14 year old seeking advice!

[RNZack]

last night, we took out all of the spark plugs and put kerosene in the pistons. then, when we checked the oil there was some thick sludge in the bottom. it didn't seem to have water in it... does anyone know what this is or how we can thin it out so we can drain the oil?

we forgot to bring the camera, so no pics yet. probably sunday when we bring it home.

ironically, we have two friends in our town that have the EXACT SAME ROVER! and they both swear by rover's north!

i don't have much to work with, because my dad does things like so: this isn't staged, its his pure geniusness at work[ATTACH=CONFIG]6290[/ATTACH] he told me to throw that in for your enjoyment.

pictures on sunday...

ebben

Nice! Where abouts in Vermont are you?

[jac04]

How did he miss that?

Answer:
"...its his pure geniusness at work."

[o2batsea]

I had a brand new Stihl weed whacker that wasn't so lucky. I unfortunately let a greenie try the tractor and his first order of business was to drive over $350 worth of tool. That will teach me!

[disco2hse]

The sludge is old oil mixed with various nasties that both come with oil and from the engine itself. Oil does more than lubricate, it also acts as a way to carry by-products of running away from those parts where it can do damage. Things like carbon deposits, metal grindings, sulphorous compounds, lead compounds (in countries that still put lead in petrol), etc. Mostly, these get trapped in the oil filter (which is why it needs to be replaced regularly) but smaller and heavy particles stay in the oil, which is why you need to replace the oil regularly.

Before running the engine, I would advise you get some engine flush and flush out the engine. Maybe even take the sump off and clean it out. If you take off the rocker cover you will probably find a lot of the same muck in there. While you're at it, pressure flush the cooling system too. It is likely to have globules of coolant (like jelly) and grains of corroded metal (looks like sand) stuck in the galleries.

Turning over the engine while the spark plugs are out and the rocker cover is off will give you the chance to see that important things are working, things like the water pump, alternator, valves are going up and down, pistons are going up and down, carburettor is working and fuel pump is pumping, etc. You can set the timing too.

[cgalpin]

What a fantastic story. Ebben you look and sound like a very capable young man and I'm looking forward to seeing you revive this rover.

There should be a pipe coming up from the sump on the side of the engine with the distributor, and it has a filter on top. You can pull off the filter and pour kerosine down it if you want to try dilute the sludge, but I'm not sure you need to. I'd just drain and refill with fresh oil. I agree on turning it over without the plugs, and if you didn't know you can hand crank it too if needed.

Good luck!

charles
p.s. Don't listen to old grumpy o2batsea!

[GeniusAndHisAssistant]

WOOHOO!

first, to answer ThePhotographer's question, we're in norwich. near hartford, white river, and thetford.

now for the fun stuff... we finally got it home, and boy will we have a lot of work. all wheels are locked up, so that's the first project. then comes the engine, then if that'll run we'll do the frame. the body and interior are in good shape, so we won't have to mess with them. our plan is to get it running, take it for a few "victory laps", then park it in our new shed and tear the body off to do the frame. luckily, a lot of the rust is just "scale", so it'll scrape off. but don't get me wrong! parts of the frame will probably have to be rebuilt. we have a 95 year old machinist friend who said it looks like we can save the frame.. yeehaw!

here's some pictures: https://picasaweb.google.com/1088890...overSeriesIIa#

there's lots, i'll go through and clean them up... just wanted to get them up...

more of the undercarriage/running gear/inside soon... like tomorrow

ebben

[disco2hse]

Doesn't look too bad to me. Seen a lot worse than that. Mostly grubby and lacking in maintenance.

Your little sister is pretty good with the camera too.

[giftshopduane]

"We got ourselves a Land Rover, we got ourselves a Land Rover, whoa!"

The greatest song ever!! That's pretty much the way I felt driving mine back from picking it up... your sister I think is my new favorite person.

The truck is beautiful, I don't couldn't let something like that just sit in a barn for 30 years..

[Partsman]

Good for you Ebben, looks like a nice barn find. Looking at your pics, brings back memories of when I got my first Landie when I was 10. Fantastic, I look forward to watching your restoration / rehab of this one.

[Nium]

Great find! Congratulations that's a nice looking Late IIA (http://www.lrfaq.org/FAQ.2.Ident.LR....andRoverSERIES) though it's not a Bugeye (sorry) still a great looking rig. I imagine you'll be up and running in no time.

[o2batsea]

Bulkhead looks like it will be the worst of it. Let me jump you a hundred miles ahead and have you order the repair parts from Pegasus Parts in the UK. Do not bother with any other course of action because it will either cost you time or money that will be better spent on other areas. Pegasus has done all the hard work, and their parts are exact fit replacement.
The frame. Surface rust is only part of it. What you don't see is an equal or greater amount of rust working away on the inside of the box section. If you plan on keeping the truck for a while you have three options.
Option one, do nothing. If it's rusting, then attempts at surface remediation are futile because it's going to die anyway despite your making it pretty. Get as much use as you can before the inevitable.
Option 2; strip it, patch it, galvanize it. Not just a sandblast, but a chemical strip that will get inside the fame.
Option 3: new galvanized frame.
Locked wheels are probably just drums that are rusted. New drums, shoes and wheel cylinders and you're back rolling. You'll want to refurb the master cylinder too of course.

[Tim Smith]

That looks great! Can't wait to see it moving under it's own power.

When you start oiling down the hardware, which I think will pretty much be everything, go ahead and oil down the springs, door hinges, locks and any other moving parts. You might be amazed to find that things just start to work again.

Start a spreadsheet and add to it time you have put in (figure $10/hr labor rates), parts needed (and then later bought) and by the end of it, you will know how much you've put into the truck. If the frame is usable, then I'd say go with it for now or repair as needed. Get the engine running and then replace all the brake system and probably steering tie rods and you could have a cheap runner.

[GeniusAndHisAssistant]

Can anyone coach Ebben on what needs to be done to free up the wheels? All four are locked and will not spin - even after we towed it over rough terrain loading and unloading from the trailer yesterday they remain stuck. We have learned the hard way to ask questions first and not bung things up worse than they are. Is there anything that he will destroy if he puts big heat to the area and tries to loosen them up with force?

"The Assistant" (E's dad)

ps - after looking over the frame today I think Ebben will likely be certified to the level of 2CORAATOS when his ride hits the road. Never heard of that rating? It stands for 2-Cases-Of-Rod-And-A-Ton-of-Scrap! Ha!

Rove-On!

[cgalpin]

Haha, I was wondering who was who

Ok, I'm no expert, but based on having mucked with the drum brakes recently I would recommend starting with one of the rears - just less moving parts. I'd have plenty of PB Blaster or some other penetrating fluid handy, crack the lug nuts and jack up the rear (under the diff should do fine). If you look at the backing plate from under the truck, lying in front of the rear wheel you will see a 17mm adjustment nut (called a snail cam). Spray some lubricant around it, trying to get it to go behind the nut (you might want to do this to all 4 up front). On the other side of the nut (inside the drum housing) is a snail shaped disc with ridges and if you turn towards the front of the truck it tightens the brake shoes to the drum, and if you turn toward the back of the truck it releases pressure. You'll want to try turn it rearward. If you can get it to release pressure, this might be all that is needed to relax the pressure. Try spin the wheel (forward should be easier than backward).

If not, then at this point you'll want to remove the lub nuts and wheel. There will be three screws on the face of the drum which you will need to remove with a large flat head screw driver (perhaps an impact one). More penatrant here might be useful. Once those are off, I'd take a rubber mallet to the drum and try tap around it in various spots. Perhaps try turn it again (put a wheel on or carefully use a pry bar against the lugs. Otherwise take a block of wood and place it against the back edge of the drum and strike the wood with a big hammer (I am sure E knows the term BFH by now). Do this at alternating points around the drum to try evenly put pressure all the way around the drum. If the snail cam is backed off, the drum should break free from the shoes at some point. Once off, you can investigate further, see how the hub turns without the drum etc.

As others have said, get a manual or take a look at the ones online so you can see what the drum internals look like before going in.

Oh, once freed up, it's likely you can just put the drum back on and adjust the snail cam and it will work until you get parts to redo it all. Depending on the condition of the drums you might be able to get them turned. The only parts that really should need replacing are the wheel cylinders and shoes (and then possibly the drums).

Good luck!

[o2batsea]

Count on the brakes being completely jacked up. What usually happens with old vehicles is that they sit in the snow, ice, damp grass, mud whatever for a long time and the bare steel of the brake parts turns to flaky rust. I mean really, what else would you want to be in top condition besides the brakes? Buy all new. Don't pinch pennies in this area by trying to resurrect 40-odd year old stuff, like Charles does.
As he alluded, the retaining screws on the drums will be the worst part of the demolition. I wouldn't worry about trying to save them, they are strictly to aid in the manufacturing process by holding the drums in place until the next guy down the line could put the wheels on. Drill 'em out and vice grip the shanks after the drum's off. Yer gonna trash the drums so don't be too ginger with them either.
You can just put the wheels back on the hubs without drums if you need to roll it. If the thing can go into gear that should keep it from rolling down the hill into the creek. Does the transmission brake work?

Alternately, you might consider putting pre ABS Discovery 1 or Range Rover axles under it. These come with discs front and rear, are fully compatible with the Series drive shafts, have a taller gear for better highway driving, and are easy to get parts for. For about what you'll spend on new Series brake parts you'll get both front and rear from your friendly Used parts guy and probably have change left over. They're much better axles hub to hub and the series wheels will bolt right up. Other than being a tad wider than the series axles you'd never be able to tell outwardly. Cutting off the coil spring perches and fitting leaf spring perches is a simple, tried and true and well documented Rover conversion. My $.02.
Oh and you might also consider Parabolic springs with military shackles. Gets the thing up in the air a bit more.