dug out the 109

ok, so after browsing and replying to loads of other threads, thought its time for one o' me own.....
after 4 years or so off the road, decided to dig me 109 out of hiding and see whats required to get it legal again.
its last outing was a tong p&p in '09, where i had plenty of playing in the pond. mot ran out week after an it promptly got plonked in a corner of the workshop an forgot about.
subsequently the clutch seized, and in ragging it up and down the lane i stripped a load of teeth off the reverse idler. out came the box, stripped repaired and rebuilt over about a year, then plonked back in the motor as i needed to move it.
there it sat getting burried under piles of chos with a few nuts holding the box to bellhousing, a rear prop and a clutch slave that kinda worked after plenty of pumping.

after a charged battery and 20 seconds of glowplugs, we filled the shop full of eye stinging diesel fumes. enough clutch pumping to engage a gear and get it out enough to mess around with it.
what i thought was air in the hydraulics due to the initial "chuck some fluid in" 2 years ago, turned out to be half of tong pond in there. a complete clutch fluid change and small twaek on the push rod in the master cylinder got us gears and able to move easier.
onwards to washing it to remove years of ash (we had a problem with a foundry next door) and to assess the work required.
pics so far, and i'll detail the work required later when i've poked it a little more. there's more than i thought!
before anyone gets upset, its not a purists motor tho the outline is there. it has been used, abused, trailed, and mine for the last 15 years.

Nice one, it'll give you something to do now the sun has come out
And never mind the "purists", at least it's not a tray backed abomination!!

ooh that looks like a Proper Landy.. have fun..

few more pics of damage assessment.
there appears more than i thought.....
most of the body mounts have corroded thru and will require attention.
what was intended to start with repairing the bulkhead outrigger, turned
into the removal of the rear body cross member instead. even this started
as floor removal to see whats required at the middle seat body mounts, and the off side sill and c pillar.
pics tell the story, will hopefully give a bit more commentary as replacement bits are fabricated and fitted.

nowt left of rear body cross member mounts


photo of door pillar work with bulkhead outrigger in view


bulkhead outrigger took a clout from a submerged rock at tong....


did know about this previous repair, but needs attention again


probly gonna replace the floor


chisel to split the spot welds


slightly easier to remove than a disco floor,
pain to get out tho.....





finally!


an insecure diesel tank


and the front of the tank



a black workshop dog


the not so white workshop dog



was in a rush at end so forgot to photo the ally crossmember removed so will pic them tomorrow.

you and your helpers look like you got it under control.

it dunt look in bad nick for the year, could've been worse

Freelaner said:

you and your helpers look like you got it under control.

it dunt look in bad nick for the year, could've been worse

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tryin to work it out this aft, reckon i bought it '96ish and re chassi'd in '97.
the body was lifted off complete in me mothers front garden with a chain block and a gurt lump of timber tied between two trees.
the chassis came from a sodbury sortout when it was at sobury, and came home on the roof rack of my tranny van.......
no pics available of all that unfortunately.

oh, and the black helper's good untill you stop throwing the rubber rad pipe or shocker bush. really should market these as dog toys, there virtually indestructible unlike the ones at home....

nrgserv said:

tryin to work it out this aft, reckon i bought it '96ish and re chassi'd in '97.
the body was lifted off complete in me mothers front garden with a chain block and a gurt lump of timber tied between two trees.
the chassis came from a sodbury sortout when it was at sobury, and came home on the roof rack of my tranny van.......
no pics available of all that unfortunately.

oh, and the black helper's good untill you stop throwing the rubber rad pipe or shocker bush. really should market these as dog toys, there virtually indestructible unlike the ones at home....

Click to expand...

ours has the pneumatic tyre off a caravan jockey wheel

johnny curt 1 said:

ours has the pneumatic tyre off a caravan jockey wheel

Click to expand...

i aint gotta caravan

was waitin for yer to catch up with this thread

nrgserv said:

i aint gotta caravan

was waitin for yer to catch up with this thread

Click to expand...

i gorra few questions for yer P/M only

ok, so todays entertainment was to try an do summat with the rear body cross member. hiding amongst the steel pile was a 12 foot lenght of pre bent ally chequer plate angle, about 2" each side.
need to try and get another couple of bends in it, and it wont fit my home made bender (built for disco sills, so just too short. pics later, jonny!)
so i quick pilfering mission to next door for some channel iron and they didnt have any straight stuff in, so had to make do with a 3x2 angle.
pics show the crude jig for bending and...well anyway, just follow the pics!

rear body cross member removed


ally angle that needs to replicate the original


lazy cutting of the pilfered angle iron for the jig


jig ready to be clamped to table (1/4 plate steel)


clamped and battered down


wasnt entirely happy with the tightness of the bend,
so made a bodge vee block and used a 4 inch bolster chisel to tighten it up


which resulted in a banana bend........


a bit of fettling and a run with the chisel down the centre bend brought it straight enough to use (but i forgot to photo it) and a trail fit before centralising it and bolting it to the chassis cross member


setting the gaps for height




and a hole hider made from an old hard top side panel. (not colour matched...)




and a general view of the thing fitted with jack removed.


oh, and an obligatory dog shot


tomorrows epic should be either the off side rear door sill, or front of back floor body mounts, or maybe both if we get lucky.

i'll post an explanation of why this lots suddenly happening after 3 or so years, and yeah, it involves beer.
for the moment tho, i have to go out for a meal as me anniversary's got in the way and the doris has booked a table.
back laters.

oh, and the bender pics for jonny......
tis a disco sill repair if anyone's interested

oh aye thats what i like to see maybee clarke would be interested in seeing how its really done

so todays pics
offside c pillar to sill corrosion


off side b pillar during removal pic from inside


off side c pillar to sill corrosion pic from inside


off side c pillar removed


off side sill to bulkhead removal


off side b pillar rot close up


off side bulkhead outrigger holed


off side bulkhead outrigger patched


box section sill and b pillar bottom trail fit


box section sill and b pillar bottom trail fit from other direction


box section sill to bulkhead outrigger


and todays dog shot with a bush.

and tonight's bonus pic....

uncle zip and the latex glove......

and then theres the story as to why its happening.

in the begining,
there was a pub, and a group of mates with with various motors in various states of disrepair.
of these mates, i'm one, and within the group is uncle zip who has an 88" series 3 that again was rebuilt 10 years ago over the jubilee weekend. (total coincidence it appears)
now uncle zip is usually up for a laugh, and enjoys a few beers.
reletively new to the scence is grubby john, who is an avid lurker and poster on a forum called auto****e. it is possibly this forum that has seen him buy a 400 quid vauxhall calibra more than once and a rot ridden maseratti. he still has a calibrs, along with various spares and the maz now cluttering the workshop and his currency appears to be not of a monetary value, but how much its equivelent worth is in calibra's.
now after meeting grubby john, and subsequently taking him green laning while at the pickering steam fair he was quite astounded that the disco while being comfortable on the road and able to hold 80 miles per hour, was able to crawl over rocks the size of small calibra's.

so he went and bought a mot less 2.25 petrol 109 hard top off fleabay, that came with a pair of unknown rangey axles and an even more unknown 200tdi engine in the back. plus a load of body bits, starters, manifolds and half a ton of other unrelated auto****e. (about two and a half calibras.....)
a short time later he bought a legal 300tdi disco. (nearly 3 calibras.....)

not being content with his own non running/legal auto****e, he turned his attention to me and zip.
"when you gonna get them things back on the road?" referring to the 88 and 109.
"when i get round to it when time and money allow", says i

anyway, back to the night in the pub.
while i was answering the call of nature, a discussion of non running rovers seemed to take place, and without my consent it was anounced on my return that "you need to get the leafer back on the road as were taking them round the nurburg ring"
"WTF?"
"yep. we've decided that as an incentive, were gonna get them all legal and drive to Germany and have a bit of a top gear thing and drive them round the ring"
hhhmmmm..."can i drag it on the trailer behind the disco?"
"nope. has to make it there and back under its own steam"
"oh b****x"
so there it was, and nothing happened.
grubby johns 109 is still in his front garden, the rear still full of auto****e as it was when it arrived 12 months ago.
uncle zips 88 made it to the front of the shop cos the dog lost a bush behind it and we just had to find it.
and mine just stayed there in bits from where i left it 3 years ago.

i probably should have stated at the outset, that in 2008 jack arrived from the dirty deed with the missus, and many happy days ensued as i became a domestic engineer, sometimes refered to as a house husband or stay at home dad. i get to watch him grow up, educate him, and do what daily chores the missus usually whinges about. (whats an iron actually needed for?)
anyway, settled down into routines, school starts, get a bit of free time, able to get some work in (self employed was a factor in staying at home with jack) and just generally enjoy life.
well, school holidays crept up, jubilee weekend and the missus says she's going to granny's with jack for a reunion street party. tongue-in-cheek i asked if granny wanted jack for the holidays.
"oh, if you dont mind" granny says
wow!
so jack's at granny's for the holidays, the missus is back at work, and i aint booked any work in cos i thought i was gonna be at home!

workshop time!

full days, can knock off at a sensible hour instead of midnight, and do summat of me own for a change.

so come on grubby john and zip, get them leafers sorted out!
haha!

.......and why am i typing this at midnight?
cos people are finding out i'm "available" and keep wanting work doing.......

grubby johns maseratti rebuild thread on auto****e, if anyone's really interesed.
has a few comedy moments in it!

www.auto****e.com • View topic - Maserati 222 SE WIP

grubby johns maseratti rebuild thread on auto****e, if anyone's really interesed.
has a few comedy moments in it!

www.auto****e.com • View topic - Maserati 222 SE WIP

^ I think they heard you the first time

Grubby said:

^ I think they heard you the first time

Click to expand...

lol guess thats what happens when you mix computers and beer
put it down to extra coverage at no extra charge

Liking the dog











Quite like the labrador too and the little white one