nacnud

Awesome work on this! It is a fascinating thread to follow on a unique car for sure. Keep it up!

Lockdown means no RR time for me. Unfortunately it is stashed 40mins from home so getting out to it isn't advised at this stage. I am also waiting on some gearbox bearings so it has ground to a halt at the moment. Here is a great period photo I found online of some English chaps doing some cornering tests... Stay safe gang! (envious of you buggers with a garage at home)

Making a start on the gearbox and transfer case. The gear box is called a LT95 and is a 4 speed manual box with integrated transfer case. What is cool about the early boxes is they used a Salisbury limited slip differential on all Suffix A vehicles (easy to spot spotted as they were all painted red). In addition to the LSD function in the centre diff, the centre differential could also be locked via a vacuum actuator. But only around 300 vehicles were delivered with this LSD and sadly mine isn't equipped with it. After the first pre production and first year vehicles (1969-1970) they moved away from the limited slip feature with the differential as the gearbox had a serious amount of whine and felt pretty agricultural and stiff. To stop this they removed the friction discs on the differential and replaced them with distance discs instead but still retained the Salisbury differential, only now not limited slip but still retains the locking centre differential. They also managed to retain the agricultural feeling and gearbox whine... Shot of the early friction disc. Shot of the later style with the distance discs. This bit freaks me out a bit so I have a friend Glen giving me a hand on it. It is not his first rodeo with these boxes so I am in good hands! Gearbox and transfer case are now broken down into bits for a check up. Overall it is pretty good apart from a toasted needle bearing, worn intermediate shaft in transfer case and a bit of play in the mainshaft. All the gears are in good condition which is great as they get expensive to replace. Most of the parts have now been plated and all new fasteners. Now waiting on seal and bearing kit as well as the main shaft from the UK. Looking forward to getting it back together and in the chassis. Calipers test fitted and looking great with that HPC coating. Now to fit the rest of the hard lines.

Small update - a whole post on brake calipers... My last set I ended up using on another Range Rover to get it on the road so I had to do the whole process all over again. This time I had them HPC coated in their HiPerCoat, which should not be effected by brake fluid and all that and look great for a long time. The finish came out amazing! Shame I will never really see them..

Sweet project! My father has a couple of these stashed away. I should pull them out

Pushed it outside for some vitamin D. Still lots of bits missing and bits to torque up but at least it rolls! And some old sales material I came across. Early shot of the production line and a sweet exploded view of the side frame and panels.

Cheers team! Looking forward to getting the engine and box back in next

Long time no update! Bathroom renovations and other life suff getting in the way of projects. Front axles and swivels all built up with new rotors, bearings seals etc. Refurbished Borge Self levelling unit fitted with new balljoints and gaiters. Original Rostyle wheels got blasted, primed and 2k painted by Paul from Darth Vapour Blasting Service out West. Damn he did a good job. Much better than the factory would have ever! Fitted up a set of old tyres I had laying around so I can get it rolling, still need to nip a few bits up in the suspension department but I had to stick them on to feel some progress. I will need to replace the tyres with a nice set of Michelin's when I find a place in the UK will to send me a set. Paul also went to town on my gearbox and engine. Can't believe how good they came out with a squirt of the vapour blaster. Before After!

Awesome project - keen to see it unfold! My folks used to have a 2a Dormobile, we had some great trips in that. 200/300tdi with a manual box would be perfect in this.

Awesome project, can't wait to see more of it!

No major updates on the scoot, it has been kept locked up in the dining room while other things have been happening. Team photo. Good colours!

HPC coated wheels and new tyres give the Suffix B a good facelift. Unfortunately looks like it will be sold. Need some loot for home renovations and hopefully some left over for the Suffix A project...

Hey Thomas! Duncan here, I used to have that white Mk2 ABF Jetta. Awesome to see you still have the golf mate, Keen to hear how the 2.0t goes !

Got the front and rear axles installed! Starting to look a bit more complete... Rear axle and hubs are all back together with new seals, bearings, gaskets, fasteners and discs. New ball joint for the rear A-Frame load leveller thing. Man this took a bit of pressure on a friends press to get in. Seated perfectly in the end. Next up is rebuilding the front swivel housings. It took me a while to find a good set of original chrome swivels without any pitting. I then blasted and painted the swivel housings then proudly displayed them on the dinning room table... Waiting on some swivel shims and bearings and then I can get started on those. Another load of fasteners for the next round, all nicely sorted by part number

Such a good feeling putting it back together! Hurts the wallet though. It is pretty much a big Meccano set though, everything is bolted together

Glen and Greg are absolute legends! Their quality of work is outstanding. Some more Land Rover faff to add. Sold my Range Rover LSE, the 4.2 was just too expensive to run as a daily! I do miss the big old thing though. How good is that rear leg room! It has been replaced by an 1998 300tdi Disco. UK model but came over early, it is also a very basic spec which I love. No ABS, AC, Airbags and manual sunroofs. Great parts hauler and camping machine. Also have this 1973 Suffix B stashed which I am trying to figure out what to do with?!

Slow day back at work so time for an update with some photos. Not a huge amount has changed on the scoot BUT it is finally legal! Bit of a process with border checks, lighting exceptions, vintage car club sign off and even the need to get a low volume cert (front disc etc). It is a good feeling not having to worry about the local fuzz and being able to properly insure it though! Had another 1600km Motto TT event last year, scoot went well until some minor mishaps near the end. Exhaust decided to open up and on the final day my statorplate shat itself. New tubeless rims before the event. Route over 4 days, 1600kms. Lots of Castrol TTS was used! Teammate helped patch up the pipe at a local bike shop in Wellsford which lasted well for the rest of the event! The stator plate then gave up around Tutukaka Coast on the final day so it was trailer time back to Auckland. Bit of a stink way to finish the event but still loads of fun with great people. Poked exhaust was a good thing in the end, it meant I could finally get my self an expansion camber. A friend parted ways with his Darryn Tayor tuned Evo pipe and I gladly took it off his hands. Still some tuning to happen but damn I am loving it so far! Next up is to sort the tune, maybe a dyno and trim rear floor boards for clearance on the pipe.

Long time no update! Unfortunately the project is moving pretty slowing, same old story of life stuff getting in the way etc. Any how I am ok with it, I am spending a lot of time trying to get all the details 100%. Since last update I have had the chassis, axles, suspension components and a bunch of other bits blasted and painted. A stack of new fasteners and I am now starting to slowly reassemble! What an awesome feeling it is putting fresh fasteners on newly painted bits! I have also had a bunch of bits re-passivated and managed to find some new old stock indicator lenses Does anyone else lay out refurbished bits on their lounge floor?? Best way to sort new fasteners I have found! Phil at Key West has been heaps of help. New Old stock front lenses I found in Timaru! So stoked on these. New Old Stock rear lenses too The start of the re-passivated bits coming in. Half of them you will never see but I can't help my self!

Some real progress! Photo heaving as I am fizzing. I stripped the body down some more. Everything apart from front window and steering column. Pretty light now and easy to push around! Some of the bagging and tagging, a bunch more boxes of bits to be powder coated, galvanised or painted. Then picked up by the team at R3 Fabrication. They then lifted the body off the chassis, broke the frame down into the individual bits and got stuck in! Bulkhead started then the rest will follow. So stoked on it so far. These guys are doing a great job! Chassis to be also stripped down, blasted and epoxy.

Keen to hear some recommendations on places for getting chassis blasted and epoxy please team.! Phoned around a few but keen to hear who you guys have used before. Thanks!

Update time! I have been chipping away removing more bits from the Range Rover. Trying to build up courage to remove the dashboard. Hoping to have the body off the chassis soon then the chassis and drive components can go in for blasting and the body off to the panel beaters. (keen on some recommendations on places for this if you have any) Also came across a really good set of side frames. One NOS never used and one near new. This will sort the sills, rear floor and pillars. End goal... Also, to make matters worse, I sold the white one I had, which was supposed to free up some cash to spend on Red. But then I went and got another one... NZ new 1973 Suffix B in Bahama Gold (reg on hold woohoo!). Buddy and his bobtailed one helping me move it. It has some massive V8, I think LS1. It didn't even know it was towing another.

Bagging and tagging has begun. Think I am going to need more bags.

Started on the strip down. Find some good and some bad but overall pretty good. Hoping to get it into Auto blast in the next month to give the chassis a clean up. Meanwhile the other one waits in the corner.

Awesome, thats the 2nd referral for them now! I've been trying to call but no one ever picks up ha! Will pop in next week

Interested to hear some recommendations on places in Auckland I can get some rust repair and paint done please team