SLOHybrid

Hey everyone -
We have our annual Oceano Dunes Trip this weekend.  
Optional Camping will start at Lopez Lake - starting Friday, April 5th. 
https://reservations.slocountyparks.com/reservation/camping/index.asp.  Quail @ Lopez Lake is where i will be....

Lopez Lake Online reservations must be made two days prior to arrival date. One-day prior or same-day reservations can be made by phone (805) 788-2381 or at the campground.
The phone line is available Monday through Friday 8:00am to 5:00pm
The office is open 7-days a week 6:00am to Sunset (Closing times vary depending on time of year)
If the office is open: staff will help you make a reservation.
If the office is closed: temporarily camp in a vacant site, check-in at the office the next morning.
You may need to move in the morning, depending on availability.
Hitting the Dunes on Saturday morning - roughly around 10 - 11 am.  Meet after the entry gate to air down.  
In the event that the dunes are blocked off because of the river - we will head to Big Falls Trail.  
Pozo Saloon is closed - so, no point in going out there.
Land Rovers of all kinds welcome - from stock to whatever.  Just make sure you have a shovel, and recovery points on your vehicle.
Mandatory:  Offroad flag.  I have purchased them at the liquor store, on the way towards the last strip, before the entry to the beach.  Also - make sure you have a mount too.  
If its your first time at the dunes - don't worry - its a lot of fun.  if in doubt - point your vehicle straight down the hill is what I have been told.  Below are two instructional videos that you should view - if you haven't driven in sand before, or, not a bad refresher if its been a while.  
My cell - if you have any questions - 925-518-3902.  Serge "SplurGn"
 
 
 

WOW! looks like it is still on the tires it was sold with in 94.

Spotted a rear combo of LR3+Airedale terrier in Scotts Valley. And here I though I had at least the local market cornered 🧐

I’ve taken a little break from the restomod while I travel for work. I’ve been lucky enough to work on a project in my home town of Melbourne, Australia.
 
While here, I visited Les Richmond Automotive (@lesrichmondautomotive on IG).  The business owner, Andrew, showed me around a few of their current projects. They specialise in LS conversions to Land Rovers, from old classics, Defenders and Disco 1 and 2s. They also do interior and exterior work in house.   The quality of their work is inspiring. 
 


 
 

WOW! looks like it is still on the tires it was sold with in 94.

See attached for a sampling of NCLR's activities and events in 2023.
Wishing for more Happy Trails in 2024!2023 Year End Wrap Up Newsletter.pdf

Write-up Author: Paul Dunn, Trip Leader

Attendees:
Paul Dunn (Trip Leader) - Perentie Jody (guest) - 1989 Toyota (gasp! scandal!) HJ-61 RHD Turbo Six David and Sierra - LR3 Nathan and Gryphon - L322
NCLR (+) Mojave Road Trip Summary 12/28/23 à 1/1/2014
 
12/28: Long day for all of us - we made the 7 to 10 hour drive to the Needles area to spend the night at Avi Casino near the starting point. I escorted Jody in his 1989 Toyota HJ-61 RHD turbo six and together we crossed over the Colorado River to top up at one of the fuel stations on that side of the river.
12/29: Up and at ‘em as we greeted David and daughter Sierra around 9 AM to begin our tour de force across the mighty Mojave. First stop: The Colorado River official start point, about 2 miles North of the Avi. I presented a brief speech about the historical & cultural aspects of the trail and then off we went to the sandy start just East of the Dead Mountains. We aired down there and headed West to a brief stop at the famed Balancing Rock camp spot then over to the hard flat of the Piute Valley and up the scraggle to Fort Piute. There we met up with a 3-rig group of our friends from AZLRO and traded a few stories over lunch.

Off to the trail again and up the Piute grade where Jody’s truck decided to release one of its two battery hold-downs which resulted in a bit of smoke emanating from under the hood of Jody’s truck. Since he is officially “profoundly deaf” from birth, his heightened sense of small clued-in to the trouble before it became a real issues. The team jumped into action and quickly re-secured the battery mounts. Then up we went to visit the Piute corral, Piute Gorge, and then West to cross over the famed Sacramento Wash.

We detoured South at around 3:30 to run the six miles down to Leiser-Ray Mine for a relaxed camping location and a great fireside ambiance under a calm sky. As David was backing in to set-up his swag, we could all hear a horrible screeching sound coming out of his right trailer hub. Nathan jumped into action and we soon discovered that his brake shoe had seized itself onto the brake drum in a VERY fried fashion! Once removed, he was golden.

 
12/30: A cold morning wake-up shook me outta bed and the camp break-down ritual began. We had a long day ahead of us as I wanted to introduce the group to the REAL Mojave Road that featured the amazing Joshua Tree forest on the Lanfair Plain, the cool petroglyph site along the way, and of course Rock Springs.

This all came together swimmingly and it was great entertainment to watch David navigate his LR4 with attached military trailer negotiate the steep downhill moguls just East of the Rock Springs Wash.
The weather was closing in so after lunch at the Rock Springs Stone House, we scurried West to cross over Kelso-Cima Road to make and planned camp at or near Marl Spring. A nice couple in a Tacoma was occupying my primary camp, so we ambled up the box canyon to a very protected site with yes, an existing fire ring. A light rain was soon approaching, so we prepared for it, yet a good, bold fire kept the heat on and Nathan was even treated to my rendition of the O’Reilly Auto Parts advertising jingle.

12/31: Ready for a Long day, we rallied early and made haste to the Mojave Mailbox, then down Willow Wash while Sierra drove David’s LR4, and then a right turn up to the famous lava tubes. Nice group of new Bronco owner’s there and we said our hello’s. Then a quick one-mile trip North the visit the Petro – AND – Picto site that dare not mention it’s name. Afterwards, Nathan ascertained that hi front driver’s side shock had done enough, so they volunteered to exit early and head home.

We said our goodbyes to Nathan and Gryphon and pointed ourselves South, then West to make 17-Mile Point and start the official crossing of Soda Lake. As chief navigator, I was able to follow some recent tire tracks AND keep my eyes on the Gaia routes I had run in the past. We just wondered: would it be a mud-fest with the recent rains…? Turns out… not even close. We crossed over a hard-packed trail that was no issues for anyone… so we made the Traveler’s Monument around 3 pm in time to place our contributory stones, take a few pics, and get movin’ towards Afton Canyon and the night’s camp.

Since the private land owners at the West end of  the Rasor Road OHV Area have had enough of visitors crossing over their land, there has been a recent re-route to the South on runs along a sand dune kinda hilly path for a few miles. It was imperative for me to “connect the dots” as I reeled in cairn after wood stump then cairn again, all the while verifying that I was in the right spot on my GPS. In this section of the route, there are many crisscrossing paths that all pretty much end up at the same place: the rail road bridge as you enter Afton Canyon.

Yay. We made that… So, since hurricane/tropical storm Hilary did a number on this part of the desert, what I thought I remembered from just a couple of years ago was… not as I remembered. So for the next few miles I obsessed on the GPS and the tire tracks we were following so that, in the heat of it, I totally missed a right turn out of the river bed that would taken us to higher ground and then safely to the Afton Campground. Instead, we quite squarely got bogged-down in a dead-end portion of a wash, that, had we pursued, would have resulted in axle-deep stuck-ness.
I knew something was off, so I re-conned on foot and then bush-wacked in my truck only to find no way to connect to the main trail. Meantime, David’s front passenger wheel was making a horrible screeching sound – most likely something pinched between his mud shield and his brake rotor -- So we doubled-back, only to find our AZLRO friends in the same predicament…! One of them offered to lead us back based on a hunch. And it was soon found where we BOTH missed the key turn—as the Carsonite marker was folded over and covered with brush. Soon we were at a group camp with all seven rigs drying out from the Mojave River crossing and warming our hands over a nice fire.
Next day, Jody and I were off to meet prior obligations, but David and Sierra soldiered on, joining the AZLRO guys as they made their way down river to the REAL ending point at Camp Cady, about 20 miles East of Barstow.

This is just the first in a series of axle upgrades coming in the next few months from Timm.  There will also be standard Rover (D1/RRC/Defender) axle upgrades soon which will be designed to keep your Rover axle alive with today's larger tires and should give SIGNIFICANT strength upgrades while still being a bolt-on solution that requires no fabrication.  Again, I'll update this thread as these become available.
This is great news for anybody who runs big power or big tires and wants to stay Rover and not fabricate super custom aftermarket axles.  Also a good option for those who run extremely heavy rigs even if you don't want to run 40" tires.  Or if you just want the peace of mind of having some extra beef.

yeah! thought I would treat myself this AM by driving the 95 LWB beast after  fixing an oil leak that has stalled the rig all year... it rewarded me when I went to it with a big puddle of coolant on the ground @ the back of the engine FUUUUUUUUk ... so I drove the Golf TDi to work.  
bought a subframe on ebay for the L322 a month ago but they are on vacation until the 13th of this month... let's see if they lose the part when they re-open... I give up.
very tempted to re-commission the 25th for off road duty.. as it runs like a champ.
on top of that all my other free time is restoring this 1960 Series frame up.
 
 
 
 

yeah! thought I would treat myself this AM by driving the 95 LWB beast after  fixing an oil leak that has stalled the rig all year... it rewarded me when I went to it with a big puddle of coolant on the ground @ the back of the engine FUUUUUUUUk ... so I drove the Golf TDi to work.  
bought a subframe on ebay for the L322 a month ago but they are on vacation until the 13th of this month... let's see if they lose the part when they re-open... I give up.
very tempted to re-commission the 25th for off road duty.. as it runs like a champ.
on top of that all my other free time is restoring this 1960 Series frame up.
 
 
 
 

yeah! thought I would treat myself this AM by driving the 95 LWB beast after  fixing an oil leak that has stalled the rig all year... it rewarded me when I went to it with a big puddle of coolant on the ground @ the back of the engine FUUUUUUUUk ... so I drove the Golf TDi to work.  
bought a subframe on ebay for the L322 a month ago but they are on vacation until the 13th of this month... let's see if they lose the part when they re-open... I give up.
very tempted to re-commission the 25th for off road duty.. as it runs like a champ.
on top of that all my other free time is restoring this 1960 Series frame up.
 
 
 
 

I need a mental break from work .
This fits the bill.. just need to figure out what Rover to drive???👊
 
 
 

Nathan, once your basement is boxed up... send me the dimensions and I'll send a Uhaul. I'm ready for that treasure ; ). The door is always open 🤣

If Florencio does not need the owners manual, I'll sign up to be 2nd in line. 0/2 1993s have their manual.

I do not have any workshop manuals but do have a brand new 93 Range Rover owners manual in the bag still if you need that?  I also have 2 decades worth of RRC parts just ask away as I may be willing to part with.
 
 

December 29--Jan 1st may be removed as an official club run bc I am getting interest from those OUTSIDE NCLR membership. All good, either way.
If anyone is interested, please post-up by 12/4
 
Tx,
Paul

Very rude cactus Paul.

SO no dmv referee involved in this transplant?  if so should be straight forward if not good luck!  you can't even upgrade an ECU in this state anymore yet alone do a transplant.

Very rude cactus Paul.

Very rude cactus Paul.

Very rude cactus Paul.

Very rude cactus Paul.

Very rude cactus Paul.

285/75/16 with 1" spacers on stock offset rims

I thought my L322 Sc did really well on it's 30.5" AT tires and all the factory gizmos it came with but by the 4th day it was apparent that the independent suspension rigs had met their limit.  the relentless rock garden took it's toll on my front control arm bushings  (the lack of transfer box protection did not help either) my family was wishing we had brought the RRC which sits on 35's and is much better suited for rock/boulder crawling.  I found out once we hit the pavement to air up my tires had miraculously aired themselves up to street pressure?? which is why we felt every bump.  Would I do it again in the L322? yes!  with shock spacers / a much better air compressor over the factory unit and taller tires. 

90% I can make it. MAYBE for once I could Amelia, Mark, AND Cassidy all to attend.