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Alaska Off Road Warriors (TV Show)

SuperBuickGuy

Well-Known Member
Messages
3,403
Location
Woodinville, WA
Best is right - 215 Buicks were installed in pretty much every Rover sent to America, by the Discovery 2 they were 4.0 (215 is 3.7 liters... for reference the 231 Buick motor is 3.8 liters), in 2002 they went to 4.2 liters. When Ford bought LR they didn't like installing what was a GM motor in their cars, so they developed a new motor. The 300 TDI was actually a pretty narrow window of years, like 94-97, LR went to the TD5, which was a clean-sheet redesign. The 300 tdi and 200 tdi are the same size, but the 200 tdi is a bit more, umm, primative and had less hp.... no diesel was never imported into the US. The 300s are here because of people like me - who want the fuel economy of the diesel and don't worry so much about how long it's going to take to get there.

94-97 all were Defenders - there isn't a lot of difference between them and the 90s (oh good grief if they saw those words on Expedition... there would be much name calling)

Which brings up an interesting issue with that Land Rover Defender (they look similar to the later D90s), it may have been an illegal import (no Defender satisfies the 25 year old rule, so they can't, yet, be imported).

There is a really nice Defender shop in the NW, DefenderNW, there is one crotchety old guy, he's in Portland... the old guy, he knows everything - but he's pretty crusty, if you get along with him, he's a "give you the shirt off his back for a fair price" type guy... if he doesn't... well... there's NWDefender - and he is a really, really nice guy.

if someone offered me a d90 in trade for my H3... I'd jump all over that, I like them a lot.

and another factoid - the Series Land Rovers (series I, II, III) were the ones you traditionally see in the old british war movies.... narrow headlights, with the fenders extending to the front past the lights. the next in the models were the numbered ones - 90, 100, 110, 130s - and those numbers all referred to the wheelbase of the vehicle. Underneath, they all look pretty much the same from the 40s when they were first built... and if you look under and FJ40, there are remarkable similarities, though the FJ40s went with leaf springs (probably to save money on production)....
 
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SuperBuickGuy

Well-Known Member
Messages
3,403
Location
Woodinville, WA
oh, and there were differences between the Buick built motor and the land rover motor. by the 4.0 liter they were cross-bolting the mains, for heaven knows what reason - they never fixed the head gasket problem, but they did a number of design changes that made the motor more reliable.... ironically, with all the changes, though, the heads were a problem. My first car was a 1962 Buick Skylark, I owned 3 sets of heads for it. 1 set was on the car, 1 set was at the shop being flattened, and the other set on the shelf to be replaced when it blew the head gasket. I got so good at swapping the heads, I would grab all the tools I needed in one trip, and have the heads from drive up to leave the house done in 4 hours....

Another factoid, the Buick motor and Olds motor started life as the same block casting, but the olds motor got 5 head bolts in the machining process. Problem was, the bolts weren't symmetrical, so they had the same head gasket problems as the Buick motor... and that Olds motor was GM's first turbo motor... though, if you needed a Buick block, you could use the Olds block and simply bolt the Buick heads to them.... and it's odd, Rover bought the rights and the molds for both motors - yet they used the 4 bolt design not the 5 bolt.

someday, I'm going to build a sports car, super light, with a flat-crank out of the 215 block (though I'll probably use a rover block).... it will sound like a Ferrari, and go like stink because it will have turbos... however, at this point I need to live to 100 to finish the projects I have now
 

4speedfunk

Well-Known Member
Messages
4,212
Location
Tardville
A friend of mine stuffed an alum Buick (Rover) into a Triumph TR7. It was stupid fast and he spun it to 7500 daily. Triumph actually made a few of these called the TR8, and he sort of mimicked one with his build.
 

Best4x4

Well-Known Member
Messages
1,042
Location
Vidor, TX
Yeah I had a chance to buy a TR8 as a kid, but I went for a 4x4 lol. Didn't the Buick 215 also start life with a cast iron block? Then when rover got it they went to an aluminum block with sleves to help with cooling?? I thought I read that somewhere.

My brother had an rare inline 6 in his 1966 Series IIa 109 Safari Wagon and it was LHD vs the usual 2.5 4banger.
 

SuperBuickGuy

Well-Known Member
Messages
3,403
Location
Woodinville, WA
The 215 always had steel sleeves. The only motor that didn't was the infamous vega 4 cylinder. My dad loves the 215 (where I got the affliction), he was putting them in Vegas in the 70s, and I have a friend now that bought some heads from me and is doing a 215 vega. I've even had a TR8, but that's where the motor (and heads) came from and it wasn't salvageable. It'd had been raced and wrecked. The other issue with the 215 is they have the same external oil pump as the 231, 350, and 455 (with all their intinerations) - and while the 400/430/455 motor has the worst oil system, they're all the same design thus the oiling on them can be an issue.... with that said, they'll generally overheat, then leaking oil and coolant first before the oil pump becomes an issue.

As for cast iron, it's actually opposite(ish). So GM had developed the small block chevy and each division came up with their itineration of motors based upon their demographic. The 215 was designed and built for the fuel crisis that happened in the 50s (gas went from like 25 cents a gallon to 37 cents). Thus, small, light motors were built. By the mid-60s, the fuel crisis was forgotten, and muscle cars were on the horizon.... not really a place for small displacement motors. So GM built a 300 ci motor, and the 1st gen of that had aluminum heads (1964). Those heads (and the cast iron as well, though why you'd do that is beyond me) bolt onto a 215, and if you machine the crank and create a 1/2" spacer, you can run the 300 crank in a 215 block... so you get a 302, but it's a long stroke motor, so while a talking point for car shows, it's really not a performance motor. Thus, "ish" no, they didn't make a cast iron 215, but the 300 was functionally the same and interchangeable and in cast iron. GM sold the patents and molds the Leland, and they literally took it from there... what's interesting is there are as many of that motor design out there as the small block chevy and their parts are about as interchangeable as the sbc. When the gas crisis hit in the 70s, GM tried to buy their design back and British Leland told them to go away.

And look for MGs with the 215 as well, some of those actually made it to America.... just about any car that BL made, could have come with a 215

It always fascinates me to do the Kevin Bacon of engines - Buick motors powered cars, buses, trains, spy planes, Jeeps, Rovers...
 
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Best4x4

Well-Known Member
Messages
1,042
Location
Vidor, TX
I miss my Rover's each one had a different way about em. I had seen a really clean 96 Silver/Grey Series I Discovery for sale with 60K on it (the grey interior was on found with the silver and only in 96), but by the time I had a chance to stop it was gone. The cool thing not a lot of people know is the headlights off an early Series II Discovery 99-02 fit the 94-98 Series I and it gave it a very mean look with the black surround headlights vs all chrome. The Series I Discovery XD was always a dream of mine!!!! Sweet rig, but extremely rare. I did have the honor of owning a 97 Range Rover 4.6 HSE Vitesse in AA Yellow!!! 1 out of 150 ever made/imported to the USA. I set it up with a 2inch lift (easy with 2inch taller air bags), and a Safety Devices Safari Rack, and 32inch BFG's (which on a Range Rover was huge). I broke a half shaft once, but it was driver error as I tried an obstacle one to many times and finally hopped a wheel into the air and clank lol. Good rigs, but extremely hard to find decent ones anymore...
 

Best4x4

Well-Known Member
Messages
1,042
Location
Vidor, TX
The other cool Range Rover model was the Callaway Edition. Bright Red or Black and it was tuned very very well. It was more a SRT8 kinda rig vs an off road killer due to the way it was tuned. I liked it when Land Rover had rare models like that. They have like maybe 2 these days and it's mainly interior stuff vs a complete setup in/out.
 

Best4x4

Well-Known Member
Messages
1,042
Location
Vidor, TX
Yeah my last favorite US Rover was the 04 Series II Discovery. After that they went soft.. They still make the D90/110, but we'll never see em here.
 

4speedfunk

Well-Known Member
Messages
4,212
Location
Tardville
I've been watching a few more episodes of this drama. I gotta admit...I love that big Toyota. Makes want to get a mullet and some boggers.
 

SuperBuickGuy

Well-Known Member
Messages
3,403
Location
Woodinville, WA
hearing the passenger in the Toyota squeal like a pig is really getting annoying.

up until this last episode, I was enjoying the travel blog of Alaska - now, it's simply drama with a different backdrop. What cracks me up is this - okay, so allegedly the Jeep was the only one with a land anchor, then the Cruiser crew made one out of a cut up hi-lift jack... but the last show, everyone had their own including the mullet brothers...

what I'm curious about, though, is how they've managed 600 miles without a refill... and no one is carrying 100 gallons of fuel - as I said, drama.


oh yeah, has anyone noticed every time they use the land anchor, it's not set up right? the spade goes 75-90* to the pull line so the anchor keeps aiming down the harder you pull on it (which makes for loads of fun getting it out if you don't attach a chain to the top). The way they have it set, it merely skims across the surface (which makes it easy to get out, but doesn't make getting the vehicle out very successful)....

anyway, fictional, drama tv... and it is fun to watch on DVR while eating (without the commercials)
 
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Gunner_45

Super Moderator
Staff member
Messages
1,932
Location
Texas
It is actually a pretty decent show.............If you watch it with the sound turned off.
 

cbetts

NERD!!!
Messages
3,182
Location
Rancho Palos Verdes, CA
I have actually learned a few things from the show. Using the HiLift as a spike was pretty clever. I have done the welding trick with jumper cables once before. I tried to straighten a bent tie rod with a winch but failed.

I really like the War Wagon! I pass one almost every day coming home from work. *DROOL*
HbNwouTV6c0OILIKQlXj-7HQf9aEzebCTy5jmeAqgNY=w974-h547
 

SuperBuickGuy

Well-Known Member
Messages
3,403
Location
Woodinville, WA
It is actually a pretty decent show.............If you watch it with the sound turned off.

I'll have to do that next time... about the only people I can stand are the two leaders (Jeep/FJ55) - both of their side-kicks, though, I'd have fed to the bears on Day 2

I drove a FJ55, while I'm on my 8th FJ40 - I can't imagine a situation where I'd own a FJ55, there are just far too many better options out there (such as a FJ60 or FJ80) not to mention any full-size, American made SUV.
 

MilamJR

Well-Known Member
Messages
805
Location
Alabama
Just watched the first 4 episodes of the show so I pulled up this old thread. Should I keep watching? Can’t believe that the chrome nerf bars are still on that 4 runner.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 

crwalkerasla

Well-Known Member
Messages
312
Location
Corinth, MS
I've watched several different Alaska Expeditions, although only 1 race and to me it actually had some merit. Vehicles were purchased online - $3,000 limit sight-unseen, american made. Dodge vs Chevy vs Ford. If it broke, you had to ride in a toyota. Winner was the first to touch a glacier with their rig.

The REAL expeditions shows (and a few adventure mags), really have me planning a "From Sea to Shining Sea" Cross Country Adventure when I retire. Looking at a Key West, FL to Prudhoe Bay, AK adventure (and few other stops along the way).
 
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