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Post by OldGit on Jun 6, 2023 22:21:33 GMT 1
The paint code (as I'm sure you're well aware) can be in either LRCxxx or the three letter suffix and should be on the VIN plate on the bulkhead above the brake pedal. Sometimes the person responsible for such things was on holiday, off sick or just couldn't be bothered so it might not be there.... You could try www.vindecoderz.com/Shame about the bulkhead corrosion, as you say, it just shouldn't be there!.
Yes, indeed! The paint-code that I'm looking-for, JEU, should be on the VIN-plate on the brake pedal box.....but unbelievably, the areas for paint-code and trim-code have been left unstamped. Any other manufacturer, I would have said this looks a little fishy, but with Landrover.......well, you just accept mediocrity with everything you look-at........
The code for Cairns Blue is LRC849 (or BLVC849), and that is something else I cannot find stamped-in anywhere. So I'm going to have to dig-out the original documentation pack for this vehicle (you can tell that it is original, the pages have gone soggy and stuck together...... ) and see if the sales documentation alludes to one of the codes I'm looking-for. Have you tried the VIN decoder? that should give you the info not stamped onto the plate.
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Post by OldGit on Jun 6, 2023 22:31:04 GMT 1
I remember reading something similar about the storage facilities for the MoD's 'war stock' vehicles and Green Goddesses - they needed to be moved to keep the rubber pliable, tyres are the same but with the added 'benefit' of UV degradation on the outer face and flat spots (and cracks) where they sit on the hardstanding. The flat spots could be 'spun out' with increased pressure and a bit of warmth from the road surface on reasonably young tyres - anyway, IIRC there were 40 civvys whose job was to drive various vehicles around a four mile 'manipulation track' every working day, with another section dealing with any defects found or caused. I'm not entirely sure why it happens, but you're not the first to find out it does happen.
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Post by valhalla on Jun 7, 2023 22:53:19 GMT 1
Have you tried the VIN decoder? that should give you the info not stamped onto the plate. It wanted a lump of money to give me the report - something like £26 if memory serves me correctly. I didn't think it was worth it to pursue that route, for a vehicle I basically know most of the history for, and I'm always a bit cautious about these online "give us a fee to get the information you want" sort of schemes - after one of my credit cards got scammed big-time through just such a dodgy-deal.......
If I have an inkling of the colour I'm looking-for, it makes more sense to pay for a sample-pot of paint and try it out on a spare bit of bodywork, just to see how it would look in real-life; it might be that even the real colour is going to look awful up against the existing bodywork that is being carried-over - wings, rear body-tub skin, wheelarch finishers, etc. etc.
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Post by OldGit on Jun 7, 2023 23:10:48 GMT 1
Well that's odd - I checked mine before I bought it just over a year ago and the free report was four pages...
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Post by sorted on Jun 8, 2023 13:44:36 GMT 1
I agree on the rubbers deteriorating with no use. The MGB I’ve just finished had all rebuilt suspension when I got it and was then garage stored pending bodywork for 20 years. Every rubber was perished and had to be replaced again.
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Post by valhalla on Jun 8, 2023 13:46:19 GMT 1
Nope, does the same thing on another computer with a different O/S (even); gets to the initial data, which is correct, you click "Next", it does a "secure connection check" (which is always a bit dodgy-sounding!) and comes back with a Car Vertical prelimary screen to take you onwards to the payment it would like (1-report / 2-reports / 3-reports). I think no free lunch here.....!
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Post by Joepublic on Jun 8, 2023 16:12:48 GMT 1
Won't a cal to LR dealer and VIN give you the paint code?
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Post by OldGit on Jun 8, 2023 18:34:44 GMT 1
Nope, does the same thing on another computer with a different O/S (even); gets to the initial data, which is correct, you click "Next", it does a "secure connection check" (which is always a bit dodgy-sounding!) and comes back with a Car Vertical prelimary screen to take you onwards to the payment it would like (1-report / 2-reports / 3-reports). I think no free lunch here.....! It's probably stored some cookies to count how many free lunches it thinks you've had.... If you want, send me your VIN and I'll screenshot the data for you.
I use 'Forget me not' browser extension on Waterfox along with Privacy Badger & uBlock Origin (and pi-hole DNS) which does a reasonable composite job of making me appear as a 'new visitor' to the sites I choose to appear that way to.
ETA - it may be because Proboards uses viglink to track off-site link usage
http://redirect.viglink.com/?key=71fe2139a887ad501313cd8cce3053c5&subId=3543835&u=https%3A//www.vindecoderz.com/EN/car-specifications-features-performance-equipment which would have the same effect as the lunch-counter as the forwarding link will be the same across platforms, I didn't think of it initially as I use 'Clear URLs' & 'Skip Redirect' to strip the tracking....
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Post by OldGit on Jun 8, 2023 18:35:21 GMT 1
Won't a cal to LR dealer and VIN give you the paint code? Where's the fun in that?!
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Post by valhalla on Jun 8, 2023 19:33:22 GMT 1
Won't a cal to LR dealer and VIN give you the paint code? Where's the fun in that?!
I suspect that I will need to unbury the main filing-cabinet in the study......the one behind all the dog-bedding and toys, and under all the shop-filing.......
In that cabinet is the original handbook for the vehicle. AFAIK, it had nothing of use within it, but there is just a chance it might have a build-card with the Emergency-Access Code and Radio Code card.
A friend of mine has offered to walk a spare panel into his local paint-factors; as well as getting a match off the panel (probably a vent-flap) it will give me an idication of what flat-colours are going to be close. The choice then is whether to go the full-metallic route (and a lot of practicing, first) or do my usual Barcote + Primer + Solid (flat) cellulose job across every single panel that is visible. Which is a fair bit, even on a Defender CSW.
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Post by valhalla on Jun 11, 2023 0:04:33 GMT 1
Well, the cameras have all been on strike for the last couple of days - my usual method of using the smartphone (not actually a very smart phone, it's more of a mobile Linux OS) has fallen flat on its face in the hot temps we are seeing right now; it just crashes the camera module in bright conditions.
As soon as I can get the pictures up here, I'll drop-in a few shots. In the meantime, I can report that the new chassis is now dug out of the croft hillside, seems all OK, is now suspended under the 2-post ramp-arms, and has the first bit fitted last night.
I always try to fit the gearbox crossmembers on these chassis at the very front of the rebuild. The chassis is stiffened a lot by the crossmember, but also it is rarely accurate dimensionally without it. As I found, as usual. The width across the chassis was 5mm too small, and the crossmember was 4mm too large, so I had a 9mm out-of-tolerance interference to deal-with. Lots of brute-force-and-ignorance with hydraulic jacks and big bits of timber is the only way around these sorts of issues. As it proved, once all "snugly fitted", the chassis assembly is now circa 1mm to its true lateral dimensions now, and the rest of the bits can start to go back on, piece-by-piece.
The main order of brackets, etc. is coming on Monday, and that is when I can start to fit suspension in-anger.
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Post by Rhubarb on Jun 11, 2023 10:59:33 GMT 1
Good to see that you're really cracking on with this
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Post by valhalla on Jun 12, 2023 23:25:38 GMT 1
Well, as the motto goes, "In Richards Chassis, we Trust"
This was the state of the undergrowth that the chassis has lived-in for the last 5years : I had already cleared the grass and nettles back at this stage (you can see the height of it all behind the chassis);
Having hauled it out and inspected the framework inside and out, there's not a mark on this frame, just the odd bit of grass-seed staining that came off with a rag and brake-cleaners;
This is why I use Richards Chassis frames for all my work, my own projects included. I know how utterly dependable these are in extreme climates and operating conditions, and one of my first projects is still running around after 32years on its Richards (Steve Walker) prototype frame #7.
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Post by OldGit on Jun 13, 2023 17:53:00 GMT 1
Clearly you know the product well - there's no way I'd be leaving a Defender chassis outside like that for even a month! You however, know better
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Post by valhalla on Jun 16, 2023 1:00:22 GMT 1
A bit quiet for a few days now - steady progress, but slow.
I'm having to overhaul a fair bit of the axles/suspension, and although the outer bits of the axles will be done at a later date (stub-axles/bearings/swivels all need inspection and/or replacing) I need to get the bulk of the axles and their suspension-arms back under the chassis and bolted-up at-least loosely. This means the whole lot is mobile enough to roll onto the rear ramps, and bodywork restoration can then start over the front ramps.
For anyone familiar with the later 110 Defenders, you will know this isn't exactly a 5-min job; there's a pile of bits you don't get on "normal" Defenders, and that's all to do with the self-levelling Boge unit. Everything is seized, but it all needs stripping and overhauling at this stage - play in both upper and lower Boge balljoints, for example, to give knocks on the back-end of the vehicle.
Compounding my woes is the continual breakdown of all the equipment; it was the needle-descaler yesterday (fixed air-valve overnight with glue), but bigger problems last thing tonight.....the press has packed-up, or so it seems, halfway through doing the bushes for the upper A-frame arms to chassis-brackets. I might be able to do the job "the old-fashioned way" with bush-removal studding/sleeves in the morning, but I still need to retrieve my deep 27mm socket from within one of the old bush-sleeves, that has now pressed good-and-solid.
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