23 July - Starter replaced and butt list nearly there

STARTER

The replacement 'Valeo' solenoid arrived from Craddocks (it was Britpart) and looked to be good quality. We will see.

 So stuck this on the started assy and tried to refit to the flywheel casing after testing it on a battery (all good). Now taking it off took 20 minutes - tops. Getting it back in took over an hours and involved torrent of abuse and chopping off a few stud ends passing through the chassis so it would go back on. Ho hum?

Now installed and fired up on the button.


TOW BAR etc.

Completed the towbar electrics (no buzzer!) and fitted the 3 tonne ball and pin hitch that used to be on Cartman (S3).

The height of the ball needs to be checked against our ally log haul trailer. I don't really want to drop it further (currently 27") as that would require additional bracing to the chassis rails and make it a bit too 'plough like'. The Defender hitch is lower at 22" but could go up 2". I could block the hitch up on the trailer by 2-3" which would balance the difference out?


GEARBOX

Trigger has spent most of the past 3 years sitting on the drive doing nowt so at some point I had fitted the diffs/gearboxes etc. and filled them with oil but I thought I had better just re-check all of them just in case it has either leaked out over the past years...or anything else?

Transmission seemed a bit noisy under load anyway.

Front and rear diffs were fine. Main gearbox was fine. The transfer box was another issue and though full it was full of this! (Oh and why the hell does this site rotate all the pics to 4:3 format FFS?)

Looks very emulsified? S2 forum post ---> http://www.series2club.info/forum/index.php/topic,46350.msg412746.html

Dumped the contents and refilled with some EP90 and other manual gbx oil I had around and will take it around the block to give it a good flush through. I have ordered 4 litres of Castrol Syntrans (SMX-S) synthetic to put in there after and will leave enough to change the main gbx oil too.

Also noticed that when in 2nd gear and I lift off the power it occasionally jumps out of gear. Maybe the oil change will help but long term I have a spare S2 box to strip down and overhaul as a side project (if I have time?).


ELECTRICS

Reverse light stopped working just before the MOT (not a testable item). Found out it was due to a poor contact on the base of the bulb.

I had to use the horn at the weekend to warn a non-indicating lane changing van driver he was about to be rammed and realised it sounded like a strangled ferret. Took that one off (bike horn) and located the original LR horn in a box at the back of the garage. Nice and loud now!


INTERIOR

The issue of the seat belts being too short (for some)  was fixed by rotating the seat belt locking arms the other way up and switching them from side to side. So no need to buy new ones (that saved £30!).

Door cards fitted to both doors which tidies up the interior and adds a bit more soundproofing.

Rear bed tie down points refitted.


BUTT LIST

Not many items from the original post MOT butt list still remain so time to update and start a new one?

1. Modify the exhaust to tame it down a tad?
2. Fit an interior light
3. Change tx and main gbx oils
4. Number plate bracket to be fabricated
5. Reduce the engine vibes at tickover. Engine and gbx rubbers?

All the above followed by another ramble out on the Plain running on 100% SVO