Series 2a ex MOD project

Making slow progress with tin work now.

Front panel now all good and painted in primer.Now making a start on the bulkhead footwells.Repairing insitu so as keep everything in alignment.Nice plate on the engine block which shows engine recon date.Anyone know where in the country the ECO 2 bit on the plate refers to.

Progress slowed down a bit over the summer months due to the good weather(I like sailing a lot so spent a lot of my free time on the boat instead of working on the 88).The Disco also broke its gearbox so that had to be changed and a new clutch kit put in as well as a bit of chassis welding for its MOT.Now that the summer toys are put away i'm getting back to the restoration.Got a new passenger side footwell from on order,the one with the strengthening ribs pressed in to keep it as original as possible and spent today cleaning up and reorganising the garages.Had the engine running a few brief times with jury rigged ignition system just for kicks(it sounds great without any exhaust system on it!)Hope to get some more pics up soon of the new footwell being welded in

Making a bit of progress this week as had a few days off.Passenger side footwell and new bulkhead foot all welded in now.Only a small repair at the bottom of the door pillar needed.I left the bulkhead attached to the remains of the front half of the old chassis to act as a jig when letting the new panels in.Gave the engine its first degreasing to get the majority of the muck off.Next job is to removed bulkhead from remains of old chassis and the pop engine and box into new chassis.

Gave the engine another clean today.Used some white spirit substitute branded as low volitile organics from the local pound shop which seemed to work okay.Anyway looking at the engine block again the timing cover casting seems to have a wide flat lug cast into it that i dont see on other 2.25 engines.I presume its something to do with its military past.Anyone know what was mounted there? The mounting can be seen in the second last picture of my previous post.

The 24 volt alternator fitted there, big thing like a biscuit barrel in size. I had one on mine but I swapped the timing cover for a standard one (straight swap).

Finally got the engine and gearbox out of the remains of the old chassis today.Plan to plop in the new chassis tomorrow which will give me back one half of the double garage.Its been like working on two vehicles at the same time!Need to have a tidy up as there's parts everywhere.I've kept chopped out and kept the front and under gearbox bellhousing cross members as they are rot free and are available if anyone needs them(see for sale section).

A few pics of engine and transmission awaiting paint.

Put some primer on a few panels today.Was a bit bad and sprayed them in the loft which I'd previously been forbidden to do but she's 350 miles away for the weekend with son in Oxford and daughter away on The Isle of Cumbrae for a couple of days training with the RYA Scottish squad so nobody to tell on me except the cat but he's a Land Rover guy too so quite safe there.

Was going to have a crack at fitting new loom today but far to miserable out there today! Its a NOS correct military loom so shouldn't be too much trouble to get everything to work.

Put some topcoat on a few panels.Strange that family did not like the noise from the compressor going in the loft!

Too cold and damp to do any more spray painting so got on with the wheels.Military split rims that hadn't been apart for a while necessitated a slow approach to separating the two halves,plenty heat and penetrating fluid and lots of patience saw all the nuts come off without breaking any bolts or twisting them.A good derusting then followed.Split rims can be lethal if you don't let all the air out of the tyre before cracking off any of the nuts!

Final top coat on some of the panels drying nicely in the spray booth aka loft! The wings will probably fit up there too but nae chance with the bonnet,bulkhead and rear tub.Still got to spay them sneakly when everyone is out or else domestic harmony would be somewhat upset.

that's a good idea using the loft, amazing how many uses there are for duplo too

excellent paint job too

Thanks.Yup big leggo holds the panels off the table pretty well!

Been getting on with the paint work.Got the rad panel,seatbox and lids and both doors done.Doors all reassembled with new window channels after the new doors tops had been painted.Got the original radiator back from a company called East End Radiators after they recored and rebuilt it for me.I thought it quite pricey but at £198 but apparently that's a very good price so im happy.

nathanglasgow said:

Been getting on with the paint work.Got the rad panel,seatbox and lids and both doors done.Doors all reassembled with new window channels after the new doors tops had been painted.Got the original radiator back from a company called East End Radiators after they recored and rebuilt it for me.I thought it quite pricey but at £198 but apparently that's a very good price so im happy.

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Cheers for keeping us updated

Looks like a good project.

that radiator looks great, worth the spend IMO

Securing brake pipes to chassis today.Had them roughed in for a while now but as i'm starting to reassemble the front end body work it was time to drill and tap holes in the nice new galv chassis to reuse the original fittings which are screwed in.

Spraying continues bit by bit.Front wings needing only minor attention to the military strengthening plates on the underside of the top wing.Going to have to order some more undercoat,topcoat and thinners.Looks like its going to use 4lt of topcoat,3lt of primer and 3lt of thinners in total.