A New Year means not long to the annual MOT (Ministry of Transport) road worthiness test. And looking back over the blog it would seem its time for a post. I do not use Degsy that much now I have a daily driver. All that sitting around killed the battery. So a new battery was sourced. The local car spare chain depot could not find the correct battery as my registration number was not listed. The pimply youth looked through the catalogue and was asking was the Land Rover or Evoque. Do I look like an Evoque driver? Then he tried for a Defender. No - its earlier than that. In the end I had to show him a picture of Degsy on my phone so he got the idea. I think he was genuinely surprised and vehicle could still work when it is 38 years old. I was left with the catalogue to select a suitable battery, the task being too great for the pimpled one. In no time I selected a suitable battery. The pimpled one then tried to up-sell me a heavy duty version. It is the heavy duty version! It must be a reflex. Fitting the battery is no problem at all. It is just a case of cleaning up the terminals, clamping the connectors and a smear of Vaseline for good measure.
The exhaust is blowing which is affecting the engine performance and is a bit noisy. Starting Degsy in the cold makes spotting the exhaust leak a doddle. Plumps of exhaust emanating from the wrong places. The exhaust has rust through in two places. The problematic hole is by the exhaust bracket on the mid section pipe and is before the silencer. The second is by the rear bracket after the silencer. The tail section has just about rotted thought and about to drop off. A mooch around
Craddocks website got me the part numbers and prices. It turned out to be cheaper to buy the fittings kit than buy the necessary brackets, nuts, bolts and washers separately and a lot less faffing. A call to Craddocks checked the items where is stock and off for a spin to Cannock to collect the parts.
Having worked on old vehicles I knew my best friend would be 3in1 oil. A few days before tackling the job I sprayed a little oil onto all the nuts and bolts I would have to remove to let the oil seep in. I managed to pick a very cold day for the job but scrabbling around under Degsy soon got the blood moving. Degsy has plenty of ground clearance so there was no need to jack him up. The pre-oiling did the job. The nuts and bolts parted without too much effort and within half an hour the old exhaust was out on the drive next to Degsy.
Fitting the exhaust was a bit trickier. For a start it was much heavier. I made up the brackets. They are a wonder, the middle and rear brackets are different and are made up from about 20 components each. I loosely fitted the brackets to Degsy. I put the silencer under the back of Degsy and slide the tail pipe over the rear offside leaf spring. Next I fed the middle pipe over the rear axle. With that silencer and mid pipe loose I used the four sets of nuts, bolts and washer to loosely join the silencer and mid pipe and not forgetting the put the gasket in between the mating faces. I slid the middle bracket around the mid section pipe. The bracket is on rubber so can move a little. It is two pieces, hanging vertically, so it is easy get the bracket around the pipe. Again the nuts and bolts were done up finger tight. The round to the back to fit the rear bracket to the tail pipe. Again no dramas. This bracket is split horizontally. Nuts and bolt finger tight. Then I go back to the front of the mid sections. I find the three specially shouldered bolts and pop them through the flange on the mid section and the flange on the front section of the exhaust. Two of the bolts are easy to access but the third is a pig. It is important these bolts are done up evenly as the joint is a face to face fit i.e.no gasket. With a bit of wrestling the awkward bolt was done up. The other two bolts were done up, then round again with the socket and spanner to pinch up the bolts for an even fit. The last job was work from the front to the back tightening all the bolts. Everything secured it only remained to start Degsy up and see if there were any gas leaks. Degsy started easily and the exhaust was giving its usual burble. There was as slight leak on the mid section flange. A couple a tweaks with the socket closed the joint and seal the leak.
Working on the mechanicals of the Land Rover takes you back to a time when vehicles could be repaired with a few spanners. This job needed two spanners and two sockets (11mm and 13mm) Modern car are like mechanical like Rubik cubes. So many things have to be removed to get at anything. Checking through old posts I found I had replaced the front section of the exhaust pipe in 2017 for about £25. So, on the exhaust front, we should be good for some time to come.
