Another ex-army Stage 1

disco2hse · Post by **disco2hse** » Mon Apr 28, 2008 10:18 am

Howdy,

Another kiwi with another ex-army Stage 1.

Great to find a forum with others with the same machinery as mine (well sort of

).

Mine is a 1983 109 FFR. It is 24V, and is called George.

I have made a few changes to it, such as replacing the big alternator with a 24V truck one and having the carbs rebuilt and tuned, and with the restrictors removed. I have also put a cab on instead of the rag top because it was a little too drafty in winter. Eventually I will get George painted, but that will take a while. In the meantime George isn't as "nice looking" as some of those I've seen on this site.

Anyway, here's some pic's:

Down hill on soft sandy loamy stuff, Waiuku Forest.

Waiting for the traffic to start again on Maratoto, a bush track.

What happens to cars that break down on Muriwai Beach - there's quite a few.

On display at a recent military vehicles weekend at MOTAT.

Winching a mate who'd blown his engine on Muriwai Beach. Using a Turfor style winch.

Bumpkin · Post by **Bumpkin** » Mon Apr 28, 2008 5:34 pm

Hiya.
You lot were quite lucky when the army decided to update all there vehicles and flog all the Stage 1s of.Your truck looks fine to me. THey arent really supposed to look perfect in my opinion.Mines a worker with a galvy chassis.Just put her back on the road with a new MOT.There should have been a good lot of spares from the army as well. Be handy to know where that lot went. I had a real job tracking down rialko bushes for mine.
Welcome to the Forum.
Tel

disco2hse · Post by **disco2hse** » Mon Apr 28, 2008 7:29 pm

Thanks Tel,

Actually George is registered and warranted (that's how its done here, the vehicle is registered every year and you pay a bunch of tax, then every 6 months it has to pass a warrant of fitness for the road).

There were something like 350 sold off but quite a few got bought as wrecks have been stripped for parts.

To be honest I'm really into the polish and brass stuff for George and having scratches and dents means I don't have to worry about a few more when we go off-road - which we do

Kiwistage1V8 · Post by **Kiwistage1V8** » Wed Apr 30, 2008 8:24 am

Hey disco. Welcome. I have an ex-army stage 1 too. Mine was on the Chathams, lucky for me the chassis etc was undersealed from new, and it had only done 9000k when it was de-mobbed. Even though it's only done 40000 now, the motor is on its way out, near to no compression in one cylinder. The chassis is absolutely immaculate!

When I do my engine rebuild I will be pulling all the ffr stuff out and biffing it, and like you, I have (but not yet installed) got my hands on a 24V hitachi alternator. Those 100amp generators are bloody monstrosities.

I just got a real good safari roof with a pair of new large sliding windows in it and put it on last weekend. I paid $250 for it, but also got a full set of almost new door rubbers with it. 110 style rubbers, so I had to grind off the little lip on part of the flange where the rubbers mount. Unreal, a landy that does not leak, and is not drafty. A first for me. haha.

disco2hse · Post by **disco2hse** » Thu May 01, 2008 1:57 am

Howdy,

Really, only 9k? George was on about 16k but then I don't know how many times around the clock that was

What I did with the new alternator is get a bracket fabricated that kind of wraps around its body. On its bottom edge it uses the original mounting lug to anchor, and the adjusting screw attaches at the top. Just needed a couple of spacers to get the new alternator forward enough for the belt.

What I did find was that there was quite a bit more power once the old alternator was removed. A big lump of inductive current to be puching around.

I got George sprayed with Dinitrol underneath and right through the engine bay. Great stuff that and heaps easier and cheaper than galvanising. I have a ram jar full of the stuff too for when I do work underneath and need to splash some more on.

Your safari roof sounds great. Hmmm, draft free Landy

Kiwistage1V8 · Post by **Kiwistage1V8** » Thu May 01, 2008 2:30 am

oops.

That was 19000k

But yeah, genuine, as far as I can tell. Not too far to drive around the Chathams.

gary_in_nz · Post by **gary_in_nz** » Thu May 01, 2008 9:06 am

hey, another kiwi!!

when i scored mine from Linton, i was lucky enough to get the full service history folder with it, mine is number 383, body has done about 150,000kms now and motor is 37,000kms from being swaped out by the army mechanics for a rebuilt one. Like you i have removed the restrictors, just gotta sort an over drive.

how does your seat belts mount up the top in you cab??
also is that the seatbelt bar from the soft top that looks like a roll bar on the back there??

cheers, catcha later!!

disco2hse · Post by **disco2hse** » Fri May 02, 2008 2:57 am

Hey Gary

gary_in_nz wrote:when i scored mine from Linton, i was lucky enough to get the full service history folder with it, mine is number 383, body has done about 150,000kms now and motor is 37,000kms from being swaped out by the army mechanics for a rebuilt one. Like you i have removed the restrictors, just gotta sort an over drive.

You're so lucky having that info. Even just knowing how many times it has been around the clock would be great advantage. Mine was at Linton too I think, looking at the previous registration number that's painted on the dashboard.

gary_in_nz wrote:how does your seat belts mount up the top in you cab??

I got jenyuwhine Land Rover seat belt mounts

They bolt into the space between the door and the rear quarter light. And since they are original spec, no certification required for the change over

gary_in_nz wrote:also is that the seatbelt bar from the soft top that looks like a roll bar on the back there??

Actually the original bar is a roll bar, which is what the seat belt mounts are normally attached to. The missus felt more comfortable with it there than without, even with the cab overhead.

Wanted to ask you though. How is yours for stability? I mean with the hard top and roof rack. I took mine off because I didn't like the weight up there - they are damned heavy.

gary_in_nz · Post by **gary_in_nz** » Sat May 03, 2008 4:23 am

yeah...

has its 2 wheel moments.

last time i was lucky enough to be caught by a pine tree, nothing hard about the track, just one part went on a lean, and i had to do a tight hairpin turn and yeah, bark marks down the roof with a slight alluminium ripple to top it off!!

i do have on it now some quite wide offset rims, but even still they are real narrow wheel base, i was thinking of taking the roof rack off, but like you i want a cab roof, as i need a ute more than a station waggon, just trying to track a 'half decent' cab down seems to be a bit of a mission now!!

cheers

disco2hse · Post by **disco2hse** » Sun May 04, 2008 5:46 am

Check out Landy Heaven. They had several last time I enquired. Good people to deal with too.

Landy Heaven
R D 2 Napier Cellular phone 0-27-449 9487

disco2hse · Post by **disco2hse** » Mon May 05, 2008 10:04 pm

Gary,

Sent you a PM.

landdani · Post by **landdani** » Sat Apr 11, 2009 11:08 pm

Hi disco2hse, thanks for your replys.
nice nature in NZ as I noticed.
Gary, what is that tree story?