Hello from Oz.

Guidoma · May 2, 2023

Good evening

By way of introduction, I live in a town called Northam, located in Western Australia, situated approximately 100 kilometres from Perth, our capital city.

I recently purchased a Series 2A Land Rover 109, 2.25 diesel which from all the original parts on it is a late 1963 early 64 model. At some time it was converted from a 109 single cab utility to a delivery van and had the extra headlights added as well as some sort of venting system added to the bonnet (2 x pop up vents). It appears to have a Series 3steering damper and drag link fitted, so it is a bit of a mixed bag.
Some of the panels have been badly damaged and rough repairs done by filling up with massive amounts of bog, so it all has to be sorted through slowly and with care.

My ultimate aim is to return it to its original configuration of a 109 single cab utility, so there is much to be done it the area of panel replacement, new doors, bulkhead repairs, sourcing a 109 cab roof and so on.

I have given myself 3 and a half years to complete as my father and I have a pact - he will turn 90 in January 2027, just after the project is complete. He presently is in very good health and still has his drivers licence. If he still retains his drivers licence at the time of his 90th birthday, he can drive it to his birthday celebration. If he is not able to drive by then, I shall drive him.

Anyway, I hope to be able to tap into the wealth of knowledge of the Forum members obtain advice and ideas to help me along my journey.

Sincerely

Guido

Turboman · May 2, 2023

Guidoma said:
Good evening

By way of introduction, I live in a town called Northam, located in Western Australia, situated approximately 100 kilometres from Perth, our capital city.

I recently purchased a Series 2A Land Rover 109, 2.25 diesel which from all the original parts on it is a late 1963 early 64 model. At some time it was converted from a 109 single cab utility to a delivery van and had the extra headlights added as well as some sort of venting system added to the bonnet (2 x pop up vents). It appears to have a Series 3steering damper and drag link fitted, so it is a bit of a mixed bag.
Some of the panels have been badly damaged and rough repairs done by filling up with massive amounts of bog, so it all has to be sorted through slowly and with care.

My ultimate aim is to return it to its original configuration of a 109 single cab utility, so there is much to be done it the area of panel replacement, new doors, bulkhead repairs, sourcing a 109 cab roof and so on.

I have given myself 3 and a half years to complete as my father and I have a pact - he will turn 90 in January 2027, just after the project is complete. He presently is in very good health and still has his drivers licence. If he still retains his drivers licence at the time of his 90th birthday, he can drive it to his birthday celebration. If he is not able to drive by then, I shall drive him.

Anyway, I hope to be able to tap into the wealth of knowledge of the Forum members obtain advice and ideas to help me along my journey.

Sincerely

Guido

Welcome to LZ!

Nice motor, you will enjoy that.

I don't think Series 3s ever had a steering damper, maybe on V8s, not sure. So I would guess that your damper and track rod might have come off a Ninety/One Ten. I don't find a damper necessary on Series, and it will make the manual steering heavy.

Pics of your vehicle would be welcome, always interested to see what went on overseas.

Guidoma · May 2, 2023

Hello Turboman
Thanks for that.

I didn't think the Series 2 or 2A did have steering dampers, but someone obviously added one to mine. The drag link needs replacing anyway, so I think I may just go with a standard drag link when I change it over. I thought I did attach some pictures, but it appears I wasn't successful.
I'll try again.

Guidoma

Guidoma · May 2, 2023

Hello Turboman
Thanks for that.

I didn't think the Series 2 or 2A did have steering dampers, but someone obviously added one to mine. The drag link needs replacing anyway, so I think I may just go with a standard drag link when I change it over. I thought I did attach some pictures, but it appears I wasn't successful.
I'll try again.

Guidoma

Turboman · May 2, 2023

Guidoma said:
Hello Turboman
Thanks for that.

I didn't think the Series 2 or 2A did have steering dampers, but someone obviously added one to mine. The drag link needs replacing anyway, so I think I may just go with a standard drag link when I change it over. I thought I did attach some pictures, but it appears I wasn't successful.
I'll try again.

Guidoma

I try and put things back as original as possible with Series. In the UK, reasonably original examples now sell very well.
In addition to which, I think they were pretty good motors as standard, although some disagree.

Guidoma · May 2, 2023

Turboman said:
I try and put things back as original as possible with Series. In the UK, reasonably original examples now sell very well.
In addition to which, I think they were pretty good motors as standard, although some disagree.

Well, I want to try and get it back to a reasonable semblance of what it was when it first came to Australia all those years ago. It has been converted to an alternator and negative earth, so two less things I need to worry about. Getting the cab roof, rear window and some specific utility items is my main worry. Once I source

those I can go about pulling it apart, repairing or replacing rusty panels (and reducing my bank account haha).

Anyway, some photos for you. You may notice the old girl has a back wheel against a pile of gravel on my verge - that was to stop it rolling back down the hill until I could get in into my yard

as I didn't trust the brakes.
You may notice the landrover bage on the front apron, just beneath the bullbar - That was the first thing I took off as I didn't know how long the old girl would be parked on the verge. It ended up on the verge for three weeks. When the badge goes back on it will be on the grill where it should be. Anyway, the old girl is now safely locked up in my back yard.

marjon · May 2, 2023

Welcome

.

Yep a bit of work to do

, but worth the effort

.

Those back corners actually look like the original cab back side quarters? So maybe the back tailgate is the back section/window.
You never know you might get lucky on panels.

Good luck

J

Edit and on closer inspection the rear bit of roof fits as a cab roof too

.

Guidoma · May 2, 2023

Turboman said:
I try and put things back as original as possible with Series. In the UK, reasonably original examples now sell very well.
In addition to which, I think they were pretty good motors as standard, although some disagree.

Well, I want to try and get it back to a reasonable semblance of what it was when it first came to Australia all those years ago. It has been converted to an alternator and negative earth, so two less things I need to worry about. Getting the cab roof, rear window and some specific utility items is my main worry. Once I sourceView attachment 287387 those I can go about pulling it apart, repairing or replacing rusty panels (and reducing my bank account haha).

Anyway, some photos for you. You may notice the old girl has a back wheel against a pile of gravel on my verge - that was to stop it rolling back down the hill as I didn't trust the brakes. Anyway she is locked up in my yard now, safe and sound.
View attachment 287395 View attachment 287387 View attachment 287388 View attachment 287395 View attachment 287388

Guidoma · May 2, 2023

Thanks chaps.

I strongly suspect that the cab roof and corners were used in the conversion on my vehicle. The conversion was done by a company called Pressed Metal Corporation, based in Sydney, New South Wales (small plate attached to the inside of the bulkhead). That company did many hundreds Land Rover conversions for the Australian Defence Force, various government departments and numerous private contracts. They closed down back in the mid 1970's and from my research there are no known records available of the number of conversions built or when, which is unfortunate.

Below is what I am ultimately aiming to achieve, but all in good time.

Cheers

Guidoma

Knappster · May 2, 2023

Hi and welcome!

Interesting looking Landy! The rear windows are definitely an unusual mix. Good luck with the project. Let us know how you get on.

Turboman · May 2, 2023

Guidoma said:
Well, I want to try and get it back to a reasonable semblance of what it was when it first came to Australia all those years ago. It has been converted to an alternator and negative earth, so two less things I need to worry about. Getting the cab roof, rear window and some specific utility items is my main worry. Once I sourceView attachment 287387those I can go about pulling it apart, repairing or replacing rusty panels (and reducing my bank account haha).

Anyway, some photos for you. You may notice the old girl has a back wheel against a pile of gravel on my verge - that was to stop it rolling back down the hill until I could get in into my yard View attachment 287396as I didn't trust the brakes.
You may notice the landrover bage on the front apron, just beneath the bullbar - That was the first thing I took off as I didn't know how long the old girl would be parked on the verge. It ended up on the verge for three weeks. When the badge goes back on it will be on the grill where it should be. Anyway, the old girl is now safely locked up in my back yard.
View attachment 287395 View attachment 287387 View attachment 287388 View attachment 287395 View attachment 287388

That is interesting. thanks for the pics.

While obviously a Series 2a, it has Series 3 wings, not uncommon over here either, as it gives you extra lights.

As @marjon comments, the rear body and roof incorporate quite a few bits off the original vehicle, but, errrr, re-arranged, and with some custom additions.

At a guess, it looks like that has been used as a sort of bush bus for kangaroo spotting tours, or something like that.
That could be just vivid imagination, I don't know much about Australia, or Land Rover usage there.

brianp38dse · May 2, 2023

Hello and welcome

nice project you have there, at least there should not be much rust unlike over here

Guidoma · May 3, 2023

brianp38dse said:
Hello and welcome
nice project you have there, at least there should not be much rust unlike over here

Hey Brian
It remains to be seen - what rust there really is under all of the "silver paint". I've been having a good look the last day or so and some of the galv pieces have been painted over with zinc and silver paint. They will need sand blasting and then we will see what happens from there. Re-galv or replacement.

Fortunately my Dear Wife is a very understanding woman!!!

Turboman · May 3, 2023

Guidoma said:
Hey Brian
It remains to be seen - what rust there really is under all of the "silver paint". I've been having a good look the last day or so and some of the galv pieces have been painted over with zinc and silver paint. They will need sand blasting and then we will see what happens from there. Re-galv or replacement.

May not be too bad. The metal quality on 50s and 60s vehicles is much better than on later ones.

You may find you can just clean it up and paint it, and off you go again.

Hello from Oz.

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