After finishing the last restoration I was thinking about a local vehicle that had been used by a sawmill, it was a Series 2A 88"GS later known as 'Sawmill' or BLR-626
I knew it had been offered for sale on n off for a while now, but I could never catch up with the owner/s, when I did I was told that Dad didn't want to sell it, so be it
I rang around and got in touch with Hilton Pollard, he had a vehicle that I might want to look at, so off we went to Colo to check it out, it was a S2A 88"GS, just what I
wanted, the body was straight which was a bonus, but it had a serious engine issue that Hilton wasn't sure about
and from the rear
it had retired to work after finishing it's military career, straight into the hard work of Bush Fire brigade, it turned out that Phil H (Tankradio) had a connection with it
many years before.
About 5 days later we headed off down to Colo, Graham D & Gordon W (who I bought the Series 1 off in 2013), I took a fully charged battery some fuel, the vehicle started
but it was running like a hairy goat, missing/backfiring, Hilton wasn't sure whether it had a blown head gasket or a hole in a piston, it was a big gamble to buy, but the deal
was done, it was loaded behind the 110, the judge checking it was OK to move off
I made the mistake of buying a meat pie @ the garage just up the road a bit, gawd was I crook, it took me all my time n concentration to drive home, with a few upchucks
along the way, once at home n unloaded, I still wasn't felling well Ross C turned up for a once over, I was still laying on my back on the garage creeper, sick as++.
Anyway moving along, within a few days I had removed the head, and to my surprise and luck I discovered why it was running rough as, the head gasket had blown
between cylinders 2<>3, that was a relief, now the strip down began, the bulkhead was an absolute mess
the bulkhead was way beyond repair, it had more rust in lots of hard to get places, so I decided to look for another, after a search I found one @ Modern Mtrs, so I didn't have to go far at all
(Somewhere along the way BLR-626 came into view again, it was for sale, I was 1/2 way through this project, anyway to cut a long story short Graham D
bought it for me, until I was ready for it, here it is in my yard having some mechanical repairs before being registered)
In no time at all I had repaired a few minor issues with it, grit blasted it and the chassis and it was going back together
I was becoming quite adept at doing this, 112-501 (Chloe) took me 11.5 months from goa to whoa, I was burning this at around 6 months.
The Land Rover had survived it's military career in Bronze Green, the interior of the vehicle was still B/green, the outside was Orange, so I decided to repaint it in DBG
and from another angle outside with no flash and our little Pom 'Tookie'
the wiring loom was still serviceable as was the loom in 112-501, so it was put back before the engine went into it's spot, sometime just past the half way mark
something else popped up very large on the horizon a Series 2A Bloodbox, I had heard about it by word of mouth, and having missed out on a ex-MOD Series 2A 109
Amphibious that was in Newcastle, I had to beat a certain to person to get this vehicle, I tracked it down, it was a non-goer so it had to trucked back to my place
that was the end of me being able to park the 110 in the garage, the bloodbox is still in there LOL.
Four NOS 7.50x16 NDST's were found in a garage up in Murrurundi NSW of all places, cash changed hands I had them fitted, it was all coming together nicely
Anzac day 2001 was just about on us and the vehicle was paraded along with 112-501 and Ross C's Castrol, another milestone passed, after the parade we went
out to where I had worked for 40 years and lined up for a photo shoot 'A Ton of Land Rovers' i.e. 4 x 4 1/4Ton trucks
that will never happen on that spot anymore either as it's now a golf course LOL, Ross did a photo shoot with Castrol n kids 'Joe coolin' so not to be outdone
then little mutts in having a short drive in the yard, they were as I didn't want to run any of them over, 2 of them have since passed away, only Jessie the black toy poodle
is still with us today, Wee-Wullie has been a few places, not too many ex-mil Land Rovers have spent the afternoon in the quadrangle @ Maitland Goal
and from a different angle
I was invited by the Newcastle MG car club, they were having their national convention @ the Goal, I have also used the vehicle as encouragement for myself
to keep going as restoring vehicles takes a lot of your time and energy, and if you work full time (as I did at the time) it can be a real drag, but you have stick with it
and do something everyday just small menial things like running nuts/bolts through tap/die etc., here he is parked next to the 109WKSP
and on a rego day some time ago
sometimes I wish I had only 1 (one) vehicle it would be so easy time wise to manage, now expecting a barrage of offers to take/keep/look after them LOL
anyway next is the Bloodbox in a short version, cheers Dennis
