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#Post#: 45770--------------------------------------------------
Lola - 1974 ex-AA SWB
By: onfire Date: December 21, 2012, 1:44 pm
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I have been meaning to put this up since I registered a few
weeks ago ... so here is the reason why I am broke and my wife
hates me ... oh yea, and the reason I am such a happy chappy
too.
My dad has had a 1975 SWB for the last 12years and I have loved
them my whole life long ... which has meant that I have been
looking out for one of my own since I passed my driving test. In
January 2011 I saw a Series 3 for sale within 10 miles of home,
I should have paid attention to the fact it was listed under
'parts' but there were only a few hours of the auction left so I
arranged to see it .... at 5pm on a dark, rainy January evening.
The engine would not turn over, I had forgotten a torch and
could only tap the chassis with my knuckles but I was sold, and
shortly afterwards so was Lola. The seller wanted £500, I
offered £300 ... I reminded him it hadnt moved out of his garden
for 10 years ... and he agreed. The next day I picked her up and
sent her to my parents driveway - and then remembered that I
really ought to tell them it was coming!
Photobucket is playing up so I will add fotos shortly
#Post#: 45771--------------------------------------------------
Re: Lola - 1974 ex-AA SWB
By: NoelC Date: December 21, 2012, 2:03 pm
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Nice work, it'll probably weigh in for not a lot less than £300
so you can't go wrong at that money. :thumbs:
#Post#: 45801--------------------------------------------------
Re: Lola - 1974 ex-AA SWB
By: onfire Date: December 21, 2012, 4:34 pm
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Thats better. Here she is, not looking at all bad ...
[IMG]
HTML http://i742.photobucket.com/albums/xx63/onfire-photos/Lola%20Land%20Rover/DSC01889.jpg[/img]
[IMG]
HTML http://i742.photobucket.com/albums/xx63/onfire-photos/Lola%20Land%20Rover/P2270011.jpg[/img]
I paid a chap to drive her to my parents while I followed behind
trying to film little chunks of the journey for posterity. Im
glad I recorded things, at first for the memories but
increasinly so I remember what came off and where it should go
back!
She was far from a wreck but perhaps not as far as I had hoped -
the tyres were all perished to the point that Im not sure how
they were hold any air, there were streaks of oil and fluids
from every point yet everything below the sills was completely
rusted, there were no brakes or pipes ... and a whole load of
extra wiring and ancilleries from the PO
[IMG]
HTML http://i742.photobucket.com/albums/xx63/onfire-photos/Lola%20Land%20Rover/DSC01900.jpg[/img]
#Post#: 45804--------------------------------------------------
Re: Lola - 1974 ex-AA SWB
By: hippydave Date: December 21, 2012, 4:39 pm
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looks well worth £300
#Post#: 45806--------------------------------------------------
Re: Lola - 1974 ex-AA SWB
By: onfire Date: December 21, 2012, 4:42 pm
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There was simply more and more that I found needed doing as I
looked her over and, knowing absolutely nothing about mechanics
or engineering let alone restoring a vehicle, I was pretty
nervous about the challenge ahead.
The limestone paint was thick over the bodywork that was rough
in places, corroded in places and made up of thick filler
painted over in places. Digging this filler out highlighted a
number of places where the bulkhead would need welding but
luckily nothing epic. Worse was the discovery that the steel
wheels were all so corroded that the steel was flaking off in
great chunks and there was no way they would be roadworthy. By
quirk of fate my mate was selling a set of 8 spokes complete
with mud terrain tyres for £100. I couldn't buy the tyres alone
for that price so my first job was picking them up and swapping
the wheels over.
[IMG]
HTML http://i742.photobucket.com/albums/xx63/onfire-photos/Lola%20Land%20Rover/P5210017.jpg[/img]
#Post#: 45812--------------------------------------------------
Re: Lola - 1974 ex-AA SWB
By: goinnowherefast Date: December 21, 2012, 5:44 pm
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looks like quite a straight truck.
I have brought alot worse!
good luck with the project!
#Post#: 45817--------------------------------------------------
Re: Lola - 1974 ex-AA SWB
By: hippydave Date: December 22, 2012, 2:05 am
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Who's is the other leafer in the pic
#Post#: 45826--------------------------------------------------
Re: Lola - 1974 ex-AA SWB
By: parksy64 Date: December 22, 2012, 4:48 am
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Looks like an okay project :thumbs:
#Post#: 45827--------------------------------------------------
Re: Lola - 1974 ex-AA SWB
By: onfire Date: December 22, 2012, 5:07 am
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The blue Series 3 is my Dad's, Heno. Pretty much as standard but
with parabolic springs ... which turned out to bounce and sag
which was a lesson learnt for me!
From changing the wheels over I was a bit stuck as I had no idea
what I was doing, so I decided to strip out all the bits that I
did not want or need - and selling the pieces that I could live
without to help fund the bits I desperately needed. First to go
were the freewheeling hubs - I kind of understood how they
worked but the amount of fuel that they actually saved was
negligable compared to the likely impacts the first time I
forget to engage / disengage them - I took them off and restored
them as best I could before a coat of paint and onto the bay of
e:
[IMG]
HTML http://i742.photobucket.com/albums/xx63/onfire-photos/Lola%20Land%20Rover/P7030032.jpg[/img]
From here my learning curve became very steep very quickly. I
tackled the next job I was brave enough to on my own (Im 31 but
I felt like a 7 year old facing this challenge) was the wheel
bearings. I can't remember now if I changed all of the bearings
for new but I identified that at least two sets had seen better
days and so stripped each hub, cleaning it out, checking the
stub axle for wear and the refitting and packing the bearings
before reassembly. The first one took me nearly six hours to do,
the second two hours and about 30minutes each for the other two!
[URL=
HTML http://s742.beta.photobucket.com/user/onfire-photos/media/Lola%20Land%20Rover/P7020002.jpg.html][IMG]http://i742.photobucket.com/albums/xx63/onfire-photos/Lola%20Land%20Rover/th_P7020002.jpg[/img][/URL]
#Post#: 45828--------------------------------------------------
Re: Lola - 1974 ex-AA SWB
By: onfire Date: December 22, 2012, 5:20 am
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I cant remember quite which order things happened in next but I
don't suppose it matters much. My best mate Tom came over to
give me a hand (the owner / restorer of a Triumph TR6, 1948
Willys Jeep, multiple WW2 motorcycles and a boingy 110, he
quickly became my technical advisor) and we tackled the clutch
slave cyclinder. I got everything into position and Tom checked
it before bolting it on ... hindsight would tell us that this
changeover caused the cylinder rod to misalign ... but at the
time we discovered that the clutch would still not work and we
decided to tackle the full clutch change.
Luckily Lola has a bolt-on / removable gearbox cross member so
off that came, out came the seatbox and then we had to work out
how to lower / raise the gearbox. After much research on the
WonderWeb we hit on the idea of using a length of wood across
the vehicle from which to use straps to take the weight of the
gearbox.
[IMG]
HTML http://i742.photobucket.com/albums/xx63/onfire-photos/Lola%20Land%20Rover/P6040069.jpg[/img]
Gearbox out, clutch out, gearbox scrubbed clean...
[IMG]
HTML http://i742.photobucket.com/albums/xx63/onfire-photos/Lola%20Land%20Rover/P60400662.jpg[/img]<br
/>
... new clutch in again and the box replaced ... an easy 10 hour
day!
[IMG]
HTML http://i742.photobucket.com/albums/xx63/onfire-photos/Lola%20Land%20Rover/P60400712.jpg[/img]
On removing the clutch we discovered that it was in remarkably
good nick. On putting it back together we discovered that the
clutch still didnt work - which is a great feeling after 10
hours sweat ... but a few days later when I removed and refitted
the slave cylinder the rod was repositioned and the clutch
worked again. Shame nothing else did!
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