A Poor Mans Defender.... SIIA 109

[nzstato]

Another page...

[nzstato]

Still plodding along with interior and finishing pieces.  Made all of these door panels from scratch including the upper sheets to match what was factory.

 

 

Also hook up some NOS mech gauges.

 

 

 

[nzstato]

Drove it outside for some sun... had to replace some of the brake cylinders and so it needs a good bleed.

Tidy up some wiring, fit the seatbelts (and new brackets I have on order), take it for a shakedown then off for a WOF....

[nzstato]

Here's last nights result.  TBH these front fenders really do need a good clean up, there are plenty of holes which need filled, cracks which need repaired and wrinkles taken out - gives a good excuse to use my english wheel.  Also still replacing some brake line components.  Likewise the cooling system is a bit sludgy so a clean up wont hurt.

The inner wings were also virtually non existent with all of the modifications which have been made, so will fab some new ones up. 

Evidence of the boo boo

 

[nzstato]

At least I get to go back to the parts I really like - panel work.

These front guards are pretty bad but typical for age -  fill of dents, bog, cracks, holes etc...

There is no point to try and fix what is there, its a pretty simple panel to make from new.  Note that there is only a factory pressing for the park like and not the indicator (these were added by local dealers depending on the requirements of the export country.

Getting more of the hang of welding alloy, its not easy and filling in holes is a prick.

The lower section of this side guard is pretty crumpled, it got most of it out, and about half way through filing it clean.  I cut the flange section off as it was pretty thin/bent and in the way, I'll fold up a clean section and weld it in. 

 

[nzstato]

Somewhat dropped this into a few other threads...  A decent parts truck same up for sale in Invers which I couldn't say no to.  

Where many would see something suitable for the scrapper, I see original petrol running gear, good condition front fenders (will swap from S3 headlamps to S2 panels), a front apron, better condition bumper, a wiring harness and a whole bunch of misc....

I took the water blaster to it when home, and while it is rusty as hell, it has the essence of farmer ute.  Note the steel box tubing on the steering wheel and the uni joint shaft - went through the cab window to another wheel mounted on the tray so the cocky can put her in low box and drive around a paddock throwing hay off the back.

Big question is will this run... it turns over at least which is a good sign.  Time will tell....

 

 

[nzstato]

Playing catchup with this build thread....

The parts truck turned out to be a good buy.... replaced the ignition system, a squirt of oil in the cyl and some fresh fuel and the engine fired mostly right up.  Its technically an early, low comp 2.25 for a SII, so matches the era of LR its going into.  Likewise pulled the wiring loom out intact and a bunch of other smaller pieces which I'll used.  Sliced the rest up with the new plasma cutter for the scrap man.  Old running gear (Nissan diesel) has been sold, to a guy who drove down from Blenheim in a S3 no less

Decided to use the front guards from this also, as they are uncut and in generally better condition (but still need some crack/dent repairs)

The profile of S2 to S3 guards are mostly the same, except for the obvious difference in the front where they put the lights in the guards. 

Continuing with manufacturing new sections of those areas, its easy enough to cut out the rivets and replace with my new S2 portions.  Its a handy swap to make since its getting very hard to find the early S2 guards in good condition, while the rest are a bit more abundant and cheaper. 

Need to get back into some steel repairs to return this front end to original, then back to mechanical. 

 

[nzstato]

I've been doing alot of panel work for others lately which has definately held up any progress.  But this has to be a 2024 goal so I can get onto some other projects....

Pulled down the gear/transfer box.  In the grand scheme of landrover things, this one isnt too bad (though not mint), its one of the later boxes with syncro on all 4 gears which is kinda nice.  The 3/4 syncro dogs are the most worse for wear, repros are ~$500 so I'm going to go dig through the gearbox bin of the local wrecker to see if I can find a decent original.  Based on the condition of the low speed gear of the transfer box, I bet this spent alot of time in low4 with the farmer mashing between 3 and 4 to get across the southland mud.  

Also, since I'm taking this back to original running gear I've been chatting to NZTA about how to go about it.  With this never having a cert plate and that I can prove it was petrol originally from the chassis ID, it seems relatively straight forward. 

 

 

 

[Jusepy82]

On 20/07/2023 at 09:48, nzstato said:

At least I get to go back to the parts I really like - panel work.

These front guards are pretty bad but typical for age -  fill of dents, bog, cracks, holes etc...

There is no point to try and fix what is there, its a pretty simple panel to make from new.  Note that there is only a factory pressing for the park like and not the indicator (these were added by local dealers depending on the requirements of the export country.

Getting more of the hang of welding alloy, its not easy and filling in holes is a prick.

The lower section of this side guard is pretty crumpled, it got most of it out, and about half way through filing it clean.  I cut the flange section off as it was pretty thin/bent and in the way, I'll fold up a clean section and weld it in. 

 

sorry for interupting your thread but where did you get that device from and what is it called ?

[tortron]

34 minutes ago, Jusepy82 said:

sorry for interupting your thread but where did you get that device from and what is it called ?

It's a profile gauge 

[nzstato]

Better give this an update...  Yes I did find some genuine replacement parts, and so back together it goes with new bearings/syncros etc....

While I have a transfer box I rebuilt for the back end of the conversion I thought it best to rebuild the one I had here.  Needed a new set of main bearings (which cost a few $$$) but everything else was in fair condition. 

Its way easier to assemble vertically on the bench.  Though I havent yet gone to the effort to move it off yet....

 

With that done I need to give the engine a good clean up and external refresh, more soon. 

[nzstato]

Ok, update time... really trying to push on with this. 

Gave the block a good tidyup with new gaskets/paint and ancillary parts - these early SII blocks are just different enough to the later (far more plentiful) ones to make sourcing bits annoying. 

Clutch was in very good nick but the ring gear was well worn (though still engaging) - gave it the ol swap using the 'perfect for all occasions' Colman liquid fuel burner.

While ignoring all advice on the internet I too learned that you cannot get the engine/gbox into one of these complete.  

But after doing a general tidy up to the bits in the front of the frame/firewall from years of butchering it was ready for some chassis black.

Got the final lot of parts on order, need to swap in some new spring bushes, run an exhaust and then we aren't too far away from having it move under its own power....

 

 

[nzstato]

Progress is slow, but I am getting there...

Engine slotted in and getting the ancillaries on, because this is an SII engine (not an SIIa or later) its a bit of an odd duck and aftermarket parts arent a straight swap.   Have replaced the brake/clutch masters and run a few new lines where needed. 

Been spending the last week on constructing a new wiring loom - ended up making one good one out of 3x hacked ones.  Its mostly an SIII loom which I've adapted to the SIIa facia and run a few extra wires for the floor mounted dip switch and remote starter etc...

May not look like much, but its nicer and tidier than what replaced it, and I can go to a proper fuse box etc. 

Should be ready for fire up soon and we can see if this thing can move under its own power again...

[nzstato]

A general update with more documentation needed.... did some dry runs on the engine which seems to start/run ok for a short period.  Was a bit of a pain to run some fresh brake/clutch lines  but likewise we got there. 

Got some much needed enthusiasm to sort the painting of the front panels before the weather gets too cold.   Now I have no excuse to mount the rad and sort the cooling for some longer runs, then its just 999 little things before going to the WOF man. 



  

 

[nzstato]

Some updates.... 

1/ Have now confirmed that it can move under its own power, consuming a vast quantity of petrol at idle so a rebuild of the carb is needed as the mating surfaces are probably no longer flat.  

2/ Front wiring is all mostly sorted so I now have functioning lights.  

Last major jobs is I want to replace the rear fuel tank with another one I have here - I have a suspicion that it may still leak after my repair and it has a diesel return line on it I no longer need.  Likewise need to sort out seatbelt mountings, I have factory ones here.  

Also some further fabrication.... the inner wings have basic splash guards which were mostly gone/rusted/bent when I got it.  There was a change between the early/late wings for these and as I have 'late' wings with an early firewall it was a whole lot easier (but still fiddily) to replace them from scratch in alloy.  

 

 

[nzstato]

Some more updates which might help others out there....
 

While the Zenith 36IV carb is a pretty simple bit of kit, and largely 'set and forget', it does come with a major issue over time...  Sitting over a hot manifold the light alloy casings will warp, and with only 4x bolts holding it together it will do so to the extent that fuel (or more problematically, air) will seep past the gasket.  You can see this here by the blackening on the gasket nearest the venturi, the ports that are now open to atmosphere control the economy diaphram which causes the copious fuel consumption at idle. 

The fix is to sand the faces back down flat, you can see the area where the feeler gauge can still get through. 

Assembly on these are pretty simple, with just a handful of jets/diaphrams to worry about.  

 

[nzstato]

So, after getting rather waylaid with other projects/life etc we do have some progress here.... got it running as good as its going to be... sorted out a bunch of minor stuff (wipers, lighting etc).  Then gave it a much needed clean...

Very soon, the long awaited 'WOF-day' was upon us, and despite the looks of the list it came off pretty good... a set of minor stuff to tick off, do some tidy of the seatbelts and one of the rear brake cylinders looks to be leaking.  Biggest drama of the whole lot is to 'return to original'/ignore declaration papers I need to pull off the Series3 brake assembly and return to non- boosted brakes.  Most of the way through the list, ideally I get back to a re-check soon.