discomikey Posted July 15, 2013 Share Posted July 15, 2013 lookign good as always! p.s. it is pretty cool driving an uncontrollable leafsprung rocketship! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jad Posted August 11, 2013 Author Share Posted August 11, 2013 Some more bits getting done. Here is the mount for the coil packs sitting between the bulkhead and engine. We have also started making the spacer I need for the gearbox. Having never used a mill before I think its going fairly well... Started off by making the block flat both sides. Then started getting it to the correct thickness. We drilled all the holes for the bell housing. Not as quite as straight forward as it could be when your 16mm drill, drills a 16.8mm hole! Put some dowels in and this shows where a input bearing housing will sit. And a cut down bell housing fits! With the dowels in and everything Not that I have tried it on the other side.... We then started digging a hole of the input bearing housing that sits on the gearbox. So whats left to do... Finish excavating the hole for the bearing housing. (8mm down 25mm to go!) drill a "wading hole" for an possible leaks from the gearbox and profile the outside of it. Hopefully it will be done in another day/day and a bit, then some more progress can be made on the rest of it! Jad Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jad Posted August 19, 2013 Author Share Posted August 19, 2013 Little bit more done on the spacer. Its not the prettiest machining but it is functional none the less. So the moment of truth.... It fits! (With a little tapping onto the dowels....) The dowels were a little tight going on and after taking the spacer off it was clear to see a small amount of metal has been taken off one side of each of the dowel holes. Im pretty happy with how its all gone so hopefully it will be accurate enough to work! Fingers cross and all that.... Just going to profile the outside now and drill and tap holes for the other input bearing housing to affix to the face of it. I can then finally put the (2nd) gearbox on! Cheers Jad Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Soren Frimodt Posted August 19, 2013 Share Posted August 19, 2013 Looking good mate Yes machining takes forever (which is why I never do it myself, have a much more skilled buddy that makes a living doing it) But being able to put things together that wasn't intended so, is a really great feeling Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Anderzander Posted August 19, 2013 Share Posted August 19, 2013 I love this. What's the plan with paint ? I'd expected you to paint the bulkhead before assembly...? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jad Posted August 20, 2013 Author Share Posted August 20, 2013 Believe me, I would have got the guy that did the engine adaptor to do it if he was available! Even though I have enjoyed doing it. For paint ill be painting it with matt black chalkboard paint I was planning to leave the galv'd bits unpainted. Im hoping they will dull to a darker grey and that it will look ok. If not I may end up painting bits like the front panel but will just wait and see really. The roof will stay its normal colour. It would be nice to give it a coat of paint to smarten it up a little. Anyone have a source for where this can be bought? It will all be rollered/brush painted for that extra special finish But I never wanted it to look a perfect truck so not bothered about taking the dents etc out. Cheers Jad Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tacr2man Posted August 20, 2013 Share Posted August 20, 2013 re your paint idea , matt black is a pig to try and keep in a decent state, due to being matt it is not a very strong paint , and when you try and clean it tends to go shiny , so you end up very patchy looking . They used low sheen on the camel vehicles , and some production BL vehicles as well, (which is where sandglow came from as well) . I went from matt to shiny on my Zebra stripes decades back for these very reasons Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Anderzander Posted August 20, 2013 Share Posted August 20, 2013 Although if its the 'Rat' look that he's after ? I'm painting my own series but leaving the dents. The plan being that whilst it needs painting I don't want to remove all of the patina. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jad Posted August 20, 2013 Author Share Posted August 20, 2013 Although if its the 'Rat' look that he's after ? Nail head I want to be able to write on it as well If I dont like how it looks/lasts ill just re do it for something else.... Jad Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jad Posted August 27, 2013 Author Share Posted August 27, 2013 Stiiiiillllll going...... Taking a while but getting there! Jad Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jad Posted September 11, 2013 Author Share Posted September 11, 2013 First thing. My dad made me an adaptor to go in the cold pipe of the rad to the header tank with a 6mm T in to go to the engine oil cooler. This had to be made as I couldnt find a T-piece from 16mm to 16mm with a 6mm T off unless I wanted multiple connections which would have looked a lot messier. The spacer for the gearbox is also done. Finished profiling it the weekend before and got it in last weekend. Touch wood the input shaft doesnt foul the back of the engine..... It was a rather closely calculated fit. Also been modifying the cross member to fit the gearbox. Using a 200tdi discovery gearbox mount in the centre and have also put a mount off the side of the transfer box to try and minimise (completely get rid of) twist. Whether or this will work/cause the engine mounts to twist more is something i will have to wait and see about. But overall a couple of steps closer Next big job is to mod some coiler axles for the leaf springs. Then props, exhaust, wiring, brake pipes, clutch pipe, fuel lines etc etc etc and it will be finished! Hoping! to have it running/moving by the end of the year... Cheers Jad Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MECCANO Posted September 11, 2013 Share Posted September 11, 2013 Excellent keep it up! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jad Posted September 23, 2013 Author Share Posted September 23, 2013 Saturday saw us take some axles off a 300 disco to use on this car. Simpler than it sounds until you know that the disco chassis and body has to end up on the trailer for the scrappy! and it already has a load of old g'boxs exhausts and other scrap in.... Well by the end of the day they were off and in the garage. I had started to take some of the mounts off to convert to leaf springs but there was too much other stuff to do so have not finished. The cross member is now all finished and the gearbox sits on it nicely. We did have to bend the end plates back straight after the welding but now sit up against the chassis nicely. Its also had a layer of red oxide and one of silver paint. We also had to shorten a transfer box mount that goes on the side of the borg warner TBox. Also redrilled the hole as due to "packaging constraints" it had to be repositioned. This shouldnt be a problem as I am using a 200tdi gbox mount that normally sits central doing the job by itself so this is just to stop too much rotation. Also cracked the seatbox in, just to make it harder to put the xmember in and props and hand brake and design the exhaust.and the brake lines... so not getting in the way of much Well more in a couple of weeks as I am planning to do the 3 peaks challenge next weeks just for laughs! Jad Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ejparrott Posted September 24, 2013 Share Posted September 24, 2013 24hrs and 55 mins the wife's team did it in last year, and they did literally have all the kinds of weather....there were 75 firefighters and a large contingent of the army out at the same time...they bugged out and didn't complete! Best of luck - personal challenge or a charity event? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jad Posted September 24, 2013 Author Share Posted September 24, 2013 Personal event. Me and a few mates just decided to give it a go a few weeks ago. I did try and climb Ben Nevis before with one mate for an IMechE event. Only a few people turned up and we advised by the visitors centre not to try today... But we hadnt gone all that way for nothing!!! We gave it a bloody good go but with with winds of 50-80mph, gusts up to 110mph and rain that hurt when it hit you in the face we got to a point and decided it was getting too dangerous to carry on Was probably a good thing cos on the way down my mate and another guy we had convinced to come down with us (yes the nutter was out by himself) were picked up by the wind and sat down on their arses next to a ledge Was great fun though! Not even the full water proofs stopped us from being soaked head to toe lol So hopefully the weather will be on our side this time Jad Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jad Posted October 14, 2013 Author Share Posted October 14, 2013 There has been some more progress with the vehicle. The gearbox is now full in and supported by the finished cross member and the rear brake line is in. Work has also started on the 300tdi discovery axles to convert them to leaf springs. My dad has (arent dads great!) cut off all the mounts and we took out the pressed in part for the 3 bolt flange which is being converted to a 4 bolt one and ended up with this... and we set about making some mounts for the leaf springs to bolt to. Now need to find some more time to carry on. Its a right pain not having it at my house to do in the evenings! Cheers Jad Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
steve200TDi Posted October 14, 2013 Share Posted October 14, 2013 Great build and progress! How did you get the pressed in part out of the diff in the end? I've tried with a bit of threaded rod and a slide hammer, but it didn't really work! Steve Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jad Posted October 14, 2013 Author Share Posted October 14, 2013 Cheers we just used an M8 bolt (hence the bent bolt above) a tube and some spacers and tightened it up like so.... Jad Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
steve200TDi Posted October 14, 2013 Share Posted October 14, 2013 Thanks, I'll give that a go. Steve Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jad Posted October 19, 2013 Author Share Posted October 19, 2013 hmmmmmm whoever did these wheel nuts up did them up bloody tight.... Broke the breaker bar once while (ab)using it with a 5ft pole.... Then errrrr "fixed it" and errrrr broke it again.... and we did try the impact gun first! Visit to halfords tomorrow probably Jad Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CwazyWabbit Posted October 19, 2013 Share Posted October 19, 2013 I see 3/4 drive sockets in your future Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nigelw Posted October 19, 2013 Share Posted October 19, 2013 1" and be done with it, mans tools I am still amazed by your build, it makes me smile every time I read through and the machining is top Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jad Posted October 21, 2013 Author Share Posted October 21, 2013 Thanks Nigel We managed to get the wheel nuts off in the end. Had a go with an impact driver and then borrowed a 3/4" socket set from the neighbour We have also gone about lining up and fixing the leaf spring mounts to the axle and made some damper mounts as well. Hopefully my dad will weld them on and clean and paint the axle before I come home next weekend so we can get it out the way under the car to start on the front axle! But i do always tell him that he doesn't have to do anything while I am not there..... cheers Jad Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ejparrott Posted October 21, 2013 Share Posted October 21, 2013 Looks a very nice job, can't see those spring pads coming adrift any time soon! Out of interest, what did you use to align the spring pads and the diff axis? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jad Posted October 21, 2013 Author Share Posted October 21, 2013 Them not moving anywhere was the idea! We just made the mounts, got the axle under there with the U bolts attached, measure it left to right on a common point on the axle left and right to the leaf springs and measured the diff nose angle on my dads defender and replicated it. Tightened up the U bolts, checked everything, tacked them on and then took the axle off to weld everything on properly. Not expecting the front to be so easy with things like the steering bar being in the way and the sump in quite close proximity... Jad Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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