As I assume most of you are now aware I have just purchased my first landy and he goes by the name of Brian.
DSCF6857 by Beth Ghest, on Flickr
 He needs a bit of TLC bless him, so we started with his engine problem. We discovered that he was only on 3 cylinders due to a smashed tappet slide which had caused the push rod to become jammed, so we ordered a new tappet slide, guide and roller and after reading several articles and watching a few youtube videos on tappet removal, last weekend we took the head off to replace the parts. Unfortunately we found not one but two smashed tappet slides, 2 rather battered guides and about 6 dodgy looking rollers, plus what appears to be 4 cracked pistons.
DSCF6861 by Beth Ghest, on Flickr
DSCF6862 by Beth Ghest, on Flickr

So we decided to see if EskValleyBoy's spare 200tdi that has spent the last 4 years under a couple of builders bags still works. Thankfully, after a little tinkering it fired up without too much trouble. So the plan is to pop that under the bonnet which of course requires a couple of modifications so that will have to wait until the weekend.
DSCF6865 by Beth Ghest, on Flickr
In the meantime I replaced the cracked sidelight lens.
DSCF6858 by Beth Ghest, on Flickr
DSCF6859 by Beth Ghest, on Flickr
Then we had a look at the brakes which appear to have taken it upon themselves to stick on, this little bugger decided to scupper the plan and fell off as we took them apart.
DSCF6878 by Beth Ghest, on Flickr

Oh well, roll on saturday for another attempt!

What a cracking Landy!

is it sad that I recognised the shed from EskValleyBoy's restoration thread??

Bad Brian! Didn't the Mintex shoes used have a problem with the spring posts not being riveted over properly? How annoying.

Love the patina, though. Hope the heart and lung transplant goes well.

So last weekend we spent Saturday firing up the 200tdi and removing the clutch and flywheel housing, ready to send the flywheel housing off for modification to fit to my series 3 box. Unfortunately for Chris I offered to remove the sump plug because I had gloves on and he didn't but I forgot that there is a little bit of pressure behind the oil when draining it and therefore I managed to drop the sump plug into the pot which then splashed all over and covered Chris up to his elbow therefore defeating the object of me wearing the gloves to drain the oil.
 DSCF6879 by Beth Ghest, on Flickr
We also started to disconnect everything to enable us to remove the old lump, including removing the front panel. On Sunday morning we set about removing the old lump and then stripped it of useful parts including the clutch for reuse with the 200tdi.
 DSCF6884 by Beth Ghest, on Flickr
Unfortunately in removing the engine it revealed a hole in the chassis so Chris went to dig out the grinder and welder to patch it up.
DSCF6889 by Beth Ghest, on Flickr
This weekend also consisted of Chris welding up holes but this time in the bulkhead, well until both of the welders gave up anyway, because the flywheel housing hasn't been returned yet. Hopefully that will be back here by next weekend so we can get on with putting the 200tdi back together and ready to go in. He patched up under the vent on the drivers side and refixed the bonnet hinge on that side, there are still a couple of holes on the passengers side which need attending to when we get the welder fixed. The holes above the vents and behind the dash will wait until the weather gets better again.
DSCF6897 by Beth Ghest, on Flickr
Unfortunately I forgot to take photos of the finished product but I'll take some next week.

Gossamer you 9x9 tent frames are solid.

Thanks. the 12x12s are stronger.   

Great work so far chaps.

Dont forget to change the ignition switch, unless you like the current quirky arrangement.

Good luck with the rest of it.

Wow what a lot done. Well done guys. If only the previous owner had as much time and deviation to the poor sod. No wonder he threw a tantrum.

Hopefully now he has a loving family he’ll behave himself.

Well, since my last post we seem to have spent rather a lot of time doing not a great deal...
The flywheel housing has returned and has been reattached as has the flywheel and starter motor.
DSCF6914 by Beth Ghest, on Flickr

We decided that while the engine was out we would replace the timing belt and unfortunately when we removed the cover it was discovered that one of the studs was broken and had been for quite some time, so off came the rest of the timing case and Chris spent 2 days trying to pick the remains of the rusty thread out of the engine block.
DSCF6916 by Beth Ghest, on Flickr

In the meantime I decided to start removing the seat box ready to attach the new battery tray under the passenger seat, unfortunately when we got it unbolted (after snapping several bolts and taking a hacksaw blade, hammer and chisel to another) we discovered that the back rail and passenger side end need replacing too, so we were back to waiting for parts.
DSCF6936 by Beth Ghest, on Flickr
As you can see, by this point I had become slightly annoyed with Brian and the fact that I was sitting on a piece of damp ply on the ground in the cold, so decided that he may as well make himself useful and sat on the passenger seat (which is rather comfy) to remove the seatbox.

That was nearly 2 weeks ago and we probably won't get chance to do any more until after Christmas now so poor Brian is sat cold, alone and engine-less. Although we are now in possession of the repair panels for the seat box, battery tray, spacer for remounting the alternator, radiator, intercooler and timing belt so with any luck progress shall be swift when we eventually get another crack at it as I'm itching to take him laning round a few places we've discovered at work in the last few weeks 

Keep at it, well done.