My Hybrid Project

Hi, I'm Tim and I thought I'd share a few details on my latest acquisition with everyone.

I've been tinkering around with cars since I could pick up a spanner, and have owned and worked on some pretty diverse bits of kit. I've got a bad habit of taking projects on and not actually finishing them for one reason or another, so they tend to get tucked away in a barn for a rainy day...

At the moment I have two full automotive projects on the go, one is my track day/hill climb/sprint car; an Impreza turbo that's currently having a major engine transplant. To complement the Scoob I thought it would be an idea to get something suitable for towing...this led me to agreeing to buy an unfinished Hybrid project after a friend asked me if I knew of anyone interested in a coil sprung V8 series landy...a little short of 3 years ago!

Anyway, late last year I moved to a larger house with off road parking and a garage, finally somewhere to keep a project...or two...

And last week 'Letti' finally made her trip from her previous owner's garden to mine.

Letti started life as a 1967 Series 2a 2 1/4 petrol.

The previous owner had bought a brand new Design-a-chassis galvanised steel 88 inch series chassis that had been built to take classic Range Rover axles and suspension. He also specified if for a V8 engine and Santana 4 speed gearbox. A rolling chassis was provided complete with axle casings and suspension by Design-a-chassis.

As the rebuild of Letti began he acquired the remains of an ex Southern Electricity 130 3.5 V8 double cab that had been punted in the rear. This donated all of it's front end and engine, together with its brake servo and power steering.

Unfortunately the previous owner's marriage went to the wall along with it the rebuild...and so Letti has sat in his back garden for 7 or 8 years.

Primarily I bought her for the chassis, but I hope to retain as much of the original Letti that was with her when she arrived...like this:











One weekend of fidling later and I had her stripped down to this:



It is beleived that Letti speant most of her early life in service, but after a little research I'm confused. Basically her roof was originally painted red, and it was rumoured she was ex-Coastguard. problem is as far as I can see the Coastguard vehicles have a yellow roof, anyone have any thoughts ???

That'll keep you out of the pub over Easter. Wot you doing the weekend after?

Hopefully building the engine for the Scoob

Or welding up the bulkhead with the bits I buy at Sodbury's Sort Out this weekend and investigating what work the V8 needs...

hope you knocked him down a bit , s'got bald tyres

I thought 600 quid for a brand new rolling chassis and some spares wasn't bad

I've got some plans for my own creativity to run riot too, why buy rock sliders when box section will do...and I'm sure a brace of MHI TD04's would suit the 3.5 V8 well

it'll look the dogs nuts when it's finished fella , 'ow long do ya reckon it'll take

No idea, if I'm lucky and the V8 is actually in ok condition after standing open to the elements for 5 years or so, a couple of months to get it running and road legal, then the improvements can be added

i'm looking for a roof rack , are ya keeping it or do yer wanna offload it , which part of der country you in

I actually want to keep it, it will come in handy at some of the events I plan to take Letti along to as my back up wagon

fair do's

Went to Sodbury's Sort Out yesterday, didn't get anything like as much kit as I would have liked though

I still need:

110 Front Doors (complete)
Front Door Hinges (unless they're on the doors)
Rear Tub to Bulkhead door sills both sides
110 Steering column shrouds, stalks and wheel
Lower and Middle rear door hinges
Bulkhead Footwell repair sections; N/S & O/S
Rear Tub floor braces; 3 off (MUC8949)
Rear Tub rear brace/tread
Stage 1 V8 transmission cover
110 O/S front wing top vent cover
Door Mirror
Lock Set
Roof to sides and sides to rear tub seals
Front Door seals
Rear Door seals
Seats
Reverse, fog & plate lamps
Series Fuel Tank senders
V8 Alternator
Belts
Clutch Master Cylinder
Clutch Slave Cylinder
Clutch Hose
Brake Master Cylinder
Brake Calliper rebuild kit
Hoses

Slooby said:

Went to Sodbury's Sort Out yesterday, didn't get anything like as much kit as I would have liked though

I still need:

110 Front Doors (complete)
Front Door Hinges (unless they're on the doors)
Rear Tub to Bulkhead door sills both sides
110 Steering column shrouds, stalks and wheel
Lower and Middle rear door hinges
Bulkhead Footwell repair sections; N/S & O/S
Rear Tub floor braces; 3 off (MUC8949)
Rear Tub rear brace/tread
Stage 1 V8 transmission cover
110 O/S front wing top vent cover
Door Mirror
Lock Set
Roof to sides and sides to rear tub seals
Front Door seals
Rear Door seals
Seats
Reverse, fog & plate lamps
Series Fuel Tank senders
V8 Alternator
Belts
Clutch Master Cylinder
Clutch Slave Cylinder
Clutch Hose
Brake Master Cylinder
Brake Calliper rebuild kit
Hoses

Click to expand...

i can help you with the steering column shrouds and the rear door hinges snd me a pm if you are interested, most of the other stuff you will get from paddocks of fleabay

Cheers chap, I'll let you know if I do need them, I have a mate rumaging around in his barn at the moment so I ought to give him a chance first

Dammit, can't seem to find replacement footwells for the 90/110 bulkhead

Only series ones seem to be listed

I'll have an old bulkhead with decent footwells by mid summer if you want it.

there is a bloke on fleabay that sells the footwells for about 18 quid each side

The fleabay ones I've seen so far are only for series landies, and I'm told they won't fit...the ones on mine are certainly have more shape to them that the series ones I've seen, plus they have a double skin going to have to look at a mates TD5 bulkhead to see whether that's the same

Popped by a local engineering shop today and raided their scrap bin for 18 guage steel....came away with what I hope is enough steel to repair the bulkhead and make up a few other brackets I think I'll need.

I started making up a repair section for the the N/S footwell on the transmission tunnel side this evening and cut it back to clear the exhaust manifold...I suspect some metal bashing will be required too.

Having sorted out what re-shaping was needed for manifold clearance I've removed the bulkhead so I can weld it up.

I've picked up a few bits to repair the rear body but still need a few essential parts to get the body water tight: the main bits I need now are two front doors and the parts I cannot find names for [Roll Eyes] namely; the two galv channel sections that join the bulkhead to the rear body under the doors (the seat base and floor sections also attach to it), the galv double angle that runs righ accross the back of the rear body to which the body is bolted to the rear cross member, and the mounts that fit between the front of the rear body and attach it to the chassis.

Meanwhile I've been busying myself with clearing out my garage and building a large workbench to allow me to get metal bashing and have somewhere draught free to weld up the bulkhead.

Gorrenypicsthen.