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#Post#: 97622--------------------------------------------------
Our '82 109
By: CaptainSlow Date: May 23, 2015, 3:33 am
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When I was an impressionable teenager living in the Middle East,
we had an amazing holiday driving up from Teheran to the Caspian
Sea for a week on the coast. It was in '76 or '77 and was one of
those hotter than usual summers, so spending all that time
bouncing in the back of a 109 3 door etched some pretty awesome
memories lol. Part of the journey was travelling through the
Alborz mountains at the north of Iran - for those of you who
don't know the Middle East, health & safety has never been that
important, and those roads are seriously narrow and unstable,
tortuously windy and have sheer drops of several 100/1000 feet
on one side and unstable rock faces on the other - there were
many many wrecked cars, lorries and even coaches at the bottom
of the ravines. When the road is only wide enough for one
vehicle, its the largest one that wins - and huge Mercedes
construction trucks regularly pound those roads - so we had to
reverse around 7ft wide hairpin bends at night quite a few
times. Add to that travelling through tea plantations,
appallingly poor villages with houses made of corrugated tin,
industrial areas where vodka was made in huge refinery sized
plant, and miles of dusty arid desert, and you can see why that
particular holiday formed lasting and life forming memories. The
main one was how much fun a Series landy is!
So fast forward to my latest purchase - a 109 pretty much
identical to the Landy we had for that holiday. The only
difference is that Dad had a 2.6 whereas I've just bought a 2.25
petrol version -
HTML http://duckfieldengineering.com/forums/LR/landy109.jpg
It has no MoT, needs welding to the bulkhead and probably to the
chassis, but is a good runner and has a Fairey overdrive and MAP
free wheeling hubs, and a working LPG conversion. I'm a big fan
of LPG - my last car ran on it so I'm happy with having a tank
of gas in the car. Yes its another item to service and maintain
but its no big deal really and the fuel savings can be huge. As
we intend to use our landy for camping and trips around the UK
and into Europe, fuel economy is important - and LPG is more
readily available in Europe (and cheaper) than here.
So this is my opening post, I'll be updating it with more pics
and progress reports as I go along, and hopefully in a year or
twos time it'll look like this -
HTML http://duckfieldengineering.com/forums/LR/gbs-03.jpg
This is exactly the look I'm after (but keeping the original
aged galvy cappings!), down to the colour and S2A grille
(sorry). Lets hope the standard is up to the levels set by the
projects on this forum!
Cheers, Sam
#Post#: 97625--------------------------------------------------
Re: Our '82 109
By: NoelC Date: May 23, 2015, 7:52 am
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I'm another fan of LPG, I converted the '66 109 hardtop must be
getting on for 9 or 10 years ago with a single hole 360mm 90
litre tank run front to back on the nearside of the tub. The 88
followed a year or so later with a 400mm 90 litre single hole
tank between the wheelboxes. Unless you are going for twin
underslung tanks on the 109 I can highly recommend the tank I
upgraded to in the 88 a few years back. A Stako 450mm 4 hole 120
litre tank that fits between the wheelboxes. I changed the
filler to the JIC type from Tinleytech and it fills about as
quickly as petrol does. This tank is silly expensive but I came
across a new unused one with all the valve gear installed for
£90 on eBay. :giddy:
#Post#: 97627--------------------------------------------------
Re: Our '82 109
By: CaptainSlow Date: May 23, 2015, 12:44 pm
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Thanks for that Noel. Its already been converted but I'm not
sure how well the job has been done but the seller said that he
used to run the 109 on LPG all the time. I'm hoping the tank is
between the wheelboxes - if it isn't then it'll be moved there!
I'll box it in to protect it too.
#Post#: 97647--------------------------------------------------
Re: Our '82 109
By: CaptainSlow Date: May 24, 2015, 12:34 pm
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Well we went to the LRO Spring Adventure show today and I ended
up spending a bit more than I anticipated ::)
HTML http://duckfieldengineering.com/forums/LR/michelin750tyres.jpg
New take offs from a 110 - the trader had an order to upgrade 50
brand new 110s with Wolf wheels and AT tyres, so he was selling
off the wheels that had been removed. £350 for four brand new
wheels with new 7.50 Michelin Latitude tyres seemed too good a
deal to miss, so the 109 has new boots before even getting home
lol.
We had a chat with some of the guys on the Classic Campers stand
and picked up a load of great ideas - thanks to you all if
you're reading this! You're a very friendly and welcoming club
(especially the chap who started emptying his 109 to show us all
the hidden bits n bobs!). I think we may be joining your club
when our 109 is more camper like!
Wifey has been thinking about upholstery and is well and truly
on-board with the project, and the only thing she has demanded
is heated front seats so its all good so far!
#Post#: 97652--------------------------------------------------
Re: Our '82 109
By: NoelC Date: May 25, 2015, 7:56 am
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I won a set of 4 identical wheels and tyres for the 109 station
wagon on eBay, they've not been delivered yet but seemed a good
deal. £320-odd quid plus delivery. The bonus of these wheels is
they're tubeless too. I just need to convince our bodywork guy
he wants to fire a coat of limestone 2 pack on them before I fit
them. :thumbs:
#Post#: 97657--------------------------------------------------
Re: Our '82 109
By: CaptainSlow Date: May 25, 2015, 11:59 am
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Nice one, that was a good buy too :) I have a friend who runs
one of the very early 110s - with the 2.25 petrol engine, and he
rates these highly. I considered going to 235s but I want to
keep the stock look as much as possible and at this price I'd
have been mad not to buy them. Glad I'm not the only one
thinking this way !
#Post#: 97658--------------------------------------------------
Re: Our '82 109
By: S210912j Date: May 25, 2015, 2:18 pm
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Nice Landy! What are you doing with the old wheels/tyres?
#Post#: 97666--------------------------------------------------
Re: Our '82 109
By: CaptainSlow Date: May 26, 2015, 2:42 am
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Thanks :) I'm keeping the old ones for greenlaning days - I
don't think the latitudes will be that good in the mud. Plus
I'll be taking two spares for our trips into Europe (and
possibly Morocco, etc).
#Post#: 97675--------------------------------------------------
Re: Our '82 109
By: DarrenH Date: May 26, 2015, 10:30 am
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i dont want to start "that" discussion, but the original black
wheels look like they have a bit of dish?
#Post#: 97683--------------------------------------------------
Re: Our '82 109
By: NoelC Date: May 26, 2015, 5:07 pm
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I see what you mean Darren. ;D
My Latitudes arrived today and look nice but as you say,
probably not so good in mud. I can claim no expedition
experience but I've read quite a few articles written by those
that have and it seems the tyre of choice for overlanding is a
Mich XZY.
HTML http://www.michelintransport.co.za/extension/michelin_tb/design/michelin_tb/images/upload/pattern/XZY%60_TL.jpg
The logic seems to be as it's a 14 ply tyre it's virtually IED
proof and as it doesn't provide too much traction it doesn't
stress the driveline too much, causing the winch to come into
play before you snap axles components. Makes sense I suppose.
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