My First rebuild - 110 station wagon

Discokids said:

I've not been on landyzone for a while so the last I read it was all finished and making you smile. I'll read through later if I get chance. Is it 300tdi?

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Yes, It's a 300Tdi.

I've got one from a discovery sat here if you need to borrow one.

Discokids said:

I've got one from a discovery sat here if you need to borrow one.

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An engine!

Yes, amongst other items.

Discokids said:

Yes, amongst other items.

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Cheers, mate. That's very kind. I'm well on with rebuilding mine now. Had it re-bored, new pistons, new bearing shells, new valves, all cleaned and painted. Just about there. Well, hopefully it will work when I try to start it.

No probs. I'm sure it will work just fine, I'll definitely have a read later on, sounds like you've had plenty to do on it!

Discokids said:

No probs. I'm sure it will work just fine, I'll definitely have a read later on, sounds like you've had plenty to do on it!

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Completely stripped and rebuilt. I could have bought a second hand one, perhaps out of a Discovery, but after investing so much time and money in the body I thought I might as well do the engine to match.

Anybody able to help on a mechanical issue?

I've not done anything to the 110 for about three months now, every job seemed to hit a dead end, work has been hectic, kids, life etc etc...
Last time I ran the engine it decided to leak oil out of the cooler pipes. No bother, it's naturally aspirated so don't really need that, and will one day become a 300tdi anyway so wasn't about to spend money on new pipes. The time before that I was attempting to move it under its own power and realised the clutch was stuck on. So I've plugged off the cooler pipe outlets and today thought I'll see about that clutch. To cut a long story a bit shorter, here's what I've got.
Put gearbox in 3rd, 4th or 5th, transfer box in hi locked. Put the clutch to the floor and turn it over (diesel off) and it turns but is obviously dragging the clutch but is turning. Sounds normal right?? Release the clutch and turn it over again - no resistance whatsoever and spins over as fast as though it was in neutral.

Please help!

If you had it in gear and the clutch was engaging it would move when you turned it over. A bit, anyway.

The easiest way of describing it is this: it's like the clutch is operating in reverse, the opposite of normal yet If I jack up a wheel I can't turn it when in gear. I've overthought this so much now it's just a blur.

Well, I'm glad I sorted the clutch (see other thread) and got home from work today to finish refitting the engine. Ran that for a minute and all is well, fitted the gearbox crossmember but that fouls the exhaust ever so slightly - performance is not an issue so the hammer may be called in to service to create 6mm of clearance. Think I'm going to celebrate with some welding now. More manky door pics to follow.

Discokids said:

Well, I'm glad I sorted the clutch (see other thread) and got home from work today to finish refitting the engine. Ran that for a minute and all is well, fitted the gearbox crossmember but that fouls the exhaust ever so slightly - performance is not an issue so the hammer may be called in to service to create 6mm of clearance. Think I'm going to celebrate with some welding now. More manky door pics to follow.

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If it helps I watched a video of a V8 engine on a test bed (on motortrend I think). They tested power with a new exhaust manifold (or headers as they say in US) then took a sledge hammer to them and tested again. There was no measurable difference to power.

Despite my not posting on this for much of the year I have been chipping away at it. I've had a lot of other stuff on that was unforeseen at the beginning, and in all honesty, getting to the doors seemed to be a huge sticking point, and one that I haven't really enjoyed. It's virtually impossible to get every bit of rust and any serious welding just distorts the frames. Constant measuring and adjusting, making tiny little bits - but it's all done now. Here are the two left doors wet flatted and ready for paint.



Also something else that I've been moving from a to b and back again is the inner wings. The wheel side looked as though the Landy had been driven through concrete. Trying to remove whatever was in them was almost impossible. It was trapping water and causing rust so I ended up chucking them on my brothers fire drum, which cleaned them up nicely. Left them outside to see which bits were bare and seemed pretty good, with rust showing only at the edges. Wire brush on the polisher and cleaned them up, then painted with two coats of the por 15 I had left from the chassis. As shiny as it looks, these pictures were taken when it was bone dry.


They have been scotched off which was hard going, and the engine sides have since been painted with 2k primer. Also did the air box while the POR was out.

Just a cheeky photo of the right side doors fitted. Back was a pain in the backside to line up, Front was a doddle. Both just need the tops pulling out a tad. All rebuilt with new glass, regulators, seals and runners. When I fitted the hinges I smeared grease everywhere to a) help seal, b) protect the paintwork and c) help adjust the door position. Still got my central locking kit to obtain and install, not even thinking about the door cards at the minute, as they're like rocking horse poo!



Also got the rear door to do but this is a walk in the park compared to the other four. Couple of plates to weld in, check the current welding because I know these doors are prone to crack, especially with a h/d wheel on it, until I get a swing away carrier.

Looking good so far

Discokids said:

Just a cheeky photo of the right side doors fitted. Back was a pain in the backside to line up, Front was a doddle. Both just need the tops pulling out a tad. All rebuilt with new glass, regulators, seals and runners. When I fitted the hinges I smeared grease everywhere to a) help seal, b) protect the paintwork and c) help adjust the door position. Still got my central locking kit to obtain and install, not even thinking about the door cards at the minute, as they're like rocking horse poo!

View attachment 135357

Also got the rear door to do but this is a walk in the park compared to the other four. Couple of plates to weld in, check the current welding because I know these doors are prone to crack, especially with a h/d wheel on it, until I get a swing away carrier.
View attachment 135358

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Looks exactly like my rear door although mine has a bit more rust at the bottom. I must have looked at it and the front door 10 times over the year, then put it off to work on something else. Im not looking forward to doing them at all.

LukeMcneil said:

Looking good so far

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Cheers, there is finally light at the end of the tunnel.

mick the builder said:

Looks exactly like my rear door although mine has a bit more rust at the bottom. I must have looked at it and the front door 10 times over the year, then put it off to work on something else. Im not looking forward to doing them at all.

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All I can say about mine is - these doors have all but broken me!

Discokids said:

Cheers, there is finally light at the end of the tunnel.



All I can say about mine is - these doors have all but broken me!

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Youve made a cracking job of them and youve got 2 more than i have.
How did you manage to get the frame to fit the skin? did you make a jig for the frame or take measurements? When i start mine, id be tempted, once ive removed the skin, to draw round whats left of the frame on a board and use this as a rod .

mick the builder said:

Youve made a cracking job of them and youve got 2 more than i have.
How did you manage to get the frame to fit the skin? did you make a jig for the frame or take measurements? When i start mine, id be tempted, once ive removed the skin, to draw round whats left of the frame on a board and use this as a rod .

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Thanks again mick, but I must stress that it's taken me about 5 months of off-on work, doing an hour or so on average of every 3 or 4 days. I've also barely touched it since the end of may this year.
I took loads of measurements and even went as far as tracing the ends of the graphics on the outside of the skin, for when I get new ones. I kept the skin to hand for each door and then checked the frame inside it before I did any major welding. Basically used the skin as a jig. To check the bend of the door I kept lining it up against the b-pillar (a luxury you won't have) I used an entire push button door for spare pieces for the top half, because the bends are just to tight to match myself, every door has also painstakingly had the top/bottom halves separated, to allow access to all the rust there. It's amazing how in any given part, two bits of identical metal that are welded together can corrode at different rates and, also strange, how these early lift up doors are made of steel that is much nicer to weld than the later 90's push button I used for spares. Anybody welding up a 110 second row push button door better also be well prepared for a shock because when these go, the rot around the lock area is spectacular! A problem that I luckily escaped.

I'm not going mad with the rear door because it doesn't feature in my long term plans, that and the fact that I can't get the bloody wiper motor off!

I'm with you on the time scale.ive been on mine two years and I'm just past the seat box moving forward. My bulkhead is in great nick thankfully so just the doors and both wings to panel beat into shape. New door skins seem a good idea and not too dear compared to the time spent repairing the damage to mine. I'm trying to decide whether to paint the engine bay to match bodywork, slight colour change. Or raptur it with a brush. The thought of still stripping down to do work after all this time fills me with dread. Are you doing your work outside? If so, I take my hat off to you. I've mine in a big shed but still find inspiration hard to find.