Tag: repair
-
Mind the gap
Some gracious friends allowed the use of their dry climate controlled space during a brief window when it was available. Since the arrival of the rivets, the onset of the wet and wintery season has prevented any work on sealing the drip rail around the roof. This timely opening provides the opportunity to move forward…
-
Urushi & tea leaves
The incredibly excessive atmospheric moisture of this winter overwhelmed the painted finish on the steering wheel and it started flaking off. Series rover steering wheels are notorious for breaking down after about 50 years. The coating on the outside wears off over time and the composite material leaves black sludge on your hands when the…
-
License to chill
A fun challenge creating a replica vintage Angolan license plate for a timeless look in photos. It was designed based on photos of examples from the time period, cut and formed from a rusty scrap of sheet steel using a few simple blacksmithing tools, and finished with traditional Japanese baked lacquer and tung oil. The…
-
Cat flap handle
The original rear “cat flap” door handle broke off one dark and rainy night (see first photo below), and was quickly fashioned into an interior handle while waiting for the exterior replacement to arrive. Once the replacement arrived a few blacksmithing skills made quick work of modifying and installing it. Under the collar of the…
-
Time for intense reflection
After decades of service the aftermarket rear corner reflectors had a diminished performance approximately on par with dots of red paint. A pair of nicely-designed Lucas reflectors was sourced along with the roof rivets and installation was relatively quick and easy. Some testing with a small flashlight shows quite a difference between the old and…
-
The rivets have arrived
The long-awaited, hard-sought semi-tubular truss head rivets in a particular size and length for the roof to galvanized drip channel made their way across the pond at long last. First order of business was to remove all the bolts holding the roof to the windscreen and sides, then drill and punch out all of the…
-
Outside to the inside
The original rear “cat flap” door handle broke off one dark and rainy night, likely due to a long-time stress crack in the collar. The break traveled through the retaining pin hole and across the base of the lock, leaving the handle and most of the collar intact. Being some sort of “pot metal” alloy…
-
Antique tool restoration
Now that this machine is moving well toward operational status it would be nice to have a few tools onboard permanently. The museum forge was donated some rusty old wrenches (aka spanners) and there were several usable ones in the leftovers after the other smiths picked them over. They appear to mainly come from antique…
-
An overly optimistic ammeter
The ammeter was reading backwards, meaning when there was a current draw from headlights the meter would go up towards the positive end and when there should have been a charge from the dynamo/generator the meter would go down towards the negative end. This, among other things, was the cause of much research and pondering…
-
Positive or negative earth
Most vehicles switched from positive earth to negative earth around the late 1950s. Series land rovers, however, remained positive earth until 1966, making the switch to negative earth in 1967 (originally indicated by a change to a black painted instrument panel and a warning plate on the radiator). Positive earth simply means the positive terminal…
-
State of the engine
A series of photos of the current state of the engine, for posterity as well as a reference point for checking parts and configurations when it is too dark outside to see. The majority of things are still original (though the generator was made in Canada) and in general the items that can be seen…
-
Mud flaps for winter
With the wet and snowy season on the way and all the door seals installed, it was time for mud flaps. There once was special brackets available for the 109″ station wagon variant, but all the rest install directly to the front edge of the rear cross-member which keeps them well back of the tires.…
-
Rear door & tailgate seals
In order to survive the wet season out-of-doors, all of the perished rubber door seals were replaced. The rear “cat-flap” door is similar to the front in that the seals have a metal strip down the centre and holes through every few inches, but must be drilled elsewhere to align accurately with the existing holes…
-
Door seals
In order to survive the wet season out-of-doors, all of the perished rubber door seals were replaced. The seals have a metal strip down the centre and holes through every few inches, but mostly must be drilled elsewhere to align accurately with the existing holes in the body. Closed-ended blind pop rivets are used to…
-
Preparing for winter
A brief but early slushy snowfall brought on an urgency to prepare for the coming rain and snowy season. With nowhere indoors to park or work it is important to get everything put back together and sealed up as best as possible. The sides and details of the rear tub were reinstalled, as many loose…