'84 Land Rover ex-MOD 109, OM606 hi-cap

Priority was strip the front end down to check over the chassis and see how far back from the dumb irons the rot went







The front crossmember was very crusty and inside the dumb irons the rot went all the way back to the bump stops

Also made a start stripping and rebuilding the front axle, blasting and epoxy priming most of the steel parts too





A jig was made around the front chassis legs and the major surgery began....

I cut a load of repair plates out of a sheet of steel for the bulkhead outriggers and front crossmember and made a pair of outriggers with a stainless steel sleeve for the long body bolt and welded it on







The spring hangar was carefully stripped back of rotten chassis rail then dunked in a rust remover solution and left for a few days, then thrown through the blast cabinet, painted and welded on







Then I had a few deliveries through the post

The work you are putting in looks great!

I have a 1985 ex-MOD 110 Tithonus which came out of service 3 years ago. Only a year between them!

Will definitely be following this

Nice fab work and welding. Please continue

what every one above said

Thanks for the comments

So it was mid-July, about a month to RRG and the Landy is still in pieces!

I scavenged dashboard parts and switches off my swb and made a start sorting through the wiring loom to make it functional-ish





Most of the hoodsticks were found for the back, the plan being to convert the loadbay into a tent/den for RRG!



I also swapped the standard 4.7 ratio diffs for a spare set of 3.54's to match the Defender gearbox and Discovery transfer 'box, and painted the diff pan 2k gloss white whilst I was at it





The front crossmember was re-assembled only salvaging the locating plates at the base of the steering relay holes, and making the three tubes out of stainless so they don't ever rot out again



And panic began to set in with the front propshaft clearance still being an issue!



The rear brakes were stripped off and all parts thoroughly de-rusted to be epoxy primed as done to the front





Fuel lines were lifted off my swb and a new custom power steering pressure hose was made and fitted



And then August happened....

Thanks

So with less than three weeks to the Gathering I had no lights, no battery, no windscreen wipers, no washer bottle, really nothing electrical for that matter, no brakes, no fuel tank, no clutch, no running proven engine, half the cab floor panels missing, no heater, no throttle, no oil cooler, no radiator fan, no intake hoses, still no V5 and definitely no MOT!

How hard could it be?



Headlights were scavenged from the scrap pile and rear brakes re-assembled



A spare rotten fuel tank had the top cut out and made into a battery box, and one of the better leaking fuel tanks was welded up and fitted. With the battery balanced in place the lights slowly began to work after chasing many many corroded connectors and poor earths. Lots of time was wasted on the hazards, until a quick flick through the mot manual showed they're not required before '86, snip.....



Headlights were re-wired with relays since I really don't trust the aged wiring and standard 4 fuses to handle their original capacity



After another week most of the engine was plumbed in and almost ready to run, wires and cables dragged all over and attacked with countless ty-wraps, a complete mess but functional!





Bleeding the brakes and clutch proved far harder than anticipated. I just couldn't get all the air out of the clutch so the pedal was spongy almost to the floor, and the brake pedal continued to hit the floor before anything happened.

Make or break time, with absolutely nothing ready on the Friday the week before the Gathering I booked the mot for Monday 14th, nothing like a target to work towards

By Sunday the engine was all plumbed in and ready to be run up to temp for the first time



Monday morning was spent tearing the dashboard apart to replace the wiper motor, grease the wheelboxes, fit new washer jets and get them working (easiest way was to screw the washer bottle inside the cab below the dash!), make a battery box clamp, secure all the battery cables, tidy the interior, check all the bolts underneath in the chassis and suspension were tight, re-bleed the brakes and clutch,

Monday afternoon came and I was still spannering away minutes before my booked slot, still not had a chance to run it up and down the driveway to check the brakes were working yet, or even got fuel!

Once tanked up I threw some ropes in the back, pulled out into the road and Dad followed in his car to the mot station.....

So on returning from the Gathering I'd put about 140 miles on the Landy, and it had run mostly without fault. So the next step was to put it immediately into use commuting to work down the motorway, trial by fire!



For those who weren't at the Gathering or missed it there, here's some close ups of the glorious paint finish!





Now I'm upto about 400 miles in a little over a week! The only major problem which needed fixing during the week were the rotten door tops peeling out at around 65-70mph, and the glass popping out from the long since decayed runners! A rummage in the spare pile sorted me a pair of early 110 one piece doors which were swapped over last night, windy windows, luxury!!!

So there it is, the ratty OM606 Landy!











Plans are to sort out a few oil leaks, continue de-rusting the chassis, tidy up the footwells, insulate the cab, full re-wire, long range fuel tank, rollbar in the back, grease up the rear springs, lower the front a little more and countless other little jobs to make it a really nice reliable daily driver

Thats cool as curse word