What does this button do?


	Most popular: Gentoo Linux on a Dell Inspiron 630m Dakar 4x4 Smack My Kit Up!


	Menu: :: Home :: Fascinations :: Goat Labs :: Miscellany :: RANT! :: Silly stuff :: Useful stuff :: Cars & Driving

Hosted by


	:: Printable version Search WWW Search Goat

Dakar Rebuild - part 8

More assembly...

12/05/06

I picked the oil cooler sandwich plate seal up from Hunters today. It fits perfectly, but upon installation it occured to me it's identical to the seals you get on the top of oil filters! To save all the hassle of trying to source it, I could've just torn one off a filter! D'oh!

13/05/06

I decided to dig the front nudge bar out of the eaves in the barn to see how salvagable it is. It was bent quite badly when I picked an argument with a rather sturdy tree at the bottom of a very steep, slippery incline... It did its job, however, and saved the shell from a full-force frontal impact, instead shoving the vehicle off to the left and causing a six inch gash down the off-side wing.

Anyway, after a bit of arguing, prying and a liberal application of brute force, the bar bent back roughly straight. There's a dent in the tube where it hit the tree, but I recon that can be battered back to tube diameter and then filled and painted. I also refitted some of the lights - it looks like I'll be needing some new reflectors for the main headlamp units.

I've fitted the wiring for the extra front lights and bought a second Range Rover switch panel assembly off eBay, complete with sheared bits of wiring loom. This has allowed me to modify the original panel to more suit the needs of the Dakar - i.e. extra lighting switches and no rear windscreen heater!

14/05/06

The floorpan is the next area requiring attention before I can start reassembling the interior, so everything was removed and then the interior jetwashed and dried. It was then given a coat of a rather scary paint that seems to almost chemically bond with whatever surface it happens to come in contact with and cure to a hard, slightly flexible finish. It's heat-, solvent- and scuff-proof, so it should do a fairly good job of keeping the interior looking reasonable:

Floorpan painted with everything-proof paint.

It needs another coat - possibly two - but already it has transformed the interior!

15/05/06

Thanks to the marvelous concept that is FlexiTime, I'd accrued a day off so I decided to spend it on the Dakar :-). I gave the floorpan a second coat of paint this morning and, while I was at it, attacked the rear nudge bar. Water had got under the powder coating, causing it to ripple and crack in various places. Each of the three tubes were given a thorough scraping to remove as much of the loose powder coat as possible before a good session with a wire brush. During the process, even more evidence of its previous life came to light:

More stickers from its days as an ambulance.

I then gave it a couple of coats of the same black gunge as the floorpan. Yes, it's rather rippled due to the intermittent powder coat, but I'm not particularly fussed about that. Looks OK, overall:

I also bought a new set of stainless bolts and nylock nuts from Pugh and Sanders to replace the rather tired examples that used to retain the front and rear nudge bars:

The corroded section of the rear load area has been cut out and two repair panels fabricated that will bolt together, sandwiching the original section between them. Epoxy putty in between the repair panels will add a bit more integrity to the repair.

I've also test-fitted a battery tray (a genuine Mercedes spare, nonetheless, that I've had knocking around in the garage for years for no apparant reason) and it would appear to fit just nicely. Hopefully this and the load area repair panel will be fitted tomorrow evening.

<<< Previous Page

Next Page >>>

This page was last updated: 12^th June 2006 at 4:15pm UTC