Thread: JayBoRovers 101

Yes - great to see all went well.

Cheers

Garry

You'll remember that trip for ever and look back on it fondly. I'm sure your feeling very familiar with it now - a bit of a difference from the first few KM you did on a narrow road, in the dark and wet just a few days ago.

Well done.

Originally Posted by bacicat

You'll remember that trip for ever and look back on it fondly. I'm sure your feeling very familiar with it now - a bit of a difference from the first few KM you did on a narrow road, in the dark and wet just a few days ago.

Well done.

It's funny now to think back to that first drive. It was the first tentative steps of what will develop into a loyal and long standing relationship. Thanks again for your help in getting there and taking those first steps. Setting the headlight aim made a HUGE difference that might have made things easier on that first drive.

I've already had the engine covers off and greased all the linkages that were dry and a bit sticky. Throttle and choke now work nice and smoothly and return to idle correctly. I had a play with the LPG setting today, now that I've fund the main gas flow adjustment, but firstly I couldn't get it to misbehave and then I couldn't get it to behave. I'll take it to an expert I think. I also greased the door latches and now the rear door closes nicely without having to really swing it.

Oh yeah, James (previous owner) if you're reading this ... thanks for the carton we found in the back. They're in the fridge in my shed where they will help me with any work I do on the 101.

My wife's reaction this morning surprised me. "You need to paint it ... a different colour ... candy apple red or maybe KTM orange". It's the first time she's ever made any comments about any of my Land Rovers that wasn't either total indifference or a complete put-down! There's hope!!!

Originally Posted by JayBoRover

"You need to paint it ... a different colour ... candy apple red or maybe KTM orange"

Ha.. White or Candy Apple Red are the two I've settled on.. Here's a pic of a 101 in orange to show the wife!

Candy Apple.
Mmmmmm.....
Nice.

A few pictures of the trip across this massive and often pretty country.
Day one was a looong day due to JetStar cancelling our flight on Thursday night so Friday became a lot more difficult. Luckily Gav and Mick were able to go with the flow, change their plans to suit, and Plan B was put into action. This saw Gav, Mick, my Bro Rob and I all make a carpark rendezvous in the dark with James and his wife Sophie in a little hic town in country Victoria. Day 1 ended staying with Gav putting Rob and I up for the night. Thanks sooo much Gav.

Day two saw me forget to switch my alarm on so we woke shortly before Gav was about to give us a prod and see if we really wanted to take the 101 back to Perth or squat at his place. So we headed off in convoy to meet Mick for breakfast a 1/2 hour up the road and gave my 101 the chance to meet a couple of others:


Mick's very nice 101:


I know I'll be needing to fit some wheel arch flares to mine to pass the pits soon so stealing ideas:


Apparently when my 101 was put on the boat in the UK it had the pick-axe head and the small shovel, but both were missing when it arrived in Australia. So I took some snaps for reference:




Gav's 101 was towing a nice little military trailer. It doesn't have leap into the air on judder bars!:


So we parted company there and Rob and I headed on for Simon's place in South Australia. We stopped somewhere for a bite of lunch and had the nicest burger and chips with gravy I've had for a long time.

The late start and then the breakfast and chinwag while oggling the collection of 101's saw us arrive at Simon's in the dark so we had a bite to eat, a coffee and hit the hay.

Day 2 instalment later.

So a good nights sleep at Simon's saw a new day dawn. With daylight came the chance to have a look at Simon's awesome 101 and check a few things on my new toy. Simon offered to pump some grease into the joints to minimise the over-run rumble while I checked a front park lamp that wasn't working. The bulb was fine but I couldn't measure any volts so a job for another day.

Simon's and my 101:


This beast is going to be very visually loud with fresh paint one day!


So many little touches to see. I suspect a full day would still reveal surprises and I didn't have the time for that. I look forward to catching up with it again one day with more time to have a good look.


So then we headed off to Clare to rescue an SOS call from a Defender in trouble. I briefly had Simon behind me and thought to take a snap before he rocketed past me up passing lanes on a hill - crazy fast!!! That things absolutely hauls ass with that big Cummins in it.


While Simon helped with the repair of the Defender, I played with the LPG system to try and getting some better running. After a cup coffee we all parted ways. It was hard to stop grinning for the entire drive from Melbourne to Perth! (You wouldn't expect a 101 with twin USB outlets in the dash for powering the phone and whatever else)


Day 3 tomorrow.

So after leaving Clare and the rescued Landy (sounds the title of a childrens book) we headed West aiming for as far as we could get in the day. The original plan had been to get to Ceduna, but after the relaxed start to the day and with the Clare diversion the plan became "as far as we felt comfortable going". So not many photo's I'm afraid ... in fact there's precisely one:


We were a bit amazed to find some of the best meals in the most unlikely places! So "Wudinna" seemed like an omen when we were hungry and it was getting on for dark and the "dinna" part suddenly seemed important. We (or "Wu" if you like) checked in to a room and returned to the restaurant. Very basic facilities but the food was great. I was too hungry to stop and take a photo of the main, but it tasted beautiful. The desert though was absolutely first class. So if you're ever passing through Wudinna (about half way between Port Augusta and Ceduna), do stop in and taste!

More shortly - just downloading a bunch of photo's.
Ciao