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#Post#: 45430--------------------------------------------------
112-501 Ex Australian Army S2A 88"GS
DIR By: DennisM
Date: August 10, 2016, 1:07 am
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I thought I might share with you all the restoration of 112-501
or Lot 359 as it was way back in the early 70's when it was
auctioned off anyway the story
Back in 1998 @ Cooma I rekindled my affection for the Series 2A
88" GS, a friend had one back in the early 70's and I loved it
better than my old Series 1 88", anyway it was @ Cooma
where I saw a few of them including Ross C's 'Castrol', he was
in the parade with his wife & 3 kids, also seen was a lady I
would meet years later and a forum user I AULRO 'Mallee Fowl'
aka as Mary she had distinctive rego plates 'KGB'-***, anyway I
digress somewhat.
I was driving around Cooma and saw a bunch of ex-mil Land Rovers
parked up at the Cenotaph, so a quick U turn Ross C was there as
well as Graham D, but with my poor hearing I didn't know
that this was the first meeting of REMLR, anyway I came away
with a resolve to try n find a Series 2A 88" GS, the hunt was
on, it took me almost 8 months, and it was found almost in my
backyard.
A chance conversation with Graham D aka 'Judge Dredd' I
mentioned that I was in the market for a shortie but not just
any shortie it had to be ex-mil 2A, well anyone who knew Graham
would know that he doesn't suffer fools/idiots nor does he
respond quickly (but I knew this from being around him @
maitland pistol club where we were both members at the time)
Graham's response was "I bought one of them about 5/6 years ago,
I will make some enquiries n see if it's still there" I was a
bit puzzled by that response, ?? why would you not know where
a vehicle was that you had bought !!!, I had to wait about a
week for the reply, it's still there, where I asked, Seaham he
said, I said lets go, we did the next morning.
What greeted me when I first saw it was a sadness as Graham had
said it was this BLAH/blah/blah, but what had happened to it in
the ensuing years was parts were sold off it etc., etc.,
this is what I saw
[IMG]
HTML http://i659.photobucket.com/albums/uu319/DJM110/Chloe%20112-501/Lot%20359.2%20aka%20Chloe_zpsruljcdze.jpg[/img]
and from another angle
[IMG]
HTML http://i659.photobucket.com/albums/uu319/DJM110/Chloe%20112-501/Lot%20359%20aka%20Chloe_zpslwsryjvt.jpg[/img]
I took a deep breath and looked past the obvious, I lifted the
bonnet grabbed the 8 blade fan, pressure on the belt the motor
swung over, well at least it wasn't seized, so that was a relief
I noticed on the bonnet painted roughly was "Lot 359" that must
have been it's reference number @ auction somewhere a long time
ago, the person who's property it was on bought it
and transported it home to Seaham, only to let it rot where it
stood (GUNNA) I've met a few over the years, anyway he gave us
an ultimatum a week or I'll bury it, **** I thought he was fair
dinkum
but I needn't have worried, next hurdle was to sweet talk the
wife LOL.
Within the time frame (or I'll bury it) I rocked on up with the
'Judge' and picked it up, the tractor wouldn't start so he
couldn't bury it even if he wanted too LOL
[IMG]
HTML http://i659.photobucket.com/albums/uu319/DJM110/Chloe%20112-501/Fetch%20Rover_zpshcmhgjrx.jpg[/img]
I dropped Graham at his home in Morpeth (NSW) and headed off,
within an hour I had removed the rear tub and put my Stihl
pressure washer to good use, getting rid of wasps/spiders ++
[IMG]
HTML http://i659.photobucket.com/albums/uu319/DJM110/Chloe%20112-501/Day1%20pix2_zpslcdx8xds.jpg[/img]
Now anyone who has been here will know how small my yard is, so
I had to carefully pick where I wanted to start on this, as I
was only going to do it up as a vehicle that was reliable to use
as a shooting vehicle, but that all changed the day after
getting it home.
I connected a battery, and using 'start U bastard' sprayed down
the throat of the carby, to my utter disbelief it started, oil
pressure was 60psi+, the engine was quiet no noise just a whisp
of blue smoke
valve stem oil seals went through my mind at the time, the mould
was set, I was going to restore the vehicle not use as a
shooting platform.
I started stripping it down, it was a mess from standing out in
the weather for years
[IMG]
HTML http://i659.photobucket.com/albums/uu319/DJM110/Chloe%20112-501/Rust_zpsjnn9yhww.jpg[/img]
the bulkhead was a mess, rust n this horrible green stuff which
was sprayed on it, it looked like compressed chip board, mixed
with glue n painted green, I later found a few items that were
24V
so it could have been set up as a comm's vehicle, anyway the
strip down continued until it was a bare chassis
[IMG]
HTML http://i659.photobucket.com/albums/uu319/DJM110/Chloe%20112-501/Stripped_zpsdwqubgd2.jpg[/img]
around this time we had a small Pomeranian called Chloe, she
suffered terminal heart condition and had to be put down I was
heart broken as I loved that little critter and we were both
'Poms'
I decided to name the vehicle after her, she was a gorgeous
little creature
[IMG]
HTML http://i659.photobucket.com/albums/uu319/DJM110/Chloe%20112-501/Chloe_zpszevcgy6q.jpg[/img]
Several locals quizzed me as to why I took on a Land Rover to
restore, my answer was why not!!, I found Ross C through an add
in a magazine and went to meet him, I took some photo's with me
now remember this is all before digital cameras Ross took one
look and exclaimed 'Your gonna restore that!!!!', I said yes I'm
going to restore that and I think I mentioned That I would have
it done
before Anzac Day 2000 (this was May 1999) the deadline was on,
so was the pressure.
The chassis was grit blasted etch primed
[IMG]
HTML http://i659.photobucket.com/albums/uu319/DJM110/Chloe%20112-501/Etch%20primed_zpshm80y0i9.jpg[/img]
(you may have noticed in other images chassis had been painted
in red rust proof paint etc, I didn't like the way wire cup
brushes left the steel so grit blast was the order of the day),
the diff/housing were next
[IMG]
HTML http://i659.photobucket.com/albums/uu319/DJM110/Chloe%20112-501/diff%20housings_zps5qtvx16f.jpg[/img]
it was time to put the chassis back together so I could move it
around
[IMG]
HTML http://i659.photobucket.com/albums/uu319/DJM110/Chloe%20112-501/Rolling%20chassis_zps4gvzlrl6.jpg[/img]
with Fluffy the wifes cat, this made the job a lot simpler as I
could now move it about when I needed too.
the bulkhead was next on the agenda, it had significant rust
issues, so I set about rectifying that situation, the footwells
were removed,
[IMG]
HTML http://i659.photobucket.com/albums/uu319/DJM110/Chloe%20112-501/Footwells_zpsw1tlxucc.jpg[/img]
new replacements sourced and after a week most of it had been
tacked together, to check the alignment
[IMG]
HTML http://i659.photobucket.com/albums/uu319/DJM110/Chloe%20112-501/Footwells%202_zpsac77l9yj.jpg[/img]
and from the side with Sooty (cat) and Tookie (Pomeranian) in
the image
[IMG]
HTML http://i659.photobucket.com/albums/uu319/DJM110/Chloe%20112-501/footwell%20check_zpsvicpyy3o.jpg[/img]
It was all coming together nicely, no real issues that I can
remember except that I don't have many images of it all going
back together
here it is with most of the body work on it, but the head had
been removed to do a valve grind, the rear main oil seal had
been replaced
@ Modern motors Dungog, it still doesn't leak
[IMG]
HTML http://i659.photobucket.com/albums/uu319/DJM110/Chloe%20112-501/Headjob_zpso7azbigi.jpg[/img]
Anzac day (25th April 2000)came n went 112-501 (or 109-088 as I
had replica plates made for the occasion as we didn't know about
the Big Blue Book @ the AWM
until Mike Cecil contacted me about the ARN I had on my
Bloodbox, but that's another story in itself LOL) the vehicle
performed faultlessly during the
parade, accompanied by Ross C in 'Castrol', here is the first
image taken when she was first on club plates
[IMG]
HTML http://i659.photobucket.com/albums/uu319/DJM110/Chloe%20112-501/Lovely%20little%20Chloe_zpsvywxt7h2.jpg[/img]
The next show we went too was Corowa I towed her behind the 110
on an A frame, the Judge sat in her down n back, here he his
driving her
[IMG]
HTML http://i659.photobucket.com/albums/uu319/DJM110/Chloe%20112-501/the%20parade%20Corowa_zpsfnizpkq0.jpg[/img]
Since her restoration 112-501 has taken part in a few parades in
Newcastle and surrounding areas, she will be included in the
50th Anniversary
of the 'Battle of Long Tan' to take place next week on the 18th
August.
Later that year 2000, we had the first R&R on Stockton beach, I
just can't find any images in the storage thingy, but this one
[IMG]
HTML http://i659.photobucket.com/albums/uu319/DJM110/Chloe%20112-501/RampR2000_zpsnlbqoxyk.jpg[/img]
it is a still shot from my video camera, of the bar treads off
112-501 as they left their impressions in the sand,
so I scratched 'Bartreds in sand' it was a great weekend, sadly
we will never be able to do it again, not on Stockton
as it's now under control of the local indigenus tribe and other
greenies, anyway cheers Dennis dgs
ps here is a link to the Aust War Memorial in Canberra showing a
film with the 1st Battalion Royal Australian Regiment deployed
in
Sth Vietnam June 1965, the official film producer must have had
the same mind set as me, get on film the first of everything
going off
H.M.A.S Sydney aka 'Vung Tau' ferry and in the film the first
Land Rover to be off loaded is none other than 112-501, so it is
highly likely
that my Land Rover was the first Land Rover to hit a foreign
soil in a combat zone, the link
HTML https://www.awm.gov.au/collection/F10076/
anyway,,.
#Post#: 45432--------------------------------------------------
Re: 112-501 Ex Australian Army S2A 88"GS
DIR By: Puddlejumper
Date: August 10, 2016, 2:29 am
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That is the dogs dangly bits that is mate
lkebtn lkebtn
#Post#: 45433--------------------------------------------------
Re: 112-501 Ex Australian Army S2A 88"GS
DIR By: Horace109
Date: August 10, 2016, 2:30 am
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Cracking set of pics as ever!
lkebtn
#Post#: 45448--------------------------------------------------
Re: 112-501 Ex Australian Army S2A 88"GS
DIR By: espacekiller
Date: August 10, 2016, 1:25 pm
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Awesomeness
#Post#: 45450--------------------------------------------------
Re: 112-501 Ex Australian Army S2A 88"GS
DIR By: hippydave
Date: August 10, 2016, 1:40 pm
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I enjoyed reading that, Thanks Dennis.
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