"Akio Ohtori - RIP Oppo" (akioohtori)
03/24/2018 at 16:58 • Filed to: Disco Inferno
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"Akio Ohtori - RIP Oppo" (akioohtori)
03/24/2018 at 16:58 • Filed to: Disco Inferno | 5
| 5 |
Contrary to my updates, I actually have been working on the Disco every damn day since I first raised it from the dead. Unfortunately, this has involved significantly more metal fabrication that I would have liked.
On Tuesday I was puttering around the garage, feeling a little lost now that I didn’t have this huge, all consuming project looming over my head. After not making a lot of progress on anything, I decided at 8PM to tear apart the interior to put my diff lock linkage in.
Shockingly, within about an hour I was down to where I needed to be. The only hard part was having to drill out 13 damn pop rivets that held the transmission tunnel cover in place.
Once I got in there I realized something was missing. There was no bracket to put the diff lock cable into and there was no lever for it to operate on.
I knew this, but for some reason it didn’t dawn on me the bracket and lever weren’t attached to the cable assembly, or in the box.
Shitting shit shit.
Oh look... there they are in the listing... Right there...
The next couple of days were spent calling the eBay seller trying to get him to send them (he doesn’t have any) and trying to fabricate my own.
The first attempt went pretty well actually. But once I fitted it up I realized it was a little long and the angle was a little shallow. Also, when I really torqued on it, the aluminium objected strongly and broke.
Try 2 utilized the old bracket, but instead of bending I used screws and more angle iron. How novel, I know.
I also made several iterations of the little lever thing this operates on, none of which are worth noting except the ones that looks like a tiny metal erection.
That said, last night I actually succeeded. The combination of my fourth lever and second bracket produced a reliable, if a little stiff, engagement of my diff lock!
Hooray!
I started buttoning up, which meant drilling out even more rivets. Also the new bracket was a little rusty, so I treated it to some sanding and a new coat of paint. Also, as the rivets were such a pain, I decided to go ahead and tap the holes so I could use screws on the reinstall.
I have no delusions that what I’ve fabbed up here is perfect or particularly durable. It is, however, officially, 100%, good enough.
The interior went back together without problems except breaking ALL OF THE CLIPS, but I am used to that by now.
Also I found an interesting marking on the center console. One of those maker’s marks Top Gear goes on about?
Finally it was time to clean up the garage and put a bow on this damn project. I decided to pull the Disco out of the garage to facilitate cleanup and then leave it running to make sure the heater was sufficiently bled.
And for the first time in over a month the poor only Landy moved under its own power.
Then one of the transmission cooler lines decided it didn’t want to be attached anymore and unceremoniously dumped all of the transmission fluid into the driveway...
C’est la vie.
AestheticsInMotion
> Akio Ohtori - RIP Oppo
03/24/2018 at 17:25 |
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Harbor freight has a cheap little interior clip puller that is an absolute godsend. Much better than the big kits I’ve used (or a fork. Desperate times...)
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Akio Ohtori - RIP Oppo
> AestheticsInMotion
03/24/2018 at 17:44 |
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Yes! I own one, but want one of the better nested style ones.
I said “clips” but I really meant “bits of plastic that are supposed to house screw clips but have began degrading and all fell off” but that seemed... wordy.
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AestheticsInMotion
> Akio Ohtori - RIP Oppo
03/24/2018 at 17:50 |
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Sometimes I wish all of my plastic connecting bits could be replaced with big, high-quality bolts. Need to remove the carpet? Bring out the impact gun!
AMGtech - now with more recalls!
> Akio Ohtori - RIP Oppo
03/24/2018 at 19:56 |
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Nice job! Pretty shitty move by the ebay seller though. Transmission line pop out of the radiator?
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Akio Ohtori - RIP Oppo
> AMGtech - now with more recalls!
03/24/2018 at 20:43 |
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Yuup. IIRC I mentioned one that I was concerned about and, sure enough, that was the one that blew. I bent the tabs out some more before refitting and got a really satisfying click this time. All refilled and good to go now.
Hopefully I can beat some money out of the seller, or make him promise me brackets when he gets them.