Thread: Shonky's '58 Series II SWB

I just bought myself a firewall and a crossmember off ebay.

This is my first significant expenditure on components, and I had better get used to it because there's still a lot of stuff I need.

Firewall: $180


Crossmember: $150


I didn't think this was unreasonable, although I probably could have got them cheaper if I hunted around. That said, I'm not a truffle pig () and I am just happy that I have them on hand.

Will have to go and pick them up this weekend from the 'Gong.

Originally Posted by Shonky

I went up to the farm on Monday and Tuesday and had a rather productive (albeit painful) two days of dismantling.

I have now denuded the beast of it's hardtop, tailgate, seats, windscreen and seatbelts.

I know none of those things are particularly hard to do, but being in a shed with very little head room above the roof, and also being largely on my own I thought it was a pretty solid effort.



The roof was fairly easy to do, although the bolts along the top of the windscreen were a little frustrating at times. Note that I have also removed the glass to lighten the load, as my dear old mum was the only one around to give me a hand lifting it off!

It looks weird without it's lid...



The tailgate and windscreen were of course too simple for words but the seatbelts... argh... whoever installed them did so with the nuts on the outside and didn't use bolts or nuts that afforded any level of corrosion resistance. I will have to grind them out at a later stage (no power in this shed ) In the meantime I had to just slash the belts. Oh well.

The seats weren't too bad but those split pins in the backs were horrible. The fact that it was fairly dark also didn't help.



With the windscreen off, the rust along the top of the firewall that I had been valiantly trying to pretend wasn't there, became painfully obvious.

(sorry about the pics - low MP camera and crap light)



Mind you, I don't think it matters anyway... my firewall is swiss cheese. Methinks I need a new one.



A bit like my rear crossmember:

go on be game repair the firewall ,,took me forever to get mine all done bout 3 months it was cheaper than getting another 1 ....BUT VERY FIDLY..

...or I could just use the good one I bought!

I do plan on at least trying to repair the firewall, but I will do it as a seperate project after the rest of old Gus is nearing completion. I could always use a spare firewall ready to go for future projects right?!

Originally Posted by Shonky

...or I could just use the good one I bought!

I do plan on at least trying to repair the firewall, but I will do it as a seperate project after the rest of old Gus is nearing completion. I could always use a spare firewall ready to go for future projects right?!

or you could sell it on ebay and make your money back on the one you bought.

That thought crossed my mind too!

I will see what my next project is first - saves buying and selling again.

Well I now have my firewall and crossmember safely home, despite the absolutely atrocious driving conditions weather wise.

The seller was a really nice bloke and we had a good chat. He has generously offered that if he finds any other Landy bits around, he will donate them to me!

As an ebayer he was top notch - answered emails super fast and was even quite okay when I was delayed by an hour and a half. He goes by johnshellcove on ebay.


I didn't get anything done this weekend after all that. Saturday was consumed by driving and Sunday went to rewiring my trailer and putting some of them fandangled LED lights on it.

I have put a thread in "The Shopping Trolley" listing my parts shopping list. I will also list prices so that people can get an idea of how much things can cost if they were thinking of doing the same thing.

Shonky's Series II Restoration - Parts Shopping List

On Sunday I made the trip up to Cessnock to finally meet the great master Dinty, and pick up a very straight tub which he offered me for a very reasonable price.

I was originally supposed to go up on Saturday morning, but I had trouble getting my hands on a trailer (even though a relative had one in their front yard chained to a tree... ) and the Patrol was up at the farm as usual. Plan B consisted of mum bringing one of our trailers back from the farm...

...but like all good "Plan B"s it promptly went to pieces when one of the hubs suffered a catastrophic bearing failure at Rouse Hill and locked up the tyre, ripping a hole in it! Mum had also forgotten the spare.

I ended up towing it home to Baulkham Hills on the flat, and putting it on bricks in the garage. I decided that I would replace the whole hubs rather than just the bearings because there was a stud broken on each side and they were pretty ratty. Newies were also only $30 each and I got Falcon stud pattern so they match my car.

NB: Tyres don't like being run flat...



In the meantime, I managed to scrounge up a trailer and the road trip was on. Luckily, the weather wasn't too bad despite horrendous conditions in the morning and a severe weather warning.

I got to Dennis' place soon after he and his entourage had returned from Displaying his vehicles at the Broke Villiage Fair. There were plenty of willing hands around to help carry the tub around to the trailer, and someone else even tied it on for me!

I spent much of my time walking around with my mouth open and my eyes wide... Dennis was kind enough to give me the royal tour of the Alladin's cave that is his shed - packed full of Birmabright treasure!

Dennis was keen to offload as many hints, tips and techniques onto me as he could cram into my brain, and I soaked up every word. Not content with merely dispensing advice, he trawled me around his entire yard picking up various parts and saying things like "have you got one of these?", "is your one of these in good nick?" and "Here have this whether you need it or not!"

It was like Christmas - only with better presents and a skinnier Santa!

Eventually, after trying valiantly to not let Dinty give me too much stuff, I left with a Bell-housing, a hand-throttle, 2x fuel fillers, 2x filler cappings (R+L), a seatbox, a mid-seat tool tray and a *perfect* set of skirts for which Dennis accepted a measly sum of $45 (He tried to give them to me for $40!). oh... and I had my new tub too!

As anyone who has ever seen any of Dennis' vehicles in the flesh will attest, the photos on REMLR do not do them justice. The incredible workmanship on these old trucks is absolutely mind boggling. While all of them were impressive and intriguing in their own way, I was most taken with his blood-box which goes by the name Dianne-May. (had to be careful how I worded that - it shares it's name with his wife! ) Combining three interests (medical, military and Land-Rovers) is what makes these things so appealing to me - I would love to restore one someday...

The trip back to Sydney could have been interesting too... not far down the F3 I decided to check the load as it had shifted ever so slightly. It turned out that it was hanging on by a thread - the crappy nylon ropes had rubbed through! I hate to think what would have happened had it come off at 100km/h plus... After I tied it down again with some strategically placed carboard and towels to stop chaffing I was on my way again.


...or not. Freakin' battery had died. I eventually managed to coax it into giving me enough juice to just turn over, and luckily got back to Sydney. $190 later the nice men from NRMA had put a new battery in for me. At least I was home...

Thank you so much to Dennis for what was a very informative and inspiring visit. I hope to catch up with you sometime soon around the traps!