The first trip was a couple of weeks ago; home to Ripon (S2C International) with our heavyweight car transporter trailer with just a S2 gearbox & 2.25D engine loaded.
At the International we loaded a new galvanised chassis for another member and, with Patrick as co-driver, took that up to Carlisle where we dropped off the chassis, engine and gearbox.
There we loaded two S3 gearboxes and drove down to Penrith to pick up a 1958 S2 LWB as a base vehicle for my newest new Carawagon, then home.
Total trip 280 miles.
We did notice that we were struggling a little with temperature rising on some of the long hills up the Pennines on the A66, but apart from that it went fine at around 50-55mph.
The next trip is one I've just completed on my own; home to Truro with an almost empty trailer, but with a big roof box, then loaded a full Carawagon body and drove back via Eastnor (for the Land Rover show).
This time I removed the ammo box from in front of the grill and the temperature was a lot more stable and I had more power, so it was obviously blocking enough of the rad and intercooler to make a difference.
Totol for that trip was 760 miles, and this time I worked out the consumption.
33mpg with empty trailer and 29mpg loaded
200TDi, 3.54 diffs and overdrive is the way to go guys
I think I can now say that I feel confident to set off for long trips without anything falling off or blowing up (touch wood!) which is a relief as if you remember, on my very first trip out after the restoration, I blew an oil cooler hose and ended up dumping 6.5l of new oil on the A1
Cheers,
Robin.
The only problems they encountered was on the corrugated tracks where the rear chassis suspension mount broke off and a few steering problems. Chassis was repaired for $200 and seems to have held up for the rest of their trip.
