Landrover Inlet Manifold Refit

First thing on Friday morning I had the job of refitting the gasket. I gave the inlet manifold a good clean, refittted the new gasket, and slid the manifold back into place. The nuts were a little tricky to put on, but I managed it without dropping any, all tightend up and airfilter box back into place.

The next job was to refill the coolant system and pray for no leaks!

Thankfully, it all worked well, and so far everything seems fine.

I cant imagine how much that would of cost me at a garage, but I reckon I wouldnt of seen much change out of a couple of hundred quid.

As "M" still cant drive, we had to go shopping and to the laundrette, and that was our Friday! We did have one or two beers last night, well its the weekend isnt it?

Today, it was a bit of a rush to get out and into Bournemouth as we had some more equipment to pick up for my new venture!

As we hadnt had any breakfast, we decided to go to Tescos, but on looking at what was under the hot plate, walked out in disgust. Talk about dried up, scabby looking food that I wouldnt even feed China Dog!

I can never understand why supermarket cafes use the cheapest possible ingredients for their meals. They use the basic range of sausages, and bacon that is as tough as old boot leather. Why not use their finest range of products, this way you could taste them and say, those were nice better buy some. instead its those sausages are crap, best not buy them!

I dont mind spending money on good food, but no matter how cheap it may be, if its horrible its not worth the bother!

So as "M" knows the area we were in, we went to a great lttle cafe called "The Old Bridge Tearooms at Iford in Bournemouth, it over looks the river Stour.

I had a lovely cooked breaksfast for £5.50 it really isnt that difficult to cook good food. Tescos take note!

From here we popped into see "M"s Mum who lives just up the road, a quick cuppa then back to the caravan.

Mr Gulliver is coming over later this evening bringing a home cooked Moroccon Stew made with a good helping of Port! Sounds rather interesting!

Needed to get some Blackthorn Cider in, but you try buying it! None in Tescos, Morrisons, Sainsburys or the Co-op. Something must be going on here, plenty of other makes which are all chemically enhanced and the only apples they have seen is on the label! But no Blackthorn.


Ive ended up with Strong bow, Ill be wearing a blouse next!


We stayed up till the early hours last night, thankfully the weather stayed dry all evening and even the wind dropped! It did get a little bit chilly as the evening wore on, but still, it was good to sit outside and have a drink.


We were warmed up by Mr Gullivers Moroccon Stew, which was amazing!


Slept like the dead, and this morning Im up and tapping keys here and thinking about going down to Ashley Heath car boot to have a wander around. Its dry at the moment but for how long is anybody's guess!


We are off out for lunch to Witchampton Club, there roasts are supposed to be spectacular! So looking forward to that.


The pieces of the jigsaw for my new venture are coming together, just one more major piece to win on ebay and we are ready for the off! Should know this time tomorrow morning if I've been successful.


Why the change? Well for a little while I've not been happy with ebay, as a seller the odds are stacked against you from the start. And recently more and more folk seem to complain over the slightest and daftest of things:


An example: "I would like to return the Barbour Wax Coat as it feels waxy and smells of wax"! Well no shit Sherlock! What were they expecting?


Another one said he could only return the jacket after the weekend? Why? so that he could wear it?


Someone else wanted me to explain what a full refund was? Are these people stupid?


So it is with no surprise that I get very frustrated and as the whole idea of living in a caravan is a stress free way of life, a change of direction is needed to keep my sanity in check!


Since we have gone full time in the caravan, I've loved being outside, I always have done, but this has brought us a lot closer to the outside as you can well imagine.


With this in mind, we sat and thought about all the jobs outside that I could do, but what ever they were, they had to meet certain criteria.


Ive done all sorts of jobs since leaving school, such as Army (7years) Technician at Marconi's (2yrs) Sales (many years) from rep to National Sales Manager for a Plc running a team of 12 guys and girls, debt collector in Glasgow, courier, driving instructor, ebay, and many other minor little jobs to keep some pennies coming in. I'm not afraid to do anything as long as there is money in it.


I'm not afraid of getting my hands dirty, or grafting hard, but it has to be for myself, my days of working for someone are well over. I just cant do it any more.


Over the last week as I've mentioned in this and other posts, we have been out buying and collecting equipment for this little venture of mine!


Recently a number of experiences gave me the idea that we are now making real.


My Dad, not being able to do the things he used to can no longer cut the lawn or his hedge, so Ive been over and done it for him.


A elderly friend of "M"s pays a guy to come around and mow her grass and cut her hedge at £20 an hour and he does 2 hours a week.


Obviously there are a lot of older folk there who are in need of a little bit of help in their gardens, infact not only old folk, back in the day when I wore a suit to work, and I had a 4 bed detached house and large garden I payed a guy to come and sort my garden out on a weekly basis.


So with a budget of £150 yes that's all, I've managed to source a brand new Kyobi Strimmer and Hedge cutter, a complete set of garden tools, such as rakes, shears, edgers, loppers etc, and a mountfield lawn mower which Im bidding on at the moment! That price also includes flyers and business cards!


As soon as I've won the lawn mower, the flyers will be going out, and then with a bit of luck, and a fair wind we will see what happens! I'm not expecting miracles, but its worth a shot.


One thing is for sure, you will never know unless your willing to give it a go! And as you all ready know we are not afraid of trying new things!


So what experience have I got to do this? Loads, I've cut many a lawn and hedge. When I lived in Scotland I had 1/3 of an acre of garden which kept me busy, as it was full of winding paths, hedges and fruit trees. I've built patios and small walls, brick BBQ's, put up fences, so feel confident that I can do most things asked of me.


OK, thats fine, but its a bit seasonal isn't it? True, I'm not going to be mowing lawns in December but there are plenty of other jobs that can be done.


During last winter one of the full timers on our site was a gardener and he was out at least 3 days a week working all day, so its out there. Logs to be cut, gardens cleared, rubbish carted off, patios cleaned, any thing to earn a buck.


We think its worth a go, if it doesn't pan out then I wont be out of pocket, just sell all the gear again.


So the name? We have come up with the name of "Brother Nature" 


Well, that's the cat out of the bag!


Like I've said, you never know unless you try these things. We both think its worth a go and could turn out to be an enjoyable occupation.


Time will tell! till later....................