Introducing Bertie - 1958 Series 2 ex-Army 88" Landie

[Rozzer]

Hi all,

Just following up my brief introduction post, here are a few photos of Bertie, who I salvaged from a field near Bathurst and have so far done the basics to get him back up and running, registered (albeit on Historic plates) and now ready to gradually bring him up to a mechanical and electrical standard that makes him reliable while maintaining the patina of age [bigsmile1]

I'll keep you informed as the project does or doesn't progress!

[The ho har's]

Hint here Ashton

Corowa is the largest Military event in the Southern Hemisphere. 2018 is the year of the Land Rover, there will be heaps of us Military types there.

So get cracking on the refurb...:ohyes:

We will be there in our 101 and expect several others as well.

Mrs hh

[Rozzer]

Hint here Ashton

Corowa is the largest Military event in the Southern Hemisphere. 2018 is the year of the Land Rover, there will be heaps of us Military types there.

So get cracking on the refurb...:ohyes:

We will be there in our 101 and expect several others as well.

Mrs hh

I'll try to be there - looks as though the website is slightly out of date (assuming this is it Corowa Swim In (https://www.corowaswim-in.org/about-us) ) :)

Not sure if I am quite game to drive Sydney to Corowa in the Landy, but we'll see how things fare between now and then.

General update:
Bertie was being temperamental and unreliable (well, more so than a car with Lucas electrics would normally be expected to be) and left us deserted at the top of King Street in the middle of Sunday evening rush hour a few weeks ago.

So two weeks ago I stripped out all the electrics and replaced the coil, points, condenser and spark plugs (couldn't get leads from my local Repco, but all the rest came off the shelf which was a nice surprise) and also replaced the fuel filter which had a bit of gunk in the bottom.

Bearing in mind I had the tank welded up as part of getting him on the road, I had asked the welder to flush the tank too and check it for any leaks (the rot had set in along the back where it sits against the cross member - usual story as I recall).

So you can imagine my surprise (and annoyance) when Bertie left us stranded again last weekend, particularly as on opening the bonnet I could see more gunk in the brand new filter. GRRRR

So out came the tank and also, with the flushing I then gave it, several pounds of assorted debris and grime from the bottom of the tank. And the filter off the end of the pick up pipe, which was obviously original and toast!

A quick call to PPC in Warriewood on Monday morning, and a pot of POR15 Tank Sealant was on its way, arriving amazingly on Tuesday (I've NEVER had such impressive service from Aus Post - maybe they are finally picking up their game?) and Tuesday night was spent painting the outside with Rist Off (or similar) and sloshing the POR15 around inside the tank (and all over the floor, my clothes and elsewhere of course) and by last night it was dry and ready to go back into the car today.

So today I spent reinstalling the tank, buying another fuel filter and putting that in, and firing Bertie up. I'm pleased to report he now runs more smoothly and consistently, and even took me around the locale for 30 minutes without stalling, backfiring or otherwise mis-behaving.

In celebration, I stripped the headlights (as they had moisture inside) and found a few more pounds of dirt in the buckets behind the lights, and of course the bottom edge of both headlights has rotted - hence the moisture.

Everywhere I look there is copious amounts of orange dirt - I have no idea how long he was submerged in the stuff, but I must have removed 10lbs by now!

So a pair of new headlights is probably in order, along with some halogen bulbs to replace the candles in there currently.

While faffing, I put some nuts and bolts into some of the holes in the floor panels, which have obviously been removed at some point in the past, and the fixings never replaced, so the floor panels rattled very loudly. I'd be interested to know what the "proper" fixings are, as I have simply put some 1/2" bolts with penny washers and 1/2" nuts in a few of the many holes (those I could reach to both sides on my own).

A couple of weeks ago the new canvas arrived, so I removed the rather ratty tin roof and gave Bertie a proper roof - he still looks a bit scruffy, but better than he was, and now at least the back doesn't fill up with water each time it rains :)

And I also salvaged the oil bath filter off the donor car - its going to be pressed into service on another project (for those interested in non-LR stuff, I'm entered in the Peking to Paris rally in 2019 in my Austin Healey 100/4, and it will need an oil bath filter) but once finished with in that service, it'll probably go back into Bertie, so I gave it a good clean and a coat of black Rust Off too.

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[JDNSW]

Floor fixings - front and outside edges should have 1/4" sherardised UNF bolts, nuts, mudguard washers and spring washers. Back and inside and tunnel to seat box and firewall should have spring steel clips and special screws plus mudguard washers. I seal the joins with self adhesive closed cell foam strips. (cuts the rattles and keeps a lot of the dust and water out.)

[The ho har's]

Floor fixings - front and outside edges should have 1/4" sherardised UNF bolts, nuts, mudguard washers and spring washers. Back and inside and tunnel to seat box and firewall should have spring steel clips and special screws plus mudguard washers. I seal the joins with self adhesive closed cell foam strips. (cuts the rattles and keeps a lot of the dust and water out.)

I believe those 1/4 bolts are hard to get?

Mrs hh

[JDNSW]

If you mean 'sherardised' - yes. I don't know of any source.

[Rozzer]

Thanks for the heads up on the bolts - given it's not exactly a concours car I shalln't be too worried if I can't find sherardised bolts! The 1/4" I have used seem to do the job but some lock washers are a good idea!!

[Rozzer]

Sorry for the silence, but I am back on the horse. Bertie finally came back from having the chassis stripped, welded, straightened, painted and oiled, and while in pieces, I got the gearbox and transfer box rebuilt, new welsh plugs in the engine (replacing the plastic one that was Araldited in there, and the large one at the bac that had been hammered in, damaging the thread), and the diffs stripped and rebuilt. ALso got new springs and dampers fitted. So running gear should all work now. Oh, and a replacement radiator as he'd been running hot, I suspect as what water was staying in the system was not flowing through the mud in the radiator.
I spent yesterday refitting hoses, cleaning up and straightening out the throttle linkage, fitting the fan, fitting the gearstick etc etc.
Q: Can anyone recommend an alternator which is a good fit for the S2 (negative earth already). The bosch one I have is working, but doesn't have a rearward mounting bracket, so not terribly stable.
Onwards and upwards.
159251

[JDNSW]

Get the Series 3 mounting brackets and alternator. There are a few aftermarket ones that just fit straight onto the Series 3 brackets.

[Rozzer]

Thank you John for that handy tip - onto it! Can you recommend a source either here or OS - I have no experience using parts suppliers so far, so any advice/thoughts/considerations gratefully received.

[JDNSW]

I usually use All Four x 4 in Newcastle, but there are a number of others.

Have a look at https://www.aulro.com/afvb/new-south-wales-and-act/

[Rozzer]

Thanks John - I'll let you know how I go!

[Rozzer]

Anyone know how the blackout switch should be wired? What do Con and S&T stand for on the switch? And should the switch even be there on the earliest cars? Any clues gratefully received.

[gromit]

Anyone know how the blackout switch should be wired? What do Con and S&T stand for on the switch? And should the switch even be there on the earliest cars? Any clues gratefully received.

It might be worthwhile joining REMLR (The Registry of Ex Military Land Rovers) to get those sort of questions answered.
The Registry of Ex Military Land Rovers. Australia, New Zealand and elsewhere. (http://www.remlr.com/)

Colin

[Rozzer]

Thanks Colin. Talk about a rabbit hole!!