Rear Lights; Wiring Start

There was a choice of rear lights to install, and I wanted to be as authentic as possible to this Land Rover. Photos of the rear of the Land Rover as it was when it arrived didn't give many clues, as it had different lights everywhere. In the end, the flashers for the overseas "America Dollar Area" were chosen, as this was an export model (and they look nice), and as for the red stop lights, at first it was going to be those that match the flashers, as they are listed in the parts catalogue as also being on the export vehicles, but then I realised that they do not have reflectors built in, in which case there would have been holes in the rear surface of the tub for the seperate reflectors. The more-or-less standard stop lights DO have the reflectors - and so I went with those, as this is what the Land Rover would have to have had.

Had to drill some new holes in the capping for the rear lights in any case, as it proved the best way.

At right, the aftermarket plastic license plate illuminator. The plastic cover is held on to the light body by a drive screw only, and the bracket inside is itself quite soft: very easy to strip the drive screw hole by tightening the screw too firmly. The original light is presently being restored, and will take back it's original spot at some point.

Finally a Land Rover again!

What was there before. I believe the left stop light was the only original light left.

Have also made a start on the wiring. First step: Understand what Autosparks had sent, as, like most aftermarket parts, there are no instructions/illustrations to help. You end up with a number of smaller wiring subsets, and no idea what goes where.

At first, I went to the excellent diagram here, very kindly provided by the Series 2 Club. This is helpful for the colours and how the parts connect, but is still visually very different from what you see when first unwrapping the Autosparks loom. However, using the illustration from the parts catalogue soon showed how Autosparks had laid things out, and from there, combined with the above diagram, it's relatively easy.

Noted that some extra connectors will be needed, but will catalogue those once everything else is in place.

Below: looks chaotic, but just laying the looms out loosely, and then labelling all the ends, soon provided order out of the confusion (so far!).

The diagram from the parts catalogue. Depending on your vehicle, it won't look exactly like this (for example, ths illustration does not include flashers and has only one wiper motor, plus LHD has some differences), but the essential layout of the individual loom sections is like this.

Riveting

Installed the rear vertical cappings today. Thanks to Matt in Victoria, BC, who gave some excellent tips, and some past aircraft experience, doing the riveting was easy. You can see some photos of Matt's beautifully done project here.

Due to the damage to the rear corners, a few of the rivet holes in the tub were sub-standard, some being stretched, some enlarged, some would not line up flush with the capping surface, etc., and so some creativity was required when actually doing the riveting. A couple of shanks had to be deliberately made to bend a little sideways while making sure the heads stayed flush, and some longer ones were used so the extra material would fill the holes better as they were hammered down (this is not an aircraft!). A slower than normal hammer rate was used also on the awkward rivets, as I found it gave better control. All in all everything came out well.

Incidentally, a test of the rear lights showed that their attachment screws don't align with the holes in the capping. Modifications will have to be made, preferably to the light bases as I don't want to drill any new holes in the capping.

Also installed the front mud flaps. While the quality of these is good (from Rovers North, a Christmas gift from the lovely T), modifications still had to be made to get them to fit: the holes on the chassis end had to be enlarged to 5/16", and the bracket bend on the sill end had to be adjusted so that it would align with the holes.

In case you notice the water on the floor, on the left of the photo, it's because we are having some exceptionally heavy rain today, and when that happens the garage floods (but not too badly!). : )

Pastel Green Complete

After a small marathon yesterday, finally all the parts that need to be are now Pastel Green.

All went well, except for one of the plastic outer wings. Before painting, I had picked up one of our cats, which must have left fur on my shirt. As the paint went on the wing it appeared to generate static electricity, perhaps because of the plastic, and to my horror the fur on my shirt began migrating from me to the panel. I could actually see it lift off of the shirt and float over to the wet paint on the panel. And then, while trying to pick some of it out before the paint surface set (there is only about two minutes for this), I knocked the panel off of its support and it fell on the floor.... and made a long gouge through the fresh paint. Will now have to wait for it to cure completely and then sand it and start again. A small setback, but easy to fix once the existing paint has fully cured.

Painting done for now, it will be back to doing things like the wiring, riveting the rear corner cappings, etc..

Tailgate now painted:

In the storage area, the inner and outer wings now wait.

Painting Before Winter

Been a bit of a frenzy, trying to get the last of the larger parts that will be Pastel Green painted before the temperatures in the garage become too cold for painting (Limestone-coloured top will probably have to wait intil next Spring). Looking at the two-week temperature trend and then extrapolating, this looks as if it may be the last week in which it will be possible to keep the temperatures around 20 C inside. An insulated garage would have been nice to have!

ABS outer wings have had their plastic adhesion primer coats and have now been done in normal primer; hood is painted; inner wings are ready for paint and should be done today at lunch. With luck, the outer wings will be painted this evening. Perhaps even the tailgate can be done.

One day this will look like a neat and tidy garage again (well, as much as it ever was). : )

Hood Underside Completed

Found a little time in the late afternoon to finish the underside painting. Tried to match the Pastel Green overspray with the original that's still on the aluminum, and as it was applied to the frame; hopefully it's close enough! Fold-around surfaces will be done when the top is done.

Did a little preparation work on the inner wings, and noticed this feature: the hood has actually worn a groove into the upper surface of the wing, including two circular bowls where the pop rivets are that attach the rear crossmember of the hood frame. If you look closely, these even include the centre holes in the rivets. I hope the hood will fit better now, although it can't be tested until the paint is dry. If not, it's just one of the many idiosyncracies of this particular Land Rover!

...And a little careful late night hood fit test, the paint being dry enough to handle. Good to have done, it revealed a few more areas on the hood that need filling and sanding before painting. The gold paint is an extraordinarily hard paint (which is probably why it has lasted as long as it has, without fading or chipping, with only surface oxidization), and makes a very good undercoat . The fitting also showed that the driver's side corner will continue to hit the top of the wing, although just lightly. And now, on to fnish all the wing and hood prep and get as much painted as possible over the next few days....

More Wings etc.

Finished adjusting the wing brackets, and now the wings are basically ready to be sanded, primed and painted. The front end is definitely looking like a Land Rover! It would be nice if the hood was fully painted, as that could be tried on as well.

Was hoping to prime the outer wings, as it's a three day weekend (Thanksgiving, here in Canada), plus it's relatively warm, but NAPA is shut until Tuesday and so I can't buy any primer for ABS plastic until then. The hood upper surfaces will probably be painted instead.

Below, the front end (note completed upper doors, too). Hood hinges are just in place so I know where they are. The inner wings have been straightened as much as possible, but, like the rest of the Land Rover, will have their little souvenir wrinkles and dents here and there. Nothing too noticeable, however. At least they fit properly now.

Hood frame has been through the primer stage and has now been painted a high-temp black. The forward cross-member of the frame plus the fastening bracket were painted in Pastel Green, in a sort of overspray method, and so will have to wait until at least Monday to try and copy that. Then the hood will be turned over and painted Pastel Green. The surface has already been sanded and prepped.

Wing Test Fit

As anything needing painting is on the fast track these days, and while the hood/bonnet frame dries in preparation for primer tomorrow, thought I'd do a test fit of the right wing, along with the ABS plastic outer wing. Didn't really fasten anything together, just enough to hold things in place. Had to do quite a bit of panel beating first on the inner wing, as it was more damaged that previously thought, but eventually it came together. Hope to do a test fit of the other wing tomorrow.

Aside from some small adjustments, it appears everything will fit together well. The plastic outer wing is a very good quality part.

Square hole on the inner wing near the headlight is the air intake for the Kodiak Mk.II heater.