Big Blue

Big Blue is a 1980 LWB 2.6l petrol SIII Land Rover. We bought it as an MoT failure and are going to re-build with a 3.5 V8 and some other refinements. This is part four of the diary of the re-build.

Date Event Spent
Total spent to date £5584.20
September 2002 -
October 2003 Paul: I've occasionally had mails in the last year wondering what's been going on with Big Blue. Well the answer was, to a large extent, not a lot. It was the clutch that did the damage. Beth struggled and strugged and struggled to get the bloody thing working and we lost enthusiasm. My health didn't help either.
Winter passed. Spring came and went with more fun and games with me but finally, by fitting a Borg & Beck both sides, Beth got the clutch to disengage and work started again, but updating the web site didn't.
Oh yes and we sold the roo bars (for a couple of quid) and the 2.6 engine (for £46) via eBay. We tried, and failed, to sell the axles.

08/12/03 Paul: Well as it's very cold outside today this seems like a good time to update the diary and tell you where we are. We are, fingers crossed, getting close at last. The list of things we've now got done include:
Paul:

Front panel re-designed (again, it was about an inch too tall)
Radiator bracketry redesigned (ditto)
All the original electrics working plus a reversing light as the gearbox can do that
Fog light switch/light integrated into original dash
Fans, spots and air horns wired in
Secured the radiator grill, having made holes for the fans
Fitted new headlamp bowls (the old ones having rusted away to nothing)

Beth:

Seat box permanently installed
New floor constructed in driver and passenger footwells
Transmission tunnel made
Seat belts fitted
Wings installed
Doors stripped of crappy old trim, re-painted and hung
Inner wings sorted
Windscreen squirter pumps installed and plumbed
Bonnet secured
Bumper painted black and installed
Spotlight brackets made (we are using the original the spots, but they were mounted on the roo bars before)
Battery clamp manufactured
Speedo cable installed
Air horns and compressor installed

From which you will deduce that I've done considerably less than Beth of late.

Beth goes "broooom, brooooom"
The good news is that it finally looks like a complete Land Rover now. We've established that the colour is Marine Blue, and below the oxidation (you can just see this on the front corners of the bonnet) it's actually a rather nice colour so we're intended to T-cut the bodywork and then we will re-paint later, either in Marine Blue or NATO green (if Beth has her way ;-)).

08/12/03 Paul: One of the outstanding issues is what to do about the wheel arches. We need to put extensions on, Defender 110 style, as the wheels come about an inch outside the body. After a lot of scratching around we discovered that the only wheel arches kits available for Series (the are two types available, one in GRP, the other in glass fibre) are for SWB only and having measured a neighbour's SWB arches it was clear we couldn't use these.
Someone else in the village had been this way before and apparently he used Defender wheel arch extensions, but this involves cutting the body work, which we weren't keen to do, and fundamentally I don't like Defender wheel arches much.
After a lot of Googling about I discovered a company called Autobarn who sell Pacer Performance Flexy Universal Fitting Fender Flares. As you will have guessed from the names Autobarn are a US company, as are Pacer but hey, we're in the new millennium now and we've got the Web and email so no problem.
So I place an order with Autobarn. After three weeks of them messing about it ended up with them simply ignoring my emails and in the end I sent them an email cancelling the order and mailed Pacer Performance customer services asking if they could recommend another dealer I could use.

Screen grab from the JC Whitney web site
A nice lady called Cindy mailed me and sent me to JC Whitney. They looked a lot more professional than Autobarn and claimed to be happy to do international orders. Well, maybe. The first problem was that their web site wouldn't accept an order from outside the US or Canada. So I mailed the international orders email address. No response. Two days later I phoned them only to be told that it took three working days for them to look at emails, then they would email me a quote, I would reply, another three days would pass, and so on. Arggghhh!!!! (Even this turned out not to be true by the way: I mailed them a week ago and I've still not had a reply to my original mail!)
In desparation I went back to Cindy. By now I was convinced that Cindy was the only person in the whole of America who still understood the customer service paradigm. And how right I was. She arranged for Pacer to ship a set of flares to us directly via UPS and billed it to our credit card. She didn't even blink when Alliance & Leicester messed her about by declining the card the first time (I hadn't given her the CVC number on the back of the card and they wanted that - but they didn't tell her this of course, sigh). The flares are in transit now and according to the UPS web site they should be with us by Thursday!

20/12/03 Paul: the flares arrive, as promised, on Thursday. UPS phoned me on the Tuesday before to collect the import duty (another £32, so the total price was about £144, still cheaper than buying Defender wheel arch extensions).
Over the last couple of days it's been dry, if cold (but less cold than it has been), and Beth has already fitted three of them. As I type she is outside in the rain (it's going to snow tomorrow allegedly!) fitting the last one, but as the others are already in place here's some pictures.

First one fitted, passenger side front

And again from a difference angle

A view down the driver's side

And the driver's side rear
Don't they look great? They're just right. Not too "Carlos Fandango" but wide enough to cover the wheels and keep the MoT man happy. Talking of which we now have insurance (as of two hours ago) so we can safely drive it on the road (no tax or MoT mind you!). Just got to get a front number plate sorted out first.

21/12/03 Paul: And so the big day finally arrives. Last night it was windy so we tore down the canopy (we were intending to keep the tarp, but it had rotted so when it started to tear we went with the flow). Today we took down the fence at the bottom of our garden and Beth drove Big Blue around onto the drive.

Still in the garden, Beth checks everything is OK this far

Big Blue comes out through the fence into the access road

Some shuffling required

And off they go down to the road

Turning into our drive

And safely parked on the drive
Phew we made it at last. Still lots to do, but it's out of the back garden and on the road. Hurrah!

Jan-Feb 2004 Paul: some crappy weather since Christmas but between us we've finished off the odd things that needed doing: a second bonnet catch, and a rev counter are two that spring to mind. The biggest item was the steering, which seemed vague and for a while we thought was a worn relay but Beth finally traced to having missed the locating ring at the bottom of the relay (I hadn't taken it off Big Blue when I stripped the relay out of the old chassis).

23/02/04 Paul: and so, as Winston Churchill said (more or less), we reach the end of the beginning, because today Beth took Big Blue for its MoT, which it passed with no problems at all, other than a headlight which needed adjusting, and in the afternoon we went to Waterbeach and taxed it.
There was a minor hiccup when it became clear that to be strictly legal we would have to send off the V5 to Swansea to declare the new engine, and wait for its return before we taxed it, but after a little guidance we taxed it as a 2.6 and then posted the modified V5 when we got home.

07/03/04 Paul: we went out on Thursday last week with the GPS (the speedo under-reads, rather a lot) to assess the gearing which Beth was complaining was too low. It turned out that in fifth it was doing 1000rpm per 20mph, so at 60mph it was doing 3000rpm, so at 80mph it would be doing 4000rpm. That's too high, we're wanting to see more like 3000rpm at 80mph.
The transfer box is 1:1.667 so a quick calculation suggested we needed a 1:1.222 box and this is indeed an available option for that transfer box.
The bad news was that, during the road trial where we worked all this out, it became clear that the gearbox is worn. There's a significant rattle as you come off the gas, especially in 5th. So not only do we need a new transfer box but a new gearbox too. Ouch. The only good news is that the cost of getting these re-con without an exchange unit is about the same as we paid for the gearbox and transfer box we have.
So yesterday we ripped out the floor and seatbox again and tomorrow or on Tuesday Beth's going to remove the gearbox and transfer box. Then on Wednesday we're driving to Luton and for about £915 a nice woman at Ashcroft Auto Transmissions is going to give us replacements,.

Total spent to date £5584.20

Date	Event	Spent
	Total spent to date	£5584.20
September 2002 - October 2003	Paul: I've occasionally had mails in the last year wondering what's been going on with Big Blue. Well the answer was, to a large extent, not a lot. It was the clutch that did the damage. Beth struggled and strugged and struggled to get the bloody thing working and we lost enthusiasm. My health didn't help either. Winter passed. Spring came and went with more fun and games with me but finally, by fitting a Borg & Beck both sides, Beth got the clutch to disengage and work started again, but updating the web site didn't. Oh yes and we sold the roo bars (for a couple of quid) and the 2.6 engine (for £46) via eBay. We tried, and failed, to sell the axles.
08/12/03	Paul: Well as it's very cold outside today this seems like a good time to update the diary and tell you where we are. We are, fingers crossed, getting close at last. The list of things we've now got done include: Paul: Front panel re-designed (again, it was about an inch too tall) Radiator bracketry redesigned (ditto) All the original electrics working plus a reversing light as the gearbox can do that Fog light switch/light integrated into original dash Fans, spots and air horns wired in Secured the radiator grill, having made holes for the fans Fitted new headlamp bowls (the old ones having rusted away to nothing) Beth: Seat box permanently installed New floor constructed in driver and passenger footwells Transmission tunnel made Seat belts fitted Wings installed Doors stripped of crappy old trim, re-painted and hung Inner wings sorted Windscreen squirter pumps installed and plumbed Bonnet secured Bumper painted black and installed Spotlight brackets made (we are using the original the spots, but they were mounted on the roo bars before) Battery clamp manufactured Speedo cable installed Air horns and compressor installed From which you will deduce that I've done considerably less than Beth of late. Beth goes "broooom, brooooom" The good news is that it finally looks like a complete Land Rover now. We've established that the colour is Marine Blue, and below the oxidation (you can just see this on the front corners of the bonnet) it's actually a rather nice colour so we're intended to T-cut the bodywork and then we will re-paint later, either in Marine Blue or NATO green (if Beth has her way ;-)).
08/12/03	Paul: One of the outstanding issues is what to do about the wheel arches. We need to put extensions on, Defender 110 style, as the wheels come about an inch outside the body. After a lot of scratching around we discovered that the only wheel arches kits available for Series (the are two types available, one in GRP, the other in glass fibre) are for SWB only and having measured a neighbour's SWB arches it was clear we couldn't use these. Someone else in the village had been this way before and apparently he used Defender wheel arch extensions, but this involves cutting the body work, which we weren't keen to do, and fundamentally I don't like Defender wheel arches much. After a lot of Googling about I discovered a company called Autobarn who sell Pacer Performance Flexy Universal Fitting Fender Flares. As you will have guessed from the names Autobarn are a US company, as are Pacer but hey, we're in the new millennium now and we've got the Web and email so no problem. So I place an order with Autobarn. After three weeks of them messing about it ended up with them simply ignoring my emails and in the end I sent them an email cancelling the order and mailed Pacer Performance customer services asking if they could recommend another dealer I could use. Screen grab from the JC Whitney web site A nice lady called Cindy mailed me and sent me to JC Whitney. They looked a lot more professional than Autobarn and claimed to be happy to do international orders. Well, maybe. The first problem was that their web site wouldn't accept an order from outside the US or Canada. So I mailed the international orders email address. No response. Two days later I phoned them only to be told that it took three working days for them to look at emails, then they would email me a quote, I would reply, another three days would pass, and so on. Arggghhh!!!! (Even this turned out not to be true by the way: I mailed them a week ago and I've still not had a reply to my original mail!) In desparation I went back to Cindy. By now I was convinced that Cindy was the only person in the whole of America who still understood the customer service paradigm. And how right I was. She arranged for Pacer to ship a set of flares to us directly via UPS and billed it to our credit card. She didn't even blink when Alliance & Leicester messed her about by declining the card the first time (I hadn't given her the CVC number on the back of the card and they wanted that - but they didn't tell her this of course, sigh). The flares are in transit now and according to the UPS web site they should be with us by Thursday!
20/12/03	Paul: the flares arrive, as promised, on Thursday. UPS phoned me on the Tuesday before to collect the import duty (another £32, so the total price was about £144, still cheaper than buying Defender wheel arch extensions). Over the last couple of days it's been dry, if cold (but less cold than it has been), and Beth has already fitted three of them. As I type she is outside in the rain (it's going to snow tomorrow allegedly!) fitting the last one, but as the others are already in place here's some pictures. First one fitted, passenger side front And again from a difference angle A view down the driver's side And the driver's side rear Don't they look great? They're just right. Not too "Carlos Fandango" but wide enough to cover the wheels and keep the MoT man happy. Talking of which we now have insurance (as of two hours ago) so we can safely drive it on the road (no tax or MoT mind you!). Just got to get a front number plate sorted out first.
21/12/03	Paul: And so the big day finally arrives. Last night it was windy so we tore down the canopy (we were intending to keep the tarp, but it had rotted so when it started to tear we went with the flow). Today we took down the fence at the bottom of our garden and Beth drove Big Blue around onto the drive. Still in the garden, Beth checks everything is OK this far Big Blue comes out through the fence into the access road Some shuffling required And off they go down to the road Turning into our drive And safely parked on the drive Phew we made it at last. Still lots to do, but it's out of the back garden and on the road. Hurrah!
Jan-Feb 2004	Paul: some crappy weather since Christmas but between us we've finished off the odd things that needed doing: a second bonnet catch, and a rev counter are two that spring to mind. The biggest item was the steering, which seemed vague and for a while we thought was a worn relay but Beth finally traced to having missed the locating ring at the bottom of the relay (I hadn't taken it off Big Blue when I stripped the relay out of the old chassis).
23/02/04	Paul: and so, as Winston Churchill said (more or less), we reach the end of the beginning, because today Beth took Big Blue for its MoT, which it passed with no problems at all, other than a headlight which needed adjusting, and in the afternoon we went to Waterbeach and taxed it. There was a minor hiccup when it became clear that to be strictly legal we would have to send off the V5 to Swansea to declare the new engine, and wait for its return before we taxed it, but after a little guidance we taxed it as a 2.6 and then posted the modified V5 when we got home.
07/03/04	Paul: we went out on Thursday last week with the GPS (the speedo under-reads, rather a lot) to assess the gearing which Beth was complaining was too low. It turned out that in fifth it was doing 1000rpm per 20mph, so at 60mph it was doing 3000rpm, so at 80mph it would be doing 4000rpm. That's too high, we're wanting to see more like 3000rpm at 80mph. The transfer box is 1:1.667 so a quick calculation suggested we needed a 1:1.222 box and this is indeed an available option for that transfer box. The bad news was that, during the road trial where we worked all this out, it became clear that the gearbox is worn. There's a significant rattle as you come off the gas, especially in 5th. So not only do we need a new transfer box but a new gearbox too. Ouch. The only good news is that the cost of getting these re-con without an exchange unit is about the same as we paid for the gearbox and transfer box we have. So yesterday we ripped out the floor and seatbox again and tomorrow or on Tuesday Beth's going to remove the gearbox and transfer box. Then on Wednesday we're driving to Luton and for about £915 a nice woman at Ashcroft Auto Transmissions is going to give us replacements,.
	Total spent to date	£5584.20