'84 Land Rover ex-MOD 109, OM606 hi-cap

With some nice weather returning and most of the 109 flat green now I've started the job of stripping the front wings back to bare metal to respray. I really underestimated just how long they'd take to strip with the quantity of layers, using a combination of da sander, paint stripper, thinners and grinder it felt like it took forever! And once almost fully stripped I drilled off the steel 'patch' on the passenger wing to see just what those squaddies were trying to hide....



Instead of replacing the wing as most would do, I banged on a new aluminium patch with aircraft flush rivets on the inside and bashed the sharper edges down





Then I continued stripping and repairing the rest of the wings, filling all of the random screw holes where somebody had previously screwed ammo crates on







And some epoxy primer





And now the inner wings have a first coat of flat NATO green





Even the bulkhead vent flaps have seen some attention, paint stripped and now epoxy primed waiting for the next green painting session



Before I lay a few more coats of green down on the inner wings I need to make some wheelarch shields to protect the steering and put the strength back into the lower inner wing area



I've started folding up the cover plate to protect the steering box recycling bits of old Land Rover panels, then onto cover up the lower steering column shaft and extending the footwell splash guard to match

The perfect colour for a landrover
Love the fact you’ve kept the ‘battle scar’ too!

So a little CAD work was done and I made some panels to be riveted inside the inner wing





Sealed in with Tigerseal, riveted in place and primed





Then a decision was made to cover the inner wing in adhesive insulation pads to see if that helped reduce some of the noise coming through into the cab



And the bonnet got the same treatment



Finally the outer wing could be bolted onto the inner wing and the complete wing bolted back onto the Landy







The inner wing looking so much better now it's fully sealed up. At some point I may extend the mudguard further down to help protect the footwell and also add a rubber outer edge to seal the guard to the side of the wing?



And having a few days off work and the sun shining I've got round to applying the Raptor bedliner to the tub. Not the most enjoyable job prepping and masking it to paint....







One can emptied



Second can emptied



Third can emptied



And the fourth can emptied and tub unmasked









And that's a big job ticked off the list. Should give a nice sealed and easy(ish) surface to keep clean so I can use the Landy for general hauling duties and then clear it out for camping trips, yet also give a little extra mass for some token insulating properties

Bedliner makes a great paint job. My mate did his patrol and he doesn't have to worry about scratches when 4wding now.

All getting a bit posh now but damn, it looks smart!

Lots more tinkering done on the 109. Whilst the wings were being stripped I blasted the aerial mount doublers that mount underneath the wingtops and bought some dome headed screws to reattach them. I couldn't find matching shallow headed screws like original, but these will do





Next task is to tidy up the engine bay and upgrade the radiator and oil coolers. Of course this started by mounting my spare air horn across the front and then marking out where the inner wing needed modifying to enlarge the engine bay to fit a wider radiator





New V8 Defender radiator and large oil cooler bought



And sizing up some electric fans



And onto fabricating and chopping the inner wing to make way for the new radiator









And plating in the rear of the inner wing which got chopped about to make way for the OM606





The new plates were bonded on then the wing removed and riveted up and painted





The wing was painted green inside and out and bolted on this morning and the new radiator dropped in place











I've cut a hole in the side of the inner wing which will have a hinged flap screwed over the top as a quick emergency access to the manual pump stop lever should I ever need it.

And whilst the sun was out I bolted the repaired outer wing back onto the passenger side and refitted the bullbar

Can't say I thought of that, could be worth a try

So onto the next stage, making the electric fan mount/shroud for the radiator. I couldn't decide on whether to make a simple frame to mount both fans to the radiator, or a full shroud, so had a rummage in the metal stash and found a large sheet of ally. Shroud it is! A little measuring and thinking and I had a design roughed out in my head, then began to transfer it into metal





The sides were then folded up and the holes marked out and cut out









And in it went with plenty of space



I added a few extra braces inside the fan shroud, primed it and painted it black







Having another rummage about I found some thicker aluminium which would do for the top radiator stays. A little cardboard aided design and I had a pair of aluminium brackets between the slam panel and radiator primed and painted black





Then I made a stainless intake pipe to run out of the inner wing into the wheelarch ahead of the radiator and back into the engine bay after the radiator. Welded together from 2.5" stainless tube, with some tabs at either end to bolt onto the wings and a little sleeve welded over each end to act as a bead to help prevent the hoses popping off







A few silicone elbows were trimmed to fit and the outlet from the intercooler made to join the hole in the inner wing at the top, and some more elbows fitted behind the radiator to meet with the old setup at the inlet manifold





And made a stainless pipe to fit between the turbo and intercooler with the same sleeves welded over the ends, and fitted with some adhesive insulation wrapped around it







Another part of the plan to sort out the underbonnet mess is to make a sealed airbox. I took some rough measurements of the remaining free space in the engine bay and found some steel that would do to make a box. Once settled on a design I folded and welded up a steel box with an inlet on the side at the back and a flange on the front to take a bolt on plate which the air filter is clamped to and feeds directly onto the turbo











And the end cap





The air box parts and inner wing intake pipe have now been epoxy primed and painted black





I'm thinking the best way of feeding fresh air to the airbox is a raised air intake on the passenger side, so I'll probably remove the one from my V8 Landy (to also make way for the cage), and mod it to fit the 109. I feel like I've made a lot of progress tidying up the engine bay. It leaves the fuel lines which will get re-routed when I eventually get round to finishing the rear fuel tank setup and a total re-wire.....

Great Fabrication work all round very nice.

Is that press break at home or work, nice piece of kit to have access to?

My neighbour told me that Land Rovers are less of a motoring experience and more of a hobby.