1964 109 3 door questions

[superpowerdave]

Hello all! First time poster, longtime lurker. I really started reading this forum when I picked up my SIII a few years back and found it to be one of the more helpful, friendly Series sites around.

Back in February my wife and I found a 109 with an 88 parts rig for an amazing price and we trailed them home. Of course this happened in the middle of the frame off for the SIII, but we dove in. I had about a two weeks to fiddle with the 109 before I shipped out at the end of the month.

When we got her we found the diesel transplant had not been completed and she needed the random things most rigs this old need - brake work, various part replacements, etc. I got the diesel running shortly before I left and then she sat while I was deployed.

I've been home about a month now and we took her on her first quick road test yesterday, and needless to say my wife is ecstatic. I have some work ahead of me, but as I've been burning through the RN Series catalog and scouring the internet, I've found a few questions and figured you guys may be able to help. I've attached some pictures which might make it easier.

As I said, I'm totally new to the IIA scene and hope to get up to speed soon.

Rough specs on the 109 -

1964 with 44K on the odometer ... yes, odometer works
Fairey Overdrive
Fairey Capstan
Freewheeling hubs
Access hatch in roof
Several fuel tanks?

As she sat in February-



Winch and question - on the insides of the wings there are small rectangular pieces of steel bolted in on each side - any idea what these are for?



Access hatch in roof - haven't found much information on this, which makes buying the seal rather difficult. If anybody has any information it would be appreciated.



Mexico plate ... previous owner said he'd bought it from an archeologist in Minnesota who did a lot of work in South America. It's only on the driver side though.



There are also several fuel tanks installed, although I haven't dove in to how they all connect just yet. The selector for the auxiliary tanks on the tunnel has three positions, but there are four filler necks I've found so far - two on the passenger side exterior, one one on the driver side exterior, and one under the driver seat. At this point I'm wondering if maybe the exterior filler on the driver side was installed because they tired of pulling the seat at the pump, but I'm not sure.

That's all I have for now. If anybody has any information on the questions I've asked I'd appreciate it. I'm certain this bookmark will no doubt become a frequently visited source of information and with any luck I'll be able to start contributing soon.

Thanks again!

Dave

[LaneRover]

Wow! Cool Rover! Though I may be corrected, I don't believe the access hatch is a factory option. It may have been done for access to a roof tent (as in climb down and drive off if trouble is around. Or it could have provided a spot to take pics from in the relative safety of the vehicle.

As for the metal strips on the wings I am not really sure. does it have more support inside the wheelwell? Could it have provided a spot to put a plate to help in fording rivers to create a better bow wave? Some sort of tray to hold stuff while using the winch - ie if it was used on archeological digs was the winch used for long periods with the vehicle parked and it was handy to have a spot to put stuff down nearby?

Probably I am not much help but you do have a neat little mystery on your hands!

Cool Mexico plaque.

Brent

[czenkov]

Welcome back. That 109" 3 door is beautiful. Lucky find. That would be my choice of configuration. If you ever make it to Utah with the 109" pm me as I would love to check out your truck.

[Cutter]

Wow, thats a beautiful, eclectic truck, what a find. It looks like those two brackets were made to pivot out- I wonder if the PO attached something to the front of the truck (bicycle, tool bin, maybe winching goods, or more fuel).

Are you certain the driver side tank is fuel and not water? I'm sure you would have noticed if there was a drain tap.

Never seen a hatch like that, I but it is custom and therefore will require a custom gasket.

You scored!

[stomper]

Check your vin number, Weren't some rovers sent to Mexico for CKD builds? The Mexico plate may be an original plate affixed to it to denote it's build location. Much like the santana, some options may have been available through Mexico, that weren't available on north american spec rovers. (ie. the roof hatch). If not, it appears to be a very well constructed modification. I would compare the gasket to that of the doors on your truck. My guess it could be the same style gasket.

As for the brackets on the front, Have you tried winding some rope around them? I'm guessing they were stuck there to wind up the rope for the capstan winch when it wasn't in use. Or, as others have said, maybe to hold two jerry cans to the front wings. Regardless, they are not stock from anything I have seen before, but that is the joy of these old rovers. they were modified to tackle anything the prior owners wanted to do.

[superpowerdave]

Thanks for the replies and suggestions.

As for the hatch - different weather seal than the doors. These doors all have the traditional rivet-style whereas the hatch, from what I could tell upon inspection, just had a stick-on type seal.

The brackets up front are held in by an M9 or 10 I believe on the inside of the wing. The PO had the vehicle sprayed, original color was racing green, and when it was sprayed those parts were not removed from the vehicle so I can't even tell for certain if they've ever moved. There isn't much to them, so I'm thinking they were more light duty and, as Stomper said, it would make sense to have a place to coil rope when the winch was idle.

When we bought the vehicle we did a Calvin check on it and it appeared to be a NAS, but that was quite some time ago and my memory is failing; I don't know if it was a US truck or not. I can say that there are a few parts under the hood that have writing in both English and Spanish, which I did not have on my SIII.

At first I thought it could have been from work he'd had done while the vehicle was farther south, but if I remember right even the tappet clearance plate had some Spanish at the bottom.

All in all a fun rig, and a kick in the pants to drive! As I continue down the road if/when I discover anything I'll let you guys know. I'll do some nosing around this weekend to see what I can find.

[leafsprung]

There was a factory option for a roof hatch. Its listed in the optional equipment price sheets. I havent seen one though to tell you if yours is original. I know the oxford cambridge expedition trucks had hatches though. Loks like a very cool truck.

-Ike

[Linus Tremaine]

oxford cambridge

I think the roof hatch in the oxford cambridge trucks was in the front of the roof where it slants down not in the rear part where it levels off. I would have to check to be sure though.

[superpowerdave]

Linus and Ike - thanks, was hoping some of the experts would chime in Ike you'll probably get to see this one in person as we plan on driving out to your shop to pick up bumpers and sliders when my 88 project gets off it's feet and nearing completion!

Found some leaks today and received some parts I'd been waiting on. The throttle linkage still isn't where we want it so I'll be pulling that apart Wednesday to try and get her dialed in - when we bought her the diesel transplant wasn't complete and the previous owner had been using a wire fed through the bulkhead as his accelerator We fabbed up some brackets and are close, but not there yet.

From our IIA donor I pulled the bench seat and replaced it on the 109, found some leaks, ordered some more parts, etc. Oh yeah, took a good look at the fuel tank situation - the front two appear to be standard Rover tanks, and then behind them are two tanks that are a bit smaller and higher than the other two. I think it's a gravity feed system because they are connected by fuel lines. I'm not sure if it was for convenience or not, but on the driver side the stock tank still has a filler cap under the seat, but the tank mounted behind it feeds into it and is filled from a filler neck on the side of the truck. As that tank fills it empties slowly into the stock tank until it is full, and then commences to fill up itself. Same way on the passenger side, only there are two filler necks on the passenger side. Odd. I'll have to go and fill her with diesel and see how she all works. That's not gonna be cheap.

It never ends. It looks as though the brake master cylinder will need a replacement or rebuild. It's quite the task pulling it from my RHD 88 - is it any different on a 109 lhd?

All in all she's coming along. My wife is one happy woman. This was the truck we bought for her as a Valentine's Day present - a deployment got in the way of the progress - let's just say she is a patient woman

[jimsshuman]

your truck is too cool! what kind of diesel has been put in it?

[superpowerdave]

Couldn't resist an update ... slowly but surely she's coming along. I've still got a charging issue to figure out as we make progress and what appears to be a rear main seal to replace () here in the next little bit, but for now we know everything is working properly as far as the drivetrain goes.

Since we picked her up we've been working on getting her running, stopping and steering - those are pretty important. Since Shawna is going to haul the kids around the backroads and on trails with her from time to time it needed to be right. Many parts orders later, and we did our first off-road test.

Nothing major, just some country roads leading back to the mountain range about ten minutes from our house. It was an ideal place for Shawna to run the rig, nicknamed 'Spur' as in 'Spur of the moment purchase!', through all of the gears and see how low and hi worked. The only thing we really noticed we're going to need soon is new tires, as the cheap rollers we picked up don't look the part for our driveway. She's leaning toward 265/75/16s in an MT, but I'm not even sure if they'll fit with the stock suspension so we'll see.

Needless to say she was all smiles, as evident by the last photo. As we make progress we'll continue to update this thread for continuity. I'm hoping to be able to look back in a few years and have a history of what we started with and what we wound up with.

[rwollschlager]

with the stock suspension you will be very satisfied with the 235/85/16's. Roughly 32" tall and their narrow-ness helps lightens the steering a little bit.

-Rob

[Nium]

Well, look at that the little one was lulled to sleep by the gently rocking and quiet purr of a Series . Nice looking rig that Spur is. Congrats!

Cheers!

[badvibes]

Great pics! Looks like you all are living the dream!

Jeff

[superpowerdave]

Great pics! Looks like you all are living the dream!

Jeff

the dream or the nightmare, depending on the day of the week! Currently the SIII is undergoing a frame-off, the DII is awaiting a MAF replacement, the P38 is awaiting a coil pack and a thermostat and my wife snapped a shock on the Classic last weekend!

Needless to say this week has been a rough week for our driveway We wouldn't trade them all in for anything else though. This week will pass and we'll go months without a hiccup so this doesn't bother us at all.