110 Hard Top Conversion

[Hitchhiker42]

Next was the base coat. The colour scheme I chose was for a Metallic Santorini Black roof and for the main body, bonnet and doors to be Metallic Carpathian Grey. This one is actually pearlescent so the colour changes slightly according to light conditions.
In this photo the roof has been sprayed and is masked to protect it from the grey colour.

The returns into the doors, bonnet and windows were all sprayed, as were the couple of bits of brightwork which will be visible inside the car and the grills on the bulkhead vent louvres.

 

[Hitchhiker42]

Clear Coat - the layer that makes all the difference. Here's the car - still in a mist immediately after spraying. It had x3 coats.

After everything had settled the vehicle looked totally different. Indoors it was difficult to tell the difference between the two colours.

A bit easier to see in close-up

Being pulled out of the workshop

Pleased with the finish

The Silkaflex seam seal is barely visible.

Outside the colour difference is more obvious.

Parked up letting the paint cure.
It will be cut and polished eventually. But not until fittings have been added - there is bound to be the odd scuff or scratch during reassembly which will need to repairing..

 

[Hitchhiker42]

I started putting the new rear quarter light windows in. What a faff with the rubber. In the end I got them fitted but just wasn't happy with it. Trouble is I had pre-drilled the holes for external grilles to be fitted.
Take two - I decided to go with security frames with internal fixings. This way the glass cannot be pushed in to gain access to the car. Bought and fitted the frames (without grilles) with the intention of still using my external grilles.

The grilles wouldn't fit over the new window frames given where I had drilled the rivet holes. Serves me right for changing course mid-build. So I had to switch to the grille version of these frames. 4WDrive were very good and sent me a couple of grilled frames free of charge. Anyway these were fitted.

That left me with 4 holes around the window. I simply filled these with black rivets. Now it's done it look like they should be there - so not a big deal.

I'm happy with the new quarter lights. Much more secure than the original fixtures and I think it is a nice clean simple look.

 

[Hitchhiker42]

Lighting is ongoing - so I'll come back to this as things progress. For now here is my set up for the rear lights. This might be a bit controversial for some. Like most cars The 110 has a single fog lamp to the offside and a single reversing lamp to the nearside. Apart from not appearing balanced I've never understood the logic. The fog light on the offside to identify the outside edge of the car for anyone coming up behind. Fair enough - unless you take your car abroad - in which case the fog light is on the nearside looking like a bike. I have gone with a triple light fitting either side containing indicators, fog lights and reversing lights. So I have a fog light on the outside edge of the car whether I'm in the UK or abroad. I've increased to the NAS 95mm sized lamps for these units.
Here is the unit being fitted. Note: The 3rd lamp position has no rear access - another hole had to be created to make the connections

Because I've added extra fog and reversing lamps I had to run a conduit across behind the rear cross member to carry cables across to slave off the existing active lamps. New connections were made using waterproof connectors.
The tail lamp/brake lamp remains as a 73mm unit. I tried the 95mm plinth up and it looked a bit vulnerable as it sits flush with the outside edge of the vehicle. to my mind it just didn't look right so I stuck with the 73mm version. Here is the finished offside arrangement. The light fittings are in Santorini Black to match the roof.

I ran into problems on the nearside fitting. When my rear ladder arrived I discovered that the bolt holes needed to fit this were hidden by the light plinth.

Off with the plinth and part of it had to be cut away. The cut section was then sealed to stop water and debris collecting behind the unit. I suspect when I get round to putting the new Mantec Wheel Carrier on I will need to do the same with the offside unit.

So here is the back end of the vehicle so far. All lighting is now LED, including the numberplate light (also has a rear camera built into it). New heritage badge fitted. I kept with traditional lamp colours on the rear for a bit of definition rather than go for smoked or clear lenses. There are two more lights to fit here. 1) a high level brake light on the door and 2) an LED strip to light the cooking area and inside the annex when deployed.

 

[Hitchhiker42]

The front of the vehicle will have spots fitted. There will be x2 combined flood/spots on a bumper mounted 'A' light frame. A furtherx4 spot lights will be fitted to the Roll Cage. These are all Pritz LED units. As the headlights are round I wanted to fit round spots/floods rather than a light bar - just to keep things looking as traditional as possible. Here is one of the smaller spots - still get its protective film on.

Here is one of them offered up to the Roll Cage during fitting of the cage.

I decided against zip tying the cables to the roll cage and bringing them all in together. I fitted waterproof cable seals behind where each lamp will sit. Lamp cables will ender the vehicle immediately behind each light and all runs and connections will be internal and out of sight.

The front headlamps are now fitted - but lamp surrounds and grille are not fitted yet so I'll come back to these in a later post.

 

[Hitchhiker42]

Nearly caught up with where I've got to so far. The next big job was fitting chequer plate. First off - new sill brackets and fitting the new sills. Although never to be seen again these were etched, primed and sprayed along with the rest of the car.

Chequer plate was then riveted and bolted into place along with a Silkaflex seal all round. All chequer plate was sprayed satin black to match door hinges, window blocks, wheel arches, etc. Note: There was a gap between the sill/chequer plate cover and the vehicle body which would allow water, mud and dirt to spray up to the underside of the doors. This gap was sealed when the chequer plate was fitted.

Here are the rear corner chequer plates. The nearside one had to be modified to fit around the locker.

Chequer Plate for the fuel cap surround. I did buy a flush fit locking hatch for this but found it to be a bit fiddly for access. so I reverted to chequer plate and Silkaflex sealed the edges. I might have been a bit ahead of myself fitting this as when the new auxiliary fuel tank goes in the filler rubber seal and fuel spout will be replaced.

Here it is with the new billet fuel cap in place.

I'll deal with the wing chequer plate separately. It's been a story!

 

[Hitchhiker42]

I've had a nightmare with wing chequer plate. The first set delivered just didn't fit the car. Nothing lined up with air vents or the aerial hole and were not a good fit over the rolled front edge of the wings. They were just wrong. I couldn't even get them to run parallel with the wing seams.

My welder chappy knowing this, thinking he was being helpful and unaware I'd ordered replacement chequer plates filled in the aerial hole - on the assumption I'd be re-drilling the hole in it's new position. Mk 2 chequer plate did line up and fit snuggly when it arrived - but now I had no aerial hole!

The wing locker is being fitted as the bonnet cable runs under here and could be accessed to open the bonnet by simply removing the panel. Fixings for this replacement locker are internal and it cannot be easily removed, thus making the bonnet release more secure. I had to modify the chequer plate to accept the locker though as it would not fit through the plate into its recess.

Enter my blond moment. I loose fitted the chequer plate and marked up the aerial hole and then cut it. Stupid. The aerial sits in this recess in the chequer plate and only requires a smaller hole for the cable to go through.

I'm now making up a plate to fix under this hole to accept the aerial fitting. I'll have to backfill the deeper hole to make it look right. Silly mistake. The wing locker fits nicely now though and looks good. Will be used to house Anderson Connectors and Battery Cut-Off Switch.

And now to my other cock-up. Fitting the nearside wing chequer plate I had the bright idea of holding it in place while I riveted by placing rivets in the screw holes for the air intake. Fitted the foam to the underside of the chequer plate, drilled my rivet holes, Silkaflex sealed the edges and riveted the plate down. Brilliant - looked great. But how to get the rivets out? The flange on the rivets was sandwiched between the vehicle body and the chequer plate and couldn't be removed. It took me a long time with a hacksaw blade cutting out above and below the rivet flange to be able to remove the 3 bits of each rivet.

Anyway - back to the story. I cleaned and resprayed the original air intake grille.

The new snow cowl was not what I expected. It's fibreglass and the underside was not finished very well. There were scratches and 4 holes in the gell coat to the outer face. It was filled, sanded, undercoated and resprayed.

Then I cleaned out any dust and gunk in the air intake before securing the fittings. The grille and snow cowl have now been fitted and sealed to the top side of the chequer plate. The result is nice and tidy. You can see the new smoked LED side repeater in the 2nd photo.

 

[Hitchhiker42]

Back to the water fill point and heater exhaust outlet.
I drilled rivet holes for the water fill point. Every time I've secured with rivets or screws I have filled the holes with sealant first to make sure I have watertight seals when skins are pulled together and tightened up. You can see this here.

The rim of the skin fitting was sealed.

Here it is in place

Same arrangement on the other side of the vehicle for the heater exhaust.

 

[Hitchhiker42]

Finishing off the side windows. Here are the windows after respray but before fitting rubbers.

Belt and braces - I masked up and sealed the edges.

Excess cleaned off and rubbers fitted.

Finished.

But not quite Look at the covers for the sliding catches. Brand new. This vehicle hasn't even been outside since the windows were fitted and look at the state of them. These came with the windows from Masai. Everything I've bought from them has been good quality apart from these covers and the snow cowl.

Replaced with billet anodised covers from Optimill. Match the other exterior fittings and look much better. Now the side windows are finished.

 

[Hitchhiker42]

I'm fitting a 4 point Safety Devices Roll Cage (not style bars which do nothing).
Why not a full roll cage? My reasoning is this. The 4 point cage protects the front cabin. Not as strong as the full 8 point cage, but it provides a safety cell for front passengers. There are only two seats - so on the move there is no one to protect behind the front cabin. When stationary and camping it isn't going to fall over! So there is no need for a rear section the cage. Plus sections of a rear roll cage intrude into the cab space which would compromise layout.
The cage has been fitted, holes cut and this will go back on the car once the paintwork has been cut and polished. If put on now it would be in the way.

 

[Hitchhiker42]

A roof vent is being fitted above the fridge freezer to take away heat. It will also provide extra ventilation if we are sleeping inside. Final fit will take place as the roof lining get fitted. This is a marine Vetus vent.

Internal insulation being cut away.

The vent clamps between the roof lining and outer skin and if secured with small bolts.

This is what it will look like when fitted. Can be opened or closed on a screw arrangement and is low enough not to interfere with the roof rack.

 

[Hitchhiker42]

We are fitting a CB radio for use if travelling with others. The external aerial base is now fitted. Internally the cable from this to the front cab is connected and runs encapsulated in rubber sealant within the interior gutter channel to the front cab.

 

[Hitchhiker42]

Rims and Tyres. This is what came with the car. Standard 16" Boost rims. Continental 235/85's. All in good nick but not what I was after.

Not sure when these were last taken off the vehicle but this was the state of the wheel nuts.

And this is what I'm replacing them with. 16" alloy rims from Bowler in anthracite grey with Cooper Discoverer AT3 4 Season tyres. These are for road use and light off-roading. Tyre size is 265/75. I've had them fitted with the white lettering on the inside rather than being visible. I'll be using these for day to day use and occasional touring trips/weekends away.
When I've got the funds I'll be buying a set of steel rims and GF Goodrich KO2's for more serious off-road trips (Iceland is in the plans).

When I took the old wheels off for the first time I found that a previous owner had fitted 30mm spacers. This plus the wider rubber has meant the wheels stick out quite a bit further. See the old -v- new comparison below.

Here is the new -v- old look.

New wheels on.

The original wheel arches were distorted and I'd bought replacements. We didn't like them. Too glossy and felt brittle. Ordered +30 replacements which were paintable and semi-rigid. The downside is they don't cover the gap inside the arch so I'll have to fabricate something. Just offering the arches up you can see below that they cover the tread and will look the part.

Here they are - top two plastic primed, next one down sanded and the bottom one panel wiped ready for spraying. These will be satin black to match the fittings around them. Awaiting their turn to be sprayed at the moment.

 

[Hitchhiker42]

The old door hinges were not in great condition. Standard replacements just didn't look right on the car. Having bought Optimill window blocks and security hinges for the bonnet I gritted my teeth and splashed out on new door hinges and handles. I already had the Optimill number plate light and had to buy replacement window catch covers. So all the important exterior fittings now match in black satin anodised aluminium. When I can get someone to stop working for 5 minutes and give me a hand I'll get the doors hung and start refitting all the bits - if I can remember how everything came apart! Here are the door hinges. I have to say the quality is excellent. Plus with internal fixings and a cam which prevents the hinge being removed even if the bulkhead side bolts are removed it adds another layer of security.

 

[Hitchhiker42]

That's it for the minute. Nearly up to date with progress. Lots of work on the go but not ready to report on these yet as they are part completed. Plus I'm away for a few days.
I hope this is of interest to some.
When reassembled I'll probably need advice on some of the more technical aspects. I'm not that familiar with all those mechanical bits and pieces. I can put the bonnet back on but the things underneath it are a mystery. It's a long time since I worked on a car engine.

 

[Paul d]

When I inspected the inside I found water laying in the channel where the roof meets the side walls. This needed addressing. I also wanted to make this vehicle as quiet as possible to make it a more relaxed drive. This is what I've done on insulation so far. I started with the rear cabin. I'll deal with the from cab separately.
First thing - there are lots of gaps around seams and joints. eg
View attachment 309551
I Silkaflex sealed every single joint and seam in the rear cabin.
View attachment 309552
All door return lips, bolt holes, aluminium corrosion, etc were nylon wheeled back to bare metal, etch primed and any not required filled.
View attachment 309553
View attachment 309554
View attachment 309555
Larger areas were cleaned, etch primed and where necessary plated over and sealed.
View attachment 309556
View attachment 309557
I then used sound deadening matting over every surface - and I do mean every surface.
View attachment 309558
Wall and roof ribs were completely filled with moisture resistant expanding foam. Nowhere for condensation to form or voids to create resonance.
View attachment 309559
Every joint was then sealed again.
View attachment 309561
I then covered the ceiling and walls with acoustic foam.View attachment 309562
When done all the joints were sealed once more. Note : I haven't added foam to the box section which will be part of the rear cabin fit-out. The front cab is now part done but there is some remedial work to compete before finishing off this stage of the insulation.
View attachment 309563

Doing a great job may I ask what foam you used ..as in moisture resistant expanding foam…
thankyou .

 

[Hitchhiker42]

Hi Paul,
I used No Nonsense Expanding foam. It's from Screwfix. They do a moisture resistant version. Here is the link. I'm sure there are others though.
Cheers

https://www.screwfix.com/p/no-nonsense-expanding-sticky-foam-gun-grade-750ml/6576h

 

[Hitchhiker42]

I posted some PDF's yesterday of what will be our layout for touring. All loaded in the wrong order so probably not making much sense. I've taken screen shots so they don't need to be downloaded. Hopefully easier for people to view - if interested.

 

[Paul d]

Hi Paul,
I used No Nonsense Expanding foam. It's from Screwfix. They do a moisture resistant version. Here is the link. I'm sure there are others though.
Cheers

https://www.screwfix.com/p/no-nonsense-expanding-sticky-foam-gun-grade-750ml/6576h

Cool thanks for that .I insulated mine last year but still have pretty bad condensation..it needs addressing again

 

[Hitchhiker42]

Cool thanks for that .I insulated mine last year but still have pretty bad condensation..it needs addressing again

Aye - been there.
I don't get any condensation now - but I have literally covered the entire rear tub and I've not finished yet. When I fabricate the rear cabin for camping I'll be using a very lightweight ply (50% lighter) and foam filling every single cavity behind this (cables in conduits). The ply will have a veltrim covering. Rubber flooring and the seating will be leather. Absolutely no cavities for resonance or condensation to form and lots of soft surfaces to absorb noise.
The front cab will be leather and veltrim. Door cards, dash, cubby, A pillar covers are already done and waiting to be fitted. Dithering on whether to fit carpets with rubber mats over or an all rubber easy clean front cab floor at the moment.
This is the sort of finish I'll have in the front cabin. There just won't be any cold surfaces for condensation to form. Virtually no brightwork left visible.