14 year old seeking advice!

[GeniusAndHisAssistant]

well, it's official. i got a land rover! if all goes as planned it'll be in our yard on sunday, but things don't always work as i plan them... ha!

i'll post some pics and the serial number once it gets here, but for now i'm one happy boy!

thanks for the tips, and as before, any more would be appreciated!

ebben

[o2batsea]

Ha, well the first thing you will learn is that "free" never means "free" or cheap. It's going to cost you several thousand just to get it on the road what with redoing the brakes, new tires, and all the other stuff you will have to do to get it thru inspection and licensing. Hope you have a way of building up cash reserves for your project, it's going to take plenty. That's the deal with old vehicles and Rovers in particular since they aren't very well put together.
Pretty much everything mechanical, that is, things that make is go and stop, are still readily available or can be substituted with modern equivalents. The things that are not available too easily are the body panels. As you may realize, these trucks were beaten to death for the most part, and finding good replacements is very difficult ($$$$$) as the spares were used up on them long ago.
They make some reproduction parts like doors and tailgates, but they tend to be poor quality.
Seek out those who retain socks of the original parts such as Pangolin, Rovers Down South and the like. Keep them on speed dial.
Brush up on those degreasing skills. Cruddy parts can be soaked clean in a lye solution. Very green, very earth friendly. Rusty parts can be soaked clean in a bath of Hydrochloric Acid (available at the hardware store in gallons). Wear rubber gloves and don't breathe near the stuff. Put your parts in and let them sit for a day or so. Rinse it all real good and dry with a heatgun or compressed air to reduce flash rust.

[disco2hse]

first thing you will learn is that "free" never means "free" or cheap. It's going to cost you several thousand just to get it on the road

Grinch.

[o2batsea]

Grinch.

What? Am I lying?

Oh and one other thing, don't put any aluminum parts in the above mentioned cleaning solutions. They will boil away.

[SalemRover]

Here are a couple ways to keep costs down. First off play to your strengths. I will bet half the board here wants to live vicariously through you, 14 and a rover project sounds dreamy to most of us. If you are in dire need of some part I am sure some grumpy old fart will part with some stuff hes saving for a project he knows he will never get to. We cannot list parts here for sale or wanted last I checked so I would search around for some boards where that happens. The guns and rovers board is a friendly and polite group, I am sure you will get some help there sourcing parts and advice. The 2.25 gas engine and ancillaries are pretty inexpensive as many folk have swapped that engine out. Which is great news for you as sourcing entire engines or ancillaries should be inexpensive. I dont think it is prudent to list the other parts vendors here but you should shop around, dont be afraid to ask for prices. There are 3 vendors of rover parts all in new england alone. There are technical manuals for your rover online in pdf form so I would start downloading those and use them as reference, back in the days before the interenet we called these manuals the green bible. Sounds like great fun and good luck. To have my one Debbie Downer moment DO NOT try and jury rig things, my cousin died doing just that on VW scirrocco 20 years ago, lets just say an open casket funeral was not an option. There are lots of good folks in the community that can help so be smart and learn to walk away when you dont feel you are in a safe situation. If it sat for 20 years a week or two while you get things sorted out properly isnt going to kill you.

[GeniusAndHisAssistant]

Ha, well the first thing you will learn is that "free" never means "free" or cheap.

i know... i just learned that with my free polaris sled and $1 sailboat.

just for everyone's entertainment, heres one of my short movies!: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mA5KSRnrgyo

going to work on the rover a little this afternoon, so i'll post some pictures this afternoon.

ebben

[crankin]

Just watched the youtube...
This kid is going to have everyone on this forum liking him...

[crankin]

Ebben,
Get us pics of the land rover. Crawl all over that thing and snap pics of everything you can. Some of the "crucial" areas that we would like to see are the bulkhead (firewall) and the frame.

A new frame is going to be about $2000+ and the bulkhead is going to be hard to find, if they are not repairable.

[GeniusAndHisAssistant]

Ebben,
Get us pics of the land rover. Crawl all over that thing and snap pics of everything you can. Some of the "crucial" areas that we would like to see are the bulkhead (firewall) and the frame.

A new frame is going to be about $2000+ and the bulkhead is going to be hard to find, if they are not repairable.

will do that this afternoon. the firewall if fine, thanks god. the frame is shot in some places, but we can weld (dad and i) and we have a friend who works around the clock on jeeps. hopefully between the three of us we can weld it, but if not, we may have a problem. i can't put $2000 into just the frame. i'm hoping it's a gem in the dust and that i'll only have to put in $2000 TOTAL!

pics this afternoon...

ebben

[giftshopduane]

Ebben

By no means are you required to buy a new frame.. hopefully yours is repairable, if not a little trolling and you can find a good used or repairable frame for sale here in N.E., they are around. Don't be discouraged by the $$ amounts everyone throws around here, you seem to have a pretty good grip on things at the old age of 14 I am sure you and your dad and his connections will have no problem figuring out how to get that thing going. Best of luck I think your Series will be right at home alongside you in VT..you have found your way into a really great community, there is a lot of free stuff around here too.. especially advice wrong or right. Can't wait to see pics and a final product.

Best

[cedryck]

Wow this thread is getting popular,
So here I go, Not hitting the rover addiction till later in life, I learned a few important things. Read, Read, and read some more. The RIGHT information is critical. Don't waste your time with people or periodicals that think they know what they are talking about.
Take you time, tooooo many projects get muffed up because of people trying to meet ridiculous deadlines that they make themselves. Buy and use the right tools, cheap and ineffective tools make the easiest job harder. Employ help when needed, and keep in mind British cars, (trucks) are different, just different. Enjoy your project and ask when you are not sure.

[disco2hse]

Don't be discouraged by the $$ amounts everyone throws around here... I am sure you and your dad and his connections will have no problem figuring out how to get that thing going.

Just repeating this. ^^

Those things were made to be repaired in a field, and I know they can be because I've done it. Unless you want to build a show pony that is "original" and better than new, then frankly there are lots of parts that can be made, or made to fit.

I know plenty of people around here who, when they need new parts, they make them. I have done that myself.

You can throw as much money at a project as you like, or as little as you can. All depends on how much you are prepared to compromise on "originality". We call people who insist on everything being just as it was when it left the factory "rivet counters"

[lincoln lass]

Hi Ebben,

Looking forward to the photos.

Looking at this thread and having watched your you tube film, it is obvious that you are a very capable 14 year old and I look forward to your thread on rebuilding the landy.

I assume that your Dad has taught you the skills that you have acquired. If so you are very fortunate. Your Dad and you are a shining example.

Well done, shame we don't have more like you in the UK.

Regards Brian

[GeniusAndHisAssistant]

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 he told me to throw that in for your enjoyment.

pictures on sunday...

ebben

[giftshopduane]

How did he miss that?