Lightweight progress

Hmm.. 'bout time I updated this again. This have been relatively quiet car-wise up to Christmas, with me just going out for drives in the GT6, learning how the car behaves, identifying things that need to be done and running-in the new engine. Thoroughly enjoyable so far.
Christmas found me back in East Anglia with the MkI saloon, much more space inside and more comfortable with it. In between family socials I made time to go out visiting when ever possible, with a trip down to Preston Steam services for their Christmas get-together and a chance to see again I used to help crew on. Other days saw me take trips out to near Burton-upon-Trent for The Clay Mills Pumping Station, The Great Central Railway and into Kew for the Kew Bridge Steam Museum, with all distance covered by the old saloon without any complaint from it.

By the time I had got back to Wales, the new parabolic springs for the Lightweight had been delivered and work started on fitting them. Therefore, with signs of things going onto the new chassis, it was time to resume pulling parts from the old chassis. The rear axle was removed quite quickly once the U-bolts holding it to the springs had been cut off and it was soon up on the bench ready for cleaning and checking over.
The diff pan had gone a bit thin in places due to pitting, so a bit of time was spent building it up again prior to painting.

The weekend also saw the arrival of the (new) 2.5TDi engine for the Lightweight, which had come from a low'ish mileage 200 series Discovery, which was purchased just over six months ago. This has been mated up to a freshly re-built Series 2a Landrover gearbox, complete with Bearmach (Toro) overdrive.
My next job will be to remove, strip and clean the front axle, ready for when the diffs come back with new crown wheel and pinions, then we should be ready to get the chassis rolling and perhaps get the engine and gearbox dropped in.

Lightweight bulkhead repairs

With the Lightweight back in the barn I have been able to crack on with some remedial work on the lower bulkhead and it's mounting. On the passenger side, close to where it mounts to the chassis, the main bulkhead rail had suffered quite badly to corrosion. Initial thought were on how best to repair it, but the more I poked away at it, the less savable it became.

Wanting to get it done right and not have to come back to it again in a few years time, I took the decision to fabricate a new lower section to replace the heavily corroded part. Although the final piece is to be a channel section, I started off with a length of 2" box section as this was what was to hand and could ofcourse be cut down to size. Using the lathe a hole was soon bored close to the bottom to accept the lower mounting point/spreader tube, which was then welded in.

In an attempt to make sure every thing lined up, a basic jig was made up from a piece of Dexian, which seemed to work quite well as it already had all the holes in it I required.

Old and new bulkhead sections side by side

Old piece removed

New piece in, welded and painted

Outer panel also fitted.

Project lightweight

Down on the farm where I live/work, my boss has a series III lightweight Land Rover, which he plans to get back on the road after a number of years sat on one of the barns, but re-engining it with a slightly more modern 200 series 2.5tdi engine. Over the years the chassis has been patched and had parts replaced, but one of the reasons it has been laid up recently is due to chassis rot again, this time on the main chassis rail on the topside, under the floor panels.
There are at least two ways of gaining access to this area, removal of the rear body tub and, more simply, removal of the rear floor. Since we are not keen on making too much work for ourselves and the floor is corroding through in places, it was decided to lift the floor panel. This was done in an hour or so after drilling out all of the rivets and carefully prising the panel up. With this panel up the chassis can be cleaned up and decisions made on how much to repair it, just need to wait for some steel to be delivered before I start the welding.




















Meanwhile, the GT6 has been receiving a bit of attention, with some of the smaller jobs being finished off and tidied up. The wiring under the dash is now, hopefully, complete having added a momentary switch for the screen wash pump and connected the inertia switch to the two fuel pump switches.
In the engine bay, the coolant header tank has been sited in what was the battery box, the two lower connections going through holes cut in the bulkhead support panel and the whole lot given extra support with a small bracket underneath the tank.