vils 110csw rebuild

alas those poles from halfrauds are **** and wouldnt be rated to take the weight of the 110 anyway. its only rated at 2 tonne.

ive got a proper 3.5tonne towing a frame that i would be happy to tow it with but that was at home and i had to get to work.

anyway its all fixed now, did loads of welding whilst the wing was off. improved the heaters flow as the seal was blocking the intake, sorted the wiring etc. and heavily undersealed everything. Sealed up loads of little holes and fixed the bodged exhaust that the P.O put on when he did the 200tdi conversion. Its loads quieter now.

somehow though she has managed to bend the steering on the drive home. I drive it for 2 years and its fine. she drives it once and now the steering wheel is 90 degrees over to keep it straight!

Bought a 130 the other day too!

vilguy said:

Bought a 130 the other day too!

Click to expand...

Thought You'd gone quiet lol

Well ive been busy with the 110 and started to try and lose some weight from it to improve performance.



Knocked up this lightweight carbon gear lever saving 300g.





Changing the battery has saved 5kg!

Changing the way power is fed around various ancillieries around the vehicle, ive changed the wiring about and knocked 1kg from it. With no loss in efficiency.

Heres the new adrenaline trailing arms, the axles reconnected now too

You could drill holes all over the chassis to save a few more kilo's.

Where'd ya get the carbon stick? Looks the dogs.

Alibro said:

You could drill holes all over the chassis to save a few more kilo's.

Where'd ya get the carbon stick? Looks the dogs.

Click to expand...

I think mr rust beat me to it. Its lost a good couple of mm thickness all over
Will be making a batch of the gearsticks up soon and they will be available.

why save weight with an areodynamic brick

Because losing weight from a vehicle improves everything.

As the late and great yacht designer Uffa Fox remarked 'the only place that you want weight is in a steamroller'. (A bit before Colin Chapman and his 'remove weight and add lightness'). Fair bit of carbon going into mine...

Precisely.

Aerodynamics only really matters at speed.

Lightness matters at all times. It'll use less fuel, accelerate faster (balanced against fuel) allow the use of softer springs, so softer damping leading to more comfort....

It'll handle better due to a lower c of g, be able to lean over further, less stress on tyres and brakes do they last longer.

The benefits pretty much never stop.

Bollocks, got the Chapman quote wrong. 'Simplify, then add lightness'.

vilguy said:

Precisely.

Aerodynamics only really matters at speed.

Lightness matters at all times. It'll use less fuel, accelerate faster (balanced against fuel) allow the use of softer springs, so softer damping leading to more comfort....

It'll handle better due to a lower c of g, be able to lean over further, less stress on tyres and brakes do they last longer.

The benefits pretty much never stop.

Click to expand...

youll save 3lbs then add 2 cwt with toys

Planning on saving over 200kg on the project overall.

So far I am at 6.3kg with only very basic modifications.
Wait till the big Carbon fibre bits start coming out....

Mmmm, a lightweight Landy. Now where have I heard that before?

200kg is a fair chunk of weight, Isn't that around 10%?
I love carbon fibre parts and have made a few myself in the past but it's a lot of work. Are you planing to make moulds so you can go into production or are they one off's? I would love to see a 'How To' for the parts you make.

a 110 with the old lightweight looks would be quiet cool actually

Im going into production with them.

Aye they are ALOT of work for each mould. Especially as I am producing them with high gloss finishes so no polishing is required of the actual product after it comes out of the mould. Getting foam patterns up to a polished glass finish is a pain in the bottom. But with effort comes reward.

The current stuff I am making the patterns for is as direct replacements for original parts. Might go into some more unique stuff later. For now, its little things like non structural side panels, the little panels that go underneath hicap tubs etc.

Theres a carbon dash panel (rather than the crap plastic with carbon effect stuff out there) and also a carbon snow cowl too.

First part to be released other than the gear lever, will be the infill triangular bits on double cabs behind the 2nd row doors.

First i made up the plug to the right shape / size out of blue foam. Applying a layer of filler ontop.


After a first flatting, a layer of high build epoxy primer is applied. To get it to this dark grey colour you see here.

This then needs to be flatted again, and more filler, flatting, more filler flatting, then more primer... then the high gloss resin. Alot of work for a simple part. But worth it.


To replace these bits.

Looks like you know what your doing with that stuff. I made some door trims and an instrument binnacle last year, even managed to sell a couple of sets of the door trims but my skills are very much DIY so it was more work than it was worth and I decided it was much easier doing a couple of hours OT at work. Also I found the instrument binnacle was VERY reflective in both sunlight and streetlights.

Ive made quite a few things now, and i have all the gear for resin infusion and vacuum bagging etc so its pretty easy to do.
Just filled and flatted this piece AGAIN. Sheesh thats 7 times now! Is starting to look really good though. What I initially perceived to be flat, I have now realised was no where near!

I need to get on with my website etc now. I launched it last night but its very basic at the minute. Ive had the domain for almost 2 years but only just got around to making it because i thought it would take so long. Only took an hour to build a basic sight with an online shop etc. Amazing how quick it is to do this. Alot easier than I thought.

Need to create a logo and bits and bobs though to form a corporate brand. All work!

Was out in the 110 earlier and I was thinking that since I have removed the roof tent and big roof box (which is for sale by the way) its a bit firm. I think I need to reduce the tyre pressures a smidgen. Might fit air suspension. We will see.

I need to have a look at the throttle cable as well. I fitted a new one after the fire but it was waaaayyy longer than the one it replaced and the actions all stiff due to the amount of bends in it.

Well im sick of having so much stuff in the workshop. Had stuff lying around for donkeys years so



Refitted one of our old steering wheel snap off kits.

And made a carbon snorkel mushroom head top thingy. It was a bit of a disaster really as I had choosen this moulding as the first time I would use a new fancy release agent instead of traditional pva / wax etc. Bloody nightmare, ended up damaging the mould and the actual part came out awful. Had to give it a once over with resin to at least get it glossy.



Ill get around to flatting it down and getting it looking a bit better. The original steel item weighed in at 320g. This weighs just 60g.



Excess resin in the pot afterwards as it cures... gets a bit toasty!



after vacuum bagging but pre removal of the release film. Looking good thus far.