Front end coming apart

Spent most of Sunday dismantling the front end of the Land-Rover. Removed the home made bull bar (to the scrap bin) then proceeded to rip into the front wings. Impact driver and angle grinder came into play here. Nothing too surprising here, mud shields completely rotten, as well as both foot wells.

 Drop top Land Rover, sans bullbar

 Drivers side wing off

 Passenger side foot well

 Drivers side foot well, the bulkhead is being replaced with my spare, so not a problem.

Both wings removed, 

drivers side mud shield rotten, as well as the steering box cover. Luckily these can be brought new quite cheaply. 

With the wings off I was able to see behind the wheels, and it seems the PO has done a front disc brake conversion. This will eventually be removed and replaced with the original drum brakes when I get to the axles. Both for originality and to avoid having to get them certified.

Disc brake conversion


Tomorrow I hope to get the doors off, then start on the floor and the seatbox. Bring on the angle grinder!

Collected the Land-Rover

Quick post as I need to head to work soon, but Dad & I collected the Land Rover today.
Pretty straight forward, onto the car transporter trailer, got it home, pushed it up the drive way.

First job as soon as I got home was to remove the hard top so it will fit in my garage. The 6 bolts around the tub I managed to undo, but the bolts across the top of the windscreen needed some persuasion from the angle grinder . I then slid the hardtop along on some 4x2 timber until it reached the balance point and lowered it to the ground. Can't decide whether to keep the hard top, or convert to truck cab. Problem with keeping the hardtop is It's a big lump to store for the next 2 years or so..
Might be worth flicking it off on trademe to help fund the project.

It's now in the garage, probably it's first time inside a garage for a LONG time..
Tomorrow I think I'll roll it back out and give it a good waterblast, then start stripping the front end.

Spare Bulkhead, Stripped.

Over the last two days I have stripped all the parts off the spare bulkhead. I was happy to find that the upper and lower fascia (dash) are in good condition, from what I've seen on forums, it is common for the steel backing to rust away completely, leaving only the foam and vinyl holding it all together. The steel backing on these only has a little surface rust, so a light scuff and some black paint will have them good as new.

I didn't encounter rusty bolts that needed to be undone with an angle grinder, however I was amused by the strange mix of metric, UNF & UNC threads. I guess British Leyland started to convert to the metric system during the 1970's. Anything that is shared with the series 2A seems to be still imperial, but the 'new' additions such as the plastic dash, etc had metric fasteners.

With everything removed, I proceeded to remove the 'bodge' done by the PO. I bought a spot weld drill from Trade Tools, which proved to be really handy. I'd never used one before but it was pretty straight forward. Dot punch the centre of the spot weld then drill, being careful to only drill through the first layer. This removes the spot weld, and leaves a hole that you can plug weld later upon re-assembly.

I removed the patch in the passengers footwell, where the PO had widened the tunnel by cutting the corner out of the footwell and moving it laterally by the same width as the section removed. That left a hole which can be filled with the same section later.

I then removed the centre panel that had also been hacked at. This involved removing the stiffener from the engine bay side, as the centre panel sandwiches between the stiffener and the upper panel.

I then took to the footwells with a paint/rust stripping wheel that goes on the drill, which worked pretty well. I just wanted to make sure there weren't any holes lurking unseen, however it seems to be pretty solid still. 

I also made a 'jig' out of 40x40 box section, that is bolted between the bulkhead mounts. My theory is that it will hold the bulkhead 'true' while it is cut and welded. (I did this before removing any of the panels) 

My plan is to remove the centre panel and the 'inner' sides of the footwells from the bulkhead on the vehicle and weld them into this bulkhead. Then have it sandblasted, etch primed and painted.

Spare Bulkhead

I went out to Rolleston over the weekend to collect the spare bulkhead & seatbox that come with the Land Rover. This way I don't need to make 2 trips when I pick the vehicle up, and it gives me something to tinker with in the meantime.

The bulkhead looked pretty good, no major rust and came with the upper and lower fascia still fitted, as well as a steering box and clutch master cylinder/pedal (I will keep these aside incase they are in better condition than the ones on the vehicle) Only issue is that the centre panel between the footwells has been cut out to accommodate an engine conversion. My plan is to make one good bulkhead out of the two, by cutting out the pieces from the bulkhead on the vehicle and wedding them into this spare one.

Introduction

I've created this blog to document a project I'm about to start working on. Both to record progress for myself and to keep friends and family up to date with how it is going.

I had been looking for a Land Rover to rebuild for a while but not seriously until recently, when a change of shift at work granted me more daylight hours to work on a project. I knew I wanted a short wheel base Land Rover, both because it would fit in my garage with more room to spare and also because I have already done a long wheel base 109" Land Rover with my father about 8 years ago. Series 3 was my preference, mainly because I like the grill/front end and sleaker door handles of the Series 3, they seem more modern than the series 2, without losing that classic Land-Rover image.

After browsing Trademe and Facebook for a few months I realised that the value of old Land Rovers has risen drastically since the last time I bought one back in 2008, when I could get one with registration on hold for a little over 1000 bucks. Now people are asking $2000 to $3000 for something with dead reg. I decided to go back to where I bought my last one, a guy in Rolleston who has a yard full of Land Rovers in varying states of disrepair. Luckily he remembered me from last time and gave me a good deal on a 1973 Series 3 88" Hard Top.

It isn't in great shape and the registration is dead, but it was the only Series 3 that he had, and I figure that seeing as I plan on stripping it right back to the chassis I should be able to repair/ replace everything that's worn out and can have it re-VIN'd and issued new plates when I'm done. I think with reg on hold vehicles the temptation is too great to rush the work and only do 'what's required for a WOF' to get it back on the road. At least with dead rego I won't be tempted down that path.

The bad points:

• The bulk head looks riddled with rust and the footwells consist of more patches than original British steel. 
• The front guards are torn
• Tool tray below passenger seat is rusted right through
• The drivers side bulkhead mounting chassis crossmember is completely rusted out, no doubt there will be plenty more chassis rust once I get it apart.
• The engine and rear differential is seized. 
• There is a nasty hole cut in the rear bulkhead where the PO had fitted an LPG cylinder.
• 
  

The good points:

• The rear tub is exceptionally straight (except for the LPG cylinder hole) 
• Hard top is straight (under the years of moss growing on it) 
• Comes with a spare bulkhead and complete seatbox to repair the ones on the Land Rover
• AVM freewheeling hubs
• My friend has a spare 2250cc petrol Land Rover engine that came from an Army surplus auction, which he is generously giving to me for free.
• It's made of metal and is basically a giant Meccano set, it can be repaired!

I pick the Land-Rover up next weekend, stay tuned for more..