CwazyWabbit Posted August 13, 2012 Share Posted August 13, 2012 A tale of Land Rovers wandering spot welder! On saturday myself and the kids went for a day out to the Billing Land Rover show and whilst there I picked up my wonderful prize from Simon for winning his naming competition So yesterday full of the joys of summer I decided to have a go at fitting the pedal lock, the lock comes in kit form with very comprehensive instructions which are actually accurate, I tried ignoring them and strangely enough the locking mechanism wouldn't work properly Somewhat begrudgingly I read them properly and what do you know, a bit of white grease and the correct amount of torque on the bolts and it worked perfectly Next I moved on to actually fitting the lock and of course it started to rain But not letting this dampen my spirit I soldiered on and offered the lock up in the way suggested in the instructions ( I had learned to follow them after my previous 'mistake') Unfortunately it wasn't just the rain that was out to ruin my day as it seems my Land Rover had decided to rebel It appears the bloke at Land Rover who spot welded the bonnet release bracket on had a random approach to choosing their position and on this particular day chose to place it in the way A quick message to Si confirmed that he had reports of the nomadic nature of bonnet release bracket and it had been known to roam by up to 80mm Two possible solutions were available, one was to move the existing bracket and the other was to remove the existing bracket and convert to the TD5 bonnet release. I decided to try moving it and if that went pear shaped I'd get the TD5 handle and cable (FSE100460). This shows where the bracket started out.... I removed the bracket using a sharp cold chisel as I didn't want to drill holes in the bracket as I planned to reuse it and on top of that the clutch pipe is directly behind it on the other side of the bulkhead. This turned out to be a mistake as I ended up putting a hole in my footwell, this I think was mostly due to corrosion caused by spilt clutch fluid, anyway it's just another hole to patch when I repair the big hole in the bottom of the footwell so not the end of the world. Once I'd got the bracket off I straightened it up, I ground off the remains of the spot welds and bent the left side of it a bit to get it closer to the side of the footwell. The bracket was then rivetted back on in it's new position (be sure to move the wiring that lives on the other side of the bulkhead when drilling the rivet holes). The new position is as close to the driver as I could get it and still be able to refit the black metal trim piece that normally holds the footwell lining. Four 4.8mm x 16mm rivets were used as they go through quite a few layers of metal. You can see the hole I accidentally made in the footwell to the right of the new position, this is where the front of the bracket used to sit. To give a little more clearance I rotated the release handle 90 degrees as well. and replaced the black metal trim. One perfectly working pedal lock Having used a normal pedal lock for the last two years this is much much much better , of course now I'll be getting less exercise as I won't have my normal pedal lock weight lifting routine anymore .... so I'll have to blame Simon for that If I were to do this again I think I would go the TD5 lever route as to be fair removing the existing bracket without damaging it was a pain. It would be far quicker and easier to just grind it off or use a spot weld drill. A genuine TD5 lever and cable is only 15 quid and will just need a couple of bolts to fit it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Disco-Ron Posted August 14, 2012 Share Posted August 14, 2012 Good write up, I fitted the td5 release on mine, as I have td5 bulkhead insulation, its plastic!! I'm now on my third, I guess my bonnet release mechanism is a bit tight, but I wish I'd never changed it!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CwazyWabbit Posted August 14, 2012 Author Share Posted August 14, 2012 Good write up, I fitted the td5 release on mine, as I have td5 bulkhead insulation, its plastic!! I'm now on my third, I guess my bonnet release mechanism is a bit tight, but I wish I'd never changed it!! Interesting, I'm not long after replacing the cable on this one as it had snapped after getting very stiff through corrosion. When I fitted this one I forced EP90 through it with a hydraulic cable oiler and it seems a lot easier to open than before and as a bonus the return spring now actually makes it return, something that never happened in the previous two years!. Might be worth a try on your TD5 release? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Boris113 Posted August 14, 2012 Share Posted August 14, 2012 Great write up and a very interesting device. Do you have any pictures of it in the unlocked position? Harry Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CwazyWabbit Posted August 14, 2012 Author Share Posted August 14, 2012 ......Do you have any pictures of it in the unlocked position? ...... Not at the moment, I'll take some this evening and pop them up here. When unlocked it lays flat against the floor and front of the seatbox. There's a video of one of the early prototypes here The production version has chunkier hinges and is made of stainless steel but still works in pretty much the same way as the prototype in the video. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Boris113 Posted August 14, 2012 Share Posted August 14, 2012 Ah I see now, what a clever idea! I think this would certainly remove the problems with my current pedal lock i.e. large and heavy, a nuisance to install and difficult to store safely when not in use. Pictures would be great please. How well do you think it would work with a rubber mat in the footwell and does it require a clean footwell (no mud and stones) to work. Thanks, Harry Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CwazyWabbit Posted August 14, 2012 Author Share Posted August 14, 2012 The instructions say to remove the rubber mat before installing, my guess is that this is so you can tighten the bolts properly rather than trying to sandwich the rubber mat between the metal of the lock and the floor. I've chosen to leave the rubber mat in place but have cut holes for the bolts to go through and used some spacers inside the holes to keep metal to metal contact. You can however just cut your rubber mat to size and glue it to the inside face of the lock so you still have a rubber mat under your feet when you are driving. I don't think mud will cause an issue but stones could if they get caught between the lock and your floor, however they would be easy enough to brush out and most of the mud and stones that get in the footwell are off of your shoes so will be on the other side of your lock and not getting trapped between it and the floor. The biggest problem I can see is if you are doing something like the billing off road course where you get silty muddy water wash in under the doors, this might have an adverse effect on the lock barrel. I'll sort pictures later Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CwazyWabbit Posted August 15, 2012 Author Share Posted August 15, 2012 ....... Pictures would be great please. ......... you were after some pics in the open position, hope these help I put a spacer behind the catch as the carpet lining the seatbox held the pedal lock too far out to be able to twist the catch. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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