Thread: '70 IIA Wagon questions

Hi John,

Here is some comparative information on your two 109s.

From Grenville Motors (New South Wales) records it appears that your "b" vehicle Chassis Number 25308881b (Eng 2518878F) was assembled toward the end of 1964 as the following vehicles 25308871 to 25308876 and 25308883 to 25308888 were sold in October to December 1964. They are listed as 109 4 cyl Softops and Hardtops. Your engine is close to the range fitted to these vehicles.

The "G" series vehicle Chassis Number 25330460G would have been assembled around the end of 1969 as numbers 25330437G to 25330448G were sold in October to December 1969. They are listed as 109 4 cyl Standard (Softtops) but subsequently Hard Tops were fitted to some as requested by purchasers.

Hope this is of some help in dating your vehicles.

Some of Faulls' records survive. PM me and I will give you a contact who may know if the records cover these vehicles.

Bob

Originally Posted by UncleHo

G'day JayBoRover

I agree with JD again on this,the combined Smiths gauge would have been the genuine LR optional extra of the time, the gauge is a manual one with a capillary water temp and a live line oil guage,(usually1/8 brass tube) so when the capillary tube failed (they are repairable) the cheapest replacement was the electric 1/2 scale Smiths that would have been current stock,also used as a Landrover accessory,the other gauges in the instrument panel look to be Morris Major/Austin Lancer or possibly from a Rover Sedan P5/P6 (I will check with a Rover Car restorer during the week)

If you have 3 x 272309 rims you only need 1 more because you could get away using a 231601 as a spare until you located the right rim

Hope that is of help
cheers

Hiya UncleHo,
I pulled the dual gauge out of the dash and sure as eggs you were right - the capillary water line has been cut about 8" into the engine bay after it passed through the bulkhead from the rear of the dash. I'm considering getting the capillary replaced and fitting the gauge to my DeeDee. Be nice to have the actual oil pressure and temp as opposed to the current oil warning lamp and the water temp gauge with a cold and red zone with a clear band between.

I think I'm onto a single 272309 wheel, so I will press a 231601 into service as the spare until I can track down some more. I saw an ad in the Quokka here in Perth for 3 wheels for $60. Sold by the time I rang. Oh well, next time.
Cheers
John B

More progress on stripping the donor S2a. This bit fell off last week ...


... leaving the donor a little "lighter" ...


... and then the sides fell off too ...



... and the bullbar, grille and bumper. (The bullbar was welded to the chassis rails in a location I couldn't get a grinder to so I had to hacksaw the support arms at the top).


The seat box came out ...


... leaving the cabin area as spacious as a disco!


That was mostly done over Easter weekend. This weekend I have got all but two bolts out to remove the tub. (A bit of grinding action to cut the brackets to the rear cross member as the crossmember is completely shot). Next weekend the tub will come out and I'll post some piccies of what I find of the remaining parts of the chassis.

I have started having evil thoughts of how nice it would be to revive the old girl, considering it seems to be a completely numbers matching 1964 truck. From what I can tell so far the chassis centre section and all outriggers look okay. The gearbox crossmember looks good and not even dented. Is it worth trying to cut out the entire back and front and restoring it? I will wait until I have taken the tub out and removed the front fenders and radiator to see how the front end looks, although I already know the dumbirons are gone and the bulkhead is stuffed. I also want to see if the engine turns over, so I'll do some basic checks there too. If the old girl has some provenance it would help, but I think it's just been a farm hack. It's not being very useful as a parts donor for my DeeDee though.

Maybe when I get it torn down a little further I might have to get someone that knows a little about these old things to have a look at it with me. I have a bad habit of forgetting to take off my rose tinted glasses at times, so a realistic person might be useful.
Cheers
John B

They are dear old things!

John pardon me for being intrusive but it greatly alarms me to see your Rover sitting on bricks for the following reasons:
1. Bricks in this application can work loose from vibration performed, whilst working on the car, allowing the machine to fall! Once one stack collapses the other three will follow rapidly, giving you no chance at all if you are under it.

2. Bricks whilst strong in compression, can fail from the localised pressure your car is placing on them i.e. the axle tube is placing a concentrated load in the centre of the brick as opposed to all over it when the brick is used in a wall. Once one brick cracks and splits the single brick remaining takes all of the load followed by death-stalking!

3. Even mortared bricks in a pier can fail from a sideways thrust; your stacks can do the same thing just from the car being bumped.

As a solution might I suggest the following?

1. Replace the bricks with cribs of timber (if money is an issue) - we use 90 x 45 x 300mm pieces of timber in the SES to support heavy loads, stacked in an open pier.

2. Buy four axle stands. I recommend the Liftech 3000 kg stands as being highly suitable; my last pair cost about $90 I think. I use them to support my Disco and S3 and they seem perfect for all jobs.

Too many people have died horrible deaths because of bricks - please don't let there be another one,

Cheers Charlie

Soon as I seen the bricks i thought of a person I new no longer with us because he did the old brick stack stand,it give me a big knot in my chest.Charlie has done a wonderful job on explaining this, and I am greatful for how he did it. I understand exactly how you feel about wanting to rebuild what you have, I have 5 different vehicles of the various species called Land Rover in various states of dispair/repair. It sort of becomes a disease because now you will find another that you just might be able to use and then another etc etc tsk tsk.They all tell a story as you remove bits and they disintegrate and become bits of a story that if I put them back together with this then that I will have a a a a real Landy! Long Live The Dream! Never Give Up! And if you think people think you are mad,Of course you are mad,but it''s a good mad!
Well I guess that has to do for now,I have to go and look and see if that body will fit that chassis and that gearbox fit that motor or what about that Holden 186 motor down the back will that fit,ohhhhh gosh i am back to where i started.
You just got to love em!
Konrad

Ps We are all mad!

Charlie, Konrad.
Thanks for your concern guys - I am touched. Note in the photo's that I have placed a paver at the top of the bricks to spread the load and used two bricks together and each layer is placed perpendicular to the previous layer. However, given your concern, I will get an extra pair of axle stands this weekend and remove the brick stands so we can all sleep easy. In the mean time I won't work underneath it.

I was concerned I was going mad. Thanks Konrad for confirming my worst fear! It didn't take long ... I've only had Land Rovers a few months.

Cheers
John B

Originally Posted by JayBoRover

Charlie, Konrad.
Thanks for your concern guys - I am touched. Note in the photo's that I have placed a paver at the top of the bricks to spread the load and used two bricks together and each layer is placed perpendicular to the previous layer. However, given your concern, I will get an extra pair of axle stands this weekend and remove the brick stands so we can all sleep easy. In the mean time I won't work underneath it.

I was concerned I was going mad. Thanks Konrad for confirming my worst fear! It didn't take long ... I've only had Land Rovers a few months.

Cheers
John B

Hi All
I tried to resist but it was to no good, I'm also smitten with Land Rover repair syndrome.
It goes nicely with Buddhism, what you don't get done in this lifetime can be finnished in the next life!!
I wish I was a bit closer to you, John, as I have some rims here in good condition that are the same as the ones you need.

Give the bricks the flick and make or buy some wide based steel supports.
paver are worse for cracking than bricks are.

Cheers Arthur

I didn't get a chance to take any photo's today, but I bought a pair of 4000kg axle stands to go with my 3000kg ones I already had, so the donor is now sitting securely on stands.

I also managed to get a pair of 272309 wheels on Saturday so now I have a set of 5. Now I've just got to strip them all of their various colours of paint and rust, buy a new set of tubes and tyres and they'll be ready to go on. Any thoughts on tubes? In the Motorcycle Cross Country Rally or Enduro Racing game I use either Mousses (a high density foam rubber solid "tube" - no air) or UHD tubes (Ultra Heavy Duty - 4mm thick rubber!). Is there different grades of light truck tubes and what does everyone use in 7.50x16 tyres?

While at Ron's place to pick up the wheels I also spied a S2a steering wheel hanging in the shed and he was happy enough to pass it on for a few dollars. It needs a bit of work with some epoxy around the centre where the spokes "attach", and the inner ring is a little rusty and coming apart, but I'm pretty sure I can work with it. I'll post some photo's soon.

I also fixed a flat on my 80" S1 today (replaced the tube due to the valve pulling away from the tube when I changed it a while ago) so that I can relocate it into a garage and make room for my DeeDee in the carport that the S1 is hogging at the moment. Then the rains can come (please) and my DeeDee won't fill up with water - just the household water tanks.
Cheers
John B