Well after a busy 8 months Matthews car has been finished and has passed its MOT.
The details of the rebuild have been missing during the process but hopefully we will make a post that covers all the bits we went through.
To celebrate we took the cars to the pub for a pint.
Well after running the car for a few weeks we noticed that the steering wasn’t as good as before the rebuild and we had put it down to castor issues after fitting 2 inch lift springs.
So we purchased a set of AllMakes springs that were standard height and today we got around to fitting them. We lifted the back of the car letting the axle droop a little then compressed the springs and got them out. We could slip the new ones back in without the spring compressors so bolted the retaining plates back in and the back was done.
The fronts were slightly harder, we had to remove the bottom nut of the shock absorber compressed the springs and then the shock we had just enough time to pull it out before the shock extended again. a bit longer and a bit of a harder job but we got it done, in the space of a couple of hours we had all the springs done and it bolted back down again.
This improved the issues we had with steering massively the car now feels pretty much as it did before the rebuild which is great news.
Also while working today we topped up the oil a bit more after the running in and also re bled the brakes.
Well car 2 has been on the road for 6 weeks now, with no major mechanical issues to report there are just some minor things we are wanting to look at.
Air Filter
We have recently taken out the air filter housing finished making little changes to the feed pipe and painted. we went with a spray version of ht Gentian blue the car is painted in and we are happy with the finish.
Thermostat
The car is currently without a thermostat, with it fitted the temp gauge goes very high and was causing concern to us. The thermostat was taken out and tested on the cooker and opened fine, so we think we need to refit and find out how to bleed the 200TDI cooling system.
Steering
We have some concerns over the steering, we are getting a bit of movement while driving along and your never sure about how much steering to put in when going round corners.
We have spoken to the company that provided the suspension kit and discussed the issues, and the outcome was, the movement while driving might be a side effect of the 50mm lift on the coil springs, making the panhard rod be changing the alignment of the front and rear axles so the car is essentially crabbing along the road.
The vague steering might be caused by the castor of the front axles being out with the lift.
So we are currently looking at the solutions,
Option 1 : fit castor correction arms and adjustable pan hard rod – approx cost £420 allows to keep the new TF201 kit intact
Option 2 : fit standard height springs that should solve the castor and pan hard rod issues – approx cost £80 means working to change the springs all round.
Will update the blog when choices are made.
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.
Landy Rebuilds 