Land Rover Series 1

[DanStew]

Got a new rig to play around with.
A buddy of mine saw this in my old town in Florida

I had him contact the owner and found out it was for sale with a title. I wired down some money and it was mine
I had it shipped up

It is home

It is far from perfect. You know it is when the purchase price was cheaper than the shipping price.
But I knew what I was getting into, these do not pop up very often.
It is a 1958 Series 1 88"
Pretty much all stock and relatively unhacked. The frame is ROTTED and the rear axle actaully had rot holes in the housing.

I think it was driven under the atlantic from England over to the states. It is right hand drive.

I pulled it apart

I ordered some 2x5 rectangular tubing to make a new frame, but i had to wait for it to get it and I got started redoing the grill

The tubing came in

 

[DanStew]

And the frame was started

I got the suspension mocked up, jsut waiting for the front springs to come in. I am using F150 rear springs and the front springs will be Rover. I put the axle under the frame just to get them out of the yard. The spring mounts are not final, i need to make them look much better. But i have to wait till the springs come in.

And finally the old frame is cut up and thrown away. Amazing how much rust it had, worst vehicle i have seen

I originally was going to try and keep the original stuff but after finding out how bad it was on the chassis and the price i will have to pay to restore it. I would have had to get all my parts from England. Parts for the Series 1 just are not in the states.

So I am going with a fuel injected 4.3L, an SM465 and Dana 18. Toyota gear box for power steering. I am thinking about using later Rover axles to get disc brakes and to keep some Rover stuff on it, but I am also thinking about some FJ40 axles If I find a set for a good price. The body will look like a regular rover, but it should be a bit more reliable and have some good power.

 

[sam24th]

Damn that thing was roached out. Looking forward to more progress. Looks like a cool build.

 

[CasterTroy]

 

[chrishf12]

Following.

 

[YJJPWrangler]

Looking good. Any plans on adding gussets to the where the frame is staggered? Will be following

 

[DanStew]

I will be adding fishplates to the frame. I have them ready to cut, I was just mocking it all up. I still have alot to do on the frame.

 

[DanStew]

I got my Ubolts in today so i was able to at least bolt the rear suspension up. The front springs come this week, then i can finally start setting it up for final weld.

 

[ol'Jeeps]

very cool! Good luck with the build!

 

[DanStew]

Well got my PTO hole sleeved in the rear crossmember.
At first i was not going to recreate it since I did not think i would ever find a Land Rover PTO setup in the states very easy.
But now that I am using the Dana 18, this opens me up for some PTO options... or use the SM465 for its PTO

 

[DanStew]

Got some stuff in the mail.Got some springs and some grab handles

Put them on the front and it is rolling

Put the handles on the rear crossmember, starting to look like a Series Rover

Coolest thing was the freebie from the suspension company

Yup it will be mounted on the Rover.

I still have lots of work. I need to adjust the height I am not liking the size shackle i have on the front right now .

 

[XJsavage]

What kind of beer you drinking? I'm coming over.

 

[DanStew]

Well I had a buddy come over and I threw the bed on the frame. Trying to see how much it will settle down with weight on the rear. It is raked a little bit in the back, but with the bed and hard top and seats later on it should be just fine.

And the rear view. I welded in a receiver in the crossmember. It looks real close to the factory Rover crossmember with everything attached. Cant wait to weld it on

 

[DanStew]

Did some welding tonight. Final welded the suspension mounts up, relocated rear tub brackets on the frame and welded up the rear crossmember.

I took it out for a stroll this evening to give it some air

I have to cut out the fishplates end put them on, then I start on the bulkhead. Once that is repaired i can start putting the outrigger mounts on to bolt that up.

 

[BigSouth]

I really like this build thread. It's giving me all kinds of horribly expensive ideas. Please stop! No seriously, keep going.

 

[DanStew]

Well tonight i threw the tub back on. I bolted the rear tabs to the body and then clamped to the crossmember. Tomorrow I will weld it up

The first issue showed up with mounting body stuff to the frame. I put my seat section on to mock things up and i noticed the angle i have on the frame is greater than what was originally there. The tool box has a cutout inside to go over the original frame but it hits the new one. Debated at first to notch the frame, but decided that is not what i wanted and it will be easier to redo the notch inside the tool box.

I was hoping to do more, but it was a short and quick evening. More fun tomorrow

 

[DanStew]

Tonight I got a bunch of little things done.
Welded on all the rear bed mounting brackets and welded on the tailgate hinge brackets. I had to spend time cutting off the old metal from the brackets, and the even old metal under it. I guess the crossmember on this rig was replaced twice during its life. The previous owner just welded the bracket and the old metal it was on, to the new crossmember.

Welded on the front outriggers for the front mounts on the tub

I trimmed the metal on the underseat toolbox so the seat box thingy could bolt to the bed and sit in place. I have it lightly bolted, just making sure things fit.

At least it is starting to look like something now.

 

[Brownsxj]

I am pretty excited to see this one in the build tread line up. It is so rare to see one of these being built on this forum. Can't wait to see the end product!

 

[DanStew]

Thanks, it will take some time. I am just coming to the realization now that I will need to order two repair panels for the firewall from Britain. So I as soon as I can get the motor out of this S10 and sell it so i can order parts. It is a vicious cycle.

 

[DanStew]

The small thing unglamourous things of a project.
I got the rusty gas tank mounted and the hand brake mounted.
Just things to get done.

 

[awheelterd]

This is awesome. I have a series 2 sitting under the shelter in slightly better shape that I plan to somewhat restore. The frame is Swiss cheese, nearly as bad as yours. It was my fil's before he passed. When I strapped it too the trailer leabing their house I nearly pulled the front bumper off tightening it down. Didn't realize it was so bad until then!

I looked into a new frame but all i could fine were from Australia for $6g before shipping . I hadn't decided if I want to modify a cj frame or build a new one from scratch but seeing yours has made up my mind. Right now I'm thinking a jeep 4.0/ax15/? drive train. My axles seem to be in good shape but I'm sure parts will be a bear if I were to use them and need anything. I'm still a year out from a build since I don't have a shop yet so I hope to learn all I can from your mishaps in the meantime!

 

[DanStew]

Rovers North has new series 2 chassis for about 2800 plus shipping. The cool thing about the Rovers are the frame measurements are well documented. God luck with the build!!

 

[DanStew]

Well I got the Rovers heart transplant out of the donor rig. And all i can say is pulling a motor from a s10 sucks. Chevy did not make it friendly to take the motor out of these rigs

Now to sell off the carcass if i can. And make room in the garage for this motor, i am running out of space for motors. i have an Fhead, Rover and now this 4.3l rolling around on dollies.

 

[DanStew]

So the S10 carcass is gone and now it is time to get to the nitty gritty and work on the bulkhead. I got the steering column off and the gear box.

Started cutting out the rot in the passenger side toe boards. This is the second project I have had recently that the previous owners "repair" was to slap a second piece of steel over the rotted original.

It is pretty straight forward. Cut metal patch and weld in. The Rover's bulkhead... or firewall is pretty much flat pieces of steel. I had to cut to fit and make it work. Still not finished and cleaned up, but much better than it was.

The hard part was trying to "guess" how the original floor was. Since it was rotted out i did not know what it looked like originally, but i got enough pictures and the tranny tunnel helped make a template to redo the bottom edge.

Next up i will get the steel for the edge and cut out the old and put in new. The work continues

 

[DanStew]

I got my clutch items to connect the gear boxes to the engine. i connected the hoist to the tranny and it wouldnt lift the pig. added some fluid to ram, nothing, and then i drained and refilled, still nothing, just wouldnt pick it up. So i had to go out and get a new ram and got the boxes off the table and on to the engine

This is one heavy combo to pick up with the hoist. The furniture mover that it is on does not want to turn that easy. I have to watch it, it is gonna be dangerous to move it around. Now to see about mocking it up in the frame.