1965 series 2a restoration ( not the lemon )

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SmallWellshBarn

Active Member
Posts
138
Location
Monmouth
Last Christmas some of you might remember I bought a good from far but far good 1971 Series 3. However within days it had become apparent that it was a lemon nots of issues and a bit of a fight with the dealer to take it back. They saw sense in the end after I made some rather damming videos with my thought and released them ;-)
I decided to find a local series rather than from a dealer and substantially cheaper. She was in good order and had been reasonably restored by the previous owner. She was grey and lovely and had the approval of the local series guru.
However she was a little battered whilst and I liked the grey but had fell in love with the pastel green from the Lemon. Having joined various LR Facebook pages forums etc when trying to high light the issue with the Lemon. I made a couple of good connections and came to an arrangement with one of the guys to strip her down and repaint her.
Thus in January I drover her down to Devon for the work to commence. The strip down went well and quickly it was quickly apparent that the chassis was in good condition for her age. She has had work done in the past but fortunately there were no signs of Macgyvering.
Bulkhead wheels were shot blasted and with various other bits were cleaned up and re galvanised. The chassis was cleaned down and re-painted with chassis paint and given a treatment of wax oil.
The restoration process stalled for a while due to other work commitments of the sprayer for a couple of months.
I ordered new door bottoms and new rear door as the others whilst ok were just not up to par. I swapped the old bits for a set of lucas wiper motors. The old bonnet was a standard bonnet that I could mount the wheel on I just loved the look. So swapped the old bonnet for the new bonnet :)
Other new parts purchased all new seats front and back, I decided not to fit the middle front seat and opted to keep the useful cubby box also forked out for a new smiths heater warmth and being able to see are actually rather important I came to realise.
Things I have not done I wish I had. I would have liked to have replaced the whole loom and stripped down the engine and had her looking shiny and new. Well perhaps next year.
Rather a picture heavy thready apologies in advance.

This is what she looked like when she arrived good condition and usable.





Chassis condition once stripped down.

Then Painted



No ramp so the fork lift was used to enable the chassis to be cleaned underneath and painted.


New door bottoms ready to be primed


Rear door painted first coat


Wings primed


Hey presto painted ;-)



Rear tub before





Roof and sides





Wheels and other bits and bobs



Stuff to be galvanised





Now the fun starts with putting her back together. Need to get hold of the correct tool to put back the dome rivets and pick up all the new nuts and bolts on Monday.







 
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The project was started in January of this year should be finished in a few weeks. Sadly I will not be able to driver her for a while as a few weeks ago I rolled my micro tractor broke my pelvis couple of places and various internal crush injuries and had to be airlifted to hospital. Nearly died was 30 mins on my own ( old tractor no roll bar )

 
All the new nuts & bolts were picked up today and the rims have had there boots put back on ;-)

The mechanic picked up a variety of sizes 10mm 13mm and 17mm , well not metric but the equivalent. We are going to use metric and try and use as little variety as possible so's any work in the future needs minimal tools .. It's not going into competitions for originality so we will also be using nylon locking nuts rather than spring washers and plain nuts ..

In his opinion nylon locking nuts are better than spring washers for not vibrating especially for an older Landrover.

 
Woah, hope you are getting back to full health soon!

The painting looks brilliant. Im going to attempt some coach painting on my landy next week.
 
My favourite colour. I dream of doing a full resto job like that. Get well soon.
 
Beautiful! Lovely job, glad to see someone getting one of these great vehicles to such a high standard! Glad you're OK. Regards. Chris

I am looking forward to her being put back together. Bit gutted as just decided to change the loom and I can't get hold of one for a minimum 8 weeks ;-(

Woah, hope you are getting back to full health soon!

The painting looks brilliant. Im going to attempt some coach painting on my landy next week.

She is looking wonderful stripping her allows the paint to get in to all the important nooks and crannies

My favourite colour. I dream of doing a full resto job like that. Get well soon.

She was nice in grey but I just loved the pastel green.

Mending slowly ;-)
 
This week has been a slow week and rather an expensive week. All new nuts and bolts ordered we have changed over to metric ordered all new wheel nuts and complete set of original seals and rubbers doors tub roof vents etc.
There was a delay from not having the right tool to put the dome rivets in with. So Fred came made his own dome rivet gismo.
The Dome rivet holder Fred made was from an old tdi push rod, after a little grinding to make the cup shallower its a damn near perfect fit.. then to give it some weight he picked up a lump of metal from the scrap bin at the engineers were he gets everything blasted , he will be drilling a hole in the end of the lump of metal to take the shaft of the push rod / dome holder...

Then just got to decide which chisel he should cut down to make a flat end that will flatten ( he hopes ) the blunt end of the rivet nicely... after a bit of practice no doubt...
Started to bolt every thing back together hit a bit of a snag.
Due to the tub rotting away at the point of fixing to the chassis Fred is running a piece of steel behind the tub to help hold it. Hopefully it will clamp then use the dome Allen key bolts to hold it in place it should look cool with those bolts.

All hubs have been cleaned off and sprayed ready for new wheel nuts. Tow bar and handles sprayed ready for fitting and Feed procured some new big zinc Coated bolts for tow bar so that'll all crisp and new ;-)





New strip to go behind tub



As the tub is not strong enough along the sill.





Shiny shiny

Home made come rivet holder


Lovely galvanised bolts will take care for galvanic reaction
 
some very nice work there.

Thank you ;-)

Looks class the galvanise came up really well, keep the pics coming!

The galvanising makes it look mint once it dulls a bit will look more in character ;-)

Yesterdays work was a continuation of working on the tub fitting the wheels new bolds arrived yesterday fitting other various bits and bobs back on.



Door catches going back on shiny new bolts all around, what is the point of restoring the body and sticking the old nuts back on !



Love the crisp painted wheels and new bolts.



Today hopeful all the riveting on the tub will be finished have to now be patient as we are waiting for all the new seals for the doors and roof to arrive.
 
Started banging in the dome rivets today finished the paint on the bulk head and finishing off the bonnet. New reflectors arrived and working out the correct position to put the back on.
Dome rivets look great.


Before


Bonnets come out well. We are going to put the rivets back in but leave them unpainted as they will look different to every other series ;-)



Very pleased with the bulkhead ;-)



New reflectors

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What better way to spend a few hrs on a sunny Saturday afternoon fitting the bulkhead back on to the old girl. Starting to look like a series again. This week the engine was taken out to be cleaned up and painted. Removal allowed for the front chassis to be painted properly then wax oiled.




 
Super colour and super thread.

It is a sweet colour

Nice to see such attention to detail. Looks fantastic, you'll have a very nice Land Rover when it's done.

She is coming on well the rivet counters might not approve but I have decided to go metric on nuts and bolts and screws that was my only concession.
Its been a slow few weeks with other commitments taking precedence. Lots pf mundane jobs rubbing down peddles steering wheel and various other bits and bobs then spraying them ready to be fitted. More spending uggggg its all the little things that are adding up. New rubber seal between the bulkhead and steering wheel new and a few knew knobs !!





Out with the old and in with the new













 
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