Coming To Australia - Bluey's Rebuild

[AndyK]

My last post was in the Introductions bit where I said that I was coming to Australia with my new Australian wife Rosy once our rebuild of our 1994 200Tdi 110 was finished. Well we have finally started on the rebuild, it hasn't gone as well as we hoped due to illness (both of us!) and the fact that my workshop garages are 20 miles away so popping out to do some work isn't an option.

Bluey is now in bits spread over two garages. There haven't been any major frights apart from the radiator which had three leaks from the core so a new replacement has been ordered. At an early stage of planning I decided to go for a replacement galvanised chassis (I ended up with a heavy duty ex military chassis from Marsland - its lovely!) to build in strength and reliability even though the chassis didn't seem too bad however as the strip down progressed we've found some rot in hidden places( underneath the rear body tub support brackets the outrigger was wafer thin) so I was well happy with the extra expense.

Bluey is going to be a plain hardtop at the end of the rebuild and I've been lucky that my mate is planning a 100" landy so all of my spare body panels have been sold to him, he also co incidently is my supplier of parts!

I havn't figured out how to post large photos yet, Rosy is the computer whizz so thumbnails will have to do for now!

[AndyK]

Hi there again, I'm going to have to figure out the photo problem!

Anyway with all the major components on the floor we are now preparing to start the refurbish, replacement and rebuild process.

The first job is the axles, these are going to be cleaned up, any leaking oil seals replaced and then painted. I was thinking of getting them shot blasted but as I have already rebuilt the brake calipers and hubs I am reluctant to completely strip the axles just so they will look nice.

The gearbox is next, the syncro hubs are quietly destroying themselves in the main gearbox so a replacement is on order. If anyone out there is still using ATF in the box I would recommend using a modern synthetic oil. I tried some oil from Difflock and even with my ailing box it improved the gear change. With ATF in, 1st to 2nd changes were very difficult, the new synthetic oil improved the change but not good enough to satisfy me. I did two gearbox oil changes within a year and in both cases a large amount of metal filings and lumps drained out so my gearbox was without hope! The transfer box has already been fitted with the cross drilled gear and is in good condition.

The engine doesn't need any work other than a clean up and gasket change. My philosphy is to keep things unmodified and simple to facilitate replacement parts and fixing in out of the way places(we are travelling from England to India at least then onto Oz) but I am considering an intercooler upgrade (same physical size) to boost power and upgraded turbo hoses. Obviously a complete new clutch has been bought.

All brake and clutch lines are going to be replaced with copper pipes. I have bought an Australian made suspension kit - plus two inch coil springs and dampers and steering damper sold by Frogs Island, unfortunately I can't remember the manufacturer but they reckon its as good as Old Man Emu. I have also bought castor corrected radius arms for the front axle. Polybush suspension bushes have been bought for ease of replacement.

Once the chassis is back to a rolling one then I'll start worrying about the body work. Bluey is going to be reborn as a white Landy. I figure that white is the least military looking colour plus its going to be the coolest in Australia as there's no air con in Bluey. I also happen to think Landys look great in white although Rosy took some persuading. Heres some more thumbnails, we've a digital camera so we're taking loads of pictures to record the rebuild and so I can remember where everything goes!

[Dinty]

G'day AndyK, It's looking good when are you departing on your trip, which route are you taking, I love the pix reminds me of my restorations although I only have Series restorations anyway good to see good luck with it cheers to you both Dennis:wasntme:
PS Yes it was.:mad:

[AndyK]

Hiya Dinty , we're planning (!?) to have Bluey back up and running by June or July 2007 although only working on weekends may scupper that plan. We want to do a couple of shakedown trips before we leave England to make sure our camping arrangements work. I want to take Rosy to Norway, as it is only a short ferry trip away and has the most stunning scenery you'll ever see and like Oz has unsurfaced roads aplenty. We also want to go to the Republic of Ireland as thats where Rosy's Dad's family was from.

We then will do an extensive tour of Europe to visit Rosy's relatives and countries we want to see then head through Turkey to Iran ( I hope the Bl**dy Americans don't mess things up, I've already got a brother-in-law in Iraq) then into Pakistan then into India which I am really looking forward to. Rosy would like to then go across the Himalayas into China then down SE Asia to Singapore. We don't know whether our money will last for the last bit through China so if not then we will ship Bluey to Perth then do a quick bunk south then head north along the coast to Darwin. Then heading south to Alice Springs then east to Dubbo where we are going to make our new home. We can then explore the eastern part of Australia at our leisure.

How does that sound!

We're building Bluey for Australian exploration. Rosy has already done a figure of eight Australian tour in a Toyota so she has specced out the requirements for Bluey ie. twin spare wheels, auxillary fuel tank(extra 45 litres), 100 litres of onboard water (two tanks), roof tent, Oz tent, two way radio and GPS.

We're hoping to do it all for around £15,000 including the cost of Bluey in the first place (£4995). We've bought most of the stuff to mechanically rebuild Bluey and most of the camping gear. We still need storage chests in the back and all the electronic stuff like a good stereo, GPS and a laptop computer.

Luckily cos my mate is supplying all of the parts(ABLandRover Parts{is advertising allowed??!!}) I can pay for them when I can and luckily(!!) a very distant relative died and I inherited a few grand which accelerated the plans an untold amount.

My Austrailian brother-in-law sent me Gregories 4WD Australia book and its amazing how many places in NSW and QLD that Rosy took me to that are in the book. I can't wait to get there, hopefully we will set off on our adventure early in 2008, see you then! In the mean time I will continue to send you updates on the rebuild. Once we start the trip we're hoping to have a web site with pictures etc. of the trip.

[LRHybrid100]

G'day Andy - looking good,

Where in the UK is your workshop? - looks like Yorkshire stone houses in the back ground?

LRH

[EchiDna]

thumbnails are better than fullsize pics - you just click to expand the image :) saves bandwidth too!

anyway - when you make the trek and if you decide to make the extra step to Singapore, let me know and I'll hook you up with the Thai, Malaysian and Singapore Land Rover clubs... there are semi-regular overlanders that come through here (a couple a year) and each vehicle is greeted with open arms and customs assistance etc by the local owners group.

If you decide to ship from Singapore to Darwin, there is a barge twice weekly from a company called perkins shipping that you can use as a RO-RO (cheap compared to containering and faster through customs - or so I'm told!)

[geckos]

Andy,

I'm jealous, thats what i've always wanted to do.Nearly the same trek as the first overland expedition, but they didn't come down under. I'll watch your rebuild and trip with anticipation and excitment.
Well done Geck

[AndyK]

Hello again,

My workshop garages are in Barnard Castle, County Durham. My Grandparents live there (currently Grandad 85 and Gran 83yrs) and they have given me three of their six garages. I got the brick built ones, my parents got the wood built ones (I'm my Grandads favourite grandson! and the only one whose shown interest (obviously) in the fact that during the war he worked for Rolls Royce manufacturing Merlin engines). I've got loads of things made of Merlin parts and have Merlin engine number plates. During the war my Grandad went to join up in Yorkshire but the RAF allocation for that county was full so cos he didn't want to work with mules in Burma (he was a blacksmith apprentice at the time) he went to the next door county and joined the RAF. He trained as an airframe repairer (welding even aluminium) then specialised in aero engines and was posted to Glasgow with Rolls Royce to manufacture Merlin engines using parts made by Packard. Consequently he's a bit of a nightmare to work with as he is obsessively tidy and a perfectionist but he can use a lathe etc and is a great engineer and mentor.

Err hope that answers your question LRHybrid100!! sorry for going on a bit!!

And if you think its good enough I'll stick with the thumb nails EchiDna

[p38arover]

Try to keep it spotless underneath before you get here. It will save a lot of hassles with quarantine.

Ron

[p38arover]

And if you think its good enough I'll stick with the thumb nails EchiDna

Yep, thumbnails are good. I've got broadband cable so I'm not so bad off but for dial-up users, the thumbs are better.

Ron

[AndyK]

Hello again,

that was another reason why I wanted a galvo chassis. I didn't want to have shutz the underside at all to prevent rust and therefore accumilate dirt. I want to try and keep the Landy as "pristine" as possible underneath and not use sticky stuff, as a bloke I talked to who had imported into Australia said they're a little paranoid(and actually I don't blame them)! Hopefully Bluey will be very steam clean friendly! Australia to me is a paradise - I will not and do not want to spoil it. My wife and I intend to have a low impact environmental life when we get there. This does include Land Rovers as I think they are the most environmentally friendly vehicle on the Earth.

Think about it.....(bearing in mind I'm a Series man)

since the year dot people have repaired Land Rovers themselves,
Land Rovers have always been recycled never binned(in Britain at least!),
they last 30-40yrs not 3yrs,
the energy cost to manufacture the raw materials alone must out weigh the fuel used during its life,never mind build it,
when a part is useless it can be recycled as it will almost always be made of metal
they plod on through adversity! even though they're broken they'll still go on and can be repaired with "non standard" parts!

I love 'em!!

[numpty]

Hello again,

My workshop garages are in Barnard Castle, County Durham. My Grandparents live there (currently Grandad 85 and Gran 83yrs) and they have given me three of their six garages. I got the brick built ones, my parents got the wood built ones (I'm my Grandads favourite grandson! and the only one whose shown interest (obviously) in the fact that during the war he worked for Rolls Royce manufacturing Merlin engines). I've got loads of things made of Merlin parts and have Merlin engine number plates. During the war my Grandad went to join up in Yorkshire but the RAF allocation for that county was full so cos he didn't want to work with mules in Burma (he was a blacksmith apprentice at the time) he went to the next door county and joined the RAF. He trained as an airframe repairer (welding even aluminium) then specialised in aero engines and was posted to Glasgow with Rolls Royce to manufacture Merlin engines using parts made by Packard. Consequently he's a bit of a nightmare to work with as he is obsessively tidy and a perfectionist but he can use a lathe etc and is a great engineer and mentor.

Err hope that answers your question LRHybrid100!! sorry for going on a bit!!

And if you think its good enough I'll stick with the thumb nails EchiDna

Nice 80" and Tickford Stn Wagon. I presume they were on a club run. Good luck with the rebuild and enjoy your trip to Australia.

[AndyK]

Hello again

Blimey New Year is over and a good one to everyone.

To Numpty the 80" is the Land Rover which I would like to bring over to Australia with me. It's a 1950 S1 with the "cats eyes" headlamps(apparently quite rare) and a 2lt engine(obviously not original), it's my mates 2nd S1 rebuild so he would allow any one to buy it, but only me. The only trouble is that it overheats in hot summers so at Duddo NSW it would be no good. I've reconditioned the radiator to no avail so I think there is a problem with cooling in the engine block with which a S1 sounds expensive! Can you still get S1's in Australia to restore?

The Tickford is Ken Wheelwright's who in the UK is about the best S1 restorer. I've been to his farm and he has three Tickfords and a number of early S1 Land Rovers. Unlike many S1 guru's he's a wonderful gentleman, who also likes vintage trucks (who doesn't?). We took a 1956 S1 to Norway and he went in his 1600cc Tickford driven by Andrew Bullas (who has his own award winning Tickford). We went to Norway's 25th Land Rover Club anniversary at Trondheim. Any one out there in the Series One Club? cos there was a big write up in Legend about our trip.

The latest on Bluey is that I've had a mare of an afternoon takng the suspension arms off the front and rear axles. The front went OK but dismantling the "A" frame off the rear axle cost me a 28mm socket,a monkey bar, some hammers and copious amounts of oxy-acetylene - oh and a strained back! I'm now thinking that all of the axles and small parts will have to be shot blasted after all.

[numpty]

Can you still get Series 1's in Australia to restore? :o

You certainly can although some are pretty well stuffed. We have a 1950 complete with original 1600 engine in bits. Was bought as a long term project, but the term is getting longer and longer. It will probably be sold off in pieces to people looking for certain parts. Hint Hint:p

[WilliamB]

I really would get the thing SPOTLESS before you bring her in.
Customs WILL steam clean it for you (you pay) or at the least Quaranteen it.

I bought I motorCycle over..it was er....extreme.
The slightest bit of dried mud, dirt, wood, marmite....

It's fair enough considering the potentail intorduction of destructive fauna.

It looks great bTw....ahh stone cottages...