56 series 1 body on a discovery chassis

[56S1LR]

hello all,
i have a 1956 sreies one, what my plan is. i want to get about a mid 90's discovery, rip the body off and replace it with the 56 series one body...
i know it will be alot of mucking around but i think it will be worth it. imagine a old series one on coil springs and a turbo injected deisel... i thort about putting the motor and running gear on the sreies 1 but i think it might be easier to do it this way. i want it to have the p/s, seats, maybe the fuel tank and all the guages of the disco, i'll have to get body mounts made up and modify the fire wall to fit the steering collum and foot peddels.
if there is anyone who has done this or knows of some one who has, can you let me know. would love to talk to some one to get more of an idea how much it will take to do this.
thanks heaps
troy
ph 0400664178
email troyktm520@yahoo.com.au

[CliftonRover]

I am in the process of doing this to, except im using the V8. it is a bit of work making the mounts for the series body on the frame, but it will work. depending on the wheel base you could shorten the disco chassis or stretch the series tub. the series one tub should be easy to stretch, I did it with a series IIA and it was hard to make everything straight. the diesel will fit easily, not sure you'll be able to keep the gauges from the disco though.

[leafsprung]

For most folks the point of a hybrid is to improve the performance and capability of an older vehicle while retaining the style, character, and utility of the original vehicle. Typically one of two things happens:

1) The resulting vehicle is a pleasure to drive and is extremely cool and well thought out
2) Both donor vehicles are ruined and every enthusiast that sees the hybrid says "dear god what were they thinking when they did that"


If you were to characterize your ideas thus far I would say the diesel, coil springs, power steering and new drivetrain could result in the first scenario. However, the others lean toward the second scenario.

-The seats do not fit well in a series and are pretty ugly. The d90 ones are a better fit, there are also some good aftermarket seats.
-The disco PS is junk. One of the most common failures on the coilsprung trucks is the power steering. The boxes are leaky, the pumps are low volume, and parts are expensive. I would not retain this.
-Modifying the firewall to fit the discovery column is not required for power steering. If you are planning to fit that huge bulky plastic clad column from the disco, Id say dont.
-Gauges/binicle from the disco- again, ugly. The early RR has a nice 100 mph speedo that fits INTO the series instrument panel. Looks great and offers the functionality you are looking for.
- disco gas tank - why? Doesnt fit the vehicle. Make a custom tank for the vehicle or use an original.

This truck has a EFI rover v8, power steering, LT95, etc etc but it retains much of its original character:
http://www.pangolin4x4.com/tillamook/run2.jpg

[SafeAirOne]

There aren't too many Series I conversions here in the States. However, judging by how many I see in the UK landrover magazines, there must be hundreds in England. Land Rover World and Land Rover Monthly show loads of them participating in off-road trials. Usually they're coil-sprung Series Is with V8s under the bonnet.

Of course these trucks get a thrashing during these events, so I'm not sure how much attention to detail they get during the build-up.

I would think that the most info and expertise on a conversion of this type could be had on one of the UK-based boards (not that you won't get info and expertise here, but someone there has probably ACTUALLY DONE what you seek to do). I'll have to check, but there was one board that was particularly helpful when I converted my 109 to a 2.5 diesel. Now if I could only remember the site....


...OK--The forum I used is a dead link now, but http://forums.lr4x4.com/ ia a similar European forum.

[56S1LR]

thanks enery one for the info... keep it comming... :)

[leafsprung]

There are more series one hybrids in the UK. There are NICER series one hybrids here in the US. I have seen a couple decent one from OZ as well, but I dont have pics of them.

http://www.pangolin4x4.com/P.jpg

[SafeAirOne]

OOH....That IS a nice one, leafsprung. The one's I've seen in the UK mags don't look anything like this. They're usually painted yellow, covered with mud, and have at least one wheel off the ground in the photos. Body dings seem to be compulsary on 'em too.

[Eric W S]

Looks like the SeriousOne! Cool truck.

EwS

[56S1LR]

update!!!!

i can get a 1988 swb disco, motor is stuffed though. no matter my lold man has a 2.8 turbo deisel in a rangie that i should be able to swindle out of him. he said it should bolt straight in, and a mate knows a engineer, sounds like he is pretty good. have to have a yarn to him, and get the rovers from cooktown to townsville so i can make a start...

i'll keep ya's posted...