The Story of Mike-13's Zil-131

[Mike-13]

Well...done some stripping this weekend.
Got the generatorcloset out which makes a lot of room inside.

Now the inside is empty and we have a clean view of what we will make of it.

We also have taken of the Bio- chemical air filtration .... If theres anyone interrested let me know

And ofcourse we have some pictures

The front is empty now

ME.....at work

This has come off.


On the left the generatorcloset, and on the right it's gone

That gives us a lot of room.


And now.....its completely empty.

[Mike-13]

Today I have taken off the inner mount which keeps the roof together.
I was a little suprised that the inside was starting to rot.
The left side by the windows is falling apart..
I hope to fix it so that the roof can be lifted and I can place an extra 8 inches between wall and roof.



I have cleared the roof and took some other parts off.

[duncan]

While you're at it, double check the window seals. It's old russki rubber which most likely has been standing around drying out and rotting for quite a while. Might want to replace that before you find out they leak all over your newly build fancy interior ;)

[Mike-13]

Thanx for the tip Duncan ;)

But the plan has now completely changed.......

Instead of taking the toppart of the roof and lift it 8 inches...we now have decided to completely get rid of the original wooden unit
and replace it with a lighter and bigger new build unit.
The unit above the cabin will be used for toolstorage and generators etc.
The room connected to the livingunit will be 60cm deep closets reachable from the inside.

For the curious amongst us....
Here's the new idea.....

When the old unit is off, I hope to extend the subframe with 1 meter on the back and re-mount the original sparetyreholders (will be 2 pcs)





Alternative camo





That's it so far

[duncan]

Good luck, let me know if you plan on selling your current shelter unit, it might come in handy here.

[Mike-13]

Update on the tear down

After drilling all the aluminium rivets (2000 pcs)
I have taken off the roof and the side panels.

The frame and doors on the back side are dismounted.
So all that's left is the frontpanel and the floor.

Next weekend I hope to have the time to take those parts off.

Got myself a pick up now

Pics ...

[Abrs]

Wow Don't think I'd have the patience

Just wondering, would you be able to take and post a few pics of the underside of the body? I'd be interested to see what kind of supports are used and how the box bodies are fastened to the the chassis......U Bolts? Cheers John.

[Mike-13]

Here's some updatepics.

The Zil has bumpersticks so I can see the front
The unit is gone so I have a flatbed now.

Onlyh have to take the wooden floor out and the new sandwichpanels can be placed. (Thats a whole lot lighter)

[Mike-13]

Little update:

Not much done on the Zil lately, but more done on the Reo.
Taking it apart so the 6 cilinder multifuel will be easier to swap with the gas-gurgling V8 from the Zil.



and a video of the running multifuel.

[portamurda1]

That's excellent...looks pretty good as a flatbed

[Mike-13]

So.....

The Reo is ready to take the engine out.
So I could start with the Zil to seperate the inner and outer fenders, grill and the hood.
I also took the generator out to make space for the longer Reo engine and the winch.

If there is someone interested in the generator....

Pictures:

Yes, my wife helps with the dismantling of the front



The grill is out



The naked front

The heavy generator


Wow...this looks unused


That's it for so far, next is the flatbed.
I will take the wooden floor out.

Keep u posted ;)

[marcus]

When I dropped my straight 6 in I removed the oil cooler and managed to move the radiator forward a few inches quite easily

[Zbig Kolacz]

I do between 45 and 55mph on the motorway with original zil engine and box, but I carry much less weight

[Abrs]

They'll do 70mph with a V8! Not recommended though ;)

[Zbig Kolacz]

That is amazing !!! How did you feel and how the zil coped?

[Mike-13]

My Lizzy did 53-56 on the highway with the original Zil V8 and handled very well.
Exept for a little wobble in one tire.
Made a lot of noise because nothing is soundisolated

[Mike-13]

Not done very much lately,

Took the rear wheelarches off
I have loosened the flatbed so I can take it off in one piece and eventualy replace it with Sandwichpanel floor (keeps it light)

I took the doors out and began working on the electronics.
The wiring behind the dashbord was partly molten and there were some wires just cut off without insulating.

The idea is to completely remove the wiring and replace it with the REO wiring from that engine.
It will be some sorting but I hope it ewill make it easier to check.

The wheelarches


The loosened flatbed


The dashbord


Here are some molten wires


Cabin doors removed


Mike

[Gaz-lad2]

Molten wires, and wires just cut off ready to spark and burn our lovely vehicles to the ground, I think that we have all seen some of that.

Kieran

[Mike-13]

Today I did some Wiringwork with a friend of mine.
We disconnected all the switches and pulled all the wiring out of the dashbord.
Some were cut and some were melted.

There were al lot of wires with beginning burnmarks....
So after disconnecting and seperating all the wires, we reconnected all the equippment so the wiringcable is still complete.

The dashbord looks verry empty now.

And here are the pics...

Firewall frontview ...now still full.


The wiring completely out.


That's a long piece of wiring


An empty firewall


and the empty dashbord


Next time we can begin on the air- and oil ducts

[Abrs]

Yeah, poor quality cabling and switchgear seem to be a problem with the later 131's, I've seen a few of these later ones with dodgy wiring, guess its because they were produced at a period in Russia where they had to cut production costs dramatically etc, you'll notice even the hitch on the back of the later Zils is skinnier along with a host of other components that seem to have been 'shaved' down.

You going to make your own loom? Wish I had your energy!