79 109 hartop camper build .

Just a wee reminder for folk rebuilding an old series excuse me while I shout this

SAVE YOUR MONEY, DO NOT , repeat DO NOT UNDER ANY CIRCUMSTANCES BUY THE CRAP THEY SELL AS REPLACEMENT SEALS, THEY DONT FIT, YOUR DOORS WONT CLOSE AND YOU WILL HAVE BEEN AS WELL BURNING £100..

Oh and dont buy a britpart rotor arm for the ducillier dizzy, they are ****.. as are the spire nut kits for mounting the front wings, the clip doesnt have the strength to nip up the screws, thats just annoying things most things have been fine ..

After a struggle eventually have all the required electrics sorted . NOS wiper switch that was such a bargain didnt work ..Typical e bay crap. Ended up using a high quality toggle switch that was in my tool box .. works a treat , who needs Park, its a bloody land rover .

Also got the heater working on 2 speeds , the horn tooting , flashers flashing. washers washing and everything cleaned up and flowing current as it should .. Stripped the fuse box and gave it a good clean too, made all the difference to those temperamental connections .

Set up the ignition more accurately and had another look at the carb . Short of a massive air leak I cant find anything visually wrong with the carb. but still have zero effect from the mixture screw . It was probably a bit premature but I decided to buy a replacement zenith .. My hopes are pretty low for this purchase , £50 for a new carb that works is probably a bit optimistic, but some times you just have to be the Guinea pig and take one for the team.. If its crap its gong back but I will keep you posted ..

I was a video the other day of Britpart fitting one of these carbs and managed to actually adjust the co level . It might have been a well edited video and a completely different motor , who knows , but on the basis that they managed an adjustment I decided to have a punt .. I know I pay closer to £300 for a carb for the Flathead engines but there will be a chunk of scene tax included in that price ..

Waiting on a rad drain cock and some carb link rods and a few other trinkets to aid completion but its slowly coming together ..

The chassis build was definitely the easiest part of the build , the body wasn't to bad except for the issue with the door seals but the worst part has been the electrics and finishers . Its taken ages to do stuff like the door glass, fitting lights, and just adding the bits it takes to make it a car . Ive reeled myself in a bit and decided that I will concentrate on the stuff thats needed and add the extras once the car is on the road , doing them as small one day projects .. Things like fog lights, spare wheel carrier, and wee stuff like that .. can all be taken care of after its done .

But for the best part its pretty much there , going to drive it out today and fit the roof and measure up for the seat belt mounts .. Having moved the seats back to suit me , the upper belt shoulder mount is far to far forward for my needs so the standard upper anchor point is useless. Will make something up thats better suited for the seat position. Other than that its all good .. frustrating at times but its getting there..

Lots of good info in here, when I get my build back up started I appreciate that you have gone before, found all the kinks and posted pictures

So here it is in pretty much all its glory, waiting on a few parts to for the rear door and complete a few wee tasks but drove it around the village today , Brake pedal travelis a bit excessive but the brakes are good , Had the wife pumping the pedal to purge any air from the previos bleeding session , there was some but it didnt improve the pedal travel.

3 pumps and its a good solid pedal with zero sponginess, and pressure can be maintained on it without sinking so no leakes either .. I adjusted the shoes to on click off being locked on all 4 wheels and brake ballance is good but pedal still needs a pump or three to bring it up . I think its more to do with the stroke at the servo/ master cylinder , Ive used a servo type singe circuit master and added a servo from another landy. It might be the stroke of the pedal isnt shifting enough fluid . Will give it a look before it goes on the road .

Schoolboy error no 101, was to fit both wiper boxes in the same orientation, so the wipers for now sweep a bit funny, Will flip the left side box and they should then both sweep out from the centre .. **** job as it looks like the dash has to come out AGAIN ..

Had a minor clutch fluid leak at the slave cylinder , just nipped that up and it was fine , gears without grinding is good ..

Added a drain cock to the rad , Bearmach, made in india , they forgot to swage the T part and its lost already , might as well have soldered the hole closed ..

Just got to fit the back door, bolt down the roof , flip the wiper box, fit the new carb and lincage, adjust the throttle pedal , add a return spring, adjust the brake pedal pusher, fit the grill shell, adjust the headlights, fit the number plates, add more fuel, fit the overdrive shifter ( needs a minor repair) centre the steering wheel, and adjust the tracking and I can gingerly venture out to the open road ,

So here is a pic of my toils from earlier today

I forgot to add, The steering on this is sweet. I had read they can be heavy and cumbersome , this is light and easy to steer, easier than my old VW camper by a country mile , and actually a real pleasure to drive . I removed 2 leafs from each HD front spring and driving it around the vilage hitting the pot holes etc it was smooth and not at all harsh bumpy.. I was really quite surprised.. Bear in mind the Carb is a bit naff and the lincage is currenty a suitable length of welding wire but despite that it bumbled along in second doing what it does without a fuss . Looking forward to getting the wee bits sorted out so I can go for a proper drive .

Started the project at the end of October 2020, worked on it most days, charged through the chassis side of things without to much outlay,

The final hurdle has taken at least 3 months , from body back on to where I am today has been a hard and at times frustrating slog .

The Camper conversion will have to wait for now . I have a few other things that need attention so the camper conversion will be on the back burner for the time being .. Will start with the units and interior stuff but the roof conversion will have to wait . I need this old tub on the road as my daily driver for the time being.. Rge X trail will be deposited at the scrap yard later this week..

I might sell the landy, but if todays drive was anything to go by I can see it being a keeper for the time being .. I actually really like it , its turned out pretty smart even if I do say so myself ...

Back doors on , roofs bolted down, ordered up a new oil pressure switch and a temp sender for good measure. Temp gauge seems to be working.. but the terminal is a bit loose on the sender body .. old mirrors are cracked and the arms stuck and corroded so opted for a pair of new ones and a new interior mirror. and a number late light .. got number plates made up today .. Hopefully the carb and linkages will arrive this week and I might get the last wee bits knocked off the list .. Had a read re the brake problem viz a three pump pedal , seems to be a common issue with the 109 11 inch drums .. One fella reckoned that building up the pedal and wedging the pedal with pressure on it resulted in the air being expelled.. Nothing ventured, nothing gained, so built the pedal up and wedged in a chunk or 100x100 fence post and will see what the pedal is like on Thursday ..

met a bloke in the bearing suppliers today, had the hot rod with me and got speaking about car stuff. Turns out he had a handful of land rovers series on through series 3 and a 90 .. He also had a pair of 109 rear bed sides , just what I needed for the pending build on the P4 chassis .. Just lives up the road from me a wee bit , Series one was a cracker .. 90 rebuild is mint .. 2a was a rock solid survivor, must have spent 2 hours shooting the breeze .. Another cool Land rover contact ..

Okdoke, the repro carb and a replacement throttle rod link and clip arrived today so not expecting very much given what Ive read or heard abut thes £50 carbs I unboxed it and bolted it on the inlet .. Gave it a crank to fill the float bowl, gave it a bit of choke and it fired right up and run as sweet as a nut with no noxious petrol fumes out the exhaust ..

Let it warm up for a bit then dropped the choke , and gave the idle a wee tweek . It sat and idled as sweet as a nut and revved freely when given some throttle without any hesitance .. I was suitable impressed that it actually worked .. Drove the lndy around the block without any issues ,, I havent got the shifter on the overdrive as the shifter rod needs a small repair so Im not sure if the overdrive is in or out but its safe to say it struggled up a wee incline in 3rd so Im guessing it might be in OD ..

With the Fairey, is the lever forward or backward when the OD is engaged ?.. Just looked it up forward for in backward for out so It was actually IN overdrive when I did my run around the block .. that explains a few things will pop it out from the box side untill I get the lever repaired ..

Worked away on fitting the universal type inertia seatbelts , Worst part of that job is orientating the buckle lol must have had 100 twists I didnt need .. got there in the end .. Made new upper mount brackets from some 3mm steel , Will tig on a support bracket and call it done but my tig is up at my buddies..

waiting on a new oil pressure switch, and temp sender but in all honesty I will save the temp sender as a spare as the temp gauge appears to be working fine . managed to find its way to NORMAL range today ..

Blocking the pedal on didnt make any difference to the pedal travel ..;( will do a bit more bleeding and take it from there .. but seriousy thinking its pedal adjustment as the buult up pedal is hard not spongy so no air indicated ..

I will get there in the end ..

One other issue arose today.. I could rev the engine as high as dared rev it with the new carb and it took it no problem as long as the distributor vacuum pipe was disconnected .. with the vac pipe attached the engine didnt rev as cleanly and stuttered with the throttle at half mast .. not sure if the pipe was collapsing or if its a vac advance problem in the distributer.. might be something as simple as the ignition timing as I havent checked that with the light yet as it wasnt until today that it run properly on the carb

Glad I spent the cash on the carb .. engine is sweet ..

Managed to purge more air from the brake system , Pedal is a lot better, no longer requiring a pump.

out of OD its runs like a top. I did wonder why it was struggling up hill in 3rd just pulled the plunger in the oD forward with a screwdriver .. took off like a scalded cat after that ..

steering needs set up, minor adjustment to tracking and tyre pressures but overall first impression are that the steering is nice and light .

leaned against the brake switch and knocked the swaged terminals off the switch body, more crap parts,, will be ale to refit the terminals and give them a solder to keep them in place..

Wil continue to knock more wee jobs off untill its done but its getting there, probably about time to make a new list
Tyre pressures
Tracking
Timing
wiper box
washer fluid
air cleaner
door seals
oil pressure switch

and that should about do it enough to take it on the open road road test route

got the seatbelts in and adjusted .. need to weld on a small support bracket but my tig is at my buddies can do it any time really its more a cosmetic thing ..

Made a repair part for the Overdrive selector rod .. need the tig for that as well so a trip out is on the cards, can do with completing the rear end instalation in his car anyways

just doing tidy up stuff on the Landy, took the hot rod out and went to see my old fella .. will knuckle down over the weekend and see if I can draw a line under this project.. Its a keeper for now so I can take care of some of the stuff over the summer .. no point delaying putting it on the road by tearing the dash out to flip a wiper wheel box

At dark oclock its down to the other shed to continue work on the 28 roadster chassis .. wont be wastng much time on this one either hopefully, much less of it that there was of the Land rover. so hopfully will see it about built by the end of August, all going well ..

Ordered up a pair of replacement door mirrors , They are fine for the price, no complaints, but the screws in the kit are fit for the bin.. The heads are far to big to seat flat behind the hinge so I scared up a handful of stainless button heads of the correct thread size and turned the heads down a wee bit . That allowed them to seat flat behind the hinge and properly secure the mirror base to the door hinge .. Daft stuff like this gets on my nerves to be honest , a 10 minute job stretched out to 2 and a half hours to fit 4 daft screws ..

made a new end for the overdrive selector rod , another simple task drawn out and frustrating, Bust my drill press a while back so drilling a hole with the hand drill took 3 attempts to get the hole orientated in a parallel plane .. some times you just torture yourself ..LOL

will get the timing set next and make a few adjustments and set the tracking and that should about do it ..

Timing set, runs good but a puff of blue smoke indicates it burns a wee bit of oil on revs and over run .. Could be that its the rings a bit gummed up with being sat for years .. Fingers xd it comes good but most likely a bit of wear .. maybee valve guides/ valve stem oil seals .. if a land rover has such luxuries .. Its not so bad its a worry , if the dual carriage way get a covering of reek then it might be a problem.. Might prompt a diesel swap after all LOL.. ( full circle )

Speaking of going in circles, gave the track rod a wee stretch and thats improved the steering response 100% left hander at the top of the street required some quick hand work on the wheel to get it straight .. was towning in a fair bit though, which I was aware of .. now its in the ball park there is no need to get funky with the wheel, it gooes around the corner as it should free from panic .. I still cant get over how easy it is to steer .. and how compliant it is on the road .. Would have to say its **** at reversing on gravel or mud in high range fine in low and I will agree the turning circle is about the same as that container ship stuck in the suez canal ...

For note , another part to avoid is the £6 mechanical brake switch .. male terminals appear to have evaded capture by the crimp on the insulator .. switch is buggered simply by the fitting of the wires .. Ordered up a LUCAS one at twice the price but at least it will work ..

Took delivery of some more parts to complete .. new temp sender , Intermotor part , all good gauge, definatley moves a bit further up the temp scale .. , no issues with that part .

Rear view interior mirror, cheap as chips but it is what it is and does its job

Couple of carb return springs, no problems there .

Oil pressure switch , Britpart, bought for a series 3 petrol , didnt fit the filter housing , didnt even look at it . So just a wee bit fed up of the quality and non fitment I called the supplier . They were pretty good but I was kinda told they had supplied lots and had no problems . Having sent them several pics and micrometer reading of the original and the replacement they kinda agreed it woundnt fit .. I was lucky if I could get it to grip on the first thread . I can see some folk forcing then in but the fact is, its not the correct size .. It was only £4 but this is the unpteenth £4 ive spent that is just a waste of money .. How many folk just throw these bits in the tool box and find another without complaint ? all the while the supplier thinks the parts are good and continue sending them out in good faith ..
Any hoo, in the meantime, drilled the centre out the old one, tapped it with an M8 thread and wound in a cut down bolt and copper washer to seal while I wait for a working oil pressure switch ..

Its just the little things

Does any one have any feedback on the oil control ? It doesnt appear to be breathing heavy so was just wondering if it might come good of its own acord with a bit of use , or if its worn valve guides ? and if that ring sealer or some sort on marvel mystery oil would sort it out ..

ventured further on a test drive , adjusted the clutch , adjusted the carb , was running really rich, like 6 turns out, took it in to where it should be max vacuum around 2.5 turns out and adjusted idle down. Prior to that I was experiencing the engine cutting out,, kinda happened all f a sudden having been running pretty good .. Turned out the idle adjusting screw on the new carb had simply dropped out , hence zero tick over and cutting out .. Thats all sorted now ..
I still think this steers great, pretty light and easy to steer.

Number plate light arrived so fitted that , one less job toward MOT still waiting on replacement brake switch though ..

Door seals I salvaged from my soon to be scrapped X trail fit the landrover door openings great. No so much on the rear door open edge as the seal catches the rear door .. will sort something there but looking good and saving money .

Blue smoke also seems to be subsiding as the drive length and torque loadings get the engine working .. keeping my fingers crossed .

Drives pretty good , apparently just as an old landy should with the howling gears etc but surprisingly smooth driving according to a neighbour who has had landovers forever..

Also got an offer for it the other day.. Buddy from Edinbugh offered me £8k for it .. I didnt think that was to bad to be honest .. but as I drive it more its kinda growing on me more too.. and seems to be getting better ..

these X trail seals just keep giving .. the leftover seal from the tailgate did both sills and the edges of the bonnet for a good tight fit to the wing tops stops a minor vibration through the big wing panel..

I do need to trim the door seal around the door catch to assist the catch to strike a bit easier , Its a bit of a shame as the seal looks made for the job otherwise.

Fitted the cover over the transmission on the seat box ( after adding sound deadner inside and out ) then took the landy for another run further afield around my usual test track This old thing is ace , think im going to like it .. with the door seals fitted , seals around the bonnet and the centre seat box cover in place its transformed it .. might need to plug the speedo cable in but seemed to trot along the road fine .. For all the miles I do it should be fine for a daily runabout .. OD is pretty quiet, Ive heard they can be noisy .. there isnt a clunk or bump off the suspension I do however hear a wee clunk when I shift forn 1st to 2nd , but nothing through the rest of the gears .. Im not sure if its comming from the box but doesnt feel like it is .. might be the exhaust, its pretty close to the chassis at the first bend .. reluctant to loosen it for adjustment as its all well sealed .. .. pretty happy with it .. will get my MOT exemption into the post office on monday and get it taxed and on the road legit and sorted .

Will book it in for a proper MOT come next week, doesnt need it but I like to have a fresh pair of eyes look over things and give it a clean bill of health .. doesnt hurt to be above and beyond the legal requirement..

Fitted a LUCAS brake switch that arrived today , no comparison between this and a cheep patern part. save your money and buy right first time

having said that:

Also fitted some red reflective tape on the panel above the back door, filling the entire panel so it wont be missed at night it also disguises a few repairs where high level lights had previously been fitted.. It was supposed to be 3m and was sold as such but I thought 3m always printed there brand on the product, even it it was on the backing tape .. This stuff has no 3m branding although it is e marked every 30 cm or so I paid a bit more for it being 3M but it just looks like the same stuff that was less than half the price .. Hey ho you live and learn ..

Next thing that's packed in in short time : Universal 12v washer pump. £8.. motor turned but no matter what efforts were put into getting it to scoot water it just spun the motor and dint act as a washer pump.. so bought a £16 Lucas one and hopefully that will work first time

Just trying to save you guys money by rejecting the cheap crap thats offered out there .. I recon so far Ive probably wasted in the region of £300 between unsealable door seals, washer motor, spire clips, window locks, oil pressure switch, door mirror fixings, and brake switch .. among other bits n bobs... Buy wisely which isnt always cheaply

Took the relevant paperwork to the Post Office and changed to Historic and with the issue of a till reciept and free post to the DVLA i was legal and on the road .. So went home and took the old boy for a longer run. Went down to see my old fella 30 mile round trip and not a blip .. perhaps a slight adjustment to the timing ? but other than that it drove really well, some odd notes from the gearbox depending on speed and mainly in the 3rd and 4th so probably a wee bit of wear but nothing desperate . Not a rattle or bump from the suspension or body, all seemed pretty good , said it before ,im really surprised how well this old thing drives and its got some poke .. I thought they were all rattily, stubborn, wheezy old breeze blocks.. This is easily a daily driver .. so I hate to think how bad some of these you tube examples are when they say they are a hand full ..

Just missed a series 2 that was far sale locally today .. I suppose its sale will save me some doe lol..

Well thats me , 109 is now officially my daily, went to the skip with a load of garden waste and scrapped the x trail . deeds done. onto the next project .. Think I will save a bit of cash and plough into the wee 29 roadster hot rod .. might need the funds out of that one for the next, next build All in, I think I have a touch over 500 hours in this old landy .. Cost wise its probably been a lot less than it would be to buy a beat up old runner project !! Its affordable for a wee runabout , can afford to use it and not worry about it . Still banging on about how well it drives .. because im really surprised .. Insured it for agreed value of £10k I think it would be worth that all day long, Ive had an offer of £8000 but now ive had the chance to drive it with a couple of small jobs taken care of , I think £10000 to £12000 would be its market value if current prices are anything to go by .. Its academic, as its not for sale

Thanks for listening and giving me a space to document the build up

You have done a great job, i hope it serves you well.
I have enjoyed your thread.
Please dont be a stranger.
I dont think we actually got fully finished pics
j

Thanks for your patience Will grab a few pics of it "out in the field" been having a lot of fun driving it .. Its even started to earn its keep hauling garden rubbish to the tip , well its a start

Will be around frequently as there are a lot of other ongoing builds that are interesting, Im not going to be disappearing any time soon

Thanks again.