This is the truck that I “got the t-shirt” in. I bought the truck with the sole intention of using a Series Land Rover for what it was designed…….to get you wherever and back in the roughest of conditions, and provide enough capacity to carry sufficient life-support for both it, and me. Off to Labrador.
The 109 was an aging Lanny Clark restoration owned by a Middlebury College Professor who had lost interest. I rescued the truck from his side yard and started the work to get the truck travel worthy. OME suspension, Brownchurch roof rack, rooftop tent, on-board air, auxiliary lights, front seats that would require less Advil, and check and re-check all systems, wheel bearings, fluids, etc. A huge thanks to two Land Rover icons, Lanny Clark for the help and letting me borrow tons of spare parts, and Mark Letourney for telling me I was nuts for heading to Labrador on bias ply tires and promptly lent me a set of Michelin XCL’s off of one of his own vehicles.
The trip story/log from the Rovers North blog:
http://blog.roversnorth.com/2006/11/more-changes-when-you-go-to-newfoundland
Grose Morne Newfoundland
The “Arches” NewFoundland
Lots of endless dirt road……….
Southern coast of Labrador just outside of Red Bay. The beginning of the Trans-Labrador Highway.
The ferry from Cartwright Labrador to Happy Valley Goose Bay………long ride, about 14 hours, but a good chance you’ll see the odd iceberg float by
The Trans-Labrador continued just outside of Goose Bay
Clear your Caribou remains!
what kind of motor does the 109 you took on the big trip have ? does it have an overdrive also ? how reliable was it ?
The 109 that I did the Trans-Labrador in has a stock 2.25 liter engine…….a very nice running one, but it’s definitely under powered for the size and weight of the truck.
At the time, the truck had a Toro overdrive that worked great, then about six months after the trip it blew up………it now has a Roverdrive unit.
The truck was dead reliable……….it seemed like I had enough spare parts to build another truck when I made the trip and ended up using about a quart of oil. Pretty amazing……..the truck really took a pounding and just kept on chugging away.
what kind of mileage did you get ? is the 2.25 a 5 or 3 bearing motor ? iam building an 88 and dont know if i should put a diesel or petrol in it .
Lousy mileage…………low teens most of the time. The engine in that 109 really fought to move the truck when it was loaded with travel gear. The 2.25 was a three bearing motor until about 1980 (I think that was the transition to five bearing motors).
A nice running 2.25 in an 88 is a great combination………..unless you’re planning to do some overland traveling where extreme fuel range would be needed, I would stick with the gas motor. I put diesels in my trucks purely because I like them………I really don’t need them for what I do with the trucks most of the time, but I like the simplicity, I have the wherewithal, shop space, and time to make the conversions, so I do it. If you’re going to make the diesel leap, I would suggest sticking with the Rover TDi. It’s a far simpler conversion than the Mercedes swap, and puts out a bit more power.
I did a similar trip 10 years ago, flew up to Goose Bay Labrador, bought a Land Rover 110 with 2.5L n/a diesel engine, and drove it back to Ottawa. The scenery and QUIET were spectacular, and I have wanted to go back there ever since. I remember the 2.5 diesel engine being rather underpowered and going through some exhausting up-down shifting in the Groulx Mountains, on the stretch of road heading south in Quebec toward the St-Lawrence. A veritable roller coaster of very steep inclines and down-slopes requiring shifting from 2nd to 4th or 5th and vice versa. Anyway, a memorable trip and I wholeheartedly suggest it to anyone who wants to experience one of the last places on this continent where one can experience such quiet and clear skies (no jet vapour trails).
Sounds like a great trip! It also sounds like we were both down on horsepower in a big way. There is some beautiful scenery up there, and yes, very quiet, very dark at night (no residual light from the nearest city), and you a VERY alone when you stuff that Rover off the side of the road for the night. My favorite stretch of the trip was from Blanc-Sablon up to Cartwright…….lots of coastal scenery and long stretches along the Pinware River that were just breathtaking. I’ve added doing the trip again to my “bucket list”, but this time in the reverse direction and on a motorcycle. Now I just need to find the time!