Ice...cold...snow...wet = not much happening?

So three weeks off for my Christmas break and what does it do but freeze, snow and rain for almost all of it. The original plans of what can be progressed on the 109 have gone to rats and the only thing that has been achieved is I bought a new (to me) Stihl 044 to provide us with enough firewood to keep the stove going..oh and cleaned the chimney and reset the spark arrestor that I almost knocked off with the rods ;)

So what did I actually get done? Well even in the garage not much happened. That was just as wet inside as it was out. This is what happens when someone builds it underground? Power also failed out there in the middle of the hols when the mains feed blew so the de-hum and oil heater were down for a few days which didn't help. Power prob now sorted and everything back on-line!

WHEELS
Just before the break I dropped into a guy local to me and collected 8 rims that had been sandblasted and primered. £10 each and a superb job to be honest. If anyone needs some sand/grit/shot blasting done around here then Tony Cowles is the place to go. Turns out Ashtree LR also use them as I found out when I bumped into Lyn while dropping them off.

So these did get two coats of brush applied Containergard over the break and should be heading off to get the tyres and tubes refitted early in Jan.

RAD PANEL
Before this can be put to paint I need to check the mounting locations and mods required to fit the intercooler and oil cooler in front of the rad. Originally the plan was to mount the oil unit at the top and the I/C below but now I see a problem. The I/C outlets will foul the rad! So either I don't I/C, or use an alternative unit (as there is no suitable spot to mount it otherwise) and I still stick with my decision not to do the usual and use the whole Disco rad/IC unit and butcher the front panel. Each to our own?

So decisions need to be made there.

THROTTLE PEDAL
Back a few months at the Shepton LR show I picked up a Defender throttle pedal that looked suitable for the job. As the weather 'dried' up towards the end the month it gave me some time to look at how to rig this up using a selection of Mini/Disco/Series LR cables and ends.

BRAKES
http://www.series2club.co.uk/forum/index.php?topic=31958.0
As the fornote mentions nothing really happened here.

I tried to source the missing fittings for the brake M/C and the shuttle valve unit. 3/8" ones already here but three on the shuttle are larger and now seem to be 7/16". Not a problem but no one locally seems to stock them. I tried Ottons LR (only sell pipe sections), Camberley Auto Factors (only do pks of 100) and then Halfrauds (only sell 'lifestyle accesories' and no brake fittings). So the only option is by mail and suffer the cash extraction for the postage?

The master cylinder still has one port that needs a fitting. Out of the two one is 3/8" but the other is larger and is neither 3/8",7/16" or 10mm fine. So what it is I do not know which is causing a further brake headache.

On the S2 forum 'SmokeyIIa' has kindly mailed me a pair of brake pipe mounts for the front hubs (mine were missing) so I also need to get some couplings to fit through these so the flexi pipes and hard pipes from the chassis can join.

Slow, slow, slow...........29th November - Mirrors/rad panel back

Rain, rain ,rain! It's all it seems to be doing (gales excepted) and it is holding me up big time.

I have been fiddling with more small parts in the garage but even in here it gets damp and with too much rain it manages to work it's way through. A PITA basically!

Next stage of challenges to face:-

• Get the brake pipe system finished (waiting for flexi mounting for the front hubs from 'SmokeyIIA' plus the fittings on the servo m/c and Lucas shuttle valve are not 3/8UNF or 10mm fine?)
• Waxoyl the chassis and bulkhead
• Manufacture/fit a plate for the fuel filter/FPHE
• Still waiting for the LWB rims to come back from tyre stripping so I can get them off for blasting...
• Exhaust! - just heard Parker's are looking into an exhaust system for 2 others. He now has a third!

MIRRORS
As a complete diversion I started looking at the door mirrors. Now the hole size on the top hinge is around 5/8" and the mirrors that came with Trigger have a shaft diameter around 1/2". So big washers were the order of the day but Mark had relocated the mirrors to the strengthened wings anyway.

So what should actually be fitted? So I started a thread here to find out ---> http://www.series2club.co.uk/forum/index.php?topic=31814.0;topicseen

Long way to go until I need them but I will keep my eye out for the 'proper' sprung arms. Until then I can use the current ones and washers.


RAD PANEL
One piece of good news was that Lyn at Ashtree called to say the rad panel is complete and ready for collection around the middle of next week.

Well it is now back from Ashtree and here it is......before

....and after

A darn sight better than it was before Lyn got hold of it! There is a slight twist that I need to straighten out but it looks easy enough to do.