The Rover-Landers of BC

If there was one thing in the entire chassis business that worried me it was how well the bulkhead would fit. Given that I replaced both bulkhead outriggers with the bulkhead removed, I had nothing but my measurements to rely on.
So, I fit her on and she fit perfectly, probably even better than originally. I felt a great deal of relief and celebrated that fact heavily….
http://i.imgur.com/x1i6HHS.jpg

A few other odds and sods I was working on in the meantime:

New radiator core installed, as the old one was toast. Intercooler received a thorough internal flushing and looks brand new inside. The HD simple green is awesome. Before doing it myself, I (again for laughs) talked to Land Rover who would wanted $250 for it and they wouldn’t even use anything other than water. The rad shops wanted $150-200 despite the fact that the intercooler was removed and they would’ve hardly had any labor in it. It was a quick decision then to do it myself instead of paying someone a silly amount of money.

Radiator bracket and heater box all received “a lick of fresh paint” (some British dude was describing all his resto paint work as such and I like the expression so much that’s all I’m saying now).
http://i.imgur.com/kwMFciJ.jpg

http://i.imgur.com/hp0hTQk.jpg

Heater box is also getting the new “Original Parts” sticker coming from the UK. All new seals throughout, of course.

I decided to put the self-leveling unit back on, and replaced both ball joints, gaiters, dust cover and spring clips. Found a solution to quickly and easily installing the ball joints on the bode unit. Most would suggest using a skinny wrench (you would need to find one or grind one down to fit in), vicegrips and other BDSM tools and techniques. I found that it’s easiest, since the ball joint can be taken apart, to first screw the pin into the bode unit, as that way the balljoint ring moves out of the way permitting unrestricted access for any regular wrench:
http://i.imgur.com/qFboCew.jpg

Once it’s been screwed in, the entire assembly is then installed into their respective ball joint seats and tightened. Nice and easy and I didn’t even have to wreck a wrench ort my knuckles in the process.

I managed to scoop up what appears to be the last Bode unit top rubber gaiter in the known Universe. Land Rover in the US had one in their West Coast warehouse and knew nothing of its obsolescence. Land Rover Canada kept persuading me that there are only two of these remaining in the entire worldwide inventory, both in Spain and both tagged as “scrap”. I ordered one, had it shipped to our family friend in the US and then forwarded to Canada. When I received it I had me a Fry moment (the one in Futurama with the last can on anchovies in the Universe) and, just like Fry, I put it to good use without any afterthought.
http://i.imgur.com/HpHXOk1.jpg

So much for now, hoping to Waxoyl the chassis tomorrow and, if I have any time left, work on the timing belt.

Damn this is nice work. Can I send you a few of my trucks?


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

rayhyland wrote:Damn this is nice work. Can I send you a few of my trucks?


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Thanks! You sure can but only once I'm done rebuilding mine.

I’m still here, still working on it. Some house projects demanded my attention.

Anyway, in the meantime, I decided to attend to the timing belt.
Since I had no special tool for pulley bolt or time to get one, I botched me a “special tool” by drilling a hole in the pulley (not all the way through, just deep enough), and sticking a beefy hex key in it to jam it against the closest stationary piece of metal. It worked well, although the hex key is now bent. I consider it to be a special tool for tight access socket bolts…
http://i.imgur.com/N8LfpIo.jpg

Hard to see on a pic, but there was some black fluff inside the timing chest. I know 3—tdi have an issue with black fluff, but not 200tdi’s. I couldn’t see any rubbing spots and injection pump sprocket had no freeplay whatsoever. So, I would for now think that the issue was caused by prior overtightening of the timing belt and just keep an eye on it.
http://i.imgur.com/oTLJQIr.jpg

Of course, I sheared off one of the water pump bolts. I then tried everything: welding on a nut, leftie drill, easy out and bolt removers, and all failed, the bugger wouldn’t come out. I then decided to take the timing chest off.
http://i.imgur.com/wB4FHZu.jpg

Crankshaft sprocket put up a fight during removal. Of course, that’s the only part, that, according to the manual should “come out with a gentle prying”. Every time I read something comes out easily on a Landy, I get a nervous twitch in my eye as I know it’s a bunch of lies. I botched me a “special tool” from a steering wheel puller and that made it somewhat easier to remove.
http://i.imgur.com/P2kMxGv.jpg

Of course, Bearmach STC363 gasket kit was missing one gasket, so I had to order it separately and wait… So far, the only aftermarket stuff I’ve had no issues with is what I bought from Allmakes, everyone else failed me one way or another.

Anyway, all remaining parts received today, and everything went in finally. I made sure to use Hylomar Blue for the water pump gasket areas. Interestingly enough, it has Land Rover part number (RTC3347) and is easiest and cheapest to get from the UK, I just ordered it with the rest of my parts. While I was at it, I replaced all oil seals, and bolts and a stud. I also put in a new water pump as the old one, while working, was reaching the end of its life.
http://i.imgur.com/1VmuwMn.jpg
Ne belts are going in too…

The old oil pan was leaking at the seal, so I removed it, cleaned and re-installed it with new RTV sealant, hopefully, that should address the leak that it had.
http://i.imgur.com/7ktFAMs.jpg?1

I also had to deal with the broken and abandoned breather banjo bolt on my rear axle. The original one snapped and then the easy out bolt remover broke off as well during attempted retrieval. I decided to simply drill and thread a new hole for it. The thread is 1/8”-28 BSP, so both the tap and the drill bit had to be ordered from the UK for lack of better options (Amazon Canada had crappy quality options only). My wife giggled when she saw an order from “Tap and Die” in my email, she thought it was for some extreme tap dancing classes.
http://i.imgur.com/7RdADvR.jpg

To make sure I remove most if not all of the metal shavings, I removed the half-shaft and put in a piece of cardboard (bent in a shape of a “V”). I then drilled and tapped the hole, using plenty of Wurth cooling oil to keep most of the shavings on top.
http://i.imgur.com/2PhEoTC.jpg

http://i.imgur.com/tmSdui8.jpg

I then pulled the cardboard and voila – the rest of the shavings came out. I’m not in any way saying that all of the shavings have been removed, but that’s the best that could be done under the circumstances. Whatever is left in the shaft will come out in the next oil change.
http://i.imgur.com/nGV7Qwm.jpg

All done and ready
http://i.imgur.com/puflI8Y.jpg

New diff oil seal and flange installed as well, old one was leaking.
http://i.imgur.com/IPoTtzf.jpg

Will now continue to put together the engine bay, and start fitting up the body panels.

The project is very much alive, I just hadn’t been able to post any updates for a while. I received a job offer recently and relocated to Greater Montreal area, so I had to slap the Landy back together in a hurry while my wife was managing packing and worked on preparing our Calgary home for sale. Basically, I needed to go from a rolling chassis to a running vehicle in 2 weeks.

So:
New turbo went in. Getting to two of the nuts holding the turbo on the manifold was no fun (not enough room to fit a wrench over the nut), so I botched me a “special tool” by grinding one side of a wrench off at an angle, to make one side of a box thinner. Worked like a charm. Two of the studs snapped, though, but once the old turbo was removed, came out without too much of a fight.
http://i.imgur.com/qcpXdYH.jpg?1

Put in new oil feed pipe while I was at it, the old one, while not completely destroyed, didn’t look trustworthy.
http://i.imgur.com/v1eFThG.jpg?1

I also replaced all cooling hoses with new silicone ones (not shown on pictures) as well as replaced the last of the PAS hoses that originally was OK but crapped out as I was reinstalling everything.

I put together rear tub, installing new checker plate floor and upstand (upstand not shown on pictures). Later, when I have the time, I’ll TIG them together, for now, I just riveted them to the support beam. I really like the new look and am happy I’ve gone down that route.
New cappings and corner pieces went in place and new lights installed all over (except for side repeaters, headlights and license plate light).
http://i.imgur.com/Qao43O6.jpg?1

http://i.imgur.com/YFG8ZrM.jpg?1

http://i.imgur.com/CGtcKir.jpg?1

I then installed the rear tub side panels and roof, and adjusted everything to make sure it all fit where it’s supposed to, before tightening any bolts.
http://i.imgur.com/revOLuB.jpg?1

Once that was done, I put in the front wings, radiator and finished the remaining works in the engine bay.
http://i.imgur.com/YwH6Dhb.jpg?1

http://i.imgur.com/VgIgfDQ.jpg?1

So it came to the most nerve-wrecking day of all: the day I would attempt to start the darn thing. I had no idea whether it will start and run, given the depth of disassembly I’ve gone to, including replacement of the clutch and timing belt, and having disconnected almost everything.
The engine turned at the first attempt which I though was a good sign. Of course, I then attempted to start with the solenoid disconnected and spent a good 30 minutes alternating between attempts to manually prime the pump and turning the starter. As soon as I realized my mistake, slapping my forehead Homer’s “D’Oh” style, and connecting the solenoid, the engine started right away, spitting diesel foam from the fuel filter vent, so I had to immediately shut it down, mop everything up, prime and restart. I felt like a driller striking oil!
So, after idling for some time, revving up to make sure turbine kicked in at the right RPM and that everything worked and nothing leaked, I went in and drove it out of my garage. Amazingly, the gears shifted and everything worked. I took it for a quick spin around the block and was very happy with how it ran.

After that, I quickly put together the front doors (2nd row doors were put together earlier), and slapped everything together to make it transportable. As the house was being packed at the same time, a few boxes with parts were packed so I had to improvise in a few instances 
http://i.imgur.com/XqU1Xyt.jpg

Britpart door seals did not fit well, they were approx. 3/4” wider for 2nd row doors and approx. 1/2” wider for the fronts. I initially was concerned that I screwed up the geometry, however, the doors and old seals fit perfectly. So, I guess it’s just the Britpart issue again. I will try getting LR seals to see if they will be any better.

Once the vehicle was roadworthy in my opinion, I drove it across the city (including Glenmore and Deerfoot) to my buddy’s place, where it will be later picked up and transported to my new place in Greater Montreal. With zero sound proofing (even trim panels are not installed at this time) engine and, especially, turbo sounds could be heard very well, especially at 110kmh, it felt like I was in a T-72 tank.
Here we all are, leaving Calgary for good:
http://i.imgur.com/9eUvdmH.jpg?1

I’m looking forward to getting it to its new home and continuing to work on it until it can be plated in QC (my first priority) and repainted.

Oh, forgot to mention one thing: windshield replaced, new one was custom-cut in Calgary from a truck windshield (6mm thk, though, not 5 or 4 but it did fit well into the new rubber). Installed cost was approx. $270 (and since new glass was thicker than original, I had them install it for me to minimize my risk), which is approx $100 cheaper than getting anything shipped from US or UK (sure, the glass there is 70 quid but then they crate it, bringing just the shipping cost to approx $240), and the way it was cut, it still has all DOT markings on it, I'm very happy with the end result. Whenever I will be replacing it again in the future, I'll do the same thing.

Hows your rover coming??