1969 Land Rover Restomod
A customer from Boston came to us with a very specific vision: A Land Rover Series IIA, fully restored with subtle upgrades and modern amenities throughout. His color choice is Marine Blue and it must look as stock / original as possible to retain all the vintage Rover charm.
Since we were starting with an idea; we had the opportunity to locate a nearly rust-free 1969 Series IIA 88″ in Virginia. It’s always best to start with a good body and chassis. Automotion Classics can locate a suitable vehicle to use as a starting point for any restoration.
Power now comes from a Chevrolet Vortec 4.3 Liter V6 backed by a Jeep NV3550 5-speed mated to a stock Series transfer case. This fuel-injected engine produces almost three times the horsepower of the original engine and has great reliability. The 5-speed manual transmission provides smooth, easy shifting and a nice overdrive for highway cruising. Exhaust exits through a set of ceramic coated headers into a custom fabricated “Y” pipe and Borla Stainless Cat-back designed for a Defender.
We have installed rebuilt Land Rover Discovery axles with 3.54:1 ratios and disc brakes; coil-spring front suspension from a D90 gives excellent ride & handling. The rear axle has been mounted using custom fabricated spring perches and soft-riding parabolic leaf springs with Defender shocks. Power steering has been added from a late-model P38 Range Rover.
The body was removed from the frame, stripped of all its riveted-on trim and carefully refinished. During the reassembly process all the body rivets were installed again: a painstaking process and a requirement for a high-quality finish. The original trim was sent out to be re-galvanized before being installed.
A sand colored canvas top made from modern materials was chosen for the summers, and the original hard top with tropical roof will be installed for the fall. The interior is finished with heated leather seats, refurbished gauges and subtle upgrades like a voltage gauge / usb charging port combo.
The troublesome lucas wiring has been banished from this Rover in favor of modern wiring custom installed in-house. Most lights have been re-used but the headlights have been brought into the 21st century with 3500 lumen LED bulbs in H4 lamps. This is over double the output of stock headlights; a welcome upgrade for nighttime driving.
Please contact us if you are interested in having your own vehicle built to your specifications.
www.automotionclassics.com
518-852-2858
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- Factory SIIA gauge calibrated to read correctly with Defender gear ratio & larger tires.
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- GM 4.3 Liter Fuel Injected V6 from 2005 Silverado
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- Rivets completed.
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- Rivets being CAREFULLY installed on the painted & polished hood
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- LED headlights look stock but provide double the light output
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- Tailgate installed with Stainless hinge brackets and fabricated trim.
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- New upgraded wiring harness uses sealed connnections and modern relays / components
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- Details! All stainless hardware and fresh painted surpfaces throughout
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- Correct formed rivets will be used during assembly
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- All original trim was galvanized again for a crisp fresh look.
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- Fabricated “Y” Pipe
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- Stainless tail pipe with polished tip.
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- Ceramic-coated Merge collector and Mid-Pipe fabricated in-house.
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- Ceramic-Coated Headers (clearanced for steering shaft fitment).
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- Stainless steel Magnaflow D90 Cat-Back Exhaust modified slightly for our use.
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- Completed Chassis
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- Seat Box
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- Doors
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- Inner fenders
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- Underside of hood
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- Bulkhead after sandblasting
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- Scirocco style dual-pass radiator
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- Completed modified SII Steering column shortened with a pillow-block style bearing and welded u-joint.
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- Frame cleaned, prepped and painted with rust-preventative paint.
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- Fitting the stainless Magnaflow exhaust to our fabricated “Y” pipe assembly.
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- Passenger-side inner fender showing the extensive work performed.
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- Modifying the battery box to fit.
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- Here you can see the cuts made to accommodate the coil spring buckets and steering box.
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- Front fenders test0fitted and trimmed to fit the new suspension.
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- The lower column must be cut and modified to fit the power steering arrangement.
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- Series II Steering column being test fitted.
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- Exhaust fabrication in progress.
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- Fabricated “Y” pipe.
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- Series II Banjo Steering wheel before restoration.
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- Tailgate Trim piece fabricated in-house and ready to be sent out for galvanizing.
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- Smaller Power steering pulley & Remote reservoir installed to clear the Steering box.
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- Lengthened steering drag-link and shortened track-bar make this conbination of modern components work in the vintage Rover frame.
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- Track bar mount
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- Custom track-bar mount with braces welded to the frame.
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- Completed steering box mount plate an clearanced spring mount.
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- P38 Rover steering box was a tight fit!
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- Underside of the rear body tub finished in a durable texture coat.
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- Same rebuild treatment on the rear.
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- New calipers, pads & rotors for reliable braking.
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- Freshly rebuilt front axle assembly with coil spring mount welded to the frame.
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- The front axle is receiving a thorough inspection & rebuild of necessary components. All brakes will be rebuilt also for safety.
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- Modified stock throttle arm, custom cable & fabricated bracket.
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- Defender Front radius arm brackets
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- Block hugger style headers will be ceramic coated before final installation.
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- After lots of careful measuring, the coil-spring front suspension is tack-welded in place.
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- Rear body tub ready for chemical stripping of the paint and undercoating.
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- Completed in-tank fuel pump conversion for the Gm V6 engine. Quiet and reliable U.S.A. made pump.
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- Test-fitting Discovery Front axle with coil-spring suspension.
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- All un-needed holes in the aluminum panels were filled & welded.
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- S1 Discovery Axle ready to weld on spring mounts.
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- NV3550 Transmission Permanently Mounted
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- 4.3 Vortec engine permanently mounted.
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- The only sheet-metal modification required was moving the shifter hole back.
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