Category Archives: Electrics

Articles about electrical items

A long needed update

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Well things have been a bit manic recently so updates were last thing on the mind.

But alas here we are April 2015 and here is an update on how things are going.

Ian’s Car – 200tdi 90

Well 12 months since the rebuild finished, its MOT time again.  Car went in for its test Tuesday 7th April.  It failed 😦  The issues were headlights weren’t bright enough, the drivers door wouldn’t open from inside the car.

So all in all not too bad, but the worst item was down as an advisory but actually caused the end of the test.  A UJ in the rear prop had failed to the point where the tester wasn’t willing to carry out deceleration tests.  The prop was unbolted and the UJ’s purchased and replaced.  the prop then bolted back on and boy did it make a difference.

The door not opening was a case of adjustments on the mechanism for the handles just shortened them a bit and opening now much easier.

The headlights were the biggest concern.  As I have high performance bulbs fitted to the car when the tester said they didn’t register on the testing machine.  So reading around the subject points at a burnt out light switch causing poor performance.  The solution is to put a relay feed to the lights.  I purchased a Red Bison Boomslang from Paddockspares for £30 it was a bargain for the entire kit.  I had it fitted in no time and made a massive improvement, its a product I would recommend to anyone.

MOT Retest 18 April 1pm.  Result: Car passed

Jordan’s Series II

Well not much work has been done on the car since November, panels are now painted but not yet fitted to the car.  The accelerator has now been refitted and the car can be driven around.

The main reasons for this is we have been busy working on Jordan’s Discovery 2, which since november has had a number of coolant hoses as it has been loosing coolant and the pressure build up has popped them.  We have now replaced the suspected cause of the coolant loss and so far so good.

Nick’s Discovery

It has been plodding along as normal.  We had a bit of fun while jet washing it ready for MOT when the jet wash smashed the sun roof.  so that has been replaced and the alpine windows have been taken out and covered over.

Matthews Series.

As Matthew has decided he isn’t friends with 2 / 3 of us working on Land Rovers there will be no further updates about his car as we dont see him any more.

New Cars:

Yes we have been joined by two more land rovers that we can enjoy working on.

Daisy The Defender is a 2006 TD5 90, owned by some friends we have had a little bit of work to do on the car already including replacing a failed fuel pump and then adding some new bits such as chequer plate wing tops and a new bumper.  With being such a new car there shouldnt be that much to do on it for now.

Tom’s 300tdi 90, this is going to be our next big project, Toms car is in need of a new chassis, due to the amount of rust it has, we could go down the route of repair pieces but Tom fancies doing a chassis, so one has been ordered so big project ahead for the summer.  There should be plenty of updates on this one.

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November Update

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Well after being quiet for a while since we updated the site so here is where we are up to at the moment.  Pictures of the cars will follow soon.

Car 1 –

The last update showed the van sides and roof bolted in place.  Since then we have fixed the inner sills and seat box in place, offered up the floor panels for a fit.

We have also replaced the carb that was originally on the car as when it ran there was a terrible misfire, we now put this down to an assumption the rotor arm moved one direction where it actually went the other so the ignition was only right on 2 cylinders.

With the running sorted we have actually had a short drive around and the engine seems to run very nicely indeed.  Hopefully will add a video to show this soon.

The bonnet has now been rubbed down and ready to paint, with the wings to follow.

Car 2 –

Not much has happened for now with the car still gently running it in driving most days.  We ventured on a 2 hour drive out to Betws-Y-Coed to watch the Cambrian rally in the middle of October, on the way home the car cut out with a diesel leak, eventually we got it home.

On the Sunday after the cause turned out to be the Fuel lift pump, as we revved the engine a mist was seen coming out the bulkhead side.  This was replaced and has run fine since.

We also fitted a pair of Wipac 100w 8″ spot lamps on the front for helping with night time driving on the dark lanes in the area,

That was until today, where got in it this morning and it wouldn’t turn over. Not sure what the issue is at present but will be looking in to it.

Car 4 –

Well progress on this car has moved on a bit now.  Body panels have been repaired painted and refitted, the rear electrics have been fitted.  A set of standard lamps had been fitted but as the owner turned 21 our birthday present to him was a set of wipac LED lamps for front and back.  The issue this has now caused is the need to change from a 2 pin flasher relay to a 4 pin set up.

The hope is to have the car rebuilt and in for MOT by the end of November.

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Car 2 : Lighting Upgrade Part 2

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Well after the dashboard lighting was improved with LED’s after some issues with the Britpart lamp kit I fitted during the rebuild which included the plastic housings melting on the stop tail lights!

A few weeks ago i purchased Wipac LED lights for the outside of the car, 2 front side lights, 2 stop / tail lights and indicators front and back.  The kit also came with a flasher relay designed for the lower power consumption of the LED’s

The main issue with the lamps were the wiring connections that were for 300tdi + cars so I also purchased adapters to bullet connections.  Also the mounting points were 2 screws on the horizontal centre line of the light.

So I had to drill the body work for the mounting holes then removed the old lights and bolted the new ones in place and connected them up.  

There is one fault with the LED indicators that they only work if wired backwards, they work fine with indicators but the hazard switch currently isn’t working so thats something to look at.

Car 2 : Interior Light Upgrades

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Well after looking at a few sites talking about lighting upgrades I decided its a route i would go down for the rebuild.

For the dashboard I purchased a pack of 8 XENON WHITE SMD LED 501 T10 W5W WEDGE CANBUS ERROR FREE SIDE LIGHT BULBS from eBay  after watching this video on youtube decided it was a 5 minute job so off I went.

Undid 4 screws holding the binnacle, disconnected the speedo cable and then twisted the bulbs out and slotted in the new LED’s checking as i went that they worked.  Reconnecting the speedo and putting the screws back in, then waited for it to go dark to check the result.

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It’s much improved over the original!

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I have also wired in strips of LED lights to the interior lighting which is an improvement on the original light.  I will get a picture of this over the next couple of days.

One final touch I made was to feed a string of blue LED’s in to the chassis and connect up to a switch that highlights the Richards Chassis logo, this is the result.

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Car 2 : Next Steps

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Well now the car is taxed, tested and insured, the post rebuild job list is building:

Body Work – Need to find the part number of the clips that secure the front door galv trims so they can be put back on.

We now have the part number just need to go about fitting them.  Part is MUC3186.

Fuel Gauge – Not working, will replace sender as one of the spades snapped off.

Speedo Cable – Didn’t give accurate reading on way to MOT, tried resitting in to the dial, if this doesn’t solve the problem I will replace cable.

Resolved – The refitting has solved it and now getting an accurate reading.

Thermostat – Replaced during rebuild but wasn’t opening at temperature so will replace again.

Exhaust – Is causing vibrations through the car so want to fit a small length of flex to the down pipe to help reduce vibration.

Air Intake – The position of the air filter meant that with the bonnet shut it was being pressed against the alternator and bonnet causing engine vibration to transfer to body work. We are going to look at a couple of options for this so that the air intake is as waterproof as we can get it.

Rocker Cover – There is a small leak from the rocker cover, I think a britpart component was fitted last time so will look to replace with a genuine item and hopefully sort that advisory out.

PAS Box – The leak on the return pipe i think is down to a missing o ring, so we are going to try and fit one see if that solves the problem, if not spend the money on the correct pipe for the job.

Audio – Need to refit the cars radio for entertaining on trips.

Off Road Prep – I still have a steering and 2 diff guards to fit back to the car, which should help protect when I go off road again.  Also have a CB radio to fit to the dashboard

Security Devices – we have a couple of security devices fitted to the car already, we will be looking to add more to this for extra peace of mind.

Towing Equipment – at the moment no towing equipment has been fitted to the car so this is something that will be looked at.

Slightly longer term items will be:

Winch bumper – while purchasing parts a couple of months back I tempted myself into buying a Huskey winch, so in time we will be looking to make a suitable winch bumper for the car.

Interior – One thing i didn’t look at during the rebuild were the seats.  they could do with re trimming as the backs have split, also the frames could do with painting.  We are also going to look at seating ideas for the back of the car.

Car 2 : Nearing Completion

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Well with few updates recently jobs have been smaller and less noticeable.

Rear lights, we have fitted the remaining rear lights, fog, reverse and number plate lights, also rear number plate.

At the front, we have had the old bumper shot blasted for £20 at Impact Bead Blasting in Wallasey, a great quality finish, that was then spray primed and top coated in black.  A new number plate bolted on and then the bumper bolted to the chassis with the original recovery points.  This required 2 x bumper fixing plates which were britpart items and 4 x M10 x 130mm bolts.

The front lighting was wired in, but we had some faults, this came down to faulty connections in wiring and the fuses, some re soldering and cleaning of the fuse box sorted this out.

Interior, we started refitting the interior of the car, head lining, sun visors, cubby box.  these were all simple bolt in items and fitted in no time.

One of the major jobs was after running the car for a while steam started appearing from the heater matrix and through the vents inside the car.  After  bit of digging found a small hole in the heater matrix radiator which was replaced with Paddocks Spares part – AAP817.  This so far appears to have worked no more steam or leeks.

Most work recently has been taken up with fitting anti theft devices to the car which obviously we don’t want to detail on the blog, but we think they are pretty handy and should deter most people looking to take the car.

Pictures shall be added shortly

The plan for the car is to have in for MOT and tax the first week of May.

Car 2 : Sills & Seat Box & Battery

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Well over the weekend we did a bit of work on the car, we removed the fuel tank yet again to allow access for the inner sills to be located.

Reference points for the bolt holes in the back of the sill bracket were taken, drilled in to the front of the tub panel, offered up to check the alignment and it was all good.  the same steps were repeated on the near side of the car and with the holes in a good position we then dropped the seat box in to place.

The seat box had holes in from the old car so when they were all lined up we bolted the box to the sill in the back and along the side of the car.  This then gave us position for the holes in the back on the box which we drilled out and bolted with M6 x 20 and Nylocs.

The seat box being located then allowed for the transmission tunnel cover to be screwed in and matting put in.  The other bonus was we could now fit the battery to the car and run some wire in.

I have previous purchased 2m of Red cable and 1m of Black for the battery, I went for a massively over rated cable capable of 415 Amps, shouldn’t have any issues with the cables melting all being well.

So with the battery connected it would have been wrong not to turn the key and see what happened.  The answer was nothing, when turning the key we got oil pressure light and charge warning light.  Nothing on cold start and when actually trying to crank the engine nothing happened.  So after a bit of a look around and trying of a few bits we decided enough was done for the weekend and can come back to the wiring another day.

Other issues discovered this weekend include the radiator has a hole in somewhere as when we filled it up a puddle started forming under it, this will be taken out and will get a price on test and repair, if its more expensive than a new one we might go down that route.

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Car 2 : More test fitting

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Well after finishing the repairs to the near side door, we too it to the car and have test fitted it.  the alignment looks pretty close which we are happy about, so far the body is pretty loose and should all come good in the end.

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Other progress made this week was more painting, this time the fuel tank has had a coat of chassis black paint and is bolted back in to place.  It will be coming out again soon so we can bolt in the inner sills then should remain in place.  I have also purchased new filler hose, filler neck and breather pipe.

Also have purchased a number of electrical items, including battery cable, an x-eng x-fan thermostat and a set of Carling Contura II switches for controls of some circuits that will be added in the future.

The plan for the next couple of weeks is to prep and paint the roof, fit the x-fan and look to get the battery hooked up and test the circuits.

Car 2 : Electrical Update

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Well we are working through one of the trickiest parts of the rebuild now, reconnecting the wiring.

At the beginning of the process as the wiring was removed we took pictures to see what goes where, the problem i have now is the phone they were taken on has been wiped and don’t have any copies of them.

With the new chassis loom in place I have soldered in connections to the old plugs matching wires from old to new.  But this leaves a few spares that weren’t put in to the new wiring.

In the main plugs on the engine side I have the following wires with nothing connected

  • Purple  [Aux Trailer Power]
  • Red Green  [Rear Wash Wipe]
  • Green  [Rear Wash Wipe]
  • Green Black  [Rear Wash Wipe]
  • Brown Green [Rear Wash Wipe]

As the car doesn’t have rear wash wipe I have put these cables inside the dashboard so they are out of the way, if ever needed they can be reinstated.

Then on the interior side of the bulkhead the following

  • 2 x Brown White
  • Green
  • Green White  [RH Indicator]

The wires above were found on an old picture that shows they were connected in to the fuse box.

  • Red Green
  • Green Black
  • Brown Green

These wires were related to the rear wash wipe system so have been hidden out the way for now.

  • Green Purple  [Brakes]
  • Green LIght Green

These were passed through the bulkhead and connected to the brake pedal switch.

  • Red White  [Dash Illumination]
  • Blue White

When all the connections at the bulkhead end are made we will then run the wiring in to the tub and start to put bullet connections on for the lights.  Then it will be a game of connect the battery and see what works.

Car 2 : Update

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Well updating the blog has lapsed a little over recent weeks partly down to being busy.  But here is a list of bits that have been done since the last updated.  Pictures to follow this weekend.

Wiring Harness has been put into conduit and fed through the chassis, just need to move plugs from old harness to the new one and crimp on bullets then that will mostly be done.

Brake system is now totally finished, we have added +2 brake lines as the spring kit we have used is actually a +2 light load springs. but all pipes are run, callipers reinstalled with new pads and all bled.

Steering, the Power Steering box has now been bolted on to the chassis and the column all connected up, all that is left to do is fill with ATF and then realign the wheel as its 90 degrees off at present.

Bulkhead, things such as the vent flaps are now installed, along with the wash wipe systems and parts of the dashboard its self.  Last weekend we also bolted the fuse box back in to place and started moving the wires in to the correct locations.  Hopefully in the near future we will be rebuilding more of the dashboard so they are all hidden away and it should be in a working state again once we get the battery in.

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Exhaust, After going down the route of a defender 200tdi exhaust system instead of the old 2.25 system that had been used before we are having to adapt the down pipe that was used previously we need to make it 14 inches longer and also drop a small distance so it mates we the new pipes.

Body Work, rear window sections are repaired and now require prep and paint, hopefully we will also prep the seat box, wind screen wings and bonnet at the same time so we can have a full weekend spraying the parts and take them all down in one go, save mixing paint over different days.

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