Forkliftfred's Quarantine garage. Cleaning, painting etc

Still coming on nicely ! Be a great looking truck when finished.
That tent was a massive bonus - could do with a find like that to make up the summer roof on ours.
James

Thanks for the kind words folks. TBH, i'm not great at keeping it up to date and even worse at documenting things as I go along.

I decorated Wifey's boxroom office and reclaimed the cheapy laminate flooring to lay in the Quarantine Garage around the workbench area, largely because it was free but partially because it's mildly better than grey painted concrete.





I reached the ripe age of 42 last week so Wifey bought me a kayak.



I've hired kayaks previously and messed about on lakes but never on a canal or traveled any distance. My chum Mavis and I are heading to the River Chelmer this weekend, seeing as the UK weather has remembered it's supposed to be summer time, for my first paddle.

My neighbour sends me a Whatsapp message. "Rob, could you weld up two 50p sized holes in my Galaxy"? We do each other favours fairly regularly so I say yes. Can you see where this is going??? Two evenings later, after replacing a fair amount of the cills and patching the outriggers, I welded up the two holes he had found!!



I either need to invest in some welding sleeves, for get how to weld or learn how to say no!! No pictures of the welding but it passed the MOT with no advisories.

I have regular checks with my Occupational Health dept. due to my insomnia and the fact I operate 58 tons container movers fairly regularly. After our last chat I was sent some links about sleep hygiene. A few of the paragraphs made me chuckle.



Lastly this picture popped up on social media. I seldom save pictures or even really comment but this particular one ticks alot of my boxes.



It was nailed together by these guys Helderburg Defenders. Good to see the Yanks taking on a British icon and doing it well. I'm loving the lower side cills and matching bumper. They have chosen to go with the wheels I have recently sold. The colour isn't my taste and the rear suspension needs lowering a little more to match the front but that aside i'd still own it. Maybe move the steering wheel to the correct side  .

Happy mental health fellow RR'rs.

I sprayed the wheels I had sand blasted in gloss black. The blast media used was a bit coarse for alloy wheels but I like the effect. I still need to spray the insides.







Got the all terrain tyres fitted. I asked the tyre shop to fit the white lettering to the inside. It wasn't until I got them home and on the truck I realised their mistake.



Aside from that faux pas i'm very pleased with how it looks now. Does anybody know why the rear wheels fit ok but the front are hitting the drive flanges and the drive shafts poke through so I had to remove the front centre caps. Do Salisbury axles have different drive flanges?

I bled the clutch and the brakes with my new vaccuum bleeder (makes it a doddle), I remembered to remove the protective glove from the intake manifold before starting it up. then I drove it under it's own power over nearer the fence. I swept up all the rust and crud that had accumulated underneath and parked the E30 nearer to the garage so I can concentrate on getting it finished so I can put it up for sale.



I think i've located a BMW M57 3.0 diesel engine at a reasonable price locally, so the 200tdi engine and harness and the R380 gearbox with transfer box is up for sale.

What gearbox are you going to use?

Will be interesting to follow.

I’ve been getting a bit fed up with my Tdi’s constant niggles. I have idly been considering a V8 at some point in the future...

I agree, a Rover engine in your 110 would be a bit disappointing. Would probably be more useable in my 109”, but I’ve also been considering a small block Ford or Chevy engine in a mild state of tune. That way I can use a 60s/70s era engine and still argue the Historic/period conversion...

To be honest though, I’m likely to stick with the Tdi for the foreseeable. What are you after for yours?

Got home from work around 4.30. Straight out o the garage and made the E30 a bit taller.





That looks a whole lot better. I couldn't find my spring compressors anywhere so I had to get creative. Please don't try this at home, I am a trained professional stupid idiot.



I've ordered some plastic primer and satin black to sort the woeful paint work on the side trims and bumper inserts..

No rush. It's still in the Defender if you want to see/hear it running.