1957 Military 88"

[RobinS]

I recently posted the issues I had with completing my capstan winch project and I thought I should start at the beginning, so if you don't mind , let's go back to 1984. I bought her just at the end of high school in Victoria for $1500. I drove it every day until 1992 at which point I got married and we moved to 5 acres in Duncan B.C. On the farm it continued to haul everything from firewood to all the neighborhood kids in the snow. I started the restoration in 2017 due to severe engine smoke from broken piston rings. I will add more to bring us to where we are today. Cheers Robin

[ANDYD]

That's a cool looking Land Rover 8)
Do you know the story of how it came over to Canada? Presuming its British military originally due to the RHD,

Looking forward to seeing the story,

Cheers
Andy

[bsa_m21]

That 2L engine looked like the head has been off for a long time. Did it still turn over? What state is it in now?

Ditto on looking forward to the story.

M.

[RobinS]

I removed the cyl. head in 2015 I believe and one piston was broken and the cyl. deeply gouged . I started to price out the repair and found I could have inframed a Cat diesel for less so it went into the shed while I started to save my money. The 2 litre is quite an expensive little engine to overhaul but I wanted to keep it as original as possible. Some people drop in a 2.25 litre engine. It ended up being about two years before I got back to it and at that time decided to restore the whole vehicle. I will never regret that decision . At that time I joined the series one club in the UK . We have members with all the information on ex military Landrovers through the registration and chassis numbers. This one was in a REME unit { Royal Electrical Mechanical Engineers ] within the 1st. Armoured Brigade. I found the markings when I started removing the paint. How it came to Canada is not known, however there were several sold and shipped to the USA during the late 1960's.

[RobinS]

After completely rebuilding the engine , we cut all the rust out of the bulkhead and installed a new top rail. Also repaired the relatively few rusty bits at the rear of the chassis. It took one year to complete this . I then sent the bulkhead out for paint and reinstalled it. Some shiny new bits definitely raise the spirits after staring at rust for so long.

[RobinS]

Here are some pics of the new engine ready to go and the bulkhead and chassis repairs

[RobinS]

And a few more pics

[RobinS]

While all the painting and welding was going on , we replaced all the trans oil seals and the swivel housing seals, replaced wheels bearings and installed the updated swivel pins and bushings. I made all new brake pipes and installed new brakes. The semi floating rear axle bearings and seals were a bit of a chore , had to make a steel plate to press the new locking collar back onto the axle shaft. The full floating axles are much simpler to work on but honestly I have never broken one of the semi floating shafts , however I have broken several full floating shafts in my Dad's series 2. With the bulkhead in place and the engine installed , I got to work sorting the electrics. We had the engine running last fall.

[RobinS]

The fuel tank developed a small leak so I sent it out and had a new bottom installed . The series one fuel tanks are quite expensive however the repair was very reasonable. The next project was to install new vent door seals which we did this past spring. At this point I removed the radiator assembly again and focused on the capstan winch for which I had been collecting the proper parts for years. It was far simpler to work on the winch drive line etc. with the rad out of the way.

[RobinS]

The only difference from the civilian dash is the convoy lamp switch on the far right and the military data plate just out of the picture on the left

[RobinS]

The last winch part came from Germany and that completed the capstan project. Re installed the radiator assembly and started on the tub and doors which are all at the paint shop at this time. Tomorrow I am dropping off the seat base and floor panels for paint

[troy]

Very cool

[RobinS]

I am running one of the reproduction solex carbs. It seems to work ok here in the garage but I will let everyone know how well it works actually driving. It has all the correct fittings for throttle and choke etc. and also the threaded fitting for the copper vacume line. Has anyone used one of these before ? I would be interested to here your comments. Cheers Robin

[RobinS]

Here is a shot of the carb. Also using the repro air filter hose from the LRSOC

[RobinS]

Well I guess I am the guinea pig for the carb. As I said , I will let you all know how it goes. It was only $250.00 new so I couldn't resist as my old solex leaked more fuel than it fed to the engine. I am very excited to say I got a call from the sandblast / paint shop yesterday and all my parts are ready to be collected . I will be picking them up after work today and will post some pictures on the weekend. I wanted to take a moment to say , that is my friend John with the big smile in the preceding photos . He did all the welding on my bulkhead and some other bits as well. My son Chris helped with the initial tear down back in 2017 and has helped with the winch project. My friend Tony and I built the engine together in my garage and went on parts collecting adventures to Saltspring which were a lot of fun. I wouldn't have been able to do this project without their help. Having your mates over to skin your knuckles and drink some beer together is a huge part of the enjoyment of it. Here are a couple of pics of the body work ready to go to the paint shop

[RobinS]

I got all of the electrics sorted recently . the tail light wiring is in place and labeled as is the wiring to the front wings. This shot is after John and I completed the intense task of aligning the tub , doors and bulkhead. And one pic of the convoy lamp shining on the white rear diff. Cheers Robin

[RobinS]

I collected all the parts from the paint shop and worked on it yesterday. Didn't get as much done as I had planned . I removed all the tape from the galvanized bits and riveted the cross braces to the bottom but couldn't install the tub because I got the wrong sized rivets for the rubber pads on the bottom. Oh well I have them ordered and will get it done next weekend. I only needed 12 rivets but had to buy 100 , hope I find another use for them. We hung the doors and they look nice. We also bled the brakes as I never put fluid in the system when I replaced all the brakes and lines etc. but we are getting ready to drive it in the yard so figured it was time . Cheers for now Robin

[ANDYD]

Hey Robin, great progress! It's really moving along nicely. I hope to get back onto mine now the camping season is almost over!

Did you strip all the old paint from the tub by sand blasting or another method? I have to do mine very soon ...

cheers
Andy

[Colin]

Lovely work

[RobinS]

I made many calls last spring to find out if anyone had a mechanical means to remove the paint as there were four layers but nobody on Vancouver Island would touch it. Apparently sand blasting will damage the burmabright , I didn't know this at the time. There is a fairly old post on this forum about having the parts soda blasted in Victoria but with all the calls I made I couldn't come up with anyone who would do this either. You may have better luck where you are. I stripped all the paint by hand with paint remover. It took many weekends but it did the job. Cheers Robin

[oldgravy]

I may be wrong but I believe that langley u-blast offers walnut media blasting. I would guess that'd be soft enough for alloy, given it's also used for cleaning brass.

[troy]

Looking awesome .

[RobinS]

We installed the tub , interior parts and doors and then it was time for the maiden voyage . First time under it's own steam in at least 8 years. We live on a dead end street in the county so took her out and went through the gears , all seems ok . Our farm has some steep grades and she took it all in stride. I hope to get the final paint done on the tailgate, bonnet and front wings over winter . Obviously still a lot to do but such a thrill to drive it around after all these years. Next project will be front and rear lighting. All the wiring is done so just waiting for the lamps. Brits On The beach in Ladysmith is my goal for next summer. Cheers for now Robin

[ANDYD]

Great to see her driving around, its all down hill from here ... :rev:

[RobinS]

My new pork pies arrived today and the fantastic weather got me in the mood to do some work to the old Landrover. Installed the pork pies but not wired in yet. stripped paint from the bonnet and tailgate hinges plus a few smaller parts in prep for paint in a week or so . Both front wings are also ready so in a few weeks should be looking like a complete series one again. Also had some new 488 front marker lamps show up in the mailbox so need to get those front wings painted.