Page 3 of 4

Re: 1975 LHD 109 SW

Posted: Sat Mar 03, 2018 5:53 pm
by ericappla
so today i have washed the tdi engine and tidied things around workshop a bit.

I keep thinking about the roof rack solution. At the moment it's a stock brown church but because id like to be able to pitch a tent at the top I was planning on using expanded metal but im not sure if its better to use aluminium or steel. neither come in suitable sheets so i'll have to make it out of few parts.

Whats peoples experience? do you have any sort of perforated metal as a base of a roof rack ?

Re: 1975 LHD 109 SW

Posted: Sat Mar 03, 2018 11:16 pm
by DrivingDutchman
On my Defender I used to have an extended Brown Church roof rack with tent mounted at the rear section of the rack. I used the mesh metal that you have on steel stairs, I think you see them on fire escapes etc. It's galvanised and not too heavy and you can walk on it, plus it does not gather water puddles like aly sheeting does, it always forms dimples when you walk over it and water stays in them.

Re: 1975 LHD 109 SW

Posted: Sun Mar 04, 2018 8:07 am
by Peaceand
I have 2.5mm solid ali sheet on my SWB roof rack and it's great for walking on, loading things by sliding them up and so on. But as mentioned above if parked for a long period on flat ground, it does gather water in one corner, and then green slime forms which makes it a bit slippery.
I've used patio cleaner on it before which cleans it up nicely and stops the algae growing for several months.

Expanded metal is probably better from a utility point of view - are you planning to put some foam padding under the tent? The groundsheet will probably suffer against any raised edges, not to mention bare feet of the tent occupants.

Re: 1975 LHD 109 SW

Posted: Mon Mar 05, 2018 9:17 am
by ericappla
im intending to use rolled expanded metal without raised edges, that should be good compromise. the other option is perforated metal. I take it in ali i need at least 1mm in steel 0.8mm should be plenty

Re: 1975 LHD 109 SW

Posted: Fri Mar 23, 2018 1:29 pm
by Jabbawocky
hi Erisapple

Re gearing. I ran my 300tdi through a Series gearbox and 3.5 diffs and she was great on motorways and offroad. I now run a Mazda SL35 up front, with LT77 and Series transfer box (1.15:1) and 3.5 diffs. She cruises at 65mph on the motorways and I wouldn't change the gearing. As for the roof rack, sell it and buy an extended one off me. Compressor fridge all the way. My battery will do 5 days in the UK, but 1 in the South of France. We just plug into the mains if parked up for a few days,mainly because most site fees now include electricity. Am investing in a solar panel this year, as we hope to wild camp more.

Michiel

Your going to struggle to keep everything original. To put the gearstick in the right place, the tdi will hit the radiator, so you will have to modify a front panel to move the radiator forward. Also the front pulley will be right over the front diff bulge and could be hit. As I already had the Mazda and it is 4" shorter than the tdi, I went that route for simplicity. As for géarstick, mine is removable.

Good luck to both of you with your builds.

Mick

Re: 1975 LHD 109 SW

Posted: Sat Mar 24, 2018 12:59 pm
by DrivingDutchman
Hi Mick,

What I am going to do is the same as Alex B in his Dormobile, so it should not be too difficult.
As for the front panel, I have another one I can butcher to make the radiator and intercooler fit.

The removable gearstick is actually not a bad idea. Also a good anti theft idea, just take the gearstick in the house when parked up at home, or hide it somewhere else in the car when out shopping.

Erisapple, did I mention already that my extended Brownchurch ROW roofrack is for sale? One would only need to modify the struts going to the windscreen as mine are to fit a Defender.

Michiel

Re: 1975 LHD 109 SW

Posted: Tue Mar 27, 2018 1:10 pm
by ericappla
hey ho folks, I had my hand removed from cast yesterday and I'm slowly getting back to the rebuild but it will still take a little while to be able to hold hammer and move things about.

1.003 wheels arriving later today along with 2WD conversion from ashcroft. so hopefully I'll be abale to mate LT77 with 200tdi sometime next week and start the actual conversion

Re: 1975 LHD 109 SW

Posted: Sat Apr 14, 2018 11:52 pm
by ericappla
Today I made some progress, Bulkhead is now fully welded up with new footwells and pillars. All is seam sealed and in primer. I also had few small bits laser cut such as engine rear lifting bracket and dashboard instrument panel sides.

Tomorrow I will continue with bodywork pain preparations and painting to make use of excellent weather
IMG_20180414_163101.jpg
IMG-fa8acadd14484d1d9a09d3b94905cc2c-V.jpg

Re: 1975 LHD 109 SW

Posted: Sat May 12, 2018 10:58 pm
by ericappla
Today I managed to prepare tub. It's by far the most time consuming part.
Full day session 8am to 9pm left me with primed scrubbed down tub and most of the dents straightened (im not going to use filler at all, she can wear her scars with pride.
Unfortunately I just noticed I forgot to take any pictures

Re: 1975 LHD 109 SW

Posted: Thu May 17, 2018 10:24 pm
by romanyrose
G'day Chap's I must admit to being very envious of the welding and construction of what you guys do and make, unfortunate for me and my darn disabilities I have to do every thing the old school way with measuring along with nut's bolts and washers.

Even with the measuring I struggle with and the understanding part of my brain, because of the brain damaged I suffered when I was really ill, even though it was well in the past it was a battle that I sort of won not that I am bothered these days.

Of course there is more to my situation than I have mention but there are others out there a lot worse than myself.

Catch you later. A very happy Romanyrose that has achieved more than the big wig doctors thought I would ever achieve.