The 110.

I have loved your rebuild threads and cant wait to read more on this one!
I have an ex mil 90 of similar vintage to yours. I have just purchased a 300tdi disco as an engine donor. As is typical of this time of year, rain stops play for me too!
Best of luck with this one! I understand your earlier feelings about the size of the project. I get them too, especially when I get set t do some of the nice jobs like personl mods etc then something more urgent crops up and I have to do that instead! Got a shed full of 'nice jobs' to do now!!! Aswell as a disco to cut up and dispose of to make it easier to get to and work on the bits I acrually want on it!!
Cheers
Rich

Thanks Rich as long as I make you all smile my stupidity is worth it!
Yep the weather is now against us but hey it has got to rain sometime eh. I am slowly accumulating the parts needed to get stuck in and if the weather is kind to us I should hopefully have some time on Sunday to get stuck in on the 110.
The urge to buy a running motor like another Disco is strong so I could use it over the winter then take its engine come the spring as a nicer doner is very tempting I have to admit!
I will keep up to date with it all as we go along Any pics of yours?

Not that I can work out how to post from my tablet!!
Unless I have inadvertantly managed it?
If I have, the pic is when I pulled the trigger on it in May!

Yep you have managed it lol looks good still in camo now then or did you change it?

She is nato green all over with side windows fitted.
Defender front seats inc hi back middle seat with 3 point inertia reel belt.
In the back are 2 benches but I may remove one as it has never been sat in!
No other mods really but transfer box has been off to be resealed and last week the crank pulley decided to makea bid for freedom which ws quite exciting on the A38! Managed to reattach it and didnt even lose the woodruff key but the bolt was long gone. It was an urgent journey though so a 60 mile round trip with nothing but a wing and a prayer holding it together!

LOL sounds just like Landy fun that! I cannot wait to get mine sorted and on the road but it will be quite a long road to travel first...

It will be worth it, mate!
Over the years I have had all sorts of land rovers but this is the first time I have not had a normal car at the same time so I am without my safety net. I love driving it though and cant imagine being without her. She just needs to stop throwing me curve balls so I can treat her to nice things!!!
Rich

I know it will in the end and this will be my last project for a while I am hoping this one is my keeper unless something superb turns up on the road ready at a stupidly cheap price...then I would probably still rebuild this one anyway

The army certainly made sure the tyre pressures would be right!

Cop Outs & Cock Ups.
The 110Posted by Nicky Smith Sat, November 21, 2015 16:03:23
At very short notice I ended up working away most of this week training the happy folk of the Spennymoor depot who in all fairness really joined in with the training which makes it more interesting and even sometimes fun! It rained a lot up there the wind was howling around the walls of the hotel I was staying in and my thoughts went out to those folk that live on the streets because it must of been bloody awful for them.
The only casualty I found upon returning home was one of my kayaks had taken a flying lesson over a five foot wall cracking the base of itself six inches in on one end so I will have to buy some fibreglass resin and see if I can make it water tight again.

I Was supposed to be heading off to see my brother and his family today but as I sat down last night I felt exhausted so I cried off that trip to Bristol because I could not face another five hours of driving on top of the countless hours I had spent behind the wheel already this week. Christmas is fast approaching so we will have to make up for it then and if you are reading this little brother we will

After a very pleasant sleep I awoke and wondered what to do with the day...first up the old dog (not Wifey really it was the dog) decided it was time to go out for a walk so I obliged not realising just how damned cold it was out there nor how breezy and my mind turned towards the 110 that was sat on my driveway that could just be seen from my meander with the dog.
I don't want to do another project if I am honest I just want to jump in and drive it I really regret selling Brian the Discovery but what is done is done and cannot be changed so after a quick breakfast I donned my babygrow and went out to get started on removing the front end to 1) Open up the bulkhead for welding then 2) Start off with changing over the suspension on the front end and I mean all of it!

The grill came off quickly and easily then I set to removing the stubborn bolts for the front panel...


The offside was easy enough but the nearside bolts were going to take a little more force so I popped on the ratchet extension and promptly slipped like a clumsy fool bashing the ratchet handle into the now exposed radiator, cursing myself I went right back to the stubborn bolt in question and managed to free it off and it was then I noticed my gloved left hand was getting a little warm...no not just warm but damp and warm...



Talk about six sorts of stupid!!! As if I didn't have enough to do/spend on this 110 I as in ME have cost myself even more money and time because I am so bloody clumsy!
I dug around in the shed and found some polystyrene to divert the flow because I still had a couple of bolts to remove and Pukkah just wanted to pee on me where I needed to stand...



Five minutes more of me buggering about and the front panel was off. My feet were like frozen blocks of ice at this point I was feeling a bit low with the whole project thing so I went inside for a nice cup of tea.
As I stood in the kitchen supping away on my brew talking to Wifey I pondered once again whether I could be bothered with this project. The Mrs just looked at me then said
"Sell it if can't be doing with it. That is of course if you want to quit...have you ever quit on any of your other projects over the years before?"

Bloody women throwing the gauntlet down to me thinking I was going to fall for the whole reverse psychology thing.
I went back outside and carried on in the cold.

How many nuts and bolts do you need to hold on a wing?? Lots is the answer and then of course you have to remove all that is attached to it like header tanks etc and please please if you find yourself having to remove a wing do not and I repeat here do not forget to disconnect the lighting wiring that runs through it before you try to remove it from the rest of the motor or you will end up looking like a right tool like I did for the second time today.
With the wing removed the true extent of the pillar/foot well rust became quickly apparent and the suspension really was in a sorry state...



Time to ignore the bulkhead bit for now as I am starting from the front end here so I cleaned back the rust on the base of the suspension turret then whacked on a smaller socket than the 13mm that should have been used due to the rust issues and off they came. Then I undid the bottom of the shock from below the spring eventually and the whole lot lifted out...



It had indeed seen better days but I had more to do here I still had to get that rusty sloppy spring out of place and it was here I wondered what I had to do with it. I knew how to do a Discovery one so surely this had to be the same right? I convinced myself I as probably wrong then had visions of the spring shooting out of its place across the dual carriageway through me first so I called a friend who has one of these and asked him if I was right. Turns out I was, thanks fella it's nice to know I am not that many sorts of stupid after all, so I set too jacking the axle down taking the tension off of the spring and with a little bit of gentle persuasion form a medium sized hammer the old one popped out of where it had been sitting for a great number of years.

I forgot to take a picture at this point so forgive me but while the spring was out I treated the whole of that chassis area to a good scrub down and undersealing before fitting the new spring in place after checking about twelve times I had the correct spring for the drivers side. Then I popped the replacement cone along with new retention ring and shock into place tightened up the nuts then stood back to admire my handy work...





This process had taken me longer than I care to admit at this point but I am hoping the other side will be a bit quicker now I have the process sorted in my head. While I had the underseal out and the wing off I decided to seal the wheel arch of it up as there was some surface rust showing and seeing as apparently I am not going to be quitting on this project I may as well do it all properly...



The driveway looked like a bomb had gone off on it with tools everywhere as well as rubbish and rust so I started on a big clean up that even included getting the brush out! It was while I was brushing away a black Range Rover pulled up with an Irish chap in it who had just finished an event at 1:30pm in the afternoon and was going to sell me a generator "cheap as chips." Jeez do I look like I just fell out of the tree or what and knowing this scam and the fact I have a 110 sat on the driveway which like to be stolen a lot at the moment (how disappointed would they be with my rust bucket if they did!) I became rather unfriendly with him not aggressive mind just shirty enough for him to quickly bugger off but not before I got his registration to which I did not hide the fact that I was taking it down.

With that little bit of nonsense over I set back to my sweeping chore and gathered up about half a Land Rover in rust and then decided to call it a day because the thought of sitting on the freezing cold concrete removing another wing was not exactly appealing. All locks were locked after all of the security devices were put into place as a deterrent for any low life passes and I may just dig out the webcam and set that up looking at the driveway just in case.

I feel better now I have made a proper start on him the fact that one thing off of the list is now done my rhythm for the build is returning but that bulkhead is going to need some panels soon as it looks like a Swiss cheese...

Barking & Bushes.
The 110Posted by Nicky Smith Sun, November 22, 2015 15:02:54
I am not quite right in the head.
No really I am not I am convinced the rest of the world is quite mad and only I see what is truly going on but thankfully I keep this to myself for the most part so don't tell anyone ok.

So yesterday I managed to take all day just changing the offside suspension but my OCD would not let it rest there because who in Gods name would only do half of a job eh? Well certainly not me it literally kept me awake last night and when I slept the fact the nearside needed doing was in my dreams. Wifey asked this morning what my plans for the day were and I was thankful to hear the "my" bit because I was already dressing for the messy work of dealing with the nearside suspension on the 110. I umm'd and rrr'd for a few seconds and asked if she had anything she wanted to do which she did that did not involve me for a few hours so I had free reign to get stuck in.
I opened the bedroom door to find the dog sitting in the doorway looking at me hopefully because I had had the cheek to get up make a brew and take it back to bed to drink before she had had her walk so my cheeky get stuck into the landy had a price after all.

When the mutt was happy I set to stripping out the passenger wing and if anything the suspension on this side actually looked worse than the other side...





There was rust galore everywhere under there and would the bloody nut free off on the bottom of the shock no dear reader it would not. Eventually though I managed to crack it just as my neighbour walked past asking how I didn't feel the cold sitting out here on the driveway to which I replied "Layers chap, it's all in the layers"
Happy with this he disappeared into his warm and generally far more sensible house for what smelt 20 minutes later like a full English fry up...lucky bugger.

At this point I had managed to smack a smaller socket onto the turret bolts and snapped them off in short order and the shock and turret were free. They were definitely worse than the other side...



But no worries I had the new set ready to roll and with easier placement of the jack onto the axle because there were no steering arms or boxes in the way the old spring soon popped out as well. A quick slap of underseal around later and the new spring along with turret retention ring were in place so I popped it all together ready to tighten up the nuts.
This is where the fun really started.

Could I get the bottom nut in place on the shock absorber...no no I could not. I pushed I pulled I shoved then used tools to hold the shock down but I just could not get the nut started on the thread. In the end I resorted to trimming off a little of the bush and that solved the issue but this whole process took about half an hour.
Still when all done it does look good or am I the only freak that gets off on new car parts??? I bloody love new car parts...




Part of the process of getting the nearside wing off was to move the air filter out of the way and that was a proper mess and had not been changed for donkeys years. Luckily I had one in the shed so a quick swap sorted that issue and this may just be in my head but the engine seems to run better for it too.
With all of this off I had a look at the foot well and yes this needs changing along with two other patches I have managed to find...



Just as well I have bought that new welder eh!
Now the time had come to pop the wheels back on drop the 110 off of the axles stands and see if the new springs had made much of a difference to the ride height. Now considering these are standard springs I was very surprised to see that Pukkah now sits a good 2-3" taller on the front end! The sag in those old springs must have been awful and I suspect they were the ones fitted from new in the factory.





With that all sorted I had a little drive up and down as far as I could on my driveway and path to settle the springs into place then set to treating the rust on the rear bodywork just because I was sick of seeing it if I am honest and the rest of the motor has plenty enough underneath without waving more of it at me every time I walk past it.




I will need to source some new cappings for the rear of the tub before painting but that is way down on my list of priorities.

The weekend has finished with me feeling a lot better about what lies ahead now on this project and what a difference a day can really make. The front end suspension is now in place the 110 still drives and much to my surprise still stops when you use the brakes considering what they look like and I am starting to see a time line and order in my head on what will be done and when. Isn't it amazing how different you can feel once you have made even a little bit of progress on something because yesterday morning I could have quite happily sold this little shed of mine but today well I don't think I would see it go...

That's the ticket. A bite sized job each weekend and it'll soon look like it's getting somewhere. What's next? Rear Springs? Brakes? I was just thinking about mine - I've had it for three and a half years and in that time I've worked my way through suspension, brakes, axles, added some electrical goodies and an auxiliary fuel tank, rustproofed the chassis a couple of times, not to mention serviced it and done little things like changing the injector loom a couple of times (it's a TD5), the handbrake mechanism and the propshafts. All in small-scale 2 or 3 day projects. I haven't done an engine rebuild, a clutch change or a gearbox rebuild (at least not on this car) but maybe they're coming.

What's next well that is going to be the welding on the bulkhead and front nearside chassis. The foot wells want welding up and the door pillars replacing so I will go with those first and then move onto the battery box which is just about rusty dust now!
Then I will do the rear shocks but the springs look ok so I ill leave those for now. Then it will be onto the rear 1/3 chassis replacement...

Welding & Water
The 110Posted by Nicky Smith Sat, November 28, 2015 17:33:53
What's your first memory? I mean the real first memory not the one you wish it could be or the memory of a photo that you have been shown from your very early life. I literally remember becoming self aware one morning in my bedroom, I lay there looking around knowing who I was that I was safe but I could not recall anything from the day before. I knew that there was a yesterday but what I did or why I did it I had no idea and try as hard as I could nothing would come forth from my memory. Then my Mum came into my room and I knew she was my Mum all was safe and now the fact that I could not recall yesterday or anything before didn't really matter so I went back to being a kid.

Weird eh but there it is the first thing I can recall with any clarity and that still doesn't seem as far away as the end of this project!

I sat around early this morning wondering how early was too early to get the grinder out and start on the 110's rather vast amount of welding without upsetting the neighbours so once 08:30 arrived I thought "bugger it" and started to set up for the morning to get some done before the promised rain of the afternoon made an appearance.
In my eagerness to get on with it I forgot to takes any photos at the start but you have seen the rusty bits already so I cut those out and ground back to bare metal to get welding to. I needed a couple of patches doing on an outrigger so that was soon sorted...



As you can see I decided against removing the whole floor panel because the metal really is solid on most of it so a patch out but the a full width floor panel welded in on both sides for added strength then sealed up nicely...



I only had one real issue through any of today's welding and that was there seemed to be water dripping off of the roof from melting frost just where I wanted to weld each and every time of course but sod's law does like a laugh and today it was at my expense.
So with those bits done I set to sorting the door pillar so first the door had to come off which is a straight forward job just four bolts to remove and the first three undid no problem at all but the fourth did not want to play in any shape or form at all. First of all it broke my heavy duty screwdriver that I have had for years then the whole head somehow just disintegrated so out came the drill and off came the door.
With that done I ground off all of the old pillar and stood back to get the new one to offer up into place and then as I looked up I realised that I really was past the point of no return here whether it was going to rain or not!


I have never done a door pillar on a Land Rover before so I sat back and had a think (which is no easy feat for me you know) of what I should do here in what order. I set to with offering the pillar up into place then popping a couple of tack welds at the top then at the bottom. Then I set the door back into place using the remaining two bolts that were still serviceable closing is onto the latch setting it to the correct position.
A quick weld along the top sealed the deal there and then I drilled through the new with the old making a hole that I turned into a spot weld bridging the two down the inside. On the front of the bulkhead side I seam welded the new panel and hey presto folks it sat true and unmovable.




One side down and I was really feeling like I was into the swing of things here then I felt the first drops of rain arriving. It was good timing really because I needed to eat and the driveway looked like a bomb had hit it so I set to putting it all away being content with the fact that I was halfway through the front end welding already.

That looks like good progress considering how rusty it all looked at the beginning. Good job the rain kept off in your neck of the woods - it would have been pretty miserable all day working outside here, and I'm only about thirty miles away from you.

Oh the rain soon came howling in at around 1:30pm chap so I literally had just finished putting the gear away!
As for the progress yes slowly getting the big jobs out of the way. Next is more of the same on the other side rear suspension and finally the rear 1/3 chassis and crossmember replacement which again will be a first for me...

Great update! Glad you have decided to keep the truck and press on. well dobe with the progress! I feel ashamed with my lack of progress! I have so many jobs sort of started that I dont know which to do first! Need to do a list I think! And finish the bathroom I started in March before I do ANY landy jobs!
Keep goin, mate. You are an inspiration and your posts make most enjoyable reading

Cheers

Rich

Well thanks for that Rich Glad you are enjoying the posts as for where to start just pick a point and go from there!

I have to keep it now I have just spent a fortune of parts so need to do a price update as well on the next instalment...

Getting it warm.
The 110Posted by Nicky Smith Thu, December 03, 2015 16:12:21
I have been working night shift for a few nights this week far from home in County Durham and hats off to you folks that do this full time because I do not know how you manage with it at all. Night shift is so foreign to my body I don't know whether I am coming or going. I have averaged three hours sleep per day over the last three days with my system refusing to believe that it was a good idea being awake at those odd times at all.
I awoke to my alarm at around midnight or last night or this morning whatever you want to call it and set out to teach two classroom sessions about four hours long each. Then I had the pleasure of driving home back to Nottingham straight afterwards but by the time I had finished up at work this end and got home it as around 2pm. I just wanted to go to sleep there and then I am shattered and as soon as my body realised we were home rather than in a hotel it relaxed big style! Problem is I have to be up at 5am to get to work for another day of training so I need to push through to at least 8pm before letting sleep take me in a massive way to it's relaxing black void.
So out came the coffee along with any small chores I could find in the house but it was when I looked out of the window I remembered that I had had a couple of deliveries while I was away for the 110 and they were in it waiting for me to have a look at them.

There were a pair of door bottoms bought off of a friend that were in pretty good condition needing just a little work doing to get them bang on right because I am seriously considering putting the correct military style doors back on the 110 rather than the updated Defender type doors it has on at the moment. Happy with that I set to opening the massive cardboard box that ran the length of the 110's rear and as expected it held the new rear third chassis I had ordered and it is in perfect condition with no dents from delivery which was nice! I don't know why folks always knock Britpart I have never had a problem with their bits to date and the chassis is made well enough for the price painted well to boot. I will of course treat it again anyway for rust prevention to maximise it's life while I slowly save up for a galv chassis and new bulkhead for the 110's next reincarnation in a few years time.

That done I decided to start the engine up and run it to temperature pulling through the injection cleaner along with the fuel. I must change the oil and filter soon and while I have the front end off as access will be so much easier as well as hopefully reducing some of the smoke from start up. The oil is as black as night and who knows when it was last changed on the old boy!
I had a bit of a tidy up and looked at what welding needed to be done but it started to rain along with the fact I can barely keep my eyes open so I decided that that was probably just asking for trouble and headed back indoors to stick on another pot of coffee.
The weather looks a bit pants for the weekend again but I am hoping for a few hours of dry at some point so I can crack on with the welding that needs doing on the driverside of the bulkhead.
Or maybe I will just sleep....

Seems a bit weird that the classroom sessions have to be in the middle of the night! I'm sure you coped admirably. Yes, everything will be better with an oil change. Plus an air filter change might help the smoke situation as it won't be running so rich. With the progress you have made on the sheetmetal work lately I hope it's all looking a bit less daunting.