Progress has been admittedly slow over the last couple of months due to SWMBO's holiday plans which I have been blackmailed into going on. In all honestY, Norway is the nicest country I've been to so far and they have a strong classic car culture. They where everywhere! Very expensive country to visit though.
Anyway. First thing I did when I got back home was order all the bits I need for the Range Rover and a few bits for the land rover, just to see if that engine is recoverable.
For the Range Rover a set of +2" shock absorbers and the exhaust Y-piece I need and for the Land Rover, a set of big end bearings, sump gasket, oil filter and HT leads. Just need some 20w/50
While waiting for all that to arrive I cracked on with the many jobs that need doing
First up, the LPG kit fitted to the Land Rover
Id been struggling to release the straps holding the tanks in before I went a way and had stupidly stuck my head in the sand and wasted 2 whole days dismantling the interior to try and get to the awkward bolts. A quick google revealed a full set of straps cost £20 per side. So I cut the straps off. Resulting in two LPG tanks in the boot.
Next job was to remove the vapouriser, shut off valve and mixer
Chasing the wiring I found I have a double timing relay. I'll keep hold of that too. Win
Then started the job of removing the LPG wiring, which was a bit of a shock. no pun intended
Found this on the lambda sensor wiring. Just twisted together. Not secured or insulated in any way
And this on the ECU wiring. This was soldered this time, however the two exposed wires where touching each so bit of an own goal. I think I've uncovered why this ran so badly on petrol.
All chopped out and properly soldered and heat shrinked
Which left me with all this. Can get rid of the emulator as I wont need it on the Range Rover. It should be a much simpler and neater setup when I decide what, out of this, can be re-used
The next day was the Range Rovers turn for some attention
Started off by sorting the wood trim on the door cards. 3 of 4 of them had fallen off and one was snapped. After a fair bit of time cleaning them up and removing the old clips and glue, I the re-glued the clips to the wood and refitted them. They're real wood as well, no veneer in here!
I've also sorted the radio. Its a Clarion and wasn't fitted when I got the car. Whats worse is that the plugs where cut off on both the radio and car loom and I couldn't find a user manual online with out paying £7 to download it. Stuff that. Got there eventually through trial and error anyway.
Cleaned 30 years of grime off it. It was disgusting!
And wired it up to a chocolate block.
Ended up using a smaller chocolate block and separated the speaker side from the power side
And we have power! I'm pleased to say it works very well and picks up radio channels in our area better than the golf, despite the aerial cable being snipped before it meets the aerial. Just need some rear speakers to complete and obviously to sort out the aerial. I'm also missing the surround for the radio and I have a feeling that this might be hard to come by.
The cat was busy so had the dog with me for quality control.
What are dogs even for??
The next day my LED dash bulbs turned up
They're for a later dash so not ideal. There was only a couple of multi directional LED's in the pack so ended up using a multi directional for the wiper and indicator stalk illumination and the others for the warning lights. This left a few good bulbs to use for the dial backlighting. Really pleased with this.
Even got the puddle lights working
This morning The exhaust turned up
Its not a straight fit as the exhaust manifolds are designed to fit the other Y-piece. So I set about cutting up my new Y-piece and the old one to make something that fits from the two. No progress pics but by this afternoon I had a Y-piece that fits perfectly. Chuffed!
Right side
Left side
And good clearance round the gearbox and crossmember
That all needs properly assembling and then I need to come up with a solution to how I'm going to hang it. The original system used bobbins and the sytem from the Disco used hangers. Shouldn't be too difficult.
I always try to get a shed souvenir while on holiday and from Norway I picked up this moose bell. Its flippin brilliant!
And then another parcel turned up with the rest of my order. I forgot I ordered some galvanised front shock turrets. Blingin
I know Britpart have a bad rep but these where cheap, have 2 year warranty and seem very chunky and strong
I managed to fit one by the time it got dark. Will try and fit the others tomorrow.
I've recently found out I'll be moving to Lincolnshire some time in the first quarter of next year which throws up a few problems. No.1 being I cant guarantee storage for my projects. To that end I need to put a rush on on the T25 camper. I have a 2 month detachment abroad coming up which doesn't leave me a lot of time to work on it. I measured it today and If I gut the interior, I can fit the GT6 shell in it which has mad me want to get this thing MOT'd by Jan. Possible? We'll see. As a van it would be very very useful for moving all my stuff
And on that note I'm off to the motor club to make a start
TOODLES!
