Project Land Rover resto - new project and Sandy p25

[richardthestag]

Didnt take many pics of the first manifold but had hundreds of the second

 

the throttle/butterfly shaft on this carb was shagged, I bought a rebuild kit

 

meant removing the various arms, washers and shims from the original. I was NOT being careful with the old shaft here.

 

New stuff comes from http://www.southerncarbs.co.uk/ marvellous chaps

 

float chambers were fairly clean on both, minimal sediment nor old petrol gum

 

this is a choke unit, there is only one on the Range Rover setup

 

 

I gave it an ultrasonic bath then stripped it down, tiny springs and stuff

 

to end up with this

 

all bits cleaned, new parts arrived, time to put it back together. and yes I know booze is a depressant but where would the fun be

 

choke back on

 

obvious I guess but don't paint inside the carb body, just outside it

 

not much to a strommie carb, set the neeedle height, set the float height in the float chamber and make sure the diaphragm is not split. these days used old stock rubber is preferable to some of the new stock shit that is out there!

 

finished

 

 

all wrapped up on the shelf and ready for install. bare ally was protected with a waft of paint lacquer 

 

Next up I need to get those cylinder heads machines and rebuilt, also have all the brake calipers ready for strip and rebuild 

 

But today is getting the sump off the staaaag to find out what caused the sudden drop in oil bastard pressure

[richardthestag]

treated my daily to a new set of boots. Up until now it has been running on 205R16s which have become almost unobtainium and thus expensive.

 

Finally succumbed to the Ollitwat brigade who insist that I must install balloons else my car will explode if it is to venture off road etc

 

Alas no checkaplate, never fackin will be neither

 

Anyway Kwikfit managed to not only price-match the cheapest online without me even asking! but also turn up at my home to fit them too. Job is a good un

 

looking good on Goodyear Wrangler 235/70R16s but need to adjust those steering lock stops a bit 

 

 

Pile of old 205R16s which are going to be a retaining wall behind Barnshite in Devon

 

 

Naturally and because the car is alive/haunted© (Junkman) it chose to reward me yesterday with this!

 

 

Not worked on the engine in weeks, first thought was some bastard has had me cats. 

 

Looking into the engine bay I could see a lot of action around the nearside of the engine which I then thought might be the lambda sensor but it turned out to be a sparkplug hanging off its HT lead! I mean like what the actual flip. Why did it choose this second to shat out a spark plug and not while hooning on the M4* etc

 

I screwed the plug back in and it tightened nicely so I can only assume that while working on waterpump and timing chain I removed the #1 plug to detect TDC and failed to retighten it. That was like months ago. Anyway no damage done. Didnt stop me going through many emotions in 30 seconds though until I figured the root cause

 

*Natural habitat for modern Range Rovers

 

 

[richardthestag]

In other news 

 

Rebuilding heads from a mid 1970s Range Rover spec V8 that I have to replace the slightly higher compression SDI unit fitted to the chassis of the project car.

 

The heads are post 1975 "SD1" which means that they have 40mm inlet and 36mm exhaust valves. slightly more efficient that pre 1976 "P6" ?!?

 

You will recall that I had started this work some time ago but only just got around to visiting my local machine shop. he declared the guides as worn but well within tolerances and the head faces as flat. Yay no machine work required.

 

First job is to clear the oil ways, This hole 

 

Feeds oil to the rocker shaft pillar on both ends of the head, simply needs a bit of wire and a blast of compressed air to check it is clear. Plenty of crap came out of both so a job well and easily done

 

Next to grind valves into seats, important at this stage to match valve to seat, both are perfect for on going use

 

Valves and springs all assembled

 

Before wrapping up from workshop grit, dust n spit

 

One head done - already done tbh but redone for shits n giggles

 

Next head, all valves removed and stored in order - I always work from left to right with the head the correct way up, and store the valves as 1-8. When grinding in with the heads inverted obviously I need to work right to left 1-8 or select valves 8-1 from my rack.

 

Anyway enough of that.

 

Valves were all in good share but all had carbon build up, exhaust especially

 

Install valve stem first into a drill chuck and then use a dremel with a sanding barrel to clean of the crap. Obviously keep the sanding abrasive away from the valve seat bit itself.

 

 

Next up is to grit blast all the shit off the head

 

 

 

Watch this space .....

[richardthestag]

following on for the "blue" head rebuild

 

I found time and enthusiasm yesterday to crack on with it.

 

Popped it into the blast cabinet for some tickling with glass bead

 

20 mins later it came out without paint

 

with some interesting stampings - looking this one up

 

but also lots of caked on grease and congealed oil around the top end of the valve guides. Blasting cabinets don't remove this

 

Gunk does though

 

 

after prodding at it with a brush for 15 mins gave it a rinse off and then a blow dry to get rid of all the water. Then started to clean up the outer faces with a wire brush. should really get my arse around to grinding them valves in

[richardthestag]

daily driver is due an MoT next week and knowing that the sills had been patched thought I might "have a look"

 

First though move fatha thastags motor. nice that the swallows nesting in the barn are creatures of habit..

 

 

Fuckers

[danthecapriman]

That pisses me off too, normally just after I've washed the car! Winged twats!

I did the Volvo the other day, went to get the chamois leather, came back to find a big wet bird turd down the wing.

[richardthestag]

Put the car up on my hydraulic ramps to give me some clearance

 

that meant that the door resorted to gravity, wedging a carefully cut lump of wood in between the shut face and the a/b post 

 

 

This is the rear end that I welded up 2 years ago, still sound

 

 

This is the bit I haven't done anything with yet ! 24 year old Range Rover sill

 

Got busy with the cutting disc

 

This is what came out

 

This is the inside of the a post where it meets the sill, the a post itself is good so I opted to clean back the rust to solid steel and then weld in a patch

 

Clamped up the inner sill repair section first

 

Closed the back of the a-post in and also the sill end plate, bit of a balls up because it wasnt quite long enough to protect the body mount doh

 

Welding the inner sill outside

 

and inside

 

Made up an extra bit to protect the sill end plate and body mount from road crap

 

welded it in along with a new homemade floor mount

 

Then clamped up and welded in the outer sill, so excited at finishing this side that I forgot to take a pic of my tidy seam welds

 

Then found a hole inside the rear arch at the tail end of the sill. will look at that tomorrow.

 

First onto the passenger side which I know will be a nightmare

[richardthestag]

Passenger side was horrific at first glance but reckon this will be solid again by midday tomorrow.

 

No pics of the tear down but when I realised the rust to the bulkhead and a-post I removed the door and front wing. the door is a piece of cake to lift off its hinges, the wing is a pita with bolts inaccessible under the bulkhead deck panel

 

This is the front footwell, and probably the main reason for all the rust in the sill and a-post. Passed an MoT last year! I had been busy with the chisel but none of what fell out offered any real resistance

 

Cut the rust from the outer sill to leave access to the inner sill

 

Front body mount needs replacing, so I cut it out, loosened the floor mount - which is dangling here and will be replaced once the new floor goes in

 

Bolted the new mount to the chassis

 

This is all part of a repair kit provided by easyon panels

 

Mount welded to new inner sill section and then to the floor and good parts of the original inner sill

 

Clamped the inner sill repair section into place. All rust has been cut out so it is all good steel now. Will seam weld and seal it up tomorrow, Then outer sill and p-post then I can get on with the floor and bulkhead

 

covered in little bits of underseal that was still very sticky to the good metal but sprayed about with my angle grinder. and that is with my face mask on too

 

More tomorrow

[richardthestag]

a fun day, well at least the weather was good.

 

No seriously i enjoy this shit

 

First the welding what I done yesterday on the drivers side sill

 

this is pretty much where I left off yesterday

 

Finished welding the inner sill repair section

 

 

then made good chunks of the outer sill that didn't quite meet up with the repair section

 

 

outer sill repair lined up nice

 

 

[richardthestag]

Finally got around to cutting out the remnant of the floor, that bulkhead side aint pretty

 

A repair section that I fashioned from the standard bulkhead side panel. it doesn't include the massive blister to accommodate a wedge of relays in later cars. hence butchery. I probably should have cut one myself but had no idea of the actual dimensions.

 

Then cut all the frilly bits off the blister, didnt leave a lot

 

welded in fresh metal on the a-post closing panel

 

 

Then welded on the lower a-post section 

 

started to weld the bulkhead side panel in

 

 

Next up is the floor, wanted to weld it in so that there are no exposed leading edges

 

 

[richardthestag]

Next up was the near side rear arch - rust here is an mot failure, despite this being a non structural panel, due to the proximity of the seat belt mount.

 

 

I have another arch but simply could not be arsed to fit it today, 18 hours in on this project and I chose to patch it, think welding tinfoil

 

Celebrated by refitting the front wing

 

Because I had swept up the pile of dirt and rust I noticed this wet patch

 

Found it was coming from the inner wing right up next to the recently rotted out bulkhead. Bastard washer bottle is leaking. Not suggesting that it is 100% responsible for the devastation but it will not have helped. will remove this and work out why it is leaking

 

Lifted the door back onto its hinge pins and it fits which pleased me

 

celebrated with a beer

 

I refitted the outer sill covers and carpets but left all the sound deadening out until I can properly seam seal it, may later this week

 

only real blood drawn was from this kiss with the angle grinder cutting disc. I was getting tired and took a risk of holding the item being cut. The disc spat and I guess my reactions are good because my thumb is still attached

 

Next step pre MoT check on non rust stuff and MoT

[stuboy]

good work, well deserved beer

[Honey Badger]

Quality stuff this Richard, where did you learn your welding skills? 

[richardthestag]

cheers chaps and all those who bopped the old like button

 

Welding skills are self taught and loads of practice. My first big project is the white Range Rover in this thread. I look back at the stuff I did on the first corner now and can see how much better i got at it.

 

Mind you that was with my shit SIP Migmate and it's rubbish wirefeed mechanism. New welder is way better. I also found that I was being far too stingy with the gas, there is not a whole lot of guideance on this! big hobbyweld bottles mean that I can run at 10litres / minute. Even though I only used about 2/3rds of a bottle (£25 worth) of argon/CO2 mix on this job. I think my welder is leaking gas when it is not being used! Resorted to cutting off the gas supply at the bottle between welding jobs. which was a faff, because I lay down on the floor, start welding and try work out why it is so fucking difficult, then remember and have to get up again, arghhh etc

 

Youtube, eastwood company videos are good starters for the basics but nothing can replace lobbing on the mask and welding lumps of scrap metal.

 

Most of the steel I am welding with is 18gauge (just over 1mm thick) so I can use power setting #2 on my welder and then fiddle with the wire feed until it sounds right. I always have two hands on the torch, one obviously on the trigger and one just behind the shroud to steady the shoud against the workpiece where possible.

 

all sorts of other complications like poor earth or dirty surface can cause splatter and fucking great blobs of weld to launch themselves at me. Welders Warehouse supplied me with gauntlets and leather welding apron. there is not many things less fun than having a 2mm ball of molton steel land on bare skin! Safety first and all that!

 

Welding new thick steel to ancient old steel is always a challenge and one you master by blowing hole after hole through the old steel.

 

It is very therapeutic stuff, well for me anyway

[AMC Rebel]

..I also found that I was being far too stingy with the gas, there is not a whole lot of guideance on this! ....

 

 

 

Best advice ever from my Brother in law "don't piss about, just crank the gas right up" - his welding is still way better than mine, but most of mine is still attached to stuff as far as I know.

 

I will be doing that exact job on the Crying Pumpkin's rear arches for MOT this year so thanks for the tips.

[AMC Rebel]

 

 

all sorts of other complications like poor earth or dirty surface can cause splatter and fucking great blobs of weld to launch themselves at me. Welders Warehouse supplied me with gauntlets and leather welding apron. there is not many things less fun than having a 2mm ball of molton steel land on bare skin! Safety first and all that!

 

Another cheap but worthwhile mod I made was a much better earth clamp.

 

My welding gauntlets were bought in Walmart in California in 1998 - true story.

[Magnificent Rustbucket]

Good to see this thread updated - and even better to see you didn't use Photobucket so we can still enjoy the pictures!

[dieselassist]

Nice 'land Rover Products' metal knitting job there - I used to use that UPOL weld tru primer up until it jumped up to €30 a can, cause BREXIT, presumably...

 

I had a similar 'slow leak'  on the washer bottle of my Disco1, n resulting dissolved inner wing under it; it turned out to be the little one way valve leaking, I converted  it to 'both ways' by guttin its innards and plastic welded the cap back on... no more leaks.

[richardthestag]

having had a look last night at the washer bottle it has settled just below the low level warned reed switch

 

may well be the root cause of the puddle and will not have helped the disolvage

[richardthestag]

I can haz 12 months Mot, no viseries!

 

fuck yeah

 

Someone care to remind me why I pay tax on LPG again please?

 

[richardthestag]

fitted 2 new exhaust valves to that head for the engine rebuild and tested it for leaks

 

 

wrapped up and on shelf now read for the block

 

 

moved my efforts on a set of 1972 lockheed brake calipers

 

on first glance I thought these had been rebuilt already and then painted red. plan was to bead blast them, strip them, replace the seals and reassemble.

 

this is a rear caliper, twin piston

 

before and after

 

the outer face was quite corroded, but these original lockheed calipers are unobtainium, patterns are available. rather rebuild these

 

the rest of the calliper came up real nice

 

 

split it, removed the pistons and seals 

[richardthestag]

buoyed with confidence I set about the other rear caliper, as with the first, heat was needed to free the bleed nipples and hydraulic pipe unions. Compressed air zipped the pistons out

 

 

which were fucked, oh. I blasted the caliper body and moved on

 

front calipers are 4 pot jobbies, my 5/8 impact socket is not a six sided one so started to slip on the bolts. I found a sparkplug socket was 5/8th and had 6 sides. because it would probably shatter on my windy wrench I went manual

 

masked up the mating faces and stripped everything down, all pistons are fubar

 

 

 

 

 

all 4 halfs of the front calipers are now bead blasted clean

 

Next step, buy a complete set of pistons for front and rear, reassemble, wrap and stick on the shelf for when the axle rebuilds happen.

 

Thinking at the mo as to whether I pay someone to grit blast the chassis and powder coat it for £400 or do it myself. If I farm it out I can concentrate on axle rebuilds and engine / gearbox strip down. but then £400 is £400 and I was going to blast it myself over 2 weekends and probably about 100 worth of media then por15 it for another £100. so farming out the whole chassis starts to make more economic sense. plus powercoat is powdercoat

[Guest Hooli]

By the sounds of that farming it out makes sense.

[bsd]

Marvellous stuff. Thanks for taking the time to photograph and post your efforts.

Seeing the photo of the rot to the body mount, bulkhead, sill and A pillar brought back memories. Unfortunately I wimped out and sold mine that had similar rot... I regret this now. It was a low mileage, 2 owner, late (1993) hard dash 3.9 Vogue, a perfect candidate to fix up as no EAS or masses of electrical toys to contend with. Seeing how quickly you put that little lot right is sickening! Keep the updates coming please so I can kick myself some more...

[Dick Longbridge]

Sterling work. Scary how crispy your Rangie was around the base of the passenger a post and bulkhead, but standard Range Rover/Land Rover issues I guess. Interesting thoughts about modern rubber quality (when you were refitting the floats in the carbs). I've just replaced the thirty year old inner tubes on a Raleigh racing bike, and they appeared to be around twice as thick as the shiz I replaced them with. Still supple as well, but not holding air -valves I guess. I've retained them in the spares pile, just in case

Keep up the brilliant work. Good to see my local brewery keeping you fuelled as well!

[richardthestag]

Fatha Thestags 1972 Range Rover has been a little neglected recently, 

 

We took the bumpers and spare early rims to a local powder coaters, they blast, then powder coat

 

beautiful job they did, one of the rims was pretty rusty and so the surface isnt the best

 

 

Fatha Thestag was so excited that he rushed out late yesterday and had the tyres and tubes swapped over from the rusty rims

 

today got around to fitting the coated bumpers

 

makes mental note to fit bolts into all threaded holes before powder coating

 

here is Fatha thestag swapping the rusty nuts for painted items and cursing tyre shop mechanics

 

fitted new plastic letter front number plate

 

rear bumper removered

 

Bolted up the rear corners, this one had a badly bent bracket that I hadn't noticed but then it was wonkey before coating. simply trapped an old bolt when tightening and it lined up perfect

 

other side was more factory

 

Fatha thestag is as happy as a cat with two arses

 

rusty rims and bumpers will now be powder coated for the project car

 

tomorrow Range Rover, Series IIa and Staaaag are going to Braunton Wheels car show in North Devonshite

[Magnificent Rustbucket]

That white Range Rover is a thing of beauty. Oh and well done on the MOT pass!

[richardthestag]

decision made to outsource chassis clean and powder coat

 

first things to do is remove engine and gearbox.

 

to protect the corners etc and also allow me to remove bits to take home to recondition

 

 

Inlet manifold and carb are more SD1 rather than Range Rover, there is money in it so will rebuild

 

 

 

Distributor and water pump removed

 

ikea freezer bags and a sharpie make for an organised strip down

[richardthestag]

next up I decided to remove the transmission / hand brake

 

expecting grief from the prop flange nut and it was barely finger tight

 

drum and hub removed, bucket to catch the gearbox fluid, probably should have drained it first like I did the engine

 

 

removed the brake backplate complete with the complex arrangement of levers and rods for rebuild.

 

scraping crap off the gearbox and found a cm thick sound deadening pad on top of the transfer box, took a piccy to remind me it will need to be replaced

 

tonight lifted the engine and gearbox off, it is heavier than expected. #3 son thestag sort of helping.

Biggest problem was stopping the chassis from rolling forwards as we tried to lift the engine. 

 

 

extract ratshit strap hooked around the gearbox tail in an effort to bring it up level. the chassis was lifting at the same time now that weight was off the springs

 

#2 son thestag stepped in to also sort of help

 

lowered the whole lot to the floor, removed all remaining bellhousing bolts and then dragged the hoist and engine away from the gearbox.

 

tomorrow after paid office work I plan to stash the engine and box away in the barn, strip steering rods etc from the front axle. Fatha thestag is working with the lads to make a trestle for the chassis to stand on during the day. maybe thursday I will get the boge self leveling kit and a frame off the back axle

[richardthestag]

just occurred to me in my sobriety this morning that I should have ratchet strapped the front of the chassis to the front axle. that would have saved some agro.

 

done now though