gettin busy on the 109, insulation

Ok last week I started to put the overdrive in. As it went on it got to the last half inch or so and wouldn't go any further. So I put the main gearbox in neutral and the transfer case in neutral. When I went to put the OD into neutral it wouldn't go. So I stuck a prybar in the hole on the selector shaft. When I applied pressure the shaft moved and the end of the shaft broke off! Forty-eight bucks and five days from Craddocks in the UK. I also ordered and rear door bottom seal at the same time. After I got the tranny in last week I also ordered some insulation from Lobucrod (www.lobucrod.com). It is closed cell foam with silver mylar on both sides and used in the boat/auto industries for heat and sound.

At the same time I ordered some hull liner material, #6501 from Perfect Fit (www.perfectfit.com). It is a silver gray color and should help to deaden the sound in the back of the 109. I ordered enough of both materials to do both roofs on my 109 and 88. This Monday last saw me install the Kodiak Mk3 heater. I had to cut out a new hole for it and add a stiffening plate on the top of the footwell. I still have to get some hoses for it. Curiously I don't have any pics of it. I'll get some later to post up. Monday also saw my headliner delivered in the morning by my favorite UPS driver. It came right after I finished with the heater install. That afternoon my Postal Carrier dropped off the insulation! So I had Monday night to try to figure out how I was going to do this. I had to move my 88,Ignotus, forward in the driveway to get room close to the back of the 109. I set up 2 sawhorses and plywood on top of them. Over this I had some paper so to help keep the stuff cleaner.

I then set about to measure some pieces of insulation, 20x31in for the front section and 20x40in for the rears, IIRC. Then I took the piece in the tub of the 109 and holding it up I marked where I needed to cut out for the parts I needed cut out.

I wanted to leave the window and the stiffener and the galvanized connector bits exposed. I did figure out that I could use my utility knife(Stanley.com) and cut the window corners and the stiffener corners. Then putting the piece on the table I used a straight edge to connect the corners with my knife.

Using this technique I test fitted the first panel and found that it cut the openings for the window too large. So on the rest of the windows I made sure I cut them smaller. It worked. The insulation could now be used as a template for the hulliner.

And this is where I would do things differently next time! This is what I did; I rolled out the liner and put the insulation on it. Using a black magic marker I just marked out all the corners. Once again I used the straight edge(a 4 ft level in my case) and connected up the corners. My kitchen shears are very sharp and worked great for cutting along the now straight drawn lines. The liner was test fitted, then test fitted with the insulation behind it and modifications made. What I didn't realize that every time I pulled it off the liner was stretching. One at a time I started to glue the pieces on.

I had used blue masking tape to cover all the surfaces that I did not want glue on. I also made sure I covered up the windows. I did not know what the spray pattern of the glue would be so I covered the tub under the panel I was working on. First the insulation was glued to the side using 3M 08088 adheasive. Next I sprayed the insulation and the liner and attempeted to stick it in place. Well it stuck everywhere there was glue....I could pull it off and reposition it sometimes but not always. There were a couple of good wrinkles in that first install.

Always trying to make it easier/better I decided to glue the liner to the insulation first and then just have one piece to install on the side. So I tried this with the drivers side rear. This is where I learned to spray on the glue then remove the glue covered tape so the piece wouldn't stick to it. Of course it came to me at the end of the section. Night fell. Bringing us to today! I was out there by 1000 and gluing the remaining rear liner and insulation together. This one had really stretched and was ill-fitting, but on it went. I could trim it later. Lastly I glued the front 2 pices together and then on to the side. This one went on best with all my new experience. I sprayed and removed tape, set the top and then the side of the window and worked my way around and down to the bottom.

There was a whole lot a climbing in and out of the 109 with out a proper step, and kneeling on hard floor. What I would do differently; I would cut out the insulation to fit like I did, that worked fine. On the liner I would cut out the openings to fit and on the outside edge I would leave 1/2in extra. When gluing, glue both pieces togther, on installing put glue only on the insulation and the sides. Still taping off anything you don't want to get stuck too. Remove gluey tape and install combined piece, trim with razor after installation. So I finished the trim installation around 1130 and I come in the house to take a break. There is a knock at the door and the guy is there with the selector shaft and door seal from Craddocks. Yay!!! Taking my break helped me get ready to do battle again. The door strip looked easy to do,,,now where was that old one????

Twenty min later and I had found it. It needed to be cleand up, the remanents of the old rubber were still in it. I pulled out the metal strip inside and using a putty knife scraped the rubber out. Man it was tuff! I use my wire wheel to get the grunge off the outside, all told it took me an hour to clean it up! Another 15 min to figure out how the old rubber fit and how it all fit on the tub. I tried just squeezing the new rubber into the lip but couldn't make it go. I tried WD-40 to make it slipperier. The final trick was to clamp it to my welding table and pry the lip open slightly and then squeeze it in and clamp the lip back together.

At first I used my water pump pliers to squeeze the lip closed but in the end I resorted to my vise. I drilled out the holes on the strip and the tub to 3/16 and put it on with 3/16x1/4grip pop rivets.

I had to have lunch........ It's hot out in the sun and my 109 sits in it from around 12 to 1430 on these days. So it was a welcome relief to go inside and cool down. But after resting I took the overdrive selector shaft out and dragged out the Fairy. I took off the cover plate, loosened the clamp on the selector fork. Looking around I saw that I need to take out 2 set screws at the back of the shaft, one of which held the ball bearing and spring for the detent. The front o-ring cover plate had to be removed and then I could get the shaft out. The O-ring on the end of the shaft was swapped to the new one and put in place. I lined up the fork bolt and put on the front o-ring cover plate, installed the detent ball and spring, tightened up everything. Done in about a half hour! So I wanted to install it on the tranny. I went to check out and see what might be preventing it from going that last half inch. Upon close inspection I could see that the ends of the unused tabs of lockring on the mainshaft nut were blocking the gears from meshing. I hammered these down and the OD slid right on! In the process I made a new speedo cable holder under the OD out of some stainless steel strip I had.

I still have to put oil in the transmission. But I called it a day after that! Next up insulation and liner on the roof and install it!