Passed at last.

So in the last days of 2019 I managed to get all the work done and get the Rusty one through yet another MOT inspection.

A couple of advisories on the sheet but nothing to worry about.

Instrument binnacle lamps are fine but dull compared with the centre aux lamp illumination but all bulbs work as they should.

The LT230 transferbox needs to be replaced at some point in the near future as the intermediate shaft is leaking, I see no point in doing the O ring bodge as you have to remove the transferbox anyways and I might as well do it once and just replace the darn thing than remove it, tinker and then remove it again in a years time to replace it.

Well then, what next...............

Little Bit More Rot

So the MOT was all bad.

Well not all bad but pretty bad considering how much I have done to this thing in the last year and a couple of months.

My own faux par was the fact that I forgot the little rust hole in the chassis tubular cross member side plate, I forgot to plate it, my bad 😢

But oh my it was all bad, much worse than I thought.

I freely admit that I did't even look at this bit of the chassis, should have done now I suppose.

Yellow crayon says it's bad.

Got the die grinder out and cleaned it up a bit to see how bad.

Ooops, that's a new hole, not good.

Had to cut the angle of the rear foot well to gain decent access to get it sorted.

In we go, cut out the rot, weld in some fresh 2mm plate and get it primed and seam sealed.

Side triangle got a fresh plate and that hole on the inside got plates too.

Primed and seam sealed with clear PU adhesive sealant, just need a top coat to make it pretty lolz.

MOT and it was bad, all bad.......

MOT time after 14 months of hell.

So after 14 months of hell on the sporadic rebuild it was time, or at least so I thought to take it for the MOT test (here in the UK we have an annual Ministry Of Transport test for road worthiness).

Booked it in and got a great date, Friday the 13th 😟😟😟😟😟

Oh yes, it was as bad as it sounds.

Seems the tester is a bit more thorough than his predecessor and hammered just about everything to within an inch of it's life.

Oh deep joy, all doable but some shockers in there I can tell you, getting tired of this project now and it's starting to take far longer and becoming far more involving than it seemed at first, guess I'll just keep plugging away.

Salvage door post to fix the Rusty one.

With the serious rot in the back door post of the truck, looked a bit like this.

So the rot is bad, not just there, but this is the worst bit to fix.

The rot came to light once the rear quarter panel was removed from the body shell to fix some rot that I knew about.

So what can I do?  Can't scrap it, spent too much time and too much money on it for that, I was blessed with a bit of time to think about it and maybe I would have to do a cut and shut sheet metal welding repair with some 1.5mm plate with extra strengthening plates to help stiffen it up.

The better half was browsing the Land Rover parts pages on FaceBook and happened upon a late model 300Tdi Discovery that was being broken for spares.  It was only 15 minutes from home and I grabbed the reciprocating saw and disc cutter to get it removed should it have turned out to be a good one.

It's in perfect condition and I am very happy with the find, bit of work to pull the body panels back and get access but it was worth it, time to get cutting.

Choppity chop chop chop.

Ha, I win.

Chuck it in the boot and time to head home.

I still have to separate the inner and outer panels but this is a right result for me and a good omen for the Rusty one.

Keep up with the box section sills post for the updates on getting it fitted.

Fuel tank sender and feed replacement.

With so much clambering about in the back working on the old bus and with it being 27yrs old and all that, the pick up and return pipes on top of the sender have rotted through and were leaking fuel all over the top of the tank.

Not pretty but relatively straight forward.

You need a new sender unit, readily and cheaply available for a 200Tdi Discovery, 2 new 8mm sealing olives and if you're feeling flush then really go to town and get two new pipe unions to replace the old ones, mine were grotty but would go again.

New sender unit, it comes bare with no seals or sealing olives so be warned!

The old sender with porous pipes.

 Grab 2X 14mm spanners and undo the unions.

Ooops, but yeah it was expected.

Now then, remember where I told you that the new sender came bare, well this is the part where you need to get yourself 2 new sealing olives as your's will be the same as mine and they'll be rusted solid.

I didn't have days to wait for new ones to come via mail order and my local hardware stores didn't have the olives that small on the shelf so I had little choice if I wanted to get it up and running quick smart but to buy an 8mm in line coupling just for the olives.

Turned out just fine to be honest and just as cheap as buying a pack with more than I needed that would go to waste as I only needed 2 olives.

Just undo the small wiring plug and pop the earth wire off the sender.

Undo the big plastic nut and as you pull the old sender out the rubber seal will do it's best to swan dive into the tank just to piss you off so be prepared to grab it and pull it out with the old sender.

 Clean it all up and smear a bit of grease around the seal and pop it back in the neck and grease up the sender ready for fitting and pop it in from the top, making sure it is pointing in the right direction and wind the big nut back on and refit the unions and electrics and job is a good un, the best piece of advice I can give is that you need to fit the big plastic nut and just before you nip it up, turn the sender counter clockwise about 30 degrees and then as you nip up the plastic nut, it will spin the sender and when it is pointing correct then it is tight enough.

 So that's that jobbed, still got more welding on the horizon on this project but we are getting there bit by bit.

Thanks for looking.

Steering bar/drag link ball joints & freshen up

The steering bar, also known as a drag link hasn't been touched since the steering box rebuild and even then, all I did was pull the split pin and undo the 19mm castellated nut and remove it from the steering box drop arm.

As it's been a while and the track rod end have already been done in the last 5,000kms I decided that I ought to replace the steering bar ball joints, slight play and a little stiff but still serviceable, but brand new ones are cheap enough that I might as well get them done before they get a mention on the safety test.

You need very few tools but a bucket load of patience.

Not to mention two new ball joints, one LH thread and one RH threaded.

It's an easy start, you just need a 19mm spanner and a pair of pliers, pull the split pin out and wind the nut off the threads.

I use two hammers to split the taper of the ball joint from the steering box drop arm and from the steering arm of the swivel housing.  You simply put the big hammer behind the steering arm and belt the front with the other hammer and it pops off, I usually do it in one but it can take several swift wallops.

You need your tape measure, a pencil and pad, I used a post it and stuck it to the window, measure the centres of the ball joints and make a note of the numbers, mine measured 925mm or 36 & 7/16ths of an inch.

Next you have to undo the thread clamps with a couple of 11mm spanners.

Knock the clamp back off the slots and give it a few squirts of your favourite penetrating fluid and use a cold chisel to open the slots up a smidge, DO NOT GO CRAZY opening them up.

If they prove hard to undo with a decent set of pipe grips then you will be able to vent a little rage at this point.

So, one came undone very easily, now comes the rage venting part, take the penetrating fluid of choice and douse the inside of the steering bar so that it can attack the rusty parts from the back side, go off and have a brew, when you come back lay the threaded section on your big hammer and beat it around the circumference of bar with the other hammer and just keep testing the ball joint to see when it loosens and hey presto off it comes.

Then take the flap disc on the grinder with an 80 grit disc and clean the rust and old paint off the bar.

Take the paint of your choice.

Screw in the old ball joints for the moment and rest it on the axle stands ready for painting.

Once painted, slide the clamps back on and brush the threaded ends with a bit of copper slip to stop them from seizing up in the future and screw them in to the right depth to your previous measurement, tighten the clamps up and it's ready to go back on the truck.

Snug the nut up on the taper and then tighten until you can slide the new split pin in easily and bend the splits back round the nut, I bend both back on the swivel end as it is the one that can easiest be dislodged and thus allow the nut to come undone.

The steering box end I leave a little less fast but still secure.

All done and one less thing for me to worry about in the future.

Thanks for looking.

Broke the fan shroud.

My ham fistedness and general fat finger syndrome often creates more work than I have planned, and this is just one such occasion.

Managed to break the fan shroud and it needs fixed as it's an important part of my low speed engine cooling and intercooling set up.

Broked it 

 

 

Drilled a few holes 

 

Roughed up the area around the holes and the cracked plastic with some emery cloth.

 

 

The repair will come as part of a belt and braces approach of.........

 

Here we go.......

 

Mix the epoxy and get her done....

 

 

Both sides of the joint are smothered in epoxy to lock it all in place.

Couple of days in the airing cupboard (at the speed I'm welding this thing up it could be a month ) and ready to fit.