Introduction

I've created this blog to document my ongoing fixes on my 1969 Series 2a SWB. My father purchased the vehicle in 2003 as a daily driver. After building a custom 1969 2a LWB the Landy fell into disrepair and came off the road in 2008. Dad later sold the LWB and now drives a 2012 Defender 110. I learnt to drive in it around the paddock and have got most of my mechanical knowledge from working on it. I now intend to get it up to a roadworthy standard as my funds allow.

The car was registered on 11th August 1969. I therefore assume it has a late 1968/early 1969 build date as these cars took a while to come out from the UK. I believe it was bought by a mining or forestry company somewhere in the North Island judging by the records on MotorWeb. It was rebuilt during the 1990s which is when I think it received it's current Holden 173.

The car is in pretty good shape considering the amount of abuse it has taken over the past 50 odd years. The motor is a sweet runner with the only problem being a hairline crack in the block which slowly leaks coolant. This was a common conversion in NZ and I can see why. The 6 cylinder is really smooth and is much more powerful than the standard 2.25. Oh, and it sounds great. Spending the past 20 or so years in Canterbury has limited the amount of rust. There are the usual problem spots in the front of the chassis, rear crossmember and door pillars. However, this all seems repairable. All the driveline is pretty worn out and the steering is very vague.

The pros include a solid engine, a pretty good chassis and the fact its been driven pretty regularly for the past few years.

I might also add some posts about my 1994 Discovery in this blog but that will hopefully require less attention than the series 2!

This blog is NOT a restoration blog. I have decided that the car is too far gone from standard to restore. The Discovery is a bog standard example in great condition and is much to good to turn into an off roader so I have decided to make the series 2 my off road toy. I am also not going to strip the car down at this stage because I don't have the space or money. So this will be a sort of rolling rebuild. Feel free to leave a question or comment and I will answer it as best I can.