Feb 23rd

Now the old tank parts came off a welded thicker tank and the tank I am using is a soldered tank (thinner material). I should have stayed with just MIG tacking the parts every 1cm but I did try to crank the feed rate and current down and run a bead of weld. But it was no good and I blew through and had to backfill Still it looks usable and should be fuel tight once the POR15 tank seal goes in.

Well I have attacked the issue of the mutant fuel tank tonite and now we have a hybrid underseat fill from a rear fill. It needs to be thoroughly cleaned inside and out now but I know it is water tight (before I lopped the bits off) the POR15 treated.

Donor tank 'donates' an underseat fill.

Hole cut in tank ith a handy holesaw I borrowed from work.

Tacked in place - badly LOL

And the final comparison with the 'good' tank that is pinholed and the modded one. Note the re-fitted filler is just off the center line (unlike the original) and the position of the sender. The 'new' filler position should just be OK on the drivers side and clear the seat box overhang but if not it will fit on the pass/nearside and still have access to the fill.

Now the outside needs a good clean up too.

Feb 19th

Well we have actually managed to move on a bit now and a friend has donated a good screen (with good glass), another fuel tank (not underseat fill though) and a few wheels and sundries. So at least I have a tank to check over then see if I can mod it to underseat fill?

Front axle now complete and we seem to have some brake feel after using the Easibleed. Time will tell once it is rolling whether they work OK - but it looks good. New dampers on and it looks tidy too.

Also drained the steering box while I was under there (some metal filings came out! Need to look at this later). So reassembled and refilled with fresh EP90 for now. I wondered why the old lube I had collected smelt very coffee like and pondered what it had been filled with before. Then realised I had used a coffee jar to collect it in - duuuh.

A new issue which I will have to deal with at some point (just like the bulkhead) is the front rad panel. Corrosion looks too far gone for new steel to be let in without some intricate fabrication so is a better replacement required?



Rest of the afternoon will be spent checking over this new gas tank I have aquired. Will it hold water....mmmm

Feb...again...Fuel tanks not good..

Well we have moved on a bit. Or should I rephrase that as I now have more found problems that need resolving?

Now I knew the aux tank was probably shot and after giving the chassis jet wash No. 2 I found the rear of the tank was a pile of rust (4"x4" hole) - so that one is a no hoper. The main tank though was iffy. I say iffy as the PO mentioned there may be a small leak and once the area around it was pressure washed I could then smell fuel. Oh no! Drained the tank and had to remove it to see what was up. Did I mention that I still haven't finished the front axle and this tank investigation was just a distraction?

Anyhoo tank out and found that the base of the tank was pinholed with rust where the support plate mates with the main tank. I managed to split the soldered joints so the support plate was off and I found the leaks - rust. The good news it looks salvagable with POR15 tank seal. I can then get the whole lot painted witha few layers of smoothrite and re-assembled. If I don't use it as a main then it would be fine for the aux.

Now to the main tank. A new one from Craddocks will be £127 plus shipping in military underseat fill guise but the 'equivalent' civi side fill version is only £60 - logical non? So how about cutting off the underseat fill from the dud tank then soldering (silver/lead) to the civi version and seal off where necessary. I have the flux and materials to hand anyway so it's a thought? I am still debating whether to to bite the bullet on the Craddocks price to save a few hours labour

A piece of good news is the chassis. Now that I have had to drop both tanks I can see the whole of the chassis rails and the time I have spent under there has been put to good use. They are all solid, bar the tank front outriggers, so I'll lop them out and at £6 + vat from Paddocks they are a minimal expense. (Editors note - read on for the real chassis condition!)

Oh, also the Smiths is fine and dandy and works! Just need to refit once I have sorted the front axles/fuel tank/engine service set-up.......................

More Feb......Smiths heater.

So onto the cab heater. The fan motor had to be stripped as the oiltite/phosphor bronze bearing had gone dry. I gave it a clean and put a dab of gun oil on each bearing surface. Runs sweet now. Fan blade cleaned up and both bits treated to a coat of satin black smoothrite.

Heater matrix after being stripped from the assy.



Well the round Smith's held liquid overnight and I have just blown through the heater matrix with an air line and the vanes look good. No sign of anything other than surface discolouration from 'rustitis'. So the next step is to soak the matrix externally in some hot water and detergent to lift off any more crud - I will leave it to dry over the log burner so that will drive any water out after a rinse.

To flush the matrix internally I plan to use a 50/50 mix of boiling water and brown vinegar tonite. So that will either eat the matrix away or shift more muck?

The matrix is sat in front of the fire for an overnight dry out after being flushed with 50/50 brown vinegar and boiling water, then two teaspoons of bicarb and hot water, then fabric detergent and hot water, then more boiling water and dish detergent, then copious amount of hot water. After two hours of hand flushing it is now almost there. Basically I cannot face another two hours over the sink so that is the best that'll have to do.

Smiths fan looking all tarty and lounge starting to look like a S2 parts emporium?

The arrival......Feb '09

For over a year a mate had promised that he would sell on to me his pride and joy - this Series 2 Ex-mil LWB. After lot of delays for lots of assorted reasons it has now arrived!

Here it is as Mark dropped him off.

Honestly the wheels were on it when it arrived but I just had to start fiddlin'
























The LR came fitted with a truck cab but also includes a new full length canvas and some of the stick set. I still require side rails above the doors, a rear hoop and strengthening bars between each hoop before I can fit the canvas. But you never know what I will find in my regular LR jumble trawls?

I previously had a SWB Series 3 for 9 years ( http://members.lycos.co.uk/pjboomer ) but unfortunately that had to be moved on leaving me LR'less. After a two year sabbatical I now have this early IIA LWB which was demobbed in '75. So the task will be to find out some of it's military history if poss?

From my initial findings the LR looks to have been part of an order del. '66/'67 so the military reg. could be 45 ER 31? It is a Rover 9 GS 109" 12v 2.25 petrol and overall it appears very original and seems to have been spared the mods and tweaks that most have had over the years. Rear x-member is not std but all the rest seems to be there.

Bulkhead ID plates have the following info...

Military plate
Vehicle No. 45 E 31
Chassis 2510627*
Contract No. WV4628

Rover ID plate
Land Rover 109" Series IIA
Vehicle No. 2511026*G (Not sure about the 'G' which could be a 'C'?)


Military plate chassis No. and Rover chassis number don't match?

Also engine No. S25105956G (re-con 3-brg. to 'G' spec.) and Gearbox 25216353C

Demobbed in 1975 and only two owners since and 78k on the clock is believed to be genuine.

It is registered on a 'B' plate based on the V5 having a first date of manufacture as 1962. But where this V5 date came from is unknown and hard to sustantiate at the moment.

From the gearbox and engine numbers we can have an idea of age. The engine is an early 2A one from 1961 that has been factory reconditioned by Rover to Suffix G spec - hence the S at the beginning and the suffix being out of kilter with the number.The gearbox probably dates to around 1964? But then most LR's of this age have had parts swapped.......especially if they were well used military examples?

Chassis initially looked to be a 1 tonne but as pointed by others on EMLRA - it isn't exactly but it is known as a 'combat spec' or Combat Chassis. They are basically the same but with a few minor differences. This can make it a bit of a PITA sourcing some parts (bump stop extension blocks anyone?). I have loads to do but I know it all works plus it has tax and MOT until the end of May. The question is how good is it?

When Mark dropped it off he mentioned the brakes were not that good. So that was my first point to check.

The first day stripping them down found one rear piston seized/one front piston seal gone and both front shoes just touching the rivets - that'll be why then? So before this trucks gets on the road it is at least going to get all its running gear checked over.

More pics from around the truck. Note the unusual sockets on the rear corner. Or should I say one weird one that appears to be a connection for a backup supply generator (big knurled one) with an alternative 'parking' spot for the cap in the LH corner below the reflector? Both the parking spot and the knurled cap were once painted yellow.

It was changed to negative earth by the PO and I'll keep it that way.

Traces or red paint found on both rear 'bumper' faces.

The round Smiths heater is being stripped down this weekend to see if it is a) watertight and b) the fan works. So far it all seems OK but we will see after a few days with water in it? (have to start somewhere?).

Logo found under the paint at the NS rear and a similar one on the NS wing that I need to uncover. EMLRA bods believe it means this was a South Eastern Command vehicle. I have a few aqaintances that were involved with SEC after WW2 but the roll of this LR would still be interesting to find out. At some point I will need to chase either MOD archives of via EMLRA.

NS wing flash has all but worn away but the same SEC lion logo was found face up on top of the wing and the worn away coloured strips wrapped around and onto the front of the wing.

Battery mounting points in the rear bed (single dynamo was all that was fitted though) plus what looks like fixing points for some form of bench/shelf at the rear bulkhead end of the tub? One mount missing and a PO has replaced it with a piece of bent s/s plate. Ideally I would like to get a suitable plate to replace the bodged one.

What do I plan to do with it? Well I am not one to carry out a full renovation to turn it into an LR which is better than new. I am no rivet counter either, though saying that I would like it to at least remain externally as it would have originally been. Engine may change and a few other bits but it will appear as de-comm'd.

Ideally I want a tidy truck (not too tidy) to haul bales of hay and straw about and the odd Roe ;)