The 110.

Hope your daughter's OK. The worries increase by a whole order of magnitude once the little ones get wheels.

Ahh, you're not a real biker til you've dropped it a couple of times - always ensuring you come out unscathed of course.....hope she's fine, bikes can be mended.... None of mine have shown any urge until now my 20yo thinks she might follow in her cousins footsteps who recently passed her A1 test (or is A2 the lower/younger one?) .....not sure Mum is too happy.

The project is gripping as always - and yes it's 'soiree' if that helps at all! With you 100% on the present buying thing - embarrassing but true, and my other half is far too good at it to let that talent go to waste..... Cheers, A

Well my daughter has had this bike for nearly a year now and this is her fourth off...now I am a driver trainer/assessor by trade and I have to say she is not the best of riders. She was very lucky this time around the daft bugger but the bike is a right off. It looks ok until you get a bit closer and the be all end all is that she has buggered the steering, bent the handle bars, split the exhaust, smashed up the fairing....it's pretty much FUBAR.
She's ok though with a bruised wrist and knee....very lucky.

Hahaha!! Soiree...now that I see it I recall how to spell it lol, oh and it would be an A2 I believe

Pipes & Plumbing.
The 110Posted by Nicky Smith Wed, December 14, 2016 12:50:51
Right I need to go to work soon add to that I am full of cold again this is going to be a hard and fast update and not in a fun way!

I started with the power steering. I stood wondering what pipe went where but it was pretty obvious once all of the bts were out as they would only go so far lining up with the correct holes just begging to be plumbed in!


Once done I cable tied the fluid reservoir in an upright position and promptly filled up as much of it as I could with power steering fluid. I will bleed it properly once the engine is running.



With all of that done quite easily I decided to set up and support, with cable ties of course, the coolant system and expansion tank. Again literally took minutes.


And when I stood back looking at the magnificence of my complete creation it brings rather a large smile to my face!


That left just one more thing I wanted to tackle today...the exhaust. Well the down pipe from the manifold. I bought one of those James Parkin (I think that's what the name was anyway) Discovery 200tdi to Defender conversion kits. It hit the footwell.
So I had to modify the footwell. Well I need to modify it, all I did today was cut piece of the footwell out so the exhaust wouldn't keep knocking as I hopefully drive around.

It wont take long to fabricate an extra piece of metal to slot in there. I did have to modify a 17mm spanner to fit in on the back bolt of the exhaust (I just cut a spare spanner down in length) so it wouldn't foul on the engine block.
It was soon all in place though.


Next up will be fitting the exhaust in place and making up some brackets to keep it there. I need to pick up some engine oil and do a quick change before I try to fire it up and I think I have some EP90 kicking around somewhere so the rest of the fluids can be sorted out at the same time.
That's going to be it for a few days folks as the retail madness of Christmas kicks in at work, I don't think I will have much time to be doing much of anything apart from work then sleep for a few days!

nickysmith.me

This is getting very exciting now!
Some great progress, mate.... can't wait for the news that it fires up and runs!! It'll be on the road before you know it!!
Glad your daughter is ok.

Rich

Oh we will be at that point soon enough noe Rich

Set Up & Smoke.
The 110Posted by Nicky Smith Mon, December 19, 2016 21:27:27
What an eventful day!
I literally just popped out under the car port for a bit of a potter on The 110. As always I quickly ended up in my own little world tinkering here and pottering there.
First off I had to attach some ends to and ground the two Earth wires that were on the engine onto the chassis after a few good minutes sanded back the underseal to get to clean metal.


Then I figured I may as well top up all of the oils in the gearbox as well as the transfer box. Four litres or so later that was done up and put to bed so I got to looking at engine itself. I really wanted to start it but I knew I probably should change the engine old fist but I have to admit that after all this time getting the lump into place impatience was getting the better of me.
"Sod it" I thought to myself and headed off to get a can of diesel. WHen I got back without anything but excitement in my mind I filled up the fuel filter and using the lift pump primed up the fuel system as best I could.
There were three old batteries in the garage that were ok when I put them in there but I had topped them all up last week.
With a grin on my face I hooked up the first one then with excited anticipation I turned the key...the engine turned over twice before the battery died.
Hmmph. Right not to be phased I grabbed the second one. Same thing, two turn overs before the starter ground to a halt.
OK then it must be third time lucky.
Nope, dead from the outset.

I was beginning to suspect that my very old battery charger might just have given up the ghost. A quick conversation with a neighbour and I had a boost pack in my possession. This was duly hooked up and left for a few minutes to force some charge in.
Then with bated breath I clambered once more across the two seats, sat down and turned the key around.

The engine fired up instantly into life and I learnt two things...

1) You really should change the years old oil in any engine before you try to start it.
2) Make sure you have fitted the full exhaust system as well as replacing all floor panels so the inside of the cab does not instantly fill up with thick black smoke leaving you fumbling for the keys in the ignition to switch the engine off.

So GOOD NEWS!! The engine runs!! It's alive!!! I have no idea if it drives yet because I could not see my hand in front of my eyes when it was running so a quick oil change along with fitting the exhaust and floor pans back into place should put that right.

Those dreams of heading out onto the open road could well soon become a reality...

nickysmith.me

Awesome news!
That is a great pre Christmas treat........ Well done!
Never ceases to amaze me how easily these engines burst to life after such a long period of dormancy, involving upheaval and interference!!
Bet the grins starting to make your cheeks ache by now
Massive hats off to you, mate! It's a huge step forward

Cheers

Rich

Cheers Rich yep still grinning here and it is amazing that they fair so well after a few years stuck under a bench!!
It is rather a good feeling to say the least!

Welding & Wind Offs.
The 110 Posted by Nicky Smith Tue, December 20, 2016 18:27:24
After yesterdays success I would quite like a repeat performance of hearing the engine running once more but without the rather excessive black smoke that was like smoking a couple of thousand cigarettes at once.
The first order of business was to get the exhaust fitted. The rear and mid sections were no problem at all of course but the front had to be cut shut and welded up once more to make it fit onto the 200tdi Disco engine.

That done I started to drain the old thick black oil out of the engine. Whilst that was happily dripping out the oil filter grabbed my attention. This had to come off and I had my trusty oil filter grips to use. It did not want to budge.
I managed to crush the bottom of it then dent the middle but still no movement.
Time to take a breather. I lay there under the 110 resting up my arms for a while before putting the grips towards the top of the filter and with all of my might twisting hard it finally budged a few millimeters.
That came with the feeling of relief so I gripped hard and twisted again. It moved more easily this time, finally coming loose and dribbling as much oil out of it's housing as seemed to be coming out of the sump.

I left the whole thing to drain for twenty minutes or so before refitting the new filter then topping the engine up with new oil.
Tomorrows plan is to tidy up the floor well then start to refit the seats and floors themselves.
Then I can start it up properly and run it up to temperature seeing if we have any issues with what has been refitted...

nickysmith.me

Excitement & Expense.
The 110 Posted by Nicky Smith Sat, December 24, 2016 18:04:56
It's amazing how quickly things end up coming together in the end. After spending as much time as I could on The 110 recently it has got to the point where I am easily putting things back together surging head long towards getting an MOT put on it.
With that in mind I decided that I was getting a little fed up with falling through the gaps where the floor should be whilst clambering over two seats that moved around more than my teenage daughter.
So the first point of call was to get those seats secured for now. They will be coming out again once the motor is on the road to soundproof it better but for now I am happy to keep it nice and functional, just how it was originally designed.


I soon made short work of popping the main tunnel and floor pans back into place. These for now are just resting there incase I need a little better access to the gearbox or transfer box whilst getting the final set ups sorted out.
A freshly charged battery was grabbed from the garage, fitted and secured into the recently welded up battery box.
The exhaust was now fitted so with no fear of being gassed once again I climbed into the drivers seat and turned the key in the ignition to be met by the 200tdi engine bursting into more or less instantaneous life. This was accompanied by the usual grin from me but now was the moment of truth seeing if everything I had refitted would work making the car once again move under it's own steam.

I dipped the clutch pedal that gave enough satisfying resistance then gently tried to engage reverse gear. It slotted perfectly and smoothly into place. I let the clutch pedal up a little and was soon met by the biting point. I grinned like a nut case once again and let the clutch gently start to bite and the whole 110 began to move slowly backwards along the drive.
To say I was preoccupied in my amazement that I had actually put everything back together correctly would be an understatement and only just in time did I realise that I was about to reverse into the fence that The 110 had been tightly parked up against! In fact I am not sure how I managed to move the fifteen back that I did without bumping into the fence already.
This though gave me the opportunity to see if it would move forward as well as backwards so I selected first gear and smoothly drove forwards with no issues.

I soon had it all the way up and off of the driveway as far from the house as I could to let it tick over warming itself through for the first time in years just incase something went bang or caught fire.


To say I was happy is an understatement. My creation has proved itself by moving at least fifty feet under it's own steam! Yes it smelt a little burning oily but I just put this down to it being sitting around for years along with the odd spillage here and there when I changed all of the fluids before firing it up.
Nothing to worry about.
Well nothing for about five minutes until I noticed the alarming amount of oil that was dripping out of the Turbo itself...
I literally hopped back into the drivers seat, drove it over the hump of the driveway then killed the ignition letting gravity on my downhill driveway pull The 110 back into it's semi dry working spot under the car port.

I felt really disappointed. Talk about one step forwards then two steps back. Add to that I am skint and it will take me several months to save up for a replacement turbo I could have cried a little. I was literally ready to throw in the towel proper then, just sell the whole damned thing and buy myself a facelift Discovery 2 instead because at least then I would have something I could use straight away.

Time for a cup of tea then.

Twenty minutes out had seen me take a few deep breaths, go back to this expense peice of scrap I owned and refit the drivers side wing. I wanted to offer up most of the front end because the radiators seemed to be sitting a little high for the bonnet. I was right there too. I need to adjust the mounting brackets lowering them by about 30mm so that the bonnet will actually close.


I also had to trim the outer brackets off of the radiator cage as well as these were fouling the wings.


I popped the front grill back into place so I did not have a repeat of the whole sticking a ratchet through the radiator performance.
All in all though things are still heading in the right direction. There is still other work to be completed while I save for a turbo but I was hoping to have it on the road in about a month. Hey ho things can always be worse eh.

Christmas time is once again upon us! It seems to come around quicker and quicker each year. My home seems to resemble Santa's grotto more as each passes but I don't mind that at all.
I would just like to Wish all of you out there a very Merry Christmas! May you all have the best one you can and remember it's not about what you get given but trying to enjoy time with Family and close friends, then congratulating yourself at the end of the day when they have all left without you killing them...

Merry Christmas All

nickysmith.me

I experienced similar disappointment when I first fired mine up and it boiled the pas fluid!
stay positive! It may take a while but at least you will know the turbo is good once you have replaced it and it's Christmas....... so sod it and have some beers and mince pies, and enjoy the family time!
If you got a disco 2 you would be out there welding the chassis every weekend or tracing electrical faults or water leaks!
You have a car anyway, don't you so there is no rush and also a summer mot is better than a winter one!
It's pants having to do compulsory repairs in winter under pressure!!!
Happy Christmas
Rich

LOL that is indeed true Rich. I did these bits a couple of days ago just have not had a chance to write anything up.
Yea the damned pile of scrap will be staying of course but sometimes it seems like it just wants to die!

Merry Christmas fella

Brackets & Bonnets.
The 110 Posted by Nicky Smith Mon, January 02, 2017 14:58:07
Here we are again then folks, we made it into 2017 alive and kicking.
Some friends and family were not so lucky but that drives home the fact that we should live our lives to the max every day doing what we enjoy.
With that said I have done bugger all for the whole of the festive season on The 110 and that I did enjoy! But all good things come to an end eh.

Before work today I decided that I really had to sort out that issue with the bonnet sitting too high and resting on top of the Discovery Radiator and oil cooler housing.


First things first I had to drain the coolant out from the radiator, luckily i had only put in just enough anti freeze to keep the whole thing from freezing so no great expensive loss there. Once all of that had finished dripping its way out I disconnected all of the pipework forgetting that the oil cooler pipes would have oil in them...that was messy.

A few minutes cleaning up an oil spill later and I lifted out the whole rad/cooler set up popping it into the garage then covering it up with a plywood board. Yes I am paranoid about putting a hole into another radiator!! It is an expensive mistake not to be made twice.
Obviously I had already measured the gap between the wing and bonnet so it was just a quick mark up on the existing bottom brackets before cutting through them then cleaning them back to bare metal ready for welding up.


A few minor adjustments with a lump hammer saw the newly trimmed brackets dropped into place with all of the body panels then offered up and hurrah! the bonnet now closes like it is supposed to.
I dug the welder out which didn't want to play with the feed coughing and spluttering away giving me just enough cooperation to get the brackets welded permanently into place.


I have left all of the radiator bits off for now as I want to position the header tank properly and get those oil pipes made up and fitted into place, this will make access just a little easier.
When I stand back though I cannot help but think The 110 is starting to look like it wants taking apart again...


***A quick follow up note. At the beginning of this post I mentioned doing what you like every day and a memory came to me yesterday as I ran through the torrential rain with my coat held on only by being hooked over my head that when we were kids we did just that, hooked our coats onto our heads whilst pretending to be superheros.
I was always Batman of course and I have to admit running through the rain yesterday made me feel like I was seven again.
And it turned me into Batman...I am the Batman.

nickysmith.me

A few more hours in the bat cave should see the old girl finished and ready for MOT!
Btw, I didn't have a hood on my coat so had to be Wonder Woman
Rich

Now why do I see you running around in tight spandex???
Yep we are closer to the end than the beginning!

min200 said:

Now why do I see you running around in tight spandex???
!

Click to expand...

Wishful thinking??

Lmao, that must be it!

Happy New Year Nick (and everyone else for that matter) - just love the progress reports with all the added complete surreal side-tracks.....! Batman indeed ...... Cheers, A

Happy New Year to you as well
Surreal???? Nah, that's just how my head works