With all the rain we've had recently we thought we should do something about the leaking roof on our Project 110 before someone drowned whilst driving the thing!

At times the water was coming in so fast it looked just like someone had left a tap running.

As you may remember from the previous issue we were very fortunate to be able to pick up a 109 Safari roof at auction for £2. It was in a pretty poor state but only because it had stood outside for years exposed to the elements. Originally we thought we could canabalise it to repair the existing roof on the 110 from which the safari skin had been removed by the previous owner due to damage.

However after inspecting the replacement roof panel we thought it would be just as easy to replace the whole thing. First job was to clean off all the years of grime and dirt and strip out the rotten roof insulation and lining.

The roof we bought at Auction was in pretty bad condition

As the interior lining was rotten we phoned around looking for a replacement. Some of the quotes we were give were truly extortionate so we opted for 'plan B' and decided to re-line it with some spare Range Rover carpet that had been lying around for longer than anyone could remember. Helpfully the roof is neatly divided into three sections, all of which are pretty straightforward 'square' shapes so cutting the carpet to size was easy. We then used a 'no more nails' type adhesive to glue it to the bare aluminium. This was all made easier having the roof up-side-down in the workshop.

The next thing to do was to renovate the four air vents before fitting them into the roof. We could not open any of them very easily so spent a few hours squirting them regularly with lubricating oil while we got on with fitting the other fiddly bits.

Relined with Carpet and all new Air Vent fixtures

A number of the second skin fixtures had either been damaged or lost altogether. And as no replacements could be found we had to innovate a 'near-as-dammit' alternative (see picture below). As we did not have any Nylon dowel we spent a good while experimenting with different substitutes, including cut down broom handles, until we found that a piece of strengthened hose pipe fitted the bill exactly, the right dimensions and as strong as anything else available when cut down to such a short length.

A bit of innovation was called for to manufacture unobtainable parts!

The next thing missing was the rubber washers that go with these fixtures, this time we had to make do with tap washers, again they proved to be just the right dimensions for what we needed.

After it had all been rebuilt we rubbed down the paintwork, gave it a couple of coats of primer then finished it off with the nearest thing we could find to Landrover Limestone (ended up using a Nissan colour from Halfords).

Nicely relined and re sprayed

Whilst the various coats of paint were drying we intended to replace the window channelling around the back windows. Craddocks sell the replacement channels in 3 metre lengths and we needed 12 metres to do both sides. Anyone with a Series Landrover or older 110 will know that this channelling just soaks up water and will soon start to deteriorate. If you are lucky you will get a few years wear from it. After we cut it down to size we decided to try waterproofing it before fitting.

This was our first big mistake of the day. We used a brush-on chemical similar to that used for waterproofing tents. But after just a couple of hours we noticed that something in the waterproofing stuff did not get on very well with the adhesive used in the manufacture of the channelling. Another couple of hours and all we had left was a black mush. Doh!

Another trip to John Craddocks was arranged!

Series III 88" Hard-Top sides fit exactly!

You know when you go out knowing exactly what you want and end up coming home with something completely different? Craddocks was quite busy when we got there so we had a sniff around outside to see what vehicles and salvage was knocking around.