New forum member and thought the best way to increase my post count is........ A rebuild thread
Shameless attempt to improve my status I know.......but seriously who can resist a re-build thread !!
Anyhow, I started this old girl up after 7 years besides the hedge in the back yard. I'd promised her a restoration after many years as a faithful family hack and all she needed was a new battery before starting first turn of the key.
A rough plan was drawn up, kind of like a list of works required and at this point barn space was sourced in preparation.
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Front end stripped out and engine removed to be sent away and reconditioned. The whole strip down was as expected, nothing would undo without buckets of plus gas or the angle grinder.
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The old 200tdi was running well but smokey when last used, so was due an overhaul, I'd decided to have it completely rebuilt by a specialist along with the turbo and fuel injection pump. The gearbox had been reconditioned around 10,000 miles before lay up so was in good condition and other than oil change was to be cleaned up and re-fitted.
View attachment 105742 In the mean time the strip down continued, as expected the rot had seriously set in with the side frames and bulkhead suffering badly.
I had sourced some TD5 side frames in excellent condition so these were sent for blasting and galvanising, all doors were shot and the rear tub needed serious work.
The body cappings were rusted through and the chassis was good in the middle but rusted through at front and rear. I had replaced the rear quarter chassis some years before but this was now beyond its best.
I had ordered a chassis from Marslands as a direct replacement in preparation for this.
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The rear tub was worse than I'd thought. Once the old carpet was lifted there was extensive panel rot, other than inner and outer wing panels there was much to remove and I'd decided to go with 3mm thick ally in the rebuild.
I'll post more as the days go by but feel free to ask questions or criticise or even offer other ways I could have done things, always a school day as they say......
Cheers
Chris
