waldershelf
Well-Known Member
- Posts
- 2,397
- Location
- In the hills north west of Sheffield
I'm new to the forum but not Landrovers and I thought for my first post I would relate the
sorry tale of my first landrover.
In the late 1980s I bought my first landrover a 1972 S111 SWB diesel hardtop, which I ran
for a year with no problems, until one day I couldn't get reverse gear, so I drove it home
to investigate the problem. I had to take the hardtop off to get it in my standard garage, I
took the doors off to make it easier to work on and then I got carried away and took the
wings and rear body tub off thinking it was a good oportunity to give the chassis a brush
and paint.
This is where the bad news really starts, the chassis was as rotten as a pear despite
passing the MOT, virtually the whole of the top flange of the chassis was rotted through. So
a problem with the gearbox turned into a complete ground up rebuild. Here's a short list of
the major elements of the rebuild; new chassis, new springs and shackles, axles stripped,
shotblasted and powder coated, reassembled with new seals, bearings, brakes and swivels.
Rebuilt engine and gearbox(s). bulkhead shotblasted, new footwells and doorposts welded in
and a new toprail made and fitted. I then put the whole thing back together and resprayed
it, nice blue on top and waxoyl underneath, rewired it and retrimmed it with cloth seats,
carpets and headlining. I sat it on a set of refurb'd wheels and new tyres. Apart from the
shotblasting I did all the work myself, learning as I went along.
When I took the rebuilt Landrover to the MOT station, the tester went into the workshop to
gather his workmates to check out this "new" 20 year old Landrover. Proud as a peacock I
took my new MOT to the post office for some tax and I settled down to enjoy driving my
pride and joy.
Seven weeks later it was stolen and I never saw it again.
sorry tale of my first landrover.
In the late 1980s I bought my first landrover a 1972 S111 SWB diesel hardtop, which I ran
for a year with no problems, until one day I couldn't get reverse gear, so I drove it home
to investigate the problem. I had to take the hardtop off to get it in my standard garage, I
took the doors off to make it easier to work on and then I got carried away and took the
wings and rear body tub off thinking it was a good oportunity to give the chassis a brush
and paint.
This is where the bad news really starts, the chassis was as rotten as a pear despite
passing the MOT, virtually the whole of the top flange of the chassis was rotted through. So
a problem with the gearbox turned into a complete ground up rebuild. Here's a short list of
the major elements of the rebuild; new chassis, new springs and shackles, axles stripped,
shotblasted and powder coated, reassembled with new seals, bearings, brakes and swivels.
Rebuilt engine and gearbox(s). bulkhead shotblasted, new footwells and doorposts welded in
and a new toprail made and fitted. I then put the whole thing back together and resprayed
it, nice blue on top and waxoyl underneath, rewired it and retrimmed it with cloth seats,
carpets and headlining. I sat it on a set of refurb'd wheels and new tyres. Apart from the
shotblasting I did all the work myself, learning as I went along.
When I took the rebuilt Landrover to the MOT station, the tester went into the workshop to
gather his workmates to check out this "new" 20 year old Landrover. Proud as a peacock I
took my new MOT to the post office for some tax and I settled down to enjoy driving my
pride and joy.
Seven weeks later it was stolen and I never saw it again.
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