Snow in West Sussex 12th March 2013, freak snow storm and cars stuck in snow YAY!!!

The UK winter in West Sussex, travel disruption

Well I must admit coming off the back of the wettest year in UK recorded history in 2012, no one has much hope for 2013.  In fact most people I know have been planning sunny escapes for some time now, and I have even been diagnosed with a vitamin D deficiency.  Which apparently has to do with not getting enough sun, or beer, not sure which one so I have been trying to remedy both.

UK Dealing with weather?

Anyway, yesterday the 11^th March we had quite a nice forecast for the weather “some snow showers which would continue overnight” and we would get “an accumulation of snow of approx. 5-10cm”.  Even for us in the UK this is manageable, unless you use public transport, or drive, the trains obviously do not work and by foot can be slippy, but we cope.

Oh boy from a driving perspective, what as usual our government agencies forgot to do was to a) grit the roads in time and b) not take into account the wind, which was if I’m honest was pretty bad given the 5 days warning they had.

So, after a 2 hour journey 22 miles from Crawley to Littleworth West Sussex on the Monday evening, travelling on icy and snowy roads, on a route which at best is 35 minutes I found the whole experience exciting!  I went to bed later that night after a quick vitamin D fix in the local (yes Americans I live near an English pub in England which is not Irish and no not a sun bed in sight, that’s for my buddies in Florida who are always taking me to Irish pubs in Florida?), knowing the next day I was likely to need more Larry miles to get me to work I got excited.

Some people must have been really excited about their journey home from Crawley to Brighton that night, so exciting that quite a few people decided to spend all night on the A23 south to Brighton taking 11 hours to do a 40 minute journey.  This must have been a super really exciting media hip special thing to do, even minor celebrities like Cheryl Baker from Bucks Fizz joined in/got stuck in her car, shame (insert sympathy here if you can).  This even made the national news. I can see the headline “Bucks Fizz on Ice”.

My trip to work.

So my trip to work today was always going to be special.  I woke up at 6am, I’m using woke up loosely.  Looked out the window and was quite disappointed that we did not have 2 foot of snow everywhere I was hoping for; but cunningly Mother Nature did use the 5-10cm wisely.  Do you like how interchangeable Metric and Imperial measurements are?  What she had done is to take the little amount we had, and by using the power of wind deposit it in nice playful banks everywhere.

Excited Larry

So, I went to the car, now this is where it gets sad.  Larry to me is a car with a personality and I like to think he is a playful thing furry and fun.  I also have a Labradoodle who is a playful thing, furry and fun, so I like to think that this morning Larry was looking around the same way Frodo does when we play chucky stick a complex game of finding a stick and chucking it away, Frodo then gets it and brings it back.  Some would consider this as retrieving, he is not a Retriever and I don’t want to call it Doodling, this does feel right and implies some form of artistic skill.  A dog is not an artist.

This is where my specific metaphor works, Larry was as happy as a Labradoodle playing chucky stick.  There, done, in my little mind that describes it perfectly; I will now wait for the men in white coats......................................................................... 

Ok they are not here, that was just how exciting the drive was going to be.

So I set off to work, nothing really special 2-8ft drifts on the roads, my route was to be the A272 – A281 – Devils Dyke and to the office.  Now parts of the A272 – A281 were shut, not going to discuss the Devils Dyke, but let’s say it was worse.

Local roads

I did take all the precautions you need to on this type of trip in such snow.  I went to the Petrol station shoved some Diesel in Larry and bought some extra strong mints.  I did however forget to get a rope, spade and sleeping bag, snow chains, flashing yellow light, CB radio and food, sweets and anything that could have even possibly been useful if I got stuck.  I even wore cotton summer trousers, beat that Ray Mears.

Minor Drifts

All was well; I had fun driving on icy snowy roads and then the 180 meter climb (sounds more in feet) to the top of the dyke.

Now a bit about the dyke I nicked this from the visitor’s website.

“A legendary beauty spot on the South Downs

Devil’s Dyke, just five miles north of Brighton, offers stunning panoramas, a record breaking valley, a curious history and England’s most colourful habitat.

At nearly a mile long, the Dyke valley is the longest, deepest and widest 'dry valley' in the UK. Legend has it that the Devil dug this chasm to drown the parishioners of the Weald. On the other hand, scientists believe it was formed naturally just over 10,000 years ago in the last ice age.”

Not today it wasn’t, a beauty spot that is; I pulled into the layby to take a couple of pictures of the snow, yes white on white, no polar bears.  I started talking to another guy with his 4x4, I’m going to call him Bob, that was not his name, but I did not ask him his name either, so he may or may not be Bob.

View form the layby

He asked me if I “was going up there” and let me know that a couple of Polish guys in a van were trying to get to Brighton heading south, not normal for Polish guys they normally head north in the UK.  Apparently Bob had turned around when his car, an inferior make of 4x4, could not go any further and he even had to use low ratio to go off road.   

Anyway, we chatted for a few minutes giggling about the snow, and wondering if the Polish guys were by now stuck and guess what!  The Polish guys appeared waved and headed north towards Crawley.  That reassured me not because they were ok, but because Polish people in white vans going north in the UK feels like the norm now.  No doubt they will be picking veg, whenever.  I’m sorry, that was stereotypical.

The Range Rover

Off we go, snow getting worse, drifts getting deeper, cars abandoned, and would you Adam and Eve it, a RANGE ROVER stuck in the snow.   

Stuck but smiling, grrrr

I did the honourable thing wound down my window asked quietly if he was ok, assumed he said yes, I parked the car and then took pictures of him digging his RANGE ROVER 2011 out where my Land Rover 1998 had driven past.   

 Ha ha ha ha ha ha, oh yes, I high fived Larry I did (he even lifted his front tyre to do this), yes.  Ok enough of Yoda.

So, was it a good drive today, yes, was I being sensible, no.  Did the Rage Rover and his mate who turned up in a Disco 4 get out?  Who cares, but they should have both had winter rated tyres like me.

More pictures.

Cold sheep at Littleworth	Approaching the A272	South Downs
Stuck cars	Range Rover stuck on Saddlescombe Road	Discovery 4 pulling out Range Rover
The Dyke Golf Club, well no play today :-)	South downs snow	Entering Brighton

Fitting a Safari Snorkel to a Land Rover Discovery 1 300TDI

Fitting a Snorkel

This is a description of how to fit a Safari Snorkel to a Land Rover Discovery 300TDI with ABS.  Considering I’m not planning in doing anything too wet i.e. wading in very deep rivers, you may ask why I want one?   

Well simply put the plan is to head down to Morocco in my 4x4 and I want to keep the air inlet up high to avoid sand clogging the air box with sand.  The original intake for the air box is in the front passenger side wing exactly where sand ad dust will be blown up by the tyre, someone at Land Rover had thought that through had they?

So after reading all the online shops I found out that snorkels cost from approx. £140 to £400, all seemed to do the same thing so I ordered a cheap one.  It was a Bearmach snorkel and was listed as compatible with a 300tdi ABS.  I got the snorkel and all excited I unboxed it went out to Larry and aligned the parts.  Bugger, the snorkel if fitted would need to go through, not around, the ABS modulator to fit?  Er?  

A quick chat with the supplier as well as a few pictures sent (they really did not believe it was wrong) and I got a refund and then went for a Safari Snorkel at a cost of £276.  When it arrived it said "Safari Snorkel Discovery 1 300TDI – ABS" on he box, yay, this looked a lot better.  I checked out the alignment and it all seemed fine. 

Then it rained continuously for 3 months, except for our trip to Yorkshire for the off road weekend which was lucky.  So the fitting job was put on hold.  Think about it, how ironic, I could not fit a snorkel because of the rain.

The right tools for the job 

Anyway March 2013, I had a couple of days off work and decided I would fit the snorkel, I read the instructions  watched a you tube video on “how to fit a Safari Snorkel” check the required kit list and popped off the local tool shop to buy what I thought I needed to do the job, which was;

86mm hole cutter to cut through the wing

Step drill to make the holes needed for the bolts

Riveter to rivet the snorkel to the a pillar

Tiger seal to seal everything up

So the job itself is quite simple and the instructions say it will take 2 hours, this is of course absolute nonsense for a part time mechanic like me.  More on that later.

At this point I would like to warn you about Tiger Seal.  It's an amazing product, glues really well and makes a complete mess of anything it touches.  Wear gloves, also as soon as you open it, use the whole tube.  You cannot save it for later. After I used some of it on the Landy airbox I went around the house sealing and glueing anything I could.  My gutters on the house ain't moving, like ever.  

I even started thinking about what it would actually glue, lets just say it has its limits.  Also note it takes 3 hours to dry ish but a full day to cure properly.  

Tip, put the Tiger Seal into some hot water and warm it up, its then a lot easier to use.

Fitting the snorkel

The process is as follows.  

Apply the template to the outside of the car aligning the cutting template along the top of the wing.  Drill pilot holes 2mm for the bolts and snorkel hole.  

Snorkel template aligned

Then drill the actual holes for the snorkel to bolt through, these are 16mm using the step drill and the big one use the hole cutter.  Trim and sharp edges from the cuts and prime.

Large holes cut into wing

You then drill a hole on the inside of the wing.

Inner wing hole also drilled

You have to remove the wheel and the wheel arch liner.  This allows you to get your pandies to the bolts on the back of the snorkel, do not tighten it up till everything is in place.  Liner hanging down.

Trim inside the wing pulled down

View inside the wing.

View inside wing where the snokel will be bolted

The snorkel itself has studs which you to put into the recesses on the main snorkel tube.  You do this by putting two nuts on the studs after they have been tightened in buy hand.  Tighten the two nuts together and screw the stud in using a spanner and the locked nots, then take the nuts off.  Sorry forgot to take a picture of this.

You can then put the snorkel on the car and loosely do up the nylock nuts, as below.

Nut in place ready to be tightened up

Now fix the A-Pillar plate, drill 4mm hole in it for the rivets.

Rivet holes drilled in A pillar

 

Fit rivets and rivet the thing, I have not used the rivet tool thing in the picture below, but you get the hint.

Ready to  rivet snorkel tube to A pillar

Go pet you dog, by now mine was pissed off, gwumpy doodle.

Grumpy Labradoodle

You now have to re-work the airbox by sealing the original air inlet; you cut a new inlet in the side, then fix a new locator plate which moves the airbox into the engine bay a little.  

Fill the old inlet, this is what it looks like when you start, I have also cut off the old locating pins and drilled 4 rivet holes.

Holed drilled in air box

Fix the front bracket, plug & seal.

Plug fitted/glued and spacer riveted to air box

Drill and cut new inlet.

Large hole cut by drilling many small 2mm holes

Done, then edges cleaned up using a file

Fit new tube plate.

New snokel inlet fitted

Fill all the holes, then in theory you pop outside and fit the snorkel to the car loosely, fit the tube provided between the inner wing and the engine bay, and reconnect to the airbox, then lastly airbox to air intake on the engine.

Bingo, its done, NOT!

Jappy Larry

However, the process above, whilst correct, does not take into account Larry is a Discovery 1 300tdi Japanese import, this means that the actual re-fitting of the airbox has some issues because my car is a late Discover 1 with the electronics for the Air Flow Meter and ABS, these are.

EGR is water cooled, this means the airbox bumps smack up against the EGR input cooler pipe, in fact the box should go where the pipe splits in the picture below.  This is pretty much makes it impossible to re-fit the airbox.  I bent the cooler tubes out of the way which no doubt restricts coolant (just as well these cars run cold).  I will be replacing the pipe.

Grr pipe in the way

Also the cables on the inside of the engine go around the second battery holder, again argh these need re-routing a little, the cable going to the left goes to the Air Flow Regulator.

Cabled need to be pushed down to fit airbox

Then the air inlet for the AFM system does not align with the output from the airbox and the original airbox rubber is too long, the AFM has to be moved left.

Miss aligned AFM system

So how to actually fit a Safari Snorkel to a late Japanese 300tdi.

Do everything up to the point of putting the airbox back in.

Move the cables out of the way and push out the way, preferable replace the EGR cooling piped and remove the EGR (de-EGR mod).  I had to put the airbox in with them in place till I replace the lower radiator pipe.  This is a complete pain.

Then undo the 3 bolts holding in the AFM and move it to the left one bolt, this aligns the airpox (I was getting annoyed by now) to the AFM.

Air flow meter, moving it to the left

Trim the old rubber pipe 10mm ish and refit.  I trimmed the bottom end in the picture below to move the jubilee clip over to the second ridge.

Pipe to trim

That little bit of info above took me and extra 4 hours to work out, what a pain.  Thanks to the people at Landyzone for the AFM fix.

One tool I wished I had was a trim removal took this would have saved another hour and the cost £2.

All in all I think it’s realistic to spend 4-5 hours on this knowing what I know now, not the 8 it took me.  I hope this blog entry helps you out.

The finished Landy with his new nose….

Discovery 1 300TDI ABS Safari Snorkel fitted

I have added all the pictures I took of the job here.