Paint your Wagon

[Wheeledbeast]

I have got my " faulty" alternator back from the specialists. they could not find any thing wrong with it that is a bit of a mistry now have i got some other fault hidden in the wiring

[Wheeledbeast]

Fuel Pump has Also gone belly up ( again this part is less than 1 year old.) I wonder if there is some connection between the alternator problems and the fuel pump The fuel pump was the first thing to stop working when the alternator failed. the truck has been stood up for about a month now as i am trying to fix the floor in the load bed. may be the pumps don like to be stood still

[Wheeledbeast]

Some Progress this week. I’ve got the fuel pump working, modified the exhaust and got the floor in

I took the cover of the fuel pump and found a little set of contacts operated by a complicated spring mechanism . The spring was in turn operated by the shuttle inside the body of the pump. The contacts are meant to change to indicate the shuttle is all the way up ( they change,turn off the power and let the shuttle fall again to pump the diaphragm and move the fuel). The contacts were not changing, so I unscrewed the diaphragm from the shuttle by about ¾ of a turn. Now the points are changing and the pump seems to be back to normal .

I have fitted a heat shied between the fuel tank and the new exhaust, I am not sure this was really necessary, but better safe than sorry.


I have finally got the new floor in ( in between the rain ) I have used ¾ shuttering ply that has had a couple of coats of wood preserver and some antislip floor paint. I am still debating weather or not to try and seal the ¼ inch (ish) gaps between the floor and the walls of the bed. Will that keep water out, or just trap it in any thoughts or advice would be welcome:?:


I have cut some drain holes between the load bed and the cab to let any excess water run off the bed onto the floor ( hopefully ). (The aluminum plates at the rear are the ones that used to be mounted above the wheels on the old bed). I also added a couple of lashing eyes on each side in case a want to strap any Load down. (It does not look like much, but it has taken along time to get finished, a much bigger job than i thought it would be )

[Wheeledbeast]

Cooling fan has stoped working now, fortunatly the rest of the cooling system is in good shape, so it is still drivable, but i get very nervous in trafic I have checked the fuses, wiring and the thermostat and all is ok so it looks like it is the fan motor its self. ( i am not having very much luck ath the moment ).

[Wheeledbeast]

Last night’s adventures… I decided I could not risk driving to Gaydon without the fan working so I had to have a look at the problem. The photos below show how the truck changed between the end of work and such time as I thought I could get away with before the neighbours started complaining.



When I got the fan off I broke into the casing and discovered the problem. As you can see from the photos, the brushes were all in good condition. Unfortunately the photo on the left shows the 4 ( yes four ) brush springs. One is slightly rusty, but mostly ok, the other three have rusted away to virtually nothing . This is not a motor that has been in the sea, or even under water, the motor is not even old( less than three years ). It seems like the condensation in the housing was enough to make the springs rust away.



tonight I will have to try and find a way to get it all back together. I am thinking of swapping to a push fan instead of a pull fan. That way I can mount it on the outside of the radiator. It will spoil the look of the truck a bit, but it will be a lot easier to get at to repair. I’ll let you know how I get on.

[Wheeledbeast]

I have cleaned up and greased the brush holders, I found four new springs, slightly too long but should be okay . I found that two of the permanent magnets were loose, so I have glued them back to the case. I reassembled the whole thing (three times before I got it right ) and put a couple of tack welds on the case to hold it together ( see photo). Then I reassembled the fan and cage and gummed up any holes with silicone sealant.


Then it was just a case of reassembling everything else. I have left the fan behind the rad as It removed the need to fab new brackets, and it just looks better . I have driven it to work this morning (15 miles) and all seems to be well. There is a slight rusty patch on the rad, but I suspect that is just spilled coolant from all the dismantling . Fingers crossed that all is now well for the trip to Gaydon Land Rover show this weekend .

[Wheeledbeast]

Made it to Gaydon Land Rover Show and back safely . It seems to have picked up a hot starting problem that caused a bit of stress at the end of the journey, but other than that it was okay . I also descovered a couple of claims to fame for the Forward Control. It has made a staring appearance in a couple of magazines. Avid readers of Land Italia-( Italy’s finest Land Rover magazine) will have spotted it on page 24 and 66 of the December edition. Also in this months LRO on Page 204 advertising the Gaydon show.


so now I know how to Say Series IIA Forward Control in Italian



whats this SFOR

[Wheeledbeast]

Fan has started playing up again. Still working , but drawing lots of current, and keeps taking out the fuse. i will let y0u know what is happening when i find out some more.)

[Wheeledbeast]

I fitted a replacement fan, i have not had time to look at the old one yet, but the replacement seems to work fine.

[Wheeledbeast]

This weekends trip to the south coast started off quite badly. Dodgy points/ condenser bought me to a stop on the Bird lip just outside Gloucester. ( the same place i set on fire on my way to Dunsfold, may be i should find another route south ).



Fortunately two blokes in a V8 Disco came by and dragged me out of the way of the forty tonners ( aren't Land Rovers good )
Then two fantastic AA men came by and got me going again. i had the option to be taken home, but once the FC was running again i decided to carry on an ( 250 miles later the Fc has not missed a beat). I am generally the first to complain about poor service an that sort of thing so i have to point out how good these AA guys where. Definitely worth the membership, although i should sort my self out with a few basic spares and tools .