Thread: Project Serenity

Originally Posted by chazza

It is a paint additive but in my experience it leaves fish-oil for dead! Waxoyl and fish-oil do cover the surface, but Penetrol penetrates the rust and stops it completely. In my 12 month protection trial, only Penetrol looked the same at the end of it, all the others didn't work!

Cheers Charlie

Thanks for that information.

Would you recommend simply using penetrol by itself in the chassis, or put some form of paint inside before applying penetrol as an added layer of protection?

-Martin

You apply penetrol first. The aerosol stuff I'm using is designed to be used under paint. It's capillary action gets it absorbed into the rust driving out air and moisture to completely deny the rust any oxygen. No oxygen no rust.
If the surface looks shiny when dry you've put enough on.

It's hard to tell that in a chassis, but I spray, wait a day or so then spray again figuring that the secondary sprays allow the penetrol to spread further.

I looked in the chassis with a camera probe last night and I can still see the penetrol coating, looking all nice and shiny after a year of being in there.

The chassis is back! I picked it up yesterday. It took them a while, but to be honest I've been far too busy to really care about how long it took. I'm just pleased they took the initiative to top coat it for me as well. I really should have discussed the process with them better, but oh well, I got what I wanted.



It's a little dirty as it's been outside for a week waiting for me to get around to collecting it.





Time to go order myself some new bits I think. I've had a look at my springs and they aren't in great shape, showing broken leaves and the like. I'm thinking I might splash out and buy myself some parabolics, I've been told they're a good thing. So long as they don't make the prop shaft rub on the chassis, it would seem...

Looking forward to finally getting into the rebuild proper now. Unfortunately I'm back at uni (final year!), so I expect the process will basically grind to a halt again. I'll get it finished one day.

-Martin

Originally Posted by turkeybrain

Looking forward to finally getting into the rebuild proper now. Unfortunately I'm back at uni (final year!), so I expect the process will basically grind to a halt again. I'll get it finished one day.

-Martin

I was more right about progress grinding to a halt than I knew...

After a short 3,197 day break (8 years and 9 months), Project Serenity is finally back on.

Plenty has happened since my last post.



We're in a different shed.

Comparing old and new, the chassis is also sitting on the rotisserie differently. I don't think that counts as progress though.

Admittedly plenty has happened to get Serenity into that new shed; graduated for uni, couldn't find work as an engineer so worked as a teacher's aide for a year, found my first (and so far only; just ticked over 7 years) engineering job, got married, bought a house, made some necessary repairs to house that was thankfully in our budget, had a daughter, built a shed, broke and repaired my daily drive repeatedly, broke and repaired my wife's daily drive repeatedly, et cetera.

The breaking and repairing of our dailies has been foundational to the renewed enthusiasm for Serenity. My wife is fully supportive of my project car (as an example, she was happy for me build a shed specifically to work on cars) as she grew up four wheel driving with her family, and would like to do the same for our daughter. As such, Serenity is planned to be my daily drive, plus our camping and four wheel drive bus. We also hope to do a round-Australia trip at some point in Serenity

Given the insane price of cars at the moment, we're not real keen on buying a car, or cars, to only keep for a year or two. In other words I need to get my act together and get Serenity registered before both of our dailies become (more of) a burden.

I've set myself an aggressive timeline of taking Serenity camping in Summer 2022. No pressure... But one has to have goals.

I've also managed to secure the assistance of a good mate who has taken on the role of chief project manager. He believes his role is to harass me about project milestones every couple of days. I think I've created a monster there, but I do need to be kept accountable (see: 9 years without progress). Here's the project plan he wrote on the whiteboard in my shed.



So, what has been happening with Serenity?

A few things. Some controversial. Please leave your pitchforks in the garden shed, decisions have already been made and won't be unmade.

As Serenity is going to be my daily, and also going to be a long range tourer, I need something that has a good range. Thinking about the petrol 2.25, I really struggled to deal with the projected fuel usage. It would be difficult to get the range up to over 1000 km without refilling. I looked into purchasing a 2.25 diesel, but I also would like to be able to go up hills with some degree of pace to not be a burden to other motorists. Throwing a turbo on a 2.25D seemed risky, as the bottom end apparently can take offense. As such, I've elected to do an engine conversion, changing over to a 300Tdi removed from a 1996 Discovery. The conversion is relatively unintrusive as far as conversions go as it will retain the original gearbox and doesn't require sweeping chassis modifications. I'm not going to discard the 2.25 though, I plan to retain it long term in case I ever want to return the car to original condition. I also plan to keep the exterior as close to standard as possible, I have zero interest in making it look like a modified 4x4. I'm honestly kind of upset with myself, I'm generally not a fan of modified cars, yet here we are.



The donor car is a sad story. The people I bought it off had been looking around for a while, specifically for a Disco 1 for sentimental reasons, and thought they found a good one. They bought it sight unseen (unable to leave the state at the time) from NSW for quite a tidy sum. When trying to register it in Tasmania it was discovered that it had both airbag and ABS issues. Justin Cooper had a look at it and determined it would cost something like $6000 to repair, and the owners tossed in the towel. I've taken the engine and a few other bits, and have sold the body on to another fanatic nearby. I dropped the body off last weekend, and got quite distracted looking at their 2x Disco ute projects, TD5 powered Disco 1 (yes, you read that right), 2x Series, Defender, 2 door RRC, and 101 ambulance. I didn't take any photos. The body will be spare panels for the TD5, the axles are to be rebuilt to stronger specifications and dropped under a ute, and the chassis might end up under a Series body if they can make it legal.



I always intended for Serenity to be lightly modified to make it more usable long term. This certainly wasn't what I originally considered, but I think it should be a good thing. You can all hold me to originality on my Series 1, I'll make up for what I'm doing to the 2A on the S1 project.

So a few other bits and pieces have happened on and off over the last few years.

I've bought a Salisbury for the rear, removed from a Series 3. That's been repainted in POR15. Twice, as I didn't like the finish I initially achieved. Same for the front axle, I took that back to bare metal (again) and repainted it in POR15.



Unfortunately the axles were stored in less than ideal conditions while suitable sheds were constructed, and the stub axles on the Salisbury have a tiny bit of surface corrosion on them. I will have to clean them up and see if they're still serviceable. I think the other side of the stub is the worse side. I have managed to acquire a second Salisbury, so the stubs on that might get a guernsey.



I also bought the roof and walls from the S3, and plan to use those bits to get rid of the shooting hatch that came with Serenity and to use the S3 upper seatbelt mounts. I think the walls and roof should bolt up OK to the 2A tub?

There's a set of parabolic springs hidden in the shed somewhere. I think I know where they are. I found the dampers.

The bulkhead which I showed in post #69 is fully repaired and is sitting around in primer.



My first milestone is to get to the point of having a rolling chassis, so my attention is focused on axles, suspension and steering. Unfortunately the real first thing I have to do is figure out where everything is (9 years plus moving from one house to another really helps). It looks like I have some parts to finish building up axles, but also need a some more, in particular for the later addition Salisbury.

On the topic of axles and wheels, it seems that the S2 and S2A ran 9/16 BSF (~14.28 mm major diameter) wheel studs, and S3s ran M16 studs. From what I can tell from notes online and from experimenting with the rims and hubs I have on hand, it seems that both stud sizes worked on the same rims. Can somebody confirm this is correct, as that seems utterly bizarre to me! I believe the rims I should be running to suit either studs are 272309, where would I find this number stamped on the rim? I recall being shown ~10 years ago, but the specifics are no longer in my memory.

I think that ends this update. There should be more soon.

Cheers,
Martin

I'm in a weird position where I want to do things, but don't have a clue what I can do with the parts I have on hand, nor do I know what needs to be done. It's becoming clear that I'm going to need to buy a bunch of parts, but I'm holding off on making any purchases until after Christmas.

I found some Rover pinion seals in my stocks purchased 10 ish years ago, so the plan for tonight was to attempt replacing one of those. A quick review of the workshop manual this morning indicated I am missing a gasket, so that plan went nowhere fast.

OK... I've got swivel rebuild kits, I should be able to do those. Let's go!



I had a minor heart attack when i first looked at the outer spline, thinking it had been heavily damaged and basically stripped.


I'm pleased to say that's just my bad memory at it again, and that the new drive flange fits on very nicely. For the record, I do plan to install it the right way round when the time comes...


The swivel and seals have seen better days, and it seems I made the right call however long ago to replace them with new units.




The left hand side swivel and half shaft have been a mystery since I first removed it from the car. No amount of hammer blows (with a block of wood) would release the shaft from the hub. The other side came apart with zero effort. I think I've finally figured out what's going on...


Plenty of wear on the bearing sleeve, inevitably thanks to the fine grade of mud used as lubricant. It's not super clear in the photo below, but there's an obvious shoulder where the bearing used to run and where it didn't, and the rollers are getting caught up on this step. So now I know what's wrong, but that doesn't mean I'm any closer to resolving the issue. My neighbours probably don't want me to keep trying to remove it at this time of night... And anyway, this looks like I'm going to need more parts! Though hopefully I'll still be able to clean up and rebuild the swivels and offer the half shaft up later.



Cheers,
Martin.

A slightly better photo of the lip on the sleeve. Hammers alone have not worked, though there's evidence of some progress.


Taking the lip off with a Dremel has done the job in the end. Still took a fair beating with a mallet though.


Preparations for festivities are going to take up the rest of my week, hopefully I'll be able to get into tearing down the two swivels (if I can find the other...) early next week.

Cheers,
Martin

Originally Posted by turkeybrain

On the topic of axles and wheels, it seems that the S2 and S2A ran 9/16 BSF (~14.28 mm major diameter) wheel studs, and S3s ran M16 studs. From what I can tell from notes online and from experimenting with the rims and hubs I have on hand, it seems that both stud sizes worked on the same rims. Can somebody confirm this is correct, as that seems utterly bizarre to me! I believe the rims I should be running to suit either studs are 272309, where would I find this number stamped on the rim? I recall being shown ~10 years ago, but the specifics are no longer in my memory.

The wheels don't fit tight on the studs, the taper on the nut locates in the recess in the wheel. This means the stud size isn't critical.

Wheels are interchangeable regardless of the stud size.


Colin

Thanks Colin,

Well done finding the question in that massive wall of text, and thanks for confirming my understanding. I can only imagine the joy the engineer who made the change to M16 felt when they realised the change would be backwards compatible.

If hubs are the same front and rear, I think I'll use the hubs from my spare Salisbury on the front to keep the threads common rather than mixed.

Cheers,
Martin