Author Topic: 1968 Series IIA Carawagon  (Read 4081 times)

0 Members and 1 Guest are viewing this topic.

Offline Horace109

  • Sr. Member
  • ****
  • Posts: 499
  • Location : up the clump...
Re: 1968 Series IIA Carawagon
« Reply #30 on: October 28, 2016, 10:35:31 am »
Hi Phil,

Yes of course. 

I am going to speak with the chap this weekend, PM me and then I will respond and let you know price - sharn't think it expensive.

J

Offline PCB93

  • Jr. Member
  • **
  • Posts: 76
  • Location: Cheshire
Re: 1968 Series IIA Carawagon
« Reply #31 on: November 02, 2016, 02:46:34 pm »
Those who received Classic Land Rover today will find my Carawagon at the top of page 18. Bit of a surprise, that - they obviously keep an eye out for such things!

Phil
1979 Series III 88" Hard-top - daily drive
1968 Series IIA 109" Carawagon - project

Offline hippydave

  • Planning
  • Hero Member
  • *
  • Posts: 1520
  • Maggie 1978 S111
  • Location: Retford
Re: 1968 Series IIA Carawagon
« Reply #32 on: November 02, 2016, 09:38:32 pm »
It looks nice, give them a ring and see if they may do an article on it.
The Great Cucumber Massacre!
When my time has come to pass bury me upside down so the world can kiss my ass.

Offline PCB93

  • Jr. Member
  • **
  • Posts: 76
  • Location: Cheshire
Re: 1968 Series IIA Carawagon
« Reply #33 on: December 21, 2016, 04:23:51 am »
Small update on this - there isn't too much to report, as the head strip-down has been followed by much slacking.

The largely un-planned for arrival of the Carawagon in the garage left us relying on a kindly neighbour's driveway for over-spill parking, so the priority has really been to find more permanent storage. As usual, I've been on the receiving-end of considerable undeserved luck and am able to use a relative's garage in the next town, in exchange for nothing more than the occasional odd job around the house.

The only draw-back is that the garage in question hasn't been adapted for Land Rovers, so the roof has had to come off - no qualms with that while it's not going anywhere. Having previously only removed the basic hard-top from my Series III, this was something of a saga by comparison - around five hours. The bonus of internal standing room did not go unappreciated. Taking my time paid off, as everything came apart without damage.

Immediately after arrival at its new home. Roof up for obligatory inspection by intrigued neighbours:


Wiring above the rear door was the first thing to come out - part of the scruffy job related to the aftermarket interior lighting:


Why do a proper job when you can use duct tape? Previous owners have a lot to answer for:


Screws holding the windscreen blind in place were rather reluctant to budge:


Access to the roof bolts requires removal of aluminium trim all-round. The notch in this piece supports one end of the roof beds when they are in use:


Both roof beds are held in place along one side by a row of rivets. All came out:


Trim above the side windows shares fixing rivets with the top window channels, which are accessed from the outside:


'Paraphernalia Pockets' released from their fixings on each side:


Roof trim removal revealed more wiring atrocities:


Trim mostly removed - looking quite bare:


Seat-belt mounting brackets had to come out to enable removal of the final two trim pieces:


Roof in its entirety finally free. Rather a lot heavier than a standard one:


All finally squeezed into the garage. It's a reluctant roller, so considerable profanity was involved. Cardboard in place to take drips - eleven years of standing still hasn't seen-off all the EP90:


The plan now is still to get it initially running and driving, as pushing the stiff bugger in-and-out of the garage isn't something I want to be doing too often. It takes four people even on the flat, to give an idea. Then it'll be gradual removal and re-furbishment of parts, until I have a garage containing a drive-able chassis, and a pile of parts sorted and ready for re-assembly. When time and money allow, it'll then be temporarily back home for the full re-build - there is life in the original chassis, so if I still can't weld by that point, the forum will be receiving a call for aid. Once road-worthy, it'll be back to this garage - the medium-term plan will be to run the lifting roof in stripped-down form (no trim, paraphernalia pockets and roof beds), to allow it in-and-out without excessive dismantlement. The full set-up will have to wait until I have somewhere more suitable for storage. I'm trying not to get too excited here, as the timescale for all that probably runs into several years!

Phil
« Last Edit: April 21, 2019, 07:43:09 pm by PCB93 »
1979 Series III 88" Hard-top - daily drive
1968 Series IIA 109" Carawagon - project
Like Like x 1 View List

Offline Zuma

  • Sr. Member
  • ****
  • Posts: 489
  • Location : Malibu, CA, USA
Re: 1968 Series IIA Carawagon
« Reply #34 on: December 21, 2016, 06:38:51 am »
Well done! Good work! Keep us posted on progress.

Offline RMS

  • Hero Member
  • *****
  • Posts: 687
  • Near Wakefield, in God's Own County!
    • Land Rover Classic Campers
Re: 1968 Series IIA Carawagon
« Reply #35 on: December 21, 2016, 08:28:46 pm »
Nice write-up Phil - that wiring looks a lot like mine though   whstle

Cheers,
Robin.
1958 109" Carawagon (project);  1967 109" Carawagon, 200TDi; 1971 109" Carawagon (project), 1972 109" SW Carawagon (needs tlc), 1974 Dormobile (project)

Land Rover Classic Campers forum at www.lrcc.org.uk

(patNrob on S2C)

Offline Gossamer

  • Hero Member
  • *****
  • Posts: 4376
  • i would rather be happy than right!
  • Location : AbuDerby
Re: 1968 Series IIA Carawagon
« Reply #36 on: December 22, 2016, 09:50:36 am »
Stick with it, Phil.

One step at a time.

Please continue  theto share detailed photographs, they will be helpful in the future.

 lkebtn
All the right bits, but not necessarily in the right order.

Offline PCB93

  • Jr. Member
  • **
  • Posts: 76
  • Location: Cheshire
Re: 1968 Series IIA Carawagon
« Reply #37 on: December 22, 2016, 06:27:28 pm »
Cheers all.

I've had a couple of comments about the most recent post being potentially useful to others - I think the fact things are being done just a bit at a time allows for more detail without Biblical posts. Always been one for detailed recording, though - the (pretty standard) Series III re-build finished with 1,543 photographs, so heaven knows how many this'll end up with!

Phil
1979 Series III 88" Hard-top - daily drive
1968 Series IIA 109" Carawagon - project

Offline Gossamer

  • Hero Member
  • *****
  • Posts: 4376
  • i would rather be happy than right!
  • Location : AbuDerby
Re: 1968 Series IIA Carawagon
« Reply #38 on: December 22, 2016, 07:32:59 pm »
Hi Phil.
Might I suggest edited highlights on here and beg access to the enormous stash of subtly different photos via dropbox or similar?

Sproggle and I looking for ideas to help rebuild Chantelle and a carawagon roof was our first thought, though plans may change if another opportunity becomes reality.

The way the interior is fashioned will be of great interest too.
All the right bits, but not necessarily in the right order.

Offline PCB93

  • Jr. Member
  • **
  • Posts: 76
  • Location: Cheshire
Re: 1968 Series IIA Carawagon
« Reply #39 on: December 22, 2016, 08:12:38 pm »
I'll sort that, yes - this'll remain as the general re-build thread, but I'll be doing a more conversion-specific one over on LRCC. Both will still be rather whittled-down, so as you suggest, I'll dump absolutely everything into an album (Photobucket) for others to access and sift through. Will let you know when all is up-and-running!

Phil
1979 Series III 88" Hard-top - daily drive
1968 Series IIA 109" Carawagon - project
Winner Winner x 1 View List

Offline steifbear

  • Full Member
  • ***
  • Posts: 215
  • Location : Kippax, Leeds.
Re: 1968 Series IIA Carawagon
« Reply #40 on: March 23, 2017, 09:35:48 pm »
Any update on this Phil?
CliVE - 1965 - LWB - Series 2A - 200tdi - LT77 - P4x4 - G90s! - Not Dead.

Offline PCB93

  • Jr. Member
  • **
  • Posts: 76
  • Location: Cheshire
Re: 1968 Series IIA Carawagon
« Reply #41 on: March 31, 2017, 08:44:43 am »
Apologies, I've been all but completely inactive on the forums so far this year! In any case, the short answer is no, nothing's happened with it since moving to the other garage. For some reason I'm bloody knackered all the time at the moment and tend to just crash in the evenings, so my productivity has dropped right off!

What time I have spent in the garage has been dedicated to other vehicles; a new rear crank seal on the Series III after a claggy ford killed the last one (won't forget the flywheel housing drain plug again!), a gearbox re-build for a mate, and I'm half-way through sorting a cylinder head for another - just waiting for word from the machine shop. The Carawagon has rather been pushed to the back of the queue - the head has been in bits since October! Had a quick look at it one evening a few weeks back, and can say that the inlet valve stem seals are a pain to fit. They're internal o-rings. It might just be me, but I couldn't get even one to seat.

Must get that Photobucket album sorted!

Phil
1979 Series III 88" Hard-top - daily drive
1968 Series IIA 109" Carawagon - project

Offline PCB93

  • Jr. Member
  • **
  • Posts: 76
  • Location: Cheshire
Re: 1968 Series IIA Carawagon
« Reply #42 on: August 04, 2017, 04:59:31 pm »
I see that in my long absence from the forum the bobbing rastards at Photobucket have utterly trashed this thread. £25 a month they want. Bieving thastards. In any case, there will actually be some Carawagon news soon, as I'll have a bit of time to start tinkering in the next few weeks. Today I dropped the stripped head off to have the valves properly de-coked and lapped-in, and the stem seals inserted - I never managed to have any success with getting those in myself! I'll have it back to re-assemble on Monday. Across the weekend I'm going to have a go at getting the clutch working, freeing the throttle linkage, and fitting a facet pump to bypass the original fuel system for the time being. Aim is to have it running and moving by the end of next week. I'll do my best to keep this up-to-date!

In the meantime, Flickr calls.

Phil


Bilfering pastards.
1979 Series III 88" Hard-top - daily drive
1968 Series IIA 109" Carawagon - project
Like Like x 1 View List

Offline Gossamer

  • Hero Member
  • *****
  • Posts: 4376
  • i would rather be happy than right!
  • Location : AbuDerby
Re: 1968 Series IIA Carawagon
« Reply #43 on: August 04, 2017, 05:08:42 pm »
Welcome back, Poppet.

Same problem with the photo's on my threads.

Good luck with your fiddling.
All the right bits, but not necessarily in the right order.

Offline PCB93

  • Jr. Member
  • **
  • Posts: 76
  • Location: Cheshire
Re: 1968 Series IIA Carawagon
« Reply #44 on: August 21, 2017, 01:20:31 am »
Apologies Gossamer, I said I'd get an album sorted for you and others to use for ideas for your own camper conversions. Also to Robin, whose Classic Camper forum I have also neglected for too long. I have the organisational skills of a cabbage, unfortunately!

The idea of getting the Carawagon moving by the end of 'next week,' i.e. last week, hasn't gone to plan - as usual. These inlet valve stem seals are proving to be something of a problem. Not only can I not get them in, but neither can the chaps at my local garage, engine specialist, or a classic motorbike nut that the engine place asked to have a go. We've all managed to at least get some of them seated in the grooves correctly, but they immediately pop back out upon insertion of the valves. I may well ultimately have the guides machined to take external seals as found on the 2¼ engines, as this whole business is getting a bit ridiculous, and I don't fancy doing it again! I've ordered a fresh set of the standard o-ring type, just on the off-chance that those from the head gasket set I've got aren't quite the right size, but I think I'm clutching at straws.

Anyway, enough of that negativity. I have at least managed to get a few things removed and tidied-up in preparation for getting it running, so here we go - bonnet off, work begins:


Engine bay as I left it back in October:


I'm going to set the exhaust valve clearances before trying to fire it up - access to the valve gear is much easier with the exhaust manifold removed. The brass nuts connecting it to the exhaust came away with no difficulty. There is a warranty card for a stainless steel exhaust in the history file, and judging by the lack of rust on the down-pipe, it appears to still be fitted. Bonus:


Exhaust manifold removed, also with alarming ease:


Next to come off is the engine block side cover, below the exhaust ports:


Side cover removed - there was only the faintest trace of oil left on the reverse, showing how thoroughly it's drained to the sump in the time the vehicle has been stood (twelve years, to re-cap!):


Exhaust valve gear exposed. I haven't adjusted anything yet; I'll do that when I come to re-assemble the top-end:


Inside to access the clutch pedal box bolts, which proved to be the first to offer any resistance to removal, so far:


Clutch master cylinder. I managed to shoot myself in the chest with some jet-black fluid by accidentally compressing it when manoeuvring the pedal box out:


Pedal box removed:




I stopped there and brought the removed parts home with me to be tidied-up. Much de-greasing, wire-wheeling and spraying ensued. I just have the pedal box left to sort before taking them back to go back on.

Exhaust manifold painted with Plasti-Kote Wood Stove paint - thanks to Calum for that recommendation!:


Engine side cover, hydraulic fluid reservoir bracket, and various cylinder head brackets painted-up:


That's that for now. The next update will hopefully be to say that the inlet valve stem seals are finally in and the head's back together, so at the current rate, I'd suggest checking this thread somewhere around March 2028.

Phil
« Last Edit: April 21, 2019, 07:48:21 pm by PCB93 »
1979 Series III 88" Hard-top - daily drive
1968 Series IIA 109" Carawagon - project