Christmas Rover

I have adopted a new method of christmas gift giving. Essentially I give someone lousey gifts, or no gifts at all for a few years. This softens them up for an awesome gift and makes the surprise even better. This year, I purchased a 1970 SIIA 88 that had been sitting for 10 years. I spent 6 evenings after work preparing it for a 1000 mile drive to Los Angeles to surprise my brother on christmas day. It was a good example with 70K original miles, one owner, and no rust, but suffered from a lot of defered maintenance. The refurbishment was done on an extremely limited budget both in terms of time and money. This is not a restoration, the work shown was done with the intention of making this vehicle driveable and reliable.

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Pulled the rover into the shop for inspection on the evening of 12/18/08. The vehicle needs electrical work, new generator, hoses, battery, carb, manifolds, brakes, hub seals,, fuel system, fluids and many other things to make it ready for the trip. Brakes and hub seals get attention first. Fuel lines, tank and sending unit all require attention The first serious setback was the exhaust manifold. The lower studs were damaged and it was cracked. Given the timeframe and budget, this was actually pretty serious and requred several hours to repair. A new manifold was pulled along with a gasket, studs and other fittings.
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The new manifold was blasted, coated and reinstalled along with the intake and a rebuilt carb. A good used overdrive was fitted to keep up with california traffic (well sorta) With such a nice original example the overdrive install needed to be as original looking as possible. Rear seats were reinstalled and the interior was cleaned out. These are very rare wide 16 inch rims that were available through rover dealerships in the US during the 60s and 70s. They were recoated in their original grey. Warn hubs were also fitted to this truck from new.
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Drawing up the custom dash plaque. Testing the laser on the annodized plate Once the settings are dialed in, I made up a instruction plate just like the original but with an inscription for my brother. Little dusty in the pic from cleaning, but you get the idea. Interior after cleaning. Added some original link mats. Finished up at 12:30 the 23rd. Packed for the trip. Ready for 1000 miles.
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Southern Oregon. Heading into the mountains. Gaining altitude. Finally get into the snow in Shasta. Note the bank of weather just after the sign. Through most of the snow, enjoying the scenery. Took 18 hours straight with stops for gas and food. Made it just in time for surprise delivery on christmas morning. Heres my brother checking out his new ride. The kids in the family were also climbing all over it.