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S11A Airportable

Neil

Neil

Posting Guru
Site Donor
Taking delivery of it in a week or so.
I have seen worse, though I cannot remember when.
Fortunately the current owner has done the work on the chassis because, sheesh it was in a state. Pretty much snapped in half and held together with strips of angle iron.
Engine does not turn, hardly surprising though when you consider that it was rescued from a damp barn, yes it is yer genuine barn find!
 
And here it is in said Barn
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Some pictures to show the state it was in originally. Fortunately the vendor had made a pretty decent start on doing the structural and oily bits.
 

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I know some farmers are known for being a bit tight, but given how relatively cheap series door tops were, this is another level of penny pinching
 

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They have been on there for 53 years as far as I can make out, the studs which go through the door bottoms are rusted into position, solidly
 
Continuing to work through the various boxes of what I have bought, finding all sorts of electrical parts which is quite useful. Things like the voltage regulator, the fuse box and the distribution block. A fair bit of the original wiring, even if it was removed by chopping through the various cables. Wiring is interesting on its own, the main dashboard loom insulation is braided cotton, some of the front end lighting as well. Other bits of the original wiring are PVC specifically the wiring to the back lights. NATO socket is back to braided insulation (all yellow.)

More interesting things with the engine, I have removed the rocker cover to have a look at the valve gear, very black and not too oily, removed the thermostat housing to have a look at the water side, dry and a little bit of rust but really quite clean. The interesting thing is that thus far I haven't come across any gaskets, at all.
 
Perhaps the joint faces were/are so-oo perfect, so flat, so smooth and so utterly utter in their utterness that the engine has no need for joint washers (LR speak for gaskets) to keep the vital fluids in. Although there is the alternative that, they don't keep the vital fluids in anyway so why waste the time and effort fitting them.
 
Having spent a few pounds on bits at Blanchard's yesterday, mostly to replace parts that just aren't there or are in such poor condition that it would cost more to save them than to replace them.
Then, today, spent some more at both Craddick's and Blanchard's, buying lots of little things like rivets for seals, the rubber wheel for the indicator switch and other equally esoteric bits.
Tomorrow I'm off to a local fabrication place to see if they are willing to bend some panels for me to replace items that are either rotten, split or have holes in them.
 
Luckily there is a fabrication place near to me (the owner is restoring his own Land Rover) who might be able to make me some of the panels I need.
That is the best thing about airportable models, pretty much everything is either flat or has simple bends in it.
I was going through another box of bits last night, mostly things like the nuts, screws, bolts and washers. Quite remarkable really, yes a significant proportion were rusty, as you might expect after 53 years, but not THAT rusty.
I'm going to replace them anyway so the condition doesn't really matter, it was just mildly surprising. Suggesting that the quality of fasteners used was a lot better then than it has been in recent years.
Some of the nuts are interesting as well, a variation on the theme of nyloc, pictures later.
 
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a selection of 53 year old fasteners. Honestly, I don't think they are in a particularly bad condition.
Obviously they are rusty, but nowhere near as rusty as some of the much younger fasteners on the 110 I recently sold.
I love the locky nut thingy. Those that are still fitted are tight, but a little bit of penetrating oil and they unfasten relatively easy
 

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Gotta hate people who do this sort of thing. Quite apart from hammering a key into the ignition lock and boogering the switch internals, they then cut the wiring off. Rather than undo the screws to remove the wires and make a note of the number conveniently located next to each terminal (for future reference or ease of identification) oh no, that is far too sensible/difficult. I'll just cut them all off.
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I have spent the last couple of days with a drill and a selection of bits for drilling out pop rivets and spot welds.
Stripping off the more badly corroded bits of bodywork.
 

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