Thread: #137B 2A FC rebuild

For the sake of history, a few details of the FC that I know of.
It is a 1963 2A Forward Control, chassis number 30100137B.
It has (had) a Rover 6 cylinder engine and ENV rear axle, but Rover front axle.

It appears to have been originally a PMG vehicle. PMG sign writing is still visible on the doors. There is a guy on FB who has stated that PMG had (approx 18) of these when they were constructing the telephone lines across the Nullarbor. They had scaffolding frames on the back so that they could install the pole top furniture from the rear of the vehicle.

Mine has (had) a timber framed flat deck on the back. There was no evidence of any hinges or other fittings where side boards had been fitted.

I'll post a few "as found" photos separately.

Cheers,

1. Timber framed tray.
2. Rear step rung.
3. Interior. Quite a lux interior with full ceiling trim, door pockets etc.
4. Elephant Hide pattern seats?
5. Rover 6 cylinder (with SU carb).

Got the chassis off the car trailer. I've grabbed some spare castors and slab of timber to make a simple trolley to help move it around.

Then it was off with the rear cross member. It's too bent and badly hacked with a welder to be reused. I'll get a new one bent up as a channel section with some 5mm plate. The inside of the chassis at this end doesn't look too bad.

A few small things being happening over the last couple of weeks. Paid work keeps getting in the way of progress....

I've got a Rakeway LT230 input shaft on its way from the UK. Looking forward to seeing it as I've heard of a couple of stories of parcels from CV19 countries being rejected by our customs.

Modified the toyota diff pinion flange in the lathe to accept a LR prop shaft flange layout.

Got my new folded rear cross member. Now have to fill in the ends and add some strengthening before welding it on.

Being working on the rear axle. The old spring perches have been removed, and todays job is to fab up some new perches to suit the LR spring spacing. They won't be welded on until I do a trial mock up so that I can get the diff and transfer flanges parallel.

Repaired the first rust area. The outrigger itself is not required so I've converted it to the sloped style hanger.

The base of the outrigger was rusted through to above the spring hanger. But the steel that holds the hanger itself is sound and some new 5mm plate can only improve things... At least it has good ventilation now and I'll be sure to keep it clean from underneath.

My MIG is on back order. Hopefully it'll be here this week.

The 4JH1 engine I have sourced was known to have a few issues. The wrecker found it seized when he was removing it and essentially gave it to me for free (took a heap off the price of the engine & gearbox combo I bought). I decided it was time to go looking to see if it was saveable.

I was expecting a seized piston but it looks like a big end bearing has let go and spat the cap off? There is no noticeable scoring in the bores or piston damage. With any luck I may get away with just a crankshaft grind and undersize journals? Time to split the box off and get the engine up on a stand for a good look...

Trial fit up of proposed gearbox - LT230 adaptor. There's a Rakeway input shaft and 1310 series uni and flange on to the original gearbox output flange (with hand brake removed from rear of box). Apart from potentially some triangular gussetting at the bases of the SHS struts to handle torque loads, have I missed anything here? The drivetrain will be supported on the std engine mounts, the top gearbox mount, and 2 mounts on the transfer case.

Am making headway tidying up the chassis. The strengthening strips on the underside of the chassis above the rear axle had rust under them and had bulged. So they were cut off and new strips of 5mm flat bar welded along the bottom of the chassis box. I've got a couple more rust holes to cut out and patch, then weld on a new rear cross member, then it'll be some paint and get some springs and axles on it!