miketomcat

I need to get my finger out and finish his engine cover first..... Mike

I also have a plan to use a Tesco's delivery box on and existing trailer chassis (possibly horse box chassis). Mine would sleep 4 and have a toilet inside, kitchen area and storage accessed from outside. Awning with wood burner on the side. Just need time and money now..... DOH. Mike

Never really liked the Pinz and still don't have any money. Mike

Thanks, I'm ok for a gearbox for now just will grab one as a spare at some point. The plate I made for the X9 is fine so no worries. Mike

Oi I haven't made it to 50 yet. But I do have a dodgey back and ankle. There is concrete there but it's uneven, different heights and has no damp proofing. One advantage of doing the floor inside after the walls are up is it'll but higher than the surrounding concrete so shouldn't get any water ingress. Mike

@daveturnbull and @Badger110 both are gratious offers, I really appreciate them. For now I'm going to concentrate on getting a roof on and water tight. The floor it's self will have to be done in two stints anyway as I'll have to do the back half then shift everything to do the front. It doesn't need to be that strong as it's very difficult to get a car to/into it and even if I did it's likely to only be a shell at no more than 100kg. Mike

A wheelie bin (which I don't have) and/or a wheelbarrow are not fun up the length of my garden. To get a truck in I would need around 6 wheelbarrows and stupid friends to keep up and I'd need to clear the current shed which I have no where to store the contents. Besides the key word here is budget or lack of one. Mike

I don't do much fibreglass these days, apart from fixing plastic cars from time to time. I was planning on a fibre glass roof, I have a roll of Matt and resin is around £100 for 25kg gel is over double that but the absolute killer was 9mm OSB it was £450. The metal sheets I'm picking up tomorrow are second hand but more than I need at £150 and a roll of membrane I can get for about £50. My total spend so far is £480 including the roof and thats already more than I can justify at the moment. Mike

Something else I need some thought/ideas on is floor. From what I can see/guess the shed is on a concrete pad however it's about 150mm lower than the surrounding concrete including the bits I've added to put the new walls on. The current shed floor is on 150mm joists then something (I assume planks) and laminate flooring on top. It is roughly the same height as the surrounding concrete. I very much doubt any of it has any kind of damp proofing. So my ideas are lay some damp proof membrane the float a couple of inches of concrete over the top back filling the lower part (the concrete would have to be mixed by hand). Whilst at the Haynes museum I noted the had a paving slab floor in one area so I could go membrane sand and slabs. My father suggested leaving the shed floor in the lower section and laying a vinyl floor over the lot. Suggestions and comments welcome. Mike

Three walls are complete now. I need to make up three extended roof trusses ready for the roof unfortunately I can't fit them until I take the roof of the existing shed. I've also discovered the existing shed is squiffy as one wall finishes bang on the front face the other protrudes about 100mm. I will need to concrete across the front to take the front wall but that maybe next year now as I need to take the existing shed front down to do this. Mike

I was basing my assumption on 101 wheelbase.

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/1964-land-rover-101-forward-control-defender-army-/313748950283?mkcid=16&mkevt=1&_trksid=p2349624.m2548.l6249&mkrid=710-127635-2958-0 So when exactly did they fit coil springs to a forward control. To be honest it looks like a discovery chassis. Mike

Hopefully I've managed to find some cheap roofing sheets second hand. With a bit of luck collecting them tomorrow just need to sort some membrane and get my finger out. Mike

Yeah I saw that, I quite like it though I would put a box on the back and use a 130 chassis. Mike

For bolts try Anglia stainless every boat yard I've ever worked at gets their bolts from them. Mike

Only managed to move some of the panels and posts from one end of the garden to the other tonight. Mike

Well gearbox is in no major hassle and the cross member mods look to of improved things. We'll see if it solves my rattle when I get to do a longer run. Mike

Sadly there is no safety check for diesel heaters on boats, hell there's only a safety check for gas if commercial or at installation. They are all mounted inside or in an engine room, its not viable to mount them on an external bulkhead. Over the years I've seen so many things on boats that are downright dangerous but the owners will not sort it or pay someone to..... Mike

Synchromesh on third has been shot for a while, so I finally admitted defeat and pulled the gearbox out today. I've got a spare donated by TSD however as I discovered after I'd got mine out the spare is the V8 version. DOH. Fortunately I have another spare stashed in a garage..... Que a trip to said garage to dig it out. Replacement gearbox and original transfer box are now back under the car ready to go back in tomorrow. Now ever since I built the car I've had a rattle seemingly suspension related. I've checked everything to no avail. Whilst taking the gearbox out I noticed a witness mark on the cross member from the gearbox and the mount near it is bent. I've relieved the cross member and added a web to the mount. Mike

I've been managing to get a post and some panels in most evenings. The really tight side just needs 4 more panels and the corner post, but I can't do those panels on my own as lifting 30kg of concrete above my head is troublesome. The other side needs a post panels and corner post so hopefully I can see this off at the weekend. Though I really should change a gearbox first. Mike

Obviously my floor pan is different to a 110 but something similar should be easy enough to do. It's worth noting the middle seat belt and outer buckles are mounted in the seat so the rear lower and seat back (drivers side especially) need to be linked to the existing seatbelt mounts really. The seat back mount has a tie bar on the drivers side that I bolted to the equivalent of a 110 tub capping. Mike

We have Exmoor high back seats in the back of our 110. They work well and are reasonably comfortable, however there is a big but they no longer fold down properly. If you don't have the front seats all the way back they will fold backs onto bases just but they don't tip forwards because of the head rest part. I have a Freelander 1 back seat in the ibex which works really well. I was originally going to put it in a 110 but bought the ibex instead. It would require some fabrication work but it won't be that hard. Mike

If you told them £10k that is what I would expect but I doubt you'll get more. The upside is if they offer you less (I would expect a lower offer) you can go back with plent of examples of higher values therefore making it very difficult for them to offer less. Mike

It's irrelevant what current prices are if you only had it insured for say £3k. Unless you have it agreed value you'll only get market value or what you insured it for whichever is lowest. Because defender prices have skyrocketed there are thousands of underinsured trucks out there, the value you insured for 10 years ago is whoa fully inaccurate now especially if you've just renewed year on year. Mike

Tramlining is caused by wide tyres however at 265/75x16 your not exactly wide, the wife's 255's are better than my 12.50's (about 305's) but even then mine are ok. BFG take some beating and different tyres do different things to handling. A good tyre place should clean the rims up before fitting new tyres (you may need to ask them). However alloys do corrode and can cause slow punctures but a clean and preferably some paint will fix this. The roof tent being that far back will effect handling but not enough to cause issues and you'll barely notice the difference if moved forwards. As to roof tent verses ground I've had both roof tents are great if you move location regularly or want a quick pitch both in time and an overnight. Gound is better if staying a while or you want to go out daily. That said I've gone back to ground but would have a roof tent for certain trips. Mike