There's a thread on the LRE forum called "New Chassis or My Nineteenth Nervous Breakdown", which is the cumulated work its taken a fellow to replace his chassis, while rebuilding virtually every component along the way. Its been gong on for a couple of years. Although rather informative, and definitely worth the read, this is absolutely not the project I'm after.
I do need a new frame, and since last posting have purchased the rebuilt 88" frame outlined in the post. It's in perfect freshly painted shape, and, with a few modifications will suit me well.
But, in another life I played around with aircooled VWs, and somehow ended up with numerous large projects — getting few done. My philosophy with Land Rovers has been a wee bit different: only one project vehicle at a time, and do the projects in small enough bites that you can always drive it to work again on Monday morning. This has served me well — with perhaps the ocassional stretch into Wednesday or Thursday — but always able to see the end of the project clearly.
Replacing a chassis, however, doesn't fall into the same category. I understand the Land Rover labour guide quotes 100 man-hours to replace the chassis. I don't remember when I had a weekend that long!
I guess the next few months will show how long it will really take, and just for fun, I'm going to keep track!
Today, I spend about 2 hours getting the frame home and in the garage, with the help of David, Andrew and Matt. Then I spent another 2 hours tracking down my engine stand and purchasing a second one so that I can set it up one each end to flip the frame around. Another hour was spent at the local steel mart picking up bits, but more about that later... So there goes 5 hours, just like that and I haven't even got any bolts loose (just a few screws!?!)
I've decided that from now until Founders Day on January 8th I'll work on all the little preparations, then after taking the truck to Founders Day, I'll actually start the real job.
Anyone for a frame changing bee? I'll supply the coffee — and the food — and beer! — but only when you're done.
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