Build Day 25.....A Bit More Stripping

I spent a little more time after work today on stripping the engine bay of the Rover. Managed to disconnect the driveshafts with my special 'driveshaft disconnection' tool:;-)

Shame to destroy the driveshafts like that, but I don't need them for the new build and removing the shafts properly would of required dismantling the front suspension and quite frankly I'd like to have the engine out before Christmas :S

Incidentally, I needed a new disk for the angle grinder the other day. I usually buy the disks from my local DIY shop which is one of those proper old Aladdin's cave type places rather than the usual 'B&Focus-It-All-Base' . The price at my local shop is £1.70, but sadly they were out of stock, so I went to 'B&Focus-It-All-Base' instead - £4.00!!!!!! I bought it anyway hoping that as it was a well known make, it may last longer - fat chance; it shattered into a thousand pieces shortly after I started using it!! Thankfully, my local shop had re-stocked by today so I bought two - I only needed one to do the shafts and it didn't shatter either. Just goes to show that these big out-of-town chains don't always sell stuff cheaper (or as good as) what you can buy on your high street.

Build Day 24.....Steady, but Frustrating Progress

The day all started off as a bit of a disaster. I'd planned to continue stripping the engine bay of the Rover in readiness for removing the engine, but I spent most of the morning trying to remove the exhaust pipe from the turbo. Rusted nuts coupled with difficult access caused all sorts of nightmares. I got two of the three nuts off with brute force, but had to resort to the angle grinder to remove the third - this means I'll now have to replace a stud on the turbo :(. Once this was done I then realised the exhaust pipe was also attached to the back sump with some even more inaccessible nuts :(. I also managed to knock my bench grinder off the workbench!! - don't ask! :S

Anyway, this was all solved and the afternoon was much more successful. Most everything is now detached from the engine, with all the wiring etc labeled up. Anything that might get in the way of the engine being lifted (it's got to come out complete with the gearbox) has also been removed. Only things left to do are the drive shafts and the gearstick linkages. These will have to be done on Monday as I'm out tomorrow.

Build Day 23.....Front Frame Done Correctly

Managed to spend a couple of hours in the garage today and finally rebuild the front frame that was giving me problems before, using my new jig. Happy to say that it's now looking good - straight and true.

Build Day 22.....Back to work at last

Well, after a long time off the build, what with moving to a new job and going on holiday, last sunday (13th Aug) I finally managed to do some more work on the car. I started by looking again at the front frame that I messed up and decided to rebuild it rather than try and repair. To this end I build a new, better jig and cut some new metal. I won't weld any thing up on this yet, though, as I want to now concentrate on stripping the required parts from the Rover. And this is what I did for the rest of the day. Have managed to srtip some parts out of the engine bay - notably the battery and the radiator/intercooler assembly, but it's slow progress as I have to be carefull to mark up and document where all the wiring etc goes. Hopefully I may be able to spend some more time today on it....