The building of "Mongrel"

**Andy-M** · 6th May 2008, 05:47 PM

Hi all.

I thought I would start a restoration thread on the building of Mongrel. It won't be a true restoration, but the building of a bitza which will become a daily driver.

Mongrel is an early series 2A diesel 5 door 109". She has a galvo chassis and is rumoured to be ex RAN (this cannot be confirmed, there is no millitary gear on her) her chassis number is 27800214, the suffix letter is not readable. The engine is a 1980, number 90687302C, the box is a S3 number 90434180B. She has a strengthened front diff and a Salisbury under the back.

The body is O/K, but has multi layers of paint, with the top layer looking as though it was painted with a mop. The firewall is from a 1958 that is rusted beyond reasonable repair

.

The plan is to make her straightish with gunmetal grey paintwork, early Rangie seats will be put in the front (they have all the seat belt mounts built into the seats). I hope it will be my budget Defender with old style class when finished

.

The donor vehicle is a 1970 109" grey S2A ute, chassis number 25334821G. The chassis is rusted but it has a great firewall and other good parts (including a heater

). I hope to end up with enough spare parts to enable me to build up a S2A 88" when I find one (SWMBO does not know about the 88" plans).

With the double up of some parts I hope to be able to restore them and swap them over when they are painted. Mongrel will be registered in the short term and be a daily driver.

Here are some pics of Mongrel and the grey donor.

The donor dash is in good nick for its age

The tub is a bit rough, might make a good trailer though

Great make shift spring hangers

Mongrel in one piece still

I will keep up the progress reports now I have started the thread, thanks to all the help and advise I have received so far.

Phoenix I will PM you pics of spare parts as I dismantle them, there mabey something usefull.

Cheers Andy.

**Mick-Kelly** · 6th May 2008, 06:21 PM

Nice wagon, one of the landy mags did a feature on series 2's a few years ago and it had a grey wagon as the main star. I loved the look of the wagon then it just reeks class. Especially with the glossy grey paint. Good luck on the rebuild and i love the suspension feature

**Sleepy** · 6th May 2008, 08:37 PM

Great looking vehicle Andy. Looks like you have the basis for a fine SIIa

Love the outrigger.

Atleast an attempt was made to fix it.

I have a matching outrigger on my 109

Keep the info and photos coming. I'll be watching with interest.

**Phoenix** · 7th May 2008, 07:44 AM

Looking good! Should be a bonanza of parts. You can bet that there will be a few bits that i'll be interested in

Heck, I can already think of a few!!

**Shonky** · 7th May 2008, 03:18 PM

Looks like a great project Andy!

I would really like to do something similar one day. I like your concept of a "budget Defender" as opposed to a rivet-counting restoration.

I have been thinking of doing something similar (was thinking SIII wagon / diesel in sandstone) after I have finished my SII 88"

It seems we have the same plans, just swapped around!

Good luck with it - will be watching closely.

*subscribes to thread*

**Andy-M** · 29th July 2008, 12:57 PM

Hi all

Its been a while since I last posted, I will put up some pics soon of the donor vehicle dismantle. But first I need some help working out what front axles and hubs I have.

Mongrel has finer splines where the axle goes into the free wheeling hubs they are the same 10 spline for the diff center, the wheel studs are also the same as my Disco. The brake pads on mongrel are wider than the donor vehicle but the same diameter.

The questions:
Which axles would be the strongest? (the donors are in better condition)
The brakes? both are 109" vehicles, could Mongrels brakes and hubs be from a series 111?

Here are some pics of the brakes and axles, I also tried to get a pic of Mongrels chassis number, I am having trouble identifying the suffix letter, it looks like a lower case a.

The nice shiny swivel ball is one of the main parts I needed from the donor.

Mongrels brakes are in the background.

Not a good pic but you can just make out what I mean, I can't think what the shape where the suffix letter is might be part of.

The firewall ready to be dismantled and sent to get blasted.

Thanks for your help, I will be interested to here your opinions on the axles and brakes.

Cheers Andy

**Phoenix** · 29th July 2008, 03:05 PM

Ok, the saulsbury in the rear, is that the one with the fine spline axles? These 24 spline axles are stronger than the coarse (10 spline) 2a ones.

The wider brakes look like the 11 inch ones, the bigger the better when it comes to them

**Andy-M** · 29th July 2008, 03:15 PM

G'Day Phoenix.

The axles in the pic are from the front rover diff, I am unsure when they changed from the 10 spline to the fine spline. It is only going into the hub I am refering to, not the diff center.

I didn't realise the brake difference was in width, I just presumed the drums would be larger (they are in depth).

Cheers Andy

(if you see anything in the pics you need let me know, if I'm not going to use it you can have it)

**Phoenix** · 29th July 2008, 03:20 PM

Ok, in that case it's been converted to later fine spline axle,s which as I said before are stronger, but you should have them matching left to right.

I'm no expert in the brakes, but I believe the bigger brakes forthe v8 and 6 cylinder models were wider and larger in diameter.

As for marts mmmmmm I'm sure I can see some things. The rails that run under the door and make up part of the frame. I can see 2 bolted to the firewall in the last pic (I think). If you have a couple of them (or at least a LHS) one spare I'm pretty sure I need one as the one on the ambo is rusted out

**Andy-M** · 29th July 2008, 03:25 PM

Pretty sure I don't need them for the wagon, I will have a good look in a couple of days.

They are yours if not needed, left and right look in good condition.

Andy

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The building of "Mongrel"

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