Our Series 2A project

rustyrhinos · #1 21st-July-2008, 18:29

New on here, so hi

Bought an ex-military 1963 Series 2a - also known as "Red" at the beginning of the year. Took it off the road to give it an MOT and oh dear, what a mess! Had to replace nearly all the outriggers, rear 1/4 chassis, D post, brakelines, footwells etc etc. A lot of the repairs to the chassis had either been done with silicon (and undersealed voer to look like weld, I kid you not) or on the other hand were so weak (in one case causing the chassis to crack most of the way round) that you could prize them off with a screwdriver.

So it has been a bit of a welding marathon to say the least!

Just a few pics for you...there are loads more at The Rusty Rhinos - Saharan Rally 2009 - the vehicle if anyone is interested

How it looked when we bought it...

Yum yum silicon welding

And then soon it was looking like this...oh dear!...

New rear end welded on...new shocks/springs/shackles/leafs/painted axle/new shoes/cylinders

Not much of a D Post left!

new footwell and D post:

When the cardboard cut-outs come out, you know its serious business

Yum Yum....jsut one of the bad bits...this time a good crack due to a previous poor repair...

How he sits at the moment (note new drivers footwell too!)

Jobs left to do...modify seatbox to take Astra GTE seats, change drivers door bottom, replace master cylinder, make battery tray for 2 batteries (going split charge and bigger alternator), replace all door seals. And then for the MOT. Not that much to do I guess considering what has been done so far!

Regards

Alex

Sean · #2 21st-July-2008, 19:17

nice

dunt look like theres much thickness left on that chassis - looked at one the other day and no holes but it had lost about 50% of the thickness is plenty of places so probably not a good idea to treat it rough

rustyrhinos · #3 21st-July-2008, 23:33

Ah, it will be fine! Replaced all the thin bits now!

TheVengefulElephant · #4 23rd-July-2008, 03:08

Ear, those welding goggles look a bit light duty!

rustyrhinos · #5 23rd-July-2008, 08:20

Those are strictly for grinding only! You are a bunch of negative sods lol

rustyrhinos · #6 30th-July-2008, 21:18

Sorted out the double battery tray. Jobs a goodun

rustyrhinos · #7 18th-August-2008, 10:40

Found the chassis was a bit bent where the front leaf spring goes through the body (looks like someone had been hitting it with a very heavy hammer!). But fear not, home-brewed-from-bits of scrap chassis puller tool was created and in no time problem was solved. Also works as a bush extraction/fitment tool too, so will be keeping it!

Front suspension put together, wings and new steering box guard fitted and a whole list of other jobs done, and finally she is on own 4 wheels (been about 6 months now!)

Still alot to do. I am keeping my fingers crossed I will get the time to get it on the road before the Peterborough show. Hmm, I said that about Manby though!

The Mad Hat Man · #8 18th-August-2008, 11:23

dont ya just luv it when yo neighbours gorra front gardin like tha?

rustyrhinos · #9 18th-August-2008, 12:04

Yup, they probably all hate us, our noisy vehicles and the noise we make...but they havn't made complaints for many years

. Only people that knock on the door are pikeys or "scrap dealers" suggesting very kindly that they could take any of our cars for free!

jmattley · #10 19th-August-2008, 16:57

I fuckin' 'ate pikeys! Not much for the colour though.