Offroad-Express

Its a strange thing. Someone else buys a truck, and it gets parked in my carport. For some unknown reason, i keep finding myself out there working on it.

Land Rover sickness

First up, it was axle stands and wheels off to see what condition brakes and wheel bearings were in and allow better access underneath.

The chassis was covered in a light rust in places, so called the sand blaster into service.

Dave dealing to the rust on the chassis in the engine bay with the sand blaster


What we started with:


Chassis all sand blasted and blinged up:




Engine bay and chassis rails all cleaned up and painted:




I shouldn't be let loose with a spray gun!!!!! There was paint left over, and being it was 2k acrathane, you either use it or throw it out, soooooooo.......

Front bumper and bull bar got hit:


and so did the wheels



My next big mission was to address the damage caused by the removal of the sign writing on the rear guards. Craziest sign writing i have ever come across, like it was super glued on??

As respraying the rear guards wasn't in the budget, I had to get creative. I devised a realy careful procedure, to carefully sand the remaining glue off one side, and fill and re-finish the other side which was heavily damaged, without touching any of the paintwork outside of the line of the sign writing, and then paint a black stripe down it. What a mission that was, respraying the guard would have been way easier!!

The drivers side, which was the good side, ready for love


The passengers side part way through, filling the craters


The end result is a black stripe down each guard. Doesn't look to bad considering its a cover up job, and when it comes time to respray the guard properly, nothing has been lost...


It also needed some slightly more substantial rust repairs in two spots on the rear cross member, so hit them with the sand blaster, welder, rust killer, paint, and then cavity wax. End result should see the chassis last for quite a while longer!!!





Its getting there!!!!

Ahhh thought I had seen that somewhere. You guys did buy it.

Cool truck. I was tempted for it to be the family camping wagon, but alas.

Three day weekend working bee over queens b.day!!

Time for the interior fit out to begin

started throwing stuff together and before you know it..........

Cupboard unit:
Front

Rear

Inplace


I missed all of the assembly shots, but they are pretty boring, so heres the half finished shots, with it all in position, but still requiring alloy trim on the high wear edges and fixing into place

Back door ready for the stove to be mounted


Main bed set up


Cupboard in place, chilly bin is the temporary fridge


Guided tour, bottom cupboards, shelves are to be fitted into these cupboards once the unit is mounted into the truck for the last time


Top cupboard, one door, two compartments


Center cupboard with fold down table and special contoured thermos flask holder



Rear storage compartments in bed base


So you probably noticed its pretty similar to ours in the rear, except its the opposite way round. The main difference is in the center area, were they need two back seating positions for the twins.

So we removed the center seat, and made a big storage box to sit between the outer seats, like so:



The seats fold down


The bed goes on top:


Heaps of useful storage in there too:


The stain should be dry by the end of the week, then its time to polyurethane, fit the allot trim and off course, do all the little adjustments that are needed to get it to fit properly and anchor to the truck.

Somehow I have to work out how to use this space provided by folding the front seat flat to make a sleeping area for the twins. Joy


Progress, loving the progress!!!

We will be ready to fill this hole soon:


Anyone have any leads on a running 3.5 carbed V8??

We have "some" of the parts from the old engine, the odd bracket here and there, radiator, aircleaner, 3.5 exhaust manifolds but bugger all else.

Going EFI is not on the cards at the moment either.

We just want the easiest option, which is a carbed 3.5 the runs, which we can plonk in.

Otherwise we get a 3.9, deal with what ever misc bracketry is missing, find a set of carbs and inlet manifold and hope works........

Leads on potential engines are welcome

DieselBoy wrote:Its a strange thing. Someone else buys a truck, and it gets parked in my carport. For some unknown reason, i keep finding myself out there working on it.

Can I park my truck in your carport for a few weeks?

ive got a set of carbs ya can have for $50

mazdamike wrote:ive got a set of carbs ya can have for $50

Cool, will send you a PM later today!!!

Looks good mate... Jealous much, I want a LWB for the wife and kids

that paint is AWESUM!!

Thats looking great, thanks for sharing.

you guys haven't wasted anytime! Looking really good - can't wait to see it progress.

curious why not the efi?

I've got a complete 3.5 along with a spare set of stromburgs was going to fit it to a boat but it didn't happen
If your interested make an offer

Cheers Reece

Would it be simple or worth the effort to carb a 3.9 and slap that in for a lil more grunt

should have gone 4.6...just sayin'

De-Ranged wrote:I've got a complete 3.5 along with a spare set of stromburgs was going to fit it to a boat but it didn't happen
If your interested make an offer

Cheers Reece

20 bucks and a doz Tui's

wopass wrote:

De-Ranged wrote:I've got a complete 3.5 along with a spare set of stromburgs was going to fit it to a boat but it didn't happen
If your interested make an offer

Cheers Reece

20 bucks and a doz Tui's

Sounds fair

You in for the road trip

I'm not 100% convinced yet, but the logic behind the engine choice is tricky.

The options are:

A: 3.9 Injected
B: 3.9 Converted to carbed
C: 3.5 Carbed

The priority is to get it running and put some K's on it.

Option A we rule out, as setting up the EFI correctly for ultimate reliability in the middle of nowhere in a 110 is an expense and huge hassle that we don't need to deal with initially.

Option B is is the one I personally favour, and www.landroverspares.co.nz has sourced one for us. We have the 3.5 exhaust manifolds, so would need to source carbs and inlet manifold. The big catch with this plan, is that because we don't have the stock motor anymore, we don't have all the bracketry for the likes of choke cables, accelerator cables, coolant sensors, air cleaner mounts, fly wheel, clutch etc. All of those issues can be over come though, and you get a later model engine with better cylinder head bolt pattern design. Can also go and hear the motor from www.landroverspares.co.nz running.

Option C is the lazy option that might bite us on the ass. A complete 3.5 for cheap, with cabs and manifold and all the crab required and drop it in. Yeah right. In order to drop it straight in complete with all the bracketry set up for the 110, it would need to be from a 110 to start with. Chances of that are slim, best case it would be from a old Rangie.

So i'm going to push for the 3.9, steal a set of carbs on a manifold complete with linkages and brackets hopefully from one of you guys, slap a HEI Dizzy on it to cure the water immersion issues, pinch a flywheel from somewhere (Rex ), slap a new clutch kit on it and hopefully that'l get him around for a while.

Carbs for ultimate simplicity and reliability

Was willing to take it, till you offered the tui... now you can times your offer by ten oh and I'll throw in a half used box of tui I've had in the fridge for months that I cant give away

If you guys want to do a roady there's spare beds at mine (unless wingnuts camping over after puking his guts out again poms that can't handle piss )

Option D, it just turned up

I wouldn't discount option 1.
Have dropped a 3.9 into my stage 1. Motor dropped straight in, no changes to engine mounts. Used 3.5 exhaust manifolds, bolted straight on. Changed fuel pump for efi. Rerouted air intake to back of engine by turning rubber over 180 degrees. Made bracket for maf sensor and slapped on a pod filter. Took off viscous fan as it was hitting front cross member (may not on a 110??) and put on electric fans.
Try and find an inlet manifold from 3.5 efi (they don't have 3.9 stamped into them like the disco ones so the wof man doesn't know it's a 3.9)
It was not too hard and doesn't run like a hairy goat until it's warm like the old 3.5 did. Still drinks the same amount of petrol btw
Can't see any issues with reliability.
Just my 5 cents worth

I find the not wanting to use efi a little strange. Maybe I'm just not up with the play or know them well enough or have just been lucky. The one I got from rex and put into the shitter has never missed a beat in the all the years of owning it and abusing it. In fact I've cleaned the spark plugs once to start it the other day (had disconnected the airflow sensor thingy and with 2 year old fuel fowled the plugs, but it did start first pop after 2 years of sitting just two weeks ago!). It even ran under water for ages while waiting for a digger at sheffield (my knees were under water!) and didn't even develop a miss. The 3.5 would see a puddle and konk out straight away and fowl spark plugs left right and centre (could never find those centre ones though). I use the factory computer so maybe that helps. You should get one off Rex, he sells wicked engines that run for ever (I best give its first oil change sometime soon).

sweet wagon

I'd hit EFI as well. Just get a spare ECU, TPS and AFM to chuck in the back. will be cheap as chips.

Cameron wrote:sweet wagon

I'd hit EFI as well. Just get a spare ECU, TPS and AFM to chuck in the back. will be cheap as chips.

Id be going EFI aswell. More power and economy with next to no impact on reliability. Discovery ECU's are so easy to wire up aswell.

Pretty sure I have a 3.5 manifold, Carbs and aircleaner set-up here. If you are interested I'll have a look over the weekend

turoa wrote:

Cameron wrote:sweet wagon

I'd hit EFI as well. Just get a spare ECU, TPS and AFM to chuck in the back. will be cheap as chips.

Id be going EFI aswell. More power and economy with next to no impact on reliability. Discovery ECU's are so easy to wire up aswell.

EFI, rover systems are robust and as turoa say farking easy to hook up, or there option E


http://www.sonnysracingengines.com/engines/sar-1005-2150-hp-new-for-2013

Pedro

I have a rebuilt set of Strommies and 3.5 inlet manifold too. Got 3.5 exhaust manifolds as well but I would think that on a 3.9, you'd be looking for a larger throat that the little 3.5 pipe.

PM me if you want to talk turkey.

What about option E: 3.9 with a single Holley carb...?

Less brackets and cables, easier to install, Less to go wrong, easier to tune in the field, no need to worry about balancing carbs and all that...

lax2wlg wrote:What about option E: 3.9 with a single Holley carb...?

Less brackets and cables, easier to install, Less to go wrong, easier to tune in the field, no need to worry about balancing carbs and all that...

Yeh, nah

Ever been on a trip with a 350chev powered cruiser?? Seen how they run/don't run on an angle??

Down draft carbs aren't even on the radar