Tony posted on November 05, 2010 03:47
I've given myself a 50th birthday gift (50?! How the hell did that happen?!). It's a 1984 300Tdi 110, or at least it will be. Right now it's a 1984 pile of corroded parts on a frame with no powertrain, and an unsuspecting 1995 300Tdi 110 Commercial body.
Job one has been stripping the '84 hulk of anything worth keeping. There isn't much, but then I really just bought it for the VIN and V5 (UK equivalent of a title). I was able to salvage the steering shaft, pedal boxes and the brake servo/master, the heater box, the vent flaps and controls, 4 Alpine windows, the Salisbury axle shafts, the rear fuel tank (steel, not plastic), and probably the best bits -- two D90 saddle tanks and the associated piping. With the saddles installed, total fuel carrying capacity is upwards of 40 gallons, giving a range of about 800 miles between fill ups, and no jerry cans to mess with.
The '84 has a great history; the guy I bought it from lived in it for several years and traveled all over Europe, the middle east and Africa. The PO is using the front body on his build of a HiCap 110 pickup. I've found coins from all over while stripping the truck, I'm trying to come up with a clever way to put them in the new build as a legacy from the '84.
picasaweb.google.com/velocewest/110#
I collect the '95 next week. It started life as a fire department service vehicle in Ireland, now it lives in the Orkney Islands. I'm taking the train to Aberdeen, Scotland to pick it up from the ferry. Then it will be about an 8 hour drive home for a shakedown cruise. It should be uneventful, the truck has less than 80,000 miles on it, and it's been well maintained.
The only immediate change will be to cut off and weld the 84's VIN to the '95 frame, and install the '84 VIN tag on the brake pedal box. Then I can "scrap" the '95 and take the '84 off SORN, get an MOT and get the truck taxed and legal as a model year 1984. Next up will will be to remove the full bulkhead that separates the cab from the box, and to install a set of D90 slider windows in the box sides.
More as it happens!
