Thread: Stuee's 101 Rebuild

My 101 when I first got it had dual batteries and a battery controller.
One battery was in the normal battery compartment and the other was in a box on the LHS just in front of the rear wheel.
I looked at the set up carefully and realised it wasted space.
The LHS chassis battery box was replaced by a tool box which now holds my winching gear and shackels.



The pic above shows the current tool box, but the battery box was much the same size and it the same location using the same simple bracket to hold it.
The water jerry and winch doesn't interfere with any thing.

I just found some pics of the original battery box below.


Note the cut away for the winch cable if running it rearwards.

Current tool box below again using same mounting.

I now still run twin batteries, but they are both in the standard battery box.
I am not running the N70Z size , but the next size down......like what the 101 was using standard in 24 volt form.
In my battery box I still found room for electronic stuff and power out let plugs etc.
I decided to kept things simple .
My 101 is currently a 12 volt system and I manually switch my batteries in parallel or one at a time.
The size batteries I use starts the 101 fine with reserve singlely.
If camping with fridge and lights etc, I turn one off and have a full fresh one to start on.
If the fridge battery becomes flat I just start the 101 and let its 90 amp altenator loose for a little while to charge.
I find in most camps I do I end up using the 101 during the day any how and therefore charge the fridge battery.
The battery switches are compact and cheap 12 dollar items which have never let me down and they are hidden behind my defender type seat on the passengers side.

The battery switches take little room in the battery box.
They are hidden from plane view but are easy to reach inside or out side of the vehicle.
The battery keys can be removed to add thief security to the vehicle.
When ever I leave the 101 I just flick the battery keys to the off position as the normal person looking at the vehicle wouldn't know where the battery switches are .
The defender passenger seat back can also easily flip forward too.

My back up back up is the crank handle.....the 8v 101 starts supprizingly well hot or cold on the crank handle.
another little trick is some alloy angle pop riveted to the lid of the battery box as you can store stuff on to of the battery box lid and not worry to much about it rolling and falling off.

The holes in the side of the alloy angle is so a elastic strap can be hooked onto it from one side to the other to hold anything if needed.
Naturally the fridge being the most important piece of gear lives in the back right up against the passengers side and just behind the battery box where the power plugs are, some plugs are facing into the cabin and the others to the rear.....ie fridge.
This is important as a cold beverage can easily accessed from both the inside and outside of the vehicle.


The only problem is when your mates find out about the out side access and the beverages seem to disappear.

Gday stu

Firstly, what an awesome job you've done! Even though I have no practical need for a 101 or the money to restore or even fuel it, after looking at yours I want one so badly!!! Very jealous you have the patience to stick with it for such a long time.

Originally Posted by stuee

with [the swingarm] it closed and weight supported both sides it should be ok for driving (same as having two swing arms), and swung out its only ever a static load, not going over corrugations etc.

Just regarding the tyre swingarm - I had one for my old D1 which was mounted to a very solid rear bar. Occasionally (for various reasons) I would forget to do the latch up and would take off in a hurry, only to find the swingarm swinging out and making a very large "clunk" as it fully opened. I've no idea how strong a 101 is at the rear but if you're anywhere near as forgetful or easily distracted as me might be worth allowing for the worst.

Anyway. Keep up the good work!

Cheers

Dan

Originally Posted by Disco-tastic

Even though I have no practical need for a 101 or the money to restore or even fuel it, after looking at yours I want one so badly!!!

Mmmmm.. I have a diesel 101 for sale.. A 5.9 Cummins powered turbo diesel 101.. It goes like hell, does 12/100 when driven normally, sounds like a semi, and needs minimal restoration if any...

Well I haven't made a post on the 101 in a while so thought I would pipe up. The wife is pregnant with our first baby so the last few months have been getting the house ready for the November delivery date. Unfortunately the most the 101 has moved is several trips to the tip after the Gin Gin British car day. It's not even had its first non-sandy 4wd trip. Now a new shed is up and I can be kicked out of my study so now I can hopefully get back to tinkering with the 101 again.

I've got a few jobs lined up - I have the steel for the tyre carrier, I just need to start cutting and welding; I've got to get the difflock light working, currently cant tell when 4x4 is engaged or disengaged; and tidy up some wiring including adding another isolator switch and giving the stereo constant feed permanent powerr.

I also need to join Team W4 so need to get my bum into gear and get the membership in.

Well the 101 has still been neglected but this seems a good a place as any to post a pic up of the newest 101 enthusiast. His name is Samuel.



All my free time has been getting everything ready for him so not much done on the steering except measure it up ready for drawing in solidworks. I've also got a caravan cover on order to for the 101 this summer to hopefully extend the life of the canvas and keep the rest of the car clean.

Other job to sort while the steering is out is the lack of power from the engine. After the w4 challenge it was quite down on power on the way home. Could be the linkages again or something more serious this time. But either way that's power issues after both significant drives with the 101 so need to get on top of it. I did buy a second manifold with carbs before Sam came along with the thought of rebuilding it or converting to efi for a bit of fun but it's likely to just sit on the shelf now...

It seemed about time to start the 101 since its been parked up for quite some time to replace the steering box. I checked over the carbs and found the cause of the slow ride back to Perth after I last used the 101 - a torn diaphragm. I replaced this and started the 101 and it fired up first time!

I let it warm up but soon noticed a puddle of fuel on the inlet manifold. One of the carbies was leaking near the adjustment screw, possibly the o-rings I used on them aren't suitable and have started breaking down? So since its not going to be on the road for another month at least I figured I'd pull them out (which is still a pain in the bum job) and throw my rebuild kits at them. A quick look shows them to be pretty clean inside, just lots of gunk on the outside building up from me overfilling the dampers and fuel leaks...

The 3M engine enamel I coated the rocker covers with is in no way fuel resistant to I may pull them out and clean and repaint them again. Anyone have recommendations for a durable, fuel resistant engine enamel? I was going to try VHT next. Also looking at a clear coat enamel for all the carby linkages.