R380 Unboxing!

Our transmission arrived! I wasn't there for the unboxing, but Gord'n sent me these pictures. He ordered a second R380 for another client at the same time. Also included in this cool wooden case (which seems so "old world") was our 5 speed adaptor kit and a new clutch.

Just like Christmas morning!

Speedbump # 1 Solved!

In an earlier post, I described two speedbumps our project had hit. The first one involved the incompatability of the 6 cylinder Scotty's Adaptor with the new R380 transmission. Both Gord'n and I had been searching for either another 4 cylinder adaptor for sale (none were found) or a local machine shop that either had a large enough lathe or a milling machine to enlarge the inner diameter to accomodate the R380 bellhousing. With the Thanksgiving holiday coming up, we weren't having any luck finding a shop that was open, much less one that could handle this job.

Then I got a cryptic email from Gord'n indicating he had found a solution right there in is own shop. I called him to get more information and here was his solution: weld a cutting bit onto a piece of strap steel long enough to span two of the flywheel's clutch bolt holes. With the adaptor securely bolted back on to the Chevy enging, bolt the bit/strap steel to the flywheel and use the starter motor to turn the flywheel. Based on the assumption that the original adaptor was properly centered when it was first installed, this would result in a properly centered milling of the excess aluminum. And guess what, inside of 30 minutes, Gord'ns invention was put to the test and it worked!! The new R380 bellhousing fit snugly into the newly milled adaptor!

Another 30 minutes or so later -- all the new stud holes for the 4 cylinder bellhousing were drilled and the transmission was installed! Plus, the transfer case was temporarily reinstalled and it looks like the engine will only need to move forward about 2 inches. This could mean that Speedbump #2 disappears!

The project hits its first two speedbumps

Speedbump #1: As it turns out, I should have waited a few weeks before selling the spare 4 cylinder Scotty's Adaptor that came with the Sonoma 109. I need it now. It turns out that the Scotty's adaptor that came with our 109 is a 6 cylinder adaptor. This means that the inner diameter of the adaptor was made to fit the smaller diameter of the 6 cylinder bellhousing and was also drilled to match the 6 cylinder bolt pattern.

The new R380 from Ashcroft (which, by the way, arrived at Gord'ns shop today) uses a 4 cylinder bellhousing. The lip on the 4 cylinder bellhousing should slip inside the adaptor so that the mating surface of each fits snugly together. Instead, because the adaptor has a smaller inner diameter, there is a gap. In the pictures above, you will see our adaptor sitting on top of a spare 4 cylinder bellhousing on the left. On the right is a side shot which shows the gap between the two mating surfaces.

The local purchaser of the 4 cylinder Scotty's is already halfway into his conversion based on that Scotty's so we can't reverse the sale. We have checked/searched online for available 4 cylinder adaptors but, so far, have not found any. This leaves us with finding a machine shop equiped with a mill or a lathe large enough to fit both the adaptor and the 4 cylinder bellhousing. Once we find such a shop, we will have them enlarge the inner diameter to fit the 4 cylinder lip as well as drill new holes to match the 4 cylinder bolt pattern (fortunately, the Scotty's Adaptor has the "boss" locations for both 4 and 6 cylinder bolt patterns).

Speedbump #2: After working the math on where the engine will rest after being pushed forward 4 inches to accomodate the R380, we realized that the Chevy oil pan will interfere with the front axle. So, we have two options. First, push the transmission back. We are not in favor of this because that was one of the main reasons for choosing the R380--it would drop right into the existing mounts. So, by default, we have chosen the second option--raise the suspension. This means converting the galvanized chassis to military suspension. Most of this conversion involves bolt-on parts but we will have to change the front spring mounts for both front and rear leaf springs. Gord'n is looking into either fabricating those new mounts or ordering them from Richard's Chassis in England (www.richardschassis.co.uk). One other chassis modification will be installing a notch in the second cross member so the front prop shaft will have room to travel. This conversion will raise the 109 by 1.5 inches. Because it is already a top heavy vehicle and because the combination of the R380 and the 3.54 diffs will make it even easier to drive fast, we will also install the front and rear military sway bars.

Day 3 ends & our 109 is in pieces

On Friday, November 20, 2009, I disassembled the rest of the 109. It was a 15 hour day.


By this time, we had several irons in the fire. The R380 and 5 speed adaptor kit were finally built and ready for shipment. New footwells and roof seals were on their way from Rovers North (http://www.roversnorth.com/). A complete, genuine Land Rover wiring harness was on order from England. Our bulkhead, T posts, core support and other parts were midway through the stripping process at American Metal Cleaning. And we had new door hinge hardware and other parts on order from Rovers Down South (http://www.roversdownsouth.com/).


With the expectation that alot of these parts would arrive in our hands just before or right after Thanksgiving, we needed to get the Sonoma 109 off our galvanized chassis (and moved onto our old 109 chassis just for storage/moving convenience). In anticipation of this day, Gord'n had cleared out a space for both 109s inside his shop. The Sonoma 109 was positioned under his hoist so that, when the time came, the entire body could be lifted (remember, only 8 bolts hold it to the galvanized chassis) and the two rolling chassis could be switched. Once the Sonoma 109 was on our old chassis, it would be rolled outside and serve as a temporary storage locker for all our body parts.





Gord'n had the temporary reassembly he did on our 109 undone in about 10 minutes and I got to work. The remaining disassembly went as follows:

1. The first parts to come off were the middle doors, the rear door and the seatbox.


2. Next was the middle bulkhead and middle floor. Five of the screws holding down the middle floor were frozen solid but an angle grinder took care of them pretty quickly.


3. The roof was next. I expected a real fight from most of the bolts here, but they came apart without much effort. Gord'n used his hoist and some ratchet straps to lift the roof off. While the roof is off, I will replace the rusty fasteners for the sunsheet with stainless fasteners. I am also going to remove the original headliner and install some sort of sound deadening headliner material.


4. The T-posts were removed next. This involved drilling out the rivets which attached the rear quarter panels to the posts and grinding through the bolts near the middle row seats as well as the triangular brackets that attached the posts to the chassis.


5. I removed the rear window/side panels next. After spending about two hours on the T-posts, it was nice to get the two panels off in about 20 minutes total.


6. The rear tub followed. By this time, it was around 8pm and we realized we would not get much farther so I unfastened the rear tub and we moved it forward on the chassis so that the gas tank could be removed. The Sonoma 109 did not come with a gas tank so ours will be installed in the galvanized chassis carrying with it the 1/4 tank of gas it had when we started this project.


7. The last step, since floor space is a precious commodity, was to stack all our parts back onto the chassis. I see a face in there somewhere!

Shipfitters Disease Hits!

Every time I would drive the 109, I would be reminded that someday soon we would have to do something about the transmission. Second gear was nearly impossible to engage when the transmission was cold and the "neutral" position was like a huge living room the stick could roam around in before finding a gear to engage.

I longed for a five speed and read all I could find about NV4500's and what it took to fit them to a 109. Then I started looking at what they cost and that was the end of that dream.

I called Herm the Overdrive Guy (http://www.hermtheoverdriveguy.com/) located in southern Washington state and learned about the 3 speed Ford RTS transmission he could provide. The price (around $1100) was more reasonable than the NV4500 but I wasn't sold.

I looked into SM420's and NP435s. Much more reasonably priced and easy to find on craigslist, but they do not have an overdrive.

With any of these options, there was the cost of the custom install--new mounts for the transfer case and transmission, possibly new prop shafts, etc.

Rovers North sold reconditioned Series III transmissions for about $2000 plus shipping (which I ballpark at about $200). This would bolt right in with no custom work but I did not see the sense of spending that kind of money on a transmission that, by all accounts, is not strong enough to be used with the Chevy 6 cylinder engine.

Then Gord'n checked with Ashcroft (http://www.ashcroft-transmissions.co.uk/) and found the perfect combination: a short bellhousing R380 (50a Suffix L) plus Ashcroft's Series 5 speed kit which mates the R380 to the Series transfer case. In addition to getting a 5 speed transmission that is strong enough to handle the Chevy engine, this set up does not require any custom work to mount it to the 109 chassis! This combination does push the engine forward 4 inches but again, the timing of this upgrade works in our favor. Gord'n was going to cut the existing mounts for the Chevy off our old chassis and weld them onto the new galvanized chassis so all he has to do is mount them 4 inches forward of where they would have gone. Total cost for the R380 and 5 speed kit with shipping from the UK, about $2400.

In my opinion, this is the best kind of Shipfitter's Disease--for $200 or so more than the cost of a direct replacement, we end up with a much stronger transmission with overdrive that lets us keep the selectable 2WD/4WD and does not required any custom work!

The combination of the 5 speed R380 and the 3.54 differentials will make the 109 a much more comfortable ride.

More fun with the wire brush and the paint brush

These are before/after pictures of the brake backing plates and the swivel housings. All four backing plates and the housings got two good brush coats of the same Rustoleum that I used on the axle cases.

I gave the same treatment to the transmission mounts, one of which had to be cut down to fit the R380 transmission (something that was not disclosed or described in the information that came with the transmission. After cutting it to fit, it was a little to narrow in one area so Gord'n welded in some gussets.

20 hours for us = 1 hour for Gord'n

Since our 109 was going to sit for a couple of week while the parts were being stripped at American Metal Cleaning and inside floor space is precious during the 9 month rainy season we have in the Seattle area, Gord'n moved our 109 outside to wait for the next phase to begin. In order to protect it, he reassembled the front end using parts he had in his shop--spare bulkhead and core support. It took him one hour to "undo" what it took my wife and I about 20 hours to do!

Day Two of the Teardown

The following Saturday, October 31, 2009, I went back to Lamorna Garage to continue work. When we stopped on Wednesday, we had just gotten the interior dash apart and removed the right wing.



For the first couple of hours, I worked on the dash, removing all the little bits like the captive nylon nuts and other trim pieces. When the bulkhead has to be completely stripped in order to be dipped and galvanized, there are a lot of little piecies to take off! Even though I had worked consistently for about two hours, you still could not tell I had done anything from outside so I removed the left wing and core support.



NOW, we were getting somewhere! the 109 looked like it was so much closer to being back on the road! (Ha!). I had thought the core support was in really good shape, but now that it was out, I could see about five spots on the bottom edge that were thick with rust. If you look closely in the attached picture, or enlarge it, you can see these areas on the bottom edge.





The next step was to remove the pedal towers and disconnect the throttle linkage. Fortunately, none of the bolts on either the clutch or brake pedal tower were frozen and they, along with both brake pipes and the clutch pipe, came off easily. All of those parts went in their own labelled bags and boxes. We disconnected the throttle linkage and removed the previous owners' brackets in the engine compartment.

Thinking that I could not get to the windsheild/roof bolts with the headliner in place, I removed it and found out that all four corners of the headliner bracket were thoroughly rusted. They literally crumbled at my touch. Other than that, the headliner is in pretty good condition. As is the horsehair insulation blanket that was still stuck to the roof. The windsheild hinge bolts had to be coaxed out with a propane torch--not to cut them, just to heat them up and break them lose.

The front floorboards had already been removed along with the tunnel cover, revealing the oily reconditioned gearbox from Paddocks that had been installed sometime in mid 2002. Also visible in the following picture is one of the mounting brackets for the side steps Paul Koch built for us. They are attached using 3/4 bolts.

With Gord'ns help, I got the steering column, steering box, bracket and linkage removed. This was a bit tricky because the arm between the steering box and the steering relay ran underneath the battery tray (which reminds me, the new galvanized chassis does not have a battery tray in the engine compartment so our battery will be relocated under the passenger seat).

Next came removing the side steps in order to get access to the sill panels. The steps came off easily--having only been installed a year earlier. The sill panel bolts, on the other hand, were nicely encrusted in mud and rust and they took a bit more work to remove.

Now were were down to just four bolts holding the bulkhead in place. It was 5pm on Halloween and both of us were supposed to be at parties within 30 minutes. The nuts on the main bulkhead bolts came off with surprising ease. Very little corrosion.

Then it got hard. While one main bolt slid out easily, the other was stuck fast. As for the other two smaller bolts, they had just fused into the bulkhead completely. So, Gord'n fired up the acetylene torch and cut though both small bolts and the one frozen main bolt. A minute later and the bulkhead was laying on the shop floor. However, by this time, both of us were officially late for our parties so I only got a couple of quick shots before putting all the tools away and racing home to clean up and go trick or treating with the kids.

Land Rover Toys

When we were in South Africa in May 2007, we found this Land Rover made out of aerosol cans. Our favorite feature on it is the tailgate, which features the brand name of a local insecticide: DOOM!

Last year, around the time that we started the 109 project, I found this cool wooden model on Craigslist in Dallas. It had been sitting outside for who knows how long so the top was faded and dirty plus there were spider webs and mud dawber nests in it. I decided not to repaint it but I did take it apart for a good cleaning. I installed new plug wires, new battery terminals, a new front bumper and made a new soft top for about $2 in materials from a local fabric store. I also re-upholstered the seats and made the transmission and transfer case shift levers. Now it sits inside, near the fireplace!

New Axles -- Well, new to our 109 anyway

Our 109 has a front Rover axle and a rear Salisbury. Both are stock 4.7:1 ratio differentials. Since our 109 will be more of a city truck than a farm truck, we are changing the differentials to 3.54:1.

Among all the parts that came with the Sonoma 109 was a military Rover axle case in very good shape and two good front hubs/swivels. The military case has thicker flanges and a large hollow gusset welded to it for extra strength. I used a wire brush on a drill to remove what little surface rust there was on the case. The only "tool" I had to get inside the gusset was a dryer lint brush. It did clean out some of the light rust and mud, but just couldn't reach every corner.

Since our Salisbury was in good shape and otherwise "happy," Gord'n suggested that we leave it intact and replace it with another Salisbury axle case he had in stock. There wasn't much rust to remove from this one either. Within about 30 minutes, both cases were as clean as they were going to get with a wire brush. One of the big benefits of the 109 being my wife's dream car--I can paint axle cases in the laundry room and not get in trouble!

I used a rust neutralizer on both axles and then brush painted two thick coats of black Rustoleum paint. I just could not justify the cost of sandblasting and powder coating. Anyway, I am happy with the way they turned out.