John's Lightweight...

[Red90]

I figured I would copy my build thread over here.   ;D  In anticipation of spring and working on it again one day....

This truck came up on the BC forums.  I've always had a soft spot for Lightweights, and it was quite a steal, so I could not pass it up....  My crazy mind is considering using it to replace the 90 after we find a 110.  So if you have lusted after my 90 and want to give me lots of money, speak up...

We will see if I can learn to love the old and slow tech.  I might be a bit too spoiled with the 90....  If not, I'll do a few things to it and sell it on.

The truck was a Saudi police vehicle at one point.  No rust, very straight.  Everything in great shape.

- Recently rebuilt engine with ACR cam and Turner performance head.  Also has an ACR SU carb, but a Zenith is installed ATM.
- KAM rear electric locker and shafts with Ashcroft R&Ps.  Truetrac front.
- Roverdrive
- Rocky mountain parabolics.

Also came with 3 crates of parts.

[Red90]

April 10: Speedo cable changed out.  Barrels of fun with the overdrive.  Unbelievably the speedo is accurate.  Cleaned up a bit of wiring as well. Tackled the wash/wipe.  Wash motor was seized, but it is designed to come apart.  A little clean of debris and it works like new.  Wipers were not parking and it was just a loose connector.

April 14: Adding an onboard charge.  NOCO GENMini1, https://www.geniuschargers.com/GENMini1  This is their 4 Amp, marine charger.  These ones are waterproof, unlike the grey automotive ones you may normally see.  I've had the 10 Amp version on the 90 for a couple of years after killing a couple of other brands.

[Red90]

April 27: Floor mats.  These are made from truck bed mat ala Princess Auto.  I have similar stuff in the 90, but this seems nicer as it has a very grippy surface.

http://www.princessauto.com/pal/en/Accessories/4-x-6-ft-x-5-8-in-Truck-Bed-Mat/8350175.p

[Red90]

April 30: Replace the crappy 1.5", 8000 rpm tach with a 2", 6000 rpm VDO tach as well as re-doing all of the wiring for it.  Much nicer.

May 1: Swapped out the distributor.  It was not the cause of the mystery noise or the bouncy tach....

But it was broken.  The post on the secondary spring was broken off.  Amazing that this thing was not pinging like crazy as it would have been advancing way early.  And now we know that they are setup with 42 degrees maximum advance...  The 21 degree stamp is the maximum distributor advance, which is half of the timing advance.


Distributor shows a build date  of week 13, 1976, so was probably the original.

[Red90]

May 6: Seat supports.  Two pieces 3"x1"x1/8" 6063 aluminum channel riveted together.

[Red90]

May 21: Defender mirror adapters done.  I could not find countersunk UNF bolts locally and waited forever for some to come in...

All bolts are 1/4" UNF in case anyone is wondering....   The hinge bolt spacing is 2" and the mirror bolt spacing 60 mm (~2-3/8").  Yes, metric spacing, imperial bolts.  Yay, Land Rover....  Anyway, a 1/4" piece of stainless plate drilled at 60 mm and countersunk on the lower hole.  The 2" spaced hole is tapped for 1/4" UNF.  Bolt the adapter to the mirror with a countersunk bolt and then through bolt the door to the mirror/adapter with the hinge sandwiched.

[Red90]

June 20: Went over it today in preparation for tomorrow.  I've been waiting for the rain to stop to get it out for a good drive.  Filled it up.  Got 18 l/100 km (13 mpg) with a lot of short drives around town.

Looks like the front diff pinion is the only real leak...  Found the toe at around 1" in.....  The steering is a lot better with that fixed.  It is still a bit heavy even with the wheels off the ground.  Will need to track that down.

My only real complaint is the brakes require more pedal effort than I like especially when driving around Calgary with the insane drivers.  I'm not sure if that is normal or if something is not quite right.  I might need to try out Claus' truck tomorrow to get a comparison.

June 24: Pulled the alternator today.  The brushes were stuck and I suspect that was the problem.  The rectifier was muddy as well.  The good news it the brush assembly comes off easily with the alternator in place, so I'll know what to try first next time.

June 27: I needed to replace the ball joint at the steering box drop arm, so checked out the relay.  It is good.  It was mostly full of oil and is tight and smooth.  I will need to look further down the line for the stiff bit.

What I did find is the drop arm is a spline off on the steering box and the longitudinal tie rod is as short as possible to make up for it.  In addition the steering wheel was put on a 1/4 turn from center to get everything else close to lined up.....  Unfortunately I had no luck persuading the drop arm off.  I think the box needs to come out or the manifolds off.

July 3: Hottest day of the year and I take it to work.   No cooling fan....  I get home deciding to put on the mechanical fan as the truck is just not happy with electrics.  I pull off the fan to put it away and as I turn it over water pours out.  Apparently it was installed upside down....  Drain it out and it seems fine now.

[Red90]

July 28: Adding an auxiliary relay and fuse panel.  I used a Cooper Bussmann 15300 series panel.  http://www.cooperindustries.com/content/public/en/bussmann/transportation/products/power_distribution/power_distribution_modules/series_15300_rtmr.html  This panel has space for 5 relays and 10 fuses.  I was needing a couple of relays for the EFI system, so I thought I would get this in first.  The block is waterproof (IP66) so can sit happily in the engine bay.  I've moved all of the aftermarket stuff to it, which cleans up a lot of wiring (aftermarket heater, rad cooling fan, diff lock).

It is mounted on a aluminum plate which is spaced off of the bulkhead.  The idea is this gives me a location to mount all of the EFI crap without adding more holes to the bulkhead and provides an easy common ground for the instruments.

[Red90]

August 9: Weighed it today.  3800 lbs with both tanks full, my regular gear for a day trip and myself.  There is no way the 2650 lbs is complete.  That must be stripped for lifting.

August 26: Installed a cubby box.  Tuffy 12.5" Stereo Console.  I had not planned on installing tunes, but SWMBO said it must be so....  There is nowhere to keep anything in the cab, so I needed something.  This one is massive and crazy heavily built.  A bit tall for my liking, but pushing it over against the passenger seat seems to give enough room.  I threw in an old stereo I had laying around and picked up a deal on a pair of used marine pod speakers.  I also added a couple of 12V outlets, a volt meter and a USB outlet.  All marine style with sealed plugs and sealed internals.

The whole thing is bolted to the center panel, so comes out in a few minutes if you need access and would be easy to change back to a seat.  I also attached a bit of 2" angle to the open space to give a little tray next to the seat.

[Red90]

September 3: Last project of the year....  The PO did a nice job installing a Mobile Climate Control 12-0205 24,700 btu, 295 cfm heater in the passenger footwell.  It puts out a lot of heat, but there was no ducting, so the defrost was gone and little air made it to the driver.  I built a discharge box with a bunch of adjustable vents and ducted in the defrost.

Before.

[Red90]

Also...somewhere over the summer I installed a CB antenna and redid most of the wiring on the right side of the engine bay to the winch and battery.  Will grab a photo when I get it back home.

Added a different fan controller, a DcControls dual relay controller: http://www.dccontrol.com/relay_controllers.htm  Waterproof, OE quality design.  The old flex-a-lite one did not like the water.  Changed the original heater switch to act as a fan cutoff and included the DcControlls indicator light to show when the fan is running.

[Rambler]

Very enjoyable reading, and great to see the evolution of your Lightweight. 

[Rambler]

Can I ask where you purchased the cooper bussman unit please, I'm hoping to find this in Canada if possible to avoid the hassles of brokerage and other fees.

[Red90]

I think I bought from Waytek. I looked at all of the options and choose whatever is the lowest overall cost. You need to figure out all of the terminals, seals, plugs, etc... to get the whole price.  Most places have minimum order quantities so it is complicated.  There is a place in the states that does a kit bit I think shipping was high. Waytek is the best I've seen for automotive wiring products.

I do have a bunch of spare terminals, seals and plugs that I'll sell at cost of anyone likes. It will avoid order large minimums.

[Rambler]

Thanks very much for your prompt and helpful reply.  I will certainly give Waytek a try.  I'd certainly be interested in the terminals/seals, etc. unless you can advise about whether standard ones will do, like those sold at Princess Auto (have just bought a ton of wiring /fuse and terminal related stuff from them)?  If you want to pm me, that would be great.  Thanks