Another 90 Rebuild

Trailstar said:

do they do them for a series 3?- im going to have to do a bulk order sometime from somewhere in the uk, so might add one of them to the growing list...
thanks for the great rebuild thread anyway!, apart from it being very intersting to read, its helped me with tdying up my series3!!

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Sorry, Trailstar. I've no idea if they do them for series 3's. You would probably be able to adapt the Defender one. Mine already has one, but it is a bit tatty. That's why I was looking for replacements. They are pop riveted on via large 'penny' washers. Pleased the thread has been of help.

Brass plugs arrived today, so got the cooling system completely filled.

The new guard panel, to go on the slam panel, arrived too.

But my hands were so numb from filling the cooling system that I couldn't face doing anything with it. Hands weren't even wet!

Well, typical bank holiday weather here! Not got a lot done. Got the guard plate fitted to the slam panel on Saturday and then put the bonnet release cable in. Fitted the radiator support brackets.

I spent all Sunday afternoon fitting gutters and drain pipe to my garden shed, having spent the morning reading expedition threads on LZ.
I did spend 45mins rubbing the front grill down.
It's raining again today, so the plan is this. Go through all of the boxes in the garage and separate the bits in to things that still need to go on/need to be done and bits no longer needed. Then from that make a check list of remaining jobs. Once the garage is tidied I'll prime the grille. Still haven't chosen a silver for it yet. Might have a look at LR Zambezi silver to see if it looks close to the lettering I have.
I've been charging the battery and it seems to be reacting well to it's 2yr holiday. There is a gap in the rain forecast later and so I might connect the battery to see if anything begins to smoulder or melt If that's successful I might drive to the nearest garage and buy some diesel and have a go at turning it over. I've no exhaust on it yet, but it'll be interesting to see if it starts and runs for a minute or two.

Sorted the boxes and have a list that goes on to two pages of A4 of things I need to do/buy/fabricate/fix/install. However, it will be good to have something to 'tick off' because it'll help show progress. In my mind if nothing else!
Rubbed down the new headlight surrounds and got them and the grille primed.


For some reason the drivers side light surround has a textured surface while the other side is dead smooth It's going to take a canny bit of rubbing down, priming, rubbing down priming to get it smooth.
I was all set to fit the air filter box and intake pipework on Saturday. Discovered inside the Y shaped pipe connector there are two metal rings to support the tube when you tighten the jubilee clips down. Mine were pretty rusty, so I rubbed them down and treated them with Fertan rust converter. problem with that is it takes 24hrs to chemically complete the job, so didn't get to fit it all until today. Thought it would take 20 mins, but I was on ages getting the connector bolted to the little bracket down next to the inner wing and chassis rail. Had to manoeuvre some of the brake pipes I'd made up, but eventually got there.
I painted the metal rings with black rustoleum once I'd washed them after the Fertan treatment.

Got the inlet pipework fixed with stainless screws.

Then all of the other pipework and filter box.

Time to try the battery on!
Had the Mrs watching in the engine bay for rising smoke and the smell of burning plastic, while I connected the battery. Nothing untoward happened
The usual lights came on in the instrument panel. Tried the wipers and they worked, tried the heater fan and it worked but squeaked a lot. Great so far, so I thought I'd try turning the key. Nothing happened The lights on the dash dimmed slightly but not a flicker from the starter. I'm presuming either a poor earth or the starter motor is seized. My first thought is the starter as it's not moved for two years. What do you think? It started lashing down with rain and hail again and so I gave upi for the night. Is there an easy way to check the motor or turn it? Is it the good old tap it with a hammer?

I'd try a known good battery. Two years without being charged will likely kill a battery.

Alibro said:

I'd try a known good battery. Two years without being charged will likely kill a battery.

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I must admit I was pleased/surprised by the way it charged up. It wasn't that old when I started taking the Landy apart 2 yrs ago. If it is the battery, It's probably a better outcome that a seized starter. I don't have another battery and I doubt I could get the Mondeo close enough to jump it. Hmmmm? I might have to buy a new battery.

If it charged really quickly then it is probably goosed. If you have a multimeter put it across the battery while cranking and see how low the voltage goes. or pinch the Mondeo battery while the missus isn't looking .

Well that's interesting because it took a long time to charge up. The little round window is showing green, which is supposed to mean it's fully charged, but I don't know how reliable they are.

Al2O3 said:

Well that's interesting because it took a long time to charge up. The little round window is showing green, which is supposed to mean it's fully charged, but I don't know how reliable they are.

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In my experience, not very but the best way to confirm is a known good battery, 2nd best way is a multimeter. I've had a lot of experience with older batteries and some will be killed by letting them sit for a couple of years while others will be OK, just. A fully charged battery should be around 12.9V and shouldn't drop below 12V ish while starting the car. If your battery is below 12V after being charged and disconnected for 30 minutes or so then it's goosed.

Alibro said:

In my experience, not very but the best way to confirm is a known good battery, 2nd best way is a multimeter. I've had a lot of experience with older batteries and some will be killed by letting them sit for a couple of years while others will be OK, just. A fully charged battery should be around 12.9V and shouldn't drop below 12V ish while starting the car. If your battery is below 12V after being charged and disconnected for 30 minutes or so then it's goosed.

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Cheers, Alibro. I do have a multimeter, so will test it as per your instructions. Spot on, thank you. I feel it's not looking good for the battery!

Don't take the actual numbers I've given as gospel but they're close enough, give or take.

No worries. Won't hold you to it.

Couldn't take the battery off the Mondeo today. My mate went in to hospital yesterday for a prostate op. Got a text off him this morning saying they were letting him out great news, so I've been on standby with the car.
Got a few jobs done while waiting for his call.
I've been pondering over the bottom door seals for some time. Issue being (my paranoia) that I got the door frames plastic coated and gave the internal frames a good soaking in dinitrol. Have been wanting to avoid putting another metal up against the steel inside, so I've been looking for alternatives to pop rivets. Having looked at a few different fixings I couldn't find anything to fit the small holes (about 4mm I think) in the bottom of the door frame. Being paranoid I didn't want to drill them bigger, but gave up in the end. I'd kept a load of wheel arch fixings and decided to use them.
Gave them a wash and they came up almost like new.

Used side cutters to trim the fixings to fit the profile of the door seal.

Drilled the holes in the door frame out to 6mm and soaked the holes in dinitrol.
Put the fixings in to the seal.

And fitted them to the door.

When closed they both made a neat tight seal.

Temporarily fitted the radiator surround, grille and headlight surrounds just to see how the silver looks.

What do you reckon? Opinions welcomed. My first thought was what to do with the bumper.
Got one of the all in one YRM sills on.

Hands started getting numb at this stage, it was about 7pm and its been cold all day.
I can't work out why it doesn't reach the rear wheel arch.

The other side does!
I held the rear wheel arch eyebrow in place and it just touches it. When I put a small bolt through the two they should pull together and not look to bad.

As much as ive loved the rebuild, I have to say im not a lover of the silver grill/ headlight surrounds.

Cheers, Mick. Appreciate your opinion. I'm in two minds myself. My initial plan, over a year ago, was to do something cosmetic to bring it up to date a bit. Wheeler dealer esc Obviously, original spec is in vogue now. The Mrs really likes the look of it. Would you have stayed black?

Al2O3 said:

Cheers, Mick. Appreciate your opinion. I'm in two minds myself. My initial plan, over a year ago, was to do something cosmetic to bring it up to date a bit. Wheeler dealer esc Obviously, original spec is in vogue now. The Mrs really likes the look of it. Would you have stayed black?

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I quite like the silver grill and surrounds maybe an unpainted galv bumper would help tie it all in.

That's interesting, because I spoke to the Mrs about a galv bumper. Thought it would also match up with the galv rear cross member.

I love the silver against the red but would trial fit the bumper straight galv, take lots of photos and the play with them on a computer changing the colour to see what it is like black or even body colour.

Cheers, Alibro. I'm busy fitting the radiator surround, grille and light surrounds for real at the moment. Just popped in to see if the indicators or side lights go on the top, couldn't remember. I'll take more pictures with the lights on cos it'll look different again then.

Glorious day today. Could actually hold nuts and bolts and feel them. As opposed to having a rough idea that it might be tightening by the pain level in your finger tips.

Got the second YRM outer sill fitted and i must say they look good and are very impressive in terms of sturdiness. I hesitated in getting them because of the cost, but I'm pleased I did. They're solid.
Got the radiator surround fitted properly. This involved loosening the four bolts that hold the rad frame to the wings as it gets nipped between the two. The rad surround had two lugs at the bottom to which the grille screws to, but I had removed these when it was painted. I filed them down to shiny metal and primed and painted them rioja red with a coat of lacquer I then pop riveted them back on and got the grille fitted. Headlight surrounds in properly too with the side lights and indicators fitted.

Then I fitted the wheel arch eyebrows.


So, on the outside it's just about there. Obviously I need a front bumper and I also need the rear mud flaps fitting. Quite a bit to do inside.
I got the Mondeo close enough to run jump leads to it tonight. Still totally dead when I try to turn it over. Amazingly all the lights work! Sidelights, headlights, main beam, hazards, wiper motor, fan motor. Horn doesn't work. I don't get the heater plug light coming on and not even a click when I try to turn it over. I'm not that great with electric stuff so I'm hoping someone can suggest things to try.
My thoughts so far are: check the earth connections, is there a large fuse I can check somewhere (box against the heater?), immobiliser (do I need to reset it somehow?)

Could I temporarily run a jump cable from the negative terminal of the battery to the engine block to create another earth, just to check out the earth situation?

All suggestions welcomed.

Looking good mate
I like the look of the silver grill also
Not long now and you will be driving her down the road