Land Rover 109 roof rack now more secure

 31 March 2022

     Ever since they came out for the Toyota FJ's in the 70's I always liked the Con-Ferr racks, especially since they also fit the Series Rover. Well Con-Ferr is out of business now and one can find the old style gutter clamp these days at ; http://www.gamiviti.com/rain-gutter-towers

   The one thing I have against them is that they don't fit perfect. The bend in the outside doesn't quite fit the shape of the LR gutter and leaves it looking less secure.

The original bend;

I have a spare so I set about seeing if I could make an easy adjustment of the bend to reach further under the gutter. I came up with this;

I did it by simply holding it with vise grips and hammering the upper bend flat on the back of my vise.

There are 10 of them on my rack, one at a time they were taken off, pounded flat, reinstalled. I like the result! it looks so much more secure!

Ukraine

 6 March 2022

I try to stay away from the political on my blog. I can stay silent no longer.

There have been quite a few pageviews from Russia in the past, these people I hope to reach out to.

Friends of Land Rovers, It is with heavy heart that I tell you that your leadership is not telling you the truth about the "Special Operations in Ukraine". We in the free world have live news broadcasts from Ukraine. There are/was no Ukrainian Nazi effort to exterminate Ukrainian Russians. And Vlad if you are being told this, YOU are being lied too!

Vlad the Invader lied. It is his war to reclaim the glory of the Soviet Union, no matter what the cost. First Crimea, now Ukraine, where next?

As of this date 1.5 million peoples have fled Ukraine to the West, mostly women and children. Too many men, women and children and Russian soldiers have died for Putin's lies.

Vlad has threatened the use of nukes if the West intervenes in his war of aggression. That is the only reason the war continues without the intervention of the Free World.

Russian friends, we hear that some 4000 of you have been arrested for protesting, for this I am sorry, I do need to ask you to continue. There is only a few ways for this madness to stop;

Russian takeover of Ukraine,

massive protests by the peoples of Russia

a coup of Vlad by sensible people,

death of Vlad.

It hurts me to know of the economic squeeze put on my a United Free world and how you the people will suffer. Know also that we too are suffering with higher food and fuel prices.

Pleas do what you can to end Putin's war.

Independent youtube video on Russian protest arrests;

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=miU0KoteLDs

Друзья Land Rover! С тяжелым сердцем я вам говорю, что ваше руководство не говорит вам правду о «Спецоперациях в Украине». У нас в свободном мире есть прямые трансляции новостей из Украины. Попыток украинских нацистов истребить украинских русских нет и не было. И Влад, если тебе это говорят, ТЕБЕ тоже врут!

Влад Захватчик солгал. Это его война за восстановление славы Советского Союза любой ценой. Сначала Крым, теперь Украина, что дальше?

На сегодняшний день из Украины на Запад бежало 1,5 миллиона человек, в основном женщины и дети. Слишком много мужчин, женщин, детей и российских солдат погибло из-за лжи Путина.

Влад пригрозил применить ядерное оружие, если Запад вмешается в его агрессивную войну. Это единственная причина, по которой война продолжается без вмешательства Свободного мира.

Русские друзья, мы слышали, что около 4000 из вас были арестованы за протесты, за это я прошу прощения, я должен попросить вас продолжать. Есть только несколько способов остановить это безумие;

захват Украины Россией,

массовые протесты народов России

переворот Влада здравомыслящими людьми,

смерть Влада.

Мне больно знать об экономическом кризисе, наложенном на мой Объединенный Свободный мир, и о том, как вы, народ, пострадаете. Знайте также, что мы тоже страдаем от более высоких цен на продукты питания и топливо.

Пожалуйста, сделайте все возможное, чтобы положить конец путинской войне.

Независимое видео на YouTube об арестах протестующих в России;

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=miU0KoteLDs

Screen door for the house

 1 March 2022

I've lived in my house for nigh 32 years. My screen door I bought in the 90's and it's past its due date, I've moved the hinges on it once, it is just a cheap door, but it worked. Now it has to go. I decided this a couple of weeks ago and one of my neighbors is selling his place and moving so he gave me a bunch of  rectangular tubing which he used for wood racks.

    So I decided I could make a new screen door pretty easily......I was wrong.

Well the fab part wasn't so hard it was getting a design and materials. From another neighbor who is replacing part of his deck I got some scrap mahogany for a kick plate.

I used the old door for a template and just winged it. Here is the basic frame;

Next I designed some hinges, These had to be stout as I figured the door would be heavy. I used some 1" steel spacers with a 3/8" hole. Made the base of the hinge out of some 1/8 x 2" flat bar. I had to make them in a set to keep the size and shape the same. I required 3 hinges.

I did all this with a vise, vise grips, an angle grinder with a cutoff wheel, angle grinder with a sanding flap disc, file, welder and a drill press. It took 2 days to make the hinges.

I needed to make the mahogany fit the bottom opening, it took 6 pieces. I borrowed my neighbors biscuit joiner, something I had never even seen used before and cut a groove in the wood. 

Once they were all grooved, 2 pieces of 3 boards were biscuited and glued so I could test fit;

Then it was put in the biscuits and glue for the center section and clamp tight .

A couple of days later I took it to my neighbors and we ran it through his planer, another tool I have never seen or used, and slimmed it down to fit the door thickness while carefully keeping the biscuits in the center. Once home I sanded it down.

At this point I was not sure how I was going to keep the wood from falling out. Maybe a strap across the back with screws into the wood? I figured that the wood would eventually fall out if someone kicked it too often. I settled on making some tabs and running some machine screws all the way through the wood.

I needed to make tabs.......12 of them........all the same......

Starting with 1/8 x 3/4" flat bar I measured and cut clamped them up and  shaped them and drilled the 1/4" hole for a plug weld. Then with the wood in I fitted them and welded in place.

 Next up was the screens themselves. The top one would be easy, he said, 8 more tabs and screw the screen frame to those.

Now I evenly spaced the tabs around the top opening and welded them on. Next up was to get a screen kit and make one to fit my opening, well the doors opening that is. It took me 2 kits...I made the last piece 3/4" too short somehow and I was very careful. 

   With the screen frame made I taped it to the door frame and drilled 1/16" holes for the location of the screws and screw holes. 

The holes in the tabs were drilled out to 3/16" and countersunk for the screws.

In went the screen into the frame, only my second time ever doing this! There is a learning curve, go slow don't use too much force.

Now I'm a week into this thing and haven't figured out the lower section. I wanted to put something like expanded steel in front and screen behind to keep kids and pets from running through the screen. I couldn't figure out how to attach both or find cheap expanded steel.

Soooooooooooo....8 more tabs.........

Welded in place, 3rd screen kit bought, frame made, taped in place, screw holes drilled, countersunk;

Everything torn apart and painted with Duplicolor truck bed liner.

Assembled and test fitted. I used the old latch and door closer. I still have to put on a clear coat or stain the wood.