Together Apart
It seems with one thing and another, the theme of the last couple of weeks has been accommodating others – a perk of living in a beautiful part of the world, near the sea. Also, I have had the chance to engage in some frank discussions with my parents about what we need to do/arrange in order to accommodate the trip, the household, and their needs whilst we are away.
Now whereas there is no doubt that the enjoyment of the company of others is truly essential to maintain a happy, fulfilling life, I can’t help but ponder whether this can sometimes occlude attention that should be directed elsewhere….
One of the things that I’m really looking forward to in this trip is spending more time with Rachel. In fact it’s probably more than just time – it’s dedicated, unadulterated, unfettered and unrelenting(!) time together. Too often one might currently find conversations drifting to mundane, trivial or routine matters, that in turn are reflections of the comfortable shared life that you can easily slip into as a couple. (We are married 17 years this year no less.) Don’t get me wrong, I have no real complaints – but as I’m writing this I’m trying hard not to think of a Spitting Image future as John and Norma Major, “Nice peas dear”, being the pinnacle of mutual interest as we decline into ‘lean and slipper’d pantaloon’ years.
All the world’s a stage,
And all the men and women merely players,
They have their exits and entrances,
And one man in his time plays many parts,
His acts being seven ages. At first the infant,
Mewling and puking in the nurse’s arms.
Then, the whining schoolboy with his satchel
And shining morning face, creeping like snail
Unwillingly to school. And then the lover,
Sighing like furnace, with a woeful ballad
Made to his mistress’ eyebrow. Then a soldier,
Full of strange oaths, and bearded like the pard,
Jealous in honour, sudden, and quick in quarrel,
Seeking the bubble reputation
Even in the cannon’s mouth. And then the justice
In fair round belly, with good capon lin’d,
With eyes severe, and beard of formal cut,
Full of wise saws, and modern instances,
And so he plays his part. The sixth age shifts
Into the lean and slipper’d pantaloon,
With spectacles on nose, and pouch on side,
His youthful hose well sav’d, a world too wide,
For his shrunk shank, and his big manly voice,
Turning again towards childish treble, pipes
And whistles in his sound. Last scene of all,
That ends this strange eventful history,
Is second childishness and mere oblivion,
Sans teeth, sans eyes, sans taste, sans everything.
William (like you didn’t know) Shakespeare
I am pretty confident that our time together will be enhancing and cathartic. Already the mutual challenges and demands of planning the expedition are generating common goals, mutual working and new interest in areas that would otherwise never have been explored in our lifetimes. We are testing both our strengths and our shortcomings and doing so in the context of a confined Land Rover Defender cab and compact, bijou, Azalai accommodation. Inevitably there will be ups and downs – but for sure we will ultimately have more than peas to talk about in our own, developing strange eventful history.
And that alone justifies the ‘why’ in my mind.
Erberspacher heater unit and calorifier (blue) mounted on the azalai chassis
With regards to the build, we visited OEC last week and whereas there is clear (and quality) progress, I think it would be fair to say that we were disappointed by what seems to be a lot left to do at this time. Now this might well be our desperation to get our hands on the vehicle before the autumn. Bearing in mind that we were expecting the build to start Feb 2010, and even accounting for the auto-box transplant difficulties, the malevolent winter weather, the delayed delivery of the pods from France along with a pinch of salt leeway – it does seem a little bit too far behind to not be, justifiably, a teeny bit ticked-off. We may yet be surprised, as I’m sure the final ‘put-together’ will be relatively quick – but to our untrained eye we are estimating late September (a shame as our last planned summer trip is mid-Sept!)
That said, I think a lot is to do with some welcome, good, old fashioned engineer pride at OEC, in as much as each build stakes their reputation. For example the newly designed main water tank has just been deemed borderline fit for purpose as far as build quality goes; and so OEC have sourced a new supplier to build one that is more robust. There have been countless improvements like this along the way, and it definitely means that by not rushing, we will have a better, even more resilient product in the end. Paul is also going to fabricate the tail-lift himself (in the interests of fairness and given he wasn’t there when we visited – I think Martin will be involved too). He plans to build a wooden prototype once the pod has been finally mounted. This will allow him to check all of the angles before fabricating the actual lift itself. As he described it, it sounds exactly like we’d envisaged. What I can’t gauge yet is the time that this might add to our already overextended build project. Still, as the saying goes, ‘worry about what you can influence – and leave engineers to do what they do best’
Stuff that’s been done:
- Colorifier and Eberspacher mounted with much plumbing for the same
- More Electrics gone in
- Final cuts and finishing panels done for Azalai (fitting these takes a lot of the remaining time – as Paul says, “well you could rush it, it would just look awful though, so you want to do it properly.” We’d agree.)
- Cut-through completed on back of cab
Obvious to-do’s
- Fit new, re-spec’d water tank
- Fit waste tank
- Fit auxiliary fuel tank
- Finish suspension mods
- Finish plumbing and wiring/electrics
- Solar Panel
- Fit cubby box when powder coated
- Mount Azalai
- Apply trimmings (roof and windows) and finishing panels
- Refit hand-controls
- Design, fabricate and fit lift
So are we happy – yes, but we do think it’s only fair to pressure OEC to pull out all he stops that they reasonably can now. We did accede to a request from them to pay a deposit late last year to secure a Feb/March build slot – and a three to four month lead time….. But equally, I really don’t want them to think we are wanting them to compromise on their inherent high standards. Maybe I need to add patience to the list of personal virtues bestowed by engaging in this project (I’m sure Rachel would be grateful for that too!)
Land Rover Azalai Finishing Touches
We haven’t visited OEC again this week, but there has been much contact as the outstanding issues reach a resolution.
After market copy of the console as used in the automatic Defender 50th anniversary and NAS spec vehicles.
After fitting the centre console that came with the 2.4 TDCi Defender Ashcroft Auto Kit OEC decided that it wasn’t quite right. (This NAS copy as stated on Ashcroft’s website has no lock on the cubby-box.) Consequently they are going to chop it in two and use the fore section to shroud the levers. They are also going to fabricate a metal cubby box, powder-coat it and trim it with upholstery to match that of the Azalai. It will have a lock matching the other lockers on the Azalai, all as part of the overall job. Whereas this might add some extra time to the project, it is exactly this attention to detail that mean OEC are such great people to deal with.
After a staff meeting this week it looks like the tail-lift will be bespoke and hydraulic with an electrically powered actuator. OEC are meeting a tail-lift supplier this week to see whether there is an off the shelf platform available to form the basis for this.
The order has gone in for a pair of Exmoor Trim Elite’s in Outlast Canvas. They will sit on raisers to increase available leg-room.
GM Coachworks are on board with making the disabled driving adaptations work (will need to happen after the seats are in so everything can be properly ‘tailored’)
My current guestimate – August
In Forward Gear
Early last week, I’d tapped Anton as to whether he could give a revised guestimate on completion (essentially for the purposes of our own planning). The gist of the reply was, “The auto box has just been completed… hoorah
It took Martin 15 days… however that said it is very good… rest assured. At the end of the process we sent Mr Ashcroft [David of Ashcroft Transmissions] a list of things to consider for the future! Paul is working on your Azalai [pod] at the same time. We have made some cute improvements for which I hope you don’t mind… For example including an outside light for underneath the awning, a new console / electronics system. Redesigned water and waste tanks with all copper hose tails, aluminium finish on the roof etc etc… little details I hope improves the Azalai no end. To be honest it would take a wee while to wander around and show you all the improvements and extras. Admittedly I haven’t decided on the rear tail lift system… Justin compiled a complete list for me and to be honest we haven’t decided…..
Timescales… I shall consult the boys … at the moment I have someone working full time on yours when ever possible….”
So clearly a lot to take in – so last Friday we popped in again unannounced (over lunchtime) to see progress for ourselves and grab a few pictures. Paul was at lunch but still came in to talk us through the work and challenges to date (sorry Paul for disturbing your lunch but thanks for the in-depth breakdown – it was appreciated and insightful).
The Gear Selector Lever evidences the auto gear-box conversion, the cowling is still removed. The 'mode' button is a legacy from the Range Rover donor vehicle and is redundant in the Defender.
As Anton had advised the auto-box conversion was now in and ‘plumbed’. But no one expected it to take fifteen days! (Even accounting for the first one having been written off by the courier putting a fork-lift through the pallet.) OEC explained that the kit arrived with no instruction, and that several connections and junctures did not mate with the Puma engined Defender out of the box (nor with some post out of the box mods either!) Notably:
- the connections to the transmission oil cooler had been completely re-engineered by OEC,
- Ashcroft subsequently sent a modified connector fork for the Gear Selector lever as that wouldn’t fit (too wide)
- and some work was needed to re-jig the hi-low selector mechanism to stop that lever being impeded by the dash console.
A neat reversing camera has been fitted to the pod
The oil cooler connectors sounded the most spectacular, as on ‘take one’, when the engine was fired up, oil was sprayed all over the garage! (The evidence of that could still be seen in the immediate vicinity, despite the clear-up.)
All said and done though, the unit looks the part, and as Paul said, “It’s like it is meant to be there” – which is a tribute to Ashcroft Tramsmission’s work in developing this mod – which of course is essential for me, with regards to adapting the vehicle so I can actually drive it. Now it’s in we can look at sorting the hand-controls’ fitting – we think via GM Coachworks in conjunction and cooperation with OEC.
It seems (with my reading between the lines) that the kit might not have been fitted to many Puma engined Defenders to date, outside of Ashcroft’s own workshops. I think OEC enjoyed the learning, and were certainlty pleased with the finished job, but they did indeed have some feedback for Ashcroft Transmissions that might yet improve the experience for future fitters! All that’s left (and again testament to the diligence and attention to detail of OEC) is to fit a light to the gear selector array, as this was omitted from the kit.
Bull Elephant (Indlovu) blowing his nose, Imfolozi April 2009
We also found out that Anton worked, “….In Hluhluwe Umfolozi [park in KwaZuluNatal], Kruger National Park and all over… another tale for another day”. We didn’t get a chance to catch-up on that yet – but we would be interested in hearing of what he was doing whilst at Hluhluwe Umfolozi – it really is a special place and worth spending some time getting to know if you are ever in KZN. We have certainly accrued a fair few weeks there over the years – and we intend it to be the official start-line of the Indlovu Trans-Africa Drive.
Ashcroft Auto Conversion
We popped into OEC as we were in the area. Despite being unannounced they were as helpful as ever. They put RR02 HAR up on the inspection ramp so we could see the now fitted Ashcroft conversion from above and below. It is still to be ‘plumbed’ – all the controls and wiring – but the heavy part is done, and a very neat job it looks too.
The pod has been pretty much cut-out, and is now sporting windows and a door. Not much more else to report re the vehicle but hopefully these photos will be illustrative of the work to date.
The autobox, cab view, transmission tunnel and seats removed
The autobox, cab view, transmission tunnel and seats removed
Richard inspects the now redundant clutch cable - soon to be removed
Paul of OEC
The Ashcroft autobox conversion from below
The interior of our pod showing the newly fitted door
The exterior of the pod showing fitted window
Forwardly Mobile
We’ve been leafing through recent (April/May) issues of Land Rover Monthly, and in the Technofile sections, there is a step by step, pictorial article on fitting an Ashcroft auto-conversion to a 300tdi Defender. If you want to see what’s involved – plus the (again) positive review on the mod’ itself, then it’s worth tracking down a copy. It’s certainly not a quick job! The wiring in could be fiddly. Subsequently Anton advises us,
“The gearbox is going well so far. It is in, bolted up… but as you say we have the wiring and the pipework to do next… it would have been easier if we had built the land rover from chassis up… have taken off all the panels one can think off so far LOL “
Anton de Leeuw OEC International Ltd Broadway Road Kingsteington, Newton Abbot Devon, TQ12 3PJ Mob: +44 (0) 7841 278366 Tel: +44 (0) 1626 356555 Fax: +44 (0) 1626 356066
We’ve also been reflecting that getting the prep’ work done for us, is realistically depriving us of a learning opportunity regarding the mechanics of the vehicle and its mod’s. Realistically it is the right option for us though, given that the base vehicle is new, and we have neither the time nor the garage space to start from scratch – plus RR02 HAR is with OEC for the Azalai conversion itself anyway for a protracted period. Rachel is going to be designated bush-mechanic [lite], and we’ll need to catch-up on service and maintenance skills once the vehicle is commissioned. OEC themselves are open to spot visits and are at great pains to talk through what exactly they have done and indeed how they have done it – which is still an education.