This is a bit of a mish-mash of an update as I have been doing a bunch of smaller jobs, partly due to the weather and partly due to having reached a bottle neck in the dis-assembly. Basically, I need to take the engine out so that I can remove everything from the chassis. I really have spent most of my time preparing the body for scrapping.
Essentially I have stripped the last of the useful things from the body. For instance, the smaller top hole had the wiper motor/ mechanism mounted in it, the larger bottom hole is where the servo unit, brake and clutch master cylinders used to be (along with the pedal box).
Since I had the pedal box off, I thought it a good idea to take a trip to Tomcat to drop off the pedal box, which they do on an exchange basis i.e. they are putting a pedal box on the frame. Whilst there I picked up my spare axles. Killed two birds with one stone with that trip. Anyway, it took a fork lift and three people to lift the axles into the car. I left wondering how I would get them out and put them away when I got home. We settled on Dad supporting them (this was the least compromising/ injury promoting position) as I crawled through the car walking them out. We put them down as soon as they were off the tail gate. Next job, put them away.
The rear axle was quite easy to move, it was the axle that most resembled a weight lifting bar.
The front axle was not easy to move, it had no hand holds, and a funky weight distribution that meant which ever way I picked it up it rolled out of my hands. So discretion the better part of valour (not to mention it started raining as well), I put it on a trolley and wheeled it in.
I also got round to removing the LPG tanks. I spent a bit of time experimenting with how to get them out. They were held on by straps, which were then bolted through the body. I couldn’t remove them whilst the body was on the chassis as there was nowhere to put my potato diggers (read hands). I also couldn’t remove them kindly whilst the body was sat on blocks as the sills of the car were less than 6 inches from the floor. So an unkind method of removing them it was. I was unsure whether the straps had captive nuts on them so I initially tried using an impact gun to remove the bolts. It did nothing other than machine my socket down, so I needed an even more cruel method of removal. I settled on the angle grinder, I first tried cutting the floor out around the mounting brackets. It was laborious, very loud and my baby angle grinder started to overheat doing it. The steel in the base of a disco is surprisingly thick, it was one of the motivators for choosing to cut it that way, I was curious as to how thick the body shell was (about 4 or 5mm in places).
Anyway. I then ground the heads off the bolts. It took me the same time to cut the patch out of the body as it did to lop off all 12 bolt heads. After taking the heads off, a swift whack with a hammer on the stubs and the LPG tanks fell free.
Passenger side.
Driver’s side (photos courtesy of the engine bay).
After a bit of snipping and twiddling I was able to slide the tanks out from under the body.
(Ignore the hacksaw in the above photo, it probably wasn’t the best tool for removing LPG/ other fuel systems or brake systems from cars.)
Other things of note that I have removed are the fuel tank, from which I liberated 16 litres of petrol. Maybe 3-4 miles worth of fuel for the Disco’.
The rear anti-roll bar. Every bolt I touched sheared, which was annoying. I needed to vent some pent up stress, so I cut the roll bar with an angle grinder (it did nothing to help me get it out, but made me feel better). As you may have guessed this roll bar is now scrap. The Tomcat will not have anti-roll bars anyway.
The front and rear prop. shafts. (Shown is the space where the rear shaft used to be. It connects the hand brake drum on the transfer box, which is under the plastic bag, and the rear diff.)
So that is the end of the small jobs I have been doing, here is a picture of what I am keeping so far:
In the photo we have:
1) Brake master cylinder and servo unit.
2) Brake distribution block.
3) Clutch master cylinder.
4) Power steering reservoir.
5) Steering column and mounting frame.
6) Coolant reservoir.
7) Wiper mechanism and wipers.
8) Airbox.
I have added some more to this since taking the photo, things like lights, wing mirrors, horn etc. The lights won’t fit on the new body work when I eventually get it, I have mainly saved them to see how the individual lights are wired in.
And here is what I am throwing away:
Pretty much all of it with the exception of the drive-shafts on top of the fuel tank, the alloy wheel and of course what is on the shelves.
So on to removing the engine. To prepare it for removal, there are a number of things to remove, starting with the exhaust(s).
The exhaust pipe must be separated where the exhaust manifold terminates (down between the engine block and chassis leg). Roughly in the centre of the following pictures.
The lambda sensors must be unclipped from the engine, one for each side (the yellow plugs to the left and right of the following picture).
Then the four mounting bolts must be removed: two from under the engine…
Two from under/ around the transfer box.
Then the earth strap which connects the engine and chassis must be removed.
Lastly, (which I have only just remembered whilst writing this) the poor bent gearbox cooling pipes. Oops again, I hope I don’t forget those at the weekend. After disconnecting them from the chassis, the engine should just lift out, where it will be placed on a pallet and moved indoors hopefully. The plan is to remove the engine/gearbox assembly as one piece, it is not light (c. 300kg), which rules out the possibility of moving it by hand.
Edit: Don’t forget the fuel pipes , which are clipped to the chassis, and connect to the fuel rails on top of the engine. Simply disconnect them from the fuel rails, and move them aside.
Here are a final few shots of the body before I load the interior back into it, put it onto a trailer and take it to the dump.
So that’s where we stand until the after the weekend when it will be all change again (weather permitting).
