newbie in scottieland

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vilguy
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newbie in scottieland

Post by vilguy » Tue Jun 02, 2015 5:02 pm

Good afternoon all

We picked up our Bongo last weekend and thus far loving it.

Picked it up from Cupar (Fife) and its been a pleasure to drive. Im very impressed with its performance, its much better than i expected. My wife in her gaylander couldnt keep up!

Im just giving it a service, checking all the coolant bits n bobs etc

I think theres a UJ or something going on a drive shaft as the gearchange on the autobox can be a bit clunky at times.

Also the oil light comes on after a few minutes... then goes out again after another minute or so. Im going to change all the filters etc as I have no idea when it was last done. Oil levels fine (checked after a drive to warm it up etc)

arches look like fun to repair.... pretty badly corroded!

As we are emigrating to Bulgaria I might get someone over there to do it (It will be a damn sight cheaper!) as I am useless with bodywork. I dont have the patience to do a good job haha.

Anyway - HELLO!
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Re: newbie in scottieland

Post by g8dhe » Tue Jun 02, 2015 5:10 pm

Welcome, if your emigrating to Bulgaria then you will have to wave to Helen and Tony when you get there!
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vilguy
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Re: newbie in scottieland

Post by vilguy » Tue Jun 02, 2015 5:22 pm

where abouts are they?

Im off there tomorrow night to sign all the deeds for the house etc. Cant wait!
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Re: newbie in scottieland

Post by Gasy » Tue Jun 02, 2015 6:40 pm

Hello and welcome
gaylander :lol:
Are you an ex defender driver by any chance
There does seem to be a lot of ex landrover drivers on here
Me included
I moved from a tricked up 90 to the bongo due to kids growing up and Mrs wanting comfort
I have forgiven them now
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Re: newbie in scottieland

Post by MountainGoat » Tue Jun 02, 2015 8:10 pm

where abouts are they?
Just send Helen a PM and she will tell you herself.
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vilguy
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Re: newbie in scottieland

Post by vilguy » Tue Jun 02, 2015 10:53 pm

Gasy wrote:Hello and welcome
gaylander :lol:
Are you an ex defender driver by any chance
There does seem to be a lot of ex landrover drivers on here
Me included
I moved from a tricked up 90 to the bongo due to kids growing up and Mrs wanting comfort
I have forgiven them now
aye we have two 110's - my expedition kitted one and hers which we are doing up at the minute. She wants it looking like a twisted one with all fancy interior etc. (oh lucky me having to do it all haha) I love my 110 but it runs out of mot this weekend (whilst Im in Bulgaria in fact) and the MOT man isnt going to like huge holes in the chassis, and its somewhat defunct brakes... and ... and... and... Its a unique vehicle that has the ability to make any rotter of a car feel absolutely amazing in comparison :lol:

We got her the little freelander as a runabout to take the kids to school the other week. To be fair its a good wee runabout.

Coming out of a 90 into a bongo must have been a bit of a step up =D> god, when we had a 90 and tried to go camping with the kids i thought childline were going to have us done for abuse. The amount of stuff piled on the kids in the back! sheesh!

Love the Bongo though. Im commuting 150 miles a day in it at present and its comfy, quiet and quite quick! Its been hand painted by the previous owners with "lifes a beach and then you surf" in MAAASSSSIIIVVVEEE letters with suns and a beach and various other stuff. I think some of my colleagues suffered collapsed lungs when i turned up to the office in it. When the arches get done ill respray it me thinks!!!
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Re: newbie in scottieland

Post by helen&tony » Wed Jun 03, 2015 5:10 am

Hi Vilguy
I'll tell you by PM where we are....
Well....You'll need to be a builder, plumber , electrician, car mechanic, bodywork specialist if you get here....Don't believe a thing about the local skills here...there aren't any...You'll not find a mechanic in the country that will be bothered to bleed a Bongo properly...I had to stand over my local ones to stop them jacking the Bongo on the sills :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: ...You might find a good mechanic, but you'll have to hunt....It took me nearly 7 years to find a good'un, and you'll need to hunt for any skills! :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol:
Cheers
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vilguy
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Re: newbie in scottieland

Post by vilguy » Wed Jun 03, 2015 9:49 am

Doh dont say that haha

We will be doing most of the work to the property ourselves, its only menial labour work I will sub out. I know how I like my properties and so doing it myself I get to get what I want with no arguments with builders. :P
I find dealing with builders in the UK hard enough work!

Fly out tonight to Sofia so will be measuring up the house, then have to figure out how its all going to work. Its 450 M2 so a big project! I hope my wife has the patience to cope with me haha


We are going to be bringing our engineering company with us to BG so will be looking for skilled engineers once we get a factory set up. Will be off to the universities to recruit some young blood too ;)
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Re: newbie in scottieland

Post by zippy » Wed Jun 03, 2015 4:18 pm

well kick yourselves in the foot, because regularly, Land Rover Defender ambulances come up for sale.

Perfect for conversions :)

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vilguy
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Re: newbie in scottieland

Post by vilguy » Wed Jun 03, 2015 5:22 pm

had a series IIa ambulance last year when we were in Thurso - only a 2.25 petrol though and by god was it underpowered. I am sure one of the more modern 130 ambulances would be a nice conversion but they fetch good money!

The IIa was fun but Scccaarrryyy to drive fast haha. Picking it up from York from the MOD disposal centre was fun too... pretty much overwhelmed my trailer!

Was a brilliant thing but when we moved down to Lockerbie way I just couldnt be bothered to bring it down with us. We already had 3 other landrovers and it very rarely got used. Better to free up some capital :)

My 110 is the landrover camper for expedition stuff now, with multiple roof tents, solar panel, etc and then the sankey trailer with more solar pv, fridge, water system etc I am hoping when we move to BG that from there we will go exploring lots of countries we hadnt considered before, including maybe the wifes family home in Iran.
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Re: newbie in scottieland

Post by Bob » Wed Jun 03, 2015 9:52 pm

Very warm welcome, sounds like you have great adventures to come. :D
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Re: newbie in scottieland

Post by Cab-ova pete » Wed Jun 03, 2015 11:02 pm

Hi Vilguy, welcome to the forum :D if you need any garden design or landscaping I can squeeze a trip into Europe with no problem :lol: good luck with the move
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vilguy
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Re: newbie in scottieland

Post by vilguy » Mon Jun 08, 2015 12:44 pm

Back from Bulgaria - what a great place!

Loved it
It was 33 degrees during the daytime on 2 of the three days I was there. On Friday it rained absolutely none stop in Sofia but it was still 22 degrees haha
Got back to scotland on sunday morning at 2am - put the heating on!

Had a right pain getting to the airport on wednesday evening as bloomin roadworks were determined to not allow me off the motorway! I ended up going through Irlam and sleeping in the carpark in the bongo at my other office there. Looked very odd with my "Lifes a beach and then you surf" paint job all over it! Lovely....

Landscaping wise - aye happy too. You accept Bulgarian labour rates aye? :lol:

Needs a tteeeenny weeny bit more doing to it than the garden, Ive got a dozen 2.5m x 1.4m sash windows to have built first, and some 1.2m wide doors. Its an old school that we have purchased and the property is VERY large.

Had fun whilst there, turns out that there is an extra 2000 square meter garden with the property that we were not aware of :lol: still its somewhere to build an extension with 3 garages underneath :wink:

The kids want us to put a hot tub in and I know Im going to be fitting aircon! I am partially ginga and as white as snow - aircon will be on most of the time. Mrs is Iranian though and hates the cold so I can foresee hiding the aircon controller from her :twisted:

Very pleased with the bongo over the past few days, I picked up some RX8 alloys and fitted them yesterday, much much better than the crappy universal fit alloys that were on it. The previous owner had not put spigot rings in with them so they felt awful. RX8's have transformed the ride :D and OEM alloys always look loads better. Tonight Ive a new full exhaust to fit on it as the old one has completely sheared off and it sounds like a tug boat. Ill refurb the exhaust valve whilst I am there so it should give several years trouble free use.

Well pleased with the bongo so far. Even my mrs likes driving it and was asking me yesterday when she can have it haha.
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Re: newbie in scottieland

Post by mikeonb4c » Mon Jun 08, 2015 2:14 pm

Welcome Vilguy, I've enjoyed reading your posts, your irrepressible spirit is great :-)

Fond memories of Lockerbie. I used to hitch up from London and stay in an (ex) crofters cottage at Finnegil, 3 miles out of Boreland. I could tell you stories about those days - crazy. We had an LWB and an SWB Landie (wayyyy before the 110 so just old tuggboats, though they were actually new). One time we were so snowed in even the Landies didn't cope and we had to walk out to Boreland to catch the daily bus to get stuff from the shops in Lockerbie. Happy days, long gone. :roll:
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vilguy
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Re: newbie in scottieland

Post by vilguy » Mon Jun 08, 2015 2:58 pm

haha irrepresible spirit. I will have to remember that one!

Finnegil... I recognise the name but cant think of where it is haha. #-o My wife probably knows. Im useless at finding my way around here. Yeah it does get a bit snowy here haha! We are up on the hills and quite often in winter we had loads of snow whilst the villagers had none! The kids loved having more snow days though.

You should come back to Boreland for a visit. Its lovely this time of year as I am sure you well know and the village has had a bit of a resurgence of late with more people moving to the area.

I see your into the old gliders ;) Im still trying to find a good hill around here to go flying. One with a road at the top so I dont have to do exercise :lol:
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