1987 ninety work in progress

DISASTER

road test 1 last night.

3 issues...1 and 2 are related and its not as bad as i feared.


1 - test ended in clouds of smoke at max revs in the middle of a 3 point turn. . I thought she ranaway i was half out the cab with my tshirt off ready to throw it in the intake. she turned off with the key.... started it again after a few minutes and it took off to max revs again..... so got my mate who was at my house to come with the tow rope

2 - My steering was as tight as #### , How ever during my tow it went ping and went light again.

3 - shes a crabbing - the trackings to ****. I have a laser tracking jig but im struggling with the best way to do 3 point drag link system. - my theory was Adjust the box to the mid point with the steering wheel. Jack up the passengers wheel - and set that to straight on the front rod end then drop it on the floor and use my laser jig to adjust the length of the drag link to put the drivers wheel straight in relation to the drivers wheel - how ever this visibly didnt look right after the test drive. How ever i guess given it was a first road test its possible all the suspension / balljoints / trailing arms just settled in and i need to re-adjust

Who can tell me why points 1 and 2 are related and what happened ? (i know now and have stopped cursing my self)

Sounds odd that your steering is tight and your throttle is sticking?! Coincidence?

Accelerator cable wrapped around steering rod??

james wins.

the ping was the cable snapping.

soon as i opened the bonnet and pulled off the turbo inlets / cyclone breather and checking the dip stick.

Everythign was dry. Was pointing towards an internal engine issue - diesel getting in the oil or something raising the oil level - how ever i also know my mate put 12 litres of oil in his 200tdi and it didnt run away..... so i was puzzled

then i noticed a loose cable near the steering column - pulled it and the IP lever moved......

went inside noticed no resistance on the accelerator......

2 +2 . Started her up and she was at tick over....

SLAPing of forehead was prevelent !


One thing is for sure - her guts are clean .... any standing ****e in that engine is now in the atmosphere as she reached for the v-tec - i litterally saw my mates almera arriving through the fog of smoke.....he thought i was on fire.....

it did look good though :d

top drive said:

it did look good though :d

Click to expand...

Seems to have come on really fast, glad I won the prize

your prize is - anything from my scrap pile thats accumulated infront of the landrover as i cut rusty bits off ..... you can have a footwell with non closable ventalation , some door tops with ventalation , a non structural bulkhead outrigger - with extra large drain holes......

anyhoo. new bits ordered. Monday off work (its my birthday)

and i hope to get road test number 2 shortly, then i can think about an mot.... one things for sure - my brakes are sharper than a sharp thing !

progress has been quick as im using it for my wedding car on july 10th..... and im going to oz next week with work it looks like.

night off my landy last night.

down to my mate Oli's and helped him fit a full roof ,sides and rear doors and sort out his front lights + fit a boomslang. He had indicators lighting with sidelights , one dim headlight one front and no indicator on the rhs.

tell you what , got a handle on how these things are wired now. his wiring looks like a birds next of random colours - nothing matches the book(was a mil 24v v8 now a 12v disco converted 200tdi) and it was still simple to work out with the multi meter and it all works well now.

he has a roof ,sides , rear door and lights.

he is happy.

However i dont envy him having to work on it in the carpark of a modern block of flats.

No more smoke,

Full service , new oil , filters , valve clearances. Purrs like a kitten and absolutely no smoke !

Fitted new stereo with propper rear outputs , found it at my parents house , throw back from my first car. An old sony cdx 4 x 45.

Propper (although beat up ) tailgate fitted and painted . far better tahn the chequer plate....



before-


Seats bounce now !



need to do something about the stereo - its sticking out about 8cm - and touching hte bulkhead.... needs a raptor dash or stuck up to the roof !

Just been up mintlaw way l

Picked up a new rear axle as i wasnt happy with the state of mine.

This thing looks to be much better than mine , original diff pan doesnt leak , all the brackets for the brake pipes , even the original drums look in good nick. Has some light surface rust on but nothing like what mines was like before i cleaned it up !

45 quid as the guy just wanted rid of it cluttering up his drive as he put disks on.....

Looking good

Re your earlier comment on paddocks marine blue not being marine blue and too dark. When painting my 88 which was originally that colour i painted it over a bit of interior paint which was original and it was a perfect match in shade

it looks better in the natural light . in me garage it was much darker.

its looking as i wanted it too now.

top drive said:

need to do something about the stereo - its sticking out about 8cm - and touching hte bulkhead.... needs a raptor dash or stuck up to the roof !

Click to expand...

I'd go for a mudstuff roof console. Gives you a DIN space for the radio, plus some overhead storage. Since the rest of the landy looks pretty much standard I think it would fit in better with the general look. The old radio mount could be repurposed for a CB or just taken out.

at 159 quid - i dont think so.

i might butcher a cubby box and stick it in there.....

progress stopped.

going to australia on monday again.

So a tester ****part wiper switched arrived....what you know i went from having only fast and wash wipe to having fast slow wash wipe and intermittant .

Need to dig out reciept and test paddocks returns process...

back to tires .....

im still not convinced by 235/85/r16 mainly as i dont want disco steelies.

ive found Michelin XZLs for 120 quid at the EXMOD. can i do any better on a 750x16 ?

i really dont want remoulds for daily driving - bad experiance in the past.

ill pick up a used set of remoulds to stick on my disco wheels for ####ing about in the woods or the quarry if im doing that alot.

so - MOT is in a fortnight - as in i get home next tuesday and my first thing to do is go down to MMC and book her in for a ticket.

ive got a testers handbook to hand but anyone got any pointers for common failures on rebuilds - ive gone through mose of the defender weak points and think i have those nailed but there has to be something ive missed.

First thing on my list is to dig out the rear view mirror - i have a vague idea where it might be .....

Shouldn't need the interior mirror for the test as long as you have both door mirrors. MOT handbook says you have to have at least 2 mirrors, one of which must be the right hand door mirror.