Sparky's winter/spring/summer/autumn work

Well, that was annoying. Sparky booked in for an MOT yesterday (not a real one, just a good look over and check to see how well the brakes are adjusted) but he refused to start :confused:. All I got was a clunk from the starter.

It's a fairly new starter, so tried the easy bit first, and put the battery on charge. Reconnected, it, tried the starter, Clunk ! :mad:

Whipped the starter out

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Not much wrong there, so bench tested it and it whirred away happily.

Caught hold of the pinion and pulled it outwards, and all feels smooth, snaps back in well.

So, good clean up, drop of oil on the shaft, put it back together and hope, or new starter?
 
It's not a good idea to oil any part of the exposed mechanism as that will attract clutch dust, and that can make it stick.

The starter may work on the bench, but that's not under any load like that.

The engine hasn't seized up has it?
 
It's not a good idea to oil any part of the exposed mechanism as that will attract clutch dust, and that can make it stick.

The starter may work on the bench, but that's not under any load like that.

The engine hasn't seized up has it?

I didn't think oiling would be a good idea :)

No, engine is free and turns easily - put it in gear and rocked it back and forth.

Oh well, better get the credit card out :(
 
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If you have a trustworthy starter/alternator repair shop close by you could always drop it into them and get them to test it.
 
I have found some very good specialists in this area since I moved here, but none of them starter repair shops. (Found loads of bad auto services too :) )

I'll have a google around tomorrow, and have a chat with a garage that I know, see if he knows anyone.

The starter fitted with the engine by the last owner is a high torque unit and is piggin' expensive, so getting it repaired if possible would be a good idea. I would just fit a standard one but I seem to remember that there was a reason he fitted the smaller HT one, possibly room restriction with the tubular manifolds.
 
Just looked back through my threads and found that it's not a fairly new one at all, it was bought from Rimmers back in 2006 for £165. I was wondering where the old one went, if I had bought a new one :)

Dan Nicholson rebuilt it in 2012 along with fitting a new ring gear, then Sparky ate it in early 2014 and Dan fixed it for me again.

I found a new one at a local Land Rover specialist for £190, so it will be here tomorrow.
 
Sparky went for a mock MOT on Saturday, just to check everything out. He has a slight weep from the power steering pump, a small leak seemingly coming from around halfway along the clutch hose :confused: (it's dry at the top, but there's some fluid on the lower part), smell of petrol in the boot (I knew about that), and the indicators don't flash fast enough on tickover with the headlights on. I remember that clutch pipe being a bespoke one as the master cylinder is imperial, and the slave cylinder is metric, so that'll be fun.

Brakes worked well, although I have turned the rears down a little too much, so I've now backed them off half a turn.

The old front brakes, standard ones with the three pot original calipers, gave 223L and 239R. The Fosseway four pots and vented discs gave 295L and 329L, so they are certainly uprated :).

Rears were 187L and 169R on the Rover diff and 144L and 159R on the Jag. Handbrake was 185L - 155R (340 total) on Rover, and 166L - 174R (340) on the Jag.

All in all, a good day. Now to get the tank out, where's the blow torch?

Richard
 
Cheers Mark

I'll hopefully get the offending article out over the next few days to see what has happened with it, and then I'll give these guys a call.

Thanks for the link

Richard
 
Blimey, it's been four months :oops:

I took the clutch hose out and sure enough there was a weep about half way up, strange as there were nothing rubbing on it. I am wondering if I buggered it up myself as I did remove the earth wire and cleaned it when playing with the starter motor, just in case the engine wasn't earthing properly. :rolleyes:

Anyhoo, tank is out and patch all cleaned up

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I sealed up all of the outlets, and lightly pressurised the tank, then sprayed some soapy water around the repair. There are five small holes in the lower left hand corner. Two about half way up, one at the top, and more around it, about twelve in all :confused:

I thought I would try to solder it to try and seal these tiny holes, so got it nice and hot, put some flux on, then dropped some solder on. This immediately turned into small balls of molten solder and they all ran off. I suspect they were actually chuckling to themselves as they scattered :confused:

I do have a spare tank, from a 3500S so I got this out, gave it a clean then tested it. It leaked around the seal for the sender. I inspected it very closely and found the surface which the rubber ring sealed against had a small crease in it. Before I tried to tap it back flat, I noticed that it was a different shape to mine, so possibly a tank for a four cylinder car.

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Not by best day, so I phoned Wins as they had an excellent condition 3500 tank on their website. They sold it last week.

Ok, not to be beaten I got the welder out to try and seal the holes up in the original tank, and blew a half inch hole in it. Then I went home.

So, I now have a new piece of sheet steel and am going to give it one more go. Anyone got a good V8 tank in case my welding skills haven't improved as much as I hope?

Richard
 
Richard
I may still have the good solid V8 tank from my car in the barn where I found it. The reason I gave up on it was because of tar from old fuel.
There are outfits that can chemically clean a tank. I can go see if it is still there. Free to you if you arrange shipping.

M
 
Another option is Ian Millson. He welded my V8 tank, and fitted a second inlet pipe, as well as dipping and cleaning it. He did a fantastic job, and I'd recommend him for any fuel tank work.
 
Tank is still there, exactly as I left it. It is virtually clean inside, I looked in with a boroscope at the time, but I would get a chemical rinse to be sure.
 
Back about a year ago or so, I had concerns about the stay bars from the diff to the suspension crossmember - Sparky's winter/spring/summer/autumn work

Currently there’s a piece of 40mm x 20mm box section bolted each side of the diff. These are connected to the suspension cross member by stay bars which have a rose joint at the diff end (inside the box section) and clevis pins at the cross member end which connect to adjustable M14 studs passing through two tubes welded into the cross member.

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The suspension cross member appears to be twisting so time to check it out.

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I’ve been sat at home during lockdown, and have been playing with some ideas.

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All will become clear :hmm:

I’ve got a few bits together and have now started making up brackets etc

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I have some 40 x 20 box so have made some new bits for the side of the diff, as I don’t need the cut out for the rose joint now

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Instead of a rose joint, I have decided to fit a rubber bush to attach the stay bar to the box section, but this will have to be set into the box section somehow, as I don't want it hanging down underneath too much.

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I have found some rubber bushes but they have a 16mm hole and I don’t want an M16 bolt through it so have made up a couple of sleeves from some 16x2mm tube. This is a very tight fit and now gives me a 12mm fixing hole.

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And bonded a couple of 1mm thick washers to the outside to get some clearance. I then made up a couple of ends for the stay bars to weld some M14 bar to.

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I welded the studding onto the end, then added a short piece of 18x2 tube and welded that on as well – that should be strong enough, even if it’s not too pretty :)

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I did manage to cut out one of the brackets from some 2mm plate and will beat it into shape and weld it as soon as I have some more time.

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So two jobs under way, replacing the stay bars with something less problematic - my thinking here is that if I work out where the circle of where the diff is trying to turn, and make the stay bar a tangent of that circle (i.e. at a right angle to the radius of said circle) it should make it work better. Also, I am going to do away with the clevis pin arrangement and pass the stay bar through the tubes in the cross member.

Secondly, I am going to mount the cross member better, so it cannot twist.

Richard
 
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