New project start-up

[mikeslandrover]

Here's a few pics of my latest project.


I'm using it as a donor for station wagon body parts......
My 110 is going to become a station wagon :)


Why not just use that one I hear you ask....
Shot engine... Turbo diesel anyway :(
Shot gearbox
Shot front axle
Someone has made off with the front doors :eek:
Dash and instruments are trashed

[JSBriggs]

Nice little 'luv shack' you have there. Looks like a good donor, but it also looks like the frame is pretty rusty. So what are you plans for the finished truck?

-Jeff

[evilfij]

Mail me the gearbox, tunnel cover, front radiator support panel, and inner fenders come awn . . . please I need my own parts 110 but they do not make them cheap here.

Ron

[JBurt]

You UK guys have it so nice...all those "Parts Vehicles" just laying around over there. I'll trade you some rusty old Jeep parts for some rusty old Defender parts. :)

[mikeslandrover]

I'm going to build a 5 door but not with windows behind the second row of doors.
Not quite sure of the seating configuration at he moment, one for the driver and passenger up front and possibly one or two seats in the second row, nothing in the back in the way of seats.
There was some scary alloy corrosion affecting the heal boards for the second row of seats. the alloy has rotted away completely where it's bolted to the chssis :(
Didn't see that when I agreed a price for the back body. :angry (Sadly I don't own the whole truck but if there was enough interest in parts...........)
I'm going to continue removing the rear lower body tomorrow and will hopefully trailer the parts home - every thing from the B posts back :cool:

Follow-up Post:

Here's a few shots of work in progress. Several wheelbarrows of junk had to be cleared out first :eek:

[mikeslandrover]

Things have gone rather slowly, almost every nut & bolt have seized and have to be chisseled/ ground or sheared off depending on the accessability. There are some MAJOR rust traps under the ststion wagon body - far worse than a pick-up or van bodied Landrover, and so many bolts.
Finall went home for the night when having removed every nut and bolt in sight the Bpost and cills still wouldn't come free from the rest of the body :angry

I'm now tending to think that they are held in place by the line of pop rivets behind the second row of doors. Anyone got any experience of disassembling a 110 County Station Wagon? :confused
There's going to be a whole lot of parts going to the galvanisers when this lot is in pieces.
Why did Landrover stop galvanising the body cappings and many other small brackets that hold it all together. :(
I'll be having a further crack it on Saturday.......

[rustydefender]

How old is your donor? What engine are you planning on using?

[mikeslandrover]

Mostly I'll be using my 200Tdi truck - 1984 vintage, it's the SW body that's going on. The Donor truck is late 1980's and seems far rustier than my 110!

Follow-up Post:

I may fit a new chassis depending what I find when I take the hard top body off of my 110.

[evilfij]

If you want to remove the sill/b-post yes you have to drill out the rivits.

Odds are the "t-pieces" (which is what I call the b-pillar/sill integral unit) are rusted badly. Crap pools on the bottom of the b-pillar and it rots

I would leave them on the body and take it off as one unit but this can be ackward.

also the little aluminium sail panels tend to corrode from touching the inside of the t-peices

[mikeslandrover]

The B post & sills don't seem to be too bad, they're going to have to come off so that it will fit safely in my trailer.
The main corrosion seems to have affected the alloy heal boards for the second row of seats. The steel brackets that the heal board bolt to are fine but the alloy around the bracket for about an inch has turned to white powder :( I suppose its the sacrificial anode principle :angry I'll be doing some aluminium welding when I get all the bits home. The steel channel section that runs across the chassis below the second row of seats is toast as well and there's more alloy corrosion in the floor further back. :eek:
This is one uncared for donor vehicle.
I had briefly considered buying tthe whole thing but the more I see the more I'm glad I didn't.

Follow-up Post:

So what are you plans for the finished truck?

-Jeff
I'm going to build a 110 Satation Wagon but far fewer seats and no rear windows at the sides. It's going to be my expedition truck. During last summer's expedition to Morocco many plans were discussed for the perfect expedition 110 (usually whilst drinking single malt...) those plans that I can remember I'm putting into practice. (I just knew finishing the bottle was a bad idea)
The main reason for 5 doors is accessability of equipment and camping gear. I seemed to spend the entire holiday loading, unloading and climbing into the deepest recesses of the Landrover to extract that essential item that was inexplicably never to hand or where I thought I'd left it. 5 doors will make setting up camp quicker & we won't be getting in eachothers way all the time.

Follow-up Post:

Camp Sahara where plans were hatched....

[mikeslandrover]

Finally got it all disassembled, well the parts I wanted anyway. Resorted to the 'sparkly spanner' almost exclusively today, noisy but gets the job done..
Here's a few more pics of the load of junk that now clutters up the garage and drive :)

Follow-up Post:


Odds are the "t-pieces" (which is what I call the b-pillar/sill integral unit) are rusted badly. Crap pools on the bottom of the b-pillar and it rots

They're the only really sound parts. The rear tub has some very scary corrosion. somewhat worse than I'd thought on initial inspection. Looks like I'll have to disassemble quite a bit of the rear tub and galvanise the steel bits and patch up the alloy bits.
Where galvanised steel has been in contact with the alli there isn't a problem but where steel contacts the alli then holes have appeared :(
So it's a big thank you to the highways department for spreading so much salt about in the winter with further thanks to previous owners for never bothering to wash the muck off :clap

[mikeslandrover]

Chris/Mike .
this'll need moving to the major rebuilds department...

Checked out the underside of the 110 yesterday before submitting it for it's Mot test and the progmosis wasn't good - a snowball's chance in a hot and firey place's likelyhood of passing - terminal chassis rot in the rear driver's side chassis from the rear radius arm back to the spring hanger. I could weld it up but on the whole I wouldn't trust it for another long desert trip, the chassis takes a real hammering on the Moroccan pistes.

So the long and short of it is ... new galvanised chassis please :eek:

Step 1 has got to be to create some space in my garage!!!! :crazy

[mikeslandrover]

Bought a new part for the rebuild yesterday :)

It was a bit of a task getting it off the trailer single handed :eek:

[TDI Guy]

Sexy.....

[mikeslandrover]

What I really need now is a pair of axles to stick under the new chassis so they're both rolling while I swap big lumps like the engine and transmission over :rolleyes

[mikeslandrover]

What I really need now is a pair of axles to stick under the new chassis so they're both rolling while I swap big lumps like the engine and transmission over :rolleyes

Remembered a 90 axle was laying about in the back of the garage :) took a bit of dragging out :eek:
No A frame or trailing arms... darn it...blocks of wood and ratchet straps :) that fixed it. Then AJS donated a scrap Salisbury to go under the front. OK, so it's a rear axle but now the new chassis can roll back and forward. :) :cool: :)

[mikeslandrover]

The rebuild progresses apace......about the speed the N.atlantic is widening :(
But it was Old Sodbury Sort Out yesterday and some very fine parts were unearthed. 3xdefender seats(in need of slight refurbishment) and a pair of second row alloy door tops for a station wagon :) :cool: and they are rare as hen's teeth & a door bottom to go with it. Exmoor Trim were there and for £60 I got two seatback foams and a seat back cover :)
I've a week off now so I'm hoping for some good weather so I can really get stuck in.

[TDI Guy]

Looks good Mike..

[mikeslandrover]

Thanks, removed the front pannel, rad & intercooler today. I'll be adding a new radiator to the shopping list :( all the cooling fins have fallen off :eek:

[mikeslandrover]

Really got cracking today. Dragged the engine from the old chassis, not without a fight - the lifting gantry wasn't high enough - I had to let the tyres down to alow the engine to clear the front of the chassis :eek: All the rest went well, all the holes in the enw chassis were in the right place, I aligned the new clutch correctly and the gearbox slipped straight on, just as well really as I forgot to torque up the clutch cover bolts so if had to slip straight off again :( happily I hadn't done up all the nuts that hold the two together :)
Bulkhead is next but it's in the same state as the old chassis - a bit holey, tin worms have got in and done their worst.....some sort of grit blasting, a spot of welding & fabrication and then a visit to the galvanisers.

[TDI Guy]

You just have to love the new galv. chassis to start with.. Lookin' great Mike.

[mikeslandrover]

Thanks Randy. Progress is almost non-existant since I posted those pics. I moved a bit of exhaust nearer the chassis and that's it. :( the leaves are mostly off the trees now!!! :rolleyes

[mikeslandrover]

Well the exhaust sustem is on :rolleyes . You'd think it would just bolt straight on(it came straight off) but some fiddling about was required to prevent it fouling the odd chassis bracket that's present on the new chassis but not the old :confused
The side tank is on :) as are both prop shafts.
Rear tank, fuel plumbimg and transfer pump for the aux. side mounted tank are next on the list to be stripped off, cleaned up and refitted.
I'll post a few more pics when that's done

[mikeslandrover]

Removed the front axle from the old 110 and refitted it to the new chassis this afternoon. Amazing how much you can get done with no help from an 18 month boy :)
Both fuel tanks are also fitted and the steering box is all bolted up too :)

[TDI Guy]

Nice... I love it..

[mikeslandrover]

Thanks, I looked back at the first post... 2004 :eek: scary how time flies

[mikeslandrover]

More progress:
Dragged the rear axle out from uder the old chassis and finished mounting it today :)
It's a heavy old lump :eek:
Got the bulkhead, B posts & sills and a crossmember back from the galvanisers. They're animals, managed to bend the rain channel that sits under the bonnet :( I beat it more or less straight :rolleyes
The bulkhead buckled a bit :eek: :eek: The large bolts that mount it to the chassis wouldn't line up. They were about 10mm out, a good deal of levering with a length of 4x2 sorted that out and so the bulkhead is on too. still need to drill & tap various holes in the bulkhead but it's starting to look a bit more like a landrover now. Here's some pics:

[TDI Guy]

Nice.. My last bulkhead was droped on the foot well and crushed in. I had to beat it back into shape with a body hammer and a few other things.. Loooks good now though..

[mikeslandrover]

Nice.. My last bulkhead was droped on the foot well and crushed in. I had to beat it back into shape with a body hammer and a few other things.. Loooks good now though..
Was that the series coiler, I'd never have known :cool:

[mikeslandrover]

Two steps foward and one back :(
Both axles are on properly but the auxiliary tank under the driver's side is going to go. It protrudes beyond the toe pannel for the second row seats and will just delay the build too much, filling the aux tank was going to take a bit of lateral thinking too :confused so the long and short of it is it's going to have to go no more 900 mile runs between fill ups :(

[brn24whl]

For a auxil. tank look at these guys we carry there stuff here in the US. www.safari-equip.co.uk

Eric

[mikeslandrover]

Thanks for the thought, might well go on the rear wing route for the extra fuel capacity.
I was thinking of jerry cans in some acks accessable through the second row doors. :)

[kevb]

looking good Mike, love the galvanising. Out of interest what was the cost of getting the bulkhead galvanised and how much preparation did you have to do to it beforehand?
Kevin

[mikeslandrover]

Gave the bulkhead a power wash, They told me not to waste time getting it grit blasted because any paint left on in the inside of box sections would need "burning off". Not quite sure what burning off entailed but it wasn't putting it of a large bonfire or attacking it with some sort of blow lamp :eek:
I think they threw it all in a large galvanising tank and stripped it off in acid baths untill it was clean and shiny then galvanised it a final time, the sills/B posts have come out particularly well. Cost was around £160 for all four bits, but it went in and out of the tanks several times. Overall I'm pleased with the result & cost. I'll be sending the front damper turrets, spare wheel carrier and all the body cappings to get done too.

[mikeslandrover]

Progress at last (again) Easter saw the bulkhead on, pedals on clutch and brake hydraulics made up bled & working, all the suspension fitted, a fuel pump fitted for the non-existant second tank & the main tank fitted and plumbed in. There then followed a pause while I took stock then fitted all the little plastic clips the dash board screwsinto on the bulkhead, every one had to be filed out after the galvanising made the holes too small for the fittings to fit into :(
The seat box and toe board is on and one of the side frames (it's a station wagon)
It was so long ago (October 2004) that I'm a bit hazy, does the rear body go on them the side frames or is it the other way round? I do remember it was a PITA to disassemble and every bolt had to be ground,cut or sheared off and someone advised me to leave it all as one lump.

So the question is do the side frames go on first or the rear body?

I'll post some pics soon of the progress.

[JimC]

I'm sure its possible to replace the t-pieces without removing the tub, so I would think the tub would go on first...

[mikeslandrover]

Thanks for the input.
I was trying to get one jump ahead and get some parts fitted and out the way. The rear tub isn't ready to go on yet. There are a few holes wgere the alloy has corroded on contact with the steel also I've got to find out if new galvanised capings are still available over here and if so would be cheaper to blast and galvanise the rusty painted offerings that came with the rear tub or buy new. So I'll just have to get on with the wiring loom. It still needs stripping out of the old 110. Hopefully it will come out Ok because replacements from Autosparks cost £300.00 + tax :eek:
Does the loom go in first followed by the dash, the other way round or do they both go in togehter?

[JimC]

Loom first, then dash. I have one of the looms that runs through a central hole instead of a newer on that runs through the two oblong holes. I ran the loom first, then installed the lower dashto support everything and kept building from there.

[mikeslandrover]

Thanks Jim,
So it's old dash off, loom out, loom in on new truck, fuse box in, dash in on galvanised bulkhead.....
5 minute job :rolleyes that is if the loom comes out in one piece, that's just bound to happen with 22 year old pvc insulation :(
My loom runs through the central hole too :) does that make it any easier?

[TDI Guy]

Pics... Pics..

[JimC]

I accidentally got an alarm spec Tdi harness before I got my AMR5856, and it ran through the two oval holes. From studying it, I think I would have preferred it, set-up wise. The central hole one is obviously a little simpler, but its annoying for running any additional wires after everything is reassembled.

Randy is right, we need pix...

[mikeslandrover]

I'm going out to the garage right now with the SLR :)

Follow-up Post:

I didn't tidy up before the photo shoot :) :eek:

[JimC]

Looks good - lets see more!

Also, I'll be by to pick it up later this year, please have it done by then :grin

[mikeslandrover]

Looks good - lets see more!

Also, I'll be by to pick it up later this year, please have it done by then :grin

Don't they hae to be over 25 years old? You'll have to store it over here for a couple more years :)

[mikeslandrover]

Well I set to with a vengence, the dash is mostly out and everything back there had a thick layer of Moroccan dust over it.
The steering column was a so"n"so to get in, I shouldn't have put the clutch and brake pedal boxes in first, but I'm trying to take one bit off, clean and refurbish as required and then fit it to the new chassis, it's worked quite well up to now. :angry Had to resort to a big hammer to fit the mounting plate through the hole in the bulkhead :mad and it took a lot of messing about o get the brackets and linkages spaced out correctly. I should have cut my losses and taken the clutch pedal off again, would have been quicker and less stressful.
Anyway here's some pics. It was getting rather dark by the time I stopped :)
The main loom has a melted wire in it :eek: hopefully I'll be able to splice in a new wire, apart from that it's remarkably flexable :cool:
Hopefully I'll be able to get a bit more done today before I forget how it all goes back together, there's rather a lot of screws and wires to replace :rolleyes
Also the wiper mechanism, air vents & controls and washer tubes to sort out too.

Follow-up Post:

Oh and it's taking longer than 5 minutes :(

[JimC]

Cleaning old parts before you put them back on is so time consuming...

[mikeslandrover]

So can supervising a small boy while trying to clean parts :)
He's just a whole bundle of trouble. runnng off with spanners........ :cool:

Follow-up Post:

Mostly today I've been working on the loom (and hunting spanners).
Luckily the burnt wire hadn't toasted anything else in the loom although some melted plastic was on other cables. I cut out the bad section, soldered on some bullit connectors and hopefully that will be that.
Can't see why it fried itself though which is a little worrying :rolleyes
Next is tofinish swappingthe dash then pull the loom to the back of the truck and thread it through the new chassis.

[mikeslandrover]

Following steady building. sorry without the camera the end is near...It had better be 'cause I'm off to Morocco again this August. :)

[130Tdi]

Mike,

You are using regular defender seats in the back ? How are you mounting them- please share- more pictures ?
Whats that "v" shaped bracket @ the inside bottom of your back door for ?

[Treuwer]

Shovel mount. Critical in the sand.

Holy long project, original post in 2004?

[130Tdi]

Cool- I'm loving that shovel mount ! I want one.

[mikeslandrover]

Mike,

You are using regular defender seats in the back ? How are you mounting them- please share- more pictures ?
Whats that "v" shaped bracket @ the inside bottom of your back door for ?

I wanted a lowered seat in the back. The standard seats mean that almost everyone finishes up sitting with their eye level in line with the top of the door or higher. I've mounted the seat at about the same height as the front seats. The wheel box in in the way so it's mounted in-board of that. The down side is that there is only room for 1 defender seat in the back, two are 3-4" too wide to fit between the wheel boxes.
The home made seat box is folded from 1 sheet of 2mm ali. 3" high at the front and 0" high at the back of the seat mounting. I'll snap some more pics at the weekend.
The bracket on the back door is indeed a shovel mount, there's a quick fist to hold the handle of the spade higher up.
The bracket on the floor holds the foot of a high lift jack with another bracket higher up with an M16 captive nut that secures the top of the jack, it's all inside and out of the dust/ grit & reach of light fingered people

Follow-up Post:

Cool- I'm loving that shovel mount ! I want one.
Thanks. It was ever so simple to fabricate. I put the spade in a vice, bent the strip around the end of the shovel blade and folded the ends out a bit, then chopped the ends off at a jaunty angle. Drilled a few holes, popped in some rivets, job done :)

[mikeslandrover]

Here's a couple of pix of the seat box and the bulkhead that I'm putting in behind the second row seats.

[mikeslandrover]

It's up and running - passed the MOT test, taxed, insured, filled the tank=broke.and now there's a fuel strike - no diesel :angry
It drives splendidly and apart from the alternator falling off :eek: no problems at the moment :)

[130Tdi]

Pictures man- pictures !

[mikeslandrover]

Pictures man- pictures !
Yeh, yeh,
Getting ready for the big trip :)
Morocco here I come.
Loading up and hitting the road next Thursday.
What's the best way across Europe?
Calais to Gibraltar :rolleyes
Meeting up with Trailmasters near there and then over the straights to Africa :cool:

[JimC]

Souns like a great trip. Is there a better route than this? Its pretty direct.

[mikeslandrover]

That's pretty much what I was thinking :)
Two days to go :cool:
About 1450 miles from home :thumbs

[diesel_jim]

Souns like a great trip. Is there a better route than this? Its pretty direct.




That's exactly the route my friend took down to compete in the Moroccan outback a couple of months ago, most direct and best roads.

At the most southern tip of Spain is a great little town called Tarifa, my parents have a place there. there are 2-hourly ferry crossings to Tangiers on the fast ferry (about 35minutes), the port is a lot less busy than Algeceras,although do do end up right in african terratory, as opposed to Cueta which is Spanish, sometimes you get some hassle on the Tangiers side, but i honestly don't think it's much... i never had last time i was there, although was foot passenger not in a car.

Tarifa is great too, lots of good places to eat, PM me if you want any pointers!!

your 110 is coming on well too... mine is also now running...still a long way to go though, maybe we can mett sometime? do some lanes? (I'm in Swindon)

Jamie

[mikeslandrover]

Just finishing the las minute packing, hit the road at 06:00 ish tomorrow :cool:
Link up with Trailmasters on the 27th :)
Erg Chebbi beckons :)

[diesel_jim]

Just finishing the las minute packing, hit the road at 06:00 ish tomorrow :cool:
Link up with Trailmasters on the 27th :)
Erg Chebbi beckons :)

Inshalla!! have a good trip.

[mikeslandrover]

Thanks , The trip was excellent. Pitty the transfer box didn't last the duration :eek:

[diesel_jim]

Thanks , The trip was excellent. Pitty the transfer box didn't last the duration :eek:

OH dear, what went wrong?

did it leave you stranded or you manage to suss it?

didn't mean you had to cut the trip short did it?

[mikeslandrover]

Had to replace the front hockey stick bushes as they lasted a week on the corrugations before going west.
Had to swap out the transfer box in Malagar on the way home. Haven't stripped the old one down but the presence of gear teeth in the oil does not bode well for the internals :(
The transfer box lasted the duration of the trip getting noisier and noisier. I swapped it out for a 1:1.211 ratio
from TD5 auto discovery 2, rather a high ratio and a bit slow going up hill but a "grand ride down"
Since replaced the front shocks as all the oil came out when I jacked the front end up, and found that one of the shock turrets (a pattern item) had un-welded itself :( :eek: That was the cause of the mystery knocking noise.

[mikeslandrover]

Two years on and all is well, the paint hasn't stuck too well to the bulkhead and the rest of the paint isn't so shiny anymore:( I think I'll be getting some T wash/ Mordant Solution
http://www.icipaints.co.uk/products/info/dulux_trade_mordant_solution.jsp
Anyone know if it works on older galvanised steel or just fresh stuff?
The transfer box from the discovery is still in and I'm still pleased with the result and (touch wood) nothing else has gone wrong.
Got 35 mpg ( English ) whilst in Wales this summer:):):grin
I've added a second battery and some wiring for an Engle fridge - brilliant piece of kit, and some body modifications will be needed to get the fridge in close to the second row door.

[Jpayne]

Nice build!

Check out this discussion for more info on painting over galvanized stuff. It's towards the end of page 3

http://www.d-90.com/forum/showthread.php?t=26346