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1974 Serieslll.......on steroids!

6K views 8 replies 4 participants last post by  gordo 
#1 · (Edited)
Rebuild of 1974 Serieslll Ex-military Land Rover, using same chassis, 'new' seriesll bulkhead.
Work started on rebuilding 23rd of January 2009, though stripping down was started in
December 2008.



The bulkhead, as delivered.




Needs a bit of work, but it's not bad considering it's age! From a 1964 seriesll.






After sandblasting


Looks a bit better with the holes patched up, and the gearbox tunnel modified. I altered
the instrument panel at the same time, but no picture. Not yet.......



The outriggers were full of mud, sand and rust........



but the chassis was in pretty good condtion. Rear crossmembers
were rotten, so they were replaced with steel plate, cut and welded.
Stronger than original, too!




Bulkhead crossmembers emptied out and repaired



While we were at it, I altered the front and rear suspension mounts, to give 2" lift at the back,
2" lift at the back of the front spring to give a 1" lift at the front. This got the landy sitting right again,
as the V8 is lighter than the 2.25, which made her sit level when empty, and a little nose up with
any sort of weight in the back.



The spring damper mounts were altered, this is the rear left,
to allow fitting 15" travel RS9000 dampers.



Picture above shows the front spring rear mount, spring damper mount, bulkhead mount
and body mounts. The body mounts have been raised by 2".
At this point I'm just checking the fit of the engine and gearbox mounts, axles, springs,
dampers etc. The chassis will be getting galvanised before the rebuild.



On with the back tub and seat box.....



So far, so good, all fits fine, the bulkhead included.......



As can be seen here, the front crossmember has been replaced....



More pictures of the finished chassis, before galvanising. Here you can see the two new
body mounts, the originals were missing.....both sides! Towards the rear can be seen the
2"x1" box section, welded on to the original body mounts to give the body lift.



This is the rear spring font mount, dropped, as can be seen, by 2".



Rear spring rear mount, same 2" drop.



Front spring rear mount 2" lower than standard, with the original holes through the chassis
plated over. This was fabricated. The gearbox crossmember mount can be seen here, it's been
re-sited to suit the V8 and ZF22 auto box.



After galvanising! Shiny thing, shiny, shiny........



The instrumen panel mod can be seen here. The was no buckling of the bulkhead
during galvanising, as they took enough time hanging the bulkhead over the zinc bath
to heat it properly before they dipped it.



Can't see the join....
.


The long bolts were to hold the hinge plates in place while it was getting dipped. I then
recut the threads.



Now doesn't THAT look nice......ooh, shiny, shiny.......



Bulkhead, brake pedal box and servo, power steering box and steering shaft in place.
I'm using a Hydroboost brake servo, and no, I didn't paint the steering servo.
The stuff with the blue print is soundproofing. Note the stiffening plate for the steering,
there's another one on the inside.



Into the THIRD workshop......starting to come together.



Looking like a landy again......this is it on the 'small' wheels, 285/75x16


Almost done...................and here on the normal wheels, 35/12.50-15
The 'small' wheels were fitted to get on a trailer......



BACK ON THE ROAD! It's alive, it's alive! mwahahahaha



After a fair bit of work, mostly single-handed, in bloody cold conditions, the landy was back
on the road and driven home on the 25th March 2009.
Other modifications not mentioned:
NAS lights
New wheelarch extensions (wings were altered later to suit!)
Engine was moved back by 4" to give a bit more space for the fans and coolers.



I've since fitted new doors, painted the front end, almost finished the wiring......Got to make
the front bumper and winch mount, make and fit bolt-on rocksliders. These were welded on, but
I decided to use bolt-on so they can be replaced if damaged. Finish the wiring!
Replace the NOS bottle box, fit the supercharger........make and fit the heater ducting, (the heater is between
the front seats), fit screenwash, loads of other little odds and sods. You're never finished with a Land Rover!




Back where it belongs......



Covered in mud, just like a real Landy!
My wife, who wasn't as happy as she is above when the rebuild was going on, I can tell you!

Finished(!) vehicle spec:
4litre rover V8 from Turner Engineering
ZF22 automatic box from Ashcroft Auto
Range Rover axles and brake discs, Greenstuff pads, Hydroboost hydraulic brake servo
35/12.50-15 Pro-Comp Tyres
2" body lift
2" suspension lift back, 1" forward
Twin 2" and 2.5" exhausts, custom built from Hooker Hedders
Edelbrock manifold and carb
K+N air filter
Standard Lucas 35DLM8 distributor (right now)
Edelbrock nitrous system, set (at the moment) at 50bhp
Carter fuel pump
Derale oil, gearbox and PS coolers
Derale dual electric cooling fans with adjustable thermostats
Chevy aluminium radiator
Trans-dapt oil filter relocation kit, twin K+N oil filters
NAS lights

Parts from Summit Racing, Paddocks, Craddocks, and others......

Design, manufacture of parts,welding, and building done by me, with a little help from Norry and Dan.
 
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#3 ·
why.....



Thank you, sir! Been a bit busy with other subjects on here, but nice to hear that someone noticed. I'm well pleased with all the work so far, be even more pleased when it's finished!
Iain
 
#4 ·
Its kind of quiet on this hybrid board. Anyway, I like the work alot. Always good to see them done. Getting ready to start my second hybrid, well I sort of already did but its in the infant stages. Using a Nissan Diesel w/LT85, 100 inch Disco chassis, Series body, and lots of cutting for some 37 inch boggers. Unfortunately I had to sell my first one below due to commitments. Thats cool, the next one will be tougher yet. Gordo
 
#5 ·
Hi Gordo,
Got a mate over here who has built a 109" ex-mil. into a coil-sprung V8, He's kept the series front, very nice looking car. I'll try and get him to post some pics. He might not want to, we keep kind of quiet about mods over here, 'cos most of them are a little illegal....... :D
"Body lift? Na, that's heavy duty springs, that......)"
How is it over there in the colonies?;) Seems like you can build damn near anything, and get it approved!
Here, you can't even change the tyre size without approval, let alone what I've done! Theoretically possible to get approval for what I've done, but it's a long-winded, expensive process, with no guarantee of success.
Iain
 
#7 · (Edited)
Get torn in......

Hi Shorm,
Key is not to be scared of a project like this. You learn a lot about how it's built when you take it to bits. Then you alter the bits to suit, one at a time.
Then you rebuild, unit by unit. Chassis, axles, engine and box, body. Great thing about the series landies, they're just big meccano (I think you call it erector?) sets. Everything bolts together. I'm sure you and your friends can do anything you set your minds to, it's not rocket science! Looks like there are more than a few over your side of the pond (must stop calling it the colonies:D) and you should be able to find all the help and advice you need on this and other boards.
Having said that, the best thing you can have for this kind of project, is an overhead crane. I was lucky, first two workshops I was allowed to use had 5ton cranes, had to make one for the third shop, but couldn't have managed without it. Well, I suppose I could (my mate Dan did the same job in a single car garage with a pit!), but if it's possible, get some kind of overhead crane.
V8, autobox and transfer box bolted together weighs in at 350kgs (770lbs), this is about the heaviest I had to lift. Could be done bit by bit with an engine hoist, but not as easy. The rest of, the worst was the wiring, but that's just me. I hate wiring!
Whatever you guys are planning, get torn in! You want to, and you know you can.....
Just please, please don't do a ghetto cruiser Disco! Disco-usting.......:eek:
http://www.landroversonly.com/forums/f40/how-not-mod-your-discovery-32520/
Iain
 
#9 ·
It varies by state but in FL you can pretty much do whatever you want. I registered mine as a stock RRC. Hell you can even sand rail VW buggies and rock crawlers down here in FL. Heres a pic of my buddies street legal buggy. Hes got a lexan windshield for the street. On the other guys build, I agree with what you said, just tear into it and make it happen. I remember when I was standing there worried about chopping my chassis in two, measureing/marking/contimplating, etc and my buddy came over grabbed a saw, busted my chops and cut it immediately! I was like wait... aw f%@* it! Gordo
 
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