109 Custom build up.

DCH109

Adventurer
A little history.

What I have is a 1974 Ex Norwegian Military Former FFR 109 3 door. It has a full hard top with the fume curtain.
The 109's engine was shot, the frame was shot, and the transmission and transfercase are iffy. What did I buy? What am I doing?
After sulking for a few hours in the corner. I took another look at my Rover and decided to start searching on the internet. I found lots of info and lots of advice. So I decided to do something with it. Originally I was going to semi restore the Rover back to original specs. This has changed a lot.

Upon some searching I found a good used solid (hard to believe) Military 3 door 109 frame and needed only 1 slightly bent outrigger replaced and a lot of cleaning.
So I ordered a new outrigger, got it welded on and sent the frame to the sandblasters and now it is sitting in my garage.
Now starts the disassembly. What fun that is. I am almost done on that. Got rid of the engine, the transmission and transfercase is leaving soon. The Axles are going. What am I left with? A shell and a frame.

What am I going to do? Originally it was going to be a nice easy swap to a new frame and a Mercedes Turbo Diesel would end up in the engine bay.
I even bought (and sold) almost everything I needed for this swap. Then I started to look into this more and decided this was not for me. Yes the fuel economy would be great, but the turbo, fuel pump; etc to rebuild would not be so great. The price of my budget doubled to what I originally wanted to do this for. So I dropped the diesel idea. Deciding that the Rover would not be my daily driver I decided on a gas motor. So here is exactly what will be going into the Rover and some of my plan for this 109.

Engine:
1971 Chevy 350

Transmission/ Transfercase:
1977 FJ40 Toyota Land Cruiser

Transmission to engine adapter:
Marks 4WD adapter from Australia (have this now)

Axle Front and rear:
1978 Toyota Land Cruiser with front disk brakes, rear drum. Stock 4.11 gears, locker will be installed.

Springs/ Shocks:
RN Parabolics 2 leaf front 3 leaf rear with Military shackles. This may end up not working and I may end up with stock springs, but we will see.
Shocks are yet to be determined.

Drive Shafts:
Custom made

Wheels/ Tires
Wheels will be custom made by Stockton wheel in 16x6 on 6x5.5 with a 3.5" back spacing. Something similar to this painted to match the originals.
tough4wd.jpg


Tires will more than likely be 235x85R16 Dunlop Mud Rovers. It has 16" rims now.

Frame:
Used in great shape Military 109 3 door frame. Once the fab work is done off to the galvanizers.

Cooling:
Still to be determined. I will run an electric fan, but the radiator will either be the stock series rad or a new aluminum unit with the front painted black to match.

Bulkhead:
New Defender LHD Bulkhead

Steering:
Land Cruiser FJ60 power steering box.

Heater/ AC <--what?
Sven's nifty summit box mod or a Vintage Air AC unit (still deciding on that)

Dash:
Custom I will use my old Bulkhead to fab this up and use new gauges, something similar to the Rover gauges, but new. The Dash will be all metal (Painted) but clean. I have a few thoughts but nothing written down.

Wiring:
Looking at a Painless kit or Ez-Wiring, but it will be new wiring either way, the old stuff is shot.

Paint:
I am leaving it camouflage for now. I will repaint the bulkhead to match and will Line-X or something similar to the floors and rear tub (inside).

Extras
New seats, lighting, will install a winch, roof rack, on board air, snorkel etc.
New window tracks, door seals etc. and door frame rust fixed.

Outside the body will look like it did when I got it. That is the plan anyways. Underneath and inside will be newish or look new.

I have kind of started this and some pictures are in the link in my sig. I will post more pictures as I go along. I expect to be finished (well 90%) by next summer. the whole build is an undertaking and will require a lot of fab work (good thing I am up for that). So this is the start of the Buildup thread I am creating. Pictures start this weekend.
 
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DCH109

Adventurer
Here is a shot of the new Bulkhead
p1010295.jpg


Bonus of not keeping the old Bulkhead, you can just cut it off the frame. That bolt would not budge. I could have cut it off, but no need.
p1010297.jpg


The old Bulkhead is almost stripped. the wiring and heater will not be kept. The heater housing is so badly rusted from the underside i could not save it.
p1010298.jpg


Shot of the Toyota front axle under the new frame. As you can see it going to be a good fit. I will have to cut and reweld one spring mount on the axle and cut off all the Toyota shock mounts.

p1010299.jpg


Here is a shot of the rear. It will fit well but i will have to reweld both mounts. it just laying on the floor right now, I will be test fitting the mounts this week. It is hard to see in the picture (i will have a better one soon) but the rear axle is a perfect fit to the original.
p1010304.jpg
 

DCH109

Adventurer
This weekend was mostly spent tearing apart the old bulkhead and labeling everything. I will be pulling off the tub, rear tank, axle and trans, painting the new frame and cleaning the axles and test mounting them to weld on the new brackets..... all by next Sunday whew.
 
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Mercedesrover

Explorer
Making good progress!

Be sure to prep, seam seal, coat, prime, rustproof, etc. that bulkhead. After you've got it all sealed up and painted, you can turn it upside down and pour in a bunch of wax-based rustproofing. I dumped 3 quarts into mine!

Keep up the good work.
 

DCH109

Adventurer
Thanks Jim,

That is the plan on the bulkhead. I want to make sure it does not even get a chance to rust. By the time i am finished it will be so full of Rustproofing materials i am sure it will be 80 lbs.
 

Michael Slade

Untitled
I have ALL the RHD heater bits from the intake under the wing to the heater core, hoses to the block, etc...I don't have anything on the inside of the bulkhead, and no controls. This will work on any Series or Defender LR (I think).
 

DCH109

Adventurer
Well i found out why i had to cut the old bulkhead off.
100_9360.jpg


no amount of penetrating oil would have loosened that up.

Aside from that, the rear tub is off.
100_9371.jpg


It does not look as bad as i thought it would underneath. The Braces will need a little work, but not as much as i originally thought.

here is a shot of the old frame right before i cut it up (saved the front horn with the serial number though). You can also see the aluminum rear tank.
100_9375.jpg


Looks like i might actually have some room to work.
100_9460.jpg


Just need to get rid of the old frame pieces and the old parts.


One thing i noticed was the rear spring were the 535173 springs (one ton?) (guess that is what the military models got). These are heavy and several clamps are loose (one fell off).
Looking at them, it must have given an unbelievable rough ride. Think i might see if i can save the rears at least.
At least the original shackles look to bee in good shape and i will reuse them (military extended shackles)

Now that the tear down is complete, Next weeks pics should be the start of the buildup.
 
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overlander

Expedition Leader
Highly recommend you get that frame galvanized while it's off and easy now!

Where did you get that fuel tank? Nice big capacity.
 

Mercedesrover

Explorer
It's a nice feeling when you turn the corner of tearing junky old stuff apart and start bolting new parts to a new frame.
 

DCH109

Adventurer
Jim, it sure is.


Yes the frame will be going to the galvanizers (finely found 2 that will do it, one is close by to). I just have to weld all the brackets i will need onto it first then off it will go.

That tank seems to be a standard issue on Norwegian Land Rovers from what i have found out.
I will get the info off the tag on the tank tonight when i am home. It tells you manufacture, SN, and fuel capacity.
 

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