Stage 1 V8

Hello, I want to introduce myself and my 1983 Stage One 109 County Station Wagon.
I’m driving Series Land Rovers for more than 20 years now and refurbished 4 vehicles during that time. SWB Diesel with canvas hood was my first Land Rover followed by a scrappy 1-ton. The 1-ton needed a complete rebuilt and it has show room condition since that time. 5 years ago I bought my current SWB HT and restored it. It has been used as a daily driver for five years now.
Last year I found my dream Land Rover in the south of Germany, a Stage One County Station Wagon in Massai red. It had just one owner from new and was very tidy. Just a few small holes in the chassis legs and bulkhead footwells. The gearbox was noisy and had to be rebuilt as well as the engine. It had a worn camshaft and even the carbs were beyond it’s best…
I decided to keep the vehicle in its old look, just a refurbishment under the body. I started with the dismantling, pulled engine and gearbox off the chassis. The welding work took a week as well as the work on the axles and brakes. I renewed the whole hydraulic system, the pipes and tubes included.
During the winter time I rebuilt the gearbox and changed the high transmission gears to Range Rover Classic. I don’t like overdrives and I think the longer gear is the better solution. In my opinion the engine is not powerful enough for the longer gear. I used a more powerful Rover V8 and made a full rebuilt to the engine. In spring time I assembled the Stage One and refurbished the interior.
The V8 is back on the road since June. It drives very good and is very powerful. The longer gear with the higher torque of the engine is a perfect choice, especially the fuel consumption is far better than before with the 3.5l. The ignition system is powered by a MSD box in conjunction with the original points distributor. The MSD box provides three sparks per ignition up to 3000 revs.








































Regards
Udo

Wow! Vorsprung durch Technik

Very nice! What V8 did you replace the 3.5 with?

Very nice and impressively tidy and clean.

Thank you very much!
Yes indeed, the bodywork is still in a very good condition. Only the footwells and the c-post covers behind the rear doors had to be repaired and painted.
The engine is a 4.6 from my Discovery 2a, ex US market. I exchanged the engine in the Disco. It had had the common problem with a slipping liner in cylinder 3. I replaced the block for a new one with flanged liners. All other parts are from the 3.5. Sump, front cover, rocker covers, manifolds and carbs have been refurbished and fitted to the modern engine. The only necessary modifikation is a little buckling (5mm) of the flat end of the sump. The throttling has 12mm holes, the power is compareable with a Range Rover 3.5 without throttling. The brakes are strong enough to control the more power.

Wow, thats gorgeous. A great job.

That looks super ! Good to have another Masai Red in here

Is there any reason you stuck with the factory carbs and the factory restrictor / throttle plate?

I switched to the Edelbrock 4 barrel carb and it is a night and day difference - and my truck did not have the throttle plates in it when I got it. I have to think that you would get even better results with the 4.6 liter displacement instead of my 3.5 liter engine.

Other than that - you pretty much just posted up my dream, I would love to transition from my 2 door 109 to a 4 door wagon - and left hand drive.

firemanshort wrote:Is there any reason you stuck with the factory carbs and the factory restrictor / throttle plate?

I switched to the Edelbrock 4 barrel carb and it is a night and day difference - and my truck did not have the throttle plates in it when I got it. I have to think that you would get even better results with the 4.6 liter displacement instead of my 3.5 liter engine.

Other than that - you pretty much just posted up my dream, I would love to transition from my 2 door 109 to a 4 door wagon - and left hand drive.

I like the original look of the vehicle. That's the reason for the original carbs. The engine has 210-220 BHP without restrictor plates, pretty much for a leaf sprung Land Rover with drum brakes. I decided to keep the limit under 150-160 BHP. The restrictor plates have 4 bores of 12mm not the original 8mm. There is no difference up to 3000 rpm compared to an engine without restrictors.
I wanted more torque from idle speed onwards to compensate the longer gear in high range, not a high speed engine.
I confirm your opinion, it is a dream to drive Stage One even with a caravan behind. No problems on steep hills anymore...

Mik wrote:That looks super ! Good to have another Masai Red in here

Thanks, two brothers (or sisters?) I believe...

Lovely looking truck.
Very very nice. And a nice shiney transmission.
Enjoy!

The grey box on the exhaust manifold, is that a heater unit?

It's the air intake duct that is part of the original air intake temperature control system.

Geoff wrote:It's the air intake duct that is part of the original air intake temperature control system.

Thanks. Generally don't need such things down here.

The air intake temperature control system is useful at temperatures under -5°C. In our region possibly 5 days per year, it's unnecessary for me too.