Rolling again...

From this:

To this, in 3 hours:

The rest of today was spent rebuilding the gearbox, which is now more or less ready to run - I just need to fit a transfer-box.

Now fully dismembered...

First job this morning was to head off and collect the new chassis from storage. The tow motor is on loan, I've not gone to the dark side, despite the luxury 90's opulence of the Vogue SE 4 door I've borrowed...

Big thanks to Adam, who came across to help me today.

I've now got two gearbox in bits, and enough good parts that with some new bearings (on order now) I should be able to build a pretty sound box up.

With Adam's help, the bulkhead has been unbolted and was lifted back a few inches (the fence post was to stop it falling over)...

...then with tactical use of the telehandler, off it went to storage at the other side of the yard.

The engine followed suit shortly afterwards. During a lull in proceedings, I changed the turbo for a better one - hopefully this will stop the long-standing problems with sump pressure from blowing turbo seals.

Meanwhile, Adam had given the new chassis another coat of paint. (The rear cross-member is unpainted as I intend to fit a civilian spec one).

Finally, a major offensive with the windy gun and telehandler saw the old chassis outside the workshop, pretty much devoid of useful parts...

Almost in bits...

Bitsa is now in bits. Lot of bits. The camera battery went flat halfway through proceedings, but not before recording a few images of note.

Back tub off for the first time in 2 years... the dirt buildup on the main rails was un-belivable.

Enter JCB Loadall, remove gearbox. Nothing quite like an engine hoist you can drive...

Inside the gearbox was bad news: I was rather miffed to find why it had gone bang was simply that some twit in the MOD had failed to do the bolt on the front of the layshaft up properly. The result was it had flapped backwards and forwards, eaten the rear layshaft bearing, smashed 3rd gear, wrecked the layshaft and made such a mess of the layshaft bearing housing that the main box case is scrap
All because of one slack bolt. I've another box arriving tomorrow morning, hopefully with two boxes and a new set of bearings I can make one box that is fit to use...

The new back tub...

Collected Saturday - Cheers Rich.
Also acquired were various other handy bits and pieces, including a straight bumper to replace the current excessively bent example.

 

Also acquired were various other handy bits and pieces, including a straight bumper to replace the current excessively bent example.

Stripdown will occur tomorrow later today, the main priority is to get the gearbox out and opened up, so I can see what bits need ordering... currently I've a choice of two gears - high 4th and low 4th, so I suspect failed layshaft bearings, the only critical question is what else has gone bang...

The rapid rechassis project...

Keen readers of this blog may have noticed that blogging hasn't been so much light has non-existant of late. I've not had a lot of spare time or inclination if I'm honest...

However, a major Bitsa project is underway - a chassis swap in just over a week, commencing 15th April, through to 25th April. At the end of this, I should have a working Bitsa again, possibly even with a new coat of the trademark blue paint. For that week, I'll also be blogging progress as near live as possible...

Star of the show is the new chassis - an NOS combat SIII chassis, lovingly bought by the MOD in the 70's, and having sat round in storage most of the time since, it cost me £250, which is a bargain in chassis terms.

I've spent today painting it, ready for fitting. (The axle assembly fitted at the moment isn't from of Bitsa, it's a slave I borrowed to move the chassis on).

As it arrived...

Shiny.

On a go slow...

Looks like I've fuel issues. It takes time to realise, but she has definitely become more sluggish, and really down on top end power, particularly cold, and on veg oil. I switched the tank from near 100% SVO to about 70% DERV, and a lot of the go came back, which makes me feel fairly sure I know the culprit. A new fuel filter will be fitted shortly.

(This is one of the problems of switching to SVO after a prolonged time on DERV - SVO drag's all sorts of sedimented muck out of the tank and into the the filter. I went through two filters in the first 500 miles, now its probably getting on for time to change the filter again anyway, and the dirt has built up again. The problem gradually dies down provided there isn't a prolonged switch back to DERV, I'd expect a normal lifespan from the next filter.)

The downside to playing in mud...

Was under the back end of Bitsa adjusting the brakes, when I noticed a distinct noise from a rear wheel bearing... rumble, rumble, rumble.

That makes two that have gone in as many weeks, on opposite sides. Both bearings being of different ages (I forgot which but I changed a hub and bearing for one off my spare axle last winter due to a lose stud), I'm inclined to suspect its not a co-incidence, but related to something - probably mud from Sibbertoft.

At least I caught this one, unlike the previous one which gave up at the start of a 400 mile round trip, and hence was pretty mashed by the time it got removed 200 miles later.

I've obtained another bearing, and got my box spanner back off loan, so changing it is a job for Friday.

In unrelated news, I've finally stuck some stickers on the speedometer glass to correct for the new rear diff. At some point, when I've got the dash apart I'll take the glass out and do a neat job inside, but this should do for the minute. If its of any interest, 4.7 diffs changed for 3.54:1 diffs means more or less each 0.75mph marked on the gauge is 1mph in real life.

Finally...

...I've got round to fixing the "pet annoying little job"... the bad earth on one headlight.

Its so nice having full power from both headlights, I'm tempted to go and drive round in the dark to enjoy it.

Judging from the state of the headlamp plug (mildly melted) it seems the earth lead had partially fallen off, then got very hot and rusted. I've cleaned it all up, tightened the crimps and put it back. That of course took 30 seconds, dismembering the headlight bowl enough to get at the offending connector took about 15 minutes. Last time I did this, I just pushed the plug back on, and it went back to being dim about 10 minutes after I started driving... hopefully now I've tightened the connectors its problem solved for good.

I had a mild panic after doing the headlight; I checked the water level in the radiator, and found to my horror an oil emulsion on the bottom of the cap. Halfway through a prolonged effort to see if there were any bubbles in the water the penny dropped - guess who had used old 3L veg oil cans to transport the water last time he filled the radiator up, and not washed all the oil out first. Panic over (I think, I'll have to keep a bit of an eye on it to check just in-case there is another cause).

Oil Change

Finally done an oil change. Gone from 10w40 semi synth to API spec 20w50 Mineral in an effort to solve the hot oil pressure issues - the light had been coming on at anything up to 1000rpm with the engine hot, which didn't bode well. The underlying issue is almost certainly that the crank is worn out (it had new shells 8K miles ago, but that didn't fix the problem), but the more miles I get out of it, the longer till I've got to pay for a new one...

The warning light is now out except at hot idle, and then it goes out if I nudge the throttle to add an extra 50rpm or so, which is much better - I'm tempted to knock the idle up to hold the light out all the time.

Incidentally, if anyone is interested I'm still running on SVO, and inadvertently on 100% this weekend... it goes fine at 90%, but at 100% its noticeably down on power... combined with 3.54 Diffs, the peak district, and having a dumper engine belonging to someone else in the back (don't ask), and hills have been "interesting". I've burnt enough SVO off to get £10 of diesel in the tank, which has improved matter dramatically.

Big Wheels keep on Turnin

Its been a hard couple of weeks for Bitsa... well over 1300 miles in just over two weeks.

This weekend, it was Carlisle, two weekends before it was Oxford.

I can't honestly say she's done well in the reliability stakes - I've had to replace:

Rear wheel bearing
Bottom cam sprocket and woodruff key
Crank pulley
8 fan belts (see also the crank pulley, the issue has now been resolved, at one point I realised I was spending more on fan belts than fuel a mile). Its also amazing how fan belt prices vary, from £2.15 to £6.46 for identical length belts, depending where you buy them.

For some reason, I've done a lot more motorway than normal this month, including travel on:

M1
M6
M40
M53
M55
M56
M60
M61
M62
M67

Which isn't bad going, as sometimes she goes for months without touching anything more than the local duel carriageway.

Along with the latest fan belt, I've bought a new oil filter, and an oil change is planned for the weekend, as its getting rather overdue. I'm going to move from 10w40 to 20w50, in an effort to reduce the problems with low oil pressure at idle (which problems are probably related to a worn crank, if I can find the cash once the S1 is running I'll be looking at rebuilding this engine again with a reground crank, as the rest of it is in good shape)

In other news, the 3.54:1 diff is now in, she is geared a fraction tall now, especially when laden, but it does make motorways nice and relaxed (until I get to long hills anyway).

The late Front Crank Pulley

It seems it has met the axle once too often for its own good.

As a bodge to end all bodges, I've welded the crack up to buy me another week or so while a replacement is sourced... (big thanks to FenTiger on this one).

Longer term plan is to make up a pulley with a smaller diameter, using a 2.25 waterpump pulley, as then it should be clear of the axle...

3.54:1

I spent a good chunk of this afternoon dismembering a 110 back axle for the the differential.




It would have taken about 10 minutes, had the pinion nut not been so tight I failed to shift it with a decent 3/4" drive socket and bar. Eventually, I lost patience, and split the nut with a hammer and chisel (handy skill to develop, this is the second time in as many weeks I've managed to do this to seized nuts without wrecking the thread the nut is on). After that, I could take the main diff unit out, followed by the input shaft and pinion... not forgetting its crush spacer.

I tend dropped the prop from Bitsa, to find not only could I undo the nut, but it had come lose, and the diff input bearings had loads of play in them... as it was getting dark, I decided against fitting the new diff until tomorrow, and just tightened the nut back up. Driving home from the farm, the howl on over-run that I had assumed was a knackered prop has much diminished.

You are meant to go to lots of trouble setting the diff up in a "new" case, but having talked to others it seems that in practice it you swap all the bits as a set, it will be fine.

Hopefully she will be much nicer on the motorway on 3.54's, although I suspect the peaks will prove a bit painful until I sort out the turbocharger.

In other news, I now own loads of 9.00x16 bargips, (4 medium worn ones for sale cheap if anyone wants them, I've ended up with 9 in total), and am now sorting out getting hold of a set of rims to fit them to. The super tall Bitsa looms... no more getting stuck descending Chapelgate step.

Sibbertoft

All in all, a good time was had. I've a nasty feeling Bitsa may need a new alternator however...

Compare and Contrast

I had been having problems with the timing drifting... and finally took the cover off the cambelt at Sibbertoft while at OLLR's "All leafer weekender" event, as she took to refusing to start, and there was no movement left on the pump atall... Big thanks to Pete(Nightmare) who ran me to a "local" parts place about 40 mins away for a new pulley and associated bits... and then helped me put it all back together.

Once it was running, I had a great time getting covered in mud - I'll post about that later.

Its only been four years, but it feels like a lifetime

Working things out, think it is 4 years this weekend since Bitsa hit the roads, having passed its first MOT in my ownership (I bascially built it from a pile of parts centred round an early SIII 109" SW).

To celibrate, here are 5 previously unpublished photos from the archives, of "early Bitsa".


1) Just before the MOT, August 06. I was trying to get the brakes set up as part as the final push to a test.
The clasic car thats just visible in the background is my old grey rover P4, ASJ 314.



2) This was January 07, and I was out laning, photo probably taken by Twm Ford, while I was trying to turn round on very rutted bit of lane.





3) March 07, out laning again, a few days before I moved to England from Wales. I had painted one with a tin of what claimed to be limestone, and decided I didn't like the way it looked before I got round to painting the other side. By this point the mileage was racking up very fast - note the amount of road dirt on the rear tub quarter panels. I still didn't own a tailgate, I think one was relayed to me that weekend.



4) August 07, and time is nearly up for the original incarnation. Now respendant in midnight blue, I was busy oiling the springs, hence the ramp under the front wheels. I was already running on veg oil, and commuting 40 miles a day, this lasted until I went on holiday, and the engine decided that cold starts on veg oil weren't on and died about 10 days before the MOT was up.

After that, it ended up parked up for over a year, before being stripped down and rebuilt again.

Wow... that makes a change.

I don't post often about "Project Rust", my Series 1, as its all supposed to be written up for LRM at some point.

However, today while fooling about in the workshop an event occurred so remarkable I think I've got to blog about it...



Yes, this is Project Rust's steering relay, and its out of the chassis. No heat, no jacks, no hammers... I merely unbolted it, stuck a screwdriver under one of the mounting flanges and yanked. How good is that? (this will probably be the first and last time in my life I ever manage this trick).

Maybe the whole thing is just feeling contrite for smacking me really hard in the chest with a sharp bit of chassis yesterday. It seems if you lift a chassis with an engine crane, and the only thing left holding the front axle on is a brake flexi pipe you forgot to cut, the chassis doesn't half take off at a rate of knots when the pipe finally breaks... just a pity I was stood in the way... it still hurts 24 hours later.

A lot more go

Bitsa had been getting hard to start, the MPG's have been abysmal, and performance sluggish.

This sounded like poor timing, so I've advanced the injection timing quite a lot. The result is a lot better - it starts instantly, and goes like stink compared to before. Time will tell if the MPG improves, but I'd be amazed if it doesn't - on the way back from Aber last week at a steady 65mph on the motorway she was barely returning 20mpg.

I'm not sure how the timing had ended up out - it used to start OK, and there was no evidence of slippage with the pump timing bolts.

While I was doing these sort of things, I pulled off the front pulley which had developed the worrying ability to rotate about 30deg relative to the crank, and found to my relief the damage was severe wear to the keyway slot on the pulley, rather than a chunk missing from the crankshaft. It seems the Sherpa crank (my engine was rebuilt with one after the disaster with the original crank) has a fractionally shorter nose bolt than a tdi, and the Tdi bolt I'd fitted had bottomed out in the hole when tightened, rather than gripping the front pulley. I've fitted some extra washers to hold the bolt further out( dead grinder cutting disks proved ideal), which seems to have solved the problem.

I think the next party trick is going to have to be looking at replacing the front brake shoes again - the Mintex shoes that I fitted at easter seem to have glazed, and stopping is getting to be a fraction unsatisfactory. I begin to understand why people pay money for disk brake conversions... (I won't, I'm too tight). That and getting that wretched 3.54 diff stuck in the back, before the engine dies of a diet of motorway speeds and high mileages. (I was going to swap the offending diff in a few weeks ago, but as is often the way with life things didn't work out, and I ended up reinstalling windows for someone on their computer that afternoon instead).

SVO - the downsides

Well, the great SVO experiment continues.

The engine runs quiet smoothly on SVO, but it is noticeably down on power when its cold. Once its warmed up, it seems Ok, if fractionally down on 'go'.

In the usual SVO way, its done the usual trick of clogging a filter with junk dredged from the tank - I drove to Buxton and back last night, and it was really struggling on the long climbs with fuel starvation.

I've fitted a new filter now, so hopefully the run down to Wales tonight should be fairly painless.

So smooth...

I did one of those little niggling jobs this evening - putting a new exhaust downpipe/manifold gasket on. I'm a bit shocked by the effects - I've had 3 weeks of driving with quite a bad blow from the joint, and the sudden silence and smoothness feel's very Roll-Royce compared to the rather industrial tractor roar that had previously been there when booting the throttle.

The uses for ratchet straps are never-ending, this weeks trick is using them to hold the cab down while getting the bolts at the back in, after changing the wrecked back panel for one that actually has a full set of glass and isn't falling to bits. It also has a proper seal at the bottom, and the bolts(spring shackle bolts, with spreader plates, through the hoodstick holes) wouldn't quite thread together with the extra height the seal represented. Ratchet strapping the cab down was sufficient to get the bolts through and done up properly.

Off to Aberystwyth... what will break this time?

I'm off on my holidays on Thursday night... the usual week in Aberystwyth. I'm pondering what's going to break this time - 3 years ago it was the injector pump, last year the exhaust sheared off on the manifold... I don't think Bitsa likes Aberystwyth.

Before I go, I've still a few niggling jobs, to do - a new exhaust gasket to stop it blowing, changing the truck-cab back for one that has windows, and ideally running a new headlight earth in an effort to reinvigorate the current rather enfeebled glow-worms that are fitted.

I'm still having success with SVO, although cold starts at about 60% SVO are proving a little interesting. It takes a few seconds of foot to the floor after turning the key before it will rev, then it splutters badly as it revs up for 10 seconds, then its fine. During this operation, a cloud of dense blue grey smoke emerges, which hangs over the area for some time after Bitsa has left the scene. Power is noticeably down for the first mile or two, but once the engine is up to temperature its fine.

I've now got a leaking underseat fill fuel tank, thanks to DocMorris, so next mission it to graft the top of that onto a good normal tank. Hopefully Being able to see into the tank should make it rather easier to sort out what blend of fuel is in there...