Thread: Series 2a restoration

Looks like there is some sort of foreign material in there, and possibly some non-standard wiring!

John

that's why you cover the pitot,
but in a land rover they get in anywhere.

I think a few mud wasps will be the least of my problems. I am taking the wings off at the moment. Much - but not all- of the electrics seems to be working but the wiring looks to be in a real mess. I think I will buy a new loom at some point - not looking forward to fitting that. At what stage would you fit new electrics - towards the end when all the body work has been re- fitted? The engine runs and sound OK - no smoke. What work should I do on the engine as a matter of course in terms of the restoration? Scott

you can scare yourself into a rebuild if you want to, but all I suggest is drop the sump and have a look at the innards, look in the bottom of the sump for part numbers and check all the bits that you can see, get someone knowledgeable about engines to have a squiz and go from there.
of course that is an oversimplification but dig as deep as you want, if it was running ok then just clean the bits up and give it some tlc while it is out.

You can get carried away and very quickly over capitalise on a project like this.
If the motor runs OK you could just leave it, or as Harry said you could drop the sump etc.
At the moment mine starts & runs OK after a carby rebuild, points, condensor, oil change, coolant flushed & replaced but the oil pressure is low. This might mean problems with the big ends so at some point I'll drop the sump.

The next discussion is "what is restoration".
I think the question has already been raised (by JDNSW) do you want it as it left the factory, do you want an 'in service look' or a better than new look ?

Your vehicle has clearly been repainted in the past so I can understand why you might want to put it back to how it looked when it left service.

You mentioned the wiring, if fully rebuilding you would install this towards the end of the rebuild. Locally you will be up for close to $500 for the harness (I think someone got a military one made up recently) so maybe tidy up/repair the original.

If you want the canopy instead of the hardtop a good quality reproduction is over $1,300. I have one ready to fit but while waiting to be done a hardtop is fitted.

Lots of decisions.......

Conservation vs. Restoration



Colin
Colin

I would really like to do a full restoration and get it back to where it was in 1971 - maybe not possible but worth a go I think. There are many reasons for this.
1) I have the time - I will retire in 5-6 years so it will be a project bubbling along in the background. I do quite a bit of 4x4 but have a new Patrol for that. Wilf will never be used for that - plan to use it as a Sunday Driver.
2) Wilf is a mix between England and Australia. Manufactured in the Midlands (about 50 miles from where I was born) and assembled in Australia. I feel a strange affinity with the car!
3) I like Wilf's military background. My father served in WW2 and my son at this very moment is serving in the Australian Navy on HMAS ANZAC in ANZAC Cove in Gallipoli. He is the ship's doctor. The car is a link to these great guys.
4) It will be a great education for me. I work as an academic so it will be great to be working producing something. I have never even serviced a car before so I have a lot to learnt. I have already signed up for welding course at TAFE.

So for these reasons I want to fully restore the car. Yes I will probably overcapitalize in terms of re-sell value - but that's not what it is about at all. Thanks for getting me to reflect on this.

Now enough of this thinking and back to some doing!

A little more progress made. The wings are off. A real mix of nuts and bolts - some metric many obviously non original. There are two small areas of rust in the fire wall. The ends of the chasis are a bit mouth eaten - but all that is left is solid

Looks like it is going to be a good project for you. That is normal for the dumb irons to have rust, firewall the same.

Mrs hh