True grit

As I opted to get my axle cases shotblasted along with the other stuff, the law of Sod had prevailed and the front axle tube had a lot of chilled iron grit and shot in it. This stuff is seriously hard, and will destroy any bearing it comes in contact with. Like the bearings in the diff, the CV joint, or the wheel bearings, you know, anything which goes in or on the axle tube and is crucial to the working of it all.

I naively thought that is be able to simply blow any grit etc away with an air line, but I forgot that this axle casing is 22 years old, and is lined with a tarry substance from the decades of having munting old oil in there, and every piece of grit stuck fast.

I had to make covers for the ends of the tube, and silicone them on, then I filled the casing to the brim with paraffin, left it overnight then drained most of it, and gave the tubes a good going over with a paraffin soaked paintbrush and paper towels. Good news! The grit was loose. But it wasn't out.

Off I went to the local garage, armed with a fistful of pound coins to stick into their steam cleaner. 5 minutes of getting as wet as a very wet thing indeed, and I am now the proud (if damp) owner of a clean axle tube. If only I'd thought about things earlier and blanked the openings off, I'd probably have a finished front axle on the thing.

As it stands, I do have an offside hub ready to go on to the tube, but I want to degrease the front diff, as if the inside of the axle tube is anything to go by, it'll be as gooey as a freshly shat blanket, and for want of a couple of litres of paraffin, its probably wise to do it.

Toys and trinkets

We hope to use the truck for extended family holidays, most likely camping, and to ensure a degree of self reliance I plan to have an extra battery for the charging of portable devices, running a cooler, night time lighting etc, so I'll be fitting a split charge system.

Long journeys plus kids = I'm bored = grumpy Dad, so I'm fitting USB and 12v charging sockets at every seat, and I'm thinking of a Bluetooth  DAB USB stereo with many speakers and a subwoofer tucked away somewhere. And much soundproofing to keep out the usual 'Skeleton having a wank in a filing cabinet' land rover mechanical thrashing noises.

I have used one of those small 12v compressors to put air into the tyres and it took 5 minutes a corner. For this reason, and in case I ever want to fit locking diffs I'll be putting an onboard air system on it using a modified ac compressor, like this;-  http://forums.lr4x4.com/index.php?showtopic=2115

#4 Little blue bags of doom?

Britpart. Shitpart more like!

If you look at any LR forum you'll come across this sooner rather than later.

In my experience it's not all bad, but I've gone for an oe timing belt, GKN propshaft UJs, mintex brakes, a bearmach fuel tank, an AP clutch and timken wheel bearings. Everything else isnt a disaster if it goes belly up or can be easily replaced if it turns out to be a false economy, (Have a look at the price difference on paddocks website) but on the 90 I've got BP shocks, which have been hassle free, and other bits and bobs here and there which haven't been too offensive.

Most people say if it moves, look elsewhere, however my teflon coated swivel ball kits on the 90 have been very good, no seepage for 5 yrs now and counting, but the fuel tank split among the seam, and when I finally got it out the only thing in good condition was the bloody Britpart sticker.

#3

So, having stripped the chassis completely, it is definitely not salveagable. So, the new chassis has been built, delivered and painted, but while I was waiting, the engine got a new timing belt and a quick once over. All seems well, apart from the 1.6:1 transfer box which will make long trips rather noisy and expensive, I'm on the look out for a 1.4:1 one, as the disco 1.2:1 ones are a little too long.

#2

So, it all had to come apart, the interior was out in a day, the rest of the body was off a couple of days later, leaving me with this.

#1

I've got a 90. Its great, but the lack of space inside has made me recognise that I ought to have a 110 for a family bus.

My very understanding wife has taken this on board, and it was her who located a bodily and mechanically sound 1983 110 just over the hill from me.

It needed a new chassis and the bulkhead was more filler and holes than metal, so that needed replacing too.

There's no point in putting plain steel into this project, so every piece of mild steel has either been replaced with new galvanised steel (New Richards chassis, remanufactured Ashtree bulkhead for starters) and the rest of the steel has been removed, blasted, galvanised where possible, or painted with an offshore spec paint system if not. All the galvanised steel has had the same paint treatment as well.