26th March 2017

Christmas in March - it certainly felt like it as the parts that I had bought on line over the previous 2 weeks all started to arrive!

All purchases so far have been chassis orientated as my immediate goal is to get the chassis, suspension, brakes and steering completed before I start on the engine and drive train.

Christmas obviously comes more than once a year!

Unpacking and checking everything took a bit of time. With space in my workshop limited getting the larger components mounted and out of the way became my immediate priority. 

New heavy duty front suspension turrets 

Suspension wise I had decided to stick with the original springs. The rear springs are rates at 450 lbs as opposed to the standard 330 lb heavy duty springs found on a 110 Land Rover. As hopefully our camper conversion will weigh less than the fully kitted out ambulance body and as we do not plan to carry 6 adults in the back the original spring speck should be enough.

On the front I again stuck with the original heavy duty springs which are actually the same as the rear springs on a Defender 90. If we eventually fit a winch to the front of "Wolfie" I am fairly confident that these will be up to the job, but if not a further upgrade is inexpensive and straight forward.

New turrets mounted - new suspension stops also fitted - orange 

I decided to paint the turrets black to match the chassis once I had mounted them and to paint the retaining brackets (underneath them) at the same time. The turrets are galvanised and do not really need to be painted, but as the sun was out and the paint system would dry quickly I thought that a bit of extra protection against corrosion would not go amiss and black would go better with the all black chassis.

The front turret mounts - primed and painted black to match the chassis

Other bit and pieces fitted included new suspension stops (polyurethane) above back and front axles, refurbished rear shock absorber mounts and new bushes for the rear top link arms.

I bought a bulk order 600 assorted bolts plus nuts and washers which should see the build through

Refurbished rear axle mounted with new heavy duty springs and Koni shock absorbers

Rather than replace the shock absorbers with original spec ones I decided that I would upgrade to Koni Heavy Track Raid shock absorbers which I managed to find on line for virtually the same price as the lower spec Heavy Track model. The Raid version apart from offering a design more suited to the heavier vehicle being used off road offer better dampening and with their larger capacity should not overheat if used on corrugated roads.

Koni - Heavy Track Raid shock absorbers

The only other suspension upgrade is the rear anti roll bar. Given the weight of the ambulance body I wanted to reduce potential body roll. The originals as fitted were front 25 mm diameter rear 20 mm diameter. The lighter rear anti roll bar may have been suited to the Land Rovers use as an ambulance, but as the rear ride quality is not so important to us I decided to upgrade to a 28 mm bar manufactured by Extreme 4 x 4. The new bar came with new brackets, ball joints, poly bushes and bolts. The only modification that was needed was for me to drill out the existing 8 mm mounting holes to 10 mm.

The one disadvantage of the heavier bar will be the reluctance of any suspended wheel to drop down into ruts or lower terrain if we are driving in extreme conditions. As most of our driving will be on roads made / unmade, I think reducing body roll over extreme off road capability is a good trade off.

Rear anti roll bar - 28 mm from Extreme 4 x 4 - the bright orange colour certainly makes it stand out!

The old brake disks were heavily corroded and had significant pitting on their faces

The existing brakes were in a poor condition with the disks heavily pitted and the calipers seized on to them. I am planning to refurbish the calipers, but the disks were beyond repair and so I had ordered new ones.

Next the front axle is ready for refurbishment and re building

Although some progress has been made the back axle still needs to be rebuilt. I was unable to drive out the old bearing shells from within the hubs which stopped any progress there over the weekend, but luckily a friend who has a large hydraulic press has offered to press them out during the course of this week. He will also drive out the old bushes from the front radius arms at the same time (thanks Iain!) which will save me some time.