Ben's 107

[whitakerb]

I thought I'd put something together to document the rebuild of my 107.

I picked it up in May this year, with the intention of stripping it down once I had built a workshop in the back yard.


I believe it was sitting next to this shed for the last 4 years or so, and we were able to drive it out of its resting place without too much trouble.


The interior is complete, in fact the whole car is.

Chassis number is 57261794, which makes it 1955 but it isn't a CKD. Unfortunately the Fawles records appear not to exist for 1955 so I'm not expecting to uncover much on its history.

[whitakerb]

Got it home and thanks to Andy, it has arrived with a whole heap of spare parts.

Couldn't resist taking it for a quick drive before I pulled it apart.
With safety being an absolute priority, the temporary fuel tank was strapped to the battery. It was quite difficult to drive as the farmer who was using it before it was parked up drove through a fence and ripped out all the brake lines. It has given me some confidence as to the condition of the engine and gearbox though. Everything seams to work except it won't drop out of 4wd when you shift back into high range.

[whitakerb]

I've been sick over the last few weeks, so my weekends have been spent at home. I have an old BMW R65 that I'm supposed be rebuilding so I can ride to work, but the series 1 has been sitting out the back for about 4 months with nothing being done.

I started by removing the aluminium off the hood sticks. This involved drilling out over 100 rivets.

The frame obviously isn't original as an entire unit, but I'm assuming the 3 uprights are possibly original. Getting the bolts out of these was quite simple, the snapped after a quarter turn. I thought this was going to set the standard for the entire strip down.

As it turns out, I have only had to drill out 2 bolts on the body. This was because the pickup tray had deformed over the nuts on the back crossmember and I couldn't get under there with a socket. I have managed to get it stripped this far, in the space of a week, just doing half an hour or so after work each night.

I've even managed to pack it all up small enough so I can still park the car in the garage.

[crackers]

Fast work. Mine took a bit longer.

I notice you didn't remove the bolts that hold the firewall up - coward (read my sage in The restoration of Wombat - mine proved a tad difficult).

You did well to stack it up so neatly too, mine's scattered in all sorts of odd places.

Looking good.

[whitakerb]

Fast work. Mine took a bit longer.

I notice you didn't remove the bolts that hold the firewall up - coward

Looking good.

I don't know what all that fuss was about. Ive stripped it down this far with nothing more than a 3/8th metric socket set; every bolt practically fell out.

It does baffle me though. Most of these bolts look like they've only been in five minutes, they don't have any corrosion on them, yet right next to it is a totally rotten section of chassis.

[crackers]

I've had bolts that undid as though put in yesterday and ones four inches away that were a mass of rust. Weird beasties these Landies.

I'm interested that you've got away simply using your metric socket set. I started with that but quickly had to buy a Whitworth set (cheap on ebay, no biggie) as the metrics were close but not right, certainly not good enough for the more recalcitrant nuts.

As they say with British cars - when things are going well, get in some supplies for the after disaster recovery because it's just around the corner

It's fair to say that I've had my fair share of nuts that just sheered off, nuts that needed the angle grinder, nuts that complained every turn of the way and a surprising number that simply came off as though new with only those two firewall bolts that have seriously tested me. Mind you, I haven't got the suspension off yet

Planning on a 'full restoration' or just a tart up and drive job? Having a complete vehicle is a good start, at least you only have to 'fix' things.

[whitakerb]

I joined the Series One Club in the UK last week; they have loads of information available on their forum. One article of interest was converting the rear axle to fully floating. I had always wanted to do this but didn't want to change the rear axle as it would prevent me from licensing the 107 as a historical vehicle. Turns out I can have my cake and eat it too.

I had to drop an old red motor off for a friend and ended up coming back with some goodies.


The axle is circa 1962 (Although the diff centre doesn't look like it is) and with some parts off this and some creative machining I should have fully floating axles and still maintain the series 1 wheel track

I also managed to pick up a half decent radiator panel I realised my original radiator panel was held in by the radiator hoses.

Crackers: Im planning on restoring it as best I can without outsourcing too much. Painting will be fun as I'm colour blind!

I also spent half of the day working on our other project ready for its race in a couple of weeks.

[crackers]

Hmmm, swapping a Holden motor for Landy bits is probably a good trade

What's this 'Series One Club' of which you speak?

[whitakerb]

Hmmm, swapping a Holden motor for Landy bits is probably a good trade

What's this 'Series One Club' of which you speak?

Without taking any credit off Aulro, which is likely the best single marque forum on the internet, LRSOC.com have a very good forum specific to the Series 1. You have to be a paid up member to the club to access the forum however.


And yes I was glad to get rid of that boat anchor. It was starting to make the place look untidy.

[Dinty]

G'day Ben,
Mate you do not have to be a fully paid member to access the Series 1 forum in the UK, I have been a lurker/user for quite a few years, if you are a fully paid up member that gives you access to other areas within the site + their magazine which is published ? times throughout the year, the only thing that you have to be super careful about is your language as it will draw scorn ++, I don't have a language issue on the net.
Ben don't let colour vision put you off, I'm the same and I have painted all 9 of my restored Land Rovers, some in Deep Bronze Green, others in Olive Drab, here is an image of my Series 1 (unfinished)

anyway your doing all right with yours, Crackers has hit a wall a few times, it's just the luck of the draw LOL cheers Dennis