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Rattler and son 1971 S11a swb Restoration


Cornish Rattler

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Hi guys

Either this weekend or next weekend me and son will be starting work on a 1971 petrol s11a restoration ( full nut and bolt ) we aquired the vehicle last year but had to replace the chassis on our 90 first due to it being involved in a no fault ( to us ) accident which damaged the chassis, anyway the s11a has a rotten chassis which will be replaced with a new galv chassis, the bulkhead is in a bit of a mess as it recently had work done on it prior to us buying it but for some reason it looks like the worst parts of it got missed out, the front door hinges are welded to the bulkhead and the footwells and pillars are rotten out aswell so if the bulkhead is too bad to repaire we mite buy a better bulkhead that needs less work and use that, all 3 door frames are rotten so will be replacing those aswell but the rest of the body looks in good shape, the g/box will be refurbished aswell as both axles, nut sure what we are doing with the engine yet till we do a comp test first then decide on what to do, anyway here are some pic's when we first bought it :D

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Was hoping to start work on it today but the 90 had a battery drain problem but its sorted now and being as i won a new roof for the 90 on ebay yesterday we are going to collect it tonight and fit it at a later date and I work Sundays and off Mondays so I will make a start on it then :D

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Made a start on the 2a yesterday and whilst i had the engine running to do a comp test i removed all 3 doors and cleared the back out and found a brand new starting handle, a first and secon'd part land rover w/s manuals and an haynes manual and inside the hanes manual there was some info that it had a set of points fitted in 1998 at 72880 miles and the mileage on the clock reads 73305 miles so its only done 425 miles since 1998 :D

then after doing the comp test ( between 175-180 psi ) I removed the seat box and checked the s/n on the g/box and its still sporting its Suffix F box which I am quite happy about, pic's later

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Comp test now done ... Any decisions on what you're doing with the engine ?

I'm assuming it's original ? And those numbers seem healthy so my guess is you'd keep it ?

Yeah it looks that way, yesterday whilst i had it running in the garage and the sun was out there was a haze of blue smoke with a strong fumie smell but i'm not sure if its the fuel that is in it as we don't really know how old the fuel is but it seems to start and runs ok or if its valve stem seals so now we know the comp's are good i mite aswell wip the head off and have it re-con'd and if it needs it have the head converted to unleaded as I am not sure its been done

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If it's not run in a while, may just be some oil in the exhaust burning off -also, in bright sunlight, black smoke (rich running) can often look blue...

Are right didn't think of that, i also noticed the choke is seized open and it starts first time without choke ( Zenith ) so the carb mite need fettling but as its going to be a full nut and bolt rebuild it would only be right to replace the carb with a new one and i know these new ( jap ) Zenith carbs are rubbish. have the weber carbs got any better or are they still rubbish aswell as the carb problem back in the early naughties was the reason i went TDI with my last 2a

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Fit an 1.75" SU carburettor on a custom carb elbow and you are laughing, easily the best modification I ever did to my lightweight, you wouldn't believe the difference.

Even if I had an otherwise standard truck I would still do that on any regularly driven vehicle and bin the awful Zenith and strangling Weber.

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Fit an 1.75" SU carburettor on a custom carb elbow and you are laughing, easily the best modification I ever did to my lightweight, you wouldn't believe the difference.

Even if I had an otherwise standard truck I would still do that on any regularly driven vehicle and bin the awful Zenith and strangling Weber.

Yeah if we was keeping the 2a I would do that but the 2a will be sold once its done to part fund my sons wedding hence why we are doing it together :D

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