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Thread: Restoring the Colonel

  1. #21
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    I agree with Chazza, get some toys for the shed to make more of your own parts. It's half the fun In saying that though I have used the door channel bits available from various places, they are pretty easy to use and reasonably priced. I haven't purchased firewall parts - I just get flat sheet and bend/weld up pieces of my own; yes it takes me longer but it's cheaper and that's important to me.

    I don't have a commercial bender, I just use the old 6mm angle iron and a hammer... it gets the job done but I wish I had a little bender. I did however get a shop press - a 12T Repco jobby, cheap and cheerful!

    I think I took a month to completely strip my SWB to a bare chassis, working only weekends and a little after work when I got the chance. I don't work too hard and was poking around taking photos and generally wasting time as well. That was back in January, I'm still trying to get it all back together... it seemed to sit as a chassis for ages (although you have the gal chassis so your lucky there) now it seems to be sitting as most of a car but still has lots of little bits to go like brakes, plumbing engine, wiring... fitting doors, tilt, finding a bullbar, and all that sort of thing.

    Your story of rust reminds me of a SWB series 3 I purchased a couple years back. The ad on Gumtree said "only a small amount of rust in a crossmember" when I got there (300km round trip) I realised that there was a fair bit more rust in the chassis... after getting it home and pressure cleaning you could stick your fist through the holes in the main chassis rail!! needless to say that chassis isn't getting used and didn't take much to cut it up to take to the scrappy.

    I have no idea on your budget or anything but there are a few guys around on the forum that are galvanising ALL the metal on the car as they repair any rust. I think it's a great idea but personally it's out of my budget.

  2. #22
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    Maybe look for a suitable donor vehicle

    Hello from Brisbane.

    I genuinely admire your commitment to your project, but maybe would be personally inclined to consider looking for a less rusty donor vehicle for those rotten body parts - it may be more economical in the long run.

    I have a friend in South Africa who recently bought a Series 3 wagon with an aim to restoring it. Problem was that while South Africa is generally a dry place, and extensive body rust isn't usually a huge issue, his vehicle came from Port Elizabeth where it was used for pulling boats out of the surf. He also thought they were all aluminium..... Anyway, over a few conversational Castles he resolved to head west into the Karoo to try to find a suitably cheap donor with a good body and stuffed mechanicals.

    Returning to Oz for the moment - I occasionally come across lost Land Rovers and some of these would possibly be useful for the type of restoration that you are working on. As just one example, these two trucks are languishing in a machinery yard near Dalby:







    From my observation neither had a lot of rust and would fit a wagon like yours - as noted in an earlier post (JDNSW) the doors, frames etc were interchangeable from S2 through to Defenders.

    Not necessarily suggesting you seek out these particular trucks - rather that it might be easier and quicker to make progress with a suitable donor.

    Cheers,

  3. #23
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    Homestar is offline Super Moderator & CA manager Gold Subscriber
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    Crikey! that blue firewall and chassis it's sitting on look to be in good nick...
    If you need to contact me please email homestarrunnerau@gmail.com - thanks - Gav.

  4. #24
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    Replacing panels with better ones is definitely a very good option ; however; it is not always the cheapest.

    Points to consider:
    1. Travel to and back from the donor parts at $1.50 per litre, plus wear-and-tear and the risk of having an accident, may make it rather expensive.
    2. Add the cost of the purchase price; trailer if you need one; meals, etc.
    3. A sheet of 1mm cold-rolled steel delivered to my door costs me about $60 and is enough metal to make all of the thin steel body parts on a whole Land Rover - this does not include the chassis, which is 2mm steel.

    And as Debruiser says, it is such good fun to make it yourself, for next-to-nothing,

    Cheers Charlie

  5. #25
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    Thanks Chazza (Charlie), debruiser and S3ute for your comments. My purpose in starting this project is as much about producing a restored vehicle as it is about me learning something about land rovers and gaining some skills. My day job is a high school chemistry teacher so this is a little foreign to me, which is why I am doing it. I like to think I am reasonably handy but my experience to this point has been either building or furniture making.

    I was a little dismayed at the level of rust I have found but thinking about it maybe things aren't so bad. All that is really bad is the second row doors and the B/C pillar/door sill. The bulkhead just needs a new door post and I think I can cope with repairing the radiator front. My approach is to make use of all available techniques in making repairs. So I am intending to learn some welding skills, maybe some sheet metal folding skills, making use of new repair pieces as well as scrounging parts from wrecks if possible.

    My budget is pretty tight so no galvanising for me, just a decent paint job and keeping an eye for the return of any rust.

    My significant other has made it clear that one car body in our yard is just the right number so best I dont purchase another for spares. Also my 'shed' is a 3 x 3 garden shed (I'm probably not a real man) so not much room for the storage of large items. My resto is happening in my carport and back patio.

    S3Ute, those photos were taken in 2008? I wonder if they are still sitting there? Do you have the contact details? I haven't seen many station wagons around.

    Chazza, at this stage a folder might be on the list after a welder and compressor. But I reckon a combination of a new piece and some fabrication will get me out of trouble with the B pillar. I am looking at doing a beginners welding course at tafe starting early next year which will give me some idea of what it's all about. My existing welding experience is arc welding railway line to make cattle grids, lacking a little finesse.

    Anyway, this morning I lifted the tub off using my new toy from Gumtree (also bought an engine stand). Total cost about a quarter of retail price.
    So I now have a bare chassis from the bulkhead back. Also took off one wing and the radiator front is free, just needs the oil cooler to be disconnected. Tomorrow's job is to remove the other wing and radiator, then start looking at lifting the engine out. How much fun can one guy have with a land rover?
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  6. #26
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    I hear you! That's pretty much why I ended up playing with land rovers. Plus I wanted to have a play toy when I was finished... I've not got too many for my yard and am cluttering up Dad's

    Isn't having all the school holidays just the best bit of teaching! (I'm an Instrumental Music Teacher)

    Good luck with your build, I'm sure you will get it all worked out. If your chasing parts I have a bunch here that I'm happy to sell or there are the "ho hars" on here that have lots of stuff too.

    I'm impressed that you got enough reach on your engine crane to lift your tub... I had to do some really agricultural stuff to get my crane to do the job... no I don't have a photo for fear of being ban from AULRO for being too dodgy

  7. #27
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    Chris and Debruiser, it must be contagious because I went mad when I was young bloke and became a teacher as well for 24 years - I am a forest fire-fighter now I may have had some slight advantage as I taught metalwork amongst other things.

    Recently I have become involved in the world of sheet metal forming - bulbous curves etc.; everything not found on a Land Rover - contact me anytime if you need advice on fabricating parts. I also cast parts in aluminium and although my shed is a good size there is no room left, so I understand completely space limitations. It is amazing how easy it is to fabricate complicated parts using only hand tools,

    Cheers Charlie

  8. #28
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    Maybe

    Quote Originally Posted by Chris66 View Post

    S3Ute, those photos were taken in 2008? I wonder if they are still sitting there? Do you have the contact details? I haven't seen many station wagons around.
    Hello again.

    Don't really know as my original interest in those trucks was taking photos of dead Series Land Rovers rather than ferreting for parts. I actually bought my truck back in 2012.

    The company is Reithmuller Engineering (07) 4662 4790 which is located on the Warrego Highway on the eastern approach to Dalby - a quick look at Google Earth suggests that they were still there in January 2010.

    I really used them as an example of prospective donors rather than suggest that you haul all the way out to Dalby specifically. One advantage of "outback" vehicles is that they are generally less likely to have significant structural rust problems than coastal vehicles - another is that relatively few people out there really hold them in all that much esteem nowadays which may also affect the price.

    As far as choosing between donor parts and self-fabrication goes it really will come down to personal choices based on preferences, opportunity, skill, confidence, price, available time and circumstances - in no particular order. If is was based purely on economics you probably wouldn't be tooling around with an old Land Rover.........

    Re self-fabrication - the older Land Rovers (S1, S2, S2A and especially short wheel base models) probably now fall into the category of being "rare" rather than "scarce". In many cases there aren't going to be many viable alternatives to fabricating the chassis and body parts or patching up what you have. Series 3 Land Rovers, including LWB wagons, might be better considered "scarce" and the options widen a bit there.

    I must admit that I had originally overlooked the fact that your truck has a galvanised chassis which seems to have fared better than the bulkhead, pillars and door frames. Part of suggesting a donor was based on the assumption that chassis was likely to also be pretty rough and in need of major surgery - if not a lost cause.

    Cheers,

  9. #29
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    So another day working on the Landy and another day of joy and frustration. Yesterday I removed the other wing and pulled out the radiator and it's housing. The radiator is in very good condition so there's a win. In just under a month I have managed to remove all the painted bits, except for the firewall. I then broke out the gerni and gave the chassis a bit of a wash, mainly to get rid of all the sand. Almost enough to make a small sandpit.

    This meant I had arrived at a crossroads, what to attack next. Logic says I should pull out the motor and gear box, then lift off the bulkhead and have a bare chassis. The problem with that is that my shed space is at a premium and my popularity with other members of the family is directly linked to the number of land rover pieces strewn about the patio and yard. The more pieces the less popular. I'm also a little daunted at the prospect of rebuilding an engine and gearbox at this stage of my journey. So my approach is going to be to fix up the back end of the landy (suspension, fuel tank, brakes) so I can drop the tub back on. That way I can use the tub as a storage container for other bits of body.

    One of the joys of doing something like this is being able to buy new tools. Today's tool was a 600mm breaker bar and a 1 1/16th (hex) socket so I can undo the wheel nuts. It may sound like I know what I'm talking about but I must give credit to the search function on this forum which told me what I needed to buy. I have to say that using the 600mm bar I felt like I was altering the rotation of the earth, you can certainly get some torque happening. Lucky I didn't go for the 750mm one.

    Time to remove the leaf springs, split them apart, remove rust, repaint and fit back together with new bushes. I have read that this can be a difficult job, which is like saying Mt Everest is a bit of a hill. The nuts came off very easily, however the bolts wouldn't budge. Even with the bar breaker and me making strange grunting noises there was no movement. So out with the 4" grinder, which didn't have the reach to cut through the bolts. This meant I had to resort to the widow maker (9" grinder) to cut through the bolts. I had one bolt that even though it had been cut through it still wouldn't budge (photo below), some serious rust happening there.

    Again, thanks to my bedtime reading of other people's projects I knew I could drill out the rubber then drive the bush out of the housing. This actually worked pretty well. Just need to cut through the final sleeve still in the housing and I will have removed one leaf spring. Just three to go. I had a go at bending back the folded steel that captures the leaves. I don't have an oxy or even a gas torch so I tried my camping stove. It kind of worked but I was worried I was using too much force to bend the steel back and would fatigue it. I might pop out to the shops tomorrow and get myself a butane torch to heat the steel up properly.

    So that was pretty much my day, more of the same tomorrow where hopefully I can start cleaning up both rear springs.

    Quick question, is it recommended to go for the new poly bushes ($165 for all springs) or are the original rubber ones still good to use (around $60 for all springs)?

    Cheers
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  10. #30
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    Photo of body removed, didn't upload properly in my post.
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