sowen
Club Retro Rides Member
Posts: 2,245
Club RR Member Number: 24
|
|
Aug 29, 2017 13:59:10 GMT
|
The tin plate repairs are really only any good for recussitating an old chassis to get another year or two out of it, they're pretty rough patterns otherwise. It's telling that a few companies are starting to make decent quality repair sections as people have become more discerning with their vehicles. Even more satisfying to do it yourself as displayed here though. I'm sure I've seen at least once somebody tooling up to sell side profile sections of the chassis legs with lengths of 3" top/bottom plate? I know not everybody has the capabilities to fabricate parts to as close to original shape/spec, but the more that can be done to persuade those that could to up their game.... Superb work, id like to do a LR pick up 2WD OM606 auto conversion. Well now you know it goes in . I'd be tempted by a 2wd conversion, put a drop beam axle on the front (maybe the one off an old LDV/Sherpa van would fit), and drop the rear to the bumpstops, do a bodydrop too to make a nice little rodded Landy! 4x4 is too handy so whatever I end up doing this one shall remain with a driven front axle.
|
|
|
|
|
sowen
Club Retro Rides Member
Posts: 2,245
Club RR Member Number: 24
|
|
|
Awesome! And bookmarked, now I know how to jig & rebuild an LR front chassis when I eventually get one.. It's not hard, 9/16" bar through the spring hangar holes, something to align the bumper bolt holes then brace it back to something solid! This is the third chassis I've reconstructed like that. First one I used the off the shelf replacement dumb irons, and never again. They really aren't fit for purpose, too thin, don't have the bumper reinforcements and most I've seen are slid over rusty metal so will inevitably be even more rotten. The Land Rover chassis are simple flat steel so more than easy enough to make new sections to fit back to solid clean metal. Extra drain holes to help stop the internal water/mud traps will help too. The later pressed chassis like what I've got on this 109 are a bit more tricky to do a neat repair, but not impossible. When the time is right I'll cut the bodged on rear crossmember off, repair the rear chassis rails and weld it back together properly with all of the reinforcing brackets that my chassis should have.
|
|
|
|
sowen
Club Retro Rides Member
Posts: 2,245
Club RR Member Number: 24
|
|
Aug 27, 2017 10:04:56 GMT
|
But surely you appreciate the novelty of having a Series Land Rover that gets warm inside? I've had a few in my time that have been pretty dismal over the winter for various reasons. I wouldn't say it was a novelty, my swb hardtop always had a good heater, just the lack of insulation inside made it take longer to warm up inside! My brothers truck cab has an excellent heater, but with my large engine poking into the cab it's like a furnace in there
|
|
|
|
sowen
Club Retro Rides Member
Posts: 2,245
Club RR Member Number: 24
|
|
Aug 26, 2017 21:43:45 GMT
|
Love this... I'm sure the MoT guys did also At the end he said it's the kind of thing he wants to see, all the parts that matter done, fresh grease on all the balljoints and prop u/j's, clean and tidy where it counts, something unusual under the bonnet and a paintjob that makes it a true sleeper! i had those doors on my 84 ninety. kinda cookey but have a nice blend of series character (Recessed handles, galvanised capping) and defender build quality (albeit a bit british leyland) i know its all past tense but i think the gods were smiling on you at MOT day, not through lack of hard work mind you, but doing so much to a deadline and pulling it off i mean. had same issue with my clutch slave, in the end i unbolted it from the bell housing so the bleed nipple was up hill, cracked hte nipple off, reverse bled it by pushing the cylinder in by hand. satisfying pops and farts and immediate solid pedal. love the paint! many years of army paint jobs i guess, mask off the glass and tyres, spray Somewhere I still have the cappings, I'm sure they'll turn up eventually? After so many years of driving about with those sliding windows I've come to really appreciate a windy window that actually fully opens! I cheated and took a few weeks off work, also did my back in so was hobbling about on painkillers for the first half of August . The last week prior to the mot was spent reading the mot manual and ticking the boxes , and the clutch failed just as I was leaving to the Gathering, but by the time I'd driven the 55 miles it had sorted itself out and has been fine since. I know what you mean about lifting the slave cylinder up in the air, done that before! The paint is partly a mystery, obviously many layers of squaddie applied green/black camo, but how it came to have a bright blue truck cab then covered in that white/yellow/sand colour with a phone number and some symbol on both doors I don't know? The phone number irritated me so I did attack that with the DA, but the brushed finish was too deep so out with the angle grinder and back to a more greenish colour! shame the 2 piece doors had to go...you cant fake all those years of rushed paint jobs! great job to bash that out the way you did. The two piece doors are great if it's a toy and comes out periodically, but for a daily hack/beater where I'm driving motorways then rough tracks it's nice and practical to actually be able to fully open the window to let the heat out of the cab rather than funnel it all through my face and out half the door top, then wind it back up on the move . And yes the cab does get that hot inside with the exhaust manifold and turbo inches away from my left foot!
|
|
|
|
sowen
Club Retro Rides Member
Posts: 2,245
Club RR Member Number: 24
|
|
|
Utterly brilliant!!! What a fabulous engineer you are!! Take a bow. Thanks , not bad for a rush job! Yep! It's a spectacular old beast. Was good to see you dude Thanks , good to see you too! That's grand and, as ever, superb work! Oh yes! Great job on the Land Rover. You have a nice and comfortable Sd1 and a P6 and the Landy will become your daily driver? Is that because of the fuel costs? Peter The roads I drive are too rough for the P6 and SD1, not to mention the appalling driving and attitudes from some other motorists, 4x4 beaters are a necessity! That is simply awesome. Missing pictures from the shocked faces at the MOT station though It started as "is it as bad as it looks?", and was uphill from then on!
|
|
|
|
sowen
Club Retro Rides Member
Posts: 2,245
Club RR Member Number: 24
|
|
Aug 25, 2017 18:42:42 GMT
|
So on returning from the Gathering I'd put about 140 miles on the Landy, and it had run mostly without fault. So the next step was to put it immediately into use commuting to work down the motorway, trial by fire! For those who weren't at the Gathering or missed it there, here's some close ups of the glorious paint finish! Now I'm upto about 400 miles in a little over a week! The only major problem which needed fixing during the week were the rotten door tops peeling out at around 65-70mph, and the glass popping out from the long since decayed runners! A rummage in the spare pile sorted me a pair of early 110 one piece doors which were swapped over last night, windy windows, luxury!!! So there it is, the ratty OM606 Landy! Plans are to sort out a few oil leaks, continue de-rusting the chassis, tidy up the footwells, insulate the cab, full re-wire, long range fuel tank, rollbar in the back, grease up the rear springs, lower the front a little more and countless other little jobs to make it a really nice reliable daily driver
|
|
Last Edit: Aug 25, 2017 18:44:54 GMT by sowen
|
|
sowen
Club Retro Rides Member
Posts: 2,245
Club RR Member Number: 24
|
|
Aug 25, 2017 18:24:04 GMT
|
And it made it just in time Brakes were laughable, steering mega light and oh so wandery, but hell was it quick for all of half a second before something went with an almighty boom! The mot testers face when he saw it was priceless By the end it was gathering a crowd of mechanics all having a look at the Merc lump shoehorned in the front! Best bit of all apart from actually making it to the mot station without the need of a towrope was the pass certificate with no advisories When I got back home I re-bled the front brakes getting a little more air out of one wheel cylinder each side and found I'd re-assembled the rear brake shoes the wrong way round, two leading shoes one side and two trailing shoes the other! With those done the brakes were actually quite sharp on the pedal with no pulling to either side, result A few more wiring bodges got the engine starting and stopping as it should, and a little tweak to the steering box adjuster cured most of the wandering. There was one last job to do before the Gathering weekend, which was to convert the back of the Landy into a camper. I made a false floor out of plywood, lined it in carpet, and the new 3/4 tilt turned up with days to spare I also found the source of the boom on the drive to the mot station, one of the intake hoses had burst off! With that in mind the drive to Shelsley was done very gently keeping the engine below 5psi, which was easily done as I joined the convoy from the A46 Warwick junction and drove the remaining 45 miles without any problems No more pics were taken at the Gathering which become a exhaustion, cider and Redbull infused blur of awesome vibes, good friends and cool cars, !!!WIN!!! On the way back from Shelsley close to home I pushed the engine a little harder as it was within easy limping/towing distance, and with the revs climbing the boost gauge was shooting up to 15psi with barely any throttle! Doing the rough sums of how much fuel I put in, the miles I drove to the mot and to Shelsley and back I calculated it at 29mpg!
|
|
|
|
sowen
Club Retro Rides Member
Posts: 2,245
Club RR Member Number: 24
|
|
Aug 24, 2017 21:17:46 GMT
|
Thanks So with less than three weeks to the Gathering I had no lights, no battery, no windscreen wipers, no washer bottle, really nothing electrical for that matter, no brakes, no fuel tank, no clutch, no running proven engine, half the cab floor panels missing, no heater, no throttle, no oil cooler, no radiator fan, no intake hoses, still no V5 and definitely no MOT! How hard could it be? Headlights were scavenged from the scrap pile and rear brakes re-assembled A spare rotten fuel tank had the top cut out and made into a battery box, and one of the better leaking fuel tanks was welded up and fitted. With the battery balanced in place the lights slowly began to work after chasing many many corroded connectors and poor earths. Lots of time was wasted on the hazards, until a quick flick through the mot manual showed they're not required before '86, snip..... Headlights were re-wired with relays since I really don't trust the aged wiring and standard 4 fuses to handle their original capacity After another week most of the engine was plumbed in and almost ready to run, wires and cables dragged all over and attacked with countless ty-wraps, a complete mess but functional! Bleeding the brakes and clutch proved far harder than anticipated. I just couldn't get all the air out of the clutch so the pedal was spongy almost to the floor, and the brake pedal continued to hit the floor before anything happened. Make or break time, with absolutely nothing ready on the Friday the week before the Gathering I booked the mot for Monday 14th, nothing like a target to work towards By Sunday the engine was all plumbed in and ready to be run up to temp for the first time Monday morning was spent tearing the dashboard apart to replace the wiper motor, grease the wheelboxes, fit new washer jets and get them working (easiest way was to screw the washer bottle inside the cab below the dash!), make a battery box clamp, secure all the battery cables, tidy the interior, check all the bolts underneath in the chassis and suspension were tight, re-bleed the brakes and clutch, Monday afternoon came and I was still spannering away minutes before my booked slot, still not had a chance to run it up and down the driveway to check the brakes were working yet, or even got fuel! Once tanked up I threw some ropes in the back, pulled out into the road and Dad followed in his car to the mot station.....
|
|
|
|
sowen
Club Retro Rides Member
Posts: 2,245
Club RR Member Number: 24
|
|
Aug 24, 2017 17:27:27 GMT
|
Thanks for the comments So it was mid-July, about a month to RRG and the Landy is still in pieces! I scavenged dashboard parts and switches off my swb and made a start sorting through the wiring loom to make it functional-ish Most of the hoodsticks were found for the back, the plan being to convert the loadbay into a tent/den for RRG! I also swapped the standard 4.7 ratio diffs for a spare set of 3.54's to match the Defender gearbox and Discovery transfer 'box, and painted the diff pan 2k gloss white whilst I was at it The front crossmember was re-assembled only salvaging the locating plates at the base of the steering relay holes, and making the three tubes out of stainless so they don't ever rot out again And panic began to set in with the front propshaft clearance still being an issue! The rear brakes were stripped off and all parts thoroughly de-rusted to be epoxy primed as done to the front Fuel lines were lifted off my swb and a new custom power steering pressure hose was made and fitted And then August happened....
|
|
|
|
sowen
Club Retro Rides Member
Posts: 2,245
Club RR Member Number: 24
|
|
Aug 23, 2017 22:11:17 GMT
|
The work you are putting in looks great! I have a 1985 ex-MOD 110 Tithonus which came out of service 3 years ago. Only a year between them! Will definitely be following this They clearly kept your 110 far longer than my series 3! Thanks , the chassis work was decided to be from the start as good as I can get it, everything else can be taken off and done at a later date so the rest isn't as pretty especially with the target date of RRG looming Next job was the engine, so a big move-around happened to get the 109 on a clear part of the hardstanding and the little 2.25 was whipped out After a couple of trial fits with the Mercedes OM606 the bulkhead was modified to give enough clearance in the centre and the passenger footwell so it sat behind the front crossmember with enough room spare to fit the radiator, electric fan and intercooler A simple exhaust downpipe was made and hung under the chassis and propshafts were sourced, one brand new custom made prop for the front to reach the much further back transmission and a Range Rover classic rear prop was found to be almost the perfect length for the back axle! It was now early July and I was having a lot of trouble jiggling the engine and transmission about modifying the mounts trying to find the sweet spot where everything lined up just right.....
|
|
|
|
|
sowen
Club Retro Rides Member
Posts: 2,245
Club RR Member Number: 24
|
|
Aug 23, 2017 21:07:30 GMT
|
|
|
|
|
sowen
Club Retro Rides Member
Posts: 2,245
Club RR Member Number: 24
|
|
Aug 23, 2017 20:30:10 GMT
|
|
|
|
|
sowen
Club Retro Rides Member
Posts: 2,245
Club RR Member Number: 24
|
|
Aug 23, 2017 20:13:24 GMT
|
|
|
|
|
sowen
Club Retro Rides Member
Posts: 2,245
Club RR Member Number: 24
|
|
Aug 23, 2017 17:11:19 GMT
|
Priority was strip the front end down to check over the chassis and see how far back from the dumb irons the rot went The front crossmember was very crusty and inside the dumb irons the rot went all the way back to the bump stops Also made a start stripping and rebuilding the front axle, blasting and epoxy priming most of the steel parts too A jig was made around the front chassis legs and the major surgery began....
|
|
|
|
sowen
Club Retro Rides Member
Posts: 2,245
Club RR Member Number: 24
|
Bonnet up or bonnet down?sowen
@sowen
Club Retro Rides Member 24
|
Aug 23, 2017 14:03:54 GMT
|
lol @ Curtis there ^^ Mine was open so people could see my straight 6 turbo diesel swap, nobody wanted to see a boggo 90's w202 estate otherwise.. sowen is it a GazFab conversion kit? I was looking at it for ages but you weren't nearby! Homebrew conversion, if you'd braved the oil leaks underneath you would've seen the welded bellhousing. I missed yours, but found the Mercedes stacklight and the black 4 door saloon with OM606's and truck turbo's fitted which I wasn't expecting to stumble across!
|
|
|
|
sowen
Club Retro Rides Member
Posts: 2,245
Club RR Member Number: 24
|
|
Aug 23, 2017 13:59:02 GMT
|
This was at the gathering, I can't see your pictures in this thread any more mate?! I'll sort the pics out when I know what the best alternative is for photobin and have the time to do so The engine was unceremoniously ripped out and it's journey continues here.... '84 Land Rover ex-MOD 109
|
|
|
|
sowen
Club Retro Rides Member
Posts: 2,245
Club RR Member Number: 24
|
|
Aug 23, 2017 11:43:09 GMT
|
This is one of those "how hard could it be" situations that some of us fall into, which begins with acquiring a vehicle months before RRG with the plan to drive it there. This time it's an old ex-MOD Land Rover 109 that my brother bought about 5 years ago after it had been sat languishing outside in a field with no roof on, and previously to that was briefly on the road way back in 2001! He'd done a little bit of work on the wiring and got the engine running, and that was about it. I gave him a wad of cash back in May and set to work with a plan to weld up the chassis, drop in my Mercedes OM606 diesel, fit power steering, convert it to a pick-up and get it driving in the 3 remaining months left to RRG. So the strip down and thorough investigation began.....
|
|
Last Edit: Oct 7, 2018 12:55:29 GMT by sowen
|
|
sowen
Club Retro Rides Member
Posts: 2,245
Club RR Member Number: 24
|
Thanks!!sowen
@sowen
Club Retro Rides Member 24
|
Aug 23, 2017 10:02:18 GMT
|
Yes a big thanks from me to the organisers and all who attended over the weekend, made the long wait so worthwhile and has re-energised me to crack on with my toys! Already itching for next years show!
|
|
|
|
sowen
Club Retro Rides Member
Posts: 2,245
Club RR Member Number: 24
|
Bonnet up or bonnet down?sowen
@sowen
Club Retro Rides Member 24
|
|
A bit of both depending on what's the biggest feature of the car that needs or is wanted to be shown off, though I do tend to walk past standard engine bays, and am drawn to unique engine swaps and modifications! My Rover P6 I prefer to leave the bonnet down as it spoils the look of the car and I think most people know there's a turbo lump squeezed under the bonnet now. I did leave the bonnet open on my Land Rover during the show day as I thought people would be more interested in the Merc OM606 shoehorned in the front rather than a few decades worth of flaky paint on the outside! I really can't say how many hours I spent chatting to people about it and firing it up for them over the whole weekend, made the 3 months it took to build so worthwhile
|
|
|
|
sowen
Club Retro Rides Member
Posts: 2,245
Club RR Member Number: 24
|
|
|
I'm interested but don't know if I'll have the P6 back on the road by then and also work a lot of weekends now.
|
|
|
|
|