Fan Cowl; Odds and Ends

Today the cooling fan cowl was stripped and hammered back into a reasonable shape. This was something I'd been putting off due to the very soft nature of the black paint it had originally, but after several unsuccessful attempts to clean it I just decided to strip it and give it new paint. So now it joins the list of items waiting for the two-stage epoxy primer.

In this view, the fan cowl, temporarily placed on the radiator in the storage area, looking much better than it did this morning. Managed to get most of the dents to look more respectable. Now I'll just have to source a fan shroud.

Something else waiting for primer is the 'breakfast', which has been temporarily attached to the chassis while it's coat of Eastwood Rust Converter (to eliminate the effect of any last surface rust left, however invisible, hopefully) dries, and which also enables a check that the steering relay arm doesn't foul the 'breakfast' at full right lock. The rubber buffers between 'breakfast' and chassis have also been fabricated and are getting their test fitting, as well. In the background, under the tub, the old chassis serving as a handy place to put things, while it waits to be removed so that work can start on the body panels.

The outer bezel for the speedometer is now dry, and everything should be back together in the next couple of days. Behind that, in company of the newly restored oil and water gauge, some bulkhead-mounted parts waiting for their 2k primer; and behind them, sitting on a piece of rubber hose, the 'bean can', whose paint is now cured and so the unit can be reinstalled whenever the rest is ready.

Just some of the restored odds and ends awaiting the return of the bulkhead for re-attachment. Grey parts are primed and are waiting for their Pastel Green paint.

Oil and Water Gauge Returns

The oil pressure and water temperature gauge returned from Nisonger today. Looks as if it just left the Jaeger factory.

Freshly cleaned, repaired and calibrated, complete with rubber grommet for the bulkhead:

....And what it looked like before:

Speedometer

While waiting for a host of small parts to finish up other areas of the Land Rover, decided to work on the speedometer. This was seized solid, so much so it may have accounted for the snapped speedometer cable. Thanks to a very good tutorial on speedometer overhaul, available here, it turned out to be fairly easy to do, as long as one is comfortable handling some very delicate parts and assemblies.

It turned out the speedometer wasn't moving due to the grease that had been used previously, which by its dark grey colour may have been graphite or something similar. It had turned very sticky and almost solid, enough to stop the magnet wheel from turning completely. Other than that, all parts are in fine shape.

I should also add that there was also a small dead spider in there. How that got in, is anyone's guess. Mine is that perhaps the rear opening for the light bulb had been left (or come) open for a while, as it's just a press fit.

In this view, the speedometer's basic components (without the case). You can just make out the spring that holds the pawl to the odometer cog, below the gauge pointer. The wire it's made of appears to be the thickness of a human hair. Magnet wheel is at the bottom.

In the foreground here is the odometer assembly, which is also supporting the drag cup on its rear face. Very critical to make sure this is supported carefully, so the drag cup stays in the position you see here, otherwise the extremely delicate return spring can stretch out and get damaged. In the background at left is the magnet wheel, whose shaft had seized. The brass part on the shaft is the screw that turns the odometer. On the right is the basic frame for the gauge.

Basic assembly back together. You can just see the coiled return spring in the middle.

Assembly with the gauge face and pointer back on.

The speedometer back in it's case, with the inner bezel, glass and outer bezel waiting to go back on. There are hollow rubber o-rings (split but not shrunk - perhaps were never complete loops?)  on both sides of the glass. The outer bezel (upper right) was sanded and repainted after this photo was taken, and so the gauge won't be completely back together until the paint is completely cured, which will be in a week.

Brake Line Update

(Part 1 is here)
(Part 2 is here)

Completed installing the brake lines behind the cross member, and although probabaly a bit tighter than the original factory installation, it appears to have come through without a problem. The lines don't actually touch the cross member flanges, but are close enough, I think, to still warrant the anti-chafing cover. Elsewhere, not all clips are installed yet, but it's getting there slowly.

In these views: line and cover installed (in case you notice, prop shaft is just being temporarily held inplace while waiting for correct bolts....)

In this view, the clip attaching the line to the battery holder. The drive screw repeatedly sheared here, and so in the end it was a screw/nut that got the job. The screws appear to shear fairly easily, even with a 1/8" hole drilled, which is frustrating (there's that word again) as then another hole has to be drilled as I can't get the piece of screw in the hole to come out. Are different grades of steel being used these days, than were used originally?

Automec Brake Line Kit (Part 1)

(Part 2 is here)
(Part 1 update is here)


The past couple of days I've been laying out the brake lines, using the purpose-made kit for the Land Rover Series 2 by Automec. I've never used a kit before, so before I give any comments please understand I'm no expert. These are just my subjective impressions. Someone who knows what they're doing could have a completely different view. In sum, here's what I think:

Good points: Very nicely prepared lines, excellent quality, nice materials.

Things I'd like to see done differently: First, much better instructions (it was only thanks to 3 Brothers Classic Rovers that a layout diagram, from the workshop manuals/parts catalogue was included). The kit could really use a detailed instruction manual, saying clearly where the lines should go, where it should be fastened to the frame, the curve radius of the tube where necessary. I scoured the web and thankfully found some photos of an almost completely original 1958 Series 2 that provided a lot of information, plus an illustration in a Land Rover sales brochure that was nicely detailed in a way that clearly showed that a photo had been used as the source. My own original chassis showed where the clips should go.

I'll make the diagrams for Automec, if they like.

Secondly, tube lengths. Without a detailed instruction manual or photos, I think the average user would have a hard time making things join up in a neat and certifiably safe way. Nothing impossibly wrong, and it may come down to model variations, but some tubes appeared too short, some too long, no matter how you looked at it. The photos below will help illustrate this. In the pictures, I've used tie-wraps to hold the lines in place while they are test-fitted.

In this view, all's well here, for the most part. Some radii are more pronounced than photos would suggest they should be, but really that's all.

In this view, there is a tube which passes underneath the gearbox (visible just under the prop-shaft UJ), and should be attached to the rear of the cross member. On my original chassis, the clips that hold the lines in place indicate very clearly where. This line is too short and you really have to count the millimeters to get it to fit back there, plus make its way to the front-left brake flex hose.  This isn't helped by not having a reference point as to where the 5-way connection shoud be placed. I sort of had to average everything out, in the end, and the connection ended up a centimeter or two from where it was installed on the original chassis. Would have been nice to have a precise starting point location for the whole brake line project.

Here you can see that it fits, but only just. Two or three inches more would have made a big difference, in both accuracy and comfort. As it is the pipe will easily end up laying again the flanges of  the cross member, which could promote friction and perhaps leakage or breakage at some future point. To help prevent this, a protective anti-chafe plastic tubing will be placed over the pipe as it goes across the cross member. The pipe looks a little wavey as it passes under, because it has to clip to the cross member in three places, while curving over the flange to get to the clip (clip not installed yet, here).

In this view, the pipe from the rear brake flex tube to the 5-way connector. Here, the pipe was too long, by any standard, if you were going for the original routing. This was solved by making the rather exaggerated upward curve between the flex tube and cross member. This pipe could use about 3 inches off, if it was to be shaped accurately as per the original factory pipe.

The forward-right pipe fit just perfectly, once the 5-way connector location was established. Before then, the size of the radius as it leaves the flex tube made a big difference as to where it ended along the chassis rail (as it did on the other side, as well).

On the rear axle, one pipe was too long, one was too short. I think this may be because whatever particular Land Rover was used as the template for the kit had a mounting point for the 3-way connection further towards the top of the differential. The long pipe was quite at its limit, to have it attach to the pipe-protection bracket. I would have liked to have both sides have matching radii in their curves, just from an aesthetic  point of view. Right now, it may look, to people behind me in traffic, that I don't know how to measure brake pipes!

None of this is really a big deal, as the pipes do fit (well, haven't tried the ones from master cylinders yet!), and the materials quality is excellent, but if you're trying to be extremely authentic, enjoy symetry, or need to know if the way you're installing is at least the way the kit makers intended it to be, this kit can be a little frustrating. However, if you don't have the means (or want) to make your own brake lines, then this kit will do the job.

Small Things

Have just been going over everything to date and trying to finish up the details of things as they are, before any major bodywork pieces go on.


In this view, dynamo and fan belt are now installed, as are the bulkhead supports (from Ashtree). Dynamo needs a new pulley nut, as the original double pulley had to be removed as it was fouling the cooling fan - and the second pulley was acting as the nut.

Battery/air filter tray has also been installed, as has the fuel tank. The fuel line from tank to flex hose has been bent back to what I think must be its original shape and was installed, but has been removed for painting. At far left you can just make out the main instrument cluster. Word from Nisonger this week was that the auxiliary oil/water gauge overhaul should be completed soon.

Prop shafts are being installed, plus various bit of plumbing and wiring that can go on before the bulkhead. Have also started to lay out the brake lines (from Automec via 3 Brothers Classic Rovers).

Once the final prop shaft bolts have arrived and are installed, the clutch slave cylinder unit will also go on. Rear prop shaft is installed and bolts torqued. Also waiting for some new locnuts for the hand brake drum. Arriving soon should be a variety of parts, inlcluding clips for the speedo cable.

Bean Can

Or, as it's otherwise known, the brake and clutch fluid reservoir. Spent a while cleaning it up today, to see if it is worth restoring - and I think it is. Not in perfect shape, but as long as it doesn't leak it should come out ok. Most of the discolouration is just light corrosion and surface rust. The nice thing about using this one is that it's original to the vehicle. Just have to find a way to make sure the bottom exit doesn't leak.

In this view the basic components:

Inside is nice and clean (except some dust from the cleaning!).