Irritating rattle

[G r a h a m]

I get an irritating rattle when I off-road my Freelander. It happens when I drive across the white markings in the car park at Sainsbury's; it sounds like the clippers are rattling against the scissors in the hairbrush rack. Has anyone else had this problem? :p

[Takeo]

They don't allow me into supermarket car parks unless I wash my truck first. :(

[Alan H]

hows the "new" Stage 1 going?

[Annette]

Hello Alan,
It was a pity we were so busy with her that we couldn't see you the day before we took her. Thanks again for the hint, believe me, I'll treat her well (no trials that is :) )

Well I guess you have seen the piccies .
http://www.offrovers.com/showthread.php?s=&threadid=3911

We'll do the big Hammerite cure tomorrow or on Thursday, after I've sent of my work that is. The carbs have to be sorted out, guess there is some c£$% inside, as she occasionally seems not to get enough fuel. ( Symptoms: She doesn't go faster than 60 miles and doesn't run up any hill at reasonable speed, all of a sudden she's fine and I have to be careful not to drive faster than 70!) If we succeed, we'll take her to a meeting in France next weekend.

She's a fine truck, I really like to drive her. You get used to the overdrive in no time, often I observe myself looking for it when driving my other Stgage One. Hope we don't freeze our ___ off this winter when we'll repair the springs and the wings. Would you know about any accident? Couldn't figure out why she has the white wing and the grey bonnet.

[Alan H]

don't know about the wing, but when Wayne got the car, the bonnet was split so he fitted the present one and it was never painted. So it isn't the original one I'm afraid. It went to Billing last year and won the "Rarest Landrover" award on the Saturday. The current belief is that it is the earliest prototype stage 1 running. have you had a look on the Stage 1 website? http://homepage.ntlworld.com/stage1v8/
It certainly did more than 70 mph coming back on the motorway but the wheels needed balancing! The original registration document seems to be incorrect "6 cylinder 3.5 litre" I think it's just a misprint and should read "8 cylinder". The engine mounts seem to be original and they would be different if a 6 cyl had been in. I think that the 3 litre straight 6 (as fitted to the Rover P5) was the same basic engine as the 2.6, so that couldn't have been in either. I let LRO know about the truck some time ago, but they spoke to Wayne and nothing else ever came of it. maybe it would be worth another try?

[Annette]

You are certainly right about the papers, I assume that in 1977 they simply didn't believe the V8 and inserted 6-cyl.
They also wrote engine# LR4 but it LR/ 14 when you clean it.
At the Belgium National we camped next to Bob, who had seen two Stage One prototypes himself. We both agreed that these engine mounts were very much the prototype of the later Stage One parked next to it. He pointed out some slight alterations in the chassis I had previously overlooked, said they had done the same things in the other two prototypes.
I have asked at Solihull and I'll contact Bob again if they don't reply. He knows the Stage One developement engineer personally, I hope bob can contact him for me one day. Believe me, I'd drive to Birmingham for that!
James Taylor (LRE) also promised to find out a couple of things for me. Of course I'll do my best to place Sally in LRE this winter, as soon as she looks a little bit better.
The fuel problem is intermittent and I hope we can sort it out next week. Any idea how you cope without that adjustment tool, we haven't got it cause the others have SU carbs?
BTW I carefully dropped the red Stage One against a mud wall at a 55° angle yesterday.
:D Everybody had a good laugh and my truck came out unharmed.