Vol. 5 Issue 7 Newsletter of The Southern Land Rover Society, Inc. July 2001

TELLICO HAPPENS....or....what's the differential? By Chris Schramm All in all, the trip to Tellico was just your average trip to Tellico -- full of great offroading, excitement, scenery, nice weather, and a few broken parts. Mind you, this article is written with this expressed disclaimer -- I off road hard, I tend to dent my truck (chick's dig body damage). Don't let this story scare you away from Tellico -- Tellico also has its share of off-roading for a stock Rover. The die-hards arrived Wednesday, Dave Murrell and I arrived Thursday, and 6 more trucks arrived Friday. In all, we had 11 Rovers there. All I know about Wednesday is Steve Johnson lost a differential somewhere on the trail (diff #1). Shortly after our arrival we began the adventure with a night ride up Upper 2. For those who have never been to Tel-lico, Upper 2 is a relatively short loop with some very challenging ledges. This night, what was supposed to be a quick loop turned into a long winch affair. The headed up in three trucks; Booger, the beast, and Winn Bearden's Hybrid (a Series III Land Rover on a 100" chopped Range Rover chassis that looks like a D90). About half way up the trail you encounter a very steep section of ledges (the very same ledges where I was heard screaming "mommy!" two years ago) Winn was the last truck up and broke an axle on the first serious ledge. His truck came to rest at a rather uncomfort-able angle halfway up the ledge.

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Upcoming Land Rover Event Schedule July 19-22 Big South Fork Expedition July 21-22 Alternate club ride—Menlo?? August 15—Club meeting at Tony’s August 18-19 - Tellico Sept 14-16— Southern Appalachian Expedition Sept 19—Club meeting at Tony’s Oct 5-8 Mid Atlantic Rally—Pearl’s Pond, VA Oct 17 Club meeting at Tony’s Oct 20 Exploration Ride—Mike Pado Nov 14 Club meeting at Tony’s Nov 17 Rich Mt Cleanup ride

July SAE preparation To all Solaros members: Attendance at the July and August general membership meeting is critical. During these meetings we will be focused on preparation and marketing for the 8th Annual Southern Appalachian Expedition. Norman Barden and Scott Copeland have secured a prime location 1 1/2 hours north of Atlanta in Menlo, GA. The site features a beautiful camping site with spectacular views, many, many trail ride op-tions (from dirt roads to rock crawling -- 90% very suitable for stock trucks), hiking and rock climbing, and really anything else found in the great out doors. This is our premier event and requires the involvement of all members. Please come prepared for this meeting be considering how you will be involved in the event including: 1. Trail Preparation 2. Trail Lead 3. Raffle Ticket Sales 4. Photography 5. Guest relations 6. Registration 7. Clean up We're hoping to double participation this year from 75 trucks and 150 people to 150 trucks and 300 people. We have many sponsorship commitments including on site attendance by many (including Rovers North). Also, see the flyer for the SAE -- you need to do two thing with this. First, make a copy and mail it with your check to Norman ASAP. Second, take 10 or 20 more and distribute at will (on the windshield of any Rover you see....). Be there or we'll put a leak in your transfer box (oh that's right, it already leaks).

Club News David Porter has added another Land Rover to the stable — a Red 1997 D-90 Hardtop that is going to be Amy’s daily driver. Mike Pado reports that it is a very pretty truck! Jack Walter recently acquired a red 1971 Series IIA hardtop from the original owner with only 47,000 miles on it since new. (It sure pays to answer the phone!) The truck sat on blocks for eighteen years in dry storage and the interior looks virtually brand new. It came with all of the paperwork including the tag that shows which boat it came over from England on, all of the original tools and a new ex-haust system (not yet installed). The brakes and springs are being replaced but it’s already been cranked and driven under its own power. If any one needs to see what original equipment looks like—this thing is a virtual time capsule. Chris Schramm will be happy to demonstrate his technique of “how to make it easy to access your master cylinder in a Series truck” Just bring your truck and a hatchet to the next meeting. Brian Elliot is selling his SIII Lightweight if any one is looking for a very nice example.

The editor would like to especially thank Chris Schramm, Ron Ward and all of our other contributors for taking the time to write such entertaining tales of their Land Rover Adventures. They have consistently delivered these stories on short notice when asked and their contributions play a major part to the success of the newsletter. Keep the stories coming—we’ll print them.

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Because he was at such an angle, his carb wouldn't flow any fuel and the truck would not start. Out came the winch cable, but the battery was quickly dead, which meant Steve Dempsey and I had to turn around and return from the top to collect Winn. The winching job took two cables and was going fine until Dempsey started falling asleep at the switch. Dave Murrell solved the problem by continually whacking Booger's wing with a flashlight to keep Steve awake. Once we had him over the ledge, Steve strapped Winn up the hill, but Winn didn't close the rear door tightly and all his camping gear, food and drink were deposited over a 50-foot section of dirt and rocks. Needless to say, we returned to camp pretty late. The next day (Friday), after assorted repairs we headed for Guardrail and a trip down School bus. Bryan Elliott and Byron Knight made the trip in Bryan's FJ complete with a new Transmission, transfer case, and 12" drive shaft. Very quickly, Bryan had trouble with his new drive shaft assem-bly so he and Byron headed to town to find a welding shop. I personally had never been to guardrail, but have heard all the stories of winch lines, broken axles, and near falls from the mountain. For the uninitiated, guardrail is a 50-foot VERY steep section of smooth rocks in a stepped forma-tion. It is named for the length of guardrail that is strapped between a couple of trees at the bottom, presumably to keep one from falling over a very steep drop and "off the moun-tain". We were led by Steve Dempsey and Kyle in Booger, followed by Abe in his Unimog, Dave in Pansy (his '72 Se-ries III), me and Winn in the Beast, and "the party of Steve Johnson" in McGoo (who was in two wheel drive due to a front differential failure the day before). Steve D. and Abe made it look easy (36" tires and two lockers help) followed by me, Dave, and Steve D (all need-ing a little help from the winch). Dave was awarded the booby prize for driving Pansy to the top - Pansy is a "bone stock" series III with the ONLY modification being a roll

cage. During his adventure, he gained style points for placing his rear tire on top of the Guardrail -- don't look down!!! Anyone questioning the ability of a Series truck should speak to Dave. After Guardrail, we were off to the helicopter pad and down School bus. This is where things started to go wrong. Steve Johnson, already down to 2-wheel drive, broke a rear axle and was down to one wheel drive -- uh oh. He smartly turned around, somehow negotiated his way down the guardrail with one wheel drive, and headed back to camp. Just about the same time, Dave was rock-ing Pansy over a ledge and heard a loud clank followed by a sudden stop and lots of noise from the pumpkin. I strapped him to the top of the section and we decided the rear differential was toast (diff #2, driveline failure #3). Dave was now a front wheel drive Rover, and the truck was now to be called Clanky. Somehow, Dave negoti-ated his way down the school bus (F.U.D. factor 9.9) in front wheel drive -- WOW! School bus is a fairly long section (I'm guessing about 1 mile) consisting of lots of tight turns around enormous boulders. On one occasion I was sideways on a steep rock with only two wheels touching the ground and had to be coaxed to 'hit the gas hard' while Kyle and Abe rocked the truck to gain traction. You know the sensation of leaning of the edge of a cliff while having a dizzy spell during a bad earthquake? I do -- thanks Kyle and Abe.

Tellico Adventures—cont’d

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Once at the bottom of School bus, we turned down trail 4, and then trail 5 to return to camp. About this time, Winn and I started feeling a very bad vibration coming from my front end. By the time we returned to camp, the pinion bear-ing in the front diff was toast (diff #3, driveline failure #4). THANK GOD FOR WINN BEARDEN. Winn and I de-cided that if we wanted to ride on Saturday we needed to re-place the entire diff, and Winn just happened to have one. If you've never replaced a front differential, know that this pro-cedure entails removing the front drive shaft, wheels, brake assembly, and axles and then removing the pumpkin and the diff -- thanks to Winn, Dave, Kyle, and some silicone from Steve Johnson, we had it back together in just under 3 hours. About that time, Byron and Bryan returned reporting an ex-tensive and complete repair done by a local welder for the cost of $50 (it took all day). Oh boy, Friday Night. We told him not to go, we urged him to ride with someone, we explained it was too steep, too dangerous. We told him he would definitely break some-thing. He didn't listen. We ganged up on him, and he still didn't listen. Steve Dempsey told him not to go. Steve John-son told him not to go. Kyle Roath told him not to go. When all three tell you not to go, pack up and go home. But..... Jeffrey went (and Blake too – along with wife and kids!), and the sparks flew (does aluminum spark?). The night ride at Tellico always seems to be to Upper Two (remember the story at the beginning of this article). Upper Two has 3 or 4 very steep ledges that throw the truck into the side of the trail violently. This is not a trail for a new truck -- you know that broken door handle on my Disco II -- Upper Two. You know that dent in the rear quarter panel of Jack's RR -- Upper Two. It's a relatively short trail, and is

great for your trail truck -- I love it in the Beast; but I've learned not to take a new truck up there and so did Jef-frey ( I know your pain man). I didn't witness the carnage, but both Jeffrey and Blake returned to camp wounded -- Jeffrey's truck sported a nice gouge in the passenger door, a bent trailing arm, and a rear drive shaft sheared into two pieces (driveline fail-ure #5). Blake was a little luckier but lost his alpine win-dow, front turn signal, and added a few nice dents to his sheet metal. Don't go up or down Upper Two in a new truck!!! Capiche? We all woke up Saturday morning, inspected the damage, and made a gasoline run. Friday evening saw the arrival of Scott Bowden, John Graham and Jamie (soon to be John and Jamie Graham), and John Casteel and Laura, all ready for a day on the trail. By now, we were ready for some of Tellico's tamer terrain so we headed for 4,6, and 8. Steve, Kyle, Byron, and Bryan needed more adrena-line so they headed up School bus. John had the opportu-nity to test his new winch on some rocks, and Scott made every trail look very easy in his Disco. For those who've never been on the trail with Scott, he always makes it look easy. Trails 4, 6 and 8 are great trails for stock trucks. They'll test your skill and while they require spotting here and there, they are not places where you'll break your truck (unless you're careless). This route is a full day (more if you want) of trails that offer a number of spots that are a short walk to the more serious rock climbing. We had a great day, lunch at the creek, and watched a few trucks tackle slick rock. Saturday night was another adventure, this time up lower two -- the rock garden. We started out led by Steve Dempsey. I was lucky enough to ride in the back of the FJ with Bryan. At the trailhead, and on our way over the very first rock, Bryan's pinion sheared off and we were stopped (diff #4, driveline #6). This was where the fun began -- Bryan's truck was positioned next to a rather round rock about 6 feet tall (I'm not exaggerating) with about a tire width between the rock and the FJ. While trying to fix the problem, a number of Jeeps de-cided they were in a hurry and wanted to pass. So, one by one, they crawled this huge rock inches away from Bryan's truck. At this point, we're under the truck that was positioned precariously on jacks and weren't thrilled about the traffic. But, we ignored these idiots and kept to

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our work...that is until the last idiot ran into the FJ on the way by. You can just imagine the exchange at this point -- it's after midnight, we're all tired and ready for camp, and we just were sideswiped by a redneck. After politely asking him to remove his truck from Bryan's we realized he has familiar passengers in the back seat -- none other than the future Mrs. Graham and Scott Bow-den. They weren't necking, but it sure seemed un-seemly -- and they were riding with the en-emy. Hmmmmmmmmmmm. We finally gave up on fixing the truck and headed back to camp. By the way, Steve made it through easily. On Sunday, we all packed up and headed home. Bryan and Blake were able to quickly recover the FJ, and they loaded up and followed shortly behind. The result was another successful trip to Tellico, although we took heavy casualties in 4 differentials and driveline components. Now, I'm sure it sounds from this article that if you go to Tellico that you break something -- not true. It's all about going where you're capable and equipped to go. I always have fun on all the trails at Tellico -- the hard and the easy. The only problem I had was a worn out pinion bearing – that had nothing to do with the terrain. Steve D didn't break a thing (again). My advice, for the fortieth time, is YOU'VE GOTTA GO TO TELLICO. Just stay on the easier trails, enjoy the camaraderie and scenery, and the great outdoors. In August, we're headed back -- this is truly a great trip for anyone who likes offroading and likes camping -- the setting is gorgeous and the trails superb. Tellico is only 90 miles north; the drive is beau-tiful and it's close. See you there in August and some-body pack me an extra differential.

Favorite bumper sticker: Drive it like you stole it! Personal favorite moment: Bryan's face when he recog-nized Jamie and Scott in the back of the enemy's truck Funniest event: The battery and chain saw flying from the back of the hybrid going up slick rock Most Unusual: John Casteel's trip up Trail 1 on Saturday morning.

British Motorcar Day Report This annual event at Chateau Élan on May 12th drew a new record crowd of cars for it’s eight-eenth year. We had over 485 cars in attendance and just over 50 Land Rovers . The event was highlighted by the debut of the new Mini-Cooper and the presence of the My Classic Car film crew with the very musta-chioed and personable host Dennis Gage. We also raised a record $7400 for the two des-ignated charities - the Shrine Children’s Hospi-tal and the Marietta Lion’s Club.

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Mission Alert!! About the July trail ride. The two leaders (Brian and Me) have had business get in the way of fun and are unable to lead the ride to Big South Fork. We're both unable to get away on Thursday or Friday. If you are planning on going please let me know and we'll provide all the information you need to make it a fun week-end. As an alternative, Brian and I will be leading a ride to the SAE site (assuming Norman gives me the OK, but he's hard to reach as he spends most of his time in bars and the like) on Saturday and Sunday (we'll camp in Menlo). If Norman doesn't ok this, after we beat him silly we'll go to Beasley Knob for the weekend. Write with questions. Happy Trails, Chris S. thepile@bellsouth.net See the SAE entry form on the inside back cover of this month’s Greenlaner!!

Events Notes:

Rick Ward’s Series truck winches its way up trail 233 at Beasley Knob

Stefan gets high-centered and has to be winched off

More Beasley Knob action on trail 233 David says its much steeper than it looks!!

Scott Bowden before his winch let all of the smoke out

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Beasley Knob Trail Ride - June 23 - Blairsville, Georgia My wife Melinda and I left Columbus late Friday afternoon and arrived in Blairsville around 8 pm. We pulled through the mist and light fog left over from a summer rain shower in the mountains and found our way to the designated meet-ing spot for the next day's trail ride. A four hour drive is tough first thing in the morning so we had decided to tackle the trip in two stages, beginning Friday after work. We'd drive up the night before, find a place to stay and be ready for the trail ride first thing Saturday morning. We drove up, incidentally, in our new (to us) 1997 Discov-ery SE with 62,000 miles on the clock. I had picked the truck up a couple weeks earlier and this would be our first crack at it since then. Now don't be mistaken, this is a trail truck. Perhaps considered high falootin' to the Series truck owners (my heathen self included), but by Disco standards this rig is every inch a sow's ear! Dents, dimples and rough spots in the bodywork, and a paint finish reminiscent of the mat finished MoD trucks in the Bosnia. The paint is so dull it is sure to be invisible to infrared sights. She's lifted on OME HD front and extra HD rear springs and OME shocks with BFG Mud Terrains in 245 75 r16. A full complement of under carriage armor, a bashed in passenger side front door, and two cracked and loose sills indicate a rough off road past for this beast. She checked out fine and even has a no-deductible extended LR warranty good through March, 2002 or 78,000, whichever comes first. We entered and exited Blairsville within a couple blocks and before we knew it we'd passed a sign that read "Brasstown Valley - 3 Miles." Not bad I thought and we took a right off the highway and drove up the eternal entrance and drive-way. As luck would have it the resort was playing host to a huge family reunion that weekend and had but one room

available, and for Friday night only. Perfect. We danced around the regular rate until we found the "discount" version and decided we'd not had a nice trip away from the kids since Camp Rover in April and de-cided to check on in. Dinner was great and the accom-modations were first rate. I recommend the place to anyone interested in a little golf, tennis, horseback rid-ing, whatever, they got it. So, Saturday dawns early and we fuel up and head for the rendezvous point in Blairsville. Moose Russell and his son David in Moose's newly parabolic'd 88", my brother Rick and his 88", Scott Bowden in the '94 Dis-covery, Stephan, a new-comer in a sweet ex-military 110, and Erik Van Dyke in his SIII 88" joined the fun. Shortly after 9 am we puffed down the road and entered the Beasley Knob recreation area. Paid our fee and entered at our own risk. The rain had stopped nearly 12 hours prior to tackling the first obstacle, but the thick canopy of leaves on the trees above created a damp, greenhouse on the forest floor. The first leg was a fairly steep ascent along a thin ledge. Steep muddy bank on one side and a same-angle drop off on the other. David was in the lead and made the summit with a little struggle. My Discovery started spinning its wheels and it instantly became ap-parent that none of us had thought to air down. So, out we go and the pressure is dropped to 18 psi all the way around. I heard some laughing and talking going on down the trail and soon learned that my brother's tires, BFG All Terrain T/A's in massive 235 85 r16, were currently running at over 80 psi!!!! He said the dang air pressure gauge didn't register that high and the nee-

dle stayed pegged at 50 psi until he'd bleed off air for several min-utes. Running at 40 psi, he was later heard to comment on the comfortable ride. He had no problems with the tires all day. Aired down and ready to go again the convoy made the top of the first ascent without incident. The trails were muddy and steep for the most part and when one got stuck,

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one pulled out the winch and got hauled up. The Disco per-formed well and despite my driving skills and no winch, we never had to get tugged out all day. There were some tense moments as trees leaned in for a kiss and a hug, and during the Moose's free-fall down a bobsled tunnel-like trail. He wound up sideways in the trail, cross-axled and without much hope of getting out by himself (much to his son's de-light). Rick got in line and tied his rear cross-member off to a tree and pulled out the ol' Ramsey and winched Moose out. It was fun to see folks working together to extract the vehicle. Some locals had caught up with us around 11 am when we made a lunch break. They had a fleet of Kawasaki and Honda four-wheelers and a couple Jeep Wranglers and seemed to be having a great time. They gave some insight to the trails ahead and took off. We'd see them again and I think Moose got a free test-drive on one the bikes, too. The Beasley Knob trails are not the longest but they are fun and plentiful. The previous afternoon's rain had made some easy runs tougher, but that adds to the enjoyment. In all, everyone's truck did its job without asking for much in re-turn. We were very proud of the Disco and look forward to many more outings. Around 3 pm Melinda and I decided it was time to go and the rest of the group suggested they'd check out one more trail, just around the bend... Our trip home was uneventful and we were in Columbus in time to pick up the kids at their grandparent's by 8 pm and I was hosing off the rig by 9 pm. It wasn't until the next night that I learned of the fate of the rest of the Beasley Knob Rover crew. They had disappeared in my rearview mirror Saturday around 3:30 pm. The next time they saw a maintained gravel road was after 9:30 pm that night. I wasn't there, so I won't try to tell the story (hopefully Moose or Rick will drop us a line next month and tell the full tale) but I can say that their adventures included a vehicle fire, a patchwork system made up of every conceivable piece of recovery equipment on hand, the loss of two (2) winches, and many, many frayed nerves. Tune in next month for more!!!! Ron Ward 1965 Land Rover Series IIa 88" 1995 Range Rover Classic SWB (ex-EAS) 1997 Discovery SE (Bad Mother #ucker)

SERIES RIDE / JUNE CLUB RIDE David Russell On June 23rd we met at the Burger King in Blairsville, GA at 9:00 that morning. After the usual tire kicking, introductions, and updates on our recent vehicle modifi-cations, we were on our way to the infamous Beasley Knob ORV area. The group consisted of David Russell, (son) David Russell in their IIA, Rick Ward in his IIA, Erik Van Dyck and Ray Holmes in Erik's Series III, Stefan Kraemer in his 110, Scott Bowden in his Disco, and Ron and Melinda Ward in their Disco. Beasley lived up to its reputation! We did all trails ex-cept "Rattlesnake", "The Wall" and "#230," and spent most of the day doing it. At about 3:00 pm, Ron and Melinda headed home to Columbus while the remaining 5 trucks decided to continue for another hour or so............ right!. Scott wanted to try "#233", so we did. Little did we know, the fun was about to begin. We were able to sharpen our recovery skills by using every winch, hook, pin, strap and muscle we have. The only real casualty was Scott's winch; it worked hard, began to smoke and eventually quit working. When all was said and done, we arrived back at the Pay Station 12 hours after we began----about 9 pm! What A Day!!!!

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Story of a beloved 1971 IIA Chris Schramm It all began somewhere on the trail in my 1999 Series II Disco. I'd had the truck for about a year and was thoroughly enjoying my Solaros outings; in fact I was enjoying them too much. It seemed the more difficult the terrain the hap-pier I was. As it turns out, the Disco was taking a beat-ing. That's not to say it's not a capable vehicle, oh con-traire, it's very capable. In fact, too capable for it's own good. I knew I had to do something different or I was going to destroy my truck. I set out to find an inexpensive truck that I could build into a credible off-roader without break-ing the bank. I wanted a series truck since my first ever car was a 1971 Series IIA. As a sixteen year old, I had no idea how lucky I was. I began by asking club members if they knew of a truck at a reasonable price. The only ones I found were in terrible shape -- more rust that I could possible ever fix or more missing and non-working parts than imaginable. None of them in my price range ran. It seemed the only available trucks that ran were well over $5000. I did not lose hope and faithfully bought the Truck Trader every week, looking for that special truck. Then, one day I found it. A 1971 Series IIA hardtop; and it was located in Columbus, GA. I drove down at the first chance I had to check it out. The owner, a nice guy named Mark Wise, had purchased the truck to rebuild. According to Mark, he bought it from a guy who used it as a hunting truck. I spent an hour or so inspecting the vehicle. It was painted army green with a brush and had numerous bullet holes in it. The seats were badly torn and there appeared to be many squirrels residing in various parts of the truck. It had the typical "tub full of spares" that is found with every Landy on deck for restoration and looked like it had at one point been submerged (the tell tale sign was a water line running across the gauges that is there to this day).

When I asked Mark if the truck ran and he replied "it used too". "NO SH*T SHERLOCK, BUT HOW LONG AGO???" He went on to explain that he had tried to re-place the ignition to no avail, but that he had all new parts and all afternoon. Mark and I went about replacing all of the ignition components and wires and repeatedly testing everything we could only to find that the truck wouldn't start. After two hours and a number of parts stolen from his wife’s Volvo, we jockeyed it enough to get spark, but it still wouldn't fire. Did anyone know the spark plugs from a 740 Volvo fit a 2.25 liter? Next we discovered the fuel line was stopped up and replaced a section with the cas-ing from a ballpoint pen (remember this one when you're on the trail). Mark thought that karma was playing a role, so he asked me to step inside the cab and turn the key. Lo and behold, the engine sprang to life ... tick tick tick tick tick tick tick tick. That first victory was a sweet one. Mark by this time was getting the evil eye from his wife as we drove out of the driveway for a test drive, leaving the hood up on the Volvo. I could tell that if I stalled just a little longer I would get a good deal. The truck ran hor-ribly on 4 almost flat tires and had absolutely no brakes, but I was in love. It had a solid frame, reasonable motor, and plenty of potential for the price. We dickered a little, settled at $2500, and I was on my way home towing The Beast. My greeting at home was less than famous. My wife Renee and our two boys came out to meet me. She new I was as pleased as punch, but the look on her face said "I don't care what YOU think, you're not putting THAT in MY driveway!!!!" I knew I had to act quickly. First, get someone on your side. "Bennett, Harrison, what do you boys think??" I asked excitedly. "COOL DAD!" was the response. OK, I bought some time, now to just get it off the trailer and inside the garage before any of the neighbors appeared. I was almost successful, when our neighbor Kathleen came out side to see what the commotion was about. "What is THAT" she asked Renee. Renee was thankfully in the mood to be a supporting wife so she just rolled her eyes and said "ask HIM.” I started the truck and drove it quickly into the garage, spewing toxic smoke the entire way. Thus began the great mechanical adventure.

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Sagging Headliner in your Range Rover (or Disco) ? Has the headliner in your Range Rover Classic or early Discovery started sagging yet? All you Series owners out there can just skip this article altogether – and no snicker-ing is allowed either. It’s only a matter of time due to the materials used in the headliner before they start to disintegrate and you notice that your roof seems to be getting lower in your truck. At the first sign of a loose headliner you can avail yourself of the stopgap measure of holding it up with straight pins – the sooner you catch it the better. This might buy you a few extra months before you have to deal with the prob-lem. Forget about trying to stick it back up with any com-bination of glue, contact cement or chewing gum – once the sagging starts you’re gonna have to replace it. The problem is that the foam backing of the headliner cloth has a tendency to turn to sticky powder over time. The only solution is replacement of the headliner cloth – a problem compounded by the fact that Rover uses an unusually wide material that isn’t freely available at all places. The cloth is applied over a shell that is relatively easily removed from your Range Rover and the normal charge for a headliner replacement is around $300 - $400. You can save some money by doing some of the grunt work yourself by removing the shell from the car, stripping off the old cloth, cleaning away the remains of the now disin-tegrating foam backing and doing the reinstall later. By doing the prep work for the headliner service you can cut the cost of a replacement in half. The shop manual describes the method for removing the headliner shell from the car – it basically comes out through the rear hatch/door. You must remove the grab handles, the rear speakers, the sun visors, a few plastic plugs above the rear side windows and the interior roof lights (save these for last). Before you remove the last few fasteners, open the rear tailgate, remove spare tire and the front headrests, and flip the rear seat backs forward. After carefully undoing the main headliner shell tilt it carefully toward the left side of the car and ease it out the back gate. This can be done solo (not easily) but it helps to have an extra pair of hands for the removal/installation. Turn it up-side down and strip off the old headliner cloth by hand. You’ll see a crumbly mess of sticky foam clods half stuck to the headliner shell. If you have a sunroof – I’d let the professional handle that part of the job. Remove the foam from the shell using whatever works – I started with a stiff bristle brush and shop vac and finished

up with a 3” diameter Scotchbrite sanding pad. Once I had the shell cleaned off I called John Bryant at Mobile Head-liner Service. He has a supply of the special wide fabric used in Range Rovers and will come to you to glue the new headliner to the shell. You can also repair any dam-age to the shell by adding a layer of fiberglass cloth in a bed of epoxy on the upper surface (roof side) of the shell while it’s out. The rear corners seem to be particularly sus-ceptible to damage.

The headliner shell all ready for recovering.

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Headliner cont’d from Page 8 The headliner repairman will lay out new piece of the foam backed cloth (yes you get to do this again in another ten years – and you Series truck owners just be quiet). He then sprays half of the underside of the shell and the new headliner with contact adhesive. After carefully stretching the first end into the shell; he sprays the other half and smoothes it into place. After wrapping the edges around the shell and gluing them in place he will take a razor blade and cut the openings for the lights and speakers. A few more slits with the blade where the screws go through the headliner and it’s almost ready to go back in.

Ready to reinstall—looks like new!

Prep the shell—remove all the old foam residue

Layout the new fabric, fold back and spray on contact adhesive to one end

Work the new cloth down into all the cor-ners applying gentle pressure

Repeat for other end—smooth out any wrinkles as the cloth goes down Glue the edges and slit for fasteners

John suggests that you wait a few hours to let the glue set properly before you handle it but I would suggest that you have him help you maneuver the freshly relined shell into position in the tuck before he leaves. And let him do any sunroof work – its too complicated to go into here. I had my headliner replaced for $150 – of course my Range Rover doesn’t have a sunroof – and it sure beats looking up at a forest of straight pins! Thanks to: Mobile Headliner Service—John Bryant Mobile # 404-863-9842 Voice mail # 770-983-1047

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ENGLISH - SWEDISH SPARES 345 Branch Drive Alpharetta, GA 30004

Largest collection of recycled Saab, Volvo, Jaguar and Land Rover Parts in the Southeast. Just off Mcfarland Road 1 mile west of GA 400. Toll Free 1-800-241-1916 Local 770-475-2662 Fax 770-475-2663

Land Rovers and Parts For Sale 5) DUNLOP 235-75R15 GrandTrek M+S tires 4 each with 4000 miles - 1 with 0 miles These were on my 2A for a short time and have no plugs or patches all 5 for $200 David Russell W (770) 261 9129 — H (770) 979 3538 1965 Land Rover Series IIA 88" soft top with regular hard top. Daily driver, no rust. Complete tune up, genuine deluxe front seats and one original rear fold-ing bench seat. New paint to original pastel green. Brand new hoop set and tan top (all genuine parts). New 215 85 r16 tires on NATO steel wheels. New exhaust, generator, rebuilt Solex carburetor, points, plugs, wires, hub seals and rebuilt swivel balls. New brake lines and flex hoses, new cylinders. Steering and suspension in top shape. Electrics and gauges functioning as they should. transmission and transfer case are smooth and tight. Located in Columbus, Georgia. $9,500. Contact Ron Ward (706) 644-7644 work or (706) 596-0821 home. (see photos to right)

Ron Ward’s Very Nice SIIA - He’s putting it up for sale despite Erik’s and Jack’s counseling that he’s going to deeply regret selling it.

Bare Frame with fuel tank for D-90 Land Rover $1150 Mike Pado—770-777-2781

THE GREENLANER Page 13

8th Annual Southern Appalachian Expedition presented by:

The Southern Land Rover Society

September 14, 15, and 16, 2001 -- Menlo, Georgia

If you are a Land Rover enthusiast, join us for a day or the weekend!

This year’s event will include lots of trail rides and an off road competition

Friday the 14th- Event and grounds open up at 12 noon. Once you have signed in, you are free to set up camp, do some tire kicking, or hit the trails. Everyone is on their own for food on Friday night, but we will have a host restaurant in the area. Saturday the 15th- Event will start when ever you wake up and get in your truck. Trail rides will be all day. There will be a catered supper on Sat. night followed by an auction, a raffle, and some music. Trails are open at night. Sunday the 16th- Trails will again be open when ever you get up and get going. The event will officially end at around 2 pm Sunday afternoon to allow for cleaning up, so have your stuff packed up and cleaned up by then.

All trails will be marked for skill level and direction. Please follow the arrows and avoid tie-ups.

We expect this years event to draw even more than last year with our goal being 200 vehicles and 300 people!

$15.00 Registration ($15.00 for the first vehicle and all additional vehicles brought/owned by that individual are free) and $10.00 per person for dinner on Saturday

Auction and Raffle Sponsors: TBA – as always you can expect a virtual who’s who among Rover parts/accessory dealers!

Name: _______________________________________ Email Address: _____________________________ Address: ______________________________________ Phone Number: _____________________________ City _____________________________State ________ Zip ________ Rover Type: __________________________

Make check payable to: The Southern Land Rover Society Send check and form to: Norman Barden c/o SOLAROS,

120 Snapfinger Lane, Athens, Georgia 30605 Menlo is 40 minutes west of I-75 in north Georgia, visit www.solaros.com

for more information and directions to the event!

SOLAROS Page 14

THE GREENLANER

Southern Land Rover Society 1325 North Point Way Roswell, GA 30075-4135

Inside This Issue: Tellico—What’s the Diff? British Motorcar Day report Range Rover Headliners Series Ride at Beasley Knob Southern Appalachian Expedition

MEMBERSHIP RATE SCHEDULE Annual membership $40/year Membership includes a subscription to The Greenlaner and a SOLAROS club decal for your Land Rover and membership in the Southern FWD Association. Additional decals are available for $3 each or 2/$5 Advertising rates for the Greenlaner: Business Card $45/year 1/4 Page $95/year 1/2 Page $200/year Full Page $395/year Libby Gallagher is the Membership Chairman. Please send all of your renewals and new member-ship enquiries to: 1758 Tappahannock Trail, Marietta, GA 30062 e-mail: solaros4fun@mindspring.com

Solaros can be found on the net at: http//www.solaros.com

Please send all stories, ads, pictures and other submissions for the Greenlaner to Jack Walter at the following address: solaros1@att.net

Chris Brown sent us this picture to help us get through the Hot Atlanta Summer months.