Greetings from the other side of the pond. I am from the US and a fan of this site.
Turning to the question: I have searched the internet, read the books, bugged the experts, and wracked my brain, and I still am not sure on the identification of my rover. I purchased this RHD 88" IIA in the summer of 1999. The truck was sold to me as a 1967 IIA SWB. I have searched for the identiplate behind the firewall, around the firewall, on the frame, in the state of MA, etc. with no avail. So now the fun begins:
Starting with the most useful indicators, the body seems to present a pre-1968 IIA, since the lights are within the breakfast (which has 3 holes - main rad. pass thru and one smaller hole under each light). Someone tried to convert the truck to a "bugeye" by installing wings with the "bugeye" lights and sealed in the light holes within the breakfast. I do know of some ex-mod IIAs with both lights in the breakfast and on the wings. Who knows?
Now... moving to the frame, an interesting turn of events, namely airlift hooks/brackets (these are not the rings seen here: http://www.lrfaq.org/IDAR/images/ESIIA.jpg - they are the block brackets seen here http://www.lightweightlandroverclub.com/images/Billing_01/DSCF0010.JPG). There are no bumperettes on the front and the rear frame-member look standard for the civilian IIA (no extra bumpers or hitches). The frame has all the standard PTO channels in the center and rear. God knows where those airlift brackets came from, but maybe you do Turning to the rear crossmember, the beast looks like it spent some time towing or at least had a tow plate installed.
Turning to the bulkhead, there is a flat smiths heater within the cabin. The smiths heat doesn't seem to be original. The heater was held on by an odd looking pair of curved brackets on the top and self tapping unrusted screws on the bottom. The inlet and outlet ports for the heater are passed through hole #1 (refer to numbers below on pic) that seems to be non-original. The inlets are not passed through hole #3, which seems to be the original factory heater holes. #1 and #2 sit on a plate that covers a portion of the bulkhead as seen below. Holes #4 were all taped shut with electrical tape and then painted over, and these holes seem to be from the factory.
I'm guessing that a smiths round heater once sat in hole #3 and the tubes went up behind the dash / dial panel and out the side holes seen here:
As you can see here, the single wiper motor does not look original:
As for the steering, here is the arm connection:
Next, the electrics. Of course, positive earth. I converted it to negative earth and blew off the chrome on a 10mm wrench in the process, but that is another story. I'm not yet ready to admin that this is a frankenrover, but if my bubble must be burst, please let me know Thanks for reading and your input.
Thanks,
Joe
Turning to the question: I have searched the internet, read the books, bugged the experts, and wracked my brain, and I still am not sure on the identification of my rover. I purchased this RHD 88" IIA in the summer of 1999. The truck was sold to me as a 1967 IIA SWB. I have searched for the identiplate behind the firewall, around the firewall, on the frame, in the state of MA, etc. with no avail. So now the fun begins:
Starting with the most useful indicators, the body seems to present a pre-1968 IIA, since the lights are within the breakfast (which has 3 holes - main rad. pass thru and one smaller hole under each light). Someone tried to convert the truck to a "bugeye" by installing wings with the "bugeye" lights and sealed in the light holes within the breakfast. I do know of some ex-mod IIAs with both lights in the breakfast and on the wings. Who knows?
Now... moving to the frame, an interesting turn of events, namely airlift hooks/brackets (these are not the rings seen here: http://www.lrfaq.org/IDAR/images/ESIIA.jpg - they are the block brackets seen here http://www.lightweightlandroverclub.com/images/Billing_01/DSCF0010.JPG). There are no bumperettes on the front and the rear frame-member look standard for the civilian IIA (no extra bumpers or hitches). The frame has all the standard PTO channels in the center and rear. God knows where those airlift brackets came from, but maybe you do
Turning to the rear crossmember, the beast looks like it spent some time towing or at least had a tow plate installed.
Turning to the bulkhead, there is a flat smiths heater within the cabin. The smiths heat doesn't seem to be original. The heater was held on by an odd looking pair of curved brackets on the top and self tapping unrusted screws on the bottom. The inlet and outlet ports for the heater are passed through hole #1 (refer to numbers below on pic) that seems to be non-original. The inlets are not passed through hole #3, which seems to be the original factory heater holes. #1 and #2 sit on a plate that covers a portion of the bulkhead as seen below. Holes #4 were all taped shut with electrical tape and then painted over, and these holes seem to be from the factory.
I'm guessing that a smiths round heater once sat in hole #3 and the tubes went up behind the dash / dial panel and out the side holes seen here:
As you can see here, the single wiper motor does not look original:
As for the steering, here is the arm connection:
Next, the electrics. Of course, positive earth. I converted it to negative earth and blew off the chrome on a 10mm wrench in the process, but that is another story. I'm not yet ready to admin that this is a frankenrover, but if my bubble must be burst, please let me know
Thanks for reading and your input.Thanks,
Joe
