1958 Land Rover Series 1

Out wit the old and rusty, and in with the newish


It does have a differnt stance with the wider tires and wider axle. The rims are 16x7 and the Toyota IFS offset is going to work fine. I am not happy with the look of the rims, but they will have to work for now.




I hit a bit of a snag. The cruiser pumpkin is close to the spring perch and i am having a hard time getting a ubolt over it. With the pinion angle i am going for, the housing is interfering. I will have to work on this, i hope i dont have to outboard the spring mounts.

 

I got both axles installed an kind of rolling.

For the rear axle issue i had with the ubolt not fitting over, i did a ubolt eliminator setup on one side and ubolted the other. I do not have the perch welded to the axle, i need to figure out my pinion angles first, but it is under the rig.


Rolled out into the sunlight to compare the wider tires to the original ones and see how far it sits outside of the tub. I am not a huge fan of the rims, but they will have to do for now.








The front axle got pulled out. Bye Bye drum brakes


New axle going in. I had to do the same thing in front as I did in the rear and make a mount with one ubolt and one set to use bolts. Also not welded on, i have to remove the spring perch and take off some material and do the front pinion and caster angle. The steering actually bolts up nicey, but i still have to replace the toyota TRE to the Bronco steering box. It sits in there but it is too small. But i can say it steers now





So had a scare this afternoon. I tried to push the Rover farther into the garage so i can cleanup and it did not want to move. It acted like it was locked up. It did spin for a little bit and made loud clicking sound. I pulled the axle flanges thinking it was a bad birfield, it was still locked. Pulled the tire and it spun, but the other side was locked. Turned it was not a bad axle joint or differential. The wheels i am using, even though they are 16 inch diameter, i have the steering arm contacting the rim. So I need to find a set of 1/2 inch spacer to let me be able to move it around, or maybe a few washers just so i can roll it around until i can get different wheels. Now to sell off the old axle and wheels/tires.

 

So almost got the last big part of the build done. The Rover originally had through the floor pedals, but they were rotted pretty good, I tossed them and was going to make pedals to come from above the footwell. Well i was not happy with the way it would look so I ended up making my own through the floor pedals.

The Master cylinders are under the floor board. I am using a Corvette brake cylinder and just an after market Clutch MC.


I spent a bit doing the research on pedal ratio and lengths for the pedals.

I used 3/8 flat stock for the pedal arms, some round rod for the rod that goes to the foot part. The sleeves have brass bushings to have a smooth movement

Mocking the outrigger up in the vise





Mocked on the rig, figuring out the spacing between the pedals on the shaft



The pedals welded up to the spacer and the white things are just spacers. I need to paint it all


I still need to pull off the outrigger and weld everything up on it and make a skid plate bracket to protect the setup. Then start plumbing the brakes and mount the slave cylinder.
I am glad i got this part done, it has been killing me to figure out this part.

 

The outrigger is welded in and it is all sitting pretty.

I welded in a skid plate to protect the pushrods and to make it a bit more presentable.


The final product for this part. I still need to make the pads for the pedals, but that should not be that hard.

 

There is a gap there for water to run down, i tacked every 1/2 inch or so across. I am going to mount a piece of rubber or maybe sheet metal to act like a mud flap in front of it all to keep the rocks, dirt and water from getting really kicked back into the area.

 

Tonights quickie. I got the pedals done. Whoo hoooo

 

Made the slave cylinder bracket for the transmission.

 

Lots of little loose ends taken care of today.

Made some grill supports to bulkhead and added a YJ hood prop to it, so not more 2x4s to hold the hood up





Finished my spring mounts by boxing and adding support to them to make them a bit better looking




Set the caster angle and welded up the spring perches to the axles, so it is done
Added some tabs for the brake lines, removed old tabs from the axle and get things ready for the brake lines that will come in this week.

 

Knocked off another project. The Rover front bumper was original but really rotted out.
I build this one to mimic the original style. It is out of 3x3 square tubing. The Land Rover is looking complete.

 

When are changing the headlights to the square ones???

 

Oh hush yer mouth! HAHAAA

 

Not this one. Body color wheels