It's that time again - long hours spent preparing Florence for her next journey. Despite the 40,000 miles of hard work since we bought her she is still in good shape; however over the last fourteen months we have been modifying, replacing, and repairing to ensure that the Range Rover is able to cope with the rigours of long distance travel - let's hope all our hard work pays off and we have as smooth a run as we have had in past journeys. By the time we finish the only part we won't have touched is the gear box - it has been suggested we should simply have bought a new vehicle, but what's the fun in doing that?!
We are extremely grateful to Famous Four Products for their support of the expedition through the supply of parts and spares for the Range Rover, and for being an invaluable (and patient!) source of information and advice. Their website can be accessed by clicking on the Famous Four logo at the top of this page.
Vehicle Choice
We purchased the Range Rover in 1999, specifically for our first expedition. While Land Rovers are the usual choice of expedition vehicle, we decided on a Range Rover as it gave us reliability and proven off-road capability combined with comfort - an important consideration when you plan to drive thousands of miles on everything from autobahns to sand dunes. After an extensive search we eventually found a 1989 3.5 Range Rover with 56,000 miles on the clock, whose off-road experience amounted to the supermarket car-park - Florence had arrived!
Preparation for 2002
Our first task was to fit a new V8 engine and LPG system - the latter to give us the advantage of cheaper fuel in the UK and Europe and, when used in conjuction with petrol, the benefit of increased range. It remains to be seen if LPG is readily available outside Europe - in most countries this will not be an issue as the petrol will be considerably cheaper than in Europe and good quality. However, in a few countries only low octane petrol is available, which our engine will struggle with and it is in these instances when it will be useful to have LPG as back up. Replacing the engine may sound a touch drastic - initially we had intended to recondition the engine, but having stripped it down found the cylinder head was damaged and decided it would be far easier and of a similar cost to fit a new engine.
One disadvantage of fitting LPG is the loss of load carrying space - already at a premium when compared with a Land Rover. Richard was reluctant to fit LPG tanks under the vehicle because of the potential for damage while driving off-road. The best solution was to fit a 60 litre tank behind the passenger seat and a 120 litre tank between the rear wheel arches, where the back seat would be. This leaves enough room for a small seat behind the driver, and storage space between the tanks and to the rear of the 120 litre tank.
Because of the lack of space we have decided to take a trailer, primarily to carry our diving equipment - the best choice for us in terms of space and durability was an ex-MOD Sankey Radio Repair trailer. The limited load carrying capacity of the roof caused us a few headaches (luckily not literally!) - on our first trip, despite our best intentions, we often overloaded the roof rack and had the constant concern that the gutters would collapse! Although a wide range of lightweight roof racks are available for Classic Range Rovers, we have opted for a roll cage - an external front hoop and internal mid and rear hoops with roof rails running front to rear to which we can attach roof bars. In addition to a roof tent, we will have space to carry a spare tyre and lightweight items such as empty water containers and jerry cans.
We are in the process of redesigning the interior, with the dashboard being rebuilt to incorporate oil pressure and temperature gauges, GPS unit, CB Radio and stereo. The roof lining has been replaced - partly out of necessity as the original was slowly disintegrating, and partly out of vanity! We will be fitting fluorescent strip lights and additional power sockets front and rear. The windows were covered with window tint prior to our first expedition and I would recommend doing this as it drastically reduced the heat and gave added security by obscuring the vehicle interior. A wooden platform will be built over the area between the front seats and tailgate, to provide a sleeping area (although this will only be used as a last resort as we will have a roof tent) and additional security by covering the storage areas.
Winching and vehicle recovery equipment
To winch or not to winch... while some consider it to be an absolute necessity we have decided against fitting a winch, our rationale being that we generally travel alone, and in the desert there are few things to winch off, although an anchor can be used. Because the Range Rover becomes our home, mode of transport and our security for long periods of time we go to great lengths to avoid damaging the vehicle and getting stuck. That said, no amount of care and diligence can guarantee prevention and the worst can happen. We will be carrying sand ladders, ropes, a shovel and pick and are considering taking a hand winch.
The nitty-gritty mechanical bits...
The following links will take you through the work that we have carried out on Florence. Much of it has been preventative measures and certain parts had to be replaced as they were either broken or badly worn. Overall our aim is to prepare the vehicle to a level where we will be able to enjoy our journey rather than straining to hear every ominous clunk and rattle! Once the work is completed I will include a list of all the parts we have used. I admit now that my mechanical knowledge is somewhat limited (although I have advanced from merely handing Richard the tools to actually being allowed to use them - under supervision of course!) so if you have any technical queries then please feel free to email Richard - richard@oceannomad.com.
Packing the vehicle
The cause of many an arguement...! We quickly learnt from our first trip that what looks like good packing when you are sitting in the comfort of your driveway in the UK is in fact absolute rubbish. I lost count of the number of times we repacked the Range Rover in the seven months that we were travelling and we still weren't happy when we got back to the UK. Driving over corrugations is an absolute killer, causing every item in the vehicle to bounce around. Our golden rule on the next trip will be 'leave nothing on the rear platform' - it remains to be seen if this actually happens, but the idea is there will be nothing that can come hurtling forwards if we have to slam on the brakes or are driving over rough ground. Everything we carry in the vehicle will be stored in boxes under the platform and we will work hard to design a system whereby you don't need to take out every box just to get at the salt! It is really worthwhile having a trial run a few weeks before you are due to leave and ideally to go away with the vehicle for a long weekend as this should highlight all the things you have forgotten and the mistakes you have made!
Security
On our first overland expedition, the first and only problem we encountered came towards the end of our journey while staying in a Bulgarian campsite close to the border with Romania. We had been warned by fellow overlanders that security in both Bulgaria and Romania was an issue and we had heard stories of car-jackings and vehicles being broken into at night. By travelling through Eastern Europe with Belgian friends that we met in Turkey we felt we had safety in numbers and spending the night in a campsite seemed to us the safest option. However, late that night the only other occupants of the campsite, a German couple in their fifties, were attacked, the husband badly stabbed and all their belongings stolen - a harsh reminder of how vulnerable one can be while sleeping in a tent.
By security I don't just mean fitting an alarm to your vehicle, although this is a high priority - we will be fitting a Clifford Concept 500 alarm and already have window tinting which helps to hide the interior of the Range Rover. As was demonstrated in Bulgaria, safety at night is an important consideration - in addition to the ease with which it can be used, we will be taking a roof tent as it gives you the advantage of height. Richard will fit spotlights to each side of the vehicle - these provide light in the evenings and can be switched to work off PIR sensors, which will alert us to anyone (and every dog, mouse and beetle - fine tuning may be required!) approaching the Range Rover when we are asleep. Extra PIR sensors will be used to trigger alarms - this may seem rather extreme, but it will certainly give us peace of mind!
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