Still stuck doing non Land Rover stuff at the moment. Moving the workplace from one part of the building to another has taken a lot more time and effort than I expected. I've also been full of "bright ideas" that have meant it has taken longer to get back to the real project.

Here's a example - of getting distracted - there's lots of good quality (used / second hand) wood going begging in the building at the moment so I've done a Steptoe and saved it. I decided to make a new movable workbench that would incorporate a (kind of) tool chest as well as space for some C stores (C stores - military term for consumables, nuts, bolts, washers and other ****. I've got lots of other **** that needs to be sorted so it can either rust effectively and get thrown out or found for one of those jobs that it'll "come in for"). Striking whilst the iron was hot and not looking gift horses in the mouth I made it "real person" high so I can also bolt on the sheet metal shears and be able to cut sheet metal with out having to stoop down to my ankles as usual. I might actually be able to see where I'm cutting for once...









All of the wood was free. No way I'd have bought that much 18mm plywood for something like this! {Do you know how much it costs for a sheet of 8 by 4, 18mm crap ply here in Holland?}

EDIT:- Vague point of adding it to the thread is that metal for the Land Rover will be marked out and cut on my Gucci low budget workbench...

Lovely stuff! Can't beat freebie materials. I'm a notorious skip diver. You've done a good job there.

Nice - dead jealous of the workshop, great save on the ply - it's eyewateringly expensive here too.

LincolnSteve said:

Lovely stuff! Can't beat freebie materials. I'm a notorious skip diver. You've done a good job there.

Click to expand...

Nick666 said:

Nice - dead jealous of the workshop, great save on the ply - it's eyewateringly expensive here too.

Click to expand...

Ummm yeah plywood is rather expensive - the difference in price between the UK and Holland is pretty crazy though.

B&Q do an exterior grade 18mm ply for 35 quid a sheet (2.44 X 1.22m)

Gamma (Dutch equivalent DIY shop) do an exterior grade 18mm ply for 129 euros (2.5 X 1.22)

{With today's exchange rate that's about three times more expensive in Holland than the UK}

This why I'm really really pleased I got the stuff for free. If I'm doing projects like this I usually have to resort to using OSB because the sheet material here is priced out of all reasonable proportion.

If any one can help with this

https://www.landyzone.co.uk/land-rover/picture-request-chassis-rear-shock-mount.311543/

It might help me get a spurt on

(Well let's be honest spurting isn't that likely but the chance of a quick spurt might increase {especially towards the weekend})

The work and mark of an obsessive eccentric genius. My Hat is off to you, and with a bow.

How marvellous that there are still people like you around. People outside Landyzone and far, far further afield will never appreciate this, but I do.

Spent too long looking at your painstaking restorative work on what will be a masterpiece when I should be doing other things, its not just on an olde Landy, its a piece of great British history that you are lovingly restoring. You should be commended and if I had my wish, you would be!

The Queen however, thru her advisors lets not forget, commends many lesser beings and for far less, as we know. Shame on them.

I have taken the time to look at a few projects lately and have thought them great too, but with all due respect to them, this takes the Royal Cake.

If I had my way and say, you should be Knighted for this alone, its truly marvellous. So do keep it up, carry on to completion and be sure to be very proud when you do, because it will be so admired as indeed you are!

All the best to you, the Landy, Wife and grapevines.

Ipcress said:

The work and mark of an obsessive eccentric genius. My Hat is off to you, and with a bow.

How marvellous that there are still people like you around. People outside Landyzone and far, far further afield will never appreciate this, but I do.

Spent too long looking at your painstaking restorative work on what will be a masterpiece when I should be doing other things, its not just on an olde Landy, its a piece of great British history that you are lovingly restoring. You should be commended and if I had my wish, you would be!

The Queen however, thru her advisors lets not forget, commends many lesser beings and for far less, as we know. Shame on them.

I have taken the time to look at a few projects lately and have thought them great too, but with all due respect to them, this takes the Royal Cake.

If I had my way and say, you should be Knighted for this alone, its truly marvellous. So do keep it up, carry on to completion and be sure to be very proud when you do, because it will be so admired as indeed you are!

All the best to you, the Landy, Wife and grapevines.

Click to expand...

Wow - what a reaction - I don't quite know how to respond!

I'll start by saying thank you and say that I've got much more fun planned for the next stages of this project so stick around.

I think it is probably best for the anti-swelling of my head to make it clear that people really shouldn't get knighthoods for having fun and posting it on the internet (that's only gonna cause trouble). I do, however, have a bit of a secret mission (well not so secret now) to try and encourage people to have fun and fix stuff themselves - to learn. It isn't always about using the "money hammer" to solve problems, I think there is much more satisfaction in solving things for yourself if you have the time. The thing is the time...

May be Mercedes isn't your thing (but I think the engineering is really worth the attention) but I did a similar thing here => http://www.peachparts.com/shopforum...achtung-das-schweinhund-baby-benz-thread.html from this you can see that these little projects are never truly finished!

Managed to do something today - most of the time doing it the wrong way round - but in the end it came good.

Under seat battery box repairs.

I pulled out this steel part absolutely ages ago and have been meaning to crack on with making a replacement bottom part.

Using 1.5mm Zincor ('cos it is a bit softer than untreated steel - this is not a galvanising your Gran fixation - honest).

Marking out.



Note how someone had to measure it more than once and make more marks than he should...

...one of those days...

...I zoomed ahead and cut out the bits that weren't needed =>



(Note this is not the way you are meant to use tin snips - although these are hand shears that are meant to allow you to keep on going as though these are scissors in paper. Here's one of the many videos on how to use tin snips properly

)

I then remembered I should have drilled in some nice neat little holes to help the bending.

So I improvised with the angle grinder



Off to the vice bender ('cos my bending brake isn't man enough for 1.5mm steel)



Again I'm bending a little bit at a time going slowly along the length of the bend. The length of the bend is about three times the length of the little vice held bending jaws (see previous posts about this).



(Again I should have pre-drilled)

The vice bender is a bit limited =>



The bottom of the other bit ended up hitting the threaded bar on the vice which meant the bend couldn't be made from the start.



######

Solution - hand tools!

######

{If you ever want to see something amazing have a look over on www.metalmeet.com and see what some people can achieve with hand tools. There was some chap in Thailand making entire VW floor pans with hand tools}

Modifying Grandpa's cold chisel (thanks Grandpa)



Just taking off the sharp edge - file is flat - keep the chisel flat and then round off the edges a little bit

Using the female "V" shaped part of the vice bender and tapping the chisel into the groove



Now you have to be careful with this - you don't want to cut the metal (hopefully the chisel is round / blunt enough) but it is essentially the same action as the other side of the vice bending attachment (knife-like edged blade)

After the bending in the vice (and with the hammer and chisel) the bends were not as smooth as they would be if I had used a proper bending brake. There were some wobbles on the edges =>



Still I flattened them out a bit in the jaws of the vice (trying not to leave marks!)

Once again I forgot something (!) - I forgot to trim before bending so had to make adjustments with the angle grinder



Whilst I really like my little Bosch 10.8V angle grinder (have I mentioned that before?) you must remember to remove all of those nasty sharp edges angle grinding leaves behind =>



#####

I ended up with what looks like a suitable replacement part for the battery box



Despite the haphazard bending procedure with the sometimes inadequate vice bending attachment (which is still excellent value for money even though it is limited) I'm quite happy with what has been produced. The corners aren't exactly as I'd have liked. Here's the worst =>



But here's a better one



If all goes well next and the new tray part fits (!) I'll probably weld up the corners to make them a bit neater (to remove the nasty gaps)

Stretch said:

Wow - what a reaction - I don't quite know how to respond!

I'll start by saying thank you and say that I've got much more fun planned for the next stages of this project so stick around.

I think it is probably best for the anti-swelling of my head to make it clear that people really shouldn't get knighthoods for having fun and posting it on the internet (that's only gonna cause trouble). I do, however, have a bit of a secret mission (well not so secret now) to try and encourage people to have fun and fix stuff themselves - to learn. It isn't always about using the "money hammer" to solve problems, I think there is much more satisfaction in solving things for yourself if you have the time. The thing is the time...

May be Mercedes isn't your thing (but I think the engineering is really worth the attention) but I did a similar thing here => http://www.peachparts.com/shopforum...achtung-das-schweinhund-baby-benz-thread.html from this you can see that these little projects are never truly finished!

Click to expand...

Hmmmm, I noticed the Merc references earlier too... Careful or it`ll just an OBE soon... LOL?!

But no, great restoration work on worthy vehicles deserves proper recognition and especially as you clearly wish to impart ingenious cost-saving method and encouragement to budding LAND ROVER ENGINEERS too that`s all.

You`ve no idea what a great write-up it is neither, so much effort, and all greatly appreciated. Excellent stuff.

Ipcress said:

Hmmmm, I noticed the Merc references earlier too... Careful or it`ll just an OBE soon... LOL?!

But no, great restoration work on worthy vehicles deserves proper recognition and especially as you clearly wish to impart ingenious cost-saving method and encouragement to budding LAND ROVER ENGINEERS too that`s all.

You`ve no idea what a great write-up it is neither, so much effort, and all greatly appreciated. Excellent stuff.

Click to expand...

Again you make me blush.

Red letter day today: First bit of welding.

Under seat battery tray repairs are one small step in the right direction. The rust damage is pretty bad in several places. Real genuine proper delaminated rot.







As you've seen recently a new box has been bent and is ready to go in. Looking at the rest of the structure I was initially of the mind to replace the larger part of this construction too - but then you start to replace everything with new bits - in which case it would probably be best to just go and buy a Freelander or something like that...

...so I decided to try and save as much as I can. This means much more Argon than planned! I've already emptied the last of the bottle that I had left over from my last project and now realised tomorrow the place where I can get a refill is closed. So no more welding until next week. (arse)

So any way after a little diversion - cutting out the remaining rivet stumps with the angle grinder and a pair of pliers and then cleaning away the last of that horrible powdery corrosion



I made the first cut and got the bottom of the battery tray removed



Bye bye patina!

I've decided to make this separate in-between post about welding and what I'm trying to achieve.

Many people, especially those who weld sheet metal with MIG welders do this kind of thing =>



Please note this is not my welding!!!

Little "blips" of metal get bunged on top of joins. I don't want to do this on my vehicles. {I once went to see a car that had had this treatment to a suspension turret - many tiny triangular pieces had been stitched together to make up a complicated "curved" shape - needless to say I didn't buy the car!}

The picture above doesn't faithfully show what most people are trying to do (but it is the only example I could find) because there isn't a gap between the two sheets of steel: There's a (fairly common) fixation that you need to have a gap between the two sheets of steel. I think this comes from the necessity of welding thick (3mm +) steel parts where "edge preparation" and a gap is important to make sure you get sufficient weld penetration. Sheet metal doesn't really work like that because it is so thin. Penetration is rarely a problem. In fact excess penetration is more likely to be the problem as you merrily blow holes along the line you are trying to join.

When using MIG or arc welding techniques (and yes I can actually stick weld on sheet in certain cases!) on sheet steel you are adding material. This isn't always beneficial as it can often cause distortion (as there's a sudden big lump of contracting metal pulling the sheet out of shape) and often needs grinding. Some of the hard core metal meet guru's (and many other people on yewtoob) prefer gas welding for this type of job. I'm using TIG as I haven't gotten to grips with my oxy set just yet and I want to crack on with some production and stop yet more diversions...

...so any way - in a bit you'll see my (slightly out of practice) TIG welding of a new section of steel in the battery tray. It is a butt joint with new zincor added to a part that was rotten.

But first a few tips

Just in case you don't know => Zincor - galvanised steel <= WELDING THIS IS POTENTIALLY DANGEROUS! The fumes that come off are not nice. To stop this from being a problem I sand away the Zincor coating before welding.

Welding with TIG is kind of fun but the parts do need to be really clean - so so so much cleaner than they do with arc welding - so preparation is a bit more involved. The other thing you do (especially when you're a bit out of practice) is grind a lot of tungstens - or wolframs (part dog part sheep)



I've got a special - only for tungstens - bench grinder that is really weedy for normal use but fine for this purpose. It is important that you don't use this grinding wheel for anything else so you keep the tungstens clean.

Another thing that I find really helps with welding is making sure you supply the welder with enough juice. The lead on my welding amplifier - which is only a 180 amp generic hobby box - is a three core 2.5mm^2 lead. That means my extension lead (ideally running as close as possible to the meter box) also needs to be at least as thick as that. The longer and longer lengths you use the thicker you cables should be!



So read the information on your electric welder cables! Who knows the next time you're at the bottom of the garden half a mile away from the house trying to strike an arc this will help?

Before cutting any further I made a little map of the drilled holes in the battery tray. I'm posting it here more for me than for you as I'll probably lose that bit of paper in a minute.



I only had time today for a little bit - a piece at the front of the battery tray



The remaining metal is a bit pock marked and isn't an ideal TIG welding surface.



I cleaned it up as best I could but only had some crappy Silverline stripping discs.

I've ordered some better flexovit ones from toolstation.



Note:- I've left the bend in the end of the panel intact. This gives a little bit of rigidity which will help to hold everything in the correct position.



Marking out with pencil (still not aluminium so pencil is kind of OK to use!)



Quite a close fitting gap between old and new. (I should have spent a bit more time making this gap closer as it turned out)

CLEANING OFF THE ZINCOR COATING =>



<= CLEANING OFF THE ZINCOR COATING - important to do this (see previous post)




Lots of clamps - always a thin line between clamps being helpful and getting in the way!



Splodgy splog!



I had a bit of a mare with the gaps - had to add in too much filler material - which now means I have to wait for the decent stripping discs to finish this bit properly.

Once the welding is done I'll be modifying my little sand blasting cabinet (which is one of those cheapo hobby things that works for about 10 seconds and then just blows air) so that I can sand blast the pock marked older parts clean.

Bit of investigative work for those pesky rear shock absorber mounts on the chassis

This is how I think they were made. Don't quote me on this - don't use this until I've got it confirmed! (And if you do copy something I've done - that's at your own risk!)



Looking down on the assembly



These measurements were made on very rusty parts - all made with a metric ruler - converted to old money using me noggin...



...could be wrong!

It was warm enough today for me to think the lubricants on the rear crankshaft seal might actually work!

So goody goody =>

I've read quite a bit of stuff about doing this job on the three main bearing engine and it seems like some people get pretty stressed about it. There was a recent thread on the series 2 club forum (I think) where there was talk about pre-soaking the cork seals...

...I don't think you need to do that - you just need lubricant and the read the green book.

Still anyway - step by step

Fit the spring and hook it together with out stretching it then lubricate the journal with silicone grease.

(I couldn't find the Dow Corning grease specified in the Green Book locally so I used a Kroon oil product which is probably difficult to find out side of the Benelux countries - the point is lubrication - KY jelly would probably be just as good)



Grease the open mating edges of the split seal



Don't mess about fit it round the crank (seal) journal - in one time!



Gently push the spring into the seal making sure the hook and eye of the spring goes in properly





Position the split in the seal at the top of the engine (so in this picture on the under side)

I mis-read the green book and thought the point was to glue the split seal together with Hylomar but that isn't the case. The pressure of the bearing cap and the seal retainer will hold it in place.



Out with the Hylomar - ordinary blue is the modern day correct specification (I have learned - can post links to this information if necessary)

########

Then I got rear seal stress!

########

Not the stress I was expecting but from the sodding engine stand which was in the way of the cut out hole in the end of the crank which you need to position to screw in the seal retainer's bolts

I've been lifting that engine on and off that stand more times than bleep bleep bleep! <Answers on a postcard>





Ahhh - relax - there we 'ave it

Top retainer (bottom in the picture - think about it!) gets fitted first



#########

Now on to the expected tricky bit

#########



{Sing along =>

"
When you're stuck like glue
When you need some goo
When you're stuck like glue,
Vaseline
When you're black and blue,
Vaseline
La la la la la la la la la la
When you're stuck like glue,
Give me some
"

...Good old Elastica hey? Remember that one?



Perhaps not}

Gently push it in





All you need is the silicone grease

Next you need to trim the edges that will mate with the block

Break out a new Stanley knife blade



Easy does it





Just a little bit comes off

Break out the Hylomar again for the second seal retainer



Then tighten the retaining bolts / screws



I put engine assembly lube on the shell bearing

Silicone grease on the edges of the cork seal

A dab of Hylomar on the retaining seal ends (This bit isn't specified in the Green Book so I've been a bit naughty)



Very slowly - very carefully I fitted the bearing end cap.

The book shows two little ski slopes you can fit to help guide the bearing end cap into position. I didn't have them so I took my time.



Tightening a bit then...



...trim the sticking out bits of cork seal. These are meant to be 0.8mm above the surface.

(I might check with a bit of 0.8mm steel sheet if I can find some)



Bolts then got torqued



Then screw heads on the retaining seals got aligned so the corners do not catch the seal on the flywheel housing when - yet again - I have to play musical engines with that sodding engine stand and remove the engine so I can fit that bit...

I really like this thread. Keeps me going to! Keep is up.

roga said:

I really like this thread. Keeps me going to! Keep is up.

Click to expand...

Thanks chap - I'll keep it up for sure...

I'm keeping an eye on your project - I'm glad you didn't buy that dodgy Santana!

Well against all odds - with only one working hand (!)...

{Fell off me bike yesterday and gnadered me left hand - my days of popping wheelies outside McDonalds are long gone but I still managed to fall off yesterday - there wasn't any snow - road was dry - blinkin' heck eh? - Oh well - numptie time}

...got some pistons fitted to the block.

Earlier on in the thread I'd measured conrod, wrist pin and piston weights so I went along with the plan (of the possible combinations).



The oil way in the conrod is drilled to one side - this needs to be fitted to the side of the piston where the arrow / "V" is pointing



Green book says the pistons should be warmed before the wrist pins are fitted. May be that was necessary for the original BHB pistons but with these modern things they fitted in just fine at an ambient temperature of about 10 degrees. (Might not be a good sign!)

Mmmmm spring compressor



(Look in the book for the bit about piston ring gap positions - you can't rely on me and my bad memory if you happen to be doing this job too)



I've skipped a whole section of the Green book for the checking of the condition of the bores and the pistons 'cos it is all new. (I hope the machine shop did a good job when they did the rebore!)

Conrod caps came pre-marked (as usual) to show which side goes on which side



Sufficient engine assembly oil was used on the piston rings and the pistons slid in nice and easy. Didn't need to push down with a hammer handle. The conrods can foul the weights on the side of the crankshaft though so a bit of twisting might be necessary



If you position the crank journals at bottom dead centre (BDC) {as you've been told in the book} the conrod bolts don't get anywhere near the crank journal so long as you don't push the piston below the deck height of the block.



'Cos I'm grumpy with a bad paw I decided to just fit the big end shell bearings and not bother with the plasti gauge (this might bite me on the arse even though everything is new - still a bear with a bad paw is a bear with a bad paw)



...and there you have it. All in position. Big ends are not torqued yet - I want to fit some of the bits on the front of the engine next and make sure the piston protrusion is correct before I tighten those nuts...

I had a thought about the engine at about 2AM this morning - realising I hadn't checked to see if the sump was OK yet.

The sump (oil pan for the Americans) had been sitting since the summer in a plastic container filled with degreaser but as usual a fair amount of scrubbing was still needed. Still all of the Tory Canyon sludge in the bottom had been dispersed so that was worth the 6 month wait...

...I should have done this sooner =>



Just a quick "straightness" check with a steel ruler. It is a pretty solid thing (much beefier than modern equivalents) so I didn't have to resort to using a DIY surface plate (sheet of modern glass) and a feeler gauge.

Some of the spot welds on one of the strengthening strips had come loose



Muchos brake cleaner and a wazz with the wire brush in ye olde drille



Then high tech welding - only to be done by robots 'cos it is soooo soooo soooooo difficult

{Three cheers for spot welders!}





(See a robot would have got both spot welds perfectly aligned...)

Then a bit of a clean up with the wire brush and stripping disc



There's a dent in the bottom of the pan (no shock there) that doesn't want to be bashed out with a block of wood so I'm going to drag it back to the ranch where the hydraulic press is living at the moment.

Hopefully I can get some black engine paint on it before the weather gets cold again...

Some lovely work there. Very impressive as always.