Thread: Lightweight Restoration

Only just found your thread! Wow, nice work. I wish my 88" was ready for rego....

Originally Posted by Jondavball

John,I am looking forward to some classic trips with the club once registered (hopefully Tuesday)

Carzee not around much this weekend however if it get registered i'll even bring it to your door for a look. As you can see I am looking for excuses to drive it!

Come over to Woden anytime. There's a good diversion on the way -if you're looking for an gentle test of incline ability in slippery conditions for your Lightweight a good a place as any to give a go that little grassy hill the dealers use on test drives for Freelanders, SRVs, Forresters etc. Extra points for a night drive when its all dewy too. Take care and keep in mind the Tread Gently ethos of course.

Originally Posted by mjbsx

The resto looks great congrats.

I'm new to aulro, and have just discovered lightweights, and am immediately attracted!
Ive been looking for a weekender (focused on a SWB series 2), not a project as such, more as a sunny day cruiser/grocery-getter,...but don't mind tinkering.

Can anyone direct me to a short pros/cons summary of the lightweights and a value bandwidth (unrestored but neat = $x-y)?
cheers

Dunno if such a pros/cons list exists, but there's plenty of info around to help you.
Briefly, the pros are that they're almost mechanically identical to a normal series landy of the same vintage (save for odd things like the number of bolts on the water pump) so spares/bits are easy to find.
Cons are that lots of the body panels are unique and can be hard to find and, depending on originality (and how handy you are with electrickery), the electrics can be an odd mix of 12/24V.

Absolutely no idea how much a lightweight would cost/is worth in Oz, maybe pm one of the guys who have bought one over here?

Hi Jonathan

I have to say that is an amazing bit of work you have done!

Never thought I'd ever see it look like that again. Very glad that I insisted on swapping the tub over from the civvy one.

Just a bit of coincidence the owner of the lightweight in Cazee's piccys (the head you can see) was driving the vehicle where your tub came from when the accident damage you repaired occurred.



Its a happy case where two complete vehicles have been made out of 3 incomplete or damaged ones (although we don't have any images of the other two vehicles)

Oh Dear,
look what magically appeared in my (sort of) driveway ( funny story)

As its unmolested I plan to keep it as original as possible, FFR but prev converted to 12v

Came from the UK Jungle Training Centre in Brunei, then was reg in QLD and somehow made its way to me

It looks like its had a few liveries , not sure which one to go with . The current paint scheme seems to suggest it was in Gulf War 1 ???

Heads Up Lightweight owners, or other British MOD vehicles,

you can buy your Military history card from the Royal Corps of Transport,

run a search here Vehicle Records Search

Got a 28 day permit for my Lightweight the other day, took it for its first drive.

Im pleasantly surprised, Ive done nothing mechanical on it save replaced all the brake and clutch hydraulics, new water pump, starter , and fuel pump. and well as repair the entire electrical system.

Its as tight as any Landy Ive driven , no backlash or noises . Now I know how good it is I'll go ahead, fix up the interior and prepare it for rego !!

Absolute pleasure to drive .






[ame]https://youtu.be/8k37OSIg6_I[/ame]

Phew, finally got the LWT registered, pictured here at the local RSL.

Touch & go because there was no proof it was legally imported, Dept of Infrastructure did not have the Chassis or Engine number on file, but thanks to a legal loophole on pre '89 imports I got it past a VASS engineer & plated compliance with 1973 ADR's

Only had to fit reversing light, mudflaps, new seatbelts (in original mount holes) & a new windscreen glass with correct watermark to comply with ADR's.

It definitely never came into the country with the shipment from Brunei as all those chassis & engine numbers are on file. If anyone knows how it arrived I'd be interested to hear, all I know is it spent some time in Cairns painted Candy Apple Red inside & out & was getting around with fraudulent rego plates.

Got full rego, so that it can easily be re-registred in future without any Red Tape, but will convert to Club Rego soon .