Meet "Len"

[cjc_td5]

Well after a few years looking around for a S1 project, one has finally come up for the right price and close enough to be convenient. Meet “Len” the 1954 86” with a few bumps and scrapes but what appears to be sound base to keep me amused for some time to come. Mechanically it appears sound and there is no structural rust to speak of. I am not looking to road register it or anything like that in the foreseeable future, but mainly to get it nice and tidy for running around the farm. The full body off restoration will come later when I have a bigger garage and more time.

It has a few challenges to sort out to get on the “road to mobility”. I haven’t obtained a set of workshop manuals yet so please excuse me if a few of my questions are easily covered by them.

- The engine block has a hole into the water gallery immediately in front of the exhaust manifold (see pic). I believe it should have a plug in it and would normally provide a port for a heater pipe (not fitted). What are my options? (Recut a thread and insert a new plug, fit a welsh plug?)

- The springs have sagged badly. I presume I might be able to get them reset (there is a workshop in Orange that does this). I presume this would be more feasible than obtaining replacements? I have read that getting the shackles off is going to be a pig of a job, one to look forward to……

- The exhaust is non-existent rear of the passenger side footwell. While this gives a meaty sound, it does not necessarily endear me to the neighbourhood. I presume to get a new exhaust pipe would be custom job and the local exhaust workshop (rather than a standard pattern being available to have one bent up from)??

I look forward to sharing of our collective expertise to hopefully avoid the common pitfalls of LR ownership.

Cheers,
Chris

[williampp]

Hi Chris, I am just starting on a 1955 86 series 1, looks very much like yours.
With the hole in the block, it appears to have a thread in it , so I borrowed a 3/4 inch pipe tap and cleaned out the thread. Then made up a brass plug, screwed it in to make sure it fitted, but did not screw it to tight. It has to be made flush with the block (the exhaust manifold fits partly over it), so I marked it with a hacksaw, removed it, cut at mark, silver soldered a short bolt to the middle, screwed it back in with some gasket goo, cut off the bolt, used the angle grinder (carefully) to level it. It looks OK.
Hope this helps

[JDNSW]

Well after a few years looking around for a S1 project, one has finally come up for the right price and close enough to be convenient. Meet “Len” the 1954 86” with a few bumps and scrapes but what appears to be sound base to keep me amused for some time to come. Mechanically it appears sound and there is no structural rust to speak of. I am not looking to road register it or anything like that in the foreseeable future, but mainly to get it nice and tidy for running around the farm. The full body off restoration will come later when I have a bigger garage and more time.

It has a few challenges to sort out to get on the “road to mobility”. I haven’t obtained a set of workshop manuals yet so please excuse me if a few of my questions are easily covered by them.

- The engine block has a hole into the water gallery immediately in front of the exhaust manifold (see pic). I believe it should have a plug in it and would normally provide a port for a heater pipe (not fitted). What are my options? (Recut a thread and insert a new plug, fit a welsh plug?)

If it has been threaded I would clean up the thread and replace the plug.

- The springs have sagged badly. I presume I might be able to get them reset (there is a workshop in Orange that does this). I presume this would be more feasible than obtaining replacements? I have read that getting the shackles off is going to be a pig of a job, one to look forward to……

First thing to do is to apply penetrating oil to the shackles, and repeat regularly for a couple of weeks. It may turn out to not be a problem since it seems to be an inland vehicle.

Since the springs are interchangeable, if not identical, up to the end of Series 3 production, there is no problem getting new springs (albeit expensive!). Unfortunately the thin leaves the springs use seem to be no longer available, and new springs will have thicker and fewer leaves.

You can even fit parabolic springs. Resetting might be less expensive, but is likely to be less satisfactory.

- The exhaust is non-existent rear of the passenger side footwell. While this gives a meaty sound, it does not necessarily endear me to the neighbourhood. I presume to get a new exhaust pipe would be custom job and the local exhaust workshop (rather than a standard pattern being available to have one bent up from)??

All exhaust components seem to be available from, for example, Four Wheel Drives, probably also from Land Vehicle Spares , a bit nearer to you. At the prices in my copy of Four Wheel Drives catalogue, I would not consider getting one made.

I look forward to sharing of our collective expertise to hopefully avoid the common pitfalls of LR ownership.

Cheers,
Chris

It looks like a basically sound specimen, although you will certainly have quite a bit of work to do!

Hope the above helps.

John

[Aaron IIA]

The hole is for a welsch plug, not a heater. It is not threaded. Replace it with a welsch plug.

Obtaining replacement road springs is normally a straight forward job. Go to a spring manufacturer, and tell them what you want. If I was going to the effort to remove the springs, I would not mess around with putting the old ones back on, unless they were in very good condition.

You may be able to get an off the shelf exhaust for your Land Rover. When I bought a front pipe for my SIIA last year, it was about $70. I will enquire if they have SI pipes aswell.

Aaron.

[Aaron IIA]

If the hole is actually threaded, it will probally be 1" 16TPI British Sandard Conduit. 3/4 BSP is 14TPI, so a BSP fitting will start, but bind up. If you can get a British Standard Conduit tap then use it, else use a thread file to clean the thread.

Plugs using 1" British Standard Conduit are available from Land Rover parts specialists.

Aaron.

[Sleepy]

Looks good Chris

[ellard]

Hi there Chris

A nice looking project - and looking forwards to the updates.

I think your inital question has been answered within the posts above.

The pictures you have posted above - its not all that clear but does your vehicle have a steel skid plate under the fuel tank also protecting the master cylinder (from the front drivers side wheel well under the fuel tank).

Could this vehicle originally originated from SA - as this sort of protection was a common conversion on Land Rovers used on the Woomera Rocket Range........(do you have any more close up pictures). .

Hi there I have attached a picture of the skid plate under the drivers side on my ex Woomera Fire Engine.......


All the best

Wayne

[Hartley]

My 55 2 litre had a threaded plug, but the thread in the head was badly corroded and beyond repair, so I made it into a slightly larger hole with a grinding point in a drill and inserted a welsh plug. The size was ever so much smaller than 1 inch, but I dont remember the exact fraction. It worked ok but I was very careful with the grinding and may have just been lucky.

[Aaron IIA]

Wayne, from the pictures privided, it looks to me as if it has the same skid plate as your vehicle.

Aaron.

[JDNSW]

Wayne, from the pictures privided, it looks to me as if it has the same skid plate as your vehicle.

Aaron.

Sure does!

John