Newbie from New Zealand

[Fraserb]

Hi all.
Greetings from NZ.
I have always liked the Series Land Rovers and recently got my first one, 1969 S iia.

is in fairly good overall condition, Has at some stage had a fairly bad paint job, and body is mildly beaten up, but Chassis and bulkhead/door posts are pretty much rust free which was the main part I was looking for.
Engine has also been transplanted with a 2.8l Holden/GM straight 6 cylinder engine, which was a fairly common swap for Downunder Landys.

It is hard to find half decent roadworthy Landys here, the good ones are hung onto, and its the farm hacks or neglected ones that get sold. This one is not quite roadworthy, but very close, and very thoughtfully had its registration put on hold. Here if the registration is let lapse for about 2 years it needs to be fully certified to get back on the road, a very expensive process.

On the plans is a conversion to electronic ignition as running fairly rough
strip the bad paint job - not really looking forward to that bit
LED indicator, brake and park lights & new halogen headlights - would like the LEDs there too but cost is just a bit too steep for now!!
and could do with new tires too

Mainly she will be used for boat launching, Ramp is only 300 meters down the road, but will want it to be useable and practical, so gradual rebuild wont be original but will stay sympathetic.

The added bonus when I bought this was a very nearly complete 2nd iia with rusty chassis and bulkhead but full hardtop and good body- except the doors

[o2batsea]

Galvanize everything if you're using it in the briney.

[Fraserb]

what a great way to spend money!!
huge transformation for the old Landy!
hopefully the rivet counting police don't take me round the back and kick the crap out of me...

First up I gave it a really good clean underneath and threw about a fair bit of rust converter and underseal, but will still do a body off strip in a year or two.
Now has new Parabolic springs and new shocks
rebuilt swivels and new swivel balls
stripped the paint
defender 90 side steps
New Halogen headlights and LED Park, Brake and indicators
Just installed GPS speedo
New free wheel hubs as one of the AVM ones was seized open
and on the front left drive flange the threads on four of the bolts were pretty much totally stripped and one had a bolt sheared off about 10mm in with the head glued on to look like was ok(!!!), so only one bolt was really doing anything!! Tapped these out to m10x1.25 and put in studs, topped with nyloc nuts. will probably do this to other three wheels too.

Fully road legal now, even tho I encountered a MOT guy that didn't really think old vehicles were a very good idea so picked on EVERYTHING! and Found that the previous owner had been caught driving it unregistered a couple of times and it was one warning away from being impounded!!

All up been a lot of fun.

[stomper]

That's great! Are MOTs difficult to pass down there, like England? I have been considering becoming an expat at some point, but all the information I can gather on your beautiful country is tourism and historical in nature. You never hear about the day to day living issues in New Zealand.

[SafeAirOne]

Careful: By the pictures, it seems as if the locking portion of some of those nylocs aren't engaging the threads of the studs.

Of course the worst that could happen is that you lose some of the nuts...

[Fraserb]

That's great! Are MOTs difficult to pass down there, like England? I have been considering becoming an expat at some point, but all the information I can gather on your beautiful country is tourism and historical in nature. You never hear about the day to day living issues in New Zealand.

Wouldn't say difficult, MOT and certification rules are fairly strict and if you follow them it all works well, but like most things you get the odd difficult person to deal with or if you try to get around the cert rules then things become very difficult.
For example, the original seat belt mounts are, as most know, fairly basic. I wanted to beef them up with a backing plate but to do that I needed to get the "modification" certified and that would have cost me almost $1000!!!
Day to day living issues here are pretty much non existent, very laid back and casual in most areas outside of Auckland.
like when I found that my Landy had been driven by the previous owner for almost two years with NO certification, registration or Warrant of fitness. was stopped the police at least twice and simply told he needed to get it sorted... was recorded and was on last warning but no fine, no charges!!

Careful: By the pictures, it seems as if the locking portion of some of those nylocs aren't engaging the threads of the studs.

Of course the worst that could happen is that you lose some of the nuts...

Yes, thanks SafeAir, they all are on the nylon but not really enough, but do need to take the studs out and Loctite/studlock them in so will give myself a couple more mm of thread