S3 109 Safari project......

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Looking good, you have been busy. I guess there must be some tension in the chassis if it moved a little when you cut the front member out
 
great progress, good save on the front chassis legs ,, Its annoyig when stuff you expect to fit just doest , without some remedial work.. But you puled it off and its looking great .
 
Wagon Loon said:
Looking good, you have been busy. I guess there must be some tension in the chassis if it moved a little when you cut the front member out
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Yes, even though the crossmember was completely rotten, it still managed to keep the main rails aligned. I really should have braced it before removing. I did have angle iron clamped across both front dumb irons but that obviously didn’t work! Anyway, it’s all back in line now. Once I make up and fit the additional strengthening plates for both sides, I will overlap the welds to prevent a weak point. The crush tubes will support the m12 bolts for the steering box and prevent the chassis leg deforming once they are welded into place.
 
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auld duffer said:
great progress, good save on the front chassis legs ,, Its annoyig when stuff you expect to fit just doest , without some remedial work.. But you puled it off and its looking great .
Click to expand...
Thanks very much. Yes, it was a bit surprising as the dumbiron was well made. It will all start to look a bit stronger once the additional strengthening is in place. I will refabricate the front crossmember from 4mm steel plate and shape it to fit the new steering box location, which is where the old front crossmember was which is inconvenient.:rolleyes: It should make sense as it progresses.:D
 
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Will be interested to see your power steering fitment and how it fits with the cross member.
I assume there will be some plumbing too :)
 
Hopefully, I will be able to fit the discovery radiator with oil cooler, keep the power steering pump on the 200tdi and modify the plumbing to suit. May need to make up some pipes to suit. The crossmember, I will wing it and see how it goes :D:D
 
there is a fella /company in the UK do a you tube video of fitting the P38 power steering box to the series chassis and run off the 200TDI power steer pump.. They run through the whole installation in the video :)
 
Yeah, I’ve seen it. Looks good, but I’ve not gone down this route because I have a discovery power steering box already and all the bits to fit it. I like a challenge too lol. :):)
 
Decided to fully weld the plate on the side of the chassis first, then add the strengthening plates.
7040655C-D1FB-4F1D-8B78-A332245F6FA6.jpeg
 
Trial fit of the disco steering box. It will need a template made up to drill the position of the securing bolts (which I seem to have mislaid!). Then I will cut the bottom out of the lower half of the chassis to tack on the crush tubes inside the chassis leg. That is the plan for next week!
8999C353-5642-48AF-B696-3A5FD48A246F.jpeg
DF17DFBC-688C-4195-BE42-72C60D775FC3.jpeg
 
Nice bit of work . Was scroling down through the pics and thought I would weld in a top plate, then next pic thats exactly what you done . Nice and strong, looks great .
 
Thanks. To be honest, I think it’s probably a bit much going for 4mm plate like I did, but it certainly is strong enough.
Next step is to finish this off and make a new front crossmember to replace the rotten one. Might be a bit of metal origami to make it fit :D
 
I think the 4mm plate was a good idea, the 2mm over the depth of the frame is a bit flexible , and with the steering box mounted in that area there might have been a chance of stress cracks , unlikely, especially with the power steering, but you definitely eliminated any chance of that with the 4mm ( 6mm total) any flex will be spread well over that area .. proper job . Do it right , do it once :)
 
I am not familiar with the later power steering four bolt box set up, so I watched this

Which helped me understand how it sits.
The bleed nipple on top of the box looks like it would be interesting to access once fully built, but it seems a much better idea having it mounted to the side of leg as opposed to rust welded internally lol.
Will you use some of the later components up to the steering wheel also ? Or just the shaft with the U/J's on it .
I'm Shure this mod will result in less minor corrective steering needed when travelling in a straight line :)
 
Yes, I have a steering column brackets and linkage from an early 110, so I’m hoping that will mate up to the disco steering box. I believe it does... :rolleyes:. I will mount the bulkhead back onto the chassis and fit the steering column to be sure the steering box is in the right place before I drill the holes to mount it. Again, cardboard aided design will help here.:) Hopefully this will be a worthwhile mod, given all the additional work required!
 
So I decided to continue with the power steering box mounting. I created a cardboard template to give me a idea of where the bolt holes should be.....
ECD982A1-A9A0-456F-B6F8-B9EDDB63922D.jpeg
 
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