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Land Rover Restoration is very
popular for all types of Land Rovers. This is
mainly because these vehicles are built with a
solid ladder frame chassis that lasts well and
the body panels made mostly of aluminium are
very resistant to corrosion and rusting. Series Landys and Defenders are built like mechano sets
so it is quite easy to chop and change all sorts
of body parts and panels.
Rebuilding older Series vehicles
can result in a nearly new Landrover. It is a long
and hard process and often very expensive especially
if you want to rebuild a Series 1 back to conquers
condition. Not all rebuilds are to restore the
vehicle to original state, a lot of them are just to
give the vehicle a bit of a makeover to extend its
lease on life or to prepare it for a new life, like
that of a camper or daily commuter, farm vehicle or
a game viewer conversion. It is however one of the
most rewarding experiences to rebuild an entire Land
Rover, it gives you an intimate knowledge of the
vehicle and the ultimate satisfaction in the
finished product.
The military in many parts of the world have been
big users of Land Rovers and when these vehicles are
sold off by the army then they land up in someone's
garage as a viable restoration project. South Africa got a real boost
with regards to Land Rover ownership around 20 years ago when the South
African Defence Force started auctioning off redundant stock.
Very often these vehicles where brand new
and they where often driven home from the auction site. A sad truth
however, is that the troops often maliciously damaged these vehicles and
the military maintenance crews where not as good as you would have hoped
them to be.
Various SA-unique vehicles where
available and made ideal holiday vehicles and
campers.
Standard Land Rovers were also available, they
quickly got bought up by the general public and various enterprising
groups. Today, about 3/4 of the
series vehicles on the road are ex-military. There were also a handful
of Defenders sold off.
These days
Defenders, early Range Rovers and Disco 1 vehicles
are prime targets for rebuilds and restoration.
These models are available relatively cheaply and a
good selection of
new and used parts are available to get the
vehicles back into shape.
Rebuilding and
Restoration Tips and Tricks
There are lots of
tips and tricks to restoration and rebuilds, but
essentially there are 3 distinct phases,
first disassembly, second cleaning, fixing,
painting and sourcing and then
finally the re-assembly and rebuilding phase. You
will inevitably start from scratch or by completely
dismantling
the vehicle.
Disassembly
Its a good idea to start some sort of
labelling and sorting method for all the parts that
you disassemble. It may seem obvious or tedious when
you are taking it apart but when you need to
re-assemble in a couple of months time then you will
be grateful for an organised labelled selection of
parts. Be warned that this is the easiest and the
fastest part of the restoration process, it will
take more than double the time to put it all
together again. It will also be worthwhile to get
the relevant parts catalogue or
workshop
manual so that you know how to take things off
and how to put them back in the right place.
Cleaning Fixing
and Modifying
Once you have
everything apart then you need to asses all the
components and decide what you want to clean and
repair and what you want to replace with new or used
part. This is also a good time to assess if you want
to upgrade or modify anything on the vehicle or change the
configuration. Small inexpensive items should just
be replaced with new because the time in cleaning
and fixing becomes limiting. Larger more expensive
parts can be restored to almost new if they are
structurally sound and just need some cosmetic work.
Chassis repair is often a big part of a restoration
project to repair or replace rusted or damaged
sections with new metal pieces welded into place for
strength. During this period you need to stay
motivated and keep your finished product in mind
because motivation will be required as you spend
hours, days and weeks working with almost nothing to
show for it.
Rebuilding and
Assembly
The process to put
everything together again is the part that takes the
longest. However this is the most rewarding part where you will start to see
the fruits of your labour. You will require patience
to make sure that you don't take short cuts in the
interests of speed and rushing to finish. Rather spend the time and do it
properly, you will appreciate this once you are
finished. You may also be in for some surprises here
as you start assembling and realise that you don't
have some parts or would like to replace an old one
with new. But finally you will finish the
restoration and have an almost new rebuilt Land
Rover to show for it and hopefully a
registered
roadworthy vehicle that will give you many
hassle free years of use.
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