{"id":104,"date":"2011-02-20T22:22:54","date_gmt":"2011-02-20T22:22:54","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.overlandrover-westafrica.net\/?p=104"},"modified":"2014-03-29T17:53:03","modified_gmt":"2014-03-29T17:53:03","slug":"starting-the-mechanical-rebuild","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.overlandrover-westafrica.net\/?p=104","title":{"rendered":"Mechanical Condition pre-restoration"},"content":{"rendered":"

Opere and one of his helpers came by shortly after I got the vehicle \u00c2\u00a0to look it over closely and after \u00c2\u00a0poking around the vehicle for a bit he comes up with a list of parts I need.\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0 Before I bought it Opere said it would take\u00c2\u00a0 about GHC 4,000 to get it into good running order.\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0 Much of what is needed he knows without having to look at the vehicle, many of the items he just rattles off from experience that tells him what\u00c2\u00a0 a 15 year-old Defender that has not been well taken care of is going to need.\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0 Brake and clutch parts and wheel bearings fall into this category.<\/p>\n

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Opere and helper at the house looking it over. Jonathon (wearing a tie because he just popped home from the office for the occasion) has a book to list the needed parts. Does the book have enough pages?<\/p><\/div>\n

Many of the parts are available locally but they are expensive here and Opere recommends I import them.\u00c2\u00a0One of the things I like about this approach is that my mechanic is not recommending something just to sell the parts, and can also tell me when something can be obtained locally.\u00c2\u00a0 He does not seem to sell any parts This was a tip I initially received from Stephane, my Canadian High Commission colleague who was the original inspiration behind this project who was restoring a Defender when I first arrived in Ghana and is now back in Quebec with his Defender,\u00c2\u00a0 he put me on to Famous Four, a parts depot based in the UK that specializes in Land Rovers and has a well-tuned mail order\u00c2\u00a0 operation.<\/p>\n

Using the Famous Four website www.famousfour.co.uk \u00c2\u00a0I am able to find everything on the list, and in the process familiarize myself with the range of parts\u00c2\u00a0 that I might want.\u00c2\u00a0 It is really a great site for Landy parts\u00c2\u00a0 Some of them are genuine Land Rover parts but most are Original Equipment Manufacturer (OEM), from the regular supplier to Land Rover or \u00e2\u20ac\u0153after market \u00e2\u20ac\u0153 parts made by someone else as a copy of the original part.\u00c2\u00a0 The prices are not bad, much less than I would pay here and they do not charge VAT on anything exported from the UK.\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0 The shipping costs are hefty but the per pound cost declines the heavier the order is, and the weight adds up when you start adding axles and drive shafts.<\/p>\n

Opere and I have some interesting \u00c2\u00a0communication problems in the process of deriving the list of needed parts.\u00c2\u00a0 We both speak English, but issues of accent, culture and jargon enter to pose some surprising challenges to my comprehension.\u00c2\u00a0 Of course a big part of the problem is my less-than-complete mechanical knowledge. \u00c2\u00a0 I never heard of a “servo” before, or a “slave cylinder”.\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0 If I don\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t catch something the first time I don’t mind asking Opere to repeat it once or twice but after three times if I still am not sure of what part he is talking about I resort to pretending \u00c2\u00a0to understand and then writing down what I think I have heard and searching for it on parts sites on the internet.\u00c2\u00a0 \u00c2\u00a0The best one was \u00c2\u00a0\u00e2\u20ac\u0153axle\u00e2\u20ac\u009d,\u00c2\u00a0 which I had a hard time with in part because of his accent and in part because it not something I expected to hear that I would need.\u00c2\u00a0 Apparently the \u00e2\u20ac\u0153half-shaft\u00e2\u20ac\u009d rear axles had been welded to the drive members, the pieces at the end of the axles that the wheels bolt onto.\u00c2\u00a0 This left us both shaking our heads in disbelief.<\/p>\n

Here is the list of original parts I am ordering from Famous Four.\u00c2\u00a0 This will get the clutch and brakes and wheels and axles back into good running order.\u00c2\u00a0 \u00c2\u00a0This is not the list Opere gave me, I have augmented it with items suggested by the helpful people at Famous Four, or by Ndoria, a Land Rover mechanic friend in Nairobi that is advising via email.<\/p>\n