the dash box. Also, I'll add a shout out for a bloody helpful tool, called a "Cable Tie Gun". It does the job of two hands, freeing up one of yours to hold things in place. Normally with cable ties, you tend to find yourself needing three or more arms and hands. Since the Human body does not readily accept such additional accessorises, mechanical tools have to suffice - this one's a doozy. You loosely attach the cable tie where you want it, then stick the free end in the teeth of the cable tie gun, and squeeze the trigger a few times. This tensions the tie, and then cuts it off neatly. My one came from Amazon. It's been an essential tool since I got it.

The plan is to have all the cables coming up into the dash top box via the venting behind the coin tray, over which the box will mount and be secured in place. I'm still working on how that'll be anchored in place.

Oh joy, it's before sparrow fart a.m....

Well, Amazon woke me up this morning, mutter mutter wibble burble before coffee etc. ;-)

So, the Plastikote paint and matt ("clear sealer") rattle can sprays, the new dashcam (A "YI Compact Dash Cam, 1080P Full HD Car Dashboard Camera with 2.7" LCD Screen, 130° WDR Lens, G-Sensor, Night Vision, Loop Recording - Black" Good lord, why do people give things such loooooooong highly specific names, when something like "Yi HiDef DashCam Mk xx" would be a lot easier?), and the Unimount system have arrived.

A word of warning: The adaptor plates on these third party add-on mounting systems are fragile. I broke the one for my new camera in testing it for fit. Luckily, I have a spare from a less capable kit, which uses the same ball joint size for the elbow fitting. Be careful, if you get this kit, folks. It's really handy, but treat it with great care!

The interesting thing here is that I _think_ I might be able to fit this to the rear view mirror. I'll give that a go in a bit, and get back to you.

Now, the raison d'être for the entire project was primarily because the phone and dashcam would not stay in place attached to the windscreen, using either suction cups or adhesive mounts (the adhesives lasted longer, but still gave way).

The new modular Unimount system looks like it might clamp directly onto the rear view mirror stalk, which is this works, takes one item off the dashbox project requirement.

This, if it works as I think it might, will reduce the pressure to finish that project today, and thus gives me more time to do a proper job of the Dash Box, rather than hurry up and maybe bodge it under the self-imposed pressure of getting it all done with the available light before dusk (have you tried working in a car after dark? Trust me, it's no fun at all).

More in a bit...

Further notes on the Dash Box project...

OK, a little planning progress while I await parts from Amazon Prime tomorrow.

My existing Dash Cam is also being replaced (time to upgrade, my current one is five years old, and has the resolution of a dinosaur!), and I've found an excellent way to mount the replacement without using suction cups that regularly fall off the windscreen, and adhesives that lose their stickiness. I'm going to bolt the mounting to the dash box!

I'm going to be using a "Dash Cam Mount, Anumit Universal Car Rear View Mirror Mount Holder with 16 Types, Fits Z-Edge, Old Shark, YI, KDLINKS X1, Falcon Zero F170HD, GoPro Hero and Most Other Dash Cameras/GPS" (Lord, what a mouthful. Let's call it the Universal Mounting, or Unimount, for short. You can find that worthy accessory here.

I'll be using the camera screw mount plate to anchor the unimount to the dash box, the double ball joint, and one of the dashcam plates to mount the new Yi dashcam I have on order. The idea will be to mount it either off the rear of the top of the box, or from the back plate of the box. I suspect it'll be better mounting it to the top of the box (there's more rigidity in the actual casing than the front and rear panels), but we'll see when it arrives. I would have fitted this mounting to the rear view mirror stem for a better view, but the stem is too short, which is a pity.

I also have some rattle can spray paint coming from Amazon with which to paint the box, so as to blend it in with the slightly off-beige (Land Rover call it "Bahama Beige", but that's expensive stuff to buy, so I've gone with Plastikote grey beige, and a matt finishing spray to save from any glare issues whilst driving.) colour of the dash trim. If the colour doesn't work, no worries, I can just spray the thing matt black, if I have to.

More later...

On a brighter note...

...I'm working on a car-related project this weekend.

The amount of cabling running around the dash of my Land Rover Discovery 2 Td5, from both the accessory power socket (Cigarette lighter socket) and the amateur radio installation in the car, is nuts, and gets in the way a fair bit (not in normal driving, but in plugging in the phone, the dash cam, and so on). Also, the darn window mounts for the phone and dash cam for some utterly weird reason aren't holding their grip, and keep falling off. So, it's time for a tidy-up.

At the same time, I'm future-proofing myself for some accessories I hope to install over the next couple of years, such as a winch, and external accessory lighting for such things as off-road driving in low-light or night conditions (it happens).

So, a dash box is the way I'm going. The inspiration for these are such products as the "Mud Pod" from Mud Stuff and the "Discovery Dash Console" from Raptor Engineering.

I'm fairly well trained as an electronics technician, being a Radio Amateur of thirty-plus years experience. I'm also a reasonable hand at vehicle electrical systems and installations, having played around with car electrical bits for many years. So, it seems to me that I can do a custom, future-proofed dash-top case for mounting a radio control head, accessory switch controls, power, and similar.

So that's what I'm planning to do this weekend.

I'm going to run a power lead from the fused accessory line up to the dash top, run it into an instrument case that I bought from Farnell, which will be large enough to mount USB power supply sockets, switches, and my two-way radio control head, securely, and tidily, with room inside for additional accessories over time, such as a Raspberry Pi for amateur radio usage (there are many digital modes that can be accessed using an analogue radio via computer), maybe even a HotSpot for my DMR hand held radio.

I need to get my hands on a few bits of hardware (that's Saturday taken care of!) for this project, but I already have most of the stuff I'll need.

I've managed (with a little help from other Disco owners) to figure out how I'm going to run the cables into the box. They're going to be run UNDER the dash board, up through the vents to the front of the rubberised coin tray, into the new dash box by means of a hole I'll drill in the base of the box. From there, the power wires will go to the 4 x USB power sockets (2 at the front, 2 at the back), the radio remote head control cable will be fed through another hole behind where I'll mount the control head on the front fascia panel of the box, and the external speaker cable will be run to the back of the case, where I'll mount the external speaker. I'm going to have to raise the front of the dash box by about 15mm-20mm, but that's because the dash itself curves down in a pseudo french curve to the front console panel. That's likely going to require some plastic card or similar.

I'm still none too sure where or how I'll be mounting the dash cam and phone mounts; I'm still looking into that.

More to follow!

Thoughts on installing the ham radio gear into the Maroon Monster...

OK... geeky posting, so if this bores the crap out of you, keep on scrolling down the page ;)

Right; I have a rough handle on how I'm going to be fitting my amateur radio gear into the Maroon Monster; there are two main avenues, and a couple of minor ones;

Major Method #1

Mount within the leaf-hand load space storage compartment in the 'boot' area, running the power from the connectors to the accessory socket mounted in the trim panel. The antenna cable would then run around the top of the tail door to the right side of the vehicle.

Major Method 2.

As per #1, but in the right-side , the power running from the fusebox forward of the drivers seat, the cables running along the lower trim into the storage compartment. The antenna cable would run from the radio to its mounting point (see below)

Minor Point #1

The antenna would be mounted via a through-body New Motorola mounting system and a connector converter to the pl-259 VHF connector on the base of the antenna, preserving watertight integrity of the body of the vehicle. A hole would have to be drilled in the bodywork to facilitate the NMO mounting to be fitted.

Minor Point #2

Utilise my existing boot mount, the cable running from the load space storage compartment between the trim and the body panel, to the tail door, onto which the boot mounting would be fitted. Special care would have to be exercised to ensure as water-tight a fitting as possible, given that the antenna cable would be running on top of the door seal strip, presenting a possible ingress point for water leakage.

Minor Point #3

I also have to decide how I'm going to run the remote head extension cable from the radio to the remote head that houses the radio controls; it's a limited length cable (19.7 feet, or 6m), so some intelligent thought has to go into the issue. That might sound a lot, but it's likely got to negotiate some rather odd paths to get to the front of the wagon; in addition, I've already got cable for the dashcam running along the headlining to the top of the left of the windscreen, so that's got to be considered as well. Like I said, I've got some thinking to do!


So...


I'm in two minds about MM 1&2; they both have strong points in favour of either method, so the jury's still out.

However, MP#2 will be the way I go for the antenna mounting. While I do like the idea of a water-tight seal as envisaged with the Motorola mounting system, it is not designed with the loading that would be imparted to it by the mass of the Comet CR-8900 quad-band antenna under wind or impact loadings; it is designed with smaller, sleeker, and infinitely more flexible PMR radio antennas (typically single whips with a small or no loading coils in the base).

The boot lip mounting system from Comet (their K-405 boot-lip mount, one of the units recommended for the CR-8900 antenna) is designed to take the loading that the antenna will exert on it; further, I don't need to drill holes in the body of the Discovery. It has the capability of accepting impact loading from two axes (X- and Y-), thus hopefully helping to preserve the antenna under tree strike conditions. SO, all things considered, it's going to be Minor Point #2 for mounting the antenna.

Now I have to make my mind up about which side of the wagon I mount the radio.

More on this sooner than later...

New wagon... :)

Having been asked what my new wagon looks like by a few folks, here it is Behold: The Maroon Monster

Time for a replacement car...

Well, it's that time again...

The Ford Mondeo I got a little under a year ago was a stop-gap measure to give me breathing room to keep me on the road; it's been a champ, and done exactly that. It's the second of these cars I've owned, and while some curse them, it is, to me, one of the few wagons that Ford got right, straight out of the gate. It's not let me down once, and I put cars to hard use, trust me.

So, time to get a replacement wagon as, sadly, this one's now on it's last legs.

I also own, as some of you might know, a Series 3 (Siii) Land Rover, a former military one, no less. Unfortunately, I haven't really got the skill set to keep that one on the road, so that's going too. It's already sparked interest from a couple of enthusiasts (both known to me), so it'll get a new lease of life with either of them, whoever makes the best offer ;)

To replace both of these wagons, I need a bit of a combination. It's got to have four-wheel drive (4WD) capability, it's got to have the load-carrying capability of the Siii, the ease of use of the Ford, be able to take a few additions/modifications, and above all, be comfortable for long drives (say, to France and back).

After a lot of chat with friends and those much more knowledgeable in mechanical issues than I am (remember: I'm an electronics nut, not a mechanical nut), the conclusion is that I need a Land Rover Discovery Mk 2.

Yes, there are more reliable off-road-capable cars from other manufacturers, but I like the Land Rover marque, so there ;)

But why a "Disco" Mk 2? It is, basically, the same as a Mark 1, but with a little bit of refinement; most of the issues of the Mk 1 were already ironed out, and the Mk 2 took all of these improvements, and added a few more features here and there. The result is a slightly better wagon in many respects, not the least of which of the TD5 engine, a five-cylinder 2.5 Turbo Diesel, that's apparently miles more reliable than earlier engines in the Mk 1.

Add to this that it can be easily upgraded/modified for off-road use, and the parts and accessories for it are plentiful and, in the main, relatively cheap, when compared to similar products for other makes and marques.

So, what do I plan on doing to my new wagon, once I get my mitts on it? Well, here's a non-exhaustive list...

• Phone mounting:
  (easy, not difficult at all, already have the suction mount for the windscreen)
• Additional 12 Vdc accessory outlets cab and load space:
  Easy, socket extenders for both.
• Additional Security:
  Thatcham Steering wheel lock (Disklok) (via Amazon.co.uk)
• Radio Fit:
  Quad-band Amateur Radio transceiver + quad-band antenna, PBR set and antenna (VHF-UHF), poss CB as well (to be decided)
• Dashcam:
  DDPai M6+ GPS, WiFi, Magnetic Mount (Techmoan recommended best cam)
• New Tyres:
  To be all-terrain-capable, not yet specified/sourced
• Light guards for front and rear:
  Not yet sourced
• Snorkel (for deeper water wading):
  To be sourced
• Front bumper and winch kit:
  One of the units from Extreme 4x4
• Strobes/beacons (Yellow):
  To be decided/sourced
• Tree guards:
  To be decided/sourced
• Roll bars:
  To be decided/sourced
• Sump, differential, tank, and other under-body shields/guards
  To be specified/sourced

And the chances are good that I'll add other bits and bobs to the mix, over time, too ;)

The great thing here is that most of these don't need to be added immediately; they can be added in piecemeal fashion, allowing me to spread the cost of obtaining and fitting them over time, which is nice.

In terms of additional specifications for the Disco, I'm looking at the five-seat version, the one without the extra fold-down seats in the load space, as the 5-seat ones come with two very handy light storage bins, which I've already got ideas for ;) Also, the five-seat versions omit the self-levelling air suspension system, which can, in some cases, cause problems. The less to go wrong, the better, after all ;)

I've already identified three Discos that I like the look of (one belongs to a mate, and is tentatively on the market), and I'm going to be looking at the others over the next week or two; there are others, of course, but not as nearby to me.

I'll keep you all posted on how the search progresses :)

Not bloody happy.

Well, today was a write-off from about 2pm onwards.

That was the time I got back from the Council Dump (garden waste disposal), and began working on replacing a faulty part on my Series 3 Land Rover.

What got me pissed off? I had originally thought that it was the one of the shambolic moronic pea-brained halfwit cost-cutting round-spectacled office-bound HB-pencil-wielding financial times-reading ACCOUNTANT cretins (I don't hold the profession in much esteem, despite my late Dad being one) who cost-specified the parts and materials that went into a 1983 Land Rover.

But, it now transpires, it may well not have been the afore-mentioned penny-pinchers.

So, what set my temper to a dial setting of 4½?

I had the part. I had the tools. I had the time available and then some. I was in the mood for some easy, if time-consuming, electro-mechanical messing about. The sun was out, and it was shaping up to be a really nice day.

So much for that bloody idea.

I was about to replace the blower motor switch on the dash board of my Landie. I got the damn thing out (no mean feat), and was about to test the new one, when the combination Wiper/Washer Switch (Land Rover part number 579006) literally fell apart as I nudged an errant wire out of the way.

IT.

FELL.

APART.

Seriously: It just took a brush past of a finger, and it fell to bits. The bits were now all over the ruddy floor of the cab of the wagon. And a simple job that should have taken no more than two hours, took my wagon off the bloody road until I can get yet another new part in, and fit it.

A part to replace something that was, it seems, made out of BAKELITE?!?!?!?!?!?!?! What the blue bleedin' hell?!

I swear to whatever deity you believe in, I was THAT sodding livid.

I wanted to know what kind of LUNATIC specified a fragile, frangible, degradable material like bloody BAKELITE for a vehicle designed to go boldly and roughly over the landscape, and which was built in the ruddy 1980s?! I was so angry I wanted to find them all, round 'em all up, and do unspeakably evil things that would have made the middle ages Spanish Inquisition run home to Mummy, screaming in terror. THAT'S how angry I was.

And just to add insult to injury, I had to go and order a replacement part AFTER the next-day delivery slots had gone, so my wagon was, and is currently, off-road until I can get a new part, and fit it.

Did I say how thoroughly bloody livid I was?

I was NOT bloody happy

A few hours later...

As I edit this Blant, I'm down to a slow burn, rather than a full-blown homicidal fury.

Having talked to a couple of people I know, it seems that the shattered switch may well have been an after-market part; in other words, after the Landie left military service, a later owner of the wagon fitted another manufacturers part: one not supplied to Land Rover by Lucas, the OEM (Original Equipment Manufacturer) of choice for Land Rover at the time, but with something that is these days called a 'pattern part'. Pattern parts are components that are no longer made by the manufacturer of the original equipment, so can fairly safely be made by other companies without to much worry over legal issues.

By the time I acquired the wagon, this pattern part had obviously passed it's use-by date (to coin a phrase) as it shattered with barely a light touch applied in passing, so a replacement would have been required at some point in the near future anyhow so, best it shattered now, than while I was driving down the motorway in thick pelting rain, I suppose. I'm still angry that it shattered of course, but the alternative could have been much, much more problematic.

And I STILL have to order a replacement switch, dammit.

A replacement for the Land Rover Defender...

As some may know, the Land Rover that a lot of us all know and love will be no more, come next year; in its infinite wisdom, the EU has decided that it's not pedestrian-friendly enough (it's too square, apparently) for when certain idiots on two plates of meat decide to walk into the road without looking.


A Land Rover, not a Freelander, Discovery, or Range Rover, is a square utilitarian box on four wheels, meant to be a powerful, rugged, heavy-hauling, four-wheel-drive go-almost-anywhere small truck. It is not intended to be pretty (although there is a certain bulldog-like elegance to it), nor is it intended to be all that environmentally friendly either. It must be able to withstand all manner of hard terrain, hard driving, and punishment that would put a similar class of vehicle out of play in five seconds flat. And that's where it's strengths, and the loyalty of its owners, lie.

But reality is, as one wag put it, a bitch. The EU has declared, and that's that. So the basic Land Rover, in it's fourth major version, the Defender, is soon to be no more. A replacement must be found.

So, Jaguar Land Rover (JRL) came along with the Defender Concept 100, or DC100 (Wikipedia entry here). They unveiled it at the Frankfurt Motor Show in 2011, and quite horrid it is too. Rightly, it attracted much commentary, mostly apparently rather negative. I tend to agree. The basic offering is, I suppose, fair enough, but the "sport" version is a complete abomination, in my view.

Here are the strengths of the current civilian Land Rover Defender:

• Simple aluminium bodywork
• Relatively easy to work on / repair
• Strong - you CAN walk on the bodywork at a push, to get to the roof.
• Easily customisable both internally and externally.
• Takes a massive load in the back in the cargo configuration.
• Comes in two main body lengths: Short and Long (90 & 110)

You can also add for the military versions of the Defender that it can be converted between a soft top and hard top with ease, very quickly with only basic hand tools.

So, any replacement should, indeed MUST, have these features.

The Wikipedia article references an Australian press article from 2012, in "Go Auto" (article here), where "Land Rover design director Gerry McGovern has revealed the next-generation Defender will bear little resemblance to the DC100 concept that emerged at the Frankfurt motor show (in 2011)".

That's something of a relief, but one must hope that the end result will be as attractive to current owners seeking an upgrade, as it may be to prospective new owners seeking a Defender-like machine.

In addition, the markets that JRL are seeking to placate and serve must also be addressed, not least of which includes the Americans, whose automotive import control regulations border on the insane, in terms of the requirements that they set, both mechanically and environmentally (not least in regard to recyclable parts percentages and emission controls); Then there's the EU mania about pedestrians trying to commit suicide by not looking where they're going, which was the start of this particular problem, to consider.

Well, here are a couple of thoughts, not that I'm likely to be the first to have thought of them... If the car must be more pedestrian friendly, consider plastics or polycarbonates in the bodywork. How about an extended crush-capable wrap-around front bumper in the visual style of the existing bodywork? There are a vast number of other possible solutions that can be thought of, I'm sure.

But at the end of the day, the final result MUST look visually appealing to existing and prospective owners alike, and MUST meet or even exceed all the hallmarks of strength, ruggedness, utility, and ability, that the current Defender possesses.

It's not going to be an easy task, and I don't envy them the challenge, but in order to maintain their reputation and brand loyalty, they must meet this challenge, run with it, and succeed, or a major lynch-pin of Land Rover will forever die.

And that is simply not palatable, nor acceptable.

I'm often asked...

"Why do you drive that prehistoric lump?"

They're referring to my ex-MoD (Army) Series 3 109" Land Rover (Military specification). It was built in 1983, and spent ten years with the Territorial Army, before being 'cast off', and eventually sent for disposal at auction. I'm it's fourth civilian owner.

Why do I own it?

• It's a bit of history - I drove one when I was in the T.A. back in the 90's.
• It may not be fast (even going downhill with a tail wind), but it's a fun thing to drive, being a go-almost-anywhere vehicle.
• It's easy to find in car parks - it's camouflaged, not shiny, and therefore stands out... well, that and being a bit taller than you're average seventy-thousand quid footballers SUV plastic toy  
• I use it for my Living History hobby, not just because it can carry all the I use over the course of a weekend at one of those events, but as part of the display stand as well;
• It's because there's a fellowship of sorts between Land Rover owners, as we tend to wave to each other on the roads (it tends to be Series and Defenders who are this friendly, in the main, although Discovery and Freelander owners get the occasional look-in as well), go to specialist events (the much-attended Newbury "Sort Out", as it's known to many, comes immediately to mind), and run clubs for each other of many flavours (there are generic Landie clubs, Series Landie clubs, Ex-Military Landie clubs, Lightweight Landie clubs, and so on and so forth);
• and oh yes, the insurance tends to be cheaper for older vehicles as well.

But most of all?

It's relatively cheap - and easy - to maintain yourself; you don't need a degree in computer engineering, or any overly expensive or complex tools, to perform routine maintenance on it. Just a willing pair of hands, a little knowledge (Haynes car maintenance manuals and other similar publications), and maybe the help of a willing friend or three every so often, and that's that - job done.

There's a saying in Land Rover owner circles: "The Job's NEVER done!" What do we mean? It's simple: Once you've cracked it, and got one maintenance task done, another rears it's sarcastic head, and beckons you forth to smack it on the head with a deadfall hammer. Or a breaker bar. Or both. Simultaneously (that's called two-fisted engineering, by the way).

So having owned this wagon for the best part of a year and a half now, what have I fixed, or had help with fixing?

• Exhaust manifold replaced (cracked and then some).
• Carburettor replaced (leaking float and gaskets).
• Sump gasket replaced (leaking).
• Rocker cover gasket replaced (leaking).
• Oil changed.
• Oil filter changed.
• Replaced broken speedo cable.
• Offside door top replaced (rusted to and then some).
• Added cigarette lighter socket (to power my phone and other electrically powered accessories).
• Replaced faulty indicator switch.
• Replaced over-powered halogen headlights with more normal specification-compliant 7" sealed units, the halogens having created the problem with the indicator switch in the first place, by drawing too much power through it and causing the plastic frame of the switch assembly to warp as a by-product of the heat through the electric contacts of the headlight/beam switch (it's a weird lighting circuit path in a Landie).
• Removed spare tyre from top of hard top roof, where it was bending the metal of the roof and rendering it somewhat less than waterproof at the joints.

The list of lesser problems and pending fixes goes on a fair bit, but the above are what I, or my mates and I, have dealt with thus far. And since no good deed ever goes unpunished, as soon as we fix one problem, as mentioned above, another crops up - the latest is a serious one: The water pump is about ready to fall over .

This last one is going to take at least a day to fix, as the radiator really has to come out first, before you can get to the water pump, which is behind the radiator fan, alternator, and associated gear at the front of the engine. And oh yeah, you have to completely drain all the coolant out first, which cannot be poured down a drain as it's toxic, so has to go to a specialist dump. Wonderful.

Remind me.

WHY do I drive this prehistoric lump?

Oh yeah.

Because it's fun.

I must be bloody mad!