110 defender rebuild project and v8 conversion

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Good to see some progress on this project. Hope the new house and job are turning out to be good.
When I did my suspension bushes, some of the old ones needed 15 tons or so to get them shifted. I was glad I got a 20 ton press to help me. So I'm not surprised the 10 ton press struggled a bit! It's amazing how tough a bit of rust can be.
 
Thanks chap! yes I'm happy I've got some momentum back. The new job is pretty much ideal... lots of work from home, so nice early evening starts on the landy... just a shame about the lack of daylight for old-stuff-removal.

I've no real concept of how much work is ahead of me, apart from having the inate landy-owner feel for just how few bits make up the vehicle. I'm aiming to have this finished by autumn 2016. I don't know if that's ambitiious or not (given my experience level).
 
a couple more pics before the assembly phase..

shiny black things:



rear axle:



sorry, shots aren't the best when lit by the 2 strip lights in the garage.
 
You can tell you've moved house lately - all those cardboard boxes are from Pickfords or Space Place self storage!
 
Brown said:
You can tell you've moved house lately - all those cardboard boxes are from Pickfords or Space Place self storage!
Click to expand...

ah yes.. neither of which we used... but the house movers we used had loads of those pickfords boxes for some reason. I'm not sure where the space place ones came from - probably 2nd hand from someone else's move. There's still a fair old supply of them in the house too... I'm under orders to get those out to garage sooner rather than later!

In other news, my regular TNT driver bought me some nice things this morning:

Gearbox:





T-Box (MY GOD THIS IS HEAVY!!!)




The stapled cardboard box next to the T-Box is the refurbed 24 spline front diff.

OEM Bushes are now ordered, along with the engine & box mounts. Delivery in the next coupe of days hopefully (from famous four - first time using them).
 
I should have mentioned... The rebuilt gearbox has heavy duty rear support bearings, and a disco 5th gear to give a nicer cruise. It has also been updated to the L variant from it's original J variant.

I also posted some torque/rev/bhp figures in a different thread today, and thought I really should include them here... these are the figures for my engine, from John.

RPM BHP LBS/FT
1065 48.35 238.36
1532 71.88 246.32
2094 104.05 260.86
2553 133.26 274.05
3096 175.18 297.07
3581 206.20 302.30
4045 229.69 298.11
4564 249.97 287.54
5045 268.17 279.07
5573 254.25 239.52
 
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It's great getting a parcel from Ashcrofts, isn't it ? My Land Rover has a little present from them waiting to go on over the Christmas period.
 
Bushes and bolts arrived from famous four today!



Just need to get those 3 bolt damper brackets off the old chassis and clean them up... I've got a free day on Friday, so I'll do it then... Then it'll take a couple of days to get the 4 coats of paint on them!

In the mean time, I can press those bushes into the arms and get everything in place ready.
 
I ended up making a bit of a mess of the castings when I tried to get those 3 bolt upper link brackets off the donor.... so I opted for some bearmach replacements at £16 a piece. I thought I was pretty much on track, then reaslied I didn't have any HT bolts (10.9 grade). I ordered a load on xmas eve and waited.... found out today that the order didn't go through, so I now have to wait till monday! so much for having axles on by the end of 2015!

In the mean time I did order a few other things, like bearmach swivel-ball refurb kits... a massive garage tidy effort has to start today (now that I'm over a stomach bug!). Once the "spare" half of the garage is tidy, I can start stripping the body of the old one down. Suspension and axles still due to go on asap.... once the bolts arrive.
 
farmershort said:
I also posted some torque/rev/bhp figures in a different thread today, and thought I really should include them here... these are the figures for my engine, from John.

RPM BHP LBS/FT
1065 48.35 238.36
1532 71.88 246.32
2094 104.05 260.86
2553 133.26 274.05
3096 175.18 297.07
3581 206.20 302.30
4045 229.69 298.11
4564 249.97 287.54
5045 268.17 279.07
5573 254.25 239.52
Click to expand...

Nice flat torque curve, it'll pull like a train. What cam is it?
What was it Chris crane at RPI said, John eales only does undriveable race engines:confused:
 
cooltide said:
Nice flat torque curve, it'll pull like a train. What cam is it?
What was it Chris crane at RPI said, John eales only does undriveable race engines:confused:
Click to expand...

yep, I enjoy that memory too!

it's my wall of torque! can't wait! camshaft is listed as "270" - which I take to mean, the spec for a 270bhp engine.
 
farmershort said:
yep, I enjoy that memory too!

it's my wall of torque! can't wait! camshaft is listed as "270" - which I take to mean, the spec for a 270bhp engine.
Click to expand...

RPI wouldn't have run it on a dyno either.

Tis degrees of valve lift duration. The piper 285 would also slot straight in and give higher bhp with a nice lumpy idle but not achieve that huge torque band. What you've got there looks ideal for a land rover.
 
cooltide said:
RPI wouldn't have run it on a dyno either.

Tis degrees of valve lift duration. The piper 285 would also slot straight in and give higher bhp with a nice lumpy idle but not achieve that huge torque band. What you've got there looks ideal for a land rover.
Click to expand...

fingers crossed!
 
Love the detail of the build thread. A sobering image there of the 110 sat with it's rear on the drive - you were SO lucky!

Going back to removal of the radius arm bushes, etc - I had a similar problem, with my 10 ton press being made to look exceptionally feeble. In the end I drilled out a small area of the inner rubber - adequate to be able to insert a hacksaw blade between inner and outer 'collars', then cut a strip of approx 5mm width from the outer 'collar', which I knocked out with an engineering punch.

Bushes fell out easily thereafter and the press-in procedure was pretty simple.

Anyway, keep at it and stay safe.
 
a quick little update so that no-one thinks I'm asleep on the job!

my suspension & axle fitting ambitions were cut short by 2 poxy washers! The washers which brace the top of the rear shock onto the top mount do not come with the new shocks... they're special size & shape (and aid articulation I imagine), so they have been ordered. The ones on the donor were rusty as hell, and not matching on either side!

I also took the ordering opportunity to get the rear stub axles and associated timken bearings ordered. That lot should be delivered in the next day or so. I'm trying to spread the spend out a bit, so only ordering limited batches of things per week.

I also spoke with Ashtree yesterday about my bulkhead. Happy with what they've told me, and they even suggested they might be able to put me in touch with a re-spray place the know. I'm struggling to find someone that will do an "old fashioned" job... 10+ coats of straight paint - as opposed to the modern 3 coats + laquer.

Dismantling of the donor is underway whilst all these bits are on order. I hope to have the donor stripped totally soon after the bulkead is sent off... then by the time the galv bulkhead is ready for painting, the rest of the body panels can be shipped to the same paint shop. That's the plan anyway.
 
Bit of progress today. I've finally figured out that weekends need to be for dismantling the donor, and evenings for prepping/painting and fitting shiny things.

Got the wings and the steering pump off this morning, and grinded off the dumb iron with the chassis number on.

Undo 4 bolts and part about a bit with a chisel:




Manky:





I'd like to get the bulkhead off tomorrow, but that also involves the screen, interior, doors, dash.... So will see how well I get on.

In other news, I've stopped messing about trying to only spend £100 a week on parts. It's time I'm going to be short of in the end, so I've just bought everything I think I need for the axle ends. Still need to sort something out re aframe and wheels, but I'll think about that next week. There's still a chance that I might be able to use my aframe and chassis brackets once I get the tub off.

Once the axles are on, I'll order the fuel tank, pump, undertray, and whatever I'm gonna need. Then we're gonna be close to needing a bulkhead and wings to terminate stuff on.

So, questions for you fine folk:

What size and thread are the 2 bolts which hold the brake shields onto the casting? They're a strange bolt with a smooth end.

Thoughts on the steering pump? Anyone used a famous four refurb unit?
 
Just read through your whole thread, looking good! I had a near miss myself with mine, taking the front axle out before the engine and box(s), I now have a few 2' lengths of 6"x4" stainless box section I put underneath sometimes, not to support but to catch. Those rear trailing arm bushes are a pig, mine took about 15t I think, after a few days soaking in deisel. I dont think people tend to put the brake shields back on, I certainly haven't.
 
No where near as much progress as I hope today. Tbh I'm feeling a bit knackered. I don't know if it's the landy, the time of year, or the remnants of a cold. Whatever it is, it'll pass.

Discovered that the seat box didn't survive the fall:





Here's the state of the back door.... Another new bit needed:



And I'll have to have a think about what to do with the hole in the roof that this will leave:




I had a little Google around to see if anyone sells new 300tdi seat boxes.. Some company called "the Lanny doctor" seems to do them... 165 quid. Any other recommendations?
 
Bennehboy said:
What paint did you use on your axles etc?
Click to expand...
Obviously the chassis had t-wash on it first, to degrease to galv.

Then everything had:

1 coat of upol acid #8 etch primer
1 coat of 'grey oxide' HB primer from manor coatings
2 coats chassis black from manor coatings.

The only issue I've found so far is that the chassis black stays tacky for a very very very long time... But perhaps it needs more warmth to go off.
 
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