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Warrens new 100 build
- Thread starter warrenpfo
- Start date
Neil Stone
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- Feb 21, 2012
- Messages
- 229
Any ideas if these will fit an 80 series??
warrenpfo
Well-Known Member
- Joined
- Jul 21, 2010
- Messages
- 2,895
Yes they should
warrenpfo
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- Joined
- Jul 21, 2010
- Messages
- 2,895
Barry I dropped you a PM re the bumpers and have not heard back from you. Are you still interested??
hey there warren,
just looking through your thread, fab looking cruiser, nice and clean and great spec. torturing myself here pondering over a 100 series. my 90 is in sick bay and a mate has lent me a jeep of another make that i dare not mention but i have full AA cover while driving it! its the comfort and power of a big bus that is attracting me to a cruiser style bus as a second machine.... i struggle to get over 22mpg in the 90 due to upgraded tyres,bumpers etc... what sort of figures are managed out of the 100?
looking forward to the build thread!
just looking through your thread, fab looking cruiser, nice and clean and great spec. torturing myself here pondering over a 100 series. my 90 is in sick bay and a mate has lent me a jeep of another make that i dare not mention but i have full AA cover while driving it! its the comfort and power of a big bus that is attracting me to a cruiser style bus as a second machine.... i struggle to get over 22mpg in the 90 due to upgraded tyres,bumpers etc... what sort of figures are managed out of the 100?
looking forward to the build thread!
Matt Wright
Well-Known Member
it's beeeeutiful Warren. It's a new vehicle really?! No dust anywhere lol. Every time I open a new panel I find.. More DUST!
Good luck and have a blast doing all the mods. Must be heaven working on something where you don't have to worry about rust and sheering bolts
Fun fun fun!
Good luck and have a blast doing all the mods. Must be heaven working on something where you don't have to worry about rust and sheering bolts
Fun fun fun!
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warrenpfo
Well-Known Member
- Joined
- Jul 21, 2010
- Messages
- 2,895
Roy
Many thanks for the comments, the build thread is quite outdated as I have added a front bumper and have larger tyres etc.
I cant comment on MPG over long distances as she has not done any long trips yet but as my daily drive I am getting 22mpg.
Many thanks for the comments, the build thread is quite outdated as I have added a front bumper and have larger tyres etc.
I cant comment on MPG over long distances as she has not done any long trips yet but as my daily drive I am getting 22mpg.
Matt Wright
Well-Known Member
Where's the "this thread is useless without pics!" 
Come on Warren!
Come on Warren!
nathanrobo
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- Joined
- Apr 6, 2010
- Messages
- 655
Warren!
I'm green with envy (undesirable quality I know).
It's a real find
I'm green with envy (undesirable quality I know).
It's a real find
warrenpfo
Well-Known Member
- Joined
- Jul 21, 2010
- Messages
- 2,895
As requested here is an update to the work I have been doing over the past 2 months.
First was the planned AHC removal to increase reliability as we all know it’s a common weak point of the 100 series if overlanding is on the cards.
Well, after one of the hardest days of work I had done in a long time I had managed to replace the rear shocks and springs and had the front up on jack stands ready for front shock replacment. I did a lot of reading prior and made sure I knew what the order was so that I could do the job. Reading does not beat first-hand experience and having done it once would be able to do it again much faster.
I am no mechanic nor do I have a workshop full of tools so if I can do so can you. I started at about 11 and finished up around 5ish stopping for lunch. So here goes….
Park up in a position that gives you space either side to get wheels on and off and enable you to get under the car. I have no paved drive so had no option but to park up on gravel which is not the nicest to work on but beggars can’t be choosers.
Chock the front wheels so she can run away and drop into low so that there is as much fluid in the reservoir as possible. Turn off and get ready to start.
Pop the bonnet and locate the fuse box and pull the large blue AHC fuse so that if you have to start the car for some reason or turn the ignition on it won’t try to do anything funny.
Pop the top of the AHC reservoir and grab whatever you have to hand to remove as much of the liquid as you can. If you can’t, it just makes the job that much messier later on.
Next locate the 4 AHC spheres and there bleed nipples and go around releasing the pressure that is still in them. I did this with a bit of tube and let it run into an empty jam jar.
The first one you undo has the majority of the fluid come out and it gets less and less as you go around. The bleed nipple is 10mm. Please be careful as the car will lower further as the fluid drains until its sitting on its stops so don’t get squashed.
You also need to do the pressure vessel that sits on the passenger side chassis rail in-between the two spheres. Once again it’s a 10mm
Now your car is sitting as low as she will go and you can attack the rear.
What you want to do is jack up the rear end and use appropriate jack stands, mine are rated to 6ton and place them behind the rear wheels on the chassis rails so your wheels are hanging off the ground. Don’t forget to crack off the wheel nuts prior to lifting the tyre of the ground and try and get her as level as you can as this makes removing the anti-roll bar easier later on.
Once this is done remove the wheels and locate the 2 x 12mm bolts holding the anti-roll bar to the chassis and undo them. This helps you rotate the bar out of the way and gives you a little more room to work.
Next you need to pick a side and undo the 17mm bolt holding the bottom of the shock on. Don’t worry it won’t slide off or drop as it’s under tension because the springs are still compressed ever so slightly and the shock is at full extension holding it all together.
Place a jack under the side you have undone the bolt on and jack it up slightly to take the weight and you will be able to slide the bottom of the shock off its mount. It won’t spring down shocks are actually quite slow to react on their own and it’s the force of the spring which speeds things up but that’s being compressed by the jack.
With the lower shock mount free you can slowly lower the jack and watch the spring expand all the way to the point where you are able to slide it out.
With the spring out of the way you can then attack the top mount for the shock and trust me it’s a bugger. There is very little space to work and it’s a very dirty job.
You need a 12mm spanner to undo the 2 bolts holding the AHC pipework into the top of the shock. Once the bolts are removed its held on by an O rind so use a pry bar or screwdriver to pop it off the top of the shock and give you access to the 22mm top bolt.
There are a number of options next.
1. The first is using a ratchet flex head 22mm spanner to undo the nut whilst holding the shock body so it does not just rotate.
2. Go in from the top and use a whole saw to gain access through the body
3. Use an angle grinder and take the shock off at the top below the mount.
I went for option one first but could not get the leverage to undo the bolt and hold the shock to stop it rotating so ended up grabbing the grinder and taking the shocks out that way.
Please be careful under there as there are electric cables, brake lines and if you drive a petrol then I’m not sure this is an option but leave that for you to decide.
I took the rubber bump stop (12mm) for the spring off to give me better access and had the job done in 10min.
With the old shock out the way reinstall the rubber bump stop for the spring and insert the new springs making sure the longer one and its only by 1” goes on the fuel tank side.
Old vs new
Make sure you clean the surface it sits on and then get the new shocks out and setup to be installed.
I put some red rubber grease on my shock mount bushes but some people don’t. Here is the order in which the bushes and washers go.
You can see the two washers with the lip will clamp down on the mount to locate it. Next press in the lower mount bush, I don’t have a press so a bolt did the job.
Next insert the top mount and do up the 22mm bolt to hold it in place and then with your hand push the shock up so that it can slide onto the lower shock mount and do the 17mm bolt up to hold it in place.
You may need to use the jack to help position the lower mount.
With this done you can head over to the other side and repeat the process. A few tips to look out for are to make sure you don’t lower the rear axle too far and stretch the brake line, rear diff lock actuator cable and the breather. If you need more droop then undo these from the body and you then have more slack to play with.
Last of all don’t forget to bolt up the ant roll bar prior to putting the wheels back on.
After another good day out in the sunshine with the spanners in hand.
I managed to get the old torsion bars off and the new OME torsion bars installed and my front end levelled out enough for now until I add further weight. It was a job I was not looking forward too because of the salt used on the roads here in winter it can make undoing bolts etc a real pain in the ass.
Saying that they came off in 20min and I was then able to wire brush them and give them a coat of black paint to make them look pretty.
Enough talk here are the old and new bars along with ends on the floor.
I was very surprised as to how much the AHC shocks hold the car up rather than the torsion bars and the new OME ones are much bigger. Old vs new
I then managed to adjust the front end which still sits a bit lower than the rear but with the added weight to come on the rear it should level out.
Then got around to removing the rear plastic bumper
Got the grinder and wire brush out and cleaned up the surface rust ready for some dinitrol action at the same time removing the unwanted wheel carrier and brace under the car and in the process giving myself a bash on the nose when a stuck bolt finally broke free.
All clean and dinitroled
Then test fit for the new bumper
Hope to finish her off during the week if I get the time.
Another busy day here, woke up first thing went outside and dried the rear end so that I could mask off the rear and spray the lower bit with a hard wearing rubber stone chip paint.
All masked up
Painted
Bumper ready to be mounted
Wheel carrier on
Side wing on
It took a lot longer than I thought to get everything lined up and looking good. Lots of bolts to grease and a few more bits to rubber coat along with mounting the spare and number plate along with light etc.
Next I managed to swap the little 70ah 550cca batteries for 100ah 900cca batteries and she now starts at the slightest turn of the key. Seen as I have the batteries out and access to the headlight bulbs was right there I swapped them for a brighter set and it has made driving at night a pleasure.
Last years MOT showed that the inner cv boots where weeping so I thought it best to re band them which has stopped the weeping.
I managed to also fit 2 new rear discs and pads as the old ones had not been very well looked after and there had been some metal on metal and scoring of the discs.
In the process I also stripped and overhauled both rear callipers with new seals and plenty of red rubber grease to ensure a barrier to water and a nice long life.
It was very interesting to see that although the car has not done many km’s it is still 10 years old and the rear pistons where dry and one was sticking so am glad they are now both as good as new.
Lastly I have removed all traces of the old AHC right down to the wiring harness and all the crap in the engine bay. It now means that there is quite a bit of space for the compressor in the engine bay along with a small 3rd battery or air tank if I want it.
The wife did ask when I was going to fit the front bumper so it would seem that means I have the green light and may get started on prepping the front end over the next few weeks. With it now being dark by 6 and the temperature dropping to minus this coming weekend working out side is not looking that exciting but will see what we can do.
After much further discussion and conversation around tyres my head made the decision to go with BFG AT's as they are easier to get and cost less than the cooper ST Maxx tyre I was going to get.
There is only one importer here in the UK and should something go wrong it could be a wait to get a replacement.
I have had BFG's in the past and have always been happy.
Here she is prior and post the news tyres. They are 285/75/16
I also wiped the front bumper off to look at what is required for the front ARB install which i hope to do soon if the weather holds and I get some time.
Bumper off was a 5 min job along with the grill.
I am pleased to say that the front cv joints have both dried up after re banding them so when i am next in that area repacking the bearings and replacing oil and dust seals which I should pick up next weekend I will also add some extra grease to the cv boot to make up for what has been lost.
I also have all the parts for the timing belt and water pump change which I plan on doing as soon as they arrive next weekend.
More upgrade and a step in the right direction
About 2 hours work and very easy to do.
I need to get her even around the edges and the indicators and covers in place but you get the idea.
First was the planned AHC removal to increase reliability as we all know it’s a common weak point of the 100 series if overlanding is on the cards.
Well, after one of the hardest days of work I had done in a long time I had managed to replace the rear shocks and springs and had the front up on jack stands ready for front shock replacment. I did a lot of reading prior and made sure I knew what the order was so that I could do the job. Reading does not beat first-hand experience and having done it once would be able to do it again much faster.
I am no mechanic nor do I have a workshop full of tools so if I can do so can you. I started at about 11 and finished up around 5ish stopping for lunch. So here goes….
Park up in a position that gives you space either side to get wheels on and off and enable you to get under the car. I have no paved drive so had no option but to park up on gravel which is not the nicest to work on but beggars can’t be choosers.
Chock the front wheels so she can run away and drop into low so that there is as much fluid in the reservoir as possible. Turn off and get ready to start.
Pop the bonnet and locate the fuse box and pull the large blue AHC fuse so that if you have to start the car for some reason or turn the ignition on it won’t try to do anything funny.
Pop the top of the AHC reservoir and grab whatever you have to hand to remove as much of the liquid as you can. If you can’t, it just makes the job that much messier later on.
Next locate the 4 AHC spheres and there bleed nipples and go around releasing the pressure that is still in them. I did this with a bit of tube and let it run into an empty jam jar.
The first one you undo has the majority of the fluid come out and it gets less and less as you go around. The bleed nipple is 10mm. Please be careful as the car will lower further as the fluid drains until its sitting on its stops so don’t get squashed.
You also need to do the pressure vessel that sits on the passenger side chassis rail in-between the two spheres. Once again it’s a 10mm
Now your car is sitting as low as she will go and you can attack the rear.
What you want to do is jack up the rear end and use appropriate jack stands, mine are rated to 6ton and place them behind the rear wheels on the chassis rails so your wheels are hanging off the ground. Don’t forget to crack off the wheel nuts prior to lifting the tyre of the ground and try and get her as level as you can as this makes removing the anti-roll bar easier later on.
Once this is done remove the wheels and locate the 2 x 12mm bolts holding the anti-roll bar to the chassis and undo them. This helps you rotate the bar out of the way and gives you a little more room to work.
Next you need to pick a side and undo the 17mm bolt holding the bottom of the shock on. Don’t worry it won’t slide off or drop as it’s under tension because the springs are still compressed ever so slightly and the shock is at full extension holding it all together.
Place a jack under the side you have undone the bolt on and jack it up slightly to take the weight and you will be able to slide the bottom of the shock off its mount. It won’t spring down shocks are actually quite slow to react on their own and it’s the force of the spring which speeds things up but that’s being compressed by the jack.
With the lower shock mount free you can slowly lower the jack and watch the spring expand all the way to the point where you are able to slide it out.
With the spring out of the way you can then attack the top mount for the shock and trust me it’s a bugger. There is very little space to work and it’s a very dirty job.
You need a 12mm spanner to undo the 2 bolts holding the AHC pipework into the top of the shock. Once the bolts are removed its held on by an O rind so use a pry bar or screwdriver to pop it off the top of the shock and give you access to the 22mm top bolt.
There are a number of options next.
1. The first is using a ratchet flex head 22mm spanner to undo the nut whilst holding the shock body so it does not just rotate.
2. Go in from the top and use a whole saw to gain access through the body
3. Use an angle grinder and take the shock off at the top below the mount.
I went for option one first but could not get the leverage to undo the bolt and hold the shock to stop it rotating so ended up grabbing the grinder and taking the shocks out that way.
Please be careful under there as there are electric cables, brake lines and if you drive a petrol then I’m not sure this is an option but leave that for you to decide.
I took the rubber bump stop (12mm) for the spring off to give me better access and had the job done in 10min.
With the old shock out the way reinstall the rubber bump stop for the spring and insert the new springs making sure the longer one and its only by 1” goes on the fuel tank side.
Old vs new
Make sure you clean the surface it sits on and then get the new shocks out and setup to be installed.
I put some red rubber grease on my shock mount bushes but some people don’t. Here is the order in which the bushes and washers go.
You can see the two washers with the lip will clamp down on the mount to locate it. Next press in the lower mount bush, I don’t have a press so a bolt did the job.
Next insert the top mount and do up the 22mm bolt to hold it in place and then with your hand push the shock up so that it can slide onto the lower shock mount and do the 17mm bolt up to hold it in place.
You may need to use the jack to help position the lower mount.
With this done you can head over to the other side and repeat the process. A few tips to look out for are to make sure you don’t lower the rear axle too far and stretch the brake line, rear diff lock actuator cable and the breather. If you need more droop then undo these from the body and you then have more slack to play with.
Last of all don’t forget to bolt up the ant roll bar prior to putting the wheels back on.
After another good day out in the sunshine with the spanners in hand.
I managed to get the old torsion bars off and the new OME torsion bars installed and my front end levelled out enough for now until I add further weight. It was a job I was not looking forward too because of the salt used on the roads here in winter it can make undoing bolts etc a real pain in the ass.
Saying that they came off in 20min and I was then able to wire brush them and give them a coat of black paint to make them look pretty.
Enough talk here are the old and new bars along with ends on the floor.
I was very surprised as to how much the AHC shocks hold the car up rather than the torsion bars and the new OME ones are much bigger. Old vs new
I then managed to adjust the front end which still sits a bit lower than the rear but with the added weight to come on the rear it should level out.
Then got around to removing the rear plastic bumper
Got the grinder and wire brush out and cleaned up the surface rust ready for some dinitrol action at the same time removing the unwanted wheel carrier and brace under the car and in the process giving myself a bash on the nose when a stuck bolt finally broke free.
All clean and dinitroled
Then test fit for the new bumper
Hope to finish her off during the week if I get the time.
Another busy day here, woke up first thing went outside and dried the rear end so that I could mask off the rear and spray the lower bit with a hard wearing rubber stone chip paint.
All masked up
Painted
Bumper ready to be mounted
Wheel carrier on
Side wing on
It took a lot longer than I thought to get everything lined up and looking good. Lots of bolts to grease and a few more bits to rubber coat along with mounting the spare and number plate along with light etc.
Next I managed to swap the little 70ah 550cca batteries for 100ah 900cca batteries and she now starts at the slightest turn of the key. Seen as I have the batteries out and access to the headlight bulbs was right there I swapped them for a brighter set and it has made driving at night a pleasure.
Last years MOT showed that the inner cv boots where weeping so I thought it best to re band them which has stopped the weeping.
I managed to also fit 2 new rear discs and pads as the old ones had not been very well looked after and there had been some metal on metal and scoring of the discs.
In the process I also stripped and overhauled both rear callipers with new seals and plenty of red rubber grease to ensure a barrier to water and a nice long life.
It was very interesting to see that although the car has not done many km’s it is still 10 years old and the rear pistons where dry and one was sticking so am glad they are now both as good as new.
Lastly I have removed all traces of the old AHC right down to the wiring harness and all the crap in the engine bay. It now means that there is quite a bit of space for the compressor in the engine bay along with a small 3rd battery or air tank if I want it.
The wife did ask when I was going to fit the front bumper so it would seem that means I have the green light and may get started on prepping the front end over the next few weeks. With it now being dark by 6 and the temperature dropping to minus this coming weekend working out side is not looking that exciting but will see what we can do.
After much further discussion and conversation around tyres my head made the decision to go with BFG AT's as they are easier to get and cost less than the cooper ST Maxx tyre I was going to get.
There is only one importer here in the UK and should something go wrong it could be a wait to get a replacement.
I have had BFG's in the past and have always been happy.
Here she is prior and post the news tyres. They are 285/75/16
I also wiped the front bumper off to look at what is required for the front ARB install which i hope to do soon if the weather holds and I get some time.
Bumper off was a 5 min job along with the grill.
I am pleased to say that the front cv joints have both dried up after re banding them so when i am next in that area repacking the bearings and replacing oil and dust seals which I should pick up next weekend I will also add some extra grease to the cv boot to make up for what has been lost.
I also have all the parts for the timing belt and water pump change which I plan on doing as soon as they arrive next weekend.
More upgrade and a step in the right direction
About 2 hours work and very easy to do.
I need to get her even around the edges and the indicators and covers in place but you get the idea.
silvercruiser
Well-Known Member
- Joined
- Mar 22, 2010
- Messages
- 3,368
Looking very good now.
Joe
Joe
AndyCook
Well-Known Member
lots of good work there Warren,
the bumpers look good and the new suspension
and impressed you managed to do it just using the factory Jack. a trolley jack is so much easier and quicker to use. even with a gravel drive, you could use a big sheet of wood or metal to run the trolley on to stop it sinking into stones.
the bumpers look good and the new suspension
and impressed you managed to do it just using the factory Jack. a trolley jack is so much easier and quicker to use. even with a gravel drive, you could use a big sheet of wood or metal to run the trolley on to stop it sinking into stones.
Matt Wright
Well-Known Member
Nice keep posting...
keep posting...
