29 June 2013

28th June - Fixed the Tex Magna and steering lock tweaked


INDICATOR FIX
On the Series 2 forum and in the latest 'Built to last' the forum member Xenocide came up with the ingenious idea of using a sink plug to replace the original self cancelling rubber wheel on the Tex-Magna indicator stalk on the S2. Well mine like most had perished and the thought that I could fix this for pence caught my attention.

Original forum thread here ---> http://www.series2club.co.uk/forum/forum/index.php/topic,63762.msg589971.html#msg589971

Well I beat the original cost and picked up a new sink plug for 22p! Though it was white but if it works what do I care?





Read the forum link for the whole method but it works..and works well. I cannot believe I have a 47 year old truck with self cancelling indicators, very RnR?

STEERING LOCK
Shuffling the 109 around in the confines of the local recycling center this week provoked a comment from one ex-squaddy of 60's vintage that he didn't remember the lock being that bad. Driving back home I had a thought.

I set the steering lock stops for the original 7.50 Goodyear Wranglers. I now have 7.50 Michelin XZL which are narrower. Having a shufty I realised I could crank another 1/4" off each stop which improves the barge like manouvering of the 109 a little...but not a lot. Every little improvement is welcome.

25 June 2013

25th June 2013 - New MOT!!

Trig's rolled into the local garage this morning at 1030. I rolled into Weatherspoons for a cardiac fry-up and a coffee and one hour later (they had free WiFi) I return to find he had passed the MOT!

No advisories at all...bar the fact I forgot to remove the baby seat. So another year for £45.

...and did I say zero advisories...I can't get my head around that one?


BONNET BUMPY BITS
So on a high note I thought I would have another look at the bonnet rattle induced by the cold Tdi at start up and idle.

A few months back we bought a new washing machine and the transit bolts came fitted with a couple of rubber doughnuts. 'These could be useful' I thought to myself. So they were put to one side for later usefulness.

Roll on today and with the assistance of a couple of bits of 8mm stud bar, a few nylocs and a bit of drilling I fitted them thus.


Seems to work ;)

20 June 2013

14th June 2013 - Sump back on and off we go!

SUMP BACK ON
Well all the expected parts arrived so we were ready to get the whole lot back together. Sump sealed with RTV and left overnight to cure. In the meantime I thought I would check over the tappet clearances again. Last time I set them to dead 8 thou (0.2mm). That is the Haynes specified clearance but I decided to reset to 10 thou. A little bit more play, but better a little bigger than too tight?

Rocker went on with a new gasket and the side mounted vent filter had a smear of black RTV before re-assy.

The following morning SWMBO had me scheduled to haul a load of 12ft 4" dia. posts from the local farmers merchant so Trig's had to be fit. 6 'or so' litres of 10/40 went in the hole and he fired and sounded fine. After the 15 mile round trip a quick check showed the sump to be around 1 litre overfull. Well I did say 6 or so and I guess it settled a bit from when I previously measured the level?

After starting to drain a bit out I decided to dump the lot and refill. The first fill of oil at least gave the lot a good flush through? No harm other than the waste of oil and cleaner internals are never a bad thing?

Definitely running better (fixing the exhaust helped?) and I don't appear to have any more oil leaks so touch wood......

Next challenge is to get through the annual MOT next week?

10 June 2013

9th June 2013 - Loose steering/loose exhaust/tappet adjust/sump off

Firstly, and I seem to remember saying this many times before, where does time go? I just logged back into the blog only to find I have posted b'all since the end of last year? I know time is tight with work/children etc. but I have done a bunch.

So to summarise the past few months of fettling.

GLOW PLUG RELAY etc.
The last one I fitted was never going to be up to the task long term so I ordered a 75A model and an inline 80A fuse. The 'weaker' model was dumped and this lot cobbled in.

I also looked at the glow plug on No.1 cylinder that was refused to come out last year. Well back then it still worked but now that one has gone TU too. So I tried soaking the exposed threads GT85 over a couple of weeks. Then heating it up with a blow torch to break the bond to no avail. It started to rotate with carefully applied force then sheared.

That one is now definitely staying in there until I find a reason the head has to come off! So only three plugs but far, far better than none!

FUEL SYSTEM MODDED AGAIN
When the fuel selection relays and plumbing went in I initially went with a heat exchanger on the common feed to the injection and lift pump. After reading peoples concerns regarding heating pure diesel (RH tank) I modded the plumbing so just the LH tank which always contained higher concentrations of SVO was heated.

Thinking about this again recently. The coolant on the engine is thermostatically controlled to about 80 Deg. C. The heat ex is never going to be 100% efficient so therefore I very much doubt the fuel will get as high as that level - even allowing for possible overheat conditions? And what temperature could the diesel tank get to on a hot day anyway (location dependent)?

So as even the RH tank now runs 30% SVO to 70% dieso I modded the whole lot back again so everything is now going through the HE. As a bonus the air that was getting into the RH tank feed has also gone away and eveything now runs fine on both tanks!

LOOSE STEERING
While buried under the bonnet one afternoon I noticed a couple of the bolts securing the steering box to the bulkhead securing plate were loose. Actually all of them were very loose.

Tightened the lot up which has improved the steering no end ;)
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This weekend I started on a bunch of jobs in advance of Trig's annual MOT that's due next month.

LOOSE EXHAUST
I took Trigger for a 70 mile round trip to work last week and on the homeward leg I heard a ping and a rattle as I was driving through town. It sounded like a bolt to me but I carried on regardless and everything seemed fine.

Roll on that evening and while doing a quick check I found that the side exit silencer box was hanging at a jaunty angle. Not the sort of jaunty angle it should be hanging at either.

Checking the pipework one of the bolts on one flange was completely missing and the other two were loose. Now fixed and secondary nyloks added to each screw. I should notice a difference once Trig's is fired up again.

SUMP OFF...
As the weather was good I thought I would whip the sump off for a general check on the condition of the engine.

When I bought the Disco that donated this engine it had 99k on the clock and the engine seemed good and strong. But I didn't know how it had been maintained so it was more a gut instinct than anything else. Since then I have been running SVO and the general 'man in the pub' on the forums believes the sump will now contain 'killer jelly' due to SVO passing the rings and other such horrors. So what better than a close up inspection?

I was changing the oil anyway and cleaning this out should keep the oil cleaner for longer. Sump came off without any dramas and was fine internally. A quick wipe with some kerosene and the internals were as good as new. This will go back on next weekend.

While the sump was off the oil pick-up filter was also given a rinse.

 
 
TAPPET ADJUST
The rocker cover vent had been leaking around the gasket and side vent filter so that all came off for a clean. While it was dismantled I ran over the tappet clearances as they hadn't been checked for 2 years since the engine went in.
 
They were out but only by a few thou.
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So next weekend the engine should be back together. RTV for the sump, new oil filters and oil and a rocker gasket should be with me by Friday. Oil this time is from Smith and Allan who I have used before for the boingy TD5 lube. Their semi syn 10/40W was £56/20 litres delivered!
 
Over the past few weeks Trigger has been used to get the dogs out on Salisbury Plain, haul horse stuff about and attend a couple of shows. The last one being the Codford Vintage and Nostalia show last week. Though he wasn't on the Series 2 Club stand he did make it to the vintage parking area on Sunday. Sun was out so tilt was up and door tops off!!