S3 109 Safari project......

GSF 109 · May 20, 2023

I broke the welder out and got stuck in. I haven’t buffed the welds all the way down as they won’t be seen and it’s not an MOT repair. It just needs to be solid and cosmetically tidy enough

. Just got a couple of more pin holes to sort out, tidy it up with a little filler, prime, paint and refit.

LincolnSteve · May 22, 2023

Lovely job. It's perfect how you are always just nicely ahead of where i'm up to. It means I get a nice bit of warning about what to expect.

GSF 109 · May 22, 2023

LincolnSteve said:
Lovely job. It's perfect how you are always just nicely ahead of where i'm up to. It means I get a nice bit of warning about what to expect.

It will also let you learn from my mistakes!

GSF 109 · Jun 25, 2023

Made a bit of progress on the bonnet at last. Been busy with other stuff, so glad to be getting this done. I finished welding the frame to make it solid again. Put a light skim of aluminised filler to tidy up some bits, which is stronger and more resistant to cracking just because bonnets tend to get slammed - plus the extra weight of the spare wheel. Once that was rubbed down, I hit it with Kurust, then zinc primer, regular primer, then 3 coats of UPol gloss black. I then cleaned off the underside of the bonnet to give a clean surface for some Purflex sealant, which will act as an isolator between the two different materials and a bonding agent to minimise vibration.
After squeezing the frame back onto the bonnet I screw pinned all rivet holes, then riveted the two panels together using Wurth sealed rivets. Probably an overkill but they are good quality.
Almost done with the bonnet now. Just some minor filling to be done, a sand down, then send it out for paint. Can’t wait to see it painted, with the newly galvanised spare wheel mount and bonnet hinges, new rubber buffers, and fixings! Oh, the small wins keep me going

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Wagon Loon · Jun 25, 2023

GSF 109 said:
Made a bit of progress on the bonnet at last. Been busy with other stuff, so glad to be getting this done. I finished welding the frame to make it solid again. Put a light skim of aluminised filler to tidy up some bits, which is stronger and more resistant to cracking just because bonnets tend to get slammed - plus the extra weight of the spare wheel. Once that was rubbed down, I hit it with Kurust, then zinc primer, regular primer, then 3 coats of UPol gloss black. I then cleaned off the underside of the bonnet to give a clean surface for some Purflex sealant, which will act as an isolator between the two different materials and a bonding agent to minimise vibration.
After squeezing the frame back onto the bonnet I screw pinned all rivet holes, then riveted the two panels together using Wurth sealed rivets. Probably an overkill but they are good quality.
Almost done with the bonnet now. Just some minor filling to be done, a sand down, then send it out for paint. Can’t wait to see it painted, with the newly galvanised spare wheel mount and bonnet hinges, new rubber buffers, and fixings! Oh, the small wins keep me going .

Yes the spare wheel makes the bonnet very heavy, even with the smaller tyres. Yours will be awesome once it's got paint.

GSF 109 · Jun 25, 2023

Wagon Loon said:
Yes the spare wheel makes the bonnet very heavy, even with the smaller tyres. Yours will be awesome once it's got paint.

Thanks - will hopefully get it away this week for paint.

GSF 109 · Jun 26, 2023

Managed to pick up my two side frames and other bits from the painter today. Nice to see them with a coat of paint! I also dropped off the bonnet, so hopefully that will be done before I finish up for holidays

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Wagon Loon · Jun 26, 2023

GSF 109 said:
Managed to pick up my two side frames and other bits from the painter today. Nice to see them with a coat of paint! I also dropped off the bonnet, so hopefully that will be done before I finish up for holidays .

Pretty shiny thing's

GSF 109 · Jul 21, 2023

The bonnet arrived back and I must admit it looks really good if I say so myself

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GSF 109 · Jul 22, 2023

Managed to fit the blingy bits on too. Great to see it coming together now. As you can see I fitted new bonnet buffers but added some electrical tape on the back to help prevent differential corrosion. Less bits on the garage floor to trip over now

. Now that’s done I really need to move onto the engine and gearbox so watch this space, because I’m hoping they are in reasonable condition and don’t need much

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GSF 109 · Jul 30, 2023

Made a start on the 200tdi and the original series 3 gearbox with trying to get the gearbox as clean as possible before inspection. It was caked with baked on oil/mud combination which was horrible to clean needing scrapers and various chemicals! Still a nightmare to do but it’s looking a good bit better.

GSF 109 · Jul 30, 2023

While I am waiting for the gaskets and seals to arrive, I thought the best use of time would be to start working on the engine. I got my old engine stand out and bolted it to the engine as it’s so much easier to work on. After removing the flywheel and flywheel housing, it was quite evident that there were oil leaks here. The gasket was rock hard and it would be a nightmare to remove, but I used a wire brush on a grinder which worked a treat.

Made a start to the strip down which was fairly straightforward, but still got a bit to go. The main objective is to check it out, and replace only necessary parts. Hopefully the bottom end and bores are fine….

. I hope to find out next weekend when I’m next at the shed.

GSF 109 · Aug 4, 2023

Made a bit of progress today on the engine. Found the water pump was seized, which I’m sure it wasn’t when I test run it a couple of years ago. May be due to residual water in the block seizing it up. I will replace it anyway. I found 3 of the bolts holding on the timing belt cover were rounded so it looked as if the timing belt cover had been off before. Managed to get them off eventually with some heat and after jamming on an old socket. Rough but it worked! The front pulley came off with an impact gun after I locked the crank with two bolts and a lever. The belt looked reasonable and the idle pulley and tension pulley were like new although I found a chunk of metal at the bottom of the case which is a bit concerning. Any ideas what it might be?

GSF 109 · Aug 4, 2023

While the going was good, I took off the injector pipes, glow plug wiring, glow plugs, cam cover, rocker shaft with pushrods, then the cylinder head bolts. I’ll test the glow plugs and if they are still good I’ll reuse them.
Thankfully, the head cam off without a fight

Once it cam off I was pleasantly surprised to fit the head looks really good, the head gasket was pretty good and the bores had no wear ridges. In fact the bores still had the cross hatching on them with no scoring. The pistons had very little movement in the bores and only carbon buildup being the only issue. That’s a great result!
When I go back to the shed, I’ll spin the engine over on the stand, pull the sump pan and have a look at the big end and crank shells. Hopefully they will be as good as the rest! The mileage on the engine was reportedly 74,000mls, going by the clocks when I took it out, which by the looks of it might just be correct

.

Wagon Loon · Aug 5, 2023

GSF 109 said:
Made a bit of progress today on the engine. Found the water pump was seized, which I’m sure it wasn’t when I test run it a couple of years ago. May be due to residual water in the block seizing it up. I will replace it anyway. I found 3 of the bolts holding on the timing belt cover were rounded so it looked as if the timing belt cover had been off before. Managed to get them off eventually with some heat and after jamming on an old socket. Rough but it worked! The front pulley came off with an impact gun after I locked the crank with two bolts and a lever. The belt looked reasonable and the idle pulley and tension pulley were like new although I found a chunk of metal at the bottom of the case which is a bit concerning. Any ideas what it might be?

Yikes

is it attracted to a magnet, or a chunk of aluminium?
Somebody must have left it there while they were using the wrong sockets, maybe didn't notice it as motor in vehicle??

GSF 109 · Aug 5, 2023

Wagon Loon said:
Yikes is it attracted to a magnet, or a chunk of aluminium?
Somebody must have left it there while they were using the wrong sockets, maybe didn't notice it as motor in vehicle??

It does appear to be ferrous but I think you’re right in that it found its way in there during the cam belt exchange. I can’t find any damage inside the cam belt area so it must have come from somewhere else

GSF 109 · Aug 13, 2023

After stripping the sump, cradle and oil pump I thought I would check the big end and main bearings for wear. Just as well I did as you can see some wear in the main bearing shells. At this point I’m committed so the lot had to come out!

GSF 109 · Aug 13, 2023

Laid out the lot on the table, cleaned the deck of the block and cleaned of the outside of the block too.

GSF 109 · Aug 13, 2023

Next, I’ll clean the lot up, possibly replace the core plugs and paint the block. Not sure on the colour for the block. The original seems to be a gold colour? Maybe a satin black would work well? I have ordered new main bearing shells along with big ends, thrust washers and a set of piston rings, so that should freshen the engine up a bit, along with a full gasket set. I will hone the bores to remove the glaze to get the new rings to bed in. Next week, I’ll strip the head to see what needs to be done there.

GSF 109 · Aug 28, 2023

So, moving on with the block, I cleaned, prepped and painted it with VHT although the block will never get that hot, it’s good protection for it. I also replaced all the core plugs, using the age old method of a hammer and old screwdriver. I put some Wurth sealant around the new core plug to make sure there is little chance of future leaks

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S3 109 Safari project......

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