The 109 passed the MoT test this morning, so it’s now road legal. It didn’t even pick up any advisory comments – just a clean pass. Having dealt with that, I went to the post office and got my 12 months free road tax! I had pub lunch with my wife to celebrate, which we used the 109 to get to, and we picked the kids up from school in it as a treat – they were REALLY excited!
The brakes still pull a little, but they’re getting better as they bed back in, following 30 months of standing. The steering has been sorted out. There are a few rattles that need attention, but only two or three. She pulled 65mph on the dual carriageway and was very smooth for it, even being happy at only 25mph in 4th. The overdrive is perfect too. One fault that came up – the new combined oil/water temp and fuel gauge is not set up for the same sender units as the original SIII gauge, so I need new senders for the temperatures.
Over the last few days I have done a few other little jobs, including fitting the gear stick gaiter, fitting new red and yellow knobs for the transfer and 4wd levers (the leather ones were not secure enough), the Jackall farm jack mountings on the left side of the load bay and the two smaller pocket nets in the second row foot wells (fitted symmetrically on each side). The steering wheel centre boss (alloy wheel centre cap sprayed black) was fitted too. The courtesy light system is all working, following the fabrication of brackets to operate the three switches.
The new front prop shaft arrived today. It’s a custom wide angle yolk shaft with a 4″ slip joint made to measure for this vehicle. I also picked up a set of four new TD5 Defender mud flaps (used to cover the increased wheel track of this 109 over standard SIIIs). I just need to get a set of 109 mud flap brackets as the Defender brackets don’t fit the 109 chassis and exhaust.
Who,se a happy bunny then!
Great job – both in the work, and documenting & encouraging the rest of us!