1959 Land-Rover Series 2. Seating, and distractions…

[quaggers]

Nice work! Great to see this being used as it should be and continually improved bit by bit. I have a swb S2 (was my first car) but it is very much neglected as I don't have room for it at home

Tropical/safari roof is great, I had one before reverting to ragtop and they do make a difference compared to the standard roof, especially the breeze you get through from the roof vents on the move.

Carry on!

[glenanderson]

I’ve had a tropical roof on this one, in one form or another, for most of my ownership. The first was unusual in that it had no windows or vents, so must have been a cost option on someone’s LWB back in the day, rather than robbed from a station wagon like this one. You’re quite right, they do make a big difference to interior temperatures. I swapped that one after a couple of years for one like this with vents in, and had that, along with side windows, for many years. I wanted the “no windows” look though, and fitted the current setup around 2007. I still prefer the plain sides, but not long after that the council changed the rules for going into the local tip and anything they interpret as a “van” isn’t allowed. It’s also not much fun for my lad to have to sit in the back with no windows, and the plain sides drum/resonate much more too, hence the move back.

[quaggers]

I feel your pain on the whole "it's a van" thing. I used to live in Surrey and there it was easier to use my dad's 110 rather than my van sided 90- totally bonkers! Since moving to Hampshire it's not been an issue, as people here actually seem to use their common sense...

I stopped the drumming on the 90 with some sheets of silentcoat. I used the black stuff as I don't have any headlining or panelling in the rear and didn't want to feel like I was sitting in some kind of satellite assembly clean room. Also did the floors, transmission tunnel, seatbox and the lower portion to the bulkhead. Definitely reduced transmission noise.

[darrenh]

My tip has dispensed with the car-derived-van loophole and started limiting everyone 😕

[glenanderson]

Hello all.

You know I said my brakes weren’t great in my report about the Essex trip?

Well, I had an investigate…



That ^^^ is the end of my servo vacuum supply hose; the bit that fits on the engine’s pump. That’ll be why the brakes feel more than a little under par.

As a temporary fix I’ve chopped that perished end off and re-secured it. A test on the driveway seems to indicate that normal performance has been restored. I’ll have a proper go tomorrow. I’ve ordered some new silicone vacuum hose though, so will attend to it properly as soon as it’s landed.

Thanks for tuning in. 😃

[varelse]

Time to investigate the rest of your perishables, perhaps?

[glenanderson]

Jun 16, 2021 0:46:33 GMT varelse said:

Time to investigate the rest of your perishables, perhaps?

All of the rest of the hoses are either silicone, or were new last year with the engine swap. This stuff is what came with the remote servo that I pulled off last year. I should really have changed it then, but it kind of got lost in all the other work. I will check everything over though; like most people I’ve noticed a real drop in the quality of some rubber components in recent years. 

[forkliftfred]

Are silicon hoses reinforced? I had a similar problem and swapped the hose for one that wasn't reinforced and the vaccuum caused the hose to collapse in on itself.

[glenanderson]

The one I’ve bought is marketed as vacuum hose, so hopefully it’ll be ok.

[melle]

Jun 16, 2021 9:18:46 GMT glenanderson said:

The one I’ve bought is marketed as vacuum hose, so hopefully it’ll be ok.

I've made that mistake in the past...

[vanpeebles]

Jun 16, 2021 0:46:33 GMT varelse said:

Time to investigate the rest of your perishables, perhaps?

He gets new socks and underpants at Christmas

[glenanderson]

I very nearly set fire to the damn thing today. 😡

Last week I tried to talk to the fuel injection specialist that rebuilt the pump and injectors for me two years ago (one year’s use and 4,300 miles), only to find that they have shut up shop. Retired. Pants. 

Then, on Thursday, I arrived at work, parked, and switched the engine off; only for it to continue running. I jiggled the switch a few times and it stopped. When I got home after work it did the same thing. Friday it wouldn’t stop at all, even when I pulled the wire off the stop solenoid and I had to stall it, so today I investigated. 

It’s this really awkward to access so-and-so here:



There’s next to no room around it, and no way to get a normal spanner on there at all. Even an obstruction wrench won’t go on. Luckily I already have a spanner that I butchered to fit years ago:



It’s still really awkward, but this allowed me to pull the stop solenoid. I had been hoping to find a stuck plunger (easy, cheap fix), or maybe signs of diesel bug (not so easy or cheap, but still fixable), but no…

I found lots of little shiny bits of debris. Little shiny, expensive, time consuming, frustrating bits of debris that shouldn’t be there in a pump that cost me a grand to get rebuilt, that would be still under warranty mileage wise if the company that built it hadn’t ceased trading.

Pants. Pants. Pants. Pants. Pants. 

So. I’m faced with another pump and injector rebuild. 

Fortunately, I have negotiated the purchase of a spare engine from another Retro-Rider, so I can either get the pump and injectors off that done, then swap them over, or swap them out and get these ones done again then swap them back. Whatever. 

Looks like the next couple of months misbehaving money is spent already. 

On a more positive note, I fitted my new vacuum hose and it didn’t pull itself flat, so at least that’s fixed. 

[jamesd1972]

Balls, that something you don't need. If you are anything like me it's not just the time and money it's the frustration caused by somebody else you have paid over hard earned to doing a crappy job and not be able to do anything about it.
Any thoughts on what's going wrong with the pump ? Diesel pump rebuilds really do seam to give lots of issues in the LR world. Guy who bought our old petrol engine was swapping out a diesel that wouldn't work properly after a new pump etc.
At least you have the spare engine already sorted, hope that works out OK.
James

[kevins]

Might it not be better to just try the new secondhand one first? It may work fine be more reliable than one that's been repaired.

[johnthesparky]

I feel your pain!! Got mugged for 2 rebuilds of the same pump by a specialist last year

Do you know any history of the spare engine? If it’s been sat for too long I assume the seals go hard and leak, but you might get away with it….

[glenanderson]

Been talking to a couple of mates and they both think I shouldn’t spend any more time or my money on the current pump and instead get the pump off the secondhand engine done. I don’t know much about it yet, but it’s the one forkliftfred has pulled out of his Land-Rover project.

[glenanderson]

Jun 20, 2021 5:56:24 GMT jamesd1972 said:

Balls, that something you don't need. If you are anything like me it's not just the time and money it's the frustration caused by somebody else you have paid over hard earned to doing a crappy job and not be able to do anything about it.
Any thoughts on what's going wrong with the pump ? Diesel pump rebuilds really do seam to give lots of issues in the LR world. Guy who bought our old petrol engine was swapping out a diesel that wouldn't work properly after a new pump etc.
At least you have the spare engine already sorted, hope that works out OK.
James

Very much how I feel. 

My wife was like “I can’t believe you couldn’t do it yourself” and when I said that you need literally thousands of pounds worth of super specialised kit to do it she said “that’s normally your excuse for buying the kit”, but sadly we are all in the hands of specialists when it comes to diesel injection equipment. Even my old man, who would take anything apart, wouldn’t touch a diesel pump for anything other than a leaky shaft seal. 

I really, really, hate handing good money over to people in exchange for a poor job. 

[thomfr]

Glen,
I would also go for the other used one if it was not removed too long ago and painfully check the timing while fitting it. Other more expensive option could be fitting an improved version from a well known specialist you trust.

Thom

[varelse]

Liking for your wife's reaction.

If you got the thousands of pounds worth of equipment, YOU could be the specialist!

And then earn more thousands of pounds.

Besides, you could open it up and discover the secret that they're super simple. And there's just a little piece of timed/delayed destruction material that makes them break down for servicing at regular intervals and its all a scam!

[blackpopracing]

Bumhats, don't you hate 'specialists' that aren't?