A Poor Mans Defender.... SIIA 109

[nzstato]

So I've been somewhat pining for my old canvas topped Land Rover since I sold it a few years back.... the prices on these have started to get silly so I've been thinking I need to get back in the game or loose it forever....  But this time I've been on the lookout for a different model to allows the whole family to join in the LR fun and have been somewhat dreaming of overland camping trips in Central with the kids.

So something along these lines popped up on a FB page a few months back, messaged the guy, seemed like a good option but had no funds at the time, others were interested so said thanks and moved on.  Now I came into $$ and messaged again a low and behold its still available and they want to move it on....  Quick trip up to Timaru to inspect and back a few weeks later (today to pick it up....)

So what have I got...?  Its a 1962 SIIa (383th of the export model off the line, so early in the run) 109 StationWagon.  Its been modified a fair bit (on declaration papers from '92) to run a Nissan ED30 diesel (my old one had an ED33..) into a 5speed Nissan box which is somewhat mated to a LR transfer case.  It also has the (very good) later axles from a Stage1 V8 (basically a Dana60) to give 3.9 gearing with freewheeling hubs.  A keen eye will note that the nose has been pushed forward - it doesnt need to be to fit the ED30, I wonder if it had an earlier 6cyl conversion.  Body is a little rough (as we will see) but is largely complete.

Got it home and first thing was to give it a waterblast, the lichen has gone to town on the paint....

Has a 'very period' winch....

I've figure out that most of the gauges work, has a wee heater with an exposed fan (watch the fingers)

 

 

 

[nzstato]

 

Who knows about injector pumps?  A bit smokey when you put your foot down (but otherwise fine) makes me think there is something worn in here...

So whats the plan....?

Firstly, I cant touch it until my mini is done...

Last WOF was in 2018 so somewhat thinking of just putting it through seeing if the list is managable and using it from there. 

But long term I want to pull the whole thing down a do a chassis swap to a late model hilux/navara etc and build it up from there.   Will respray and refit as much interior as possible to make as comfortable as possible.   Only thing which would prevent that is if I have to rego as a 'scratch build' and do a cert from there. Otherwise would either repower or rebuild the running gear and do a disc brake/power steering modification.  Time will tell....

Discuss

 

[nzstato]

Small win...

99% sure I can do my chassis swap as a modified production LVV assessed and not as a scratch built....

A series2 on a later chassis is an example given in this sheet.... 

https://www.lvvta.org.nz/documents/infosheets/LVVTA_Info_02-2018_Modified_Production_&_Scratch-built_Low_Volume_Vehicle_Definitions.pdf

That makes me happy.....

[nzstato]

With the mini soon to be off the section I've started on some of the easier parts of this project and assessing what needs to be done...

Pulled the hoodlining, the frame sections were pretty crunchy and the hessian type insulation crumbled in the process.  Not too worried, I will be retrimming this all in a different manner. 

Also pulled the vents for the safari 'tropical' roof.  These are seized shut and in poor shape....

What I like to do with parts like these is dip in oxalic acid.  It is brilliant for taking rust off (does a great job on pitted chrome).

 

Rear doors need a little bit more work than expected though repairable. 

I've taken it for the odd trip round the block.  Drives as magical as one would expect, 'rolls coal' without hesitation so suspect weak gov springs.  Decided I'm going to keep the running gear to get it on the road but go through everything in the process.

 

[nzstato]

Moved it so time to get to work...

 

 

And yep....

 

I suspect the bulkhead in his has been replaced at some point - 1) There are traces of green paint under the white and 2) the b-pillar and sill dog leg are quite rusty while the bulk head looks fine (so far).

Like so....

 

Still putting bits apart, amazing how many rubber seals are needed to hold all of this together....

Only had to cut a few bolts out, will likely buy a bunch of new fasteners to replace the older whitworth fixings. 

 

[nzstato]

Pillar

 

Am thinking I want to ditch the sliding glass in the back and go fixed.  Anyone know of aftermarket kits or if its the same dimensions from a 109 2door?

[nzstato]

Pulled the tub off. 

There is decades of dirt here, scraping it off is almost like going through tree rings

Rear crossmember has had a shunt at some point.  Since I don't have access to gas during the lockdown I will likely cut to straighten back up again.  

Only bit of of rot I've found is this small portion on one of the outriggers, few older bits on the rear section I will also tidy up.

Also top tip, this section is not suppose to be removable... rotted straight through (can see some older repairs...)  The door sills, b pillar and this section are all one piece, but have rotted into 3....  but all fixable. 

 

 

 

 

[nzstato]

Did a a bit more...

Hosed most of the crud off.  Pulled the diff/spring assembly off and lowered the tank out.  Noticed that it has a hole in the corner that someone has tried to goo up so that will have to get fixed...

Also pulled the top cover of the gearbox (I still have no idea what model it is) and was quite pleased, considering the work this thing has probably done its in good nick.  The shifter assembly is a custom job so I have some ideas to make the whole thing work alot better.  LR transfer box has all of the seals leaking (no surprises) so will end up pulling it for a basic refurb. 

Onto some more of the fun stuff...

Steel frames in all of the doors need work.  I'd make this in one section if my folder was wide enough.  Thinking about not going through the hassle to filler/prime the body and just metal finish as good as I can and go epoxy/colour...

 

[nzstato]

Still doing more rust work... (heres that section finished)

The rear doors need a fair bit of work....  The problem with them is that there are small channels for the water to run out from the window tracks, these get clogged up, rot out, and now you have water running into the internal frame.  Someone has been in with the expanding foam...

Also I'm probably going to reskin them, they've both had some deep hits in the lower section which has stretched the metal, also the fold overs at the bottom are corroded pretty bad.

Having some cracker Dunner Stunner weather, who knows how long it would last so I fixed up all of the damage in the frame (there are more older repairs in this than I initially realised) and took the opportunity to spray with some 2k black.

Need to also work on refurbishing the rear end (springs included).  Decided to have a look see in the diff....

Someone has seriously lunched this at some point - yes that's where the pinon has been eating the carrier...  But I see it has been rebuild with a new CW+P, the bearings all look good (thats what you get when you use Timkin bearings) but I think it happened a while ago as the pinion seal (leaking) was the old steel/leather style.  NB: The Salisbury diff (basically a Dana60) is not original to this truck, they weren't standard until the S3 109s (and used in defenders).  

 

[nzstato]

Doing a bunch of cleaning/derusting/painting on the rear end....

At the moment I'm a fan of using oxalic acid for derusting, it leaves a green iron oxalate residue which can be easliy taken off with a wire brush.  Items which were galv/zinced come up really well.  Doing some research I think I may have figured out a DIY recipe for Evaporust, going to try that out and post to tech section in future.

Today I pulled the transfer box off the nissan adapter case.  Was a bit of faffing arround, needed to partly dissasemble the box to get the bolts out which hold the cases together.

 

There is a bit of engineering in this conversion.  The PTO cover has been replaced with this unit which contains a large roller bearing to support the tail of out the output shaft.  The original output shaft sleeve has been cut and a landrover output gear welded to it.  Unfortunately that internal race is spinning on the shaft so I'm going to have to fix a repair...

On the bench, pretty grubby

 

 

 

 

[nzstato]

And here's where it all starts to go wrong....

The rear output bearing has gone rusty and fed oxide dust onto the shaft which acts like grinding paste... Its worn the internal splines on the low speed gear (the large one to the right) and is very sloppy on the shaft.  Also feels like there is play on the high speed gear and some of the splines on the shaft are worn....

Currently pondering whether I shell out for the replacement gears or just find another box....

[nzstato]

This is quite cool, that bearing carrier has 'Made in New Zealand' cast into it. It's actually two pieces which are tigged together.

More cleaning/painting etc.  Also had a load of parts arrive from the UK so that allowed to put the diff cover/pinion back together. Hope to refurb the springs and get it all back into the chassis over the weekend.  Anyone who knows LR spring bushes understand that I'm dreading that job...

 

[nzstato]

If I haven't shown it previously this is what I'm aiming for (sing out if anyone knows of a roofrack hiding anywhere...).  Just talking through paint options to spray the alluminium.  I have left over 'old english white' from the mini to do the roof and the wheels.

 

[nzstato]

Swapping back to a bit of bodywork now....

This corner of the tub has number of hits, the rear is quite stoved in and it has made quite a bit crease in the side where it joins up to the galve capping.  Not to mention a dent across the body line.  When I started stripping it I found a ton more bog from older repairs. 

I loathe doing bog work so will be attempting to get the panels back as good as I can get them using metal work.   This old girl will wear its body scars with pride, likewise its going to be used and if I do (when?) I hit something in the bush  there's no point having all your filler crack down....

First time I've panel worked alloy.  Trying to be super careful not to stretch it more than it is already.  Got all of the areas which are braced square first.  Then I had to take out the spot welds to shift the fold in the rear section to pull the stretched areas tight.  Not perfect but better.... Will do the bottom section when I tip it upside down in the shed.

[nzstato]

Back on some steel...  These B pillars are pretty bad (this one has separated from its sill and both sides of the top of the door frame are rusted through. 

Cutty cutty, foldy foldy....

Weldy weldy..

 

 

[nzstato]

Because this area can be seen I've decided to TIG it all.  Finally getting my head around how to do it with pulse on panel steel, really enjoying it to be honest, very controllable and I can just knock it all down with my body file to leave a good finish.

I've yet to decide what my plan of attack is going to be here....

 

[nzstato]

My grinder broke so have resorted to filing out my welds...

Did a quick clean/paint/grease on the handbrake...

Think I've sorted out a replacement transfer box but decided to pull it down.  The splines on the shaft and where the high speed gear runs is worn so that is junk, the low speed gear is hogged out where the dogs engage (most likely when shifting into low while moving) so that is too.  But what takes the cake is the high speed gear....

Yes that is a crack the whole way around.... whats more interesting is that its been pinned as a repair some time in the past.  These boxes are built pretty tough (and usually the gearboxes would lunch themselves long before the transfer gears) so it would have been quite a situation to do this kind of damage...

[nzstato]

Not a terribly interesting update, and its a prick of a job....

I've been giving the springs a bit of a refresh, grind off all the rust and dirt.  A quick zinc black and I used dry spray lubricant between the leaves (internet tells me this is the preferred approach.

 

Also replaced all of the bushes, the spring eye ones I can do in the press.  Anyone whose done them knows the chassis bushes are an absolute pain.  I made up a DIY screw press but it didn't really help.  Had to burn out the rubber then hacksaw the outer casing to get them out - were rusted in there tight.

 Already thinking about future upgrades, ultimate would be to replace with parabolics and do a disc brake conversion.  Yes I know the shackles are the wrong way, will move it about when I can mount the wheels.

[nzstato]

I'm really not sure If I'm having too much of a Barry bodge moment but I have a problem I need to solve....

The transfer case parts I sourced has a shaft with really mint splines on it but has had the nose busted off it where the output shaft bolt threads on....

So I now have two shafts which are not good in different spots.  I've managed to turn the end of the broken one down to accept a press fit threaded nose which I could TIG in...

Still following up for replacement shafts but failing that I do have enough bits now to build up two transfer boxes.

Anyone done something like this and lived to tell the tale....?

[nzstato]

^ So the repair-the-shaft trick didnt work out, still trying to track a decent one down.

More body work...

Finally done with the B-pillars, pain of a job but I couldnt justify the cost of repros.  Still need to do the back doglegs but that can wait till I can align them with the tub.

Got all of the paint off the tub (I prefer to use lots of stripper and minimal abbrasives), fliped it over and put it in the shed to work on.  The bottom corners are pretty beat up and require some welding repairs.  The alloy is nice to work with but it stretches so easily....

Really hate and dont want to do bog work.  Will see what its like in epoxy and decide what I'm happy to accept.