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Land Rover Lightweight 55HG89 Restoration


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Hi all

 

Heres some photos of the Land Rover lightweight 24V FFR me and the father in law (Forum user 55HG89) are restoring to her former glory. She used to look like this

 

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We started work in October 2010 when the new chassis arrived, the chassis she was on is fairly solid at the front but the rear cross member has had it. We started in October 2010 when the new chassis arrived.

 

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From there we moved onto the suspension and axels, we managed to get hold of a BNIB front axel

 

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We then too the engine out and prepped it for painting

 

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In the fetching Sky blue colour

 

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Then onto the gearbox, which was absolutely caked in the usual sort of substances that accumulate on a 20+ year old vehicle

 

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When cleaning it we found some disturbing metal shards in its oil!

 

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We were going to get if overhauled anyway so off it went to a mate of our who just happens to be a Land Rover gear box specialist with 20 years of experience. Turned out it was one of the clips on the 3/4 synchro and there was no other damage, bit of a result that! here it is after a professional rebuild

 

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And then reconnected to the engine and on the new chassis

 

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Next up was the engine ancillaries including the monster alternator

 

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The front panel was next, we got 2 replacement panels form eBay as the old ones had started to rot out

 

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And then fitted

 

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Front bulkhead was next

 

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We had to replace both footwells again due to the rust creeping in then panel sealer and primer/paint

 

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Managed to pick up a nice new wiring harness as the old one was past it, all of the cables had corroded and it had melted on the IR relay. Also picked up a new set of hood sticks

 

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And heres where we are now

 

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Next jobs will be to finish the dash, vent panel and then on to the tub! Will update as soon as we do some more!

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what a cracking job .... :-D

you are going to have one helluva Landrover Lightweight there for sure :cheesy:

PS: .I'm sure lots of other folks on here would like to know where you found certain bits and pieces such as that spanking front axle.I know we all know how to mooch the WWW but we also all know how easy it is to miss something someone else finds........if the admin got no objections I think threads like this should carry a few links to suppliers? ......it'd helop them with a bit of trade and help a lot of us out with some bits too !

Edited by RattlesnakeBob
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Thank you all for the feedback so far, more than happy to answer any question on where we got stuff from, the front axle was from Richards surplus, he had them on eBay and when Jim went to pick it up he asked if it was ok to have a quick look at it. He was told that some of the axles they had in stock were NOS and some were reconditioned, if the were NOS they would be black and if not they would be green. Lucky enough it was brand new, had a tag on it saying it was boxed in September 1980, you can just see it in the photo

 

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We did a few bits over the weekend, mainly collecting parts for powder coat

 

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and fitting small odd and ends like the oil breather

 

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Will post some more pics once we get the powder coating back!

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Excelent pics. and thread, so many of your pics. remind me where I was a few months ago. Fantastic that these vehicles are being saved for future owners to such a high std.

Instresing you mention John Richards surplus. Just come back from there with a few more parts! I would have been stuffed with out them for my project.

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Jim got a phone call this morning saying the powder coating is ready so he nipped over to Brum to pick it up, have to say theyve done a pretty incredible job, but dont take my word for it have a look yourself! ;)

 

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Will hopefully get some of the above fitted tomorrow!

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jim got a phone call this morning saying the powder coating is ready so he nipped over to brum to pick it up, have to say theyve done a pretty incredible job, but dont take my word for it have a look yourself! ;)

 

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will hopefully get some of the above fitted tomorrow!

almost too good to use..........
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Started fitting some of the powder coated bits today, heres a list of what we did

 

Clutch pedal box fitted and bled

Air filter bracket

Indicator stalk & cowling brackets

Fog light panel

Washer panel

Dashboard

 

Heres some pics

 

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Had a few hours on the Lightweight today mainly testing the wiring and making some modifications for the gauges. We had to make the live loop for the cluster as we only had one live on the new harness, luckily we had an old harness to butcher so we could keep it as original as possible! heres the result

 

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After me made all of the connections we put the key in the ignition for the first time in years and checked if our connections were good.

 

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We then had the great idea of seeing if the starter motor would turn the engine, unfortunately it did and carried on doing so even after the keys were taken out of the ignition!!! After a few panicked seconds we disconnected the battery and started to fault find. Turned out the offending article was this

 

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Was brand new but if you shake it you get the same sound as a baby rattle! We fitted the old unit and it worked perfectly, Looks like Jim will have to get on eBay and get another new 1!. The brake pedal is next to go in but we didnt get chance today, happy with progress tho as all of the wiring is now pretty much done.

 

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Did some work on the linkages this weekend as they were a bit of a mess and weve been putting it off as it feels like a lot of work for very little gain!

 

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Having said that tho the finished result made me change my mind! :cool2:

 

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Managed to get the brake box in as well

 

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Hi thanks for all the positive comments. The chassis was left as was because i feel it looks better . I've seen a lot that have been painted and they have chipped and lifted, its just a personal choice . The vehicle will never be sold while i am still alive ,so i wanted it to last and i like the look of galvanised! .Thanks again Jim

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Thanks for the comments of approval guys its really appreciated. Was working on some "homework" at the weekend which consists of me taking some bits to my house and working on them so we don't lose time wait on paint drying. Thankfully the weather was good enough to get a bit done! Had planned on working on this

 

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When i tried to flat it the Nato green turned into the all too common pink colour meaning its time to get the nitro moors out which unfortunately was at Jims! so moving on

 

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Brake servo done!

 

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And re painted the IR switch cover and put the original stickers back on it. Not the most productive of weekends but progress all the same. If anyone has any tips for getting the paint off panels when its turns pink please let me know. Ive already ingested dangerous amounts of Nitro moors and weve still got the tub, doors bonnet and wings to do!

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Hi All

 

Got a few more bits on this weekend, including putting what should hopefully be the last solenoid we ever have to fit!

 

Started with the brake servo

 

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Just need some spring washers to fit the master cylinder!

 

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IR switch cover on

 

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Old (Left) and new (Right) we recon the one of the left is either a fake Lucas part or a 12V with a 24V sticker on it, close up where the word "Lucas" is stamped onto it looks a bit suspect. Any else had this in the past I wonder?

 

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and fitted

 

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Nice new white handles look great against the powder coating

 

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Had to make a new internal sponge

 

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fully assembled

 

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Need to get the air filter sorted next, then i think were onto the vent panel!

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