NAS 110 #145

[JimC]

I was grateful for the help of some other Defender friends during this sprint to what ended up not being the finish line. Especially since, as mentioned above, I failed to remove the vent screens before galvanizing and then failed to clean them out before painting. The solution was to drill out every single hole individually. In the second picture here, my father can be seen mentoring Josh (Horsey) on the finer points of a mind (and arm)-numbing task.

 

[donb]

Horsey! Anyone know if he is still in NJ? Or if he even has his black NAS 90 anymore?

 

[aeo]

Horsey! Anyone know if he is still in NJ? Or if he even has his black NAS 90 anymore?

I hope he didn't sell that truck. He was meticulous in his search to find it.

 

[JimC]

I’ve not heard anything of him since he dropped off of D-90 a while back. Maybe he got married and moved to the suburbs.

 

[jymmiejamz]

Josh just sold his D90 in the last month or two

 

[JimC]

Josh just sold his D90 in the last month or two

Hope he’s doing well, great dude.

 

[Rwollschlager]

Josh just sold his D90 in the last month or two

For a 110 I hope?

 

[JimC]

I don’t have any more information about Horsey, but in December 2009 the truck really began to take shape. I continued to monopolize the lift bay at the craft shop but absolutely no one seemed to care.

There was still a ton of work to do back at the house to keep things rolling in the shop though. I fully stripped all the doors for paint and even with grandpa’s help, the 18 month old was totally incapable of reassembling them.

I also installed this cage before I knew that new cages come with locating plates that allow proper installation of the cage supports. So I winged it. This would add to the list of things I had to fix ten years later.

 

[chris snell]

Lucky you with a friendly Auto Crafts Shop. The one at Fort Carson was ridiculous and you paid for every minute that your truck was inside the building. Then again, it was always packed, so I guess they had to be that way. I stopped by the shop here in Carlisle Barracks and it was empty and the guys looked bored as hell. Maybe they will be cooler with me leaving my truck up there a day or two. I want to do a head gasket job and a timing belt.

 

[pmatusov]

I want to do a head gasket job and a timing belt.

Careful with what you wish for

 

[JimC]

Ok, so I’ve been pretty delinquent in updating this thread. December 2009 was a whirlwind of assembling since I had to depart and report to Afghanistan in January. Stephen Peters at Safari had purchased a consignment of new-take-out LHD Td5 dashboards from the armoring company in Alabama (?) and I got one from him for the decade-ago price of 1200 bucks… That price included a complete late-spec wiring harness as well, so I just installed that. I didn’t know exactly what kind of harness it was at the time but the decision to install it would become highly relevant a decade later.

 

[Tomaco1]

I finally got all those brackets off. I assume you still want them.

 

[JimC]

I finally got all those brackets off. I assume you still want them.

I always want brackets. Even though I’ve basically forgotten what we’re talking about!

 

[chris snell]

. I didn’t know exactly what kind of harness it was at the time but the decision to install it would become highly relevant a decade later.

THE SUSPENSE

 

[JimC]

Things came to a head in early January 2010. The decision to ditch the original wiring harness (which actually made sense because the original was thrashed and I eliminated the NAS HVAC etc) meant that I had to sort out and install an EFI sub-harness into the new harness that I was not familiar with. A hard job? No. But it would take at least some time and I was totally out of that commodity. I buttoned everything up, loaded it on the trailer and dropped it with Mike at ECR who graciously allowed an unfinished project to be dropped on his doorstep. The night before the drop-off it snowed like a foot.

 

[Tomaco1]

I always want brackets. Even though I’ve basically forgotten what we’re talking about!

Bulkhead to frame, the 4 that mount the 110 sw crossmember and some others

 

[JimC]

A 12-month deployment to Afghanistan turned into an almost decade-long diversion through Europe during which time I cheated on this project with two other Rovers. I bought a brand new one in 2011 just because I could and figured I‘d never again have the chance to own a new one. Someone talked me out of that truck a few years later and I replaced it with a 130.

 

[JimC]

I got back to the US in 2018 after being gone for the better part of a decade and landed in an all-consuming job. By the fall of 2019 I had my Rover bearings again and felt I needed to finally take custody of the 110 and bring the project to completion (or at least get it running).

Originally ECR Mike and I thought he’d complete the project, but he very correctly perceived that I had merely ”assembled” the truck. Mike was concerned about starting and having to unbuild - taking steps back in order to take steps forward. Examples: I never installed the wipers and I hadn’t even pulled the harness through the chassis. The conventional wisdom about never taking a half-finished project to a shop is all true, unless of course you want to pay them to figure out where you left off and deal with the inevitable surprises.

So Mike never started but in the end it was best for both of us - he has more than enough work to keep him busy and I always prefer to do the work myself instead of farming it out. This did leave the not-insignificant issue of the bill for indoor storage, but in the end this was satisfied with a case of beer. People can say what they like about ECR, but Mike has hooked me up on more than one occasion and I remain a staunch supporter.

So, I took a long weekend in fall 2019 and trailered the truck back to VA. After 9.5 years I could finally get back to work on 145…