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| LandRoverAnorak Member Since: 17 Jul 2011 Location: Surrey Posts: 11324  
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Really? Every day is a school day. The new gasket is doing its' job anyway. Darren
110 USW BUILD THREAD - EXPEDITION TRAILER - 200tdi 90 BUILD THREAD - SANKEY TRAILER - IG@landroveranorak "You came in that thing? You're braver than I thought!" - Princess Leia |
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9th Oct 2016 9:23pm |
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| LandRoverAnorak Member Since: 17 Jul 2011 Location: Surrey Posts: 11324
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Oh, the joys of working on old Land Rovers!
Had a bit of spare time between rain showers and thought I'd swap the headlights as the originals were rusty:  Click image to enlarge I'd picked up a set of almost new take-off headlights from fellow member, Barney12, and I'd bought a set of stainless bezels from Mobilecentre, so it should have been straightforward. However, after removing the plastic finisher, I noticed that the existing headlight was loose. I then took out the only screw that seemed to be holding anything and discovered this: Click image to enlarge The headlight bowl was completely rusted through and it just disintegrated when disturbed  To be honest, I'd completely forgotten about steel headlight bowls. Even the last Series III I'd had fifteen years ago had plastic ones. Anyway, job stalled and it's off to eBay for parts.
The other task that I had half an idea to do was to replace the bullet connectors on the side and indicator wiring with modern Econseal ones. Again, I've got a take-off set of more modern lights that I want to swap over to. However, I'd forgotten that the older lights are a smaller diameter than the modern equivalents so they won't fit in the holes. So, eBay again is providing a suitable stepped hole saw so that I can open up the holes. With the evenings now closing in, it'll probably be next weekend before I can put it all back together again properly. Darren 110 USW BUILD THREAD - EXPEDITION TRAILER - 200tdi 90 BUILD THREAD - SANKEY TRAILER - IG@landroveranorak "You came in that thing? You're braver than I thought!" - Princess Leia Last edited by LandRoverAnorak on 29th Jul 2017 4:15pm. Edited 1 time in total |
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16th Oct 2016 7:18pm |
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| LandRoverAnorak Member Since: 17 Jul 2011 Location: Surrey Posts: 11324
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The parts arrived yesterday - a pair of Wipac plastic bowls with chrome bezels:
Click image to enlarge As I'd managed to get home from work early, I decided to press on and fit one last night, with nice, shiny, stainless screws: Click image to enlarge (Ignore the paintwork - dealing with cosmetic stuff is for another day!) It was all pretty straightforward apart from having to remove the female spade connectors from the connector block in order to thread them through the grommet at the back of the bowl. The new bowls came with chromed bezels but I replaced those with stainless ones: Click image to enlarge I did have a chuckle at the fact that the Wipac Quadoptics were the all singing and dancing upgrade to one of my Series III Land Rovers 20-odd years ago 
With it all reassembled, it's roadworthy again but I'll swap over the other one at the weekend. Click image to enlarge I also plan to swap the rest of the lights for more modern ones now that this little beauty has arrived! Click image to enlarge Darren 110 USW BUILD THREAD - EXPEDITION TRAILER - 200tdi 90 BUILD THREAD - SANKEY TRAILER - IG@landroveranorak "You came in that thing? You're braver than I thought!" - Princess Leia Last edited by LandRoverAnorak on 29th Jul 2017 4:12pm. Edited 1 time in total |
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20th Oct 2016 7:06pm |
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| OldhamLandy Member Since: 17 Oct 2013 Location: somewhere Posts: 164 
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It's looking great - amazing what a bit of tinkering can do for the overall look of the motor
 2016 Defender 90xs SW - Santorini Black with Silver Pack
2014 Defender 90xs SW - Corris Grey with Santorini Black Roof |
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20th Oct 2016 8:14pm |
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| LandRoverAnorak Member Since: 17 Jul 2011 Location: Surrey Posts: 11324
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Thanks, although ironically, most of the time, effort and money so far is barely visible
Continuing that theme, today I've swapped the drivers side indicator and side light for later plug in versions. First job after dismantling the existing was to open up the holes in the bodywork to take the larger body of the later lights. Firstly, I prised out the existing spire nuts and then attacked the remaining holes with the cone cutter shown above: Click image to enlarge Next, I made up some fly leads with Econoseal connectors on the ends to suit the new lights: Click image to enlarge I bought a job lot of the connectors from eBay and the same seller was offering this handy crimp tool for the pins, which made assembling them very easy: Click image to enlarge I adapted the vehicle wiring to remove several of the existing bullet connectors and replaced them with Waco connectors. These things are brilliant for making multi-cable joints - they're secure, rated for something like 50 volts and are very easy to use: Click image to enlarge It's a poor picture as it was taken by poking my phone in through the headlight aperture. I secured the wiring bundle with a cable tie afterwards. After also enlarging the holes in the headlight surround, I was able to put it all back together: Click image to enlarge And that's it. Looks virtually identical to when I started, but it should now be more reliable and less prone to corrosion failure. I'll do the other side tomorrow, which should be a lot quicker second time around. Darren 110 USW BUILD THREAD - EXPEDITION TRAILER - 200tdi 90 BUILD THREAD - SANKEY TRAILER - IG@landroveranorak "You came in that thing? You're braver than I thought!" - Princess Leia Last edited by LandRoverAnorak on 21st Jul 2017 9:39pm. Edited 1 time in total |
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22nd Oct 2016 4:19pm |
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| L110CDL Member Since: 31 Oct 2015 Location: Devon Posts: 10756 
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Good job there Darren, looks as if it was original
1996 Golf Blue 300Tdi 110 Pick up.
Keeper. Clayton. |
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23rd Oct 2016 7:53pm |
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| LandRoverAnorak Member Since: 17 Jul 2011 Location: Surrey Posts: 11324
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So, another day, another headlight. Todays task was supposed to be a repeat of yesterdays and I figured it'd be quicker as I now knew what I was up against. That was a mistake.
I took the old headlight out and noticed straight away that the bowl had already been replaced with a plastic one. The next thing that struck me was that there were far too many wires. It turns out that this headlight has a built in side light and that the wiring has been hacked around to suit: Click image to enlarge With the bowl removed, even more wiring carnage was apparent. Apart form the obvious scotchlock it turns out that the horn (located behind the grill to the left of the picture) was earthed by being connected to the headlight dipped beam. Frankly, it's a wonder that any of it worked. Click image to enlarge Much chopping and altering then ensued, which left me with a big pile of surplus wire and a correctly wired horn. I also replaced the rusty earth bolt that's fixed through the inner wing behind the side light and cleaned up the connections. Damaged sections of the main feeds to the dipped and main beam were cut out and the good bits soldered and protected with heat shrink: Click image to enlarge New fly leads with Econoseal connectors were assembled (I love my new crimping tool): Click image to enlarge Everything was re-connected, again using Waco connectors where appropriate - the earths and indicator feeds, which includes the wing repeater. The red wire with the blue bullet connector is the side light feed: Click image to enlarge New headlight bowl and connectors all in place: Click image to enlarge And the finished article. Best part of two days work and it looks exactly the same as when I started: Click image to enlarge I've just noticed that I've left a screw driver on the bumper! As I had the grill out to access the horn wiring, I also replaced the grill screws with stainless ones. Darren 110 USW BUILD THREAD - EXPEDITION TRAILER - 200tdi 90 BUILD THREAD - SANKEY TRAILER - IG@landroveranorak "You came in that thing? You're braver than I thought!" - Princess Leia Last edited by LandRoverAnorak on 21st Jul 2017 9:34pm. Edited 1 time in total |
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23rd Oct 2016 9:59pm |
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| mk1collector Member Since: 17 Sep 2009 Location: West Yorkshire Posts: 6769 
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It may not look a lot different but at least you know everything is now properly fitted and good for another decade or two
I had to fix lots of wiring behind the lights and refit the correct plugs when I got mine and when I'd finished it was very satisfying knowing everything was working as it should again. Ray
My build thread http://www.defender2.net/forum/topic17615.html |
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23rd Oct 2016 10:21pm |
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| LandRoverAnorak Member Since: 17 Jul 2011 Location: Surrey Posts: 11324
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Yeah, I know. It's just not as exciting as some neat modification or bolt on goody
Next task will either be the rear lights (crimp tool on standby) or replacing the ignition switch, depending when the one I've just ordered turns up. The latter has developed a fault that means it sometimes won't start. I think it's just worn out and I know how it feels. Darren 110 USW BUILD THREAD - EXPEDITION TRAILER - 200tdi 90 BUILD THREAD - SANKEY TRAILER - IG@landroveranorak "You came in that thing? You're braver than I thought!" - Princess Leia |
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23rd Oct 2016 10:25pm |
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| GREENI Member Since: 22 Aug 2010 Location: staffs Posts: 10382
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Top job and fab write up. It's amazing what you find on these older trucks.
My v8 90 had extra wires on the headlight, the main loom to one side had broken, so they ran one wire from one headlight, right across the front of the radiator to the other! They hadn't even used terminals, they just stripped the ends of the wire and ferked them under the old plug. |
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24th Oct 2016 5:54am |
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| AJC Member Since: 30 Nov 2015 Location: Lancashire Posts: 1362
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Good work there
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24th Oct 2016 6:09am |
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| Tiger Member Since: 06 Jul 2012 Location: Wales Posts: 2265 
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Having seen it yesterday it's a great honest little 90. Quite jealous |
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24th Oct 2016 6:38am |
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| trickster5000 Member Since: 12 Dec 2015 Location: East Yorkshire Posts: 502 
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Great work! Made me think I ought to have a look what state mines in!
I bet that pink paint job it once had looked interesting...  You can see just how bright it was! Matt.
'89 90 CSW with a 3.5 V8 conversion (WIP) - http://www.defender2.net/forum/topic46809.html |
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24th Oct 2016 7:03am |
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| LandRoverAnorak Member Since: 17 Jul 2011 Location: Surrey Posts: 11324
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Ha, ha, yeah it wasn't just pink, it was PINK!
The current paint finish, which was it's original colour, looks ok superficially but is rough around the edges. I suspect it was re-painted in a hurry when it came time to sell I've bought a tin of blue to touch up some of the obvious gaps. I may well get it re-sprayed at some point but there's lots to do before then. Plus, it needs a new rear door and at least front door hinges. It may even need new front doors but I haven't had a good look inside them yet. One step at a time... Darren
110 USW BUILD THREAD - EXPEDITION TRAILER - 200tdi 90 BUILD THREAD - SANKEY TRAILER - IG@landroveranorak "You came in that thing? You're braver than I thought!" - Princess Leia |
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24th Oct 2016 8:19am |
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