tub time!

I got the roof and tub off last week and spent the last 2 days cutting off my old welds for the rear crossmember, then lining up the same in the correct position. I wound up using the overall length 166 63/64in dimension. It was too difficult to try to go off the centerline of the rear spring hanger bolt hole(18 1/8). I also went off the outriggers which hold the tabs for the rear tub(81 1/2in) because the fuel tank was in the way for getting the overall length on that side. I also made sure that the tub measurement for the tabs was correct for where my new location was. Then I welded it up. Somewhere in the welding process the string I had attached to the wires got burned thru. Good thing it wasn't the wires! Hey I did something right for once! Since the string was in the frame rail I had a dickens of a time getting the wires back out. I fnally resorted to making a hook out of brazing wire and catching the knot holding the string onto the wire. I still have to finish it off the bottom side has a couple of holes I need to reweld. Then I will clean it up with a wire wheel and spray cold galvy (93% zinc) over the area and then cover that with spray on bed liner. That should add corrosion help(zinc) and a barrier for mosisture penetration(bedliner). Next will be to scrounge 3 people to put the tub and roof back on before it rains again.

109 rear crossmember issue

I looked it over in my mind and asked friends what to do about the rear crossmember. I've decided to..........cut my welds and reweld it on. Then cover it with cold galvanizing spray and coat that with spray-on bed liner. I'm going to have to unbolt the bed and roof and move it up so I can get in with tools and welder. I'll let you know how it goes!!:^)

Land Rover power steering on 109

When we last left out intrepid rebuild I had just run up against the exhaust steering box interferance problem.

I admit it bummed me out. I took a week just trying to sort out my options after my dissappointment was gone. I had called the local muffler shop and 2 guys were going to come out the next Tuesday to see if I cut the exhaust manifold shorter so that they could make a downpipe for it. So I went to fiddling with making the holes for the top oil cooler brackets to bolt to, and putting in the seat base.

I got the seat base in position and bolted up the rear edge. Then I installed the door sill plates. They didn't just bolt on though, the 90 degree angle on the upright was too far away to fit so I had to loosen the bolts and tilt it forward. My first indication something wasn't right. Once that was done I looked at the seat base sill holes they didn't line up either??? Over the weekend Brian H. let me know he had some old LRO magazines to get rid of. So I went up to Half Moon Bay to say hi and collect them. While visiting I mentioned my issue with the steering and we discussed options. By that time pending what the muffler guys were going to say my best option was power steering. I was leaning in that direction. Brian said If I wanted to do power steering I could have the parts he'd bought to put power steering in Gonzo before he decided to do the overhaul of Gonzo. He had the Saginaw box and canned ham pump and some of the steering column connecter bits. Of course I said YES!!!

I brought those home with the magazines on my motorcycle. Then I started studying up on the conversion reading TeriAnn's website http://www.expeditionlandrover.info/ about the options. Tuesday I picked up some 1/2in plate and started making the mounting bracket. That evening the muffler guys came over and said yes to my idea of shortening the exhaust manifold. By then I had decided on the power steering. That following weekend was the Sunday that I went to Hollister with Brian H. and Gonzo. After seeing the PS work on the 2 different Rovers and checkng out the Saginaw vs the ZF box(p38 Range Rover) I further decided on using the ZF. This was partly due to Timm saying he'd broken 2 of the Saginaw's while attempting tight turns. Partly due to my motor had the PS pump bracket and I would have to fab up a bracket for the canned ham.

So off to the internet, I ordered pump, pulley, belt, tensioning bracket from Craddocks in the UK and found a ZF box on EBay for $75+ shipping($112total). I have yet to get a resevoir and PS oil cooler and connecting shaft to the column. I am getting some from a D1 from guys on line.

Then I went to Michigan a couple of weeks ago and helped a friend drive his 2 cars back to Santa Cruz. All told it took a week to fly out and finish packing and drive 2330 miles. Once I was home I started on mounting the steering box. I got 2 pieces of steel 6x7x1/2 I used a center punch and marked out the holes and drilled them out with both plates clamped together. 2 birds with ones stone, right? Well one of the holes was off center on both plates. I couldn't get the bolts in!!!!!!!! Of course that was on a Friday.......... Over the weekend the weather forcast was for rain on Tuesday so I set about putting on the front doors. I got the right hand door on the hinges and went to close it but it was too large for the opening. WTF??? After some head scratching I figured that I had somehow mounted the tub about a half inch too far forward, hence the mismatch with the door, seatbase holes and door sills. So If you remember I had to replace the rear crossmember due to damage and rust issues. I made a jig off the orginal rear tabs and used them for the new crossmember. After checking the book frame dimensions I figured that I was 1/2 inch too far forward *&^$&*%$&*(!!! that was last Sunday. I was stunned and bummed to say the least. Monday I got 2 more plates this time 5x7x1/2 the same size as Timm uses. I was more carefull to layout the holes what I did was put the box on my worktable and support the pitman arm end so I could easily get under to the flat "mounting" side.

Then I carefully located my bracket underneath and using vise grips I clamped it by 2 opposing holes. Next I put a 31/64th drill bit in my drill and inserted it in the holes and drilled into the plate. This bit was the largest I could fit through the hole without making it bigger. The point on the 31/64th made a center mark for the hole location.

I did 2 opposing holes and then shifted the clamps and marked the other opposing holes. Once I unclamped the plate I could take it to the drill press. The centers turned out to be 80mm on the horizontal and 135mm on the vertical. Now on the drill press I started with 1/8th and worked my way up to 27/64th for the top holes, this is the size for tapping. For the bottom holes I kept them at about 3/8ths.

I had decided to use 12mm bolts and secured a 12x1.75 tap and 4 grade 10.9 bolts. Using the tap I did the 2 top holes, leaving the 2 bottom holes alone. Taking the partly finished plate to the chassis I clamped it firmly in place and mounted the box by the top bolts. This way I could adjust the height and tilt of the box before welding.

I used a tie rod end mocked up in the pitman arm to check for clearance under the frame, I wound up with around 9/16 clearance. I hope it is enough!

The next step was remove the box and weld in the plate. I know my welds look like corn cobbs..... Once the welding was done I sprayed it with cold galvinizing. Then I proceeded to drill out the 2 bottom holes to tapping size and then tapped them.

Odd thing the cutting fluid removed some of the cold galvy so I had to respray. After it was dry I went ahead and mounted the ZF steering box. Here I realized that in the straight ahead position, ala the orginal steering relay, that the pitman arm moved further to the left than to the right. After playing around with it and a call to Timm C. I discovered there is a pointer on the input shaft and a notch on the box body designating the center of lock to lock. This leaves the pitman arm to the left of the frame rail.

I went on to start mounting the oil cooler so I could figure out where I needed to modify it to accomodate the box. As I was starting that I realized that now would be the best time to install the pump as nothing was in the way, so that took place.

Linus came over and we talked Rover stuff and went to dinner. There we discussed where to go this year at Death Valley. Today I finished up the oil cooler install but see that I need to make one more change to the clearance around the box. I am using 2in 1/4x28 SS bolts and nylon bushings as spacers for the top of the oil cooler bracket. All this while dodging the thunder storms today.

So I am unsure what to do about the tub. The easy way would be to unbolt the tub and lift it over the mounting tabs and make spacers to bolt it up with. The right way would be to cut my welds and move the crossmember back the 1/2in. The bad part about this is the frame is galvanized and I would be opening up a section on each rail for rust. I just started to look at it and measure stuff late today. What I think happened was the PO had backed into a log and bent the right side crossmember outrigger, among other things. When I made the jig I just fitted it to the central tabs on the frame and bolted the new one up thinking nothing was wrong. I should have measured! It looks like if I took out the plastic spacer/corrosion blockers between the tub and tab I could gain 3/16ths of an inch. Moving up to the passenger door I tried to see how much I needed to go to fit the door. Once I started fiddling with it I could see that the Defender weather stripping was interfering at one spot at the capping level so I removed the 1/4in bit in the way. This got the door partly in the opening. Next up I got out my deadblow hammer and proceded to put the weather stripping on as tightly as I could. Lo and behold the door went on! As it was getting dark I quit for the day and came inside for dinner. Maybe I won't have to move the tub after all! Not going to hold my breath though ;^) Before I left for Michigan I had a local welder make some stainless steel mirror arms. He welded 3/8ths bolts to 1/2in rod and bent it like the stock ones, I had them made 2in longer than stock.