Been a while

Lets see, last post was hinges, so what have I done...

Firstly, the black door is now on, and looks good!

Fixed that courtesy light switch I broke with the door.

Whilst adjusting my steering wheel, managed to trap a wire from the wiper switch blew the relay for the intermittent, wash wipe and park for the wipers. Got pretty good at parking them by guessing though. New relay in and that was fixed.

Snapped the bonnet release cable, new cable in, replaced the bolt on the clamp and that sheered off, here's hoping I don't have to replace that again.

Got my reversing light switch replaced after it being broken for about 3 years. Then had to re-wire to the back of car, as when the rear x-member was replaced my dad managed to put an angle grinder through the cable, or so we think. Anyway, that's working now too.

Removed the side steps from the car, so they can be ground back and re-sprayed. Also moved the CB aerials to the back of the car, but now got to make some new cables for them as they're too short.

All in all, I've been quite busy, and still lots to do!

As promised, here's the pics of the hinges, as well as some checker-plate sills I found.

Back in black!

Gave up on the tow bar kit for a bit, decided the rear door was more important. Drilled up holes for the rear wiper, cable for the heated screen and some holes to fill the door with waxoyl. Need to manufacture a bracket for it but no real hurry. Now waiting on some sealant, so I can put the window into the door. Whilst doing this, I remember about some hinges I had as the drivers one had pretty much failed. Was going to spray the door and hinges white, but one of the colours I needed to mix it up is lead based, with no alternative. So, satin black it was!

Door came pre-primed but we decided one more coat wouldn't hurt, then two coats of black on the inside and four on the outside. Left it over night then moved it to the conservatory to let it 'bake'.
At the same time we sprayed the hinges, but with acid etch primer as they're a pain to rub back etc.

Pulling the doors off is a relatively straight forward process, as long as you make sure you get the door stay/runner off as well. They're bloody heavy though! Had to drill some of the old bolts out, dam rust!

Filled the bulkhead with waxoyl, used rust remover gel and primer on some of the rust spots in preparation for some fresh paint. After reading on the net about how much of a pain replacing the captive nuts on the bulkhead are, they can fall down into it and never been seen again, decided it would be best to put some string through the hole for the bolt, and pass the other end out the slot for the u-clip. Then threaded that through the nut and attempted to put them on. Not to bad really. Next, had to line up the door. Closed it on the latch, and managed to break the close switch for the interior lights, learn from my mistake, push the door in place but too far back, then slide forward! Once I got all the bolts on I nipped them all up and loosened them a quarter of a turn. Opened the door and supported it with a jack and a block of wood. Spent ages shouting and swearing at the door, but it turns out the drivers side is misshapen due to my dad putting the car on its side last winter. Passengers side was easy as anything, literally on and it was perfect!

Spent today trying to get some rivets for the checker plate sills I've had lying around. No joy, why cant the packets have the the size of the head of the rivet on it. So, I put it on with M6 bolts, even if it doesnt match the plate on the bonnet. Still, got the job done and looks awesome. Just gotta get the new door and I've decided I want some plate for the rear quarters, looks a bit bare.
Photos are still uploading, so I'll try get them up tomorrow

Hobbs92

Failure!

First couple of coats have gone on the rear cross member but I'm now distracted with work, oh and the wonders of Land Rover electronics. After nipping one of the wires on the wiper motor switch and not realising it started raining today. Boom, popped the 10A fuse on circuit 4. Sorted the wire (the wonders of black electrical tape) but now have no intermittent wipe, and the wipers don't go off when you wash the windscreen. Oh, and they don't park any more either. Supposedly, the park switch has gone. Next project, once the rear cross member is painted and waxoyled is fitting a new wiper motor and a quick attempt at refurbing the whole system! For now, lets just hope it doesn't rain to much!

Hobbs92

Primer!

Grinding finished! Rear surface of the cross member took half an hour tops, came up really smooth with no rust at all. Bottom surface was a bit quicker, but a good few awkward spots around the mounts for the tow bar.

The top surface is definitely much harder to get at, and didn't get much attention as I was worried I'd damage the aluminium panels around it so I left it alone for now, its not too bad anyway.

You can really see the state of door here, there's no underside to it where water has got in and just sat inside it.

Masking up was the next job, taking care the edges where accurate. Harder than it sounds, and I relived my hatred for masking tape. Rest of it was a bit of a sloppy job, but as long as there are no gaps its not doesn't have to look great.

Primer went on easy, using smooth strokes you get a nice even coat. Last job left is to pull the masking tape off, but going to let it dry a bit first.

Next job, while this dries for 24 hours, is the get the tow bar brackets and rear corner protectors ground down and primed as well

Hobbs92

Rear cross member rub down

Started some work on my rear cross member tonight, rubbing it back to bare metal to get it ready for priming and painting with some Hammerite smooth black tins. Attached a wire brush to the angle grinder, donned a boiler suit (nice insulated one care of my dads mate at work, shame it says Chevron on it), goggles, face mask, hat and gloves and got stuck in.





My dad had a quick shot with the angel grinder, just to double check which brush was best for the back end.

The cross member wasn't really to bad, but some of the surface rust was a bad, especially on my rear corner protectors and tow bar, both of which removed last night but still need grinding down.











You can see where the rear corner protectors where attached here.








I got half of the front (or should that be rear?) surface down in about 5 - 10 minutes, its not a long process but thinking about going over with a finer brush just to get a nicer surface on it.

Only issue I'm having is along the bottom edge, the brush I'm using won't get the surface rust off.





For that bottom bit of rust I'm going to try a 115mm 80 grit flap disc, see what kind of results I get.

You can see the good metal here, a little bit of remaining paint left below the second highest bolt hole. Below the third highest hasn't really been touched by the brush so still has a little surface rust on it.

The brush I ended up using was a 3" twist know cup brush, seems quite hard wearing and is definitely making short work of the rust and paint.

Will be finishing and getting the grey primer on tomorrow, assuming everything goes to plan. As long as I can get the primer done then the Hammerite paint can go on the day after
Hobbs92

Project Defender

Little introduction to the project I'm currently undertaking. I acquired a 1996 Land Rover Defender 90 300TDi about half way through March this year.

Well, it was my dads beforehand. Bought off eBay around £7500 6 years ago. Ever since then I've dreamed to own one. I'd driven it before, I think I first drove it round a field at 15 or 16 and I had 6 months insurance on it when I past my driving test back in June 2009.  The chance came around when my dad upgraded to a Discovery 4. He took my 54 plate Ford Fiesta as a run about, and I took the Defender. As a 19 year old, its a bit different from the Fiesta's and Saxo's of norm. My plan is to restore, eventually with a galvanized chassis, new/refurbished bulkhead, reconditioned or new engine, uprated drive-train with 110/130 rear diff, lift kit, massive tyres, etc. Obviously, this is going to take a lot of time, and money.

Bit of back ground on  myself,  I'm a 19 year old University student. I've just finished my first year of  Mechanical Engineering at The Robert Gordon University. I work part time in a small Halford's branch in Inverurie as a bike mechanic and fitter. Money's not great but I enjoy the job.

Enough introductions, this is all about the car. Its covered 182000 miles as of today, with what I believe is the original engine and gearbox. Front final drive bearings have been replaced, but the passengers side is leaking oil and grease and leaves slight play on the wheel, so got to keep an eye on it. On the outside I've got a set of Tomb Raider style side steps, black checker-plate on wings and bonnet, a safari snorkel, a pair of wipic spotlights and a set of bull bars. Inside there's a set of Cobra Monaco S's and a cubby box both of which re-trimmed with black Land Rover pattern cloth by Exmoor trim. There's a Pioneer headunit, with Bluetooth and iPod connectivity and a Cybernet Beta 2000 CB radio that I don't think works. I've literally just changed both the front and one of the rear UJ's and got a new rear door to get drilled, painted and fitted as the current one is being held together by the window and hinges. Also working on getting the chassis tidied up, painted, waxoyled and whilst I'm at it make sure its just one patch I need to weld on it.

Plenty of photos on my photobucket and I'll keep my blog updated as I get work done, and to no doubt ask questions as to how you fix something!

Hobbs92