PAINT
Final coat went on without any hitches but with the sun at a certain angle you can see the roller lines. It's a military finsh after all and still better than a squaddie with a brush? Pic somewhere down the bottom of this blog post.
WINDSCREEN
The original S2/SA screen came with the 109 and still had the mounting holes for the two seperate screen mounted wipers and also screen washer jets - but the internal hose stubs had broken off in the past so were now U/S. The wiper holes had been filled with grommets and would stay that way but the washers had already been reloacted to the top of the bulkhead by me during it's rebuild so would be staying there.
At some time the galv frame had been painted inside and out with DGB and later with current military 'NATO green'. I wanted all this off and return it back to galv with a patina of age...so it all had to come off. Using Nitromors/scraping/wire wheel/several hours evetually all the paint came away. See the next post for a pic of it in a stripped state.
Now to strip out the glass and replace. Back in Feb/March the Series 2 club did a group buy of heated windscreen panels and this looked a sensible move as the warm air heaters are never 'warm', and there isn't much 'air' either. So I bought one piece of heated glass for the drivers side and a new section of std laminated glass to fit the passengers side. The passenger can just look at the condensation and frost?
SOFTTOP/TILT
When I bought the 109 it came fitted with a truck cab and an assortment of softtop hoops and fittings - unfortunately not a complete set (eh, Mark?) so the plan had been to fit the truck cab for now. But plans change. On Sunday Rich ('Rogue Trooper') mentioned he had one 'hoop' in the back garden if I wanted it? Now I already had the center and front sections and only needed the rear, hoop'wise. He had a front....which is the same as the rear but with a couple of plates welded on. So either I lop them off or leave them on :)
All Trigger needs now is one section to go above the drivers door; horseshoe clamps for the bottom of the hoops to fasten to the capping; square plates for the sharks tooth windscreen rail to the bit's o'er the door and the four tubes going between each hoop. Only one is importatnt and cannot be worked around which is the bit over the drivers door. So I will either buy new from Exmoor Trim (etc.) or scrounge from someones odd bits box. Anyone reading this have any of the above and wish to 'donate'? ;)
Before I decide whether to go for the softtop I needed to know whether the canvas is in fact, good. It looked tidy when I was given it but -
a) I never unfolded it to check
b) It has been sitting on top of a cupboard in my mouse infested front garage for 18 months
Lou and I dragged it out., unfolded it we found that other than a few stains from damp it is all good. We have also located a specialist in Westbury that washes and reproofs LR softtops/horse blankets etc. So if the price is good we will get the tilt cleaned at the same time as a bunch of horse rugs.
For now the hoops and canvas have been fitted. It makes it a bit easier to keep the rain off - makes a nice tent too.
We temporarily fitted the front screen to support the hood (travelling for the week) I then noticed that the lower rail hits/lays on both the windscreen wash nozzles and the wiper shafts. Not good. I need to get the windscreen bottom seal and check out this issue once that is fitted. After all the wiper shafts are in the same position relative to the screen now as they were when I received the 109...and they worked then?
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