Hello from Brisbane

[Andrew68]

Hi there AULRO community!

Trying to get my first post to work. With a bit of luck this will stick (3rd attempt)

After investing a couple hours and 2/3 of an ipad battery in drafting an introduction only to lose it (twice) I'll keep this brief.

I'm in the early stages of restoring a '53 80" that sat in a paddock for 30 odd years. Engine and box had water in them and pretty much anything that is supposed to move doesn't.

4 months on and it's down to the bare chassis - which is surprisingly good (complete with original green paint to much of it) save for the mid and gearbox x members which are bashed up and rusted out from sitting full of mud - need to replace the gearbox one at least if anyone has any good ideas.

Also could use some advice on sources for paint, brakes and suspension (complete rebuild on both) to at least get me back rolling and ready to tackle engine/gearbox, body panels etc etc etc

Apologies for brevity and poor grammar... but I have a suspicion that this mightn't work and I'll be drafting up revision 4 in five minutes time (shame, rev 1 and 2 I thought were really quite good!)

Cheers

Andrew from Brisbane

[russellrovers]

Hi there AULRO community!

Trying to get my first post to work. With a bit of luck this will stick (3rd attempt)

After investing a couple hours and 2/3 of an ipad battery in drafting an introduction only to lose it (twice) I'll keep this brief.

I'm in the early stages of restoring a '53 80" that sat in a paddock for 30 odd years. Engine and box had water in them and pretty much anything that is supposed to move doesn't.

4 months on and it's down to the bare chassis - which is surprisingly good (complete with original green paint to much of it) save for the mid and gearbox x members which are bashed up and rusted out from sitting full of mud - need to replace the gearbox one at least if anyone has any good ideas.

Also could use some advice on sources for paint, brakes and suspension (complete rebuild on both) to at least get me back rolling and ready to tackle engine/gearbox, body panels etc etc etc

Apologies for brevity and poor grammar... but I have a suspicion that this mightn't work and I'll be drafting up revision 4 in five minutes time (shame, rev 1 and 2 I thought were really quite good!)

Cheers

Andrew from Brisbanehi andrew welcome to the site have parts available here for a 53 regards jim

[Pedro_The_Swift]

Great post Andrew[thumbsupbig]

Lots of rebuild posts/info here,, we LOVE pics, so there are some great shots of bits in dis/repair.
I'm sure everyone will want chassis/engine numbers etc,,,[smilebigeye]

[The ho har's]

Welcome to the forum. Another 80" in rebuild...I love mine [bigsmile1]

[QRS40]

Welcome! I also have a ‘53 😆 what’s your chassis number?
Ive just had a LOT of work done by the folks at British off road. Ended up going with new parabolic springs, suspension wise. Rides beautifully Not ideal if you are going for originality tho

[Andrew68]

thanks to everyone who responded to my introductory post. nice to know I'm not alone in tackling an 80 which I have to say is turning into a lot more than I had anticipated.

this is the condition of 3666 1816 at the moment. I have some photos of her before she was dismembered and they are a bit more flattering - I'll get them off the camera and upload them at some stage.
132310
vehicle was basically complete, even to the "hard to find bits", but had a lot of damage and deterioration. worst is engine and box which I really think are both shot.

I have lined up a 1956 2.0 engine that is supposed to be ok and Ive got a suffix B (or maybe C, cant quite remember) box as replacements - should these work ok? (after swapping out the hydro clutch for the mech one)

I've been steadily acquiring better panels but am still short a decent tailgate and front bumper. My doors aren't great and the guards are pretty sketchy too but they don't seem easy to come by for the correct spot welded ones.

is there any events coming up in the next few months where there will be a few of these early LRs in the one place at the one time? Nothing like some inspiration to keep a bloke going when all Ive got at the moment is a garage chock full of bits and oil stains (and a predictably unimpressed wife to go with it)

cheers

Andrew

[russellrovers]

thanks to everyone who responded to my introductory post. nice to know I'm not alone in tackling an 80 which I have to say is turning into a lot more than I had anticipated.

this is the condition of 3666 1816 at the moment. I have some photos of her before she was dismembered and they are a bit more flattering - I'll get them off the camera and upload them at some stage.
132310
vehicle was basically complete, even to the "hard to find bits", but had a lot of damage and deterioration. worst is engine and box which I really think are both shot.

I have lined up a 1956 2.0 engine that is supposed to be ok and Ive got a suffix B (or maybe C, cant quite remember) box as replacements - should these work ok? (after swapping out the hydro clutch for the mech one)

I've been steadily acquiring better panels but am still short a decent tailgate and front bumper. My doors aren't great and the guards are pretty sketchy too but they don't seem easy to come by for the correct spot welded ones.

is there any events coming up in the next few months where there will be a few of these early LRs in the one place at the one time? Nothing like some inspiration to keep a bloke going when all Ive got at the moment is a garage chock full of bits and oil stains (and a predictably unimpressed wife to go with it)

cheers

Andrewhi andrew rrebuild what you have and then you know what you have when you buy a engine you dont still know what you have in condition i have 3 1953 engines in the shed they are not seized but still have to be taken down and checked out i also have 1953 dated gear boxs jim

[1950landy]

Hi Andrew, it is always good that there is another S1 being saved.
Were in Brisbane are you, I am in Westlake, I am not far off finishing my second restoration on my 1950 80" . You are welcome to have a look at what I have done .
Wayne

[Andrew68]

Hi Wayne,

Thanks for your kind offer. I'll get in touch over the next few weeks to organise a time look over your 80 and get a couple of resto tips. I'm over at Hamilton. She's just a pile of parts at the moment but I'd be happy to reciprocate once it starts to come back together. Ill be very happy if I can get the chassis rolling again over the xmas break but I really doubt I'll get that far with a complete suspension, braking, axle and steering rebuild needed - assuming the diffs are ok and don't need attention - there was no water in them but the "oil" looked more like bitumen emulsion!


cheers

Andrew

[klonk]

Hi Andrew,

Welcome to the club, good to see you've made good progress so far. Its at this stage it gets abit depressing as the enormity of the project sets in, I'm in my 6th year, time and money havent always aligned but it will get there.

Cheers Steve