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Say hello to Ollie!
We bought this 1969 Land Rover Series 2A to act as a tender vehicle for Betsy, fetching and carrying spares, tools and eventually towing Betsy to rallies and shows on her trailer.
He's known as Ollie, because he drinks diesel and engine oil as voraciously as Oliver Reed drank alcohol and in his own way he's already endearing himself to us. You have to double declutch when changing down the gears, he has the most inaccurate speedo known to man (an indicated 30 MPH on the clock can be anywhere between 35 and 48 MPH!) and has not yet been house trained (he pees out oil from places I didn't know could leak oil). But despite all these failings, with a bit of TLC he could make a nice restoration project in his own right.
We will try to keep the urge of working on Ollie to a minimum whilst the restoration of Betsy continues, but we're making no promises. With so many toys and so little time this may end up as our eldest son's project this summer.......we'll see.
12th & 13th June 2010
So, my resolve to avoid working on Ollie lasted two minutes, as I spent Saturday fitting new seat belts to him and Sunday picking up a roof, side panels and rear door from Loughton in Essex. The best thing about the roof, panels and door is that they cost all of £26.99!! God bless eBay.
19th June 2010
A Saturday full of rotten electrics, especially the front slide lights, with the highlight of the day being the removal of several ounces of mud from inside each lamp. With a certain amount of grim determination, I managed to get the off side light working, though the nearside is entirely 'goosed' and will need replacement.
Speaking of requiring replacement; it would appear that almost every gasket on the engine and 'box is leaking so I will have to start out on a methodical journey from one end of the lump to the other, if I want to keep the oil inside the thing and my driveway clean.....harrumph!
Finally, I noticed during a short trip acting as roadie for my son, that my steering was even more wayward than usual. A short inspection laid on my back under the IIA and I managed to fit a ball joint on the off side of the steering arm that needs replacement. And I didn't want to start with a second project........Ha!
1st August 2010
A deeply depressing Sunday, as I found that the dreaded tin worm had been at the chassis of my beloved Ollie in a number of places, indeed, rather more places than I had previously spotted. The fact that a bundle of new parts are on their way to me to stop some of the oil leaks, allow me to fit the roof and install a Safari style rear door has done nothing to lift my mood. However, I did manage to replace the door glass I broke whilst I was erecting sign posts for the Raising the Roof Rally a few weeks ago.
I reckon you'll be reading a lot more of my trials and tribulations here over the coming weeks. Harrumph!
14th August 2010
Today saw the decision made to either ship Ollie back to Yorkshire and enlist the help of my dad with the huge amount of welding that is required to the chassis (a touch of deja vu on the welding front, methinks) or getting my hands on a replacement chassis and shipping that up to Yorkshire and swapping everything over. I will let you know how things progress over the coming weeks.
31st December 2010
I sit here in Woodford Halse whilst Ollie is securely parked in a garage in Yorkshire awaiting the warming touch of my MIG welder. As previously mooted, I moved the project to Batley and began working on the chassis; however, no sooner had I got started, than I had to stop again. A new job in the renewable energy sector has soaked up all of my time this last four months and I am only now planning to get back to the tin worm affecting the 88" frame that underpins my Land Rover. Rest assured, I will keep you all posted on progress over this coming month or two!
15th & 16th January 2011
D Day for Ollie's chassis; with my father's help serious repairs have commenced. The middle cross member has had some serious repair patches put in to it and the nearside front leaf spring is off. The leaf spring will need replacement, as one of the leafs has broken and there is some repair work to be done to the chassis rail too. Fingers crossed we get it all sorted soon!
29th January 2011
Another long day passed quickly by as I welded seemingly endless repair sections in to Ollie's chassis. New front suspension components are now on order too. I hope that two or three more weekends should see this old Land Rover back on the road. Fingers crossed.
5th February 2011
Yet another long day with the MIG welder. I have now fabricated and welded up a nearside front dumb iron and made repairs around the suspension mounting area at the trailing end of each front road spring.
13th February 2010
Today I had the opportunity to fit new front road springs, bushes, shackles and U bolts. Unfortunately the supplier sent the wrong nuts for the U bolts and inner shackle plates. These will need replacing next week, if I can get hold of the correct parts.
20th August 2010
I thought I had better post a quick update on progress with Ollie, for anyone interested. Over the last 12 months I have been working frantically to try and get the Series IIA back on the road, but due to other commitments, the job has rather dragged on. However, with the assistance of my father, I have finished the welding, replaced all the suspension bushes, replaced the front road springs, fitted new suspension check straps, replaced the sump gasket, rocker cover gasket, transfer box gasket and main drive shaft gasket, replaced the oil filter and filter housing (with one from a Bedford TK, no less), cleaned the oil out of the handbrake drum and cleaned, refitted and adjusted the handbrake, fitted new front side lights and new détente springs on the gearbox, bought and painted a full length roof, sides and rear door, repaired the horn, replaced the off side rear hub oil seal and the brake pipe that feeds to that drum. All that appears to be outstanding now are a windscreen washer pump and heater valve. Oh, and a coat of paint on the wings, doors and body tub.
With a little bit of luck, I should have an MOT for Ollie by the middle of September!!