101 or 127

 I recently had a chance to compare the 101 Forward Control GS and the Marshalls 127 up close when I parked next to @hettie_the_101fc at the last SWLRC meeting on Tuesday and think about some of the positives and negatives of both

There was a parking space available next to the 101 so it seemed a wonderul opportunity to do some comparisons with both of them looking resplendent in their new paintwork 

Here is the view with Katy the main vehicle. The key thing from this side is the extra space that you get in the front because the cab stretches right over the engine with no bulkhead behund the front seats which does mean an overall more roomy looking interior space (mind you Hettie is not fitted out out yet so it will be interesting to see if this stays the case

Katy with Hettie

You can clearly see in this picture as well as above that the roofline is higher (although I'm not sure if that is original (I forgot to ask Rob) and conversing with him, it does translate to bigger headroom in the 101 so that is another positive for Hettie

Hettie with Katy

The positives for Katy are a bit harder to show in the pictures, from talking to Rob the 101 does wallow (which is something we have solved with suspension upgrades) and it sounds like the steeting is less precise than the 127. Also the 127's top speed is higher which makes Katy good for long distance travel on roads, and of course the 127 uses a lot of standard Defender parts which makes sourcing them a lot easier

Both are excellent vehicles for a serious off-road camper and both will continue to show how tough a Land Rover is, having both been rescued from a complete state of  neglect to be brought back to their current state 

We look forwards to seeing @hettie_the_101fc again in person as she's fitted out in the mean time we will be tuning into her instagram feed for updates  

Welsh Festival of Land Rovers 2023

 We're going.. maybe see you there 

WFoLR in The Landy

Once again we (SWLRC) were proud to host a fine collection of vehicles at the WFoLR and we've got a good writeup in The Landy (see https://issuu.com/thelandy/docs/landy_december_2022_small for the full issue 

Katy was of course on the SWLRC stand and once again I was honoured to be the compere for the display of vehicles 

 

Making a difference

 As part of the work to recover from the Timing Belt issue I decided it was worth completing all the tasks with a full service

After all what could go wrong with that?

So... 

First part is of course under the bonet where the engine oil, oil and fuel filters are changed. Then underneath to do the gearbox and transfer box oils. 

Then the front diff, and then round to the back what could possibly go wrong at this late stage... 

As many Land Rover owners will know the filler plug on the rear differential is a tapered fit and you just screw it in until it becomes a bit tighter. What happens if you are a bit ham fisted is that you go too far and you screw it right through the timing case and into the differential 

What this means is that you can't move the vehicle without causing probably irreperable damaage to the differential and it all has to come apart to retrieve the filler plug. 

So it has to come apart releasing all the oil  until you get to this 

At least it meant a full oil change and a good check that the gears were in good shape. 

The next morning with a new gasket all was back together and my red face had subsided a little  

Time marches on

Putting things back after taking them apart is just the reverse of taking them out which isn't very exciting so I will skip most of it, this time 

If you are interested take a look at the post https://landroverkaty.blogspot.com/2022/09/fault-finding-and-removals.html and consider doing it all backwards 

The only difference is of course that you are fitting new components and gaskets such as the one that separates the steel of the injector pump from the aluminium of the timing case 

New pulleys and tensioner inside the timing case, new crankshaft oil seal and then set everything in the position that you need for the timing to be correct (there is a pin that fits through the injector pump, a mark on the crankshaft pulley and a notch in the flywheel) and then reassemble the case, fit the crank pulley and the fan pulley (gicing it a hard whatck to ensure that it's on properly) and then the fan belt. Connect everything up again, Check the tappet / valve clearances because the rocker has been off and she's ready to be started.. so how did that go? 

Play the video :)

 

Fault Finding and Removals

Having found the mess inside the timing cover the next steps were to start removing parts to see what was the result, 

First off was the timing belt, cut through with a blade it was easy to spot the faulty part  which had been stripped and almost broken through

Then some more investigation under the rocker cover to see what damage there may be. On first look things are at least oily and together

But on checking them (one at a time to keep them in their original place) two were discovered to be not a straight as they should be . 

So two of them were added to the parts list I need for the rebuild. next step was to get the injector pump off and send that to a specialist to see if that was the root cause. First step detach the pipes to the injectors (which I put caps on to stop any dirt getting in)

Then detach the pipes from the back of the pump and remove them

 Which gives access to remove the electrical connection 

Then remove the fuel pipes going to the unit

And finally the three bolts at the front and the ones at the back as well 

And it's free

A bit of wrangling and it's out and ready to send to the specialist 

Bad Times

Per the last post where we  we had an awful time getting home from Tebay Services It was time to start the investigation 

After getting the fan out of the way it was a fairly easy process to remove the fan pulley (given everything was locked up there was no hassle stopping it moving. Simply put on a long bar and remove the nut

Then work all the way around the timing case and remove the bolts from the case and it simply pulls off with a sharp tug

What was shown was an absolute mess where the timing belt had almost fully disintegrated 

Whilst some of the teeth were still in place on the belt, others had been stripped off and had been transformed into all the fluff that you can see on the inside of the case in the picture above, and between the pulleys in the picture below 

The next job was to see if the injector pump was to blame (as was suspected because no fule was coming out of it) so with the belt cut a power bar was put on the nut at the end of the pump (bottom left) and an attempt was made to move it... It was solid! 

So it's got to come out to be sent off to a specialist.. That's going to be the next story