How to recommission a Series Land Rover?

Hi all, after a wee bit of advice, I have just become the proud owner of a Late Series 2 Land Rover SWB. She has been off the road for 20 years and needs some welding, that aside does anybody have a list of suggestion to recognition a vehicle that has been un-used for so long, all in all she is pretty good original order but Im not sure how much ( or how little) I should do to start? I would love to hear from anyone thats done something similar.

Thank Thank in advances.

Depends how lucky you are, you might find oil seals have dried out and don't work anymore, coolant pipes might be perished and exhaust might be rotten, fuel tank might be knackered too.
Put some oil down the bores and see if the engine turns over, put some fresh petrol in and see if it fires up. If so then change all the oils and the coolant. Give a thorough service and see how you get on

Fit a fuel filter before turning it over to catch any crud from the tank. Take of the ht lead so it doesnt fire up and let the engine turn over for a few seconds to get the oil pushed around the innards.

Col

Brakes and clutch might be the biggest problems after standing so long, dont drive it until you've had a good look at them

Col

Have you got a local garage? if so go and see them and ask them if the will come and do a sort of pre mot (paid of course) then at least you have a list to work from.
Explain to them you do not want them to do the work otherwise you might scare them off!

The big bit will be if the engine turns over. Take the sparkplugs out and try to turn it by hand, I think you need to go clockwise. If it doesn't turn pour ATF into the bores and leave it for a few hours and try again if no joy leave for a bit longer and try again. When or if it does start to turn give it a a few spins to get the bores oiled up. Then you can try on the starter motor, don't forget loads of rags around the sparkplugs holes as the ATF will go everywhere. If you want to try and start it I would bypass the fuel tank for now as it's probably full of rust. Also before you start it check for damage to the wires by mice, rats and previous owners.

You will probably need to renew everything rubber, in particular apart from what has already been mentioned the brake line flexibles.

6pot said:

You will probably need to renew everything rubber...

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That was one of the objectives I had when I started my rebuild, but actually quite a few of the rubber bits were still in fairly good condition. And new rubber versions are of questionable quality that looks like it'll only last a year or so. So you might want to change quite everything.

TheMegaMan said:

That was one of the objectives I had when I started my rebuild, but actually quite a few of the rubber bits were still in fairly good condition. And new rubber versions are of questionable quality that looks like it'll only last a year or so. So you might want to change quite everything.

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That is true, my handbrake gaitor had perished and fallen off and although it wasn't the job highest on the priority list, I wanted to replace it to stop the rats getting in. New one fitted, 2 years later it disintegrated.

It may be possible to assess rubber items in good condition and keep them but my brake flexibles look OK and I am still not prepared to chance them, especially as its a single circuit system. Likewise tyres, two of mine are clearly knackered remoulds but none of them have date codes on them so the whole lot are too old to rely on.

6pot said:

It may be possible to assess rubber items in good condition and keep them but my brake flexibles look OK and I am still not prepared to chance them, especially as its a single circuit system. Likewise tyres, two of mine are clearly knackered remoulds but none of them have date codes on them so the whole lot are too old to rely on.

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Oh yes, don't get me wrong...there are rubber items, particularly safety-critical areas, where it's definitely a good idea to replace with new items. I guess I was just warning against replacing things that are still OK as a matter of course. If it's lasted 20 years, it may well last another 20 years. If you replace it with an modern equivalent, it might only last 2 or 3... I'm hoping tyres and brake lines aren't make of the same cr@ppy rubber as door seals, gaitors, etc.

6pot said:

You will probably need to renew everything rubber, in particular apart from what has already been mentioned the brake line flexibles.

Click to expand...

TheMegaMan said:

That was one of the objectives I had when I started my rebuild, but actually quite a few of the rubber bits were still in fairly good condition. And new rubber versions are of questionable quality that looks like it'll only last a year or so. So you might want to change quite everything.

Click to expand...

I would agree with the above but other than the brake lines (and maybe some of the engine hoses dependant on condition) I would not bother replacing them yet. Get it running and drive it around for a bit and you will very quickly discover which rubbers need to be replaced. It is more of an issue with leaf spring vehicels as they have more suspension rubbers but Other than saftey critical (brake/clutch flexi) I would wait for them to fail, usually very quickly after starting to be used again, before replacing.

For the rest of the vehicle my advice would be the saemas above, some oil down the spark plug holes and bar it over to make sure it turns, then try to turn if over without starting with the starter to build oil pressure, if it is a horrible petrol that stops working as soons as is is vaguely damp remove the centre HT lead, if it is an excellent diesel (ignore everyone who complains about them) keep the stop lever engaged on the fuel pump, this will stop the engine actually starting. I would then (for either fuel) run a fuel hose from a jerry can of clean fuel to the filter rather than using the tank and see if it will start.

Once you have got it running then give it a full fluid and filter service and drain and flush the fuel tank. Once running you will then need to turn your attention to brakes and clutch the servicing of which is no different to if it hadn't been stood for a long time.

Unless I have missed something you do not say if it is petrol of diesel? If it is a diesel it will not start without using glow plugs, my recommendation for those would be run a jump lead direct from a good battery to the coil on the bulkhead.
If it is a petrol, for the price and the fact that you will need to remove it anyway I would put new plugs in before trying a first start.