Getting Ready for More Use

In preparation for taking the 109 off the road for its axle swap, I’m getting the Lightweight ready for more frequent use on domestic duties (school run and for Helena’s other requirements) while I grab the Range Rover for commuting to work.

To that end, I have managed to find another pair of unused Goodyear Hi Miler Extragrip 6.50 tyres to go with the two brand new tyres that came supplied with the vehicle.  That will mean I can replace the perished and cracked existing tyres with brand new, unused tyres of the original specification and move the one decent tyre on the vehicle onto the bonnet as the spare.

I have also ordered a new exhaust to replace the fairly rotten, probably original exhaust currently fitted.  It’s the same pattern and bore, but is stainless.  I opted for this because I thought that with the infrequent use that the Lightweight will get in the future, the exhaust will be subject to damp and not often warmed up and dried out by use.

The inertia reel seat belts have been fitted, which was simple enough except for the buckles needing the stalks from the old buckles to be transferred over in order to correctly orientate the buckles and get the stalks to pass through the bulkhead holes.

A quick run out in it the other day showed three issues that have arisen since laying it up over the winter – it’s running roughly and is down on power, which could be a carb problem, rapid deterioration of the fuel or just dirty plugs, and the external electrics failed; all external lighting, including the brake lights, and the horn failed.  This was due to a problem with the relay controlled by the guarded switch above the main lighting rotary switch, and following a strip and inspection of the relay itself, seems just to have been due to dirty terminals on the relay and the female connectors on the loom to the relay.  The electrics now all work, though the relay doesn’t disconnect the lights and horn any  more (may be a faulty earth or the dash switch may have been disconnected by a cautious previous owner).  All in all, hopefully no more than a day’s work to replace the exhaust and tyres and get the engine running smoothly again.  The third fault is the speedo – the drive cable has failed so a new one is on order.