Series 3 109 Station Wagon, full ground up resto and 88 redo careless resto driving project

Just playing around with the fit,
Cross beam is a lovely snug fit held in by friction only. But some adjustments are needed still to get it right pre-weld

With so many nuts bolts and clamps, it's all getting a bit Terminator lol


But it took me a safes getting things lined up to within a mm, and the markings are all wire brushed off now.
Ready to weld : - )

Going beautifully


Then a strong gust of wind blows the gas off the weld and this is what happens


It's just a tad weld anyway, but I must remember to shut the back door to stop the wind tunnel effect in my shop.

Welded the leg, some finishing still needed.
Trying the cross member


It's actually starting to look like a chassis again : - )

The gearbox X member has just been picked up and is on its way

Awesome,
Thanks Bruce.

I'm impressed with your fabrication of your own new dumb irons and all the jig parts holding the geometry correct.

My irons have been replaced in the past and one of them is stamped with the correct chassis number, it's a good idea to do it.

It's all ready for stamping, the stamps arrived and are the right size and Font

Ready to fit the beam too


A job for tomorrow if we don't go to the woods, but it's in the correct position and prepped to tac in place.

Your beat the crap out of it stick is looking pretty worn.

Absolutely cracking work.

J

Thanks,
It's a piece of ash, shaped with the chainsaw which l use with a froe in my woods it's seen a good three years use, so yes is done for lol



Splitting a log of red ceder to make roof shingles.
I have made a couple more lol


So the one in my garage is on it's second life, and yes it's taken a beating lol

Those welds look very tidy and you're pretty handy with the woodwork too...

Thanks, I've only been learning green woodworking for a few years, ( working wood that is fresh cut and not seasoned). But it's a joy and I like restoring old green woodworking tools, such as billhooks and side axes some of which were made over a hundred years ago by local blacksmiths when they wern't busy.

It is not necessary to finish the welds on a Landover as I'm doing at all, but I'm aiming for a super minimal look to everything, and in order to emphasize the details of things like the organic shapes in the original dumb irons.
I notice that new replacement ones are less organic looking. The same is true for a replacement bulkhead where some very minor details get missed.
Now for a good functional vehicle these things are utterly irrelevant. But I like their frivolity and charm lol.
My car, I hope, will be very much as it was when it was made, but with some subtle minimalistic simplification here and there to help your eye be drawn to the minimalistic beauty of this vehicle's design.
This is all aesthetic clap trap, I do not deny, and very not Landover lol.
But if I'm successful, I will get people to notice small details of the car they would otherwise miss.
Being inspired by the clean lines and old school looks of Boyd Coddington's custom car builds.
My car will be much slower and hopefully nobody will notice what has been smoothed off and slightly overworked.
Time will tell, and there's a hell of a lot to do so I should get my finger out lol

Using prints of photos and the original parts to recreate everything as it was

Going to have a few small parts to fabricate such as the triangular supports at the back of the crossmember, and various others


It's easy to forget small details


Taking loads of pictures and having an old laser printer really helps, plus the original bits of bits

I know I said 'very tidy' but those welds are a work of art really! I've never seen such smooth welds but why not? If you want to go to that level of effort and have that sort of finish then it's something special whether people see all of it or not.

Mine is a bit rough and ready by comparison, all the usual chassis repairs have been done in the past and there's bits of welding wire still sticking out of some if the beads in places! You would probably cringe.

When I get to the bodywork stage I am tempted to clean and Tcut it all down and then clear coat it for a sort of rat type look, retaining all the injuries from it's hard working past. I might not do that but we'll see how it goes when the time comes.

I don't know a lot about green woodworking but it's nice to see some traditional tools and methods in use. My main awareness has come from recognising the difference between chainsawing green and old wood!

That's the thing with a Landy, you can keep the original lived a lot look and it doesn't even need protecting because of the alloy of aluminium and magnesium, Birmabright.
It will keep looking like a well worn pair l of jeans for many years.
I know it's a huge temptation to keep that, but my car's been resprayed at some point when filler was in fashion.
The corrosion where the tub was connected to frame too, so some fabrication of the Birmabright is inevitable for me. But I'm so tempted to get a Land Rover Series 3 88 keep it in the garage, and drive it about with the front window down and nothing else above the door tops.
Not very practical, but perfect for popping down to the shops, and original wear and tear would be worn with honour lol.
If it rains, I could just don my really old Barbour and Failsworth Wax Drifter hat

The big moment. Time to weld it

Yep it's quite apart that my 5kg roll of white should run out just sad the last weld happened


But that's a referral mile stone passed for me

Nice welding once again.

I know what you mean about the alloy but I saw some pics of a green S3 which had been rubbed down and cleaned up, down to the metal in places, then given a shiny clear coat and it looked great. It might not be practical or even that easy to achieve but we'll see. If I leave it the way it is now it will just look shabby, there's even some filler coming away which looks like it was factory fitted, it has the dimples from the spot welding running through it.

Nice idea about having a dedicated open top runabout, I had mine like that for a while but I think I left the screen up, I'll have to see if I can find some old photos.

Would love to see that,

Been clearing up the garage and its looking very empty now
also I'm realising having done two feet, still have another 12 to make good. Lol
Who knows what nasties lurk within.
However there are good bits too : - )
Going to mount the chassis onto a three wheeled trailor, so it can be wheeled in and out of the garage.
Need to be able to turn it upside down and on i it's the sides so I'm hoping the trailor makes a good support. Also I need to do some work my other cars, and they have not had the benefit of the garage for eight months.

Finally getting my garage back


I need to fit all new brake discs and disc drums to my Scooby because they're all glazed and nasty


Also I'm very excited to mount the chassis on a trailor, so it can be moved around easily.
The plan is to use the engine host to turn it around on the trailor, keep it outside covered and hopefully build a poly tunnel as a temporary garage to build the Landy in, if there's enough space.

I'm hoping the chassis will sit well on the small trailor which has a capacity of 400kg. Some wooden interface may be needed, but if it could sit solidly on it's side also this would permit great access for repair, sandblasting ect.

I added a jockey wheel which should make the whole thing easy to move about to suit.
Finally balance point found and levitation achieved

It took ages to find the balance