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Last weekend I had to start the cruiser for a number of reasons. I have to tidy up in the tent to hopefully find some tools, my grandpas car needs some welding, and I wanted to further diagnose the starting issue.
Well, the starter just clicked. Four batteries later, the last one being a seemingly invincible tractor battery, I decided it must be a problem with the car. I tow started it to do my diagnosing, and after that I got the starter to work twice before it died again.
So, I removed it and found two possible culprits: the solenoid contacts didn't look very good, and the cable shoes were quite corroded. I cleaned the contacts and took the opportunity to replace the original cable with a 70 mm2 one I had laying around. Works great now, and it even feels like it's got a bit more starting power.
Brake lines are fixed to the frame and bled. Somehow no major leaks.
Test driving just gets more and more fun as more features are restored. With working brakes I dared to go flex on some rocks.
About 50cm of articulation before one of the back wheels broke traction. 620 RTI isn't too bad. The Discovery still beats it at 58cm/690 RTI though.
The right side rock slider is in progress.
And the chinese K&N copy with a plastic flower pot has been replaced by oiled foam in a dog water bowl. The first filter was way too tall which caused it to get mangled on the first test drive, and I don't really trust a 15€ high flow filter to be adequate in dusty conditions.
The accordion hose from the snorkel to the turbo will also get replaced by a rubber hose for a bit better reliability.
Professional dirt sniffer, rock licker
SILVER Star
I did rocker chop sliders like that on my old 80 and they turned out great and held up to abuse very well. I would suggest tying them in well at the A and B pillars. Thinking about doing the same on my 70, rockers are a little rotted at the rear. And the clearance you gain on the sides vs tying into the frame makes a huge difference.
My A pillar reinforcement:
B Pillar:
I haven't gotten much done in June thanks to work, events, dailying a 59 year old car and 20+ degrees on the few free days. Today I managed to fit in some welding though: the outer part of the rock slider, and some rust on the passenger door.
The rubber shop didn't have a heavy duty rubber hose in 3" diameter, so I settled for the only other option: transparent silicone. It's not quite as strong as I'd like, but still far better than the old plastic hose, which also made it much harder to cram through the wing.
The passenger body panels are in place. Missing still is the inner fender and some reinforcements of the rock slider.
I've also ordered tyres: CST CL18 in 33x10.5-16 from
Rehvidekeskus in Estonia. They are on vacation though and haven't even sent them yet. I got 8.25r16 tubes from Dutch
Trailerplus, which arrived yesterday and seems to be of extremely high quality despite being the cheapest I could find. V3-02-7 valve stems and valve caps with valve tools.
The debate between 33s and 35s lasted until an hour before I ordered, as evident by the thread I posted last week. In the end, the only consideration was the price. 165€ vs 185€.
What do you do when you don't feel like trying to weld rust holes right in the middle of a pringles curve? Fiberglass it! With the appropriate prep to stop the rust first of course. The front corner is what you'd expect from zero experience or knowledge and will need some additional help from sikaflex, but I think the rear corner turned out pretty decent.
The right side window AKA the worlds largest fuel door is done. Just needs a slightly less cumbersome strut.
Still waiting on the tyres..
The front reinforcement is done, which means the right side welding is finished for now and complete assembly of the engine bay can begin.
