In the time between writing the last blog entry and actually removing the engine I spent the time worrying about where I would put the engine, and a method of getting it there. The Barn was full of car interior and other gubbins, there’s no way I would leave it outside, so I needed a plan that allowed me to get the engine indoors somewhere. I had originally booked Rob to come round with the JCB on the Friday, for a half-day or so, to remove the engine and put the body on the trailer. I agreed with him to instead bring the JCB after hours to stick the body on the trailer. That way I could then fill the body with the interior and take it to the dump. So late on Friday night, Rob and I loaded the body onto the trailer.
This shot (for some reason) reminds me of the opening scene in Jurassic Park where a crate, containing a Velociraptor, is being loaded into a cage.
The preceding images are on the morning after. To strap the car down, I cut holes in the wheel wells and through the front bulkhead, then fed ratchet straps through the doors and back out of the wheel wells. If the body wasn’t scrap before it certainly was after that, as it started to bend any which way the wind was blowing.
Getting the car body to the dump was a bit of a logistical challenge. The scrap dealer was only open until 12 on Saturday. Mum also wanted the Range Rover to take the horses out for a ride at half 9. I got in the car with Mum and went to the riding stables, where I un-hitched the car and drove it back home. It was now 10:20. It was a race against time to get hitched up to the car trailer, drive to the scrap dealer, get weighed, unloaded and re-weighed, then sign some paperwork, drive home, park and un-hitch the trailer and finally drive the Range Rover back to the riding stables before 12. Needless to say, I didn’t manage to get back on time (sorry Mum). I was only about 20 minutes late, but there we go.
The take home message of that little story is: The body is scrapped, there’s now space for the engine.
Notice how space in-efficient the interior is when you just chuck it in the car. There really isn’t much space to sit.
When we arrived at the scrapyard, the guy driving the forklift simply smashed in the windows and hoisted the body away.
So on to engine removal. It took longer than anticipated to remove the engine. I had removed all the bolts I highlighted in the last post, except the four holding the engine and gearbox(s) to the chassis. Partly because I didn’t want the engine to fall out, but mostly because I didn’t have any 18mm spanners (of which you require two, as a ratchet won’t fit around the engine mounts) and couldn’t have removed them even if I wanted to. Also, a rubber fuel pipe had welded itself to the fuel rail, I didn’t really want to damage it so tried many things to remove it. All were a waste of time, due to failing light and having exhausted all other avenues (and my patience) I cut it off. After that, it all went rather swimmingly. The engine had a lifting eye on it, so Rob and I put a chain through it, then wrapped a lifting strap round the gearbox.
The engine just lifted away.
Rob masterfully lifted the engine over the fence and slid the boom through the gate.
Where I was waiting with my home-made pallet, to which I ratchet strapped it. Rob, my Dad and I then pushed the engine into the barn. Lovely job.
In the week following the engine removal, I disconnected the rear dampers and removed: the front suspension turrets (and disconnected the front dampers), the steering box, steering linkage, the Panhard rod, the exhaust downpipe (with cats) and the front anti-roll bar. After removing all of those parts, the chassis looked like this.
Quite bare. The last bits on the chassis are: the axles and suspension, the centre and rear silencer, the rear bumper and tow bar and the negative battery terminal. The red dots in the above photo denote the remaining bolts that hold the front axle to the chassis (around 26mm). The blue dots are the A-frame bolts (29mm). The green dots are the rear trailing arm bolts (around 26mm) or you can remove the rear trailing arm by unscrewing the three bolts (around 17mm) that hold the bush and hence the arm to the chassis.
I started by removing the A-frame bolts, the left-hand bolt came out without any trouble. The right-hand bolt on the other hand was bothersome. The bush had rusted to the bolt, which in turn made it practically impossible to unscrew the bolt. I used my breaker bar to delaminate the bush (I almost broke my breaker bar in the process). It at least made it possible to wind off the nut and open out the mounting bracket. I cut the bracket to allow access to the bolt and then with a combination of angle grinder and hack-saw cut the bolt. The A-frame then dropped free.
With the A-frame undone I jacked up the chassis, by jacking under the diff, and let it rest on some blocks.
I then un-screwed the bolts on the rear trailing arm and bush and lowered the axle back down.
The axle when lowered on to its wheels simply rotated round and rested on its trailing arms. I suspect that both bushes connecting the trailing arm to the axle will need some rough treatment to remove as both feel as though they have rusted to the bolts. Anyway, I then played a game of musical blocks to remove the axles from under the chassis. I first lifted and held the chassis whilst Mum rolled the rear axle forwards past the rear out-riggers. This was a pig, the chassis was quite heavy to hold at chest height, and from what I can gather from the blue air around Mum, rolling the axle was not a piece of cake either.
The nature of an differential is for the wheels to turn opposite directions when a single wheel is driven externally, i.e. the axle just wanted to spin in its own length on the spot. Anyway, long story short, we succeeded in moving the axle to the centre of the chassis.
I then jacked up the front of the chassis, same as before, un-screwed the radius arm bolts. The front bushes are of a different design, they are split in the centre (longitudinally), the half that holds the nut must be removed before the radius arm can be removed. I then compressed the dampers, lowered the axle back to the floor and wheeled out the front axle from under the chassis. By this time, my younger brother had arrived home from college, so I roped him in as well. I lifted the front of the chassis and Will and my Mum parked the rear axle under the front out-riggers. We then quickly shuffled the blocks that were holding the front of the chassis up out of the way. I picked up the chassis again, they wheeled the axle as far forward as possible, and made a fresh pile of blocks under the chassis, I then lowered the chassis on to the blocks. Between us we the wheeled the rear axle out from under the front of the chassis.
I then picked up the chassis for the last time whilst they shuffled a fresh, lower pile of blocks under the front and then the rear of the chassis. Job done, here’s a pair of photos:
Since this was taken, I have removed the rear bumper and tow-bar, and the negative battery terminal (I cannot remove the fuel filter, the connections are too badly corroded). The chassis is now ready for scrapping and with it goes the V5 for the Disco’, which implies that: a) the Disco’ and its registration number are scrap, and b) The dis-assembly is complete. Yay! No more un-doing of corroded bolts!
Except, I still need to strip the axles, sand blast them, paint them rebuild them, re-bush them and put them back on the new frame. I still have a bit of work to do, but the best bit is about to begin.
Thus far total build (destruction) time is: approx. 78 hours. In real time, I started on 15/10/2013 and basically finished on 26/11/2013. 6 weeks!? I have only managed 78 hours worth of work in 6 weeks!? I really need to pull my finger out!
Total build cost so far is roughly £3700. £2900 of which was spent on the frame, donor car and parts for the donor car. The rest has been spent on tools and a temporary garage. In the next few weeks, I am expecting to pay another £3000 or so when I pick up the frame, some new bushes and more tools!
I would again like to say thank you to Chamberlin Bros, and Rob for doing some sterling work with the JCB. That’s two I owe you.
I would also like to say thank you to my family, in particular, Mum, Dad and Will for the various ways in which you have helped. So, Thank you.
Anyway, that’s it for now, until next time.
