1963 S2a 88" (2.25p) "Doris"

[TeamFA]

G'day!

We have recently purchased our dream car... a 1963 S2a, 88", named Doris.

Purchased from a farm in NSW, she is currently unregistered, but driveable. Although she was last driven 2 years ago, after a battery transplant she fired up pretty easily on the 2-year old fuel (2.25l petrol). The engine runs very quiet, all gears, forward and reverse, 4WD and high/low range all seem normal. Brakes work (as well as a series ever work when standard!), and clutch action feels good.


Trailered home, she's sitting in our garage waiting for us to get back from our overseas trip in a couple of months, whereupon we will start working on getting her back on the road.

She appears to be fairly stock, except for:

• Stromberg carburetor fitted (suspected original Solex in a box in the back),
• Bullbar fitted (now removed, and free to a good home, as it won't be required),
• Rear crossmember replaced with some welded steel section,
• Who knows what else?

She came with some spares:

• additional engine block. Application of grips on the crankshaft turns the engine over, complete with rods and pistons,
• additional head,
• additional diff (not known if front, rear or neither!),
• additional axles (as above, but suspect matched with above!),
• additional front panel (with grill and headlights),
• some buckets of as-yet unidentified stuff.

She is destined to become the daily town car for the fairer half (replacing the current Daewoo Lanos), and weekend short drive car.

This is our current rough plan:

• Remove all of the bodywork, inspect bodywork and chassis (firewall!) for rust. Firewall has a couple of bubbling spots, but doesn't look too bad... (yet!)
• Learn to how to sandblast, weld, and generally repair any damaged of the above,
• Assess the engine, with the possibility of a rebuild/refresh where necessary,
• Reassemble, re-painting along the way. We currently have our hearts set on the rarer "sand" colour body, with limestone top. From our research, getting this colour might prove troublesome, so any advice would be greatly appreciated,
• Replace the rear crossmember with a more genuine item, and find some below-door panels,
• Leave the engine fairly well stock, with the exception of perhaps an electronic ignition, and investigating the possibility of fitting a brake booster (but leaving the drum brakes). Investigate the feasibility of converting to run on unleaded (don't know much about this as yet) while assessing the engine.
• Fit a heater!

Regards seating and registration, the following is what we would ideally like to do:

• Replace the aging and non-standard front seats with the Exmoor Trim "Deluxe Front Seats", and fit to both sides in the load area the Exmoor Trim 2-Man bench seats, giving a 7-seat total,
• Fit seat belts to all positions (understanding engineering certificate may be required for this, but happy to do so) - assuming lap belts would be sufficient.

We would also like to have the ability to have the roof on in winter, but to remove it in summer, and replace with a canvas roof hood and sticks. If this isn't a possibility legality-wise, then we would probably stick with the hood and sticks (pun intended).

Anybody who has had experience with doing this or know if it's possible (or not!) to be done in Queensland, your advice is greatly appreciated. We have been scouring the threads in the past few weeks, but getting a definitive idea on our setup is proving difficult.

Cheers!
Michael and Anneleis

[Landy Smurf]

I have driven that one before. It does drive pretty well and I think you got it for a good price.
It does have some rust though in the pillar or a pillar aka side of the firewall and doors and maybe a little in the chassis.
The steering is quite good and gears are good as you said.
The brakes and suspension do need some attention though.

[TeamFA]

The brakes and suspension do need some attention though.

Ah yes... I forgot to mention that the suspension is poorly. We drove it down the rough dirt road outside our property near Bundarra, with all of the spares in the back... that was an experience!

[Landy Smurf]

LOL It is a good road to test it out. From memory the brakes were ok but pulled a lot to the right?
I am assuming the owner david(?) told you a bit of the history of it.

[TeamFA]

It was David - your memory seems to be in better nick than mine. Mentioned that he bought it from down on the coast.

I must admit I didn't notice a pull to the right on the brakes, but then I was slightly overwhelmed with everything else that was different at the time, after climbing out of the relatively soft and modern Defender. No synchros on first and second will take a little getting used to!

How long ago did you drive it, if I may ask?

[Landy Smurf]

3 months ago or there abouts.
The person who owned it before him was in the sydney land rover club hence the symbol on the bonnet.
It was this owner who did the repair work.
I think the footwells have been replaced as well but I can't remember that well.

[garrywlh]

G'day Michael, Anneleis and 'Doris'!

Great looking Landy! Mine is a '67 SWB named 'Hedley' and he is worse shape than 'Doris'! Just starting the rebuild journey.

Looking forward to your rebuild!

cheers,

Garry

[Dinty]

Rebuilding a Series Land Rover is just like playing with a large Meccano set, you just have to remember where everything goes and in what order it needs to go back together, have a look at this if you have time, it is my S2A 88"GS ex military, but apart from the raised chassis everything is the same as a civilian Land Rover
113-372
anyway I'm sure you will not be far from help if you need it at anytime, cheers Dennis

[TeamFA]

G'day all!

A year has passed, and life has kept us too busy to do much (anything at all, really) to Doris.

We're now going to start dedicating time (and money) to her in ernest.

We've got the bodywork off, the photo below is from last weekend. We've since removed the under-door pieces (4 nice rusty nuts and bolts that took an hour to remove), and the front bumper monstrosity. The front chassis end has rusted previously, and a previous owner had welded and bolted a lot of metal to cover and reinforce everything.

Next is to start removing things from the engine bay.

We're going to be repairing the chassis at the front at the spring hangers - I've seen that you can buy these sections to weld in. We also have to do the rear bumper, as it has a "custom" one fitted to it.

The sides and the footwells of the firewall also need new bits welded in.

I've seen these bits for sale at Paddocks and the like - does anybody have any experience buying these bits in Australia?

[TeamFA]

What lurks within...