Thread: my '65 109 "Big Ears" (200Tdi)

i bought this motor about 18-20 months ago, a little by chance and with a little luck (i had sortof been looking for a 109) it was advertised at least 12 months before i was led to it on a general old car/custom forum and i pounced on the opportunity to take a look and strike a deal



it came complete with a spare bulkhead to rebuild and pretty straight panels all round, a mint condition Aeroparts winch (just needs a new baseplate) and an engine that runs like a sewing machine (2.25 petrol), i had found a fair bit of corrosion round the chassis that needed/needs attention but i had plans for it and a few bits to find/buy, so i've spent the next year basically preparing to start work/buying odd parts...

i started off by buying a 200tdi discovery which i promptly stripped of any parts i wanted and stashing in my garage


as you can see i bought a 300tdi manifold/turbo and fitted that to the engine, i then found a pair of 4.3:1 diffs at the right price to make it worth buying them (i would have preferred 3.9:1) they're still in my livingroom (shh don't tell the girlfriend ) ....

anyway after just about a year i decided i had collected enough parts to start (including two more land rovers ) so i dragged the spare bulkhead out and started chasing the rot out of it, i let in new metal where needed, new footwells and a drivers side foot, then had it media blasted, as soon as i got it home i broke out the paint and spraygun

this is it just after blasting


once that was all painted it was time to start getting serious and start sorting the rot, so it was time to start pulling it to bits (i'm working in an unsecure area so i can't just strip the whole motor) so it's off with the front panels and stash those in my garden


and then take a look at the rot, as you can see the winchplate had rotted the crossmember (not to mention the missing dumbirons)


out with the rot and in with new metal




both dumbirons and the crossmember completed


then it was time to move along a little, offside bulkhead outrigger off and rot removed


oops where's the boat anchor gone ??


more bits missing, chassis wire mopped right back to the tub and coated in red oxide


front springs swapped, chassis with 2 or three coats of black on it, nice clean gearbox with new rear seal and brake shoes and my posh replacement power plant


bulkhead back on at last, doors carefully gapped at the hinges and then all aligned with the tub nicely, so nice that the doors both close with almost effortless clicks


now anything that can go rusty in a landrover has in this one, so everything has had to be wiremopped and painted which really does slow some of the progress down but we are getting there, heater was stripped, flushed and generally cleaned out, bulkhead matting was scrubbed and laid flat under books to get it back in usable condition, all pedals and linkages were cleaned/painted along with quite a few little clips that hold wires etc to the bulkhead (i was really getting fed up of this process)






we've now finally managed almost to get away from the bulkhead for a while (gotta get back into it when i start building my wiring harness), i went to the Sodbury Sortout a week or so ago (autojumble) with a big list of bits, i only found a pair of shocks as part of the list but i did find a pair of "lazytong" style rivet gun , the real bonus was i found a TD5 intercooler at the right price so with a little cutting and welding i put this lot together, S2a breakfast, 200tdi radiator and TD5 intercooler


of course that breakfast was your run of the mill rusty old thing so something had to be done


as you can see there is a little bodging along the bottom of it but i don't care

and after a day of cutting back the paintwork on the wing we now have this


today i've made my exhaust downpipe out of scrap 52mm bore pipe, patched a hole in one of the turbo/intercooler pipes, i'm now in a position to consider doing the wiring, build some radiator hoses and finish the throttle linkage, i've also got to cut/form a pair of mudshields, polish the nearside wing and bonnet (there's bound to be other little jobs like an electric fan to source and fit)....

then i can lift the tub and roof off and start work on the rear half of the chassis so far this has taken me about 5 months i think and fingers crossed i've got the hardest part out of the way

my apologies for the long post, maybe i should have posted to here as well as to the other couple of forums when i started, but i hope you've enjoyed the read..

anyway here's the photo album if you want to go thru random photos of my work on this project
My 1965 109 pictures by NiteMare_08 - Photobucket

we're back to dismantling and sorting out rot :roll:









offside spring hanger :shock:


my jig to align the replacement crossmember




a little tinworm


a bit more


oh no, tinworm squatters


nearly all evicted


i'm carefully dissecting the crossmember so that i can rebuild the chassis rails as both are pretty crusty ...

got an unpleasant surprise yesterday, i lifted the canvas off the bulkhead to find the clutch master cylinder had leaked, yes it's taken paint off the footwell :roll: