Sharan found a bunch of goodies for the rangie. I normally hate the way people drive here in Kenya but it’s great for spare parts. We got a high capacity fuel tank, fuel line, fuel pre-filter, and wiring harness from a discovery that someone had rolled. The instrument panel is from a Defender, these gauges will work with the electronic sender units in the gear box, and fuel tank.

This week has been a bit slow. We separated the body from the chassis over the weekend and have done some body work. Sharan has been getting parts it’s really a pain. The traffic is so bad it wastes most of a day going to the industrial area. Were having trouble getting the gear box (transmition) we identified one from a Discovery that seems to be in good shape but the salvage yard says they can’t release it until insurance company says ok. It could be he’s looking for a higher price. Hopefuly next week we’ll be able to start putting her back together. I uploaded photos to flickr and added them to a set called Range Rover Overhaul.

I saw the color on the street today. It’s a coppery orange. It’s unique, not too flashy, and will hide dirt. I’d been thinking about orange but thought it wasn’t classy. I think car in the picture is a 2009 Range Rover Sport, click for pictures. I’ll have real bumpers that are black and it it will look much better!

This is a photo of the rear axel I got for the Rangie. Sharan found it while shopping for other used parts. It’s from a former kenyan military 2007 Discovery with 12,000 kilometers. They apperntly crashed into a lorry and sheered off the top of the vehicle. I got the exaust, power steering, and two axels for good price. The axels are a bit over budget but are heavy duty and the diffs are appently limited slip. I can’t find any info on the limited slip diff, there are several kinds, some are better than others, some can cause fish tailing. I’m hoping that since they were on such a new vehicle that they are a modern type that won’t cause problems. Sharan assures me that I can sell them if I don’t like the way they work. Reguardless I get new heavy duty brakes, shafts, etc.

These are some possible colors for the Rangie, I photoshoped a picture I took of the silver one Sharan painted last month. It doesn’t have the roof rack, set of spare tires on the back, or bull bars but otherwise should be similar to the way mine will look. He’s talked me into the alloy rims. Steel is real but alluminum is better according to him, he likes the way they look.

I don’t want it too flashy but do want it to look attractive and unique. I’m a little worried it will attact theifs or car jackers but Sharan assures me that they will take one look at the licence plate, which tells you how old it is, and will not bother with it.

Let me know what you think in the comments.

I’ve bought a 1979 3-door Range Rover Classic that me and my friend Sharan will remake into a overland/safari/photography vehicle. Sharan will be brains behind the operation. In addition to being a good, honest guy, he runs Just Relaxsignh Safaris (I’ll build a new website for him). He has a lot of experience in the automotive and safari industry, he converted 4 Land Rover 110s to the same engine, converted my 90 to a 2.7 intercooled turbo and updated another Range Rover recently. He also was fleet manager for of 85 safari vehicles (Sunworld Safaris) and has been fleet manager for trucking companies here in kenya.

I’ll be hiring out the Land Rover 90 for self drive safari’s more on that later…
The Rangie has been owned by one owner who it appears didn’t take it off road and wasn’t in a major accident so the chassis and body are in good shape. The engine, a V8 gas guzzler which is based on a, 1961 Buick design, will be replaced by an efficient Nissan Diesel 3.2 liter intercooled turbo engine. We’ll also upgrade the 4 speed gear box (transmission) and transfer case to a 5 speed. All shocks and springs are worn out so they will be replaced with high performance ones that will add 1 inch clearance. Sharan’s uncle will make custom bumpers, bull bars, expedition roof rack and hatch. The tires tipical kenya style, all 5 are a different make and size! We’re thinking of Cooper ST for on road and off road performance. We’ll also add some extra lighting and give her a new paint job.

The next post will be about choosing colors.

My wife Rebecca and I spent a very lovely week at a small hotel in Mauritius called Kuxville. Spent a few days snorkeling around the small islets just north fishing village of Cap Malheureux. We did some cribage playing on the poarch.  Some shopping at the market and in Port Lous (Mauritius has duty free shopping and clothing factories) I did a small amount of photography. I’ve added a Mauritius photo gallery.  I captured the image above in the pleasing light of early morning.

There is something about this photo I really like. I think the composition interesting because of he similarity of shape between the boat and the island. There is a timeless quality.  There is also something about the color I’m responding to, it seems un-photographic. I made a small amount of color tweaks in Adobe Lightroom but not many, other photos that morning also had that color quality. The morning sun was being blocked by clouds so the light was softer than the normal harsh light I’m becoming used to.

Please let me know what you think of this photo and others in the gallery by commenting on this post, I’d love to know what you think. I’ve added galleries for the Safari Rally and  Masai Mara.

Right now my biggest gripe is internet connectivity. There is no fiber connectivity in Africa so all traffic is beamed through satlites. It’s slow and it’s expensive. They are laying fiber now so hopefully things will improve. I’ll write more about this in another post.

It’s been a long time since I’ve made an entry here. A lot has changed in my life. I’m now living in Nairobi, Kenya. Been busy getting settled here and suffering from a lack of bandwidth, and motivation. This is a photograph of a cameleon  that I found in our driveway this afternoon. At least I think it’s a cameleon. It’s freaky looking that’s for sure. There are lots of geckos here. This is the first one of these that I’ve seen. Eyes are strange looking. Very slow moving. Geckos are fast so I haven’t made a really cool photo of one of them. I plan on posting more photographs and stories soon. I’ve done a fair bit traveling and sight seeing here.