A Serious Project

Got myself a 1979 Series 88". Most of the parts seem to be there, bar the.....engine!

It's an Irish registered Series and came with the original Brown Tax Book.....

Should be a good project! What engine are you putting in it?

Perfect for a DIY electric conversion, I was thinking of doing the same if an engineless series came up. Better than argueing about 200TDIs or V8*s, It will be exempt just about everything and spont on the latest trends. Forklift motor onto the transfer case to give 2 speeds and loads of capcity for the battery weight.
https://www.lro.com/reviews/featured-vehicles/1409/electric-series-i

The 'Good Bits' are that it's almost all there, nothing had been robbed from it over the years. The 'Bad Bits' are the usual stuff, the front and back crossmembers are rotted beyond repair. The two main chassis rails are in surprisingly good order. The two front outriggers are scrap. Footwells need attention, and top hinge area of bulkhead.

Bonnet skin is good but the framework is dust, can lengths of this be bought or do I have to try 'fabricate' something myself?


A bad gash at the rear.....


And this piece, on passenger side, behind front spring hanger is bad. I don't know if anything needs to attach to it though, is it needed for the engine?.....

FlyingPete said:

Should be a good project! What engine are you putting in it?

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I'm hoping to source a 200Tdi and squeeze it in, but am in no rush to do so, there's enough to be doing to try and get the chassis back to usable condition. I'll just plod along and keep on the lookout for a 'handy' engine.....

David Leech said:

I'm hoping to source a 200Tdi and squeeze it in, but am in no rush to do so, there's enough to be doing to try and get the chassis back to usable condition. I'll just plod along and keep on the lookout for a 'handy' engine.....

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Always a good (if noisy) option if you can find one that's in a good condition. 200tdi are all quite old now and it's probably worth overhauling it before you put it in the car.

Was the car petrol or diesel originally? If petrol, a Defender 2.5 petrol with a few modifications would be a good swap. They are fairly detuned to run on poor-quality fuel as standard.

Good luck

The additional bracket on passenger side front was for steering damper addition not required.

Looks like it'll keep you busy for a while. Take your time and enjoy

Blackburn said:

The additional bracket on passenger side front was for steering damper addition not required.

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Thanks for that, I'll prob just cut it away so.....

FlyingPete said:

.....Was the car petrol or diesel originally?.....

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Registered as Diesel.....

David Leech said:

Registered as Diesel.....

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Easier to stick with diesel then, though converting to petrol isn't that difficult to do. Nowadays I don't think it's worth going from petrol to diesel anymore.

If you're doing chassis repairs anyway, it wouldn't be much extra work to move/modify engine mounts if you needed to. Then your options increase to whatever will physically fit. If you can find one and get it working, 2.0mpi from a Discovery would be a great engine for it.

Look forward, go electric! I'll bet it adds more valaue too.