Project RISTA: 109 IIA Build

[JKrawler]

Thanks for the replies. The series transfer case should be plenty strong, I figure if I run into problems down the road then maybe an orion will come into the picture.

I chose the 4.3 for a few reasons, primarily it fell in my lap. It's freshly rebuilt and a friend gave me a deal including a new wiring harness, alternator, fuel injectors ect for a really good price. I had the same mentality though, if were gonna do it just do a V8, right? After looking at the 4.3 we decided it has plenty or power for what we want (245lb torq) and it's also an easier fit. I also know this motors in excellent condition, no searching for an old V8 and having to bother with rebuilding it.

 

[SeaRubi]

no love for the yota box (not cruiser)? you'd have to run a centered-diff rear axle, but a stock gear-driven 'yota transfer case is passenger side drop and will mount very cleanly to your NV3550. Adding the doubler in the yota setup only adds 6.5"! You'd then have your choice of stock 2.28:1, 4.7:1, or both at ~ 11:1.

just trying to spend bread you likely don't have like the rest of 'em :coffeedrink:

 

[JKrawler]

Woops sorry, its a cruiser box (fj60). I still have to contact marlin to see what kind of solutions they have.

 

[JKrawler]

Hey everyone, just a little update. After considering what some of you have mentioned here as well as talking with others we have decided to go with the nv4500. The nv3500 would probably be fine, but with the amount of time and money going into this project I would kick myself if we started having transmission issues.

I do have a question though.. how much torque is the fairey overdrive rated to? I'm having trouble finding a straight answer. I kind of figured just leave it on but I don't want it to explode my tcase if it fails. We wouldn't need it with the 5speed anyways but heck, levers are fun to pull and push haha. Thanks.

 

[greenmeanie]

I can't give you an absolute value but conventional wisdom is that a 2.25 engine that has 70bhp and 124lbsft of torque on a good day has too much grunt for a Fairey in 1st and 2nd gear. The weakest, point among many, is the gear teeth on the output gear. If you look at it you'll see they are runty wee things.

If you have 5 gears already I would just remove it. If you want to live dangerously you can leave it in place but simply carry the original transfer gear and cover plate to put on when it blows.

 

[JKrawler]

Thanks, I'll have to pull it and take a look. Most likely I'll have a Fairey up for sale soon.

 

[stevenmd]

I hope you post up play-by-play notes of your build with pics as you move along! I am going to subscribe to this thread.

 

[Antichrist]

Thanks, I'll have to pull it and take a look. Most likely I'll have a Fairey up for sale soon.

I might be interested in it. Might do nicely behind the 2.25 NA diesel in my Lightweight.

 

[JKrawler]

I'll be sure to keep you all updated. Be patient though as this project will take a while to get everything just right hah.

 

[indiana67]

Your 109 Pick up

Many people do not know that there were only approximately 200 109 pick up trucks officially imported into this country. The reason being is that during this time period the USA had a 25% tariff on imported "trucks". This had the obvious result that LR "trucks" had a huge premium on them and you really had to want one to be willing to pay this premium. There is a good share of pickups in the USA, but most are UK or ExMOD. I saw your truck at Mike Green's place and my son fell in love with it. We really like an unmolested 109 pickup and your truck is a very good example. Before you get too far on your rebuild, would you consider selling it? There has to be a lot of modified trucks that would be a better choice for your build than this beauty.

Respectfully,

Keith

 

[TeriAnn]

Many people do not know that there were only approximately 200 109 pick up trucks officially imported into this country.

I saw your truck at Mike Green's place and my son fell in love with it. We really like an unmolested 109 pickup and your truck is a very good example.

I had not realized the red 109 regular was an unmolested complete truck. I assumed it was was a truck with a totally trashed or modified drive train when I tried to provide ideas of how to make your conversion better. I whole wholeheartedly agree with Keith in that it would be a shame to cut up one of the very few good original US import 109 regulars. Do consider trading it for one of the way more common gray market 109 regulars and modifying one of those instead.

You would think I'm the last person who should be making that comment since my truck was a 1960 109 pickup when I purchased her in 1978.

But my truck was totally worn out, had a large number of parts missing and everything left was either broken or worn out. It had been sitting long enough that it had sunk almost axle deep into the earth. The only reason it had not gone to the wreckers years earlier is the owner didn't want to pay to have it hauled away.

When I bought mine, Rover had just separated from British Lealand and the parts supply channels were empty. Someone had already done a bulkhead door & both front wing swap to IIA parts years earlier, part of a damage repair. Just to get my truck running it got a newer transfercase, new diff, late IIA steering column and IIA lights all around to replace all the broken parts. A lot of parts went on from wherever I could scrape them up.

And even then I dove her for 20 years and learned her capabilities and limits before deciding to do an engine & gearbox swap. They are pretty capable trucks right out of the box. Just slow and pre SIII 109s are real hard on axles unless you put a SIII rear end assembly under one.

Maybe you could work with Keith to find a gray market ex-MoD 109 regular. The do have the extended spring perches and some other mods that make them a little tougher in rougher terrain. It would allow you to build a better truck for less work and save a good example of a rare truck.

Don't be a Snidely Whiplash villain.

 

[indiana67]

Your 109 Pickup

I'm located in San Jose Ca. and I assume you are in the area as your truck was at Mike's place in Livermore. Let me know if you would like to work something out.

Cheers,

Keith

 

[JKrawler]

Ok, let me say a few things here. We have been a Rover family for over 50 years. We like to keep our rovers stone stock. Its the same mentality with with our classic british motorcycles. Specifically speaking, we bought Rista years ago because it was in such good condition, and we kept it that way. In our eyes this makes it an even better candidate for an expedition rig (read NOT a trail beater). For a number of reasons the rover has been sitting for a while now. We debated long and hard what we want out of this rover. This is not directed at anyone, I'd just like to say this because this isn't the first time things have been insinuated.

I appreciate your respect with asking to sell the rover but I am sorry as we are keeping the rover in our family. I do understand and respect your desire to do a restoration though. Maybe one day I will take that on as a project, but for now we want something more along the lines of what I described in my first post. It would be unfortunate to loose the support of the community over something like this, so I hope we can all reach a mutual understanding/level of respect. Although it won't be stock I wholeheartedly believe most of you will be very happy with the way this is going to turn out.

I hope this helps clarify where were coming from and I hope you can respect our wishes.

If anyone would like to help with the project it would be great. Sorry though, Keith, the rover is now in Tucson or it would have been great to meet up.

 

[Yorker]

Hey everyone, just a little update. After considering what some of you have mentioned here as well as talking with others we have decided to go with the nv4500. The nv3500 would probably be fine, but with the amount of time and money going into this project I would kick myself if we started having transmission issues.
.

The NV3500 is used behind the 318 in 1/2 ton Dodge trucks AND in Chevroler/GMC 1500s behind 5.7l vortec V8s so I don't know why you'd have any issues with it? Sure it is a medium duty tranny but if anythign that would make it well suited to use in a Land Rover. If you can make it fit I think it would be a decent choice.

I look forward to seeing you complete the truck- looks like a great project.

 

[Alaska Mike]

Your Rover, so you do whatever you want with it. You can obviously understand those that want to keep it stock, but I can also understand (and completely respect) your desire to create a vehicle that is more in keeping with your wants/needs- while still maintaining a Rover vibe.

One thing I will caution is that you don't go too "Jeep" with the build, and build it into something that has no relation to the original. This is coming from a long-time Jeep CJ owner, so I know the mindset and where it can lead. Adding capability and reliability is one thing, creating a rock buggy is something completely different. I cringe every time I see a classic CJ-2A/3A/3B hacked to bits to provide a facade for a tube buggy, and I feel the same way about the Rovers or any classic rig. Some things are what they are, and tri-link/articulated/super fabricated suspentions somehow seem wrong to me on a vehicle that was originally designed to be a workhorse. Maybe I'm just getting old and cranky...

Your rig, your project- do what you want. I think you'll find that the Rover community is coming around to the concept of modified Series rigs. As long as the though process is sound and the execution is solid, most people will respect the end result. The big thing is that you're happy with it in the long run.