Willard
04-24-2008, 10:08 AM
A little history.
What I have is a 1974 Ex Norwegian Military Former FFR 109 3 door. It has a full hard top with the fume curtain.
The 109's engine was shot, the frame was shot, and the transmission and transfercase are iffy. What did I buy? What am I doing?
After sulking for a few hours in the corner. I took another look at my Rover and decided to start searching on the internet. I found lots of info and lots of advice. So I decided to do something with it. Originally I was going to semi restore the Rover back to original specs. This has changed a lot.
Upon some searching I found a good used solid (hard to believe) Military 3 door 109 frame and needed only 1 slightly bent outrigger replaced and a lot of cleaning.
So I ordered a new outrigger, got it welded on and sent the frame to the sandblasters and now it is sitting in my garage.
Now starts the disassembly. What fun that is. I am almost done on that. Got rid of the engine, the transmission and transfercase is leaving soon. The Axles are going. What am I left with? A shell and a frame.
What am I going to do? Originally it was going to be a nice easy swap to a new frame and a Mercedes Turbo Diesel would end up in the engine bay.
I even bought (and sold) almost everything I needed for this swap. Then I started to look into this more and decided this was not for me. Yes the fuel economy would be great, but the turbo, fuel pump; etc to rebuild would not be so great. The price of my budget doubled to what I originally wanted to do this for. So I dropped the diesel idea. Deciding that the Rover would not be my daily driver I decided on a gas motor. So here is exactly what will be going into the Rover and some of my plan for this 109.
Engine:
1971 Chevy 350
Transmission/ Transfercase:
1977 FJ40 Toyota Land Cruiser
Transmission to engine adapter:
Marks 4WD adapter from Australia (have this now)
Axle Front and rear:
1978 Toyota Land Cruiser with front disk brakes, rear drum. Stock 4.11 gears, locker will be installed.
Drive Shafts:
Custom made
Springs/ Shocks:
RN Parabolics 2 leaf front 3 leaf rear with Military shackles. This may end up not working and I may end up with stock springs, but we will see.
Shocks are yet to be determined.
Wheels/ Tires
Wheels will be custom made by Stockton wheel in 16x6 on 6x5.5 with a 3.5" back spacing. Something similar to this painted to match the originals.
http://i39.photobucket.com/albums/e197/rovers3/Land%20Rover%20FFR/tough4wd.jpg
Tires will more than likely be 235x85R16 Dunlop Mud Rover. It has 16" rims now.
Frame:
Used in great shape Military 109 3 door frame. Cleaned and painted black (sorry not galvanized).
Cooling:
Still to be determined. I will run an electric fan, but the radiator will either be the stock series rad or a new aluminum unit with the front painted black to match.
Bulkhead:
New Defender LHD Bulkhead
Steering:
Land Cruiser FJ60 power steering box.
Heater/ AC <--what?
Sven's nifty summit box mod or a Vintage Air AC unit (still deciding on that)
Dash:
Custom I will use my old Bulkhead to fab this up and use new gauges, something similar to the Rover gauges, but new. The Dash will be all metal (Painted) but clean. I have a few thoughts but nothing written down.
Wiring:
Looking at a Painless kit or Ez-Wiring, but it will be new wiring either way, the old stuff is shot.
Paint:
I am leaving it camouflage for now. I will repaint the bulkhead to match and will Line-X or something similar to the floors and rear tub (inside).
Extras
New seats, lighting, will install a winch, roof rack, on board air, snorkel etc.
New window tracks, door seals etc. and door frame rust fixed.
Outside the body will look like it did when I got it. That is the plan anyways. Underneath and inside will be newish or look new.
I have kind of started this and some pictures are in the link in my sig. I will post more pictures as I go along. I expect to be finished (well 90%) by next summer. the whole build is an undertaking and will require a lot of fab work (good thing I am up for that). So this is the start of the Buildup thread I am creating. It will be here and a couple of other forums (G&R and Expedition Portal (nic is DCH109). Pictures start this weekend.
What I have is a 1974 Ex Norwegian Military Former FFR 109 3 door. It has a full hard top with the fume curtain.
The 109's engine was shot, the frame was shot, and the transmission and transfercase are iffy. What did I buy? What am I doing?
After sulking for a few hours in the corner. I took another look at my Rover and decided to start searching on the internet. I found lots of info and lots of advice. So I decided to do something with it. Originally I was going to semi restore the Rover back to original specs. This has changed a lot.
Upon some searching I found a good used solid (hard to believe) Military 3 door 109 frame and needed only 1 slightly bent outrigger replaced and a lot of cleaning.
So I ordered a new outrigger, got it welded on and sent the frame to the sandblasters and now it is sitting in my garage.
Now starts the disassembly. What fun that is. I am almost done on that. Got rid of the engine, the transmission and transfercase is leaving soon. The Axles are going. What am I left with? A shell and a frame.
What am I going to do? Originally it was going to be a nice easy swap to a new frame and a Mercedes Turbo Diesel would end up in the engine bay.
I even bought (and sold) almost everything I needed for this swap. Then I started to look into this more and decided this was not for me. Yes the fuel economy would be great, but the turbo, fuel pump; etc to rebuild would not be so great. The price of my budget doubled to what I originally wanted to do this for. So I dropped the diesel idea. Deciding that the Rover would not be my daily driver I decided on a gas motor. So here is exactly what will be going into the Rover and some of my plan for this 109.
Engine:
1971 Chevy 350
Transmission/ Transfercase:
1977 FJ40 Toyota Land Cruiser
Transmission to engine adapter:
Marks 4WD adapter from Australia (have this now)
Axle Front and rear:
1978 Toyota Land Cruiser with front disk brakes, rear drum. Stock 4.11 gears, locker will be installed.
Drive Shafts:
Custom made
Springs/ Shocks:
RN Parabolics 2 leaf front 3 leaf rear with Military shackles. This may end up not working and I may end up with stock springs, but we will see.
Shocks are yet to be determined.
Wheels/ Tires
Wheels will be custom made by Stockton wheel in 16x6 on 6x5.5 with a 3.5" back spacing. Something similar to this painted to match the originals.
http://i39.photobucket.com/albums/e197/rovers3/Land%20Rover%20FFR/tough4wd.jpg
Tires will more than likely be 235x85R16 Dunlop Mud Rover. It has 16" rims now.
Frame:
Used in great shape Military 109 3 door frame. Cleaned and painted black (sorry not galvanized).
Cooling:
Still to be determined. I will run an electric fan, but the radiator will either be the stock series rad or a new aluminum unit with the front painted black to match.
Bulkhead:
New Defender LHD Bulkhead
Steering:
Land Cruiser FJ60 power steering box.
Heater/ AC <--what?
Sven's nifty summit box mod or a Vintage Air AC unit (still deciding on that)
Dash:
Custom I will use my old Bulkhead to fab this up and use new gauges, something similar to the Rover gauges, but new. The Dash will be all metal (Painted) but clean. I have a few thoughts but nothing written down.
Wiring:
Looking at a Painless kit or Ez-Wiring, but it will be new wiring either way, the old stuff is shot.
Paint:
I am leaving it camouflage for now. I will repaint the bulkhead to match and will Line-X or something similar to the floors and rear tub (inside).
Extras
New seats, lighting, will install a winch, roof rack, on board air, snorkel etc.
New window tracks, door seals etc. and door frame rust fixed.
Outside the body will look like it did when I got it. That is the plan anyways. Underneath and inside will be newish or look new.
I have kind of started this and some pictures are in the link in my sig. I will post more pictures as I go along. I expect to be finished (well 90%) by next summer. the whole build is an undertaking and will require a lot of fab work (good thing I am up for that). So this is the start of the Buildup thread I am creating. It will be here and a couple of other forums (G&R and Expedition Portal (nic is DCH109). Pictures start this weekend.