Sunbeam

Aaaah, cheers for that! Makes sense. I was wondering a while ago where the power feed for that brush was. The wire is a bit mangled, so I wonder if it got a bit hot too seeing as it was bundled with my melted cable. How’s Dunedin treating you?

I got bored and put the radiator back in so that I could run the engine up to temperature and have a play. I don’t remember if I had ever done this, but I put the multimeter across the battery terminals to check the volts and they were very high, eg. 17V. There’s a good chance it’s been toasting the battery since the day I bought it. The first thing I wanted to look at was the regulator. Not good. The points thingy was rusted/welded solid Also, this wire (on the right in the pic below) is burnt through. Further investigation reveals the big black wire from the battery to the B post on the alternator is melty.(after I peeled off 1km of duck tape “insulation”) Consultation with the wiring diagram also revealed the Arancio and Grigio wires were on the wrong terminals on the regulator. I don’t understand electricity voodoo very well, so I’m unsure of the implications of this. Next I de-soldered the funny little fuse wires so I could unstick the points, clean them up and reset to a 0.5mm gap. Then I replaced the broken wire, refitted to the car with the orange and grey wires in the right place (and some better insulation on the B cable) and gave it another test. The test results were not positive (no pun intended). The voltage bounces a lot but still too high, and after a few seconds some smoke was seen exiting the regulator. I guess the reg is toast (see what I did there?) Additionally I have also found a mystery black wire: sorry, the camera wouldn’t focus on the wire.. The other end, out of the shot, plugs into a spade terminal that emerges from the main loom. The bit in the photo is a very distinctive female plug. I pushed the wire and a spring emerged from the inside. I’m trying and failing to recall where I have seen a plug of this type before. @azzurro?

Borg Warner T5? They’re not that big (seen one in an MGB) are used in V8 cars (90’s Mustangs etc) and plentiful (in ‘Murica at least)

Another day, another panel. And it stopped raining. I managed to get the radiator panel off after soaking the remaining bolt overnight and then applying heat this afternoon. The mounting tab should look like this: the other side looks like this: and the centre one is snapped clean off. The panel itself is one of the two major assemblies that are made of steel, the other being of course the bulkhead. It has a bit of grot in the bottom, but should be quite salvageable. The next step was to spend an hour with my head inside the wheel well very slowly hacksawing the head off a munted bolt in a very confined space. This is not mood enhancing. It’s still better than dwelling on the possibility of losing my job in an industry that has been all but destroyed by Covid-19 lockdown. Landy buffs may recognise this panel: It’s the inner splash guard which is bolted to the guard at the top, and bolts through the footwell panel in the bulkhead at the bottom. Obviously all the fasteners were unbelievably rust welded. And no, it’s not meant to have a jagged half-moon section missing. However, happiness as replacements are available and not too spendy because Landrover. Now, behold some typical series Landy rust. This is the bulkhead outrigger on the driver’s side: The footwells on both sides have also had patches in the past, and may need re-doing. The meccano set is slowly falling apart... I think I’ll take the doors off next, then the cab roof and see where we go from there. Undecided about whether to take the bulkhead off the chassis or not. I’ve been told it’s a big undertaking, but I can also see some of the repairs could be tricky if it’s left in place.

I can scarcely believe how much this thing is fighting me. Every single nut and bolt is a major struggle, and there are zillions of nuts and bolts! I spent a few hours today using sockets, spanners, hacksaws, heat, angle grinder and bfh. I feel like I am starting to win a little bit. The left front guard is in my opinion, scrap. It is full of bog and has a number of large and nasty creases and cracks in it. I have a less shit one to fit later. This old thing had quite a whack in the left front corner. Enough to bend the bumper end about 30 degrees (3mm galv boxed channel!) and rip 2 of 3 tabs that hold the centre radiator panel clean off the chassis. As I slowly back the wiring loom out of the front guards, I am amused by the Britishness of the setup, eg. the left headlight is daisy-chained off the right headlight. With shitty bullet connectors. Marvellous, old chap... and there are earth wires all over the place so they can connect to steel bits, because aluminium panels. I see room for improvement. Oh, and it can stop raining now.

Just undoing some bolts today. I’ve spent 4 hours so far on removing the left front guard. It’s still attached.

I have decided to start taking the Landy apart during lockdown. I still go to work occasionally because I’m essential apparently, so small chunks. I have already run out of wd40 though, so my wings may be clipped soon. I started taking the front bumper off a while ago and ended up resorting to cutting it off in 3 sections. The remains of the bolts are trapped inside the front chassis ends, but I need to cut the ends off anyway because of rust, so I can retrieve them later. Today I took out the radiator. Eleventy million fasteners to hold in one little radiator (thank you England) and all held tight with copious Organic thread lock compound. Happily the radiator still has all the fins And I got some dirt for the garden

I think you’re almost certainly right. Would be my first suspect.

Glad someone on here bought it. I wanted it but I wasn’t allowed.

Cheers. I’ll crawl under the deck and take a look. The mixer etc is up for grabs if someone has a use for it, free to a good home etc.

The Landy is great for pottering about with when you have a few spare minutes. LPG stuff. Out. One small issue, however. There is still gas pressure in the hard line from the tank. I very gingerly cracked it and it went hiss, so I’ve nipped it up again. Now, I know nothing about LPG systems so are there any experts out there with some advice on how to safely get rid of decades old LPG? Hit me up here Sunbeam’s Land Rover discussion

Discussion thread for Sunbeam’s farm truck

Quite territorial. 3 minutes worth!

Hi everyone. I had a few minutes of boredom today so I played with the Landy for a bit. Poor thing is already buried, that flat deck is such a useful surface... Anyway, I’ve had it running on the rancid stale gas albeit with difficulty, so I quickly rigged up a very safe temporary fuel feed. Started very easily but runs a bit lean, so you have to leave a bit of choke on. Alternator even alternates! Meanwhile I have the fuel line poked into a bucket, catching the filth being pumped from the tank. Vid for thread: https://youtu.be/_MEXZxtKxHI

Bit jealous how “shut” your doors look when shut. I didn’t realise they changed the door latches. My ‘73 still has classic gate catches. The doors fling open if you look at them.

You’re sick. Bravo, a commendable purchase!

I am practically a farmer so I need a truck. Made sure my Tetanus shots were up to date and got this. But I really don’t need another project. Wow, I suck at this. Mean tractor grips though, so WIN. Thread of discussion

I’d be interested to see how wider tyres etc affect the economy, if at all. We’re about to go down the Leaf path coz lots of spare solar electrons at home.

Merry Christmas everyone. Hope you’re all having a great time this festive season. The poor old Fiat has been somewhat neglected lately. Our house build depleted the bank balance, and saving up to transform the bare clay into deck, carport etc is seen as a priority by the ministry. I did get to the shed the other day though and one thing led to another. stuff fell off... I can now get a better look at the cancer the above rot is adjacent to the front chassis gusset and extends right under the radiator support. Also, typically, the wee chin trim thingy is toast: Next step is to take the motor and box out, and clean up the engine bay a bit and get ready for treatment. I’m very tempted to take it to a vehicular oncologist as I’d like to drive it this century. That way maybe I can rip into the MG with my limited spare time... Till next time. Happy new year etc.

BC is my favourite. It’s going to be a big chunk of work and probably 300% more rusty than it looks, but worth the work. Sounds like you have good motivation too. Looking forward to following this thread.

So, the radiator is a bit of a prick to remove compared to the Vogue I was working on a couple of years ago. I can’t get my ham hands onto the bottom hose for starters. The top hoses came off easy and happily there is very little corrosion on the alloy fittings. You then have to split the fan shroud and wrangle the top half out which only just fits. Then its just 2 nuts, tilt toward the engine and pull up and out. There’s not much clearance though, and not helped by the thermostat still being attached by the bottom hose due to my inability to undo it in situ. The radiator looks new. Next I popped the grille and headlights out (easy peasy, thanks Fiat). Now I can have a good look around. First impressions were the battery area looks good for a 45 year old car. I can also see a lot more rust. Some expected, and some not! This is the left park light/indicator. You can see its rusted out around the wiring grommet. And the reverse of this... So there’s A fair bit of rust where the inner guard meets the nosecone. And then there’s the stuff I knew about. This pic is the radiator support area. That’s Taken slightly upside down, the white area is my shed floor. Next I took the fan off and rattled the securing nut off the fan clutch/hub but now I’m stuck. I need a puller and I don’t have one. I’d also like to remove the crank pulley but my biggest socket is 36mm and the nut is bigger! Also no room for a rattle gun. Also interesting to note, the crank pulley is not a damper type. I think this is the first motor I’ve worked on that doesn’t have a damper pulley.

I had a half hour spare yesterday morning so I started to dismantle the front end with a view to draining the cooling system and gaining access to the timing belt. The drain cock on the radiator opened easily (phew) as did the engine block drain tap. The coolant looks very clean and green, like a NZ river.... I am quite encouraged by this. Now look as I add the contents of the expansion tank... The stuff is a greasy sludge. The seal on the radiator cap is also greasy to touch, but I’m not sure there is actually anything wrong. I did have one thought, I have heard the odd Barry go on about putting diesel in the cooling system for pickling purposes when parking a car up for ages. This car was parked up for ages. The coolant looks fresh, so maybe the residual oily crap has made its way and become trapped in the expansion tank in the 100 or so miles it’s travelled since being liberated from the museum it came from.?

Hi everyone. Having got back from 5 weeks overseas and on the back of finishing and moving into the house, I took pity on this thing today and dug it out of the corner of the shed. Fired up nearly straight away. Pretty good since it hasn’t moved since January. Then I got all fired up and thought I’d flush the cooling system. It has gunge floating in the expansion tank and I want to clean out the whole system and see if it comes back. Looks a bit suspect but it doesn’t overheat or pressurise the cooling system, or milk up the oil so I’m not super worried at this stage. Anyways, I thought while I have the hoses etc off, I should do the cambelt too, so I started getting the tools out, making a plan of attack, and then.....meh. Jet lagged. Maybe later.

Good find. Doesn’t even look like it’s made of rust.