Ingenuity and £1.50

When I go to the lottie I always take my Trangia. It is a spirit stove I used camping. I have a been a bit concerned making a brew on the stove in the back of Degsy since I carry two gallon of petrol in a jerry can and Degsy is a bit incontinent. Less so since the refurb. I have not managed to burn out Degsy but I thought something had to be done. I had seen a nifty gadget in one of the Land Rover mags. A cooker that fitted on the back door.

This one is from Mudsport but there are several suppliers
Click HERE for a link to the product shown.




I priced one up and figured I could live without it. Also it would look on bit new on Degsy.



An alternative was needed. The idea simmered. In need a box with a lid. I need a metal box with a lid. I need a metal box with a lid that is cheap. We started to "accidentally" make car boot sales a feature of Sunday mornings as an alternative to lying in bed. On one of these forays I came across a metal box that once contained an industrial drill. It was a bit battered, a bit rusty but it was about the right size. It also came full of bits a bobs. It was £1. The chap was selling the stuff in the box and I bought the box in true car booting style. There some good things in the £1 box. A couple of large imperial sockets which just happen to fit Degsy. Most of the other stuff went in the recycling.

I gave the box a clean out and offered up to the back door.I got in Degsy, closed the back door and offered up the box again. I got the Trangia out and had a few goes at loading cooker into the box. It all fitted and there was room for the spare spirits, matched and air rifle pellets. What I did not have was some to stop the door [the lid] flopping open. I thought of a few different ways to make the lid act as a shelf when the box was open. A couple of weeks later I walking round Rugby market with she who just be obeyed when I found the very thing. I chap was running a haberdashery stall and one of his lines was 20mm woven nylon. Imagine seat belt webbing material but only 20mm wide. I extravagantly ordered three foot [1m] of webbing. That will be 50p sir! From that moment we had to get home.

I got the drill bits out and my boxes of odd nuts, bolts and screws. I found four self tappers that were more or less the same size and style. I found four 6mm nut, bolt and washer sets. I offered up and marked the box for the position of the door braces. I drill four holes in what was the back of the box then offered the box to the door and drilled a couple of pilot holes in the door braces. Then I ran up the screws to secure the box to the door. I checked the door closed. It did.

I tried the webbing to find the best way to fit it and so that it folder away neatly. The solution found I drilled a couple of holes in the lid and a couple in the body of the box. I cut the webbing to size not forgetting to melt the cut end to stop it fraying. Then it was just a matter of bolting through the webbing and the metal of the box....Ta daaa.


It might not look like the shop version but it is self contain i.e. no gas bottle house, in keeping with my recycle reuse ethos, compliments Degsy's style, is perfectly serviceable and cost a bit of ingenuity and £1.50.

Credit note

I went over to Craddock's early on Saturday. They were good enough not to laugh at my mistake and give me a credit note. Well more of an exchange. I selected a few choice goodies to the approximate value of the two items I returned. I got a proper tow rope which was on offer and had a shackle to go with, a work light to fit at the back and a radiator cap. The rad cap was the only thing a really needed. Craddock's netted the cost of the new selections against the returns and I had to make up the difference.....two quid. That was a result. Honour served all round.

When I got home I fitted the rad cap. Then organised the well under the passenger seat to hold the new tow rope, first aid kit and jump leads. Seat back on and all is well.

I still have to find a new home for the high lift jack. It is in the way where I have put it.

Craddocks

I went over to Craddock's on Saturday morning to collect the roof seal I had ordered. It was waiting for me. I decided to have a couple of mud shields for the underside of the front wings. When I got home I offered up the off side mud shield only to find there was one installed. That means the Land Rover mechanics had fitted them at the nuts and bolts check after the rebuild. Thing is they did not charge me for them.

Now I have to ring Craddocks and see if I can get a credit note for the mud shields and buy something else. A radiator cap and quality tow rope might be a suitable exchange.

I did a job on Steve's lightweight. I did not ask for money but Steve said I could have his high lift jack. It is a great gadget but it is bid and heavy. The credit note might buy me a load spreader for the foot of the jack.

Steve's Landy

Steve has a 1981, 2 1/4 litre petrol, lightweight. It ages since it was serviced and it up for sale. Steve bought all the bits; plugs, points, condenser, HT leads and a distributor cap. Whilst Steve made a brew I parked Degsy backwards on to the Steve's bonnet. I rigged my basha over the propped up bonnet of Steve's motor and the roof of Degsy. We now had a dryish place to work. We had a test turn over of the motor but it would not fire up, in fact it would hardly crank over. Not a good start. I checked the radiator water, found that it was low so I got Steve to top it before we started.

I took the plugs out then took the distributor off. Steve had not bought a new dissy cap but as it happens it is not in bad shape. The dissy cap was put back on and the HT leads changed for new ones, one at a time. Next was to tackle the points. The screw that holds the points base plate to the dissy base plate was just spinning in its hole. I took the dissy off the engine block to get at the recalcitrant screw. I did want to dismantle the dissy but that is want happened. After much faffing about we got the screw out. I had a rummage in my collection of nuts and bolts. I found the perfect screw to replace the recalcitrant screw. Re-assembling the dissy was a pain. Steve and I did not quite have enough hands to hold the dissy and fit the advance and retard mechanism. It was, however, useful to be able to set the points whilst the dissy was out. 15 minutes of wrestling and it was done. After that it was a fairly straight forward job to re-assemble the dissy. I had been careful to note where everything went. The dissy dropped in, plugs tightened up, HT leads connected.

When cranking the engine, as a test, I saw sparks and smoke coming off the earth strap by the dissy. I took the bolt out and cleaned up the contact area of the strap. With the strap showing bare mettle I refitted the bolt. I made the bolt good and tight. Then the big moment. Steve cranked the engine. The engine turn faster than it ever had before and it fired on the second turn over then it run more or less perfectly. We left the motor running to warm up the engine whilst we tidied up, cleaned the tools and put away the basha. The rain had eased to little by this stage. Steve made another brew and we were done.

Nice landy with lots of extras for sale.