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After reading some more, I think a 97' Disco will be a Suffix J, the suffix K started with the Discovery II with the TD5 in 98' model yr. Can anyone confirm? Cheers, Allen

What would a 97' Disco R380 gearbox suffix likely be? I'm guessing it probably could be one of a couple different suffixes, depending on exactly when built, but just a guestament of what Suffix it would likely have. Cheers, Allen

Hey AV8R, sorry haven't replied for so long, got pneumonia, kinda took me out of circulation for a bit there. The LT230 is a bit longer than the Series TC and Ashcroft adapter, it's a SWB and don't want to make the rear propshaft any shorter than it already is. Buy moving the engine 4" forward the Series TC stays in the same location as stock, so rear propshaft doesn't need to be shortened. Cheers, Allen

As recommended, I contacted Dave at Paintman Panels and he has the SIIA radiator panels. http://www.paintmanpanels.co.uk/shop/land-rover-series-2-radiator-panel-330950/ So pretty happy to have been pointed to and found Dave! :-) Mine has the H/L in the wings. Cheers, Allen

Can you explain the Stage 1 type cross member for me? I don't really have a mental pic of what it is and how it works. It uses 1 cross member to replace the two, ie under flywheel and under gearbox cross members? What supports the gearbox with this set up? If there is a simpler and just as strong set up, I would prefer to go that route. I'm using a 300Tdi and moving the engine 102mm forward with Stumpy R380 and Ashcroft adapter kit to mount the Series TC to the R380, if that makes any difference. I appreciate the input here. I want to have a clean, strong and simple as possible installation. Cheers, Allen

Is that a good or bad thing? Still pretty new to Series, so not familuar the boingy gearbox cross member. Cheers, Allen

Thanks Western, that's what I was looking for! :-) Cheers, Allen

The radiator panel on 69' SIIA I'm getting this week is shot. Who makes SIIA radiator panels now? I've seen a couple listed on ebay that were made by Britpart, but would really like to avoid Britpart. Is someone making radiator panels currently? Cheers, Allen

Ok, I think I'm finally getting up to speed here. :-) Today I measured up & made patterns to have a bolt in flywheel cross member. It will be 4"/102mm x 2"/51mm - .188"/4.7mm tube, with .188"/4.7mm plates on the ends and bolt through the chassis rails with .188"/4.7 wall tubing welded in as crush sleeves. making the bolt in gearbox cross member out of 2"/51mm x 1-½"/38mm - .188"/4.7mm tubing and mount like the military flywheel cross member. i won't be able to get to metal place to pick up the steel till sometime next week. But hope to make them next week, I'll post up pics when I get them made. making two sets, one for the 69' SIIA I'm bringing hoe this week & a set for Kevin, my nephew that I'm giving the 72' SIII and he is going to rebuild it now. Cheers, Allen

Snagged, the Australian SWB had the extended rear spring hangers and Richards offers them as an option. Yes the 109 military rear hangers are different and extend out from the chassis rails, whereas the SWB Australian Military rear spring hangers are the same as regular SWB ones, just longer and with two holes to run standard height or extended height. Steve, not sure yet, it has a rebuilt short block in a crate, but has had some weather get to it, so is of unknown condition at the moment. I'm putting a 300Tdi, Stumpy R380, Ashcroft adapter kit to mate the Series TC and moving the engine forward 102mm. Able to keep the Series front no problem. Use a electric fan instead of the engine driven one for clearance though. guessing it's a 2.25 petrol engine, but who knows? Will find out in few days. Will do a build thread and introduce her soon as we get her home and post pics. Cheers, Allen

A update about my 72' SIII build. I stumbled into a 69' SIIA and picking her up in the next couple days. Needs new chassis and definitely new bulkhead. I'm giving the SIII to my nephew, he's 20 and a good buddy and he is going to rebuild her, we will be working on them together. He's keeping her basically stock ie, Series axles, gearbox and all that. Will be getting a 200Tdi, and rebuilding it, but not using the turbo, probable be getting a Turner performance head for it though. The 200di will give him a rebuilt to new condition diesel engine and not be stressing the SIII gearbox or running gear, and give good mpg.We're rebuilding the SIII chassis, it's in pretty good shape to start with, putting new military dumb irons and rebuilding the front horns, new military spring hangers in rear, Rocky Mountain Parabolic springs, extended shock mounts, new Richards' under flywheel and bolt on gearbox cross members and we're building a new rear cross member. With the Military dumb irons and rear spring hangers, he can run what ever amount of lift he wants down the road.She's getting taken down to bare metal and finished from there, all new bolts, nuts, screws fittings etc. He's buying the YMR bulkhead parts I already have and completely rebuilding the bulkhead. I going to build the SIIA with new chassis, probably buy a new bulkhead from Dave Marsh, and pretty much build it along the lines of the SIII Kevin is now building. But I'll be using a 300Tdi, stubby R380, Ashcroft adapter kit to mate Series TC to it and Land Cruiser axles and diffs. To find one Series on the Big Island is surprising, to find two Series here is unbelievable, and then to be able to get them both is just bizarre! lol I'll post up some pics of the SIIA soon as we get her home, in next few days. I'm pretty jazzed! :-DCheers, AllenI'll get Kevin to join the forum here and he can tell about his rebuild on the SIII as it progresses.

The under flywheel and not just the under gearbox correct? just making sure I understand what I think I understand. Lol Cheers, Allen

I didn't know about the Stage 1 under flywheel cross member wa a bolt in type, that would be nice. Eaiser if need to get to gearbox and be replaceable if damaged in the future sometime. Cheers, Allen

Ok thanks. Is there a difference in Defender seats or differences in certain years? Cheers, Allen

Oh, I was meaning the seats themselves. I live on the Big Island Hawaii and am going to have a pallet with a 300Tdi & R380 sent over and wold like to get a set of seats sent on the pallet at the same time. But don't know what model or what that the name of those seats are. I want to get a set of used ones and rebuild with new foam & recover them. Cheers, Allen

I like these seats, but don't know what version they are or what the part number is to look them up. I want to get a used set, to rebuild with new foam & recover. This pic is of a Wolf SWB.

I wire wheeled the FJ housings this afternoon to get the flash rust off and gave them a quick coat of primer to make it easier to see the marks as I lay out where they will get but & machined. Hopefully will get them measured and marked so know where to cut & machine the ends. when the ends are machined & cut, I'll bead blast them to clean them up really good. Here's a couple pics of them, that's just some rattle can primer for temporary.

Actually, I have been reading up on tilts and noticed that Undercover Covers is quite highly regarded. so much so I have decided to go with UCC. Cheers, Allen

I got my axles out, reassembled them and measured them up. So thought I'd post up the dimensions in case it might be helpful to someone else sometime or interesting.

Thanks for the input guys, sorry I thought I had replied back on this thread already. :-( I'm building a new chassis, out of 3.5mm for the rails, cross members 1 & 4, the rear cross member is .188"/3/16" material. Getting Richards Chassis, under the flywheel cross member and military bolt on gearbox cross member and all 6 outriggers. Going to add a plate of .188'/3/16" across the bottom of the under flywheel and gearbox cross members to help prevent them from getting banged up. The 3.5mm metal weighs less than 20lbs more than using 2.5mm metal, and is almost the same price. The rear cross member will look the same as a standard one. Building it out of 4"/102mm x 6"/154mm .188"3/16" wall rectangular tube, with the outer part cut to the tapered shape and a piece of 1"/51mm x 4"/102mm welded to the bottom to make the lower center part the same height as a standard cross member. All the bolt holes are being sleeved with 1/4"/6mm wall tubes welded in. This will be stronger than standard and won't have any places for mud and water to collect and look like a standard rear cross member. I've started a build thread here in the Series forum. Cheers, Allen

Cool, I started a thread on the build and the basic build specs or plan here earlier this eve. Tomorrow I'll post up some pics of the axles & what I'm doing on them. I won't have a lot of progress happening till middle of August, then I'll be able to make faster progress. i would like to get your thoughts on the overall build. Cheers, Allen

I'm using a set of Toyota FJ60 axles modified to position the diffs in the same location as the LR diffs, and the WMS to WMS 59" instead of LR 55", might go 54" on rear. I'm on the Big Island HI, and getting LR axle upgrade parts is expensive, plus I already have a set of FJ60 axles and diffs. I've got all the brackets and flanges cut off and cleaned up, ready to have the ends machined to make make them the correct width including a 4Plus housing sleeve and accept the knuckle balls and disc brake flanges. The pinion and castor angles will be set when welding on the Ruffstuff spring perches. The front gets RCV 30 spline chromoly axles/CVs and chromoly hub gears. FJ60 vented rotors, Toyota V6 Mini Truck calipers (4- 42mm pistons), Sixshooter knuckles & ARP studs. Ruffstuff knuckle ball gussets, spring perches, Mini Truck truss (modified to fit), shock mounts, rear diff cover (cut off sheet metal cover, welding on extra layer to flange, drilling and tapping to accept Ruffstuff diff cover). Marlin 25mm steering pin upgrade kit. 4x4 Labs high steer from behind & GM 1 ton tie rod ends. Rebuilt FJ60 steering box, with crush tubes and extra plating on frame rails for steering box. Aisin hubs. Probably forgetting something. Lol The rear axle, gets RCV 30 spline chromoly axles with drive flanges pressed on. Ruffstuff disc brake-FF flange, spring perches, mini truck truss, shock mounts. LC front spindles and hubs, LC vented rotors, FJ60 Calibers (2- 42mm & 2-38mm) pistons. Outer part of housing sleeved (more on that later). LC diffs, 1310, double cardan Ujoint driveshafts, front and rear get LC flange to diffs and LR flange to TC. A nice thing about running double cardan Ujoints is, in addition to the higher angles, is that the diff is rotated up, to point the pinion at the TC, and that lifts the nose of the diff up away from the ground to help protect the diff nose & flange. Land Cruiser, 5.5x16 split rims widened to 6.5" & 255/85-16 tires. This gives strong set of axles, with 4" wider WMS to WMS, 4 wheel disc brakes, that are relatively inexpensive and readily available parts, and I have most of the components. Other than axles, diffs & steering everything will be Land Rover. It's a 72' SIII SWB that is getting a new Series IIA type bulkhead from West Lakes All Wheel Drive, he is putting together a kit for me to build, I already have new foot wells, door pillars and making a jig from original bulkhead. Fitting higher output & pressure PS pump for PS and for Vans Hydro brake booster. This eliminates the vacuum pump and bulky brake vacuum booster. Putting in a 300Tdi, (rebuilding) with a new, Turner Engineering's ported and flowed head, moved 4" forward with new motor mounts, to keep the Series front. Rebuilding the R380 Stumpy gearbox (basically an R380 with a 4" shorter bell housing, and a few extra bits). Ashcroft adapter kit to mate the Series TC (rebuilding) to the Stumpy R380. This lets me keep the Series front and the TC stays in the same position so I don't need to shorten the already short rear prop-shaft. Building new chassis rails and cross members 1 & 4 out of 10 gauge,/3.5mm steel. The weight difference between 2.5mm (what Richards Chassis builds them out of) and 3.5mm for these is less than 20lbs, and the rear crossmember out of .188"/3/16", with the same shape & profile. Building in mounts for a bolt in winch tray to fit a winch under floorboards and between frame rails, controlled with remote, air free spool actuator, opening in rear cross member for winch line and fairlead to mount. From Richards Chassis, getting 1 Ton dumb irons, Australian Military SWB rear spring hangers 2" taller (longer?) to match the 1 Ton dumb irons, Military length extended shackles, under flywheel crossmember 2, scalloped (for driveshaft clearance) military bolt on under gearbox crossmember 3 and the 6 outriggers (all of the Richards Chassis parts are 2.5mm), to mount left side under seat, aux fuel tank. I've got a fuel filler neck assembly so it will match the right side. The front suspension gets Rocky Mountain 3 leaf Parabolic rear springs (one leaf can be removed if wanted). Extending the front chassis horns 3.25" and and using Ruffstuff 2" dia through the frame rails shackle hanger mounts with 1.5" bushings, moved aft the accordingly and Ruffstuff offset shackles, spring perches, spring under U-bolt protecting cradle U-bolt plates and U-bolts. Mounting the 3 leaf rear springs, flipped, to keep front axle in same location. Ford shock towers bolted on with through the frame crush tubes welded in, for extended travel shocks. Rear gets Rocky Mountain 3 leaf Parabolic springs. Ruffstuff shackle hangers, shackles, spring perch, spring under U-bolt protecting cradle U-bolt plates and U-bolts . The spring perch has an additional spring pin hole drilled 1" to the rear and using a 1/2" thick axle relocating plate to be able to move the rear axle 2" to the rear and have 90" WB. If ever wanted the axle can be moved 1" forward or put in stock location, Building a bumper and brush bar that basically looks like the 110 Camel Trophy ones, except the bumper and the lower brush bar won't have the bump out in the center for the winch, since the Series front is set back. Have the hard top with the tropical roof panel and sides. Using Exmoor Deep Weave tilt and sticks in Sand. Body and wheel color will be Bronze Green. Setting it up with dogclutch hydraulic pump for front and rear hydraulic winches later. Most likely going with Red-Winches' Challenger winches, they weigh less than half the Mile Marker winches, Will decide later. Every bolt unbolted and every rivet is being drilled out, steel parts sand blasted, aluminum parts soda or bead to bare metal blasted to bare meal, galvanized pieces re-galvanized, all others primed, painted and Raptor liner between the steel and aluminum parts before riveting back together. Basically building everything to new or better tolerances. Oh, did I mention I'm a little OCD? Lol But for me the fun is in the details, whether designing how things go together or the finish work. I look at the whole build as a system and hopefully everything works together and it doesn't look bodged up. I'm really working to (hopefully) make everything look like it was built this way, not chopped and modded. I trying to keep the look as LR as possible, I think the FJ axles wont be too noticeable, I mean I hope they don't jump out when giving a casual look, of course on closer inspection they won't look LR, (they have 6 instead of 5 lug nuts!) but over all I want to keep the basic look and feel of a Series IIA as much as possible. Cheers, Allen

Well.... it's a bit different, but extensive build. :-) When I get back home in few hrs, I'll post up about the build. if anyone is interested, I'll do a build thread on it. Cheers, Allen

Snagger yes, that is correct. A is outside of brake drum surface where wheel mounts, B/C is center of pinion and D is outside of brake drum where wheel mounts. I need the two measurements, A to B and C to D. B and C are actually the same, but couldn't figure out how to fit it on pic. The pic isn't mine, I copied it from geoffslandroverblog.com for reference If I remember correctly A to D is 55" I need to know the dimensions the pinion is from the WMS (brake drum faces where the wheels mount) to pinion and to opposite WMS. These two, well three to verify that the WMS to WMS is 55" would be great help! Cheers, Allen

Is there a drawing, that shows front and rear axles WMS (Wheel Mount Surface) to pinion to WMS? Or does anyone have a set of axles that they could measure for me? Mine axles are completely disassembled so can't measure mine currently. For Series IIA or III axles. Cheers, Allen