What To Do With An Old Armoire Or TV Cabinet. Repurpose
If you're like me I change my throw pillows. I put some away and bring others out. This is a nice way to use one in the bathroom to keep towels and all the bathroom items in. Place baskets in it to hold shampoos, extra toothpaste, make-up or toilet paper. Add a screen to show everything or put fabric on the doors to hide things. My bathroom stuff I usually like to hide. You can see how pretty one can look in a bathroom. Use an old one for a pantry in the kitchen to put kitchen linen in or storage for can goods. It can also be a place to hold pots and pans or a place for all your pretty bowls and dishes. It鈥檚 a great place for mixer, blender, griddles and food processor. The things you don't have room for on counters. I love pantries as you can see from my pantry hub.
In both configurations, the Discovery Sport uses a well-calibrated 9-speed automatic transmission that smoothly shuttles power to all four wheels, and can be calibrated for various off-road duties such as mud, sand, and snow. Powertrain aside, the Discovery Sport manages to be fairly lightweight鈥攁s nimble as 4,000 pounds can be鈥攖hanks to some aluminum in its body. Front struts and a rear multi-link setup help damp out road imperfections and keep most of the Discovery Sport鈥檚 four wheels on terra firma when it matters. Mounting that gear to the subframe helps isolate the vibrations further. In most situations, the Disco Sport鈥檚 variable-ratio steering has a generous on-center spot that keeps the SUV tracking straight on the interstate, but offers very little by way of feedback. The Discovery Sport stays true to its Land Rover badge through its all-wheel-drive system that varies power between front and rear axles. It鈥檚 not the same kind of off-roader as others that have worn the green badge, but we鈥檝e found that the Discovery Sport can scramble up most trails without much fuss. The standard Terrain Response program can dial throttle response, transmission shift patterns, differential tolerances, and steering through mud, sand, snow, ice, fire, and brimstone (OK, two of those are made up) settings. In our experience, it works well. The Discovery Sport is not only capable off-road, but it鈥檚 also very easy to drive well.
Many of you have been itching to find out where I am on my journey. I'm stuck in Anaheim. Now, I don't mean to suggest that Anaheim is a bad place to be stuck in. Quite the contrary. What I mean is that I should be in Alaska by now, but I'm not, and it's frustrating. I've had several delays that have postponed my progression through the states. In May and June, I passed my time between the Freightliner service center and La Mesa RV while they fixed problems on the motor coach. Once the wrap is finished, I'll head up to Redding for the vegetable oil conversion on the coach. During this time while I've been working out snags in SoCal, Shane at Rover Hybrids has been working on the conversion of my Land Rover Defender. He's swapped out the stock V8 gasoline engine for a Cummins diesel, and he's replaced the stock Land Rover transmission with a New Ventures 4500 5-speed that mates up perfectly with the Cummins. I had been in Anaheim, CA for two weeks trying to put together the images necessary for the wrap on the RV. I had driven a few miles away in the rental car to go get one of my favorite sandwiches -- Chick-Fil-A -- and decided it was time to stop for a haircut. I wandered into the nearest salon, and that's where I met Lilly. Call it Fate, call it coincidence, but had I not been delayed, I wouldn't have met Lilly, and I might never have known of the theatre's restoration. It's events like this that have changed my outlook on my circumstances. I'll keep updating these pages as my journey progresses. And, remember, if you want to subscribe to this blog, just click on the orange "feed" link in the right-hand column. And, if you want to email it to a friend, just click on the little envelope icon at the bottom of the post.
A good automotive tip for older engines is to try some engine oil stop leak. This is especially true in certain states. States like California, where I live, have very strict emissions laws, and oil leaking into the fuel mixture for combustion can definitely cause a car to fail a smog test. Stop leak for engines isn't really similar to stop leak for things like tires and radiators, as you'll see if you keep reading. In all cars, over time, there is natural wear and tear to the seals that keep the liquids and gasses in place. As the components of a car age and break, most of them get replaced. Like when a radiator gets a hole in it, often times its just easier to replace the radiator than to mess with goopy liquids to seal the leak. With engines, however, changing the components that leak isn't a very simple task.
