110 inches of madness...

Fri, 05 Nov 2010 01:47:00 GMT

Truck BuildFri, 05 Nov 2010 01:47:00 GMT

I've given myself a 50th birthday gift (50?! How the hell did that happen?!). It's a 1984 300Tdi 110, or at least it will be. Right now it's a 1984 pile of corroded parts on a frame with no powertrain, and an unsuspecting 1995 300Tdi 110 Commercial body.

Job one has been stripping the '84 hulk of anything worth keeping. There isn't much, but then I really just bought it for the VIN and V5 (UK equivalent of a title). I was able to salvage the steering shaft, pedal boxes and the brake servo/master, the heater box, the vent flaps and controls, 4 Alpine windows, the Salisbury axle shafts, the rear fuel tank (steel, not plastic), and probably the best bits -- two D90 saddle tanks and the associated piping. With the saddles installed, total fuel carrying capacity is upwards of 40 gallons, giving a range of about 800 miles between fill ups, and no jerry cans to mess with.

The '84 has a great history; the guy I bought it from lived in it for several years and traveled all over Europe, the middle east and Africa. The PO is using the front body on his build of a HiCap 110 pickup. I've found coins from all over while stripping the truck, I'm trying to come up with a clever way to put them in the new build as a legacy from the '84.

picasaweb.google.com/velocewest/110#

I collect the '95 next week. It started life as a fire department service vehicle in Ireland, now it lives in the Orkney Islands. I'm taking the train to Aberdeen, Scotland to pick it up from the ferry. Then it will be about an 8 hour drive home for a shakedown cruise. It should be uneventful, the truck has less than 80,000 miles on it, and it's been well maintained.

The only immediate change will be to cut off and weld the 84's VIN to the '95 frame, and install the '84 VIN tag on the brake pedal box. Then I can "scrap" the '95 and take the '84 off SORN, get an MOT and get the truck taxed and legal as a model year 1984. Next up will will be to remove the full bulkhead that separates the cab from the box, and to install a set of D90 slider windows in the box sides.

More as it happens!

I picked up the '95 on Tuesday 21 September. I flew to Aberdeen, Scotland, and collected the truck from the ferry terminal where it arrived from the Orkney Islands.

OK, for 2,000 quid I wasn't expecting a showroom vehicle, but... well. let's just say it looks like it may have been used to commute to Scotland, which is about 40 miles of ocean. Yep, she's a bit rusty. The doors are nothing but aluminum sheet from the locks down, the steel frames are simply gone. The rear cross member I can poke my finger through. Eek.

Oh well, I wanted a project! Anyway, the drive home was relatively uneventful. I did discover a small problem with the locks at a rest stop an hour or so north of Edinburgh. Like, they lock, but don't unlock... Of course all the tools I had thoughtfully packed were locked inside, and I left the lights on. Initial efforts resulted in me breaking the door handle off, but not budging the lock one micron. I was almost to the point of breaking a window, when it occurred to me that I would be buying doors, so why not just take the direct route. A walk around the truck brought me to the tow hitch, which to my good fortune is a Dixon-Bates that has a removable pin, and to my further good luck was not so rusty that I couldn't free it. A couple minutes later I was back on the road, with a minor scar in the door skin...

The only other issue on the drive home was discovering that the "P" gasket was leaking and peeing water down the side of the engine. I had to stop a couple times to fill the coolant tank, but that just gave me a chance to empty my fluid reservoir. The 300Tdi ran strong and "smooth" all the way home, over 450 miles.

I've been in mad parts gathering mode. I have a timing belt kit and a bunch of gaskets on order, I'm going to do the whole front of the engine. I found a nice 1.2 ratio LT230 to replace the stock 1.4 ratio box. Actually I bought a complete LT77 trans and the t-case for the equivalent of a whopping $100. The LT77 I can sell on for at least $75, and I can sell my 1.4 ratio case for another $75, so I actually made money on the 1.2 case. I found a set of 110 sliding back windows for $120. I have a line on some nice sliders for about $150. The biggest expense is the doors. Best I could find was a set of 3 (I only have three, it's a van body) for $750. They are complete, with windows, door cards, hinges, even the back wiper.

The '84 frame is in decent shape, so the rear cross member will come from there. I think I'm going to have to replace most of the brake parts, and the '84 is no help there because it has drums on the back and solid front discs, and the '95 is disc all around with vented fronts.

One nice find was a set of Mudstuff Oops, Exmoor Trim seat rails on eBay for about half retail. They lift the driver's seat about 1.5 inches and provide some tilt adjustment, which makes an amazing difference in the comfort of the driving position.

I sprung for a little bling, and bought an LED rear fog lamp and LED license plate lamp. I also whipped up a TonyTech 12v halogen backup light like the one I put in Thirsty the RRC.

As I spend more time poking around the truck, the happier I get. Defenders are so elegantly simple. All the body panels are just flat or folded aluminum or steel. The few curves are simple and generally don't affect functional areas like the load bay or seat box. If you want a different part, you can make it with simple tools. Most of the body is held together with rivets, so changes or replacements take no more skill than required to drill holes and pop rivets. Even I can do that!

The guy I bought the '84 from called me a couple days ago and asked if he could buy back the NATO military lights that were in the tub. He thought he had pulled them, but had not. Of course I didn't sell them back, I just pulled them and sent them to him. I received this email today:

"Tony
Thank you very much for that. The lights were from a military Bedford MK 4x4 truck that me and some people used to do an aid run out to Bosnia 15yrs back, they have a sentimental value.

I fitted up the pick-up last week and she's off for an MOT next week. A lot of the parts used on her are from various vehicles from my past so she already has quite a soul.

If you need any parts/advice for your re-build, don't hesitate to contact me and when she's done, and in the states I'd love a picture!. I covered over 250,000 miles in her, 5 trips to Africa, most countries in Europe and all over the UK, that old Defender has a very special place in my heart.
Once again, many thanks.
Regards
David"

The Overlanding community is a great place!

Pics of the red truck added to picasa -- picasaweb.google.com/velocewest/110#

Also, I've been pondering colors. The '84 is Marine Blue, and I like that. With a white top it's a classic LR color combo. But I was looking at Jason's Taco build thread, and the red/black combo is compelling. I've never been much for red, and a 110 is a bloody lot of real estate. Still, now I'm thinking black hood, , black sliders, black sills (bedliner coated), and tint on the sliding side windows will break up the red quit a bit.

The other color I'm tempted by is NATO sand, in a flat finish. Again with some black accents.

Did a little work yesterday -- spent about 3 hours replacing the drop arm ball joint. The rubber boot was gone, so it was in dire condition.

Most of the joint came out easy enough, after I cut off the crown nut with the angle grinder. But the top cup was seized in the drop arm, and was not budging. It finally emerged after liberal use of heat, penetrating oil, and 30 minutes of patient work with a punch and hammer to drive it out.

For the record -- I admit it. I should have spent an extra 1,500 quid and bought a truck that had not spent the last 6 years on a small island in the North Sea. It's not just the visible corrosion that makes things challenging. It's the accumulated effect of salt air on everything. I cleaned the intercooler with a pressure washer and it blasted most of the cooling vanes out, the aluminum is so corroded.

I pulled the tub cappings off the blue hulk, as the ones on the red truck are like steel Swiss cheese. The cover for the rear Salisbury will be traded with the blue hulk. I chopped the rear 1/4 of the frame off the blue hulk and it will get welded in to the red truck. I think I might take the front axle housing from the blue truck and get a sewer cap diff cover welded on, then swap the housings. The diff cover on the red truck is quite thin, I think I could poke a screwdriver through it in a couple spots. I ordered all new brake calipers and discs, I can't believe the PO got the truck through a MOT with the brakes as bad as they are. He must have a relative with a MOT station...

Hopefully today I will get the side slider windows installed. The guy who sold me the windows found a good solid bonnet (hood) in his stash and offered it for £25, so I need to collect that this weekend. My "new" doors should arrive today as well. Last night I picked up a starter, intercooler, turbo, vacuum pump and air con compressor for cheap from a local I connected with on a Landy forum. He had an injection pump, but it was the later ECU controlled one unfortunately. I'm trying to accumulate spares when I see them cheap, so that when I return to the US I have replacements for the critical and expensive diesel parts that are not readily available.

She's coming together! I'll post more pics when something cosmetic happens.

First side window in today!

More pics in the Picasa album.

picasaweb.google.com/velocewest/110#

Took a run today to see the guy who sold me the sliding windows. The original purpose was to pick up a bonnet for the stonking price of £25. By the time I left I had a set of almost new +2" gas shocks including the rear pin top mounts for a whopping £30 all in, a steering guard for £25, and one from the Holy Grail list -- a windscreen with folding bottom clamps. Not sure why I needed this for a 110 hardtop, bit if I ever want to build a soft top, I have a folding windscreen. And hell, it was only £40...

As for the bonnet, it's cool -- it's from a very early Defender, an '83 or '84, and the frame is amazingly clean, no rust at all.

More progress today. Installed the "new" bonnet, and de-installed the headliner and the CD player. The headliner will be replaced with something more durable and with a higher insulation value, and the CD player is being moved, either to a cubby box or in the Mudstuff dash panel for which I lust.

Also took out the instrument panel to clean it up. While at it, I installed LED lights for gauge illumination. I love 12v LEDs, so much improvement for next to no money, and it's nice being able to see the instruments at night. Also had to fix my headlight switch -- it decided to break Saturday, fortunately right after I pulled into the driveway. It was an easy fix, just needed a little solder.

The focus now must be on the items needed to get the MOT done. I have received the new brakes, but I forgot to order pads -- Doh! Also, I need to order a windscreen seal. Those two jobs and getting the rear of the frame cut off and replaced and Smokey will be ready for the MOT.

A few more pics in the album picasaweb.google.com/velocewest/110#

Did a little more today. Swapped the rear arms from the blue truck to the red truck, as these have urethane bushings. Also installed the new rear shock top mounts and the +2" shocks on the rear. I'm still pondering front spring options, so I'm holding off on the front shocks for now.

Two more projects ticked off the list (maybe three depending on how you count). I got the new seal on the windscreen and got it in the frame. Had to go pick up some thicker cord to pull the seal through the frame. Unbolted the top, and then replaced the windshield/frame and the tub capping.

I found a steel mesh grill and a pair of Series 3 headlight trims. I like how it looks, more like the early V8 Series 3 trucks. I've about settled on painting the truck NATO sand, the matte style used by the factory on the new Puma Defenders. I saw a DoKa painted with it on my Solihull tour, and it still appeals to me. I'll probably do all the trim in black.

The big action today was buying a galvanized chassis. I found one for a very good price on the LRO forum. It turns out the seller is liquidating a bunch of Defender parts that were his brothers. The brother was killed in a road accident a couple months ago, driving his LPG-fueled V8 110. All the money made selling off the trucks and parts is being put into a trust for the two children. I was vacillating on buying the chassis, but when I heard the story I had o do it. It's a nice setup, rolling on 24 spline axles with polybushes, 2 inch lift springs and new shocks. I'll swap my rear Salisbury axle and sell the rear 24 spline.

The chassis swap will be a big project. I may pay to have someone do the heavy lifting, because I don't have all the tools here I had in the US -- heavy duty jack, engine hoist, etc...

More pics on Picasa picasaweb.google.com/velocewest/110#

More "progress"... A mate of a mate was supposed to come over Sunday morning to do the welding to the frame needed to get through MOT, so on Saturday I fired up the angle grinder to cut off the bad and make way for the good. As is often the way with these things, the worms got out of the can...

Not a big surprise, but I found more rust. So instead of replacing the just the last foot or so of frame and the rear cross member, it's also going to be necessary to replace the cross member that holds up the front of the fuel tank. Again the blue hulk comes to the rescue.

I suppose some are wondering "didn't you buy a galvanized frame? Why are you fixing the rusty one?" Well, that's a good question. The answer is, swapping frames -- or more correctly, moving the body to a new frame, is going to take a while, and I want to sell my BMW and start driving the Landy, so I want to get it through MOT now. And since the blue hulk is providing the parts, all it will cost is the welding, which I'm getting at "mate of a mate" rates.

I also got the driver side door swapped, although I still need to finish installing all the window and lock hardware. I had read that getting the door aligned could be a pain. I held the new door up to the hole, latched it at the back, and bolted up the hinges. Maybe it was beginners luck, but when I was done, it was perfectly aligned. Serendipity!

picasaweb.google.com/velocewest/110#

I've given the logistics of the chassis swap a little thought. I really need to replace the bulkhead, and doing that at the same time as the chassis swap makes sense, but a bulkhead swap is time consuming due to all the wiring, dash, etc. Gotta make a decision there.

Given I lack a deep bench of suitably gullible UK friends to come help me tackle the job, I'll probably hire a shop to do the chassis swap. It's a relatively common project here. lots of shops that promote the service. Although they can do it in a day, it's likely they'll want the truck for a week, so I can car share with my GF for that time. And depending on what happens job-wise, I may pick up a cheap commuter car after the BMW departs.

After doing some forum surfing here on chassis welding and MOT failures, I'm feeling better about the condition of my truck. The UK climate, winter road salt, and total lack of rustproofing by LR mean that rusted out chassis are quite common, as are things like rusted through PS lines, oil cooler lines, brake lines, yadayadayada...

Lately it seems like everything on the truck that I touch either breaks, or requires breaking to effect the final repair.

On Monday I decided to tackle the engine projects -- leaking P gasket, water pump, and timing belt. To simplify my life, I decided to pull the radiator and intercooler to make room to work. I knew my radiator was weak, but once it was out of the truck it became obvious it was knackered. The cooling fins were shedding like a grizzly in the Sahara. Time to order a new radiator. I couldn't ignore the condition of the oil cooler lines, either -- the metal pipes are badly corroded, and the hoses are cracking. No time like the present to deal with that problem, I guess.

I was prepared for some broken bolts when pulling the water pump and front engine casting, and had bought the 3 long bolts that most commonly break. Of course, all of the bolts came out no problem! Only one bolt at the bottom of the casting had a somewhat rounded head, But I was able to hammer an external Torx socket on it and it came right out.

I also bought a new bearing for the serp belt tensioner, as it was shot. Of course, when I tried to remove the bolt that holds the tensioner wheel so I could swap the bearings, the bolt twisted off. And of course, that bolt is not available separately... so I have to order a new tensioner.

While removing the power steering pump, I was faced with the terrible condition of the high pressure lines -- badly rusted pipes, cracked hoses... OK, add them to the order list.

With the casting off the front of the engine, it was easy to see how bad the P gasket was leaking. It was also easy to see that the core plug in the front of the block was leaking too -- and I didn't have a new core plug. Another item on the order list.

I have a 27mm air impact socket for the crank hub bolt. But I don't have a compressor and impact wrench here, and I also didn't get to the UK with my long 1/2" breaker bar, so getting the crank hub off to do the timing belt is not happening. Add a breaker bar to the "buy it now" list.

Building on my success at the front of the truck, Wednesday I started on the rear brakes. Step 1, jack up truck and remove wheel. OK, so far, so good. Step 2, remove brake pipe. Step 2.5, twist brake pipe off immediately upon turning pipe fitting. Step 3, curse in several languages for maximum effect.

With the brake pipe out of the way, time to move on to the caliper. It's held on by two 12 point head bolts. The bottom one goes about 2 turns and then the head rounds off. The top one is too close to the spring to get a socket on, and won't budge with a box end. OK, I'm going to have to order new bolts anyway, so it's angle grinder time. Bottom bolt head off in seconds. Top bolt head... cannot be reached. Bugger. Well, I am replacing the calipers, making the old ones are surplus to requirements, so -- yep, I cut the caliper in half.

I was then able to remove the hub and axle, and get access to the bolts that hold the caliper mount bracket. With the caliper and bracket off the axle, I could cut off the second bolt. I could also see that whoever put the calipers on used RED LOCTITE (the kind that must be heated to remove) on the bolts. More multilingual cursing. I had to bolt the bracket to the axle, heat the bolt remnants with a torch and use a PIPE WRENCH to get them out. If I ever meet the guy who did the work, I hope to apply a torch and a pipe wrench to his nuts...

On to the discs. Those are bolted to the hubs with five 12 point bolts with the popular 14 mm head. I have a 13 mm 1/2" drive 12 point socket, and a 15 mm 1/2" drive 12 point socket. I do not have the needful in 14 mm.

Thursday morning off to gather parts and tools. Of course, the store that had the 12 point socket I needed didn't have brake line or fittings, so I had to go across town to another store for that. Back home, I get the hub wedged into a spot on the blue hulk where I can get some leverage on the disc mounting bolts, and... I create several hemorrhoids and get a good start on a hernia, but the bolts don't budge. I get the impact driver and wield a 5 lb sledge. The bolts don't budge. More cursing, apply torch, more impact banging -- no budgie.

Of course the angle grinder won't fit inside the disc to cut the bolts. I imagine the solution will be to drill the heads off. I may resort to taking the hubs to a machine shop and having them drill out the bolts, as all I have is a battery powered drill. It could take me a week.

I'll skip the saga of the brake line repair, it barely ranks in comparison.

OK, project fatigue shrugged off, and I am making progress. The front of the engine is back together, I just need to swap in the new oil cooler lines and PS lines and I can button it up. New radiator is mounted with the intercooler in the frame and waiting.

The big progress -- the rear frame welding is done.

More pics on Picasa picasaweb.google.com/velocewest/110#

Also, the red truck is now officially a 1984 -- the identity swap is complete, and the last few remaining bits of the blue hulk have departed for the scrapyard. Bon Voyage...

I've got the rear fuel tank ready to go in -- another save by the blue hulk, as the fuel level sender mount on the red truck tank was rusted away to nothing. All the rear lights are back in and working. I still haven't finished the rear brakes...

From this...

To this...

...in 137 easy steps!

In the last post I had managed to get the old brakes sort of off, but was dead ended by the bolts holding the discs to the hubs. I had a moment of inspiration over the weekend -- I bolted the hub to the tire and wheel, and voila! I could get the needed leverage to remove the bolts. From there things went, well -- pretty much like they have all the way through. The next task was installing new brake pipes, and what looked like the job of an hour ended up taking the better part of two days. The culprit is my cheap pipe flaring tool. It made about 4 good flares, then the head got so loose it will no longer press straight into the pipe, so it keeps splitting the flares. I had to make a new line to run from the master cylinder to the rear axle, and it took me so many tries to get a usable female flare that I am now going to have to splice another foot of line on the end... I did manage to get the lines from the axle "T" to the brakes done and install the new braided steel soft line.

I also discovered that my left side axle and flange are el crapola. The flange is so worn I'm amazed it lasted the trip home from Aberdeen. Fortunately new axles and flanges are pretty cheap, so I'm replacing both sides.

More pics in Picasa...

The mechanical repairs to the rear of the truck are complete for now --

frame ends and cross members replaced
fuel tank swap
new filler and hoses
all new brakes including lines
refurb'd diff cover and new gasket
axle vent pipe cleaned
wheel bearings cleaned and fresh grease
new half shafts and drive flanges
fresh Castrol 80/90

I still need to bleed the brakes, hopefully today. I failed to get pictures while installing the new shafts and flanges, but it's not much anyway -- slip flange on half shaft, install clip ring, slide half shaft into axle, install 5 bolts, repeat on other side. Takes about 10 minutes even working slowly. Here's what it looks like now:

Since the fuel tank was in and I had a couple gallons of diesel, I tried to start the engine on Saturday -- and success! I thought I might have to prime the system as the lines had been disconnected for a month, but it started right up. I bled the power steering, and am working on the cooling. Everything is good except the heater, it's still full of air. I need to pull a hose and pour some coolant into the core to push the air out. Defender heaters are notoriously weak, but right now I have nothing but "ambient" -- and ambient is bloody cold!

The remaining work before MOT and tax is to get the galvy frame home and swap the front axle. I decided it was not worth making repairs on the current axle when I have a very nice, clean, not rusty front axle I can install. Plus I need the shock towers off the galvy frame, as the ones on the truck are (wait for it...) RUSTY !

When I thought I was going to fix the current axle, I bought all the seals and gaskets to refurb the swivel balls. I'll install those bits on the "new" axle, along with the new vented front brakes and extended SS lines. The galvy frame has 2" lift springs. Putting those on the front of the truck should make it level again, as it is a "commercial", so came with heavy duty rear springs that are a 2" lift from the factory. Right now it has a '69 Chevelle vibe going, just needs some fat Mickey Thompson cheaters on the back...

I'm looking forward to this becoming a "rolling resto" project, and actually getting to put some miles on the truck. I've started drawing up some ideas for laying out the rear cabin. I'm leaning toward having sleeping space inside rather that getting a tent right now. I want at least one rear seat, but it could be removed for camping trips. With the side lockers I have a space equivalent to 4 gerry cans, which will hold a lot of gear, and keep the heavy stuff low for better a CoG. A roof rack or possibly just a Thule box on the roof would provide storage for light things like clothing and folding camp furniture so the interior can remain uncluttered. The space between the wheel wells is 36" by 76" by 9" -- again, a lot of space. I think I'll do a 3'x3' drawer at the back and a top opening box up front. Then a sleeping platform on top, the full width of the interior. But where to mount the Engel?

I was talking to a guy from Nigeria last night, he was giving me some advice on traveling in Africa. The idea of driving to Cape Town is really beginning to tick over in my head. It could be done round trip in 4-5 weeks, going down the relatively safe west coast.

One mod I was absolutely certain I wanted was an X-Brake disc brake conversion to replace the factory drum parking brake. The drum is HUGE and heavy, and rotating weight is not a good thing for drivetrain longevity. Looking at the X-Engineering website, I discovered they have created a version of the X-Brake that an be installed on trucks with a PTO on the transfer case. As this would allow me to install an underdrive in the future, and the price is the same as the standard X-Brake, I ordered the PTO version.

It's a very nice piece of kit, clearly well made and durable. The question in my mind as I head out to the garage is, "What ugly surprises will this job reveal?"

Well, in a word, none. The biggest roadblock I hit was when I went to attach the brake cable, and it came up about an inch short. A quik run through the installation instructions revealed that I could adjust the resting position of the arm on the caliper, which took all of 5 minutes, and presto!

The pictures tell the story...

I've added more pictures to the Picasa album, for the terminally bored...

I had to replace the headlamp buckets (big surprise -- rusted, couldn't be adjusted...). While I was at it I decided to upgrade the wiring to get more juice to them, and get set up for some auxiliary lights in the future.

According to the VOM the stock wiring was delivering about 11.5 volts to the lamps. To improve that, I rigged up a little "hot box"...

It's not a great picture, but what you see is two 30 amp dual output relays, and two waterproof blade fuse holders. The nice fat supply wire comes right off the alternator and goes in the bottom, splitting to the fused links. One link supplies the two relays for the headlamps (dip and main beam circuits), and the other is for future aux lights. The signal feed comes from the factory wiring for the left headlamp. The box is an ABS project box from Maplin (UK Radio Shack). It's not waterproof, but close enough. The wiring is sized to support the amp load of 80/100 watt H4 bulbs (although I won't run that for road lamps) and a pair of 100 watt aux lamps.

Now I have 14.1 volts at the lamp; should do the trick.

Picasa album

The law of unintended consequences bites me...

Yesterday I refurbished one of the sliding side windows. The window channel (felt lined rubber) is NLA from LR, so I bought some from a UK-based car restoration supplier based on a recommendation from 90-110 Owners Club forum. The job is pretty straightforward, you just pull the screws, separate the frame of the window, replace the bits you want and put it back together.

Two small glitches -- the first time I reassembled, I had the sliding piece of glass in backwards -- latch on the outside. Doh!

The other thing is, although now the window is rattle- and leak-free, it's also effectively become a fixed glass window. The channel I bought must be thicker than the original, as it is next to impossible to move the glass. It's definitely more secure...

It's been a slow couple of weeks in 110 land. I finished sorting the headlamp rewire, and then had to trace a couple of other electrical glitches. The initial problem showed up after the headlamp rewire. When I moved the light switch to the first position (side lights, or in US vernacular, "parking lights"), my dip (low) beams would come on, when only the side lights should have. Then when I moved the switch to position 2, I would lose the dip beam, but had main (high) beam.

A little research on teh internets suggested the problem was in the UK-only "Dim/Dip" circuit. This is a "feature" kind of like DRL's, where the headlamps are always on if the ignition is on. It was used in the UK for a few years from the late 80's until mid-90's when some issue with aligning EU vehicle standards killed it.

In the UK version, as far as I can understand, the headlamps would be on at about 15% power when the engine is on and the light switch is "off". In position one, the sidelights are on and the dim headlamps. In position 2, the headlamps are on full power, the side lights remain on, and the dip or main beam switch controls the headlamp output.

The solution, since Dim/Dip is no longer required, is to end run the Dim/Dip relay. This involves the simple task of cutting two wires off the relay plug and splicing them. Worked a treat, as they say.

The other issue was with the rear number plate lamp and the rear fog lamp. With the side lights on, but the fog lamp off, the fog lamp would glow slightly and the number plate lamp output looked like about 40% of normal. Turning on the fog lamp would give full fog lamp function and no number plate lamp. I had checked the connections to the fog lamp switch, and found that with the side lights on, the wire that feeds the fog lamp was delivering about 5 volts at the switch. It should only be energized by the fog lamp switch.

To me, this says "ground fault", or in the language of my ancestral home, "earthing problem". I was a bit concerned, because when I replaced the back of the frame, the branch of the wiring harness that feeds the left rear of the truck had been cut off, and I repaired this by soldering all 8 or so wires back together. This was easy with the harness out of the frame; not so much now, so I was hoping I hadn't bungled the job.

To start, I pulled the cover from the inside rear corner of the truck to get at the wires to the left side rear lamps. I have some wiring diagrams (both LR and Haynes), but since 1995 was a year with a lot of electrical changes, I've found the diagrams to be less than useful. Still, the wiring colors for the rear tail/stop lamps matched, even though the number plate lamp wires didn't. According to the diagram, the tail light feed was supposed to branch to the number plate lamp, both using the same color wire. In my truck, the number plate light has it's own supply wire. The ground/earth wires are not clearly noted, the diagram shows an individual wire and ground symbol for each lamp.

I confirmed that I had the feed wire to the number plate lamp plugged in correct by checking the feed with my VOM. Then I noticed that the wire I had connected to the ground side of the lamp was -- the same color as the wire that feeds the fog lamp. Hmmm... A quick check with the VOM confirmed that it WAS a fog lamp feed. Although the UK fog lamp is on the right side, the wiring harness has a feed wire to both sides, so the same harness can serve right- and left-hand drive trucks. A bit more ogling of the wires revealed that the ground wire connection for the tail lamp had a double bullet connector. Sure enough, plugging the number plate ground wire in to it solved the problem. Learn from my laziness, kids -- when you disconnect wires, label them.

I think I mentioned installing the rear door in an earlier blog entry. I've not touched it since, so it still had only the lower two hinges and no window.

The new top hinge I bought would not line up to the holes on the door and the truck shell, no matter what I tried. As it is an aftermarket hinge, it doesn't have the replaceable hinge pin like an OEM hinge. I had bought the new hinges because the hinge pins in my originals were seized and I was having little luck getting them out.

I decided to persevere. I had cut the hinge pins in half with the angle grinder and had attempted to drive the pins out with a hammer and drift -- no love. This time I went at the brass hinge ball remnants with a drill. This quickly got the brass out, but left the steel pin. So, more drilling, and eventually success. I cleaned up the hinge a bit with a flap disc, and now with the ability to leave the hinge loose so the halves can be aligned to the holes, it bolted right up.

I still need to finish the window install, maybe today. Or maybe when it gets warmer... No, that would be June.

Ticked a couple more jobs off the list. Finally got the glass installed in the back door. Not a big or difficult job, just hard to push myself out into the sub-freezing weather the last couple weeks. I still need to mount the wiper and run the defroster wiring. This requires some hole drilling, as the new safari door comes with no holes other than for top and bottom hinge bolts, allowing it to be used for anything from a Series II to a Defender TD5.

I also fixed the xfer box shift linkage. I found it wasn't working on my journey home from Aberdeen. The lock/free linkage was OK, but when I was installing the X-Brake I discovered the high/low linkage was broken. Of course, given the lack of use and the corrosive environment this truck lived in, the lever on the xfer box was frozen in high range -- that might even have been the cause of the broken linkage.

The good news is that on a Defender the top of the xfer box can be accessed by removing the center plate from the seatbox. I was able to do the entire fix without getting under the truck. The other good news is that I had the linkage part I needed on the shifter from the Disco xfer box I bought. The lever arm was well seized in the cover, but with a bit of hammer persuasion it came free. Fortunately most of the corrosion was on the outside around the hole where the shaft comes out of the cover. good ol' galvanic action, steel lever and cast aluminum cover. Some steel wool and WD-40 put it right, and I coated everything with grease as I reassembled to hold off a repeat performance for a while.

Also, I learned that it's possible to install the high/low lever cover with the lever in the wrong position. That only cost me about 10 minutes to r&r the cover to put it in the RIGHT position. For all my effort, I was rewarded with a xfer box that shifts like new, and a nice tight shifter linkage.

While I was in the neighborhood, I did some work on the X-Brake adjustment. The brake lever was pulling all the way to the stop without the brake clamping securely. This would be a definite MOT fail. In looking at the old cable on the original brake, I noticed it has an adjuster nut on the brake lever end as well as on the brake end. The new cable does not, so it was moving about an inch into the rubber grommet on the seatbox before it started to move the brake arm.

The adjuster nut on the old cable could not be swapped to the new, because in their infinite wisdom, the LR engineers made it too small to go over the end eyes on the cable. Instead, I found a large washer that would fit the end of the cable housing, and be too big to slip through the opening in the seatbox. This eliminated the cable shifting around. Then I moved the eye on the X-Brake lever arm from the end hole to the middle hole, shortening the distance required to move the brake arm. A bit of adjustment on the cable length and it now pulls up tight well before the brake lever reaches its limit of movement.

I leave Monday for a couple weeks of holiday in Jamaica. I'm thinking about tackling the cam belt today, so the only remaining pre-MOT job when I get home is swapping the front axle.

I've had the dashboard of the truck torn apart since December, so this week I tackled the reassembly. I took it apart because I ordered a dash console and an instrument panel mount from Raptor Engineering. I considered the plastic dash console from MudStuff, but the Raptor is a powder coated steel frame with aluminum panels, built for the long haul, and about the same price. Also, I was planning on ordering the steel instrument panel mount from Raptor, so I saved a bit on shipping.

The original Land Rover instrument panel mount is made from the patented Solihull brittle plastic, and generally survives only one or two episodes of disassembly. The one in my truck was coming to bits. The Raptor replacement is the same price as the OEM plastic -- ordering it was a no brainer.

The instructions for the dash console say "installation should take no more than 20 minutes..." Uh, OK. I spent the better part of two hours, but maybe I'm just slow.

The other job I ticked off was installing a patch panel on the rear load floor. When we did the frame repairs, I cut two holes in the floor to make the welding access better. It's not like I chopped up a pristine tub, the floor had holes corroded in it. I had a nice piece of chequer plate I salvaged from the blue truck just for this reason. Somewhere down the road I want to replace the rear tub, but this fix will suffice until my finances recover.

More pics at my Picasa page...

I'm getting lazy about pictures, but am getting some work done. As the last pic of the truck shows, I pulled the floors and seatbox. My seatbox was more rust and patches than original material, and in particular the battery box was rotted -- a no-go for MOT. A few months ago I nabbed a good seatbox off eBay for a whopping £10, so I decided it was time to get it installed. I had to do a little cleaning and painting to treat surface rust, but there was nothing of concern.

After I got the original box out and looked at the two side by side, I realized that the box I bought is for a 200TDi, which uses the LT77 transmission. The tunnel cutout is smaller than the one for the 300TDi/TD5. The flange for the transmission cover is spot welded to the box, but it's aluminum. I drilled out the spot welds and popped it off. I then used the flange as a pattern to trim the replacement seatbox. Lacking a spot welder, or the desire to weld aluminum, I used a high strength construction adhesive and a few rivets to attach the flange to my replacement seatbox.

I also discovered the spacing of the top panels on the 200TDi seatbox is different, and I did not get the covers with the box I bought. More spot weld drilling, and more adhesive and rivets.

In the middle of the seatbox project (Monday), the guy who sold me my galvanized chassis called to say he could deliver on Tuesday. I spent a few hours unloading and reloading the garage to make room. Serendipity happened when a junk collector stopped at the house asking for scrap metal -- I unloaded all of the body panels I had been waiting to take to the recycle depot, as well as an old fuel tank and a pair of wasted front brake rotors.

With the chassis in the garage, I set about getting the front axle on the galvy chassis prepared to go on my truck for MOT (the current front axle has almost rusted through the diff cover and the swivels and brakes are shot). I have all new brakes, new swivel seals, new steering arms, TRE's and a steering damper.

I pulled the long side first. Turns out the axle on the galvy chassis is a 10 spline, the one on the truck is a 24. I'll swap the halfs and 3rd later, for now I want the job done ASAP and to get my MOT and get the truck legally on the road.

Everything came apart OK, this axle is in good condition. The long side swivel had a little pitting at left turn lock, but not enough to fail MOT and not enough to cause any significant leaking in regular use. Both CV's are in good condition, and the axle splines and the drive flange are good. It's back together now with new 110 vented brakes, with one small snag -- the brake pad pins I bought are the ones for solid rotor brakes. I think the store will exchange, as I told them what I needed, it was their mistake.

Now the challenge is to figure out how to execute the axle swap. I don't have a wide selection of jack stands and jacks. I may have to borrow some kit from friends to pull this off, as I need to get the front of the 110 securely off the ground so I can wheel out the old axle and wheel in the the new. One thing I can do is pull the shocks and springs off both axles before the swap so the truck doesn't need to be up as far during.

I'll try to get some pics during the process, since it's a bit more exciting than looking at pictures of brakes. If that's your kink, I'll send you my Haynes manual...

More progress -- seatbox back in!

The RRC parking brake handle is brilliant -- no more brake handle poking me in the leg, and it actually made adjusting the X-Brake easier. Next I need to carpet the box, and sort a cover for the brake handle. The original 110 cover sort of works, but it's asymmetric to fit the ofset mount of the 110 brake handle. I'm hoping to make a trip to a "breaker" (junkyard) to see what I might be able to repurpose from a different car.

All the pics on my Picasa page...

I've been very bad about taking pictures lately. I've finished the seatbox replacement and put the interior back in, but didn't really take any progress shots, just the finished product.

I also pulled the front axle. Now I'm waiting on the replacement shock turrets.

That's about it in the last few weeks.

Edit:

I forgot to add, I've made the color decision. Smokey will be Marine Blue with a white top, same as when he rolled out of Solihull. He'll look a bit like this, except with black flares, lift handle doors and a face like a Stage 1 V8, similar to the second picture. Sort of a "retro-resto".

I'm still waiting for the mate of a mate to be available to do the welding on the front outriggers, so the axle is still off. In the mean time I have been knocking away at a few little projects, and one big one. I replaced the oil drain line for the turbo, and the coolant lines that run from the radiator to the header tank. I finally installed the right side headlamp panel to replace the dented one -- that was an exercise in patience and dexterity I almost failed...

I've been slowly doing the prep to the body for painting, and yesterday I took the big first step -- I painted the roof.

Before:

And after!

I am following the time honored practice (here in the UK at least) of brush painting, or more exactly, brush and roller painting. I ordered the paint in a brand called Tekaloid, which is a well regarded maker of carriage and commercial paint that is recommended by one of the resident experts. The top is Ivory white, LRC 354, and the rest of the body will be Marine blue, LRC 006. The process is easy but likely to be a bit time consuming. There's no way to apply the paint perfectly, so final finishing will involve wet sanding and polishing. Fortunately the 110 is a big box, so the sanding process is low skill -- right up my alley!

Northwest Overlanding

110 inches of madness...