When I bought my 109 a few years ago the "test drive" when like this:
Turn the key, started after a few tries, took some effort to get it into
gear, drove it straight onto a road, came to a 4-way intersection and sailed
right through wide-eyed while wildly pumping the brakes and looking for
crumple zones on wheels that I might hit.
This whole episode took less than 5 minutes and I was hooked even though I
knew the engine was questionable, the gearbox was really questionable and
the hydraulics were really, really, questionable. I was in love. I
negotiated the price down to roughly a bit more than half of the asking
price, towed it home and tried to sort some of this out then had big fuel
supply problems and found that the wiring needed to be at least thoroughly
sorted if not gutted and replaced. Closer examination revealed that this
truck had been in a flood and although there was no rust or rot it was full
of silt (though the interior had been hosed out so it was kinda clean
inside), and there was excessive mold and mildew.
What to do...by this time I had subbed to this list and received tons of
wisdom from most of you. But did I listen....of course not. Being an
obsessive-compulsive doesn't help either.
All I really wanted to do though was to get the truck running and clean it
up a bit. Really, that's it, nothing more - just some simple repairs and
tidy the truck up a bit. Make it serviceable and reasonably dependable for
daily driving. Had some minor success, drove it a bit, but the list of
"have-to's" grew exponentially.
So one day I took a break from mechanical projects and began doing a little
body work, trying to salvage the driver's front fender which was smashed in.
Boy that wing sure came off easily..........uh oh!
Before I knew it I was sandblasting the frame and rebuilding EVERYTHING.
Have I spent too much money? Probably, but I don't really know because I
can't count that high. Would I do things differently "next time" (insert
evil grin here)? Yea, probably would. But through it all I am learning a
lot, making some great friends, and having a blast. And when I am finished,
I'll have a great truck, an epic tale of injuries, mistakes,
re-re-re-repairs, and lasting memories.
Unfortunately though, once infected with shipfitters your body's immune
system doesn't produce antibodies to stave of a second infection, in fact, I
fear once you survive your first infection, you are more susceptible to
later bouts of the disease.
So those of you who haven't come down with the disease, take it from me and
everyone else who has echoed this sentiment - shipfitters IS a slippery
slope. Look at lrx.com and see the number of rigs being sold mid-resto.
Why? Maybe they ran out of patience, money, positive attitude or maybe
SWMBO threatened (or filed for) divorce. I am sure more than one guy out
there lost his wife/girlfriend to his Series project(s).
Anyway - be warned - and have fun.
Rich
----- Original Message -----
From: <andylit@directvinternet.com>
To: <lro@koan.team.net>
Sent: Friday, November 22, 2002 9:26 AM
Subject: RE: [lro] Shipfitters' disease
>
> Rick Grant <rickgrant@telus.net> wrote:
>
> >However, and it is a big however, I live in terror of Shipfitters
> >Disease. I can well remember when Adrian Redmond (I wish he'd return to
> >this list) started some innocuous little project and ended up with a
> >rebuilt motor, a refurbished frame, and a tickety-boo body.
>
> >I am afraid, very afraid, that if I pull the head to do the valves,
> >although they are showing no signs of problems, I will end up delving
deep
> >into the engine and god knows what else.
>
> It's too late. The thought is the deed.
>
> I just got nailed on my '59 Mercedes. The window rubber is getting old.
> Kind of drafty, but no really noticable until it started getting cold out.
>
> I told myself that I would JUST replace the rubberthis winter.
> Yeah....right.
>
> As of today, the car is slated for a full engine rebuild, bead blasting
and
> paint, re-stiching and dye job on the leather, new headliner, etc.
>
> I swear, all I really want to do is the window rubber.
>
> Vehicle "maintenance" is a metaphysical thing. It just "is".
>
> Andy Litkowiak
> 109 Series IIa Diesel Pickup in pieces (it was an oil change, I swear it)
> Rover P4 100 Lurking in the barn, bleating for a frame off.
>
> --------------------------------------------------------------------
> mail2web - Check your email from the web at
> http://mail2web.com/ .
> _______________________________________________
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> LRO@land-rover.team.net
> http://land-rover.team.net/mailman/listinfo/lro
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This archive was generated by hypermail 2b30 : Fri Nov 22 2002 - 13:53:53 EST