I have a '69 Series IIA 109 in good shape.. Frame as usual is starting to wear out a hair.. I was thinking of putting a coil chassis under it and a few other mods to make it a nice, more modern rig.. It is slightly hacked up as a PO (poorly) installed a Vortec V6 4.3 and a Toyota land cruiser non USA 5 speed and dual offset split case. It actually runs and drives great but is is a little ghetto booty fabbed, and the electrical situation is a nightmare...

I was thinking I might do stock coil chassis and axles setup, then some sort of diesel or possibly retain the 4.3, probably a NV4500 and maybe a Dana 300 t case...

The Defenders have centered rear output correct? Can I use cheaper/more common Disco axles? What is the best bang for budget axle setup. I was thinking a non galvanized chassis for mods, do the mods, then galvanize locally... Probably about a 4" lift I figure..

Thoughts?

Interested as well in your coil question....

I have a '60 109 on a perfect frame, but have access to a '94 LWB RRC. The 109 has mixed axles, D60 w chromoloy rear and FJ front. Was thinking about in the future seeing if the 109 would reasonably fit onto the LWB. They are pretty close in wb, but haven't explored the other issues.

Anyone tried this or have warnings for us?

Scott

(My first post, so somewhat prepared for the flaming)

I was thinking I might do stock coil chassis and axles setup, then some sort of diesel or possibly retain the 4.3, probably a NV4500 and maybe a Dana 300 t case...

The Defenders have centered rear output correct? Can I use cheaper/more common Disco axles? What is the best bang for budget axle setup. I was thinking a non galvanized chassis for mods, do the mods, then galvanize locally... Probably about a 4" lift I figure..

Thoughts?

It would be easiest to buy a coil-sprung chassis, but the cheapest would be to buy a ragged out Disco and put the body on the Disco chassis.

Disco axles are identical to Defender axles (for all but the most minute differences, if any).

4" lift:eek:. The Series body should weigh a good bit less than the Disco/RRC. I think you'll find that you won't need nearly as much lift as you think.

I have all of the parts to put my 88" on a Disco chassis and might finally have the time and a place to do it. Much of what I've stated above was learned from other folks doing what you're considering. One of the Aussies has told me that he can build a hybrid (at least the body/chassis swap) in a single day, but he's done many of them.

Is that an H55F 5-speed stuck in there? Cool tranny. Wanna sell it?

jim

The Defenders have centered rear output correct? Can I use cheaper/more common Disco axles? What is the best bang for budget axle setup. I was thinking a non galvanized chassis for mods, do the mods, then galvanize locally... Probably about a 4" lift I figure..

Thoughts?

No, Defenders, RRCs, Discos, Series all have right hand front and rear out put on the tcase. If you want to use the D300 with a Rover axle you will want a high angle type double joint drive shaft.
If you get a RRC or Disco chassis you will need to stretch it 10" or else look for a 110" chassis. You can sometimes find exMoD 110 frames up in canada.
Except for the Salisbury under some 110's, the RRC, Disco, and Defender basically use the same axle.
If you are lifting the truck 4" I assume its to fit larger rubber. I wouldn't trust stock rover axles over 33" tires.

Interested as well in your coil question....

I have a '60 109 on a perfect frame, but have access to a '94 LWB RRC. The 109 has mixed axles, D60 w chromoloy rear and FJ front. Was thinking about in the future seeing if the 109 would reasonably fit onto the LWB. They are pretty close in wb, but haven't explored the other issues.

Anyone tried this or have warnings for us?

Scott

(My first post, so somewhat prepared for the flaming)


The RRC LWB is 108" I believe. You could stretch it 2", or just open up the wheel well a little bit. Maybe center the rear opening and push the front wheel forward a bit.
If your frame is in good shape you could sell it.
Or look at cutting the coiler bits off the RRC and welding to the Series frame.

I am taking a 100" RRC frame and stretching it, then cutting done a 109 tub to make a 105 Series coiler.

edit: I suggest stretching to 110 because the 109 body actually fits on a 110 frame, it centers the rear axle in the wheel well better.

Good to know.. If I did it would be semi on the cheap but I would be willing to pick up a D110 coiler chassis. I am sort of a little out of the Rover world so I'm not up on the best deals but I was thinking the chassis and hopefully the links from Rovers North or maybe British Pacific? (I am in Utah).. I would like to not have to put a lot of time into figuring out the suspension and links and such, so a bolt together coiler setup with the 109 body on it would be ideal for me...

Drivetrain, yes its a H55F Toyota Trans. I love it but for some reason Toyota crap versus American more universal stuff to me seems a little off.. The 109 actually already has a salsbury rear and the frame is fine other than a semi-fugly rear cross member replacement.. The 109 is a RHD British import, I am pretty sure its a '68 or '69. Here is a pic...

Nice looking truck.

If I can get the uber expensive scanner/copier at the office I will scan a few pics of mine. It is in Arizona in storage right now while I am living in Sacramento.

So..... The LWB RRC is 107"/108", awfully close to the desired 109". Seems like you could easily split ther difference or move the rear axle back the required couple of inches.

Mine currently has a 289 Ford w/302 heads in it with a custom hogged out adapter to mate to the stock trans/TC. Needless to say after being behind that engine the gearbox tends to want to pop out of gear for some strage reason.

Thanks for the suggestions and letting me tag along.

Scott

Also the story get a little more complicated because technically I don't own it though its been at my shop that last year or so... Story is a friend had an Australian diesel 5 speed (H55F) RHD HJ47 troop carrier Land Cruiser.. Just a killer unit. He sent it to this guy to have a frame off done because he loved it so much even through it was already super clean, and instead of getting it restored the guy took it apart completely... Then moved a couple times then went out of business and the owner never saw his cruiser again... So, a few years go by and the guy gaves him this Rover to at least give him something... He was out about $24G for the HJ47... So this is why the magical number of $20G for the value of it is fairly important, so he at least only looses $4 out of the deal for something he has hardly seen or driven since he shelled out the $24G...

This Rover was restored twice actually but then the guy drove through winter in the hard Utah winters where the salt like its going out of style and that is basically the condition it's in.. The frame is not too bad but will need at bare minimum a complete sand blasting and I will have to look into engine placement. It is probably fine but I want to double check. So, one tough winter, piss poor wiring, but actually runs and drives OK.. Needs a clutch though too, so I'll have to pull apart the drivetrain if I do anything to it regardless if I touch it...

My choices are actually:

- Install a new gas tank (current one leaks), and put a bigger radiator in it (the 4 cyl radiator doesn't cool the 4.3 Vortec too well), and be done with it, no more commitment to this this car. But then it leaves my friend with something he's going to have to pay someone for, for the clutch job and some wiring... Which best for me (least work) but worst for him and he is a friend...

- Do a clutch, headliner, fix wiring, and lightly clean up and try to get something like $27G for it or its not worth it.

- Try to sell for $21G as is, which may be doable...

- Or do all this, the Coiler Chassis and get somewhere in the 30s...

If I could actually make say $3G to get in complete running condition with a new headliner I would do it. Or it would have to be probably around $5-6G to do all the work for a coiler swap with a complete rewire. I am not a professional shop but I have a decent shop and dabble in all sorts of stuff to pay the bills. I do pretty clean automotive/custom fab/resto work though...

I also build web sites and do pretty clean work there too (this is where I earn most of my income), so I could probably whip something out and do some whore-like marketing and probably sell for close to these numbers. But it would have to be to someone not like us (aka "not smart about what they buy") but I think it would be doable. Sort of Greg Mushro (Vintage Off Road ) style.. Question comes down to if its honest to overcharge someone for something that is probably worth a lot less. Or, you guys let me know if these prices seem semi reasonable..

Is that an H55F 5-speed stuck in there? Cool tranny. Wanna sell it?

jim

Yes H55F...

Sell it.. Possibly... The whole setup has ultra low miles, less than 20K I'd say... The trans was new when it was installed..

Conversions are usually worth less then an original.
Its a nice looking truck, if the frame is good just stick parabolics under it if the leafs are shot.
The axles you have wont work on a coiler. The coiler axles are 6" wider, plus all the mounts.
Depending on the condition of the door frames, firewall, etc given the mechanical condition you have explained I believe you would have a hard time getting 20k. 15 might be more reasonable, but probably closer to 10

Oh and if you have the vin I can look up the build info

Aloha,

How do you search for the build data? I would love to know the details on my beast's "birth".

Scott

Patch or replace the leafer chassis and rear crossmember. Waxoyl it or do it in gloss carriage paint. Put parabolics on it, clean up the trim and interior and make it look real purty. Call it "bespoke" and advertise the sh1te out of it on the Nantucket websites and local rag. Some hedge fund manager's trophy wife will buy it for 25K for sure :D



oh, and dude, I'm kind of bummed. I thought you were coiling an FC 101 when I saw the title:flipoff2:

Parabolics, clean it up, repair the chassis and sell it off... It's tooo purty to mess with.. Once you start messing with converting to LHD, Disc brakes etc etc it becomes only a labor of love... Very little value will come of it..

Cool thank you guys...

It's gonna have to be mighty nice to command those kinda $. I can't even get $5K for my 109 and it hasn't been butchered-lots a miles and ex-MOD, but not butchered.

I saw a really, really nice 110 sell about a year ago for $18K and it had a v-8, coils, and a new Rob Dassler tranny.