Land Rover Series 2a 1962 body off rebuild, New MOT
Sellers Comments
I bought this vehicle three years ago as a rolling project.
My original intention was to patch it up for fun. But after a few months I
decided to change tack. Here was a car that had had an extremely hard working
life and too many worn or incorrect components to simply throw it back
together. And since I was now going the
whole rebuild route why not have a near impossible objective of retaining all
the car's historic features and authenticy whilst trying to build in a bit more
longevity than usual? I still didn't
want the nice shiney facsimile which seems to be the outcome from so many
commercial rebuilds. I wanted the car to end up a genuine item still telling
it's story. So, three years and over £6,000 worth of parts later, it's still got
some dents and dings and imperfections. I think it's entitled to them.
It's also got:
- MOT from 3 March.
No advisories
- heavy duty
galvanised chassis
- rebuilt galvanised
bulkhead with heavy duty footwells to original pattern.
- new galvanised fuel
tank
- galvanised
remanufactured front panel
- totally rebuilt tub
floor with all new ribs and rails and a thicker floor plate.
- professional
remanufactured clutch operating mechanism, fitted with stainless steel sleeve
to minimise future wear
- professionally
rebuilt original radiator with new core
- fully rebuilt axles
front and rear with quality bearings and seals
- four new
British-made road springs with Armstrong shocks
- new Mintex brake
shoes, pistons, and refurbed original combined brake/clutch fluid reservoir
- new OEM swivels
fitted with old school leather gaiters
- rebuilt doors with
new skins, seals and new door tops with plastic window runners
- new heavy duty,
higher output dynamo
- new Land Rover
battery
- professionally rebuilt
original wiper motors
- new wiring loom
- new screen washers
- professionally
rebuilt period Clayton heater (yes, that's the one that works!)
- rebuilt seat bench
- galvanised front
wing struts
- new inner wing
panels
- full set new Automec copper brake pipes with stainless
front flexies
- period catflap and
tailgate with complete set of fittings and new lock
- set of five
refurbed SWB wheels in bronze green for fitting tyres of your choice.
( At present she's
running on LWB slave wheels with good winter tyres).
- new water pump
fitted. Timing cover removed and the usual rusted bolts removed (eventually!)
and replaced with new
- period sidelights
and indicators ( with hazard flashers)
- new Lucas replica headlamps of the period
- new towhitch
- refurbed MAP free wheel hubs
- stainless steel inserts in place of rotted ends of rear
panels on each side of tailgate
- seat belts
- door and wing mirros
- body fitted with new plated bolts throughout (not metric!)
- refurbed siderails and correct deep sills
The engine is pretty much as was apart from the work on
timing cover. Starts well and runs fine. No smoke, equal compression. Been
serviced with new plugs, leads, points, coil etc.
Clutch and gearbox are also unmolested apart from rebuilding
of the original clutch operating mechanism. There are still some minor issues:
the fuel guage sort of works but not properly and the engine overheat
thermostat sticks, with the red light on (so I've disconnected it pending
finding a replacement). There's a minor rain leak under the windscreen -
despite new seals. Paintwork looks better in the pix as usual but is OK.
The vehicle comes with a photographic record of the rebuild
and a seriously huge pile of bills. I stopped counting a while back.There's
also a letter from Land Rover confirming the original delivery of vehicle. It's
registered as a "Station Tractor". Was apparently used off the public
road for first 20 years of it's life and was off again for the past 10 years, presumably
awaiting rescue.
Vehicle is available for inspection. This is strongly
recommended. Despite the extent of the work it should be realised that this is
still an old used vehicle of an old design for old style motoring ( eg no
synchro on first 2 gears, slight bit of steering wander, bit of oil on floor (
despite new seals, that's how it is with these motors). Keeping this car will
always require a bit of effort and it offered as a work in progress. But
hopefully the work so far will ensure it's survival for a good while yet. As
you can imagine this is a reluctant sale after so much work but I've got way
behind with other projects that are now becoming urgent so it unfortunately has
to go.
Complete overdrive kit available at extra cost.
