Meet Noel

Hello boys and girls.

Today was the start of project Noel.
Noel is a 1975 LWB Series 3 (utility?) station wagon with a tropical roof and a 2 1/4 petrol engine.
Noel is missing a lot of bits n bobs, but in my view is worth getting back on the road.
Im not going to do a restoration, more a sympathetic modernisation rebuild.
Expect to see lots and lots of questions in the series forum as, despite having previously owned a S2, D1,D2 and F1, none have been in quite such a poor state of repair.

Ill post photos/reports on this thread as and when things happen.

Todays job was a through clean to see exactly how bad or good (got to love an optimist!) things were going to be.

Alex (Though most know me as Shirl, so from now on, thats what ill sign with).

Great looking project!
Just wondering, is there a Christmas connection?

Knappster said:

Great looking project!
Just wondering, is there a Christmas connection?

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The previous owner gave him the name,
So I kept it.

If that was badly painted green, it would like just like mine. The benefit of scruffy is the no one parks anywhere near it.

Col

I think the green door is a replacement, that said, all of the doors are in a very poor condition. The lower skins are sound but the rest is pretty rotten.

This morning's job.
Dropped out the rotten fuel tank.
Next to go is the exhaust, but I need more cutting discs before attempting that!

Not much to report.
Busy week work wise.
Built a timber framed "lean to" over Noel and will cover it in plastic roofing sheet early next week.
Have been applying copious amounts of penetrating oil to all the nuts and bolts in readiness for the big strip down.
Chassis will be ordered tomorrow/Monday subject to finding out a few minor queries.
Got to admit, it's all a bit daunting as I've never had this much of a project before.

Finally finished Noel's temporary 'workshop'.

Removed the doors and safari roof (left sitting in place for the moment), heading removed.
The main roof is just about ready to come off, just 4 bolts temporarily holding it on.
Hopefully this week will see the rest of the rear body come off and next weekend the bonnet, wings and bulkhead.

Got in late so;
Remaining bolts removed this evening.
Gave them a good soak in penetrating oil last night so they didn't put up too much of a fight.
Tomorrow evening, I intend to lift the roof and get the rear stripped off.

What a plonker.
I mean why on earth did I think I could do that on my own.
I mean yes, the roof is easy to pick up on your own, but getting it off was a whole different ball game.
A quick phone call saw a willing volunteer arrive in minutes and the roof was off!

Next up was the rear panels. They are now unbolted but still sat in place till the weekend when I can next do some more work.


Also foolishly lent a marker pen to my OH without asking why.

Just found this and looking forward to seeing how you get on. Here's my story in case it might help https://www.landyzone.co.uk/land-rover/steves-unexpected-series-3-rebuild.292955/
I see from other posts that you're going for a galv chassis. Even though I didn't I think that's a smart decision and I wish I had. Good luck with everything, I hope it goes well.
Steve.

Busy weekend.
Rear panels off, seat boxes out rear tub unbolted ready to lift off, windscreen off, wings off, bonnet off, dash removed, c&b pillars fell off and bulkhead removal in progress.
Aim to have the bulkhead removed by the end of the week.

Awesome build thread so far and fantastic project! Watching thread now, keep up the good work!

Full on weekend.
Just about ready for when the new chassis arrives.
Drowning all nuts and bolts in penetrating oil for the last month sort of worked and most came undone without the use of the angle grinder.

Front springs overhauled and front axle cleaned up ready for painting.

Rightly or wrongly, I removed the old steering relay in order to keep and fit into the new chassis.
After fighting with it for half hour, the old chassis got split open with the angle grinder.
Sod having to remove one and keep the chassis!

Made the most of a nice evening and gave all the bits (wire brushed by my better half) a first coat of red lead paint.
Feeling much better now I'm doing little bits that don't involve dismantling!

Some work going into this, good build looking forward to seeing it when its complete

@Rotherham Rover you would do best to edit out your post code for somewhere close enough

Yes this should make a good read.

J

marjon said:

@Rotherham Rover you would do best to edit out your post code for somewhere close enough

Yes this should make a good read.

J

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ive tried to remove the postcode but its not letting me unless im doing something wrong user error!

Click on your username top right and its in there so you can change

I try to keep things entertaining.
Seriously steep learning curve, never done a rebuild before.
I hope it doesn't turn into a rebodge!

Seriously worried about the a,b,c pillars and cills.
I honestly don't know if they can be saved and new ones look hideously expensive