A Very long project

Well I thought I would share with you all my latest purchase, a 1954 86" series 1.
Not in the best condition with a very rotten bulkhead, so I can't see myself getting very far with this any time soon.
anyway here's some pictures for your entertainment!




One very rotten crossmember

That looks bad. How long has the mot got left to run?

Got your work cut out there!

Haha. Ran out 15 years ago! But as of November it won't need an MOT! Don't think I'm stupid enough to drive it like that though

Little bit of t-cut and that'll buff out Have you dared try to fire it up yet?

The wiring is in a right state at the moment, gonna have a clean up of it today and may risk it.. Don't think you would hear the sound of the engine to the rust flying off. I was told the engine was started about a year ago and the only issue was the carb had seized. But when I took the black screw out the top (SU carb) it was lubed up nicely. Unfortunately im completely new to petrol engines... So gonna have to learn on the go

Good luck, keep us updated with pictures!

Ooh a series 1 resto thread maybe?

Dear God, after standing and looking at my 90 project this morning these pictures have really cheered me up Should t-cut out though like ajb403 says haha

i love s1's will be watching this thread all the way

Good luck...jealous!

I see you've got the rover 60 cylinder head fitted, runs better with this and a bit more mpg.

Don't expect this thread to update any time quick haha. Piggy bank is gonna take some filling for new bulkhead parts. But just to keep you guys happy here's some pictures of it being cleaned out a bit and all the rust flakes cleared up. And some of the treasure I've found in the back!

It looks to be complete which is always good. Going to be an interesting restoration. Good luck.

Start with new bulkhead and chassis maybe?

Are you welding up the bulkhead and chassis yourself?

samc88 said:

Are you welding up the bulkhead and chassis yourself?

Click to expand...

if he does hes a braver man than me

Chassis I think I can cope with.. Just. The bulkhead is going to need a lot of thought.

I would love a new chassis and bulkhead but it's more than I can afford in a long time, unless some of you kind people wold like sponsor me to do it

chassis needs new rear crossmember, 2 12" sections of chassis and 2 new dumb irons.

Bulkhead is a whole different ball game...

Nice I like a challenge, I would make a drawing of the bulkhead and make a complete new one. the chassis i would restore. as for the engine I have rebuilt a few 2lts you have a Rover 60 head which is good but if you want to keep it original looking you can port an iron head and make a big improvement as they are very poor to start with. also i have fitted 2.6 pistons which raises the compression up to about 10:1 I have even got Piper to regrind cams all of which improves efficiency.
Of course you may wish to stick with a standard engine. be aware there are a few different 2 lts with different bore spacing amongst other things.
I saw 86 truck cab at the alrc nationals with parabolic springs and a TDI made me want another.
Be sure to do a build thread.

As for the chassis you could always make one it's not as difficult as you may imagine I made this for about £200. I knocked up a basic jig cut the sides out with an angle grinder, the top and bottom plates cut on a 2.5 mtr guillotine then tacked up and welded with a mig and it didn't distort much at all. Took me about 4 week ends.