Wednesday, December 3, 2008

The Little Things

Sometimes it's the little things that can make a person happy. This is one of those times.

Last Summer a cyber friend (also a Land Rover nut) stopped by 'Simpson's Folly' with his wife on their way to the UK.

We had a chance to talk and give Grover a good going over.

At this time he notice that Grover was missing his interior door handles and that the red & black dash plugs were broken.

After their return to the US I got an e-mail from him. He offered me a set of handles and plugs! Now how AWESOME is that?! Land Rover people are good people.

Anyway, the handles went on immediately but I procrastinated on the plugs. Grover's electrical system is in bad shape and when I touch it it seems to get worse. So I decided to hold off until the wiring harness is replaced.

After talking to a few of the members of the Land Rover Owners Mailing List as well as thinking about 'Shipfitter's Disease' I decided to take the plunge and replace the plugs.

Here are some photos of the new additions.

Here's the handle on the passenger side.








It's hard to believe just how easy something so simple, as this handle, can make life easier.

These are the screws I used.

Not sure where they came from but I like them. They have a rubber grommet attached to a slightly concave washer. Not sure what they are used for but after removing the washer they did the trick.

These are the dash plugs that needed replacing.

They are very fragile and over a year ago I tried to clean the paint off of them and they crumbled. This is one of the few parts that aren't really hard to replace, just pricey.

Here you can see why I didn't want to mess with installing them.

I call this mess the 'Rat's Nest'. If you look close you can see how I have labels attached to everything. I had to do this because each time I open the dash up something comes un-plugged. The labels make it easier to re-attach.

Funny thing is...now that the wires are labeled they are not coming un-plugged.

Here are the new plugs.

I hadn't noticed until inspected of my handiwork but the plastic rings of the new plugs are thinner than the originals. I wonder if these are from a SIII or something? I'll have to ask George (the guy I got them from).

Here's another view of the plugs.

This time you can get an idea of how tall they are.




BTW - I guess I should tell you; these plugs were used in the same manner that a cigarette lighter plug is used for auxiliary items that need to be plug-in.

Well, till next time...

Cheers!
Larry ~

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